by Jack Ford
“I think we’ve fallen into a rut in this relationship,” Ella said, popping the last of the French fries into her mouth.
“Excuse me?” Jeff said, puzzled.
She waved her hand across the table. “Cheeseburgers and fries. Sound familiar?”
Jeff grinned sheepishly. “I see what you mean. You’re right. Guess I haven’t really offered you many culinary delights. How about this? How about tomorrow night, back in Oxford, we do a real out-for-dinner? And no burgers allowed.”
“That sounds suspiciously like a date.”
Jeff nodded. “It does, doesn’t it? So, how about we call it a date?” he asked, holding her gaze.
“I’d like that,” she smiled.
“Great.” He returned her smile. “A date it is.”
A few minutes later, they paid the check—Ella insisted that they split it this time—and then strolled outside to the parking lot. As they approached Jeff’s car, two men stepped out of the shadows and blocked their path. One was tall, lean, and bearded, while the second was short and stocky. Both wore jeans, work boots, leather jackets, and baseball caps and appeared to be in their late twenties. Neither was smiling.
“The man you been lookin’ for would like to have a chat with you,” said the taller man.
“That’s fine,” said Jeff, forcing a smile as he shuffled over toward Ella. “We were hoping we’d get a chance to meet him.”
“Let’s go,” the tall man said, nodding toward a big, dark SUV parked about twenty feet away. “Get in.”
“Where are we going?” asked Ella.
“You’ll know when we get there,” the shorter man grunted. “Now get in.”
“Wait a second,” Jeff said, raising his hands. “We’re not going anywhere until—”
“We ain’t askin’ you,” the tall man hissed, a revolver suddenly appearing in his hand. “We’re tellin’ you. Get in the damn car! Now!”
Jeff took Ella’s hand as they were prodded by the two men toward the SUV. He looked around quickly, hoping that someone else was in the parking lot and could help. But the lot was empty.
They were shoved into the back seat and the short man climbed in next to them. “Here. Put these on,” he said gruffly, throwing two black hoods at them. “And give me your cell phones.”
Jeff nodded to Ella who, despite the fear in her eyes, remained calm. They handed him their phones, which he dropped into his jacket pocket, and then pulled the hoods over their heads. Jeff grabbed her hand and held it tightly. As Jeff leaned over to whisper to her, the short man yanked him back.
“Shut the fuck up! No talking!”
The SUV roared out of the parking lot and picked up speed on the highway. Jeff tried to follow their route in his mind but the driver seemed to be making an inordinate number of turns, obviously trying to confuse his passengers. After what seemed to Jeff to be about fifteen minutes, the SUV pulled off the highway and headed along what felt like a twisting dirt road. A few minutes later, the SUV braked to an abrupt stop.
The doors opened and they were pulled roughly from the back seat. Jeff and Ella stumbled as they were shoved forward and through the door of a building. Once inside, the two men pulled the hoods off and steered their captives to the middle of the room, pushing them into two wobbly, warped cane chairs. They squinted into the darkness, blinking rapidly, trying to figure out where they were. It looked like an old, dirt-floored barn with rusted tools, a few pieces of broken furniture, and withered hay scattered about. The only illumination came from the flickering light of an oil lantern perched on top of a small bench next to their chairs, which sent shimmering shadows dancing along the cracked and weather-beaten wooden walls.
“You guys have any idea how many laws you just broke?” Jeff said, hoping that the anger in his voice might mask his fear.
“Shut the fuck up!” the tall man yelled. “You ain’t the one in charge here.”
He beckoned to the other man, who had been staring at Ella. They went off into the corner of the barn where the tall man whispered something, and then punched in a number on his cell phone. After a moment, they heard him say “They’re here.” Then he hung up. The two men stayed in the corner, whispering, the short one occasionally shooting a leering glance at Ella, until they heard the sound of a car pulling up outside just a few minutes later.
