Seven Silent Men (59 page)

Mule, as he always did when receiving such a call, hung up and called back the prearranged number for verification. Yates had anticipated this. Instead of reaching the number he dialed, Mule was shunted to Hagland's communications truck, where Yates's prerecorded voice repeated, “I found it. Get a move on.”

TWENTY-FIVE

A searchlight beam cut through the tunnel darkness ahead. The lamp itself was attached to the snub-nose prow of a rubber boat. Strom sat just behind the instrument, directing the light from time to time. Behind Strom was Jez. Yates perched on the rear gunnel steering the outboard motor.

They had embarked from the shunting terminal under the old city waterworks, with Yates saying that Brewmeister had discovered this spot by tailing Mule, that he had seen Mule and Wiggles and Rat Ragotsy get into their own boat not far from here, then travel westward through the tunnels and caves, travel into the section of Prairie Port where mud slides and mud rivers and an underground mud volcano had been arrested.

Earlier, leading the way down into the underground terminal, Yates had said Brewmeister never doubted Bicki “Little Haifa” Hale's gang were the actual perpetrators of Mormon State, and this was why, after Mule and Wiggles and Ragotsy had been cleared of implication with the crime, Brew had begun following them. When he tailed the three men into this terminal and saw them get into a boat and head west, Brew realized what Mule, Rat and Wiggles had eventually deduced: that the $31,000,000 had been swept inland the night of the robbery. It was this knowledge that kept the three felons traveling the western tunnels and caves. Brew, Yates told Strom and Jez, followed Mule, Rat and Wiggles through these tunnels many times.

Several miles westward Yates shut off the outboard motor. They were now in a series of caverns and grottos connected to one another by tunnel segments. He locked a plastic tiller to the stern, steered as Jessup and Strom paddled with plastic oars. Again, Strom, as he had earlier, wanted to know their destination. Yates again counseled waiting until they could see for themselves, then began to relate a scenario he had come to believe.

“Long before Otto Pinkny was arrested for running a red light in South Carolina and identified as America's most wanted fugitive, Mule, Rat Ragotsy and Wiggles Loftus were propositioned by a special agent of the FBI,” Yates said. “This solicitation was undertaken on express orders from someone at Washington headquarters and, needless to say, was done in the utmost secrecy. The three suspects were in custody at the time, Mule and Wiggles in federal detention in Prairie Port, Rat Ragotsy convalescing at an Army hospital as a result of the beating he took from the county sheriff.

“What they were offered by this emissary was their freedom, to be let off the robbery charges and set free, in exchange for certain considerations. The deal, obviously, stipulated that Mule, Rat and Wiggles never mention a word of the arrangement and that they follow every last detail of an alibi scheme. There were other conditions. One was that they confess in full. Provide the secret operative as detailed an accounting of the evolution, planning, perpetration of the crime as possible. And the getaway after. That had to be the hardest part, getting them to agree to this confession. But the emissary got it. Got them to record it on tape. The next step was simpler. Harry Janks, the great Chicago mouthpiece, was had for a price. Harry probably didn't know a thing about the arrangement, but he was provided with a bit of a windfall, eleven witnesses in Illinois who said Mule, Rat and Wiggles were there at the time of the robbery … and remained there for a week. I don't know exactly how that was worked out, but it doesn't matter. They were supplied, and Harry Janks appeared in Prairie Port with his new evidence, and then before we knew it, charges were dropped and the three actual robbers of Mormon State were let go. Of course they had to answer to Washington's secret emissary in Prairie Port. The special agent who was Washington's spy.”

Yates, in the darkness, talked at Jessup. “Jez, remember how you used to joke about being Mata Hari? How all the resident agents talked about Ed Grafton suspecting Washington had sent someone to spy on him? Well, it was true. There was a spy. Not up on the twelfth floor with Corticun, but down on the eleventh. One of us, one of the resident agents, was Washington's man. It had to be. Who else had access to Mule, Rat and Wiggles? Who else knew about Wilkie Jarrel's phone setup that well? That setup was what was copied in keeping in touch with Mule, Rat and Wiggles—Jarrel's use of pay phones to avoid being overheard. Part of the original deal with Mule, Rat and Wiggles was to continually stay in touch with Washington's spy. There was a very specific reason for them staying in touch, but before this became a reality, a second use for the communication setup was found … a use that had to do with the tunnels we're in.

