CHAPTER NINE
Stuart entered into the small but busy police station knowing it was going to cost him money.
A man with a nose for these things, he could smell the corruption all over that filthy place.
From the cops questioning a prostitute, to another group questioning her businessman john, it was all about what can you do for me to get you out of the hole you just got yourself into.
His line of work often involved greasing palms with politicians and other officials to get what he wanted. He was in his element.
“May I help you?”
The desk sergeant was an older Hispanic who seemed more bent on getting to retirement than making any waves. “Good afternoon,” Stuart said. “I wish to speak with the Chief.”
“Speak to him about what?”
Stuart didn’t answer that question. It was none of his business.
The fact that he didn’t push the issue proved to Stuart that his assessment of him was spot on. He didn’t make waves. “Your name?” he asked as he picked up the desk phone.
“Stuart Jacobs.”
In most circles, all he had to say was his name. It carried its own weight. But not in Larkin.
The desk sergeant pressed a button. “Chief, there’s a Stuart Jacobs out here to see you.”
Apparently the chief asked Stuart who because the sergeant repeated his last name only.
Then he apparently asked what line of work was he in because the sergeant looked Stuart up and down.
“Looks like a businessman to me.” Then that chief apparently asked yet another question that his sergeant asked Stuart: “What’s the name of your business? ”
Now was the time for Stuart to flex his muscle because this was getting tiresome. He had driven in from New York. He’d been at it all day. He was ready to get going again. “I work at Dellstone.”
Dellstone was a name Americans knew. The same way they knew General Motors or American Airlines.
Or even Walmart. Even hicks like that sergeant knew that name.
His shocked face proved that. “He says he works at Dellstone, Chief,” he said to the chief as if he was still getting over his initial shock himself.
“I know there’s no Dellstone around here, sir.
He’s not from around here.” Then he looked Stuart up and down again.
“No sir. He don’t look like no joker to me. ”
“Oh for crying out loud!” Stuart said, his patience gone. “Just tell the man I’ll make it worth his time.”
The sergeant was offended by his tone, but he did tell the chief. Then he ended the call. “He’ll be out in a minute, sir. Would you care to have a seat, sir?”
Just by mentioning the fact that he was open to bribing his way in to see that chief, suddenly made him somebody in the eyes of that sergeant.
Suddenly he was a sir. He suddenly deserved courtesy and respect.
Stuart wondered how ordinary people with no cash to back them up made it in this town.
Then he realized they probably didn’t make it at all.
Like the young woman he was there to help.
But the one thing Stuart never liked were people who disrespected him when they assumed him to be a nobody. He didn’t want their respect when they found out otherwise. “No,” he said to the offer of a seat.
But it turned out that there was no time for sitting anyway because the chief, a stocky black guy who appeared to be in his early fifties, was out of his office and walking toward the information desk as if he had run down that hall.
And he was extending his hand before he made it up to Stuart. “Mr. Jacobs, sir,” he said jovially. “So glad to meet you. I’m Willie Newfield, Chief of Police. Welcome to Larkin!”
Stuart shook his hand and studied his eyes. Was he an official in the mode of a Barack Obama, or a Clarence Thomas, he wondered. A Clarence Thomas could easily get a job as the black police chief of a town like Larkin. A Barack Obama could not.
“How can I help you?” the chief asked.
“One of your officers just detained a young lady. I can’t recall her name, but an SUV crashed into the back of her car and a fight ensued.”
It was obvious the chief had no idea what case he was referencing. He looked at his sergeant.
“Marvin had that collar, Chief. He’s in the back.”
“Tell him to get to my office. Please follow me, Mr. Jacobs,” the chief said to Stuart and Stuart followed him down a long hall, turned a corner, and then entered the office of the chief of police. A very small office, he thought. Repressively so.
“Have a seat,” the chief said as he motioned toward the chair in front of his desk. As Stuart sat down, he walked around and sat behind his desk. “I take it you have a problem with the arrest since you don’t know the lady?”
“I witnessed the incident and attempted to tell your officer that she did nothing wrong. But he insisted that the young lady who instigated the entire affair was the victim. Despite my pleas, he insisted on arresting the actual victim.”
“Let me guess: the instigator was white and the real victim was not?”
Stuart nodded. “Exactly so.”
“It’s a problem in this department, I’ll never pretend it’s not,” the chief said candidly. “I’m new. Just a few months in. I’m working on changing the culture, believe me.”
Stuart was pleased to hear it.
