Seven Silent Men (46 page)

“Otto Pinkny told me,” Otto Pinkny said.

“When?”

“Beginning of summer, June.”

“June of this year, 1971?”

“Yeah, June.”

“What exactly did Otto Pinkny say in telling you?”

“That some people was building this bank right over a cave and didn't know the cave was underneath.”

“How did Otto Pinkny know the cave was underneath?”

“Eddie Argulla told him.”

“Would you explain who Eddie Argulla is?”

“A bloke what helped Otto Pinkny out of his trouble in Florida with the dope people.”

“Is this the same Eddia Argulla who worked for Luis Herra?”

“Yeah.”

“In what way did Eddie Argulla help Otto Pinkny in Florida?”

“Luis Herra and some of his people got killed, and that's not a healthy situation for Otto Pinkny on account he's accused of doing it, and all of Luis Herra's friends is Latino and loyal and they want Otto Pinkny's ass. All of Florida was after Otto Pinkny, and only Eddie Argulla helped and smuggled him away from there and up north.”

“Where is Eddie Argulla today?”

“Haven't seen him since the clout.”

“What do you mean by clout?”

“Safecrack. Mormon State.”

“He participated in the robbery?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“I thought you weren't going to tell us who was involved and who wasn't?”

“I said there were two questions I wasn't going to answer if you asked, and that was one of them. Only you didn't ask and I felt like telling. I didn't say nothing about not telling what I felt like telling without being asked.”

“Could Eddie Argulla be the same person whose body was dug up at Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, last month?”

“Eddie's dead?”

“With thirty-seven bullet holes in him.”

“Who'd wanna kill Eddie Argulla?”

“Where was Otto Pinkny staying when he was in South Carolina?”

“Lotsa places.”

“Name some.”

“You fishing for if he ever stayed at Myrtle Beach?”

“Did he?”

“He stayed at Myrtle Beach a few nights, sure. But he never knew poor Eddie was there.”

“In June of this year it was Eddie Argulla who told Otto Pinkny that Mormon State National Bank was being built over a cave, is that right?”

“Yeah.”

“How did Eddie Argulla know this?”

“Cowboy Carlson told him.”

“Who is Cowboy Carlson?”

“A bloke who done time with Eddie Argulla in Illinois. Cowboy Carlson comes from Prairie Port, and he tells Eddie about the bank being built.”

“Was there any particular reason Cowboy Carlson would tell Eddie Argulla about Mormon State?”

“There was reasons for him telling about caves. Eddie Argulla and Otto Pinkny was doing business together and needed places on the Mississippi River to store merchandise. That's how they come to speak with Cowboy Carlson, and Cowboy told them Prairie Port was famous for the caves the bootleggers used to use there way back. Eddie Argulla asked Cowboy Carlson to show him around some of those caves, and Cowboy Carlson does, and then they come out in one cave and Cowboy Carlson pointed and laughed and said some dumb clucks was building a bank right above them and wouldn't it be funny if Eddie Argulla and Otto Pinkny was storing stuff down below which was more valuable than the money that was up above.”

Cub asked, “What did Argulla and Pinkny plan to store in there?”

“Anything they could steal.”

“Otto Pinkny doesn't have the reputation of a thief.”

“Eddie Argulla does, and you don't know half there is to know about Otto Pinkny. Otto Pinkny is the greatest safecracker ever born, only he's so smart you never knew he was on the clout.”

“You don't need something the size of a cave for the goods you take from a vault.”

“They was planning some truck and barge work.”

“Hijacking?”

“You wanna call it that, yeah.”

“But now Argulla sees a cave over which a bank is being built?”

“Yeah.”

“And after that?”

“He tells Otto Pinkny, and they talk it over and decide to take the bank.”

“This was in June?”

“Yeah, first week in June.”

“What part is Cowboy Carlson to play in this?”

“No part except to keep quiet and do like he's told. What Otto Pinkny wants is to wait for the bank to have their grand opening party and when they open the vault, they'll find everything is gone except a birthday cake Otto Pinkny left for them. A cake saying Otto Pinkny Was Here!”

