Swift Justice: The Southern Way (4 page)

“Hello,” she said in an anxious voice.

“Hi, Tammy, this is the Sheriff.”

“Oh no, what’s happened to Johnny?”

“Is he home?”

“No, he’s not home,” she said irritably. “Do you know where he is at?”

“No, I do not.”

“How did you know he was not here?” she asked.

Damn, now he had to show his hand a little bit, which he didn’t want to do. “Well, Lucky’s missing too, so I thought I would check to see if Johnny was home because he hangs out with Lucky a lot.”

“Johnny has never done this. He might drink a lot, but he always comes home. Something is wrong. Can you find him, Sheriff?”

“Yes, we’ll do our best. I already have multiple squad cars looking for Lucky, and we’ll look for Johnny. Hopefully, we’ll find him.”

“Please let me know as soon as you find him,” Tammy pleaded.

“Sure will.”

The Sheriff ended the call. He called Tom Jenkins’s wife and got the same response. He was missing, and his wife was worried.

Next, he called Junior, his son.

“Hello,” Junior answered in a groggy voice.

“Junior, this is your dad. Get your ass up and into the station. Lucky and his wrecking crew are missing.”

“Holy Shit! You’re kidding.”

“No, I’m not.”

“What do you think happened?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you think Leon escaped, and they’re hunting him down?” Junior asked.

“I don’t know. Just get to the station as soon as possible. Then we’ll discuss what we are going to do.”

~~~~

Shortly afterwards, the Sheriff met Junior at the station along with the midnight officer. The station was located near the south end of downtown.

“Sam, any developments?” the Sheriff asked.

“No. Ryan and Finley just radioed in, and they haven’t seen Lucky.”

“Tell them that they need to be searching for John Favors and Tom Jenkins as well. They’re missing.”

“Oh my God,” said Sam. “This doesn’t sound good.”

“Give me the phone,” the Sheriff ordered. “I want to call Luke and see if anything unusual happened on the evening shift.”

The Sheriff dialed Luke’s number. Luke answered on the third ring.

“Hello.”

“Luke, this is the Sheriff. We got an emergency down here. Lucky Bennett, John Favors, and Tom Jenkins are missing.”

“Oh, shit!”

“Did anything unusual happen last night?”

“Um, let me see. No, I can’t think of anything.” Luke paused. “Wait, I got a call that a nigger was missing. I think his name was Leon. But other than that, nothing major happened.”

The Sheriff ended the call and relayed the conversation to Junior.

Junior said, “Let’s pay Leon’s house a visit. Maybe his family knows something.”

“Great idea,” the Sheriff responded. “Sam, you stay here, but keep the patrols going.”

“Okay,” Sam replied.

On the way to Leon’s house, the Sheriff and Junior confided in each other.

“Dad, this is bad. Something must have gone wrong. This is not like Lucky. Lucky should be home by now.”

“I know. I know. I’m very concerned. Well, if Leon got away, he will probably head home. You and I are going to camp out there until he emerges.”

“Maybe Leon is hiding in the woods,” suggested Junior.

“Well, when the sun rises, we’ll search the woods.”

“Dad, do you know where they were going to do the lynching?”

“Yeah, sort of but not the exact spot. It was supposed to be a little north of the lake.”

“Well, let’s check it out. What are we waiting for?”

“Shut the fuck up. I’ll give the orders around here, Son.”

“Okay, Dad, I’m sorry.”

“When the sun rises, we’ll check it out. I don’t want to check it out now because people would get suspicious that we would know to look there. I mean there’s over five hundred square miles of woodlands. Let’s give it some time. Besides, it looks like things went bad, so they’re probably not there anyway.”

They finally pulled up to Leon’s parent’s house and got out of the car. It was a little after five in the morning, but a person wouldn’t know it because there were many people in the street. The Negroes froze as they saw the police car appear. Negroes did not trust the police and feared them. They figured that they were part of the Klan.

Mama Brooks ran outside to the cops. “Have you found my Leon?” she cried. “Have you found my Leon?”

“No, we have not,” the Sheriff, said curtly. “Have
you
seen or heard from him?”

Mama Brooks short stint of optimism vanished. “No,” she said sadly. “I was hoping that you had found him and were bringing him home.”

“Well, we’re looking for him,” Junior said. “We’re going to stay here until he shows up.”

“Can you please drive around and try to find him?” she pleaded.

“Well, we have officers already driving around looking for Leon,” said Junior. “Can we come in your house and wait?”

Mama Brooks hesitated. “Why?”

“Because we want to,” the Sheriff snapped. “You’re sure Leon is not hiding in the house.”

“I wish,” replied Mama Brooks. “Please help me find him.”

“Okay, we’ll wait in our squad car, here,” said the Sheriff. “We got the radio and will be in constant communication with the other patrol cars. We’ll let you know if he shows up.”

“Thank you.”

“You make sure to let us know when he shows up, okay,” said the Sheriff.

“I sure will.”

The Sheriff didn’t know what to think. His men were missing and so was Leon. Should he listen to his son and drive by the area where Lucky was supposed to do the lynching? The sun would be up in about an hour, so he figured he could wait another hour.

