Cassidy smiled and nodded. “Are you faced with them often?” she asked.
“Not anymore. As my position has increased so has my ability to avoid them. So I do. Every now and then, one of them crosses my path, though, and I'm forced to talk to them. My heart is always deadened by the encounter, as though all of the young men who died during the war died for naught. Thousands upon countless thousands died to achieve nothing. We freed the slaves only to see them thrown into laws that shackled them again, while the arrogant, soulless shells that populate these lands continue on hating everyone but their own. I don't... Sometimes I worry that the cost of the war was too great. Good men died to liberate a bad, corrupted land.”
Cassidy and Gideon's eyes both hung low, onto the water rushing past the ferry below. “It takes time,” said Gideon.
“Too much time,” replied Jebediah. “Time that we, in our short lives, do not have. We do not have the time to wait around as fools stop behaving like animals.”
“Look at it like this,” said Cassidy. “Many good men died, but so did many bad man. Countless thousands of those down here also died. Corrupted, horrible humans who now no longer inhabit this Earth. Each one of their deaths was an achievement, and we killed many more of them than they did of us.”
“Them, us. Even the words make me grit my teeth,” said Jebediah. “The encompassing concern that I have is that the men who fought weren't bad men. They were boys. Boys told to do things... by their fathers... and their grandfathers. They weren't warriors. They were just scared boys.”
“Don't think of them that way,” said Cassidy, sternly. “They were not just boys. They were bad men. They deserved to die. It doesn't matter if they understood what they were doing or not. They stood in the way of justice... of progress. They stood in the way. The rights of all is a fundamental precept. When rights are deprived of others, those who engender that injustice deserve to die, and fighting to kill them is a noble endeavor. They are the shit, left behind by a growing society, that must simply be shoveled away, and be given no more thought.”
Jebediah stared out over the water, squinting as the sunlight glinted off the waves. “I cannot disregard them so easily. A child who does not know... is just a child.”
“To steal another phrase you philosophy boys may understand, ignorance of the law is no excuse.”
“No, no... that is a trenchant point and I am well aware of it. But still, ignorant though he may have been, a child is a chance, and when killed, is a wasted chance. A lost opportunity. I may see some necessity in his death, but I must still weep.”
Cassidy looked out over the approaching city of New Orleans. She then pointed out over the cityscape. “Jeb, Jebediah, you see that?” Jebediah nodded. “Out in that city is twenty-five thousand young man. Twenty-five thousand chances and opportunities. Do not weep. Concentrate on them, those chances out there. The ones who died, they weren't chances. They were always lost. And hate them! Hate them for that. They deserve it. Hate them, hate their fathers, hate their grandfathers and their great-grandfathers. Hate the whole goddamned line of them. It makes it easier for you.”
Jebediah looked at Cassidy. “Nothing could make something like that easy for me,” he said.
---
The trio clomped their way down the gang plank to the dock. Fields of men, lumber, barrels, and crates stretched up and down the riverside. A seemingly endless number of horse-drawn and donkey-drawn carriages hauled all manner of cargo into and out of the bustling city as streams of smokey industry stretched into the sky from all directions. Ahead, standing in the middle of the main walkway from the ferry to the street stood two strapping young men, both dressed in the apparently required suit that all men in the State Department wore. Jebediah walked quickly up to the men with a smile on his face and his hand extended.
“Good day to you gentlemen, good day!” said Jebediah as he shook both of their hands heartily.
“Mr Secretary, I am David Griffith and this is my brother Walter,” said the handsomer of the two.
“David, Walter, a pleasure,” replied Jebediah. “These are the two mentioned in the message. Agent Gideon Atwater, one of our point men for the West coast, and, of course, Cassidy St. Claire.”
The two men recognized Cassidy first. “Ma'am,” they both said. Cassidy then surprised both of them with handshakes that nearly broke their fingers.
“Do we have a carriage?” asked Jebediah.
“Yes sir,” replied Walter, less handsome than David but still far from ugly. “It's just down on the streetside.”
“Excellent. Let us make haste. We've wasted enough time getting here,” said Jebediah. “How many more men do we have?” asked Jebediah as they walked through the endless traffic.
“Five,” replied David. “They're only locals, though. Nothing special.”
“That's more than enough,” said Jebediah. “It's good to finally have some back-up. I assume you have been fully informed about the events in Houston?”
“Yes sir. Truly terrible. It's a massive blow to our manpower down here,” said Walter.
“Yes it was. No need to dwell on it or discuss it. I simply wanted to make sure you were aware.”
“Here we are sir, the red carriage,” said David, motioning to a brightly-colored red carriage.
“Well, that's nondescript,” said Cassidy.
“In New Orleans, it certainly is, ma'am,” replied David with a smile.
The group climbed into the carriage. Jebediah and Cassidy on one side, the three agents on the other.
“Continuing, sir, we... um...” David paused, glancing at Cassidy.
“Don't worry about her,” said Jebediah. “She is privy to everything here. We wouldn't be here, and I probably wouldn't be alive, without her immense effort and resolve.”