“Did Otto Pinkny want to do this before or after he came to Prairie Port?”

“Who said he came to Prairie Port?”

“He didn't come?”

That
smile showed and an eye winked. “Sure, he come. At the end of June, first. He sees the setup and decides they go after the bank.”

“Then what?”

“He brings in the man with the hand.”

“Who's that?”

“J. L. Squires. They call him the man with the hand on account he's so good with safes and vaults.”

“Wasn't Squires in South America?”

“Yeah, Mexico. Only he come to Prairie Port. In July, and he and Otto Pinkny map it all out.”

“How?”

“Busting the bank is no problem. They know they can cut right through the roof of the cave and get into the vault. They know one way or another they can kill the alarms. The trouble is scramming after the clout. The only way out is through these tunnels. There are tunnels all through the cliffs, and that's how they'll have to go out. It's almost a seven-mile walk through the tunnels to the first exit that's big enough to bring money out through. These tunnels was once used to carry water, and Otto Pinkny wondered if that was possible to do again, and he walks up a tunnel in the north with Squires and they come out in an underground center and right up on the wall of the control room are all the instructions on how to flood the tunnels. Squires reads them and says yeah, that's how it can be done. And they did it.”

“Besides Cowboy Carlson, what local Prairie Port men did they use?”

“No one.” Otto Pinkny's wagging thumb signaled a second thought. “Nah, there was one person they went to. To build fuses. Cowboy knew some kid who was good at building things. And J. L. Squires had him make five fuses. The machinery to flood the tunnels and generate electricity was old-fashioned. Special fuses had to be built to make everything run. Cowboy found the local kid to do it.”

“Did you know the kid's name?”

“Sam something.”

“Was Sam ever down in the control room?”

“… How d'ya know that?”

“He was?”

“Once. For about ten minutes. The problem with J. L. Squires was he was a tequila drunk. One of the fuses got built wrong, and Squires goes wild and dragged this kid back down to the control room and pointed at what had to be done and shook the kid back and forth and threatened to kill him if he didn't get it right … threatened to make the kid go along with them on the job and become a hunted fugitive. Otto Pinkny damn near had J. L. Squires's hide fordoing that, but it worked. J. L. Squires scared the kid into building the fuse right and into having a nervous breakdown too. Cowboy Carlson told us later the kid killed himself that night.”

“Did Cowboy Carlson participate in the actual robbery?”

“He was supposed to be in on the first one but not the second one.”

“What do you mean by first one and second one?”

“Otto Pinkny planned to take the bank the first day it opened, which would have been Tuesday, August twenty-fourth, because that's when he thought an opening party would be and he wanted to leave the birthday cake inside the vault for them. When he found out the bank wasn't going to have its grand opening party until a month later in September, he decided to wait and take the vault the day before the party. He still wanted to put that cake in the vault for them to find instead of the money he stole. That became the first robbery, and Cowboy was supposed to be in on it, only it created all kinds of problems because some of the people didn't want to wait around a whole month and most of the gear was ready.”

Cub raised a hand. “Let's slow down and make this clear. Was the original date for the robbery Tuesday, August twenty-fourth, which was the first day the bank would be open and operating … or the night before, Monday, August twenty-third?”

“The night before,” Otto Pinkny specified. “They was to start the clout the night before so nothing would be inside in the morning except the cake.”

“And preparations to go on that date were under way,” Cub continued. “Equipment was being gathered, plans being—”

“Everything was done and ready. Everything was set to go, which was what caused the hard feelings.”

“Ready and set to go when?”

“Ten days before the clout.”

“Which clout? The one planned for the opening of the bank, or the clout that actually occurred on Friday, August twentieth?”

“The one planned for the opening.”

“But that's not the one you're calling the second robbery? The one Cowboy Carlson was not supposed to be part of?”