The door to the barn opened and A. J. Hollingsly walked in. Dressed in khaki pants and a short-sleeved plaid shirt, nearly bald except for tufts of gray hair above his ears, from a distance he looked like just about anyone’s grandfather. He spoke briefly in a hushed voice to the two men, and then ambled over to Jeff and Ella. As he came closer, the kindly grandfather image quickly evaporated. Despite his age, his wiry frame was still trim and he moved easily. Behind his thick, black-framed glasses, he had the face of a barroom brawler, with a nose that had been broken repeatedly and thick scar tissue running in so many directions across his face that it looked like a relief map of the Appalachian mountain country. He stopped in front of the chairs, hands on his hips, and glared at Jeff and Ella.
“Seems like y’all just can’t take a hint,” he growled in a deep, gravelly drawl. “Thought that carvin’ a chunk outta your car tires might’ve convinced you to leave me alone. Guess not.”
“We were just hoping that we could talk to you for a few minutes,” Jeff said, as conversationally as he possibly could. “We certainly don’t want to impose on your privacy and we wouldn’t bother you unless it was something very important.”
“Somehow, I reckon that your idea of what’s important and my idea are pretty different.” He looked at Ella. “I know who he is but who’re you?”
Ella gathered up all the bravado that she certainly didn’t feel at the moment. “Ella Garrity,” she answered. “From the New York Times. And if I’m not mistaken, your boys here don’t seem to know the difference between kidnapping and an invitation to talk. Do you?”
“Well, Miss Garrity, we ain’t up in New York right now. And if I was you, I might consider bein’ a little more polite. And y’all might also want to let me do the questionin’ here.”
“Look, Mr. Hollingsly, we’re not looking for any trouble,” Jeff said soothingly. “We just wanted to ask you some questions about a case you investigated back when you worked for the Sovereignty Commission.”
Hollingsly raised an eyebrow and cocked his head to one side. “And what makes you think I’d have any interest in talkin’ to y’all about anything?”
“You were a law enforcement officer once,” Ella chimed in. “We thought you’d still have an interest in making sure justice was done.”
“Justice?” Hollingsly laughed. “What the hell do y’all know about me and justice?”
“We know that you investigated the killing of Elijah Hall back in 1960,” Jeff said. “We know that you talked to Ricky Earl Graves about the shooting right after it happened. And we know that you found out all the details, including who was there and who pulled the trigger.”
“So that’s what this is all about,” Hollingsly said, looking hard at Jeff. “Shoulda known. So why do y’all think I was involved?”
“Because Ricky Earl is my client,” Jeff said softly. “And because he told us all about your conversation back then.”
Hollingsly was quiet for a moment. “So you’re the one behind Tillman Jessup’s prosecution?”
Jeff nodded.
“Boy, you got no fuckin’ idea what you got yourself into,” he said, his voice dropping deeper in anger. “Do you really think I’m gonna help you? I was glad those boys blew that damn nigger preacher away. Woulda done it myself if I thought I coulda got away with it. And I thought all these years that them there boys were in the clear. Until you and your New York bleedin’ heart, nigger-lovin’ friend here,” he tilted his head toward Ella, “decided to butt in where you don’t belong.”
“Listen, Mr. Hollingsly,” Jeff said, “the only�
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“No, you listen, you self-righteous little bastard,” Hollingsly said menacingly, stepping closer to Jeff. “It’s because of people like you—and your damn father—that our whole way of life disappeared. It’s because of you that we got nigger judges and nigger congressmen and nigger cops and niggers takin’ good payin’ jobs from people like me. I was happy to help cover up that nigger’s killin’ and I sure as hell ain’t gonna do nothin’ to help convict anybody now.” He glared at Jeff, then Ella.
“All right,” Ella said softly, trying to diffuse his anger. “We got our answer. Like we said, we didn’t want to impose. We just felt we had to ask.”
“One last question,” Jeff said defiantly. “Did Tillman Jessup pull the trigger?”
Hollingsly smirked. “What do you think, boy?”
