6/6/66

by JN Lenz

  Clyde knew full well there was no way he could ever have this gun in his possession again. Covering the hole back in, Clyde used surrounding leaves and branches to camouflage the location of the hidden murder weapon in the undergrowth of the forest floor. Running back to the truck, Clyde threw the shovel into the back of the truck before running out to the road to listen for any oncoming vehicles; the road was black, bare and silent.

  Rushing back to the waiting pickup, Clyde jumped in and started it up. Slowly he backed the truck down the thin path through the trees toward the road; he had backed the truck onto the road with the lights turned off. As an extra precaution, Clyde had also removed the pickups back up lights earlier in the week so he could back onto the dirt road in complete darkness. As the truck breached the road, Clyde coasted to the edge of the road without touching the brakes, looking both ways the road remained in complete blackness. Pulling slowly onto the road, Clyde turned the old Fords lights on and began to drive into the dark countryside heading in a north-west direction. Clyde would drive along the edge of the city taking the route he had planned back to the townhouse.

  The clock radio would announce the shooting death of Harry Winslow’s before I had a chance to open my eyes. The announcement by the news changed that in a hurry as my eyes instantly flipped wide open as the morning DJ repeated the name Harry Winslow’s recent record donation to the Cancer Society. I remember that name quite clearly from the files Clyde and I had sifted through nights earlier, he was the rich industrialist, ill with cancer. Clyde had assured me that he was going to make these murders look like natural causes of death, now what the fuck is he doing assassinating some known big shot with a god damned gun.

  This is insane; it’s getting way out of hand and Clyde is going to get us caught, I don’t want to go to fucking jail. The thoughts rushed through my mind as the pressure in my head felt like it was ready to explode; as my gut twisted endlessly I knew this would be a long day.

  By the time I made it downstairs, Fred was already pacing inside the office looking as if he was going to wet his pants. The words burst from his mouth.

  “Jack did you hear the radio yet this morning?”

  “Not yet why?”

  “Harry Winslow is dead. Someone shot and murdered him last night; hell I went to middle school with that guy, if you can believe that. The man is or was fucking loaded you know that much right, Harry Winslow you must have heard of him unless you’ve had your head up your ass son.”

  “Doesn’t ring a bell”

  “Shit I thought everyone in the country knew about Harry Winslow and how much money he has, or had. One ruthless prick, or so I hear, but I guess that’s how you make it big. Christ it was probably one of his kids, I’ve heard they all hate each other and have ego’s the size of Manhattan. Who knows I guess being in business for so long there would have been plenty of enemies that Harry made along the way, the fucker was ruthless.

  “Ruthless how?’

  Word is he loved to pull the rug out from underneath anyone or anything, just waited for the first sign of weakness or vulnerability. Harry Winslow was the last person you wanted to know you had your back against the wall financially, that would be a green light for him to steam roll right over them.”

  The words flew out of Fred like verbal diarrhea, fast and frantic I could not get a word in edge wise or even absorb what he was frantically trying to explain as his early morning verbal barrage continued.

  “What a god damned gong show this funeral is going to be, I can’t believe how busy we have been the last week and now this. This is gonna blow every service this funeral home has ever held right out of the water, this is huge Jack, just huge. We are going to need extra men and a pile more cars, there is no way we can have the service here it won’t be near big enough.”

  “This funeral, what do you mean this funeral? What makes you think that a guy like Harry Winslow is going to be buried here; he does live down in the city you know? Besides, if Harry is such a big shot so why would he not go to one of the big homes in the city like Slessor’s? They could easily handle a funeral this big.” I was looking straight at Fred as I asked the series of questions even though I already knew all the answers, Fred looked like he was about to explode. There would never be a time when I could mention to Fred that I may know well in advance of him who would be visiting us through the back door for a trip to the basement, not in the near future, not ever. Fred could not contain himself any longer as the words blurted out of him once more.

  “The funeral is going to be here, trust me. Harry Winslow was born and raised in Largo, hell my dad was a good friend of his fathers, plus Harry and I went through several years of school together. Christ we were good friends back in the day, the two of us had spent lots of time together when we were kids while our fathers would be in one or the others garage drinking beer. Harry arranged his father’s funeral here after he died several years ago; Harry said he would not trust the service for his father with anyone else but the Shackles Funeral Home. For sure I do not trust some fucker I don’t know down in the city Harry would tell me, even if they had a marble lobby and a fleet of new limos. I will be coming back home when I’m dead, Harry would always joke to me. I’ll be back one day Fred, dead or alive.” Fred laughed as he continued, it was apparent in Fred’s telling of his history with Harry that he still looked very highly upon Harry.

