Chiefs (42 page)

Billy smiled slightly. “Yes, I’m sure he is.” He glanced at the resume. “You saw combat in the war?”

“Yes, sir. 761st Tank Battalion.”

“I’ve heard about the outfit.”

“Yes, sir. Eleanor Roosevelt’s Niggers.”

“That’s the one. We had a man from Delano in that outfit.”

“Who would that be, sir?”

“Marshall Parker.”

“He wasn’t in my company.”

“You were in Korea, too?”

“Yes, sir. That was when I transferred into the military police.”

“You’re married, I see. Any children?”

“No, sir. We married late.”

Billy shifted in his seat. “Let me be direct with you, Major. I have no doubt that you are very well qualified for this job by training and experience, but let’s talk about temperament. We’re talking about the job of chief of police in a small southern town. There’s never been a black policeman in Delano. There are bound to be a lot of pressures involving race. Do you think you could handle that?”

“I’ve thought about the problems involved. What you have to understand, sir, is that an army base, wherever it is, is a small southern town. The army is disproportionately southern. I serve under white southern officers, and white southern boys serve under me. I can’t say that the situation has never caused friction. I think, for instance, that if I had been white I’d probably be a full colonel by now instead of a major, but I’ve never had any problems handling that. Ten years ago I was a master sergeant, so I can’t really complain about promotion. I’ve always had outstanding efficiency reports from white southern officers, and I don’t think there’s a white boy who’s ever served under me who would say he was been treated anything but fairly.”

“Well, you’d have a force of six men, all white and all southern. Handling them would be your very first problem. Tell me, what sort of social life do you have in the army? Do you think you could adapt socially to a place where virtually all the black people are less well educated and less affluent than you?”

Watts smiled, revealing white, even teeth. “That’s the first thing my wife asked me. But I reminded her that we’re not all that social, anyway. We’ve gotten used to moving every couple of years, like everybody in the army, so what friends we have are pretty scattered. If we want a big night out we go to the officer’s club, and living in Delano we’d still have PX and club privileges at Fort Benning and Fort Mac. We’ve always talked about buying a place in the country when we retire, and that would mean a pretty quiet life, too.”

Billy nodded. “Well, there’s no shortage of country around Delano. What sort of money do you think you’d need?”

“What’s the budget for the job?”

“About ten thousand.”

“I think that would do us very well. I’d have my retirement pay, too. I’d like to think that if I did a good job there would be more later.”

“I should think there would be. There are some insurance benefits, too, I think.”

“That’s fine, but what would concern me most would be the budget for the department and my authority as chief. I don’t want to run a force that isn’t properly equipped and manned— that’s a losing game—and I’d want absolute authority to hire and fire.”

“Well, those seem like reasonable requests to me, but you’d have to take them up with the city council.” Billy gazed across the room at a painting of a sailing ship. He had begun to see an opportunity in Tucker Watts. “Major, would you be available to come down to Delano on Friday afternoon? There’s a council meeting at six o’clock.”

“Yes, sir, I could do that.”

“Let me talk with a couple of people, and I’ll get back to you tomorrow, then.” He stood up and stuck out his hand.

“Thank you, Governor, that will be just fine.”

When Watts had gone, Billy picked up the phone and began dialing Hugh Holmes’s number at the Bank of Delano. He broke the news as gently as he could.

“I don’t know about that, Billy. We’ve talked about hiring a black policeman, as you know, but a black chief?”

“Mr. Holmes, I want to bring him down there on Friday, and have the council meet him.”

“Well, I guess we owe you that, Billy, after you’ve taken the time to find this fellow. Do you want them to know he’s colored?”

Billy thought for a moment. “Yes, but not until they arrive at the meeting. You’re meeting at six. I’ll try and have him there at six-thirty. All right?”

“All right, son. Do you think the press will get wind of this?”

“I don’t think so, but if they do, everybody will come off a lot better if they’ve given the man a hearing.”

“I suppose so.”

Billy hung up and made a mental note to ask Watts to be sure and wear his uniform.

Tucker Watts left the meeting with the lieutenant governor half elated and half afraid. Might this really happen? If it did, could he bring it off? He tried to imagine what might lie ahead, but all his excited mind could conjure up was the image of a tightrope stretched before him, so high that it was impossible to see what lay below. He knew that he would not hesitate to walk it if the opportunity came. He was drawn irresistibly toward it, helpless to stop himself.

Delano. Of all the places in the world, Delano, Georgia.

Chapter 4.

TUCKER WATTS hated lying to his wife, because she read him so easily. He had thought carefully about how he would explain things to her, in order to keep the lies he would have to tell her at an absolute minimum. As soon as he came into the house he went into the kitchen, where she was preparing dinner, and mixed them both a gin and tonic.

“I had an interesting job interview today,” he said, squeezing lime into their drinks.

“Oh?” She knew already just how interested he was.

“With the lieutenant governor, William H. Lee.”

“A state job?”

“No. You remember a little town called Delano?”

She furrowed her brow.

“You remember. We’ve passed through there driving back and forth to Columbus. You always say how pretty you think it is.”

“Oh, that one. Yes, it is pretty. Is the job there?”

He nodded. “Chief of police.”

Her eyebrows went up. “What does the lieutenant governor have to do with that?”

“It’s his home town. He’s helping them find somebody. Breen on the Atlanta force recommended me.”

“I thought Breen didn’t like colored folks.”

“He doesn’t. I don’t think he told Lee I was colored.”

She laughed. “That must have come as quite a shock.”

“Didn’t seem to. I think he’s going to recommend me to the city council.”

“Is Delano someplace you think we ought to go?”