“So what brings you to Larkin? I haven’t seen you around here before. But then again,” he said with a smile, “there’s twenty-five thousand people in this town, give or take. There’s no way I can know’em all.”
“I was born here. But I left when I was sixteen.”
“And you never looked back?”
Other than coming to check out that big house he purchased for his mother two years ago, when she stood him up anyway, he never looked back. “That’s correct,” he said.
“Dang. That’s a long time. About what? Thirty years ago? Give or take a year or two?”
“That’s correct.”
“Why would you suddenly come back now, if I might ask? It’s not every day that a guy who works for a heavy-hitter like Dellstone as, I’m assuming, an executive, would be in our little town.”
Stuart was not the kind of man comfortable with sharing, but the chief seemed to be a man attempting to help the community. “My mother lived here. She recently passed away.”
“Oh! So sorry to hear that. I didn’t know we had the mother of a titan of industry in our town.”
“I left a long time ago. A lot of the people who knew me back then left too. Or died off. Or, in your case, never knew me to begin with. I’m just here to close out her books, make sure there are no outstanding debts, put her house on the market, and leave.”
The chief grinned. “You have about as high an opinion of this place as I have of New York City.”
Stuart smiled and nodded his head. Definitely Clarence Thomas, he thought.
Then a knock was heard on the door, the chief yelled to come in, and that same smug officer walked in. “You wanted to see me, Chief?”
When he saw Stuart sitting in the office with his legs crossed, he slowed his progression. But he kept walking to the desk.
“This is Mr. Jacobs,” the chief said. “He said he witnessed an accident today, but you ignored his input. Is that true?”
“I didn’t know what he was about, sir,” said the officer.
The chief frowned. “What do you mean what he was about? He said he witnessed the accident. Did you take down his statement?”
The cop stood even more erect. “No sir.”
“He said the one you declared was the victim was the instigator.”
That was when Stuart interceded. “That white girl rammed her big Durango into the small vehicle of the young black lady he arrested. And then the white female jumped on the much-smaller young lady and began fighting her. They young lady they arrested was only defending herself. She didn’t start any of it. ”
Stuart could see the frustration on the chief’s face. “What’s her name?”
Stuart could tell that the officer knew her name, but he didn’t want to reveal it. But he knew he had no choice. “Morgan,” he said. “Tabitha Morgan.”
“You’re on desk duty until you hear from me,” the chief said, and then dismissed him.
When they left, he phoned the desk sergeant and ordered him to release Tabitha Morgan immediately with no charges filed.
Then he ended the call. “Sorry about that,” he said to Stuart, as Stuart rose to his feet. “It’s how they’re used to operating around here. It’s deeply embedded in the culture of this place. But I’m going down hard on every single cop who still refuses to change their ways. No exceptions.”
“That’s good to know that somebody’s changing things,” Stuart said.
“I remember how nastily I was treated when I was growing up here simply because I was a kid from the wrong side of the tracks. My family was very poor. That treatment you don’t forget.
And if it was that bad for me, I can only imagine how bad it was for African Americans and other people of color around here. ”
“I’m here to tell you it was bad.” The chief chuckled. “That’s why I ran for public office. I decided I wanted to change things from within.”
Stuart extended his hand. “Thank you, sir, and I’ll be on my way.”
“Well now,” the chief said as he shook his hand. “There’s the matter of that other thing.”
Stuart stared at him. “What other thing?”
“You said you would make all of this worth my time?”
Stuart suddenly realized that he had made the false assumption that a black chief helping out a black female would be above bribing. But he should have known when money was involved nobody was above anything. He pulled out his wallet. “How much?”
“How much you got in mind?”
“A couple hundred.”
“Think again.”
Stuart wasn’t playing games with this crook. “If not a couple hundred, how much?”
“A couple grand will do.”
Stuart was floored. “You’re out of your gotdamn mind. I don’t even know her name. She’s nothing to me.”
“Then why are you here if she’s nothing to you?”
It was a great question. And one Stuart couldn’t answer. “I don’t carry big cash,” he said. “All I have is four hundred.” He showed the bills. “Take it or leave it.”
The chief wasn’t pleased. He was hoping for a bigger payout. But he nodded his head. Stuart tossed the money on his desk, returned his wallet to his pocket, and began leaving.
The chief smiled as he picked up the money. “Just wheeling and dealing,” he said. “You’re a businessman. You know how that goes.”
Stuart glanced back at him with that disgust he always displayed when he had to deal with crooks and cons. But the chief was right. He knew indeed. He couldn’t wait to get out of that place.