  “After I buried Harry’s father and when Harry had dropped in to pay for the funeral, he ended up making the pre arrangements for his own funeral. This thing would have been huge no matter how Harry died, but now that he’s been murdered it’s going to draw twice the crowd. With all the post mortem and autopsy we will need to push the funeral off until next Saturday, that is most likely what the family will want anyway. A funeral this big would be best to perform on a Saturday plus that way we will also have Clyde to help us out, I’ll make some calls to some of my buddies in the surrounding area Funeral Homes to see if I can round up some more cars and any extra men that they can spare to help us out on that day which is going to be our biggest problem, they may all have Saturday services as well.”

  Fred began to pace as quickly as he talked, you could see by the look in his eyes that his head was just racing.

  “Slow down there Fred, if we have a pre arrangement we should be getting a call shortly, you start lining up vehicles and some extra help”.

  I held my hands up to help illustrate to Fred to settle himself down as I finally managed to stop him from talking, using the opportunity I kept talking

  “Let’s plan to make next Saturday the intended day of the service, if we need to change the day before then we will. Best call a gardener as well, we won’t have time for the yard next week and our part timers will be too busy helping us out to do the lawn. I will handle the contact with the family Fred and make the arrangements with them, I know you knew Harry personally but let’s face it he’s dead now so I want to make sure to capitalize on this funeral as much as possible”

  I stated clearly to Fred wanting to make it clear right away with Fred that I would be in charge of the arrangements and the billing.

  “Money will not be an issue, I know at the time Harry had requested a number of upgrades back when making the pre arrangements with me. This place is your show now I understand you wanting to sit in with the family to make the arrangements”

  “That’s correct Fred, I will handle the family and the billing Fred. Sorry to hear of an old friend passing away, even if you had not been in touch he was still a friend, right?”

  “Not exactly passing more like being blasted, thanks though Jack. That suites me fine that you are handling the arrangements, I don’t know any of Harry’s kids anyway. From what I have heard of them it is probably for the best, I have too much respect for Harry to say anything to those snotty fuckers. Best I limit my time around them so I don’t end up saying something I will regret later.”

  “If you could pull his file on the pre arrangement Fred so I can l
ook it over.”

  “Sure thing Jack, funny thing I had met Harry’s wife Lydia a few times, she was a lovely lady but unfortunately she had not lived a long life and had died some years back. Guess her grace never rubbed off on any of the kids, I hear they are all arrogant bastards. Harry and I saw very little of each other after the age of seventeen other than the few funerals he attended back here in Largo, including that of his fathers. Since it’s your business now anyway Jack best that you decide how to charge for the services, Harry will be getting buried and not burned, just make sure the casket you charge him for goes with him into the ground.”

  “Not a problem Fred, if he’s as loaded as you keep claiming there should be plenty of money to be made anyway.”

  “He’s rich alright; there is no doubt about that. I’ll tell you one thing; he wants nothing but the best at his funeral. I’ll need to give Bill a call over at McGivney’s; he has that nice set of matching Cadillac sedans that would look great with our Cadillac hearse and our new Cadillac. That would give us a Cadillac sedan for each one of Harry’s kids.”

  “Good, what other Funeral Homes can you call for additional cars? I will double up on whatever we need to pay them for the cars for the day.

  “Double up, hell these guys will just let me borrow the car for the day if they can spare them.”

  “Even better Fred, all the up charge will be ours then.”

  “Christ, I should have had you here doing my billing years ago. I guess I’m not enough of a prick to be a good businessman.”

  “That’s right you’re not Fred, but I totally am. By the way what the fuck are you looking for, you’re driving me nuts.”

  “My bloody address book, I know that damm thing is here somewhere”

  “Are the numbers not just in the phone book?”

  “Not the private numbers, I’ll check the desk drawers.”

  “Have fun, I’m going to set up for the visiting we have tonight and maybe get the leaves swept off the back parking lot before tomorrow” I responded as I walked out of the office, I needed my first morning coffee before I continued with anything. There had been another call that had come in late the night before, so the preparations needed to be made for the upcoming service.

  Fred needed to complete the embalming this morning; the body would need to be in place for the six in the evening visitation. I needed to go get busy to get my mind off what had happened last night with Clyde in the city. First I needed a coffee my head was pounding from the lack of caffeine and the anxiety of the unknown. I was sure Clyde would not dare call me to talk about the murder over the phone; it would be a full ten hours before he returned from the city after the end of his classes.

  I would go half nuts by the time Clyde made it back here tonight, not knowing what the fuck happened or how well it happened. I was glad that Fred was so animated strangely it distracted me enough to relieve some of my anxiety, my heart still continued to race against my rib cage most of the day. Get to work I thought, I needed to try to keep my mind off of this or I was going to give myself a heart attack, the not knowing what the fuck happened was killing me that day.

  We still had the one body in the embalming room; I needed to bring the body up from the basement once Fred completed the embalming. I’ll place the cadaver in the front room for the visiting tonight, the family had decided they only wanted one day for visiting with the funeral at one in the afternoon the next day. I had prepared the front room for the body by placing the casket in the back corner of the front room; the body which was still in the embalming room would be placed in the casket once Fred had completed the embalming. I placed a number of chairs in the room along with the six flower arrangements that had arrived so far, three on each side of the casket.

