Seven Silent Men (64 page)

“Thank you, Missus Amory.” Billy had begun to pace much as Strom used to pace. “What I'm about to provide is a reconstruction of the events leading to, and ending with, the corruption of Romor 91. In the worst sense of the word it is a conspiracy. A conspiracy of spirit as well as intent. If some of my early assumptions are slightly off, it makes no difference. The essence exists. A germination of deceit.

“We'll have to go back a bit to get a clearer perspective, go back a year or two before the Mormon State robbery. The FBI and J. Edgar Hoover himself were in deep trouble with the public and on Capitol Hill. Time and the media were catching up to Mister Hoover. Catching on, as well. Deglossing the Bureau's rose. Besmirching the Director's person. Bright young prospects were shunning the FBI and hurrying instead to get into the CIA or State Department or other ‘hot' organizations. The very bedrock of the Bureau, its funding support in the Senate and the House of Representatives, was eroding. The media, correctly or not, perpetuated the notion that the President would at any moment be curtailing FBI authority and jurisdiction. J. Edgar Hoover, who in the past could have handled each and every one of these problems with ease, seemed to be at a loss, seemed not even to be aware the peril existed, didn't seem to realize that he and his beloved FBI had become, to many, an embarrassment.

“But there were Bureau partisans. And many of them searched for a solution to the dilemma. Most agreed that what was needed was affirmation of the FBI. A return to the glory days of old. One particular group decided it knew exactly how to do this … and possibly take over control of the FBI in the bargain. This group worked from the logical and simple premise that the easiest way to recapture the glory of the old days was by having the Bureau do what it had always done best in the past: solve and exploit a great crime … another crime of the century. Which came first, the exploiting or the solving, was immaterial … as it so often had been in the past.

“So this group started looking for just such a perpetration. Since some of them were strategically placed within the Bureau itself, they could monitor most anything that came into Washington headquarters and act on it. And they had another advantage … the specifications of exactly what was desired had been spelled out by Orin G. Trask in his so-called model crimes. In retrospect, it isn't all that hard to figure out what those specifications were.” Yates held up six fingers. “There were a half dozen of them. Number one, the crime they were looking for must be spectacular in its perpetration. Number two, it should be a crime against property rather than persons, preferably a robbery of cash or gems or other valuables from a large institution. No one sympathizes with a large institution … with impersonal wealth. Number three, the perpetrators must make a clean getaway and for a time not be found. Number four, the public and the media must show an immediate interest in the perpetration and escaping felons. The public perceiving the unknown criminals are heroes and rooting for them not to be caught would be advantageous. Number five, the crime must appear to be nonviolent at the outset. Information that innocent bystanders or company employees were harmed by the criminals must be temporarily suppressed. This fifth requisite, the nonviolent aspect, is pivotal to the whole plan. It alone must provide the desired response at the most propitious time. It's the ultimate opinion-shaper. And this fifth aspect is what went haywire in the Mormon State conspiracy. What brought everything tumbling down … Teddy Anglaterra.

“The sixth requirement is that the perpetration be record-setting in the worth of the valuables stolen. America is addicted to old records being shattered.”

Yates went to the sideboard, indicated his empty glass. “May I?” he asked Amory.

Amory did not reply.

Billy poured himself another whiskey. “So there they were, these do-gooder supporters of J. Edgar Hoover and the Bureau, waiting for the right crime to come down the pike. A Trask-like model crime. They did Trask one better. They devised their own contingency measures in case a perpetration came along that was somewhat under specifications, one that might possess many but not all of the desired requisites. Don't get me wrong. Trask was in no way denigrated by our schemers. The opposite was true. Trask, or the memory of Trask, was held in near-messianic esteem. They even named themselves after one of his favorite secret societies, the Silent Men.”

Yates was back to pacing. “How long the Silent Men watched and waited for a Trask-like crime to take place, I can't say. Anyway, on Sunday, August twenty-second, the Prairie Port police responded to an alarm and found the vault had been looted at Mormon State National Bank. We, the resident office, sent our first reports back to Washington. The Silent Men read them and, sensing what they were looking for was at hand, dispatched one of their own members to Prairie Port for a closer look. Now they saw first-hand that Mormon State filled their bill, or at least met most of Orin Trask's specifications.