Cassidy glanced at Jebediah out the corner of her eye in shock, then locked eyes with Gideon who shrugged.
“Yes sir,” said David. “We have been camped out in front of the target's office for over a week. A variety of characters have gone in and out, but the target has never made an appearance. We've interrogated some of those seen going in and out, and he really seems to be nothing more than some employment broker. Everyone we've worked up has come out legitimate.”
“Well we are going to find out these things for certain once I'm there. We're going to squeeze this guy until his guts fall out,” said Jebediah.
---
The carriage pulled up on the other side of the bustling street. Colorful buildings ran up and down the brick-paved road as an equally colorful cavalcade of citizenry flowed in every direction. A young man, almost a boy and with a significant overbite, walked out to greet the carriage.
“Mr. Griffith, Mr. Griffith,” the young man said as the two agents exited the carriage.
“Archie,” began David. “This is under-secretary Jebediah Ames.”
Jebediah straightened himself and adjusted his coat after stepping away from the carriage. He then extended his hand to the young man. “Wow... It's an honor, sir. I never thought I would meet someone as important as you,” the young man said.
“I'm not all that impressive, son. Honestly,” Jebediah replied in a fatherly tone.
“Good goddamned Christ,” whispered Cassidy to Gideon. “Does everyone in this department have their lips nailed to Jebediah's ass?”
“Shh!” Gideon hissed at Cassidy.
“You all can rest in the house first if you like, or we can step on over immediately,” said the young man.
“Let us go immediately,” said Jebediah. “Because I think that... that,” Jebediah was looking around. “Where's Cassidy?” he asked. The five of them looked around for a moment until David pointed across the street to Cassidy, in front of a yellow building with detail iron railings around its porch. She was looking up at a sign that said William A. Hitchcock, Esq. “Dammit!” yelled Jebediah, commencing a hurried shuffle across the street, followed by everyone else.
“Cassidy, wait up!” holler
ed Jebediah as he trotted up to her. “What are you doing?”
“What? You were just standing around talking. His giant, damned sign was across the street. I didn't want to wait anymore.”
With Cassidy in the lead, the group charged into the office. It was a far more sedate affair than the outside, with a few plants and a pretty, middle-aged secretary at her desk. She looked up at the rag-tag bunch.
“God damn, does everything in this city stink?” asked Cassidy quietly to her posse.
“Can I help you?” the secretary asked.
“Yeah. We're here to see Hitchcock,” replied Cassidy.
“Um... do you have an appointment.”
“Hell no we don't have an appointment! We're likely going to arrest the corrupt pile of garbage.”
“Uh, wha, what is this concerning?!” she asked, almost frightened and closing her folder.
“Our concern is none of your concern,” replied Cassidy. “Where is he?”
“He's, uh... he's not available right now. If you can—”
“Horseshit,” replied Cassidy. “Is he behind this door?”
A flash of panic ran over the secretary's face. “Uh, no. No. He's not here right now.”
“He's in there,” said Cassidy to the others. They all turned and walked toward a door on the right wall.
“No! No! He's not in there, I'm telling you!” protested the secretary. “He's out of town for the week. He left a few days ago”
Cassidy tried to open the door. It was locked. “Where's the key?” she asked the secretary.
“I don't have it,” said the secretary, looking as though she was about the cry.
“Fine,” Cassidy said. She held out her arms to motion people away from the door, then with everyone clear, slammed her right boot into the door by the door handle, causing the frame to explode in splinters as the door flew open and slammed onto the wall on the other side. Cassidy was the first to walk in as the secretary started to cry. She was followed by Jebediah, David, then Gideon and Walter. They all walked into the large, long office, every wall lined with filing cabinets. Sitting at a desk facing the door, was the gigantic, obese, rotting corpse of a man in what had one time been a finely-tailored suit. The buzzing of flies and the thick air of death nearly overwhelmed them as they all squinted and grimaced. Gideon gagged and then ran out of the room.
“Well. At least we know what that smell was,” said Cassidy, looking at the half-melted face of the man who was previously William A. Hitchcock, esq.
3
“IdidntwasntNOCHOICEbecauseifididthenpeoplewouldandNOW!!” The secretary blubbered, her face red and puffy, her makeup streaming down her face.
“Miss, miss... please calm down. Miss,” pleaded Jebediah, on his knee in front of her.
“We're making amazing progress with this one,” said Cassidy to Gideon and David, who were standing back away from the scene.
Cassidy sighed and walked back into Hitchcock's office, Gideon and David followed. “What the hell do we do with this?” asked Cassidy.
“We might have enough men to get him out of here quietly,” said David.
“How the hell do you move a half-rotted corpse?” asked Cassidy.
“Pick it up?” asked Gideon.
“Brilliant,” replied Cassidy.
“What? It's not as though he's falling apart. He's just a bit... tenderized, is all.” Cassidy snorted a laugh. “Maybe a large canvas?” continued Gideon. “Tie him up in it and haul him out on a litter. Even if he were falling apart, that would keep him together. And the docks will undoubtedly have everything that we need.”
“Unng,” said David. “Looking at him, I don't think we could fit him through a door.”