“I think he did. And I think you’ve been protecting him all these years.”
Now Hollingsly laughed out loud. “You’re damn right he did. He’s the only one of them punks had the balls to do somethin’ about them outside nigger agitators. That’s why he’s gonna make us a great governor.”
Jeff looked at Ella. She shot him a look that said let’s get out of here, this guy’s crazy. He nodded.
“Okay, Mr. Hollingsly,” Jeff said respectfully. “We apologize for taking up your time. I’m sure you understand that we needed to ask you. Now that we have your answer, if you’d just have your men take us back to my car, we won’t bother you again.”
Hollingsly didn’t seem to have heard Jeff. He was staring off into the distance.
“Mr. Hollingsly?” Jeff said.
Hollingsly turned back toward Jeff and glowered at him, his eyes hard.
“Afraid it ain’t so simple anymore,” Hollingsly said, shaking his head sadly. “You were warned, boy. But you just had to go bargin’ in where you don’t belong. And you had to bring this pretty little thing along with you.”
“If anything happens to us, plenty of people know we came here looking for you. And they’ll come after you hard,” Jeff said angrily.
“So what? I got four people will swear I been playin’ poker with ’em all night,” he sneered. Turning, he gestured toward the short man. “Keep an eye on ’em.”
The short man pulled a revolver from his waistband and pointed it at Jeff and Ella. Hollingsly pulled the taller man into the corner of the barn where they engaged in a hushed but animated discussion.
Jeff leaned toward Ella. “I don’t like this. We need to get out of here. And soon.”
“Okay,” Ella whispered. “How?”
Before Jeff could answer, Hollingsly turned and walked toward the door. He stopped in the doorway and looked back at the tall man.
“I don’t care what you do with ’em,” he said in a low and threatening tone. “And I don’t want to know. Just make damn sure it looks like an accident.”
Hollingsly left the barn, slamming the rickety wooden door behind him.
CHAPTER 30
As soon as Hollingsly left the barn, the two men huddled near the doorway. The short man kept looking over at Ella and smirking, while the taller man, who had grabbed a length of rope from a hook on the wall, seemed upset and repeatedly shook his head.
Jeff leaned over toward Ella. “We can’t let them tie us up,” he whispered. “We’ve got to get out. Now.”
Ella nodded, her eyes wide, trying hard to maintain her composure.
“Here’s what we’ll do,” Jeff said, holding her frightened gaze and trying to sound much more confident than he felt. “I’ll take down whoever gets closest to me. But I need you to keep the other one busy. Just for a moment, before I can get to him, too. Do whatever you can—grab him, kick him, jump on his back, whatever. Just try to keep him off me. Understand?”
Ella nodded.
“When they start to head over here, act real scared. Make them think we’ll go along quietly.”
“Shouldn’t be too hard to do,” she said, peeking over at the two men still arguing near the door.
“Hey. Listen to me. We’ll get out of this,” he said, reaching for her hand and squeezing it tightly. “I promise.”
The men broke their huddle. The tall man, still holding the rope, walked toward Jeff while the other one, grinning lasciviously, made his way toward Ella.
“Please,” Jeff begged, his voice quavering. “You don’t want to do this. Just let us go. We won’t tell anybody. I promise!”
Next to him, Ella began whimpering. “Please don’t hurt us. Please!”
The short man laughed, leering at Ella. “Well, maybe we’ll have a little fun with you first,” he leered at Ella. “Then, depending on how friendly you are, maybe we won’t hurt you so much. Up to you, pretty lady.”
“Gimme your hands!” the tall man barked as he stopped in front of Jeff.
Sliding fearfully back in his chair, Jeff slowly held his hands out in front of him. As the man bent over to grab them, Jeff suddenly rocked forward, slamming his forehead into the bridge of the man’s nose, splintering bone and cartilage. The man howled from the piercing pain as blood spurted from his shattered face.