“Well, look at it this way. We already know by now that I’m not going to get hired at any sort of rank by any big-city police force because of seniority problems, and I’m too old and too mean to start somewhere as a patrolman.”

“Lord knows that’s true.”

“Careful how you agree with me.” He slapped her on the bottom.

“Mmmmm. Do that again.”

“Later. Now, we’re looking to retire, right? But we both know I need to work to keep from going crazy. Well, this might just give us everything we want. We can buy a few acres in the country near town, and you can do some gardening. We might even build us a house if things work out.”

“Being chief of police isn’t exactly retirement, is it?”

“Shoot, I can run that department left-handed, once I get the little white-boy cops to understand who’s boss. Nothing happens in those little towns that even gets you out of bed more than a couple of times a year.”

“How about money?”

“Pays ten thousand, and with our retirement pay and PX privileges at Benning, we could live right well, you know?”

“You make it sound good.” She paused. “Is there something you aren’t telling me about it?”

Jesus, the woman was psychic. “What’s not to tell? You know everything I know. Lee wants me to go down there and meet the city council Friday evening.”

“You think they’ll hire a colored fellow?”

“I don’t know, but I figure Lee wouldn’t want me to go down there if he didn’t think so. He’s going to run for governor next year, you know, and it would be a feather in his cap with the colored vote, to have a black chief in his home town.”

She nodded. “Guess so. Don’t you have an aunt or a cousin in Delano?”

“Aunt. I haven’t seen her in years. Don’t even know if she’s still alive.”

“Well, if it looks good to you it’s all right with me.” She opened the oven and took out a meatloaf. “Drink up your drink; supper’s about ready.”

Chapter 5.

AS THE Delano City Council convened on Friday night, Hugh Holmes found himself wondering at exactly what point he had begun doing things Billy’s way instead of the other way around. Early on, he decided, while Billy had still been in the state senate. The boy had always learned quickly. Now Holmes found himself leading the charge in a delicate matter, trusting Billy’s judgment entirely. He had not met this Major Watts, but he knew that Billy wouldn’t be bringing him to this meeting if he didn’t fully expect Holmes and the rest of the council to approve his appointment.

“Did you know I was black before you met me?” They were driving south in Billy’s car, a state-patrol vehicle leading the way and another state trooper following behind in Tucker Watts’s car.

Billy smiled. “No, I didn’t. I think that was Chief Breen’s idea of a joke.”

“You seem to be taking his joke seriously.”

“Oh, I’m not taking you to Delano to waste your time, Major. I think you could be very good in this job.”

“Do you think the city council is going to agree with you?”

“Well, there’s a man named Hugh Holmes preparing the way for us. They’re going to have a hard time disagreeing with him. He’s been on that council since there was a council, and he knows how to get his way.”

“How did he get convinced?”

“He isn’t convinced, but he’s impressed with your record, and he’s willing to talk with you about it. He’ll convince the others to listen, too, I reckon. Did I tell you that my father was the first chief of police in Delano?”

“No.”

“Back in the twenties. He was killed in the line of duty, when he went to get a young boy who was serving a short sentence in the local jail. He let the boy go home for the night, and he didn’t show up the next morning. His father was in a malarial delirium and came out with a shotgun. Thought he was somebody else, apparently.”

“I’m sorry to hear it.”

“It was a long time ago. My mother took it pretty hard, but she wrote a letter to the governor asking him to pardon the fellow. He should never have been convicted in the first place. He was out of his head at the time.”

“That must have been tough on your family.”

“Yes, but not as tough as it was on the fellow’s family. His son was about my age. He ran. It was stupid, but he was charged as an accessory. My mother was trying to get the charges dropped against him, when he was killed, hit by a truck over in Alabama. Hitchhiking, I think. The father was finally sent to the electric chair, in spite of my mother’s efforts. It was a tragic business. Couldn’t happen today, at least I hope not.”

They were both quiet for a few minutes. Tucker turned toward him. “You mentioned a fellow in my outfit in the war, Marshall Parker?”

“That’s right.”

“I heard about him at a battalion reunion, I think. Didn’t he get shot at the jail?”

“That’s right. He was beat up by two police officers and then shot. He told a local doctor about it on his deathbed—Dr. Tom Mudter, you’ll meet him tonight at the council meeting—and the two of us and some others tried to get the cops convicted for it, but we couldn’t even get an indictment. One of the cops resigned under pressure, the other one ran. Damndest thing, he stole the police motorcycle and just disappeared.”

“On a police motorcycle? I wouldn’t have thought he’d get far on that.”

“We thought he had some help, that he must have been planning it. He ran before we heard from the grand jury. Never been heard from, as far as I know.”

“Sounds like the Delano Police Department has had a pretty turbulent history.”

“Oh, it’s been pretty quiet for a long time now. The Parker incident made the city council much more sensitive to the treatment of black prisoners. I don’t think there have been any serious abuses since that time. Hugh Holmes has always kept a pretty close eye on the police. He felt very badly about having had a hand in hiring this fellow Butts, the one who disappeared. I think his attitude will stand in your favor.” Billy opened his briefcase on the seat between them and fished out a large buff envelope. “By the way, Mr. Holmes sent these up. The departmental budget and an inventory of equipment. He thought you might like to look it over before the meeting.”

Tucker began reading through the material, and they were quiet for the remainder of the trip.

Holmes began the meeting by asking that all other business be postponed, in order to address an important matter; then he began a recital of attempts, all unsuccessful, to hire a qualified chief of police for the town. For a moment he felt transported to another council meeting more than forty years before, when he had made substantially the same remarks. Then his mission had been to get the council to hire a farmer to be a policeman. Now it was to persuade them to give a black applicant a hearing.