Otto Pinkny lowered a cocked thumb at Cub. “Let me explain it to you. We got four dates to remember. The first one is August twenty-fourth, a Tuesday, when the bank is gonna open and start doing business. Otto Pinkny plans to clout the bank the night before that, Monday. Them's the first two dates, Monday and Tuesday. Go in on Monday night so there's nothing left inside on Tuesday. Only Otto Pinkny then wants to hold off a month until the grand opening party in September. That's the third date, September. Then something comes up and makes them go on Friday, August twentieth. That's the fourth date. Cowboy Carlson wasn't no part of what happened on August twentieth. Now you got it.”

“… What made you decide to perpetrate on the day you did, Friday, August twentieth?” Cub asked.

“I didn't decide nothing.”

“… What made Otto Pinkny decide to perpetrate on that Friday?”

“Thirty-one million dollars!”

“He knew it would be in the bank over that weekend?”

“He stole it, didn't he?”

“Was that luck or did he know?”

“He was hooked into all the telephones in the bank, hooked into all the alarm systems and television cameras too. He knew everything that was going on. Saw everything and heard everything. He heard the telephone call between the federal reserve people in New Orleans and the president of the bank when they set the time for the load to reach Prairie Port. That was part of the argument between J. L. Squires and the Latinos over clouting in September. J. L. Squires wanted to get it over with on the first night like was planned. That Monday night before the bank officially opened. The Latinos was unhappy about this 'cause of all the work they had done and how little they was gonna make off it.”

“What Latinos?” Cub interjected.

“The ones Otto Pinkny and Eddie Argulla brought up from Miami and Colombia. They was good at working in mines and with water. Not bad at thieving, either.”

“How many Latinos were there?”

“Six.”

“What were their names?”

“I couldn't tell you if I was a mind to. They all got them chop suey names Latinos got. Lotsa Juans and Jesuses, but hard workers.”

“And they got into a disagreement with J. L. Squires?” asked Cub.

“Wouldn't you? Look at it from where they sit. The Latinos was getting a cut of the action, and they thought J. L. Squires and Otto Pinkny was gonna wait until there's lotsa money in the vault before doing the clout. When they find out the clout's a go for opening day, they know there ain't gonna be that much money to grab. Being a bank is like being pregnant, you get fat slow. They started feeling better when Otto Pinkny finds out the bank's grand opening party ain't for a month later and he wants to wait till then. J. L. Squires is bellyaching that he ain't gonna wait around that long, and he starts in arguing for the first date or at least an early date. The Latinos wanna go as late as possible, and a tug of war happens. J. L. Squires is the only one who got paid cash in advance plus being given the second biggest percentage of the take, which is probably why he says the hell with it and walks out. Squires don't like nothing about Prairie Port and living underground and he takes a walk back to Mexico.”

“When was this?”

“Three days before the real clout.”

“Three days before Friday, August twentieth?”

Pinkny thought for a moment. “Yeah.”

“Who is the gang made up of at this time?”

“Otto Pinkny, Eddie Argulla and the six Latinos.”

“Not Cowboy Carlson?”

“I already told you nah!”

“What about Sam, the boy who made the fuses?”

“He's too scared to be any good even if they wanted to use him. One of the last things J. L. Squires done was eat that kid out for not making the fuses right.”

“I thought you said all the preparations were done and ready on August fourteenth, which would have been before Squires chewed out Sam for making a defective fuse?”

“They were, and that was part of the problem. They were sitting around with nothing to do, them people. So they started redoing things and getting in extra supplies they didn't need and making spare parts like that fuse. They already had two fuses in the box and two spares, and they ordered another one and the kid couldn't get it right. J. L. Squires was chewing the kid out over a fuse they didn't need.”

“When did you say Sam, the kid, committed suicide?”

“The day Squires left.”

“August seventeenth … three days before the actual robbery on August twentieth?”

“Yeah, if you say so.”

“Back in June, J. L. Squires and Otto Pinkny decided to go ahead with the robbery and then what?”