Before the short man could react, Ella drove her foot up and into his groin, sending a thunderbolt of pain through his body. As he fell to his knees in agony, she jumped up, grabbed the flimsy cane chair, and brought it crashing down on his head. He toppled over on his side, groaning, and curled into a fetal position.
Meanwhile, the tall man had staggered backward, hands over his face, trying to clear the blood from his eyes. Jeff leaped at him, driving his fist deep into the man’s solar plexus, and then landed a fast uppercut to his chin. The man slammed against the wall and collapsed to the floor.
Jeff turned quickly toward Ella and, seeing that the other man was down, grabbed her by the arm.
“Let’s go! Now!” he yelled.
They took two steps toward the door when she abruptly stopped, pulled away, and turned back toward the short man, who was still writhing in pain on the ground.
“What’re you doing?” Jeff shouted.
“Our phones! He’s got them!”
She reached down and grabbed their phones out of his coat pocket. As she straightened up, she delivered a swift kick to the man’s ribs.
“How’s that for being ‘friendly,’ asshole?” she said, sneering.
Turning back toward Jeff, she looked over his shoulder and screamed.
“Jeff! Behind you!”
Whirling around, Jeff saw the tall man rushing at him, an ax handle held high over his head. Jeff hunched down and drove his shoulder into the man’s mid-section, pile-driving him back against the wall. The two of them crashed to the ground. Jeff quickly rolled away, looking for anything he could use as a weapon. He spotted an old, rusty shovel on the ground, grabbed it, spun around, and swung it with all his strength as the man came charging at him. The blade of the shovel caught him flush on the side of his head. There was a crack that sounded like a fastball rocketing off a metal bat. The man flopped backward, his eyes rolling back in his head, and lay still.
Jeff dropped the shovel, grabbing Ella’s arm, and they both dashed toward the door. As he pushed the door open, there was the crack of a gunshot from behind them and the doorframe above their heads blew out, splintering into shards of flying wood. They ducked and scrambled through the door.
CHAPTER 31
The moon slid between the clouds, casting the woods surrounding the barn in shades of flickering darkness. Jeff and Ella burst out of the building and, as another gunshot rang out, they scrambled around the corner toward the dirt road. As they ran past the parked SUV, Jeff slid to a stop, quickly reached through the open driver’s side window, yanked the keys out of the ignition, and hurled them into the woods. A bullet pinged off of the roof of the SUV. Grabbing each other’s hands, they sprinted down the road and were quickly swallowed up by the dark canopy of trees.
Racing a
long, carefully skirting the deepest ruts in the twisting path, they soon came to a paved road. Bent over, gulping air, they peered both ways, hoping to see the headlights of a vehicle that could carry them to safety. Nothing but darkness both ways.
“I’ve got . . . an idea,” Jeff gasped. “They’ll be searching for us out on the road . . . betting we took off looking for a ride.”
“Isn’t that what we should do?” Ella wheezed, looking around frantically.
“But if we try to flag down a set of headlights, how’ll we know it isn’t them—or their buddies—out looking for us?”
“Okay. So what’s your plan?”
“We stay right here.”
“What?”
“Not right here, out in the open.” He gestured back into the woods. “Back in there. Far enough off the road that nobody’ll see us. But close enough to look for help when it gets light out. They’ll expect us to run, so we’ll stay right here.”
“Sounds good to me. Let’s go.”
They picked their way back into the deep woods, careful not to leave a trail by tearing up the foliage. Finding a thick stand of trees ringed by heavy undergrowth, they dropped to the ground, parked themselves behind an enormous oak, and listened.
After a few minutes of resounding silence, Jeff whispered to Ella.
“The phones?”
“Got them here,” she whispered back, pointing to her coat pocket.
“Good thinking to grab them.”
“Thanks.”
“Give me mine. As soon as it’s clear I’ll call Terrell and get help out here.”
She slipped the phone into his hand and leaned back against him.
“Sorry about getting you into this,” he said softly, wrapping his arm around her. “Kinda steep price to pay, even for a big story.”