“Then a seventh requirement, one which Trask had never anticipated, was encountered … bank cooperation. Wilkie Jarrel controlled Mormon State. The time had finally arrived when Bureau needs were more important than J. Edgar Hoover's loyalty to Ed Grafton. J. Edgar himself probably made the first phone call to Jarrel. Whether the dumping of Grafton came up then or later doesn't matter. Grafton was to go. J. Edgar left the details for this and other matters to his private spy in Prairie Port, the same agent he had recruited to watch and protect Ed Grafton, Jez Jessup. Jessup wasn't a Silent Man. He never knew they existed. But the Silent Men knew all about him. Knew he was Hoover's spy. The Men figured out a way to transmit direct orders to Jessup … orders which Jessup, to the last, believed had come from Edgar.

“There was a forty-eight hour delay between the discovery of the robbery on Sunday, August twenty-second, and J. Edgar Hoover's announcement the FBI had entered the case on Tuesday, August twenty-fourth. Part of this time, these two days, was spent in negotiating with Wilkie Jarrel … getting him to go along with their plan. Other issues had to be tended to as well during this period, some of which included Jarrel, some of which didn't.

“With Jarrel's cooperation in hand, the FBI publicly launched Romor 91, launched it with Hoover's Tuesday announcement. A planeload of equipment landed in Prairie Port. Support agents flooded into the city. And it all worked. Worked better than ever imagined. Worked so well the Silent Men had nothing to do now but sit back and watch. The Mormon State robbery and investigation, in and of itself, was seen as truly a crime of the century. The public ate it up. There wasn't enough the media could say about it. And an occasional well-placed false item, such as letting it slip that millions of stolen dollars may have fallen into the river, thereby turning the lower half of the Mississippi into a gigantic treasure hunt, didn't hurt the Silent Men's cause either.

“Then something happened that wasn't in the script … Mule and the gang. I believe the Silent Men would have preferred that no major suspect be found this early.” Yates turned to Amory. “After all, wasn't the name of the game maximum exposure?”

Barrett Amory again did not respond.

“Whatever the Men's preference,” Yates continued, “the body of Sam Hammond and the statements of his wife and mother forced the issue. We swooped down on Baton Rouge, followed three of the gang members hoping they would lead us to more, then when they got into a fight and took off, we began picking them up. If it had been Bicki Hale or some of the other thieves the media focused on, that might have been all right. But the problem was compounded. Unfortunately for the Silent Men, the press and public fell in love with Mule Corkel … Mule, the deviant sideshow attraction. No modern criminal had been given the kind of attention he was getting. And this was serious business for the conspirators. Beyond not being the image they preferred for a supercrook, Mule was a dark, unwitting clown. The public laughed
with
Mule but laughed
at
the FBI.

“The Silent Men decided they had to get rid of Mule and his two pals. To do this they reverted to an auxiliary measure prepared for just such an eventuality. First off, they needed witnesses who could provide new alibis for Mule, Wiggles and Ragotsy. This could have been done through several safe houses other government organizations ran. But since Wilkie Jarrel was already part of the conspiracy, they prevailed on him to let them use facilities he controlled in Emoryville as fronts. The Silent Men now had ‘Freddie' send orders to Jez Jessup in the name of J. Edgar Hoover. Jez, thinking he was carrying out Hoover's wishes, went to Mule and Wiggles and Ragotsy offering them freedom in return for cooperation. They agreed, as anyone in his right mind would have. It doesn't really matter who brought in criminal lawyer Harry Janks—Jez or the Silent Men. The point is, Janks arrived and did his job, and the FBI's case against Mule, Rat and Wiggles fell apart.”

Yates thought he noticed the dark silhouette of a man standing outside one of the lakeside windows. He turned back to Amory and Patricia. “The Silent Men were at their best now, were thinking trigger-fast and with frightening precision. Realizing that the resident agents of Prairie Port were confused and depressed by the turn of events and could become even more demoralized, the Men decided to bring in J. Edgar Hoover to bolster spirits. Scheduled his arrival into Prairie Port's metropolitan airport. At the last moment a snag occurred in the person of Wilkie Jarrel. Jarrel, directly or indirectly, was now a full partner in the plot. Not only was his bank cooperating and subsidiary operations producing false alibis, but he was responsible for the sheltering of Natalie Hammond and her baby at the maternity clinic of the resort where Ragotsy allegedly had stayed at the time of the robbery. Natalie Hammond was originally interviewed by Cub Hennessy. After deciding that Mule, Ragotsy and Wiggles were to be removed as suspects in the robbery, the Silent Men felt it wise to transport Natalie Hammond out of the range of inquisitive agents who might discredit their plan. Natalie had always told the truth and wouldn't change her story. The Silent Men didn't even bring up the matter. They simply enticed her away with promises of free medical and infant care for herself and her unborn baby. The facilities and services were excellent. It was no problem convincing Natalie to stay on after the birth.