“Once they were cleared of charges and Ragotsy returned from the hospital, the three robbers were able to talk for the first time since blowing open the vault. Mule and Rat had thought the rest of the gang and all the money was swept through the tunnel and dumped out into the Mississippi River like they themselves had been immediately following the theft. Talking to Wiggles they learned he had been carried inland through the drainage tunnels, carried west. They realized this might be where some of the other gang members were taken. More important to them, that this was where the
money
might be. The three crooks had been pretty honest with Washington's spy, but they were still crooks. They told the spy they were planning to go into the tunnels and look for the money and said if he kept his mouth shut about it and helped them, they would cut him in. The spy dutifully reported this to Washington. Washington said it didn't care what the crooks did or he did, just so nobody got in trouble. The spy went along with the gang, used the intricate system of communications to be kept apprised of their progress in finding the treasure. The spy was down here himself several times to look over the situation. I saw him once myself …”

There was stirring in the boat. “Saw his face?” asked Strom.

“No, just his outline. He joined Mule and Rat and Wiggles in his own boat. It seems they were getting closer to the money all the time, or at least finding clues that the money was nearby, such as locating a moneybag. But that was only recently. Early on when they were searching these tunnels and caves, there was an interruption … Otto Pinkny. Otto Pinkny gets picked up for running a red light in South Carolina, is ID'd and asks to see the FBI, or so the story goes. Most likely it was the FBI who came to see him … who'd been on the lookout for someone like him for quite a while. I shouldn't say the FBI was on the lookout, just a few people in Washington headquarters, including our spy's bosses. As a deal had been offered Mule and Ragotsy and Wiggles to clear them of implications with Mormon State, now a deal was made with Otto Pinkny … to implicate him. What had Pinkny got to lose pleading to Mormon State? Twenty years in jail? If he doesn't plead, he's going to death row. Problem is, Otto Pinkny doesn't know a damn thing about Mormon State. So they give him the taped confessions made by Mule, Rat and Wiggles. This helps, but not enough. Luckily for all, Pinkny was picked up days before the records show, maybe a week or two before, so there was plenty of time for the next step … bringing in someone to coach him who knew all about the robbery.

“Brew had Mule under surveillance. It was spot surveillance usually done in the early evening. For four days it couldn't be done because Mule disappeared from Prairie Port. Those four days were spent in South Carolina briefing Otto Pinkny on the crime. Washington's spy saw to Mule's secret traveling arrangements back and forth.”

They were into a tunnel beyond a grotto now, a wide, curving tunnel. Strom and Jez, who had gotten tired oaring, were told their destination was near. They paddled somewhat harder.

“Everything worked out,” Yates continued. “Otto Pinkny came to Prairie Port like Lindbergh returned to New York City. They gave Otto everything but a parade. He deserved one, I suppose, if for no other reason than convincing everybody he and his gang pulled off Mormon State. Most of our office was convinced, if you remember. Still are. Mule, as I said before, was fairly honest with Washington's spy. Fairly, but not totally. He forgot to mention one thing … he'd blown Cowboy Carlson's head off a few nights after the robbery and dumped the body in the river. Mule had said he thought one of the other gang members might have killed Cowboy. This wouldn't have mattered any more than him admitting to the murder if two things hadn't happened. One, his alibi specifically stating he was away from Prairie Port the night of the robbery as well as the week after. Two, somebody saw him kill Cowboy.

“That somebody was your wife, Strom.”

The only sound to come from Strom Sunstrom's end of the boat was that of constant paddling.

“Alice had been visiting a friend that night and looked out the window and saw Mule do it,” Yates said. “And Mule saw her. Saw her in a compromising situation. That's why she couldn't say anything to you. She was with who you suspected, Elaine Picket. Alice began to realize she had to say Mule was in Prairie Port. So what she did was pick up the phone and dial our hot line, dial FBI-2000. She disguised her voice and said when and where Mule had killed Cowboy. It didn't take Washington's spy and Washington long to find out and verify this. The spy even confronted Mule, and Mule owned up to the murder.

