“They drove down Cobb Road and parked. Brady’s son had put on his clothes. The man in the backseat—Lawton something, or—no matter—he said: ‘Too Tall Sammy wants