“Wilkie Jarrel learned about J. Edgar Hoover's impending arrival in Prairie Port at the last moment and demanded an immediate meeting with the Director. Knowing that no liaison between the two could be kept from the press after Hoover's arrival, the Silent Men diverted the incoming aircraft to a nearby airport, probably Saint Louis, then had him helicoptered to Jarrel's estate west of the city. It wasn't enough for Jarrel that he had forced Hoover to replace Grafton as head of the Prairie Port office, he wanted the whole loaf. Once Jarrel had Hoover alone, he pressed for the expulsion of Ed Grafton from the FBI. Hoover said no. Grafton might have been better off if he'd agreed. Grafton's probably in exile at the North Pole right now. Anyway, after leaving Jarrel, Hoover drove into the city and met with the discouraged resident agents. Even though their case had fallen apart, he praised them for their work.

“I'm not sure but I doubt that Director Hoover knew about the Silent Men … or that he could have comprehended the whole plan even if he did know. From what I've seen, Director Hoover's mental faculties aren't what they used to be … maybe this made it easier for the Silent Men to get him to replace Grafton at Prairie Port … get him to do all those other things he did for the conspiracy, some of them pretty ugly things.

“The Silent Men learned something else about Mule, Ragotsy and Wiggles … that they were going into the irrigation tunnels running under the western section of Prairie Port looking for the stolen money. Jez thought he was reporting this directly to Hoover, but the communication was actually with a Silent Man … with ‘Freddie.' Jez even let Freddie know the three crooks had offered him a share of the take if he left them alone to look. The Silent Man told Jez he could do whatever he wanted so long as he kept an eye on the three actual robbers. Jez, I'm sorry to say, accepted Mule's offer of a share, set up a secured system of communications with the thief and on occasion went down into the tunnels and caves to check on progress.

“When Otto Pinkny was arrested in South Carolina and identified, he didn't demand to see the FBI any more than he was held in jail only three or four days. He was probably in jail some two weeks negotiating with the Silent. Men. It figures he was first identified by FBI handprints and talked to by local Bureau agents. But when the Silent Men in Washington found out, they sent down their own people to make a deal with Pinkny. Terms were finally worked out, and Pinkny listened to confession tapes Mule, Ragotsy and Wiggles had made as part of their freedom deal. When more details were needed, ‘Freddie' called Jez and Jez arranged for Mule to go to South Carolina and brief Pinkny directly. Then Pinkny arrived in Prairie Port and stood up under the toughest interrogation our office could manage. Everyone but Brewmeister and Strom and myself was convinced Pinkny and his gang had done Mormon State. What's more, the world had taken to Pinkny as it would to a matinee idol. Took to him exactly as planned. It was the Silent Men's supreme moment. Pinkny fit their image as a supercrook. The final ploy, the masterstroke, was as good as assured. The price to pay had been a pittance, not more than a fib or two. But the price was about to go up.”

Yates spotted two men standing outside the window, paid them no attention. “As brilliant as the plan had been,” he said, “as well as it had worked, now the opposite began to happen. Alice Sunstrom called the FBI hot line and told them, anonymously, that she saw Mule kill a man in Prairie Port at a time he was supposed to be in Illinois. Jez Jessup was the person who took her call and soon verified what she said. The Silent Men suddenly realized that they were conspiring with a known murderer. Like it or not, there wasn't much they could do about it. They were tied to Mule. If Mule's alibi was disproved, as Alice could make happen, their whole conspiracy could come tumbling down. But there was another threat to the conspiracy—Brewmeister and me. What we'd discovered was the biggest blunder the Men had made to date … dumping the corpse of Teddy Anglaterra into the Mississippi River. Anglaterra was a drunk who had nothing to do with the Mormon State robbery. He'd been killed in a drunken brawl a hundred miles away, and the Men found him there and brought his corpse down to Prairie Port and dumped it into the river. Then, with the connivance of the bank president, they added Teddy's name to the list of people who had been at the bank the day of the robbery. What they intended to do, at the right time, was prove that Teddy was actually employed at the bank at the time of the robbery and was killed in the line of duty defending the premises. This was to fulfill Orin Trask's fifth requirement … that the crime must appear to be nonviolent at the outset. Outset was the operative word here. Trask and the Silent Men knew that once violence was established, the public would turn against the perpetrators. Teddy Anglaterra was to be used in this fashion. The announcement that he was killed by the robbers, the Silent Men were certain, would make any suspect into a public ogre … and thereby elevate the image of the FBI.