“Now the spy's boss, or bosses, in Washington had a new set of problems. Not only had they conspired with an assassin, which in and of itself could be devastating if ever revealed, but the whole charade of having Otto Pinkny replace the actual robbers was in jeopardy. If Mule's alibi could be disproved, the whole house of cards would come falling down. So they solved it very simply, they gave Alice to Mule. Whatever was done to her, whatever Mule did, she was trying all the time to protect you, Strom. When the pain, and shame, got to be too much … she killed herself.”

Again, only the sound of paddling was heard from the bow.

Yates steered the rubber boat into a recess beyond a curve in the tunnel. “So who was this spy? This confederate of ours who brought all this down? If we think back, it isn't hard to figure out. Which one of us was ever alone with all three suspects before their release … alone with Mule, Ragotsy and Wiggles?”

“Are you trying to say it was me?” Jessup said.

“Had to be, Jez.” Yates had his gun out and pressed to Jessup's neck. “Hands up, nice and easy. Strom, better see if he has his gun.”

“I don't, and you're looney-toon.” Jessup seemed unconcerned.

Strom searched Jez, found nothing.

“It was left to you and you only to get the final confessions from Wiggles, Mule and Ragotsy. You went to see each one of them two or three times. I chauffeured you a few of those times but never went inside. Nobody saw them except you. You told us it looked like they might confess. But all the while you were working out the deal with them. When it was finally negotiated you told us they refused to see you any more. They did refuse to see you any more, because you had told them to do it that way.”

Jez turned in the darkness. “Strom, he's full of shit. He and his buddy Brewmeister brainstormed this crap and now he's trying to—”

“Strom, you know who in our office took the call the night your wife dialed FBI-2000?” Yates asked. “It was Jez. He was sitting in at the switchboard so the duty agent could go to the john. You know who went and looked at the address Alice gave, and then went over to talk to Elaine Picket? Jez. Know who got Elaine Picket to tell him what went on the night Alice was over there, say that Alice had seen someone get shot? Jez. Elaine Picket couldn't describe what the person looked like that Alice saw, but Jez had a better way of finding out. He asked Mule, or beat it out of him.

“No, from top to bottom it was you, Jez, always you,” Billy told him. “And at the end, when Brew and I wouldn't buy Otto Pinkny, wouldn't let up insisting it was Mule and Rat and Wiggles who were it, only one person wouldn't bother to argue with us … only one person looked the other way.”

“You're damning a man because he looked away?” Jez's voice was scornful.

Yates jabbed the gun hard into Jessup's chest. “Keep your voice low. As for damning, you've done that to yourself. I broke your line of communications, Jez. The same line of communications Wilkie Jarrel used, the same system of phone booths and callbacks we have listed in our reports on him. Wasn't it you and Brew who did most of the investigation on those reports? It doesn't matter, I've got you on tape.”

“You're crazy.” Jez turned in the dark to Strom. “He's
goddam crazy
, believe me, he's—”

Strom was on him, in the refraction of the search beam had lunged forward and gotten Jez by the throat, was choking him with all his strength. Yates struggled to keep the boat even, telling Strom, “Stop and you can have them all. For God's sake, stop. Wait for the rest. They'll all be here.”

Yates, in desperation, kicked his leg forward, caught Strom in the shoulder and knocked him back. Jez lay on his side, wiping blood from his mouth.

“They're coming here to meet you, Jez,” Yates told him. “I know about Howard. I imitated your voice. I called Mule imitating your voice and told him not to bother with Howard and to come down here and meet you where he did last time. When he called back to verify, I was tapped in again and confirmed he should come here. Know whose phone number he called to confirm, whose number I was tapped into? Yours, Jez.”

“Then you couldn't have heard anything like that because nobody would have called me.” Jez spoke calmly and started to sit up. Yates pushed him back down.

Sounds were heard in the distance.

“Can you cover him without shooting him?” Yates asked Strom.