~~~~

Leon didn’t have to walk too far before he spotted a Negro driving an old, beat-up pickup truck. Leon saw that it was a Negro, and Leon waved him down. The person stopped, and Leon recognized him. It was Tyrone Stevens, an older man in his fifties.

Leon peeked inside. Leon breathed heavily and spoke in a panic. “Mister Stevens … oh, thank you. Can you please give me a ride to my house?”

“Why sure. Leon, everyone in town is looking for you. Where have you been?”

Leon got into the car and they sped away.

Again, Leon could barely speak because he had so much to say. It was like he was on his death bed and needed to speak before he died. “Oh … um … it was horrible.”

“What happened, Leon?”

“You won’t believe this. They tried to kill me.”

“Who?”

Leon sighed. “Lucky Bennett, John Favors, and Tom Jenkins. They just tried to hang me.”

“What? How did you get away?”

Leon started sobbing. He couldn’t help it.

“It’s okay. It’s okay, Leon. Tell me what happened.”

“They … they tried to hang me in the woods, north of the lake. Some person came out of nowhere and shot ‘em all.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know. The person was all covered. I don’t know. I think it was a
he
because the person was kind of tall. I think it was a white guy.”

“What do you mean you think it was a white guy? So he shot ‘em?”

“Yeah, he shot ‘em. I don’t know what to …” Leon sighed again. “And then they had me handcuffed. The person gave me the keys. I got myself out. The person left. Um … so there’s three white guys dead. I don’t know what to do. I got to see my pops.”

“Oh, shit! There’s three white guys dead and you’re missing. And everyone’s looking for you. Oh, Lord, I don’t know what’s going to happen. Let’s get you home to your mama and papa. Oh, Leon it’s so good to see you. We thought you might be dead. It’s so good to see you.”

After a short drive, Stevens’s car was on Finker Street near Pollard Avenue. Pollard Avenue was Leon’s street and only a few blocks ahead. They would need to turn right on Pollard to get to Leon’s house.

Leon saw his papa and Fletcher walking briskly on Finker Street. “Stop the car!” Leon shouted. “There’s my pops.”