  The family had called Fred the night before while I was out, and had made some of the funerals decisions over the phone at that time. When Fred and I picked up the body at the house the coroner Doc Burrows had already signed off officially on the death. The wife of the dead man we were picking up, provided Fred with a few more details of how she would like the services to proceed before telling Fred she would be in the next day to finalize all the arrangements

  While I was finishing up in the front room, Fred walked up from the basement and the embalming room. He was now finished with embalming the man we had both picked up the previous night. As Fred arrived at the top of the stairs the phone began to ring, Fred being the closest to the back office walked back down the hall and answered the ringing phone. After a few minutes had passed Fred reappeared in the doorway of the front room which I had just completed setting up as he announced

  “That call was from Harry Winslow’s estate lawyer informing us that we would be performing the service for Harry. Like I said earlier, Harry had included his funeral at the Shackles Funeral Home and his burial in the Largo cemetery in his will.”

  “You were right Fred”

  “I knew Harry would not change the plans he had discussed with me years ago, that just was not his style. If he was anything Harry Winslow was always a man who kept his word. The lawyer had no idea when the body would become available to be picked up at the morgue due to the ongoing murder investigation and the post mortem by the coroner so neither the Police or the Coroner had released the body as of yet”

  “Do they have any leads on the killer?”

  “I don’t have a clue; the lawyer sure did not mention anything about that”

  “Just wondering if you had heard anything?”

  “Nope, not a word. The lawyer also let me know that all three of Harry’s boys planned on being at the Funeral Home at four in the afternoon on Saturday to make the arrangements for their father’s service. The lawyer claimed to have told the eldest sibling that Harry had pre-arranged his own funeral but he still insisted on finalizing the details of the Funeral with us.”

  “Fine by me, what are they going to tell us not to fulfill their father’s wishes? Please. Regardless I’ll have everything set for them by the Saturday morning, I’m just heading out back for some fresh air, let’s talk more about the Harry Winslow funeral once Clyde is back from the city tonight.” I was ready to burst, this funeral had the potential to net thousands in profit provided the grieving trio want the best and grandest for their fathers send off. I needed to get out of here and get myself calmed down, shit just got real for me in a hurry as I could feel my blood pressure begin to drop.

  Once I had retreated into the garage and smoked a large joint, I was feeling way better. I washed the sedan and Hearst in an effort to keep my mind off of what had happened with Clyde the night before, and to try to focus on as many additional services I could tack onto Harry Winslow’s service. The dube and the washing of the cars helped immensely as the morning soon progressed to mid-day; Fred poked his head into the garage as I was just finishing up on the Hearse. Fred was on his way to his upstairs apartment to have a bite to eat, he had just completed the embalming on our latest client.

  “The body is ready Jack; I will need a hand placing it in the casket before we move it upstairs for visiting tonight. Found my address book and I made some phone calls; so far I managed to get four black Cadillac’s and a brand new flower van for next Saturday along with four men to help us out. This is definitely going to be the biggest funeral this old place has ever witnessed, I called the town Sheriff and he offered a pair of the local forces men to direct traffic. That will help to get everyone parked and the procession from the church to the cemetery which will now have a motor bike cop leading the way to clear and stop all other traffic. Talk about exposure, I’ll bet the media shows up here in droves. This is to juicy a story for them to pass up, we’ll see you inside in a bit”

  “Great stuff Fred, thanks for getting that much arranged already.” I yelled after him as I listened to him climb the outside stairs to the coach house above the garage. The cars were now clean anyway for the next day’s funeral, so I headed back up to my apartment for a bite to eat as well. Fred mention of food had
made me hungry as well, that and it was about an hour since I blazed.

  After a quick lunch I washed up and placed a fresh white shit with a navy tie on under the freshly pressed suit, having removed the dry cleaning bag and tags on the suit. Had someone told me a year ago I would be a weekly customer at the local dry cleaner for my daily attire I would have thought them insane.

  It was half past three by the time the last of the family had left the Funeral Home; they had arrived to spend some time with the deceased. The entire family would return by six thirty to prepare themselves for the seven to nine visitations. I wanted to have some time in the office to prepare for the Winslow brothers who were set to arrive at four. I let Fred handle the arriving family of the deceased in the front room, as I retreated to the office to work on the proposed arrangements for Harry Winslow’s service. I had asked Fred to remain near the front door after the family had departed to ensure he could greet the three brothers as they arrived at the Funeral Home.

  By four in the afternoon I had completed most of the forms for the services and projected costs, they would all be contained in a labeled folder marked Harry Winslow. Computers had just begun to enter main stream businesses back in the mid nineteen eighties, with the Shackles Funeral Home not yet being one of them. I had to make do with the offices old electric typewriter to complete all the forms for the arrangement. The desk clock would read six minutes after four when I would hear from down the hall the opening and closing of the funeral homes front door, it was the arrival of the first of the brothers.