“We've got to figure out something. We have to try to keep this secret,” said Cassidy. “I don't want the people behind all this catching wind... so to speak... of this guy's death. I want them thinking that he's still down here doing whatever it is he did.”
The three all stood there, staring at the corpse. The corpse stared back at them with sunken, rotted eyes. “We could cut him up,” said Gideon.
Cassidy and David both slowly turned to Gideon and stared at him.
“What?” replied Gideon. “God dammit, it's an idea!”
---
“Are you feeling better?” asked Jebediah, kneeling down in front of the secretary, holding her hands.
“Yes,” she said between intermittent chokes. “I am. I'm sorry. I had been working with that for so long. I had built up so much fear.”
Jebediah nodded. “Now, first thing's first, my name is Jebediah Ames, I'm with the U.S. Government. This young man is Walter Griffith and is my associate. We are friends and allies, so please, do not fear us.” The secretary nodded as she wiped tears and makeup from her eyes. “Now, what is your name?”
“Day, sir. Claire Day. I've been Mister Hitchcock's secretary for the past nine years.”
“Claire,” said Jebediah with a smile. “I'm sorry to cut to chase, as it were, but time is short for us. Could you tell us what happened here?”
Claire nodded and was obviously holding back more tears as she spoke. “I had just moved to New Orleans from New York. I didn't have much money saved but I heard that there were lots of jobs in bookkeeping to be had in the cotton industry. I just ended up here at first, but he kept increasing my pay, so I stayed. We became good friends. I already knew a lot, but he taught me everything that he knew. It got to the point where we were partners, and I handled a lot of what needed doing. Then, I left one day, said good night, and came back the next morning to find him in the same spot. Just... sitting,” she broke down into tears again.
“Sounds like apoplexy,” said Walter. “Not surprising, considering his size.”
Claire managed to get her self together enough to form words. “He was such a good man. He deserved more than this!”
“Why did you hide this?” asked Jebediah.
“I had to. So many people relied on him. I relied on him. I needed this job. There were bunches of jobs ten years ago, but not today. And I knew how to do everything. No one was the wiser! Everything worked just as it was supposed to. People got their work, we got paid.”
“That's all reasonable,” said Jebediah. “But what were you planning to do? You had a giant body rotting in the room! Didn't you have a plan?”
Claire stared back at him, her face contorted in sorrow. “NO!” she yelled before sobbing into her hands again.
Jebediah rubbed her shoulder before looking up at Walter and nodding. Jebediah got up and Walter took his place. Jebediah then walked into the office with the other three. “Well, she's not going to be much good for us for at least a while. I doubt there was any foul play.”
“Yeah, we overheard. It was hard not to hear her blubbering,” said Cassidy.
“Be kind to her,” said Jebediah. “So, what do we do here?” he asked, turning to the body.
“We were just discussing that,” replied Gideon. “We think we can wrap him in a canvas with some of the plants and incense littered around here to cover up the smell, but we don't think we can get him through the door.”
Jebediah sighed. “Why not do that, then measure him. The front door is wider than the office door.” Jebediah looked back and forth between Hitchcock's body and the door. “Maybe we could just run at the door and his body would squeeze through.”
“That's begging for a disaster,” said Cassidy. “Besides, I already thought of that. We don't have enough strength to get him up to speed in such a small space. He's gotta' be four-hundred pounds. We'd need five big guys.”
They all stared at Hitchcock for a moment more. “Well, instead of thinking, let's do. We'll just get a sailcloth and do it,” said Jebediah. “We need him out of here. Because we sure as hell can't work like this.”
---
The massive bulk of Hitchcock's body was fully enveloped by the black canvas. Walter threaded rope through the seam with a large needle as Cassidy and David held the
tarp tight. Gideon and Claire stood back in her office, watching, Claire's face still drooped in sorrow.
“That's the best we're going to manage,” said Walter. We can't get this any tighter. And holy shit, does this smell.”
Jebediah turned to Gideon. “Go tell the driver that we're ready. Get the back ready.” Gideon nodded and walked out of the building. “Walter, David, you boys look like you've got the strongest backs. You take the ends. Cassidy and I will take the sides and help you get him up off the floor.” The two strapping lads nodded and stood on the ends of the litter. With a loud grunt, the four of them heaved the massive man aloft on the litter and walked him slowly and lurchingly toward the door.
They got to the frame and Cassidy grunted out. “Nope! He's not going to clear it!” The four then backed up and slowly lowered the body back onto the floor. “He almost fits. I think we could push him through.”
“You sure?” said David, breathing heavily, his hands on his hips.
“It's either that or we knock the door frame out. I'd rather not go through that.” Everyone looked at the body and nodded. “Alright. Jebediah, I figure that we'll help Walter push when we get to the door. David, keep steady when he pops through... I feel like I'm delivering a massive baby.”
The group got into formation, heaved the litter up, and when they reached the door frame, Cassidy and Jebediah moved from the side of the body to the back and pushed.
Cassidy St. Claire and The Fountain of Youth Parts I, II, & III Page 53