Mr. Stevens slammed on the brakes, Leon jumped out, and hugged his papa. Although they were close, they rarely hug. Nevertheless, it felt so good to hug his father.

~~~~

“Oh, Leon, are you okay? Oh Lord, thank you for bringing my boy home. Leon you okay?”

Leon continued to breathe heavily and fought to say his words with every breath. “Yeah, Pops … Oh my God, Pops. Oh … Oh my God. I’m so glad to see you.” Leon gazed over at Fletcher. “Fletch, it’s good to see you. Oh …”

“Leon what happened? Are you okay? What did they do to your eye?”

“Pops, they tried to kill me.”

“Who,” his father said sternly like he wanted to kick their asses.

Leon fought to say the words, “Lucky Bennett …John Favors …Tom Jenkins. They just tried to kill me. Lucky burnt me several times with his cigarette and one of them was just underneath my eye.”

“How did you get away?”

“Some person came out of nowhere and killed them.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know. I think it was a white guy. The person came by. The person was all covered. The person had a hood on. The person killed them all. I don’t know what to think Pops. I’m glad I’m here.”

Leon cried. His father cried too.

“I don’t know what to do, Pops. They’ll probably think I did it. They are going to come after me. Please, Pops, don’t let ‘em hang me. Please, Pops, I can’t take it. I can’t go through this again. I thought I was going to die out there.”

“Leon, come on. Calm down. I’m going to take care of you. I’m so glad to see you, Son. I’m so glad. Okay, we got a problem, though.”

“What’s that?” asked Leon.

“The police are at the house right now. The Sheriff and his son are at the house. What the heck. I don’t know. They’re not moving. They’re waiting for you. We can’t go home. I don’t think we can go home. I don’t know what to tell you, but we can’t go home.”

“Oh, shit,” said Leon. “Pops, where can we go?”

“Brother Stevens,” said James Brooks, “can we please go to your house? Please.”

“Of course. I’m glad to help you, bro.”

Leon continued to cry and spoke with shame. “Pops, I shit and pissed in my pants. I got to take a bath and get some clean clothes. Pops it was horrible.”

“Don’t be ashamed, Son. I don’t care what you did. I’m just so glad you’re home. Fletch, can you let my wife know that Leon is okay?”

“Sure.”

“Don’t tell her where we’re taking Leon. The less she knows the better.”

Leon and his father got into Mr. Stevens’s car, and Mr. Steven’s headed toward his house, which was about a mile away.

As soon as Leon arrived at Mr. Stevens’s house, he asked him if he could call his mother. Mr. Steven’s did have a phone and gave Leon the phone. Leon anxiously dialed the number.

“Hello,” said Mama Brooks.

“Mama, it’s me, Leon.”

“Oh, Leon,” she whispered with joy. “It’s so great to hear your voice. Are you okay?”

“Yes, Mama, I’m okay. I guess. Why are you whispering?”

“The police are outside.”

Leon started crying. “Mama, they tried to kill me…. I miss you so much…. I can’t believe I’m alive.”

“Oh, Lord, thank you for finding my boy and bringing him home,” Mama Brooks prayed. “Fletcher told me what those animals did to you.”

“Mama, I got to let you go. Papa and I have to figure out how to handle this. I’ll see you soon.”

“I love you honey.”

“I love you too, Mama.”

Leon took a quick bath. With the towel around his waist, he showed his father and Mr. Stevens his wounds. Leon’s back and side were covered with large bruises and he had three cigarette burns, with one just below his eye.

James Brooks sighed in anger. “Those motherfuckers! Look what they done to my boy.”

“Animals, fuckin’ animals,” replied Mr. Stevens.

Leon borrowed clothes from Mr. Stevens, which were baggy on Leon. Leon sat at the kitchen table along with his dad and Mr. Stevens.

“Okay, son, tell us what happened,” asked James Brooks.

Leon told them the whole story except the part of him kicking Lucky and his crew.

“Lucky ain’t so lucky no more is he,” said James Brooks with a smirk.

“Yeah, no more Lucky,” said Mr. Stevens. “Too bad Mr. Lucky.”

“Papa, what are we going to do?” asked Leon.

James Brooks sat there pondering what they should do and peered over at Mr. Stevens. “Tyrone, what do you think?”

“Well, let’s think about his options,” Tyrone began. “The way I see it, there are three options. One, Leon runs away from the area. Two, Leon turns himself in. Three, Leon acts as if nothing happened.”

“Shit,” James Brooks said, “I don’t like any of those options.”

“I know, but I think that’s what we have to decide,” Tyrone responded.

“Wait a minute,” interjected Leon. “Why do I have to turn myself in? I didn’t do anything wrong. They were trying to kill
me
.”

“Leon, Son, you know what they’re going to think. They’ll going to suspect you right from the start. Do you think they care that the dead crackers were trying to kill you first?”

“Okay, I see. How about someone drives me to Austin, and I’ll get a lawyer from Austin, then turn myself in,” suggested Leon.

“Who’s to say you would even get to Austin?” asked James Brooks. “Once they find those bodies, they will be searching everywhere. All hell is going to break loose. They’ll probably burn down our whole neighborhood. If you run and they find you, they’ll try to hang you again without a trial.”

“Okay, maybe it’s not such a good idea,” Leon conceded.

“I think he needs to turn himself in, and the sooner the better,” Tyrone said. “They’re going to eventually find him. It’s better if he shows up first. It’ll make him look better. Don’t you think, James?”

“Man, I don’t know what to think,” replied James. James started weeping. “No matter what we do, they’re going to hurt my boy. I can’t have them hurt my boy!”

“Pops, I can’t go there alone,” said Leon. “I need a lawyer.”

“There’s no attorney in Dodge County that’s going to help a Negro,” said Tyrone.

“Yeah, that’s for sure,” said James. “We got to do something, though.”

Leon sighed. “There’s got to be some lawyers in Austin that could help us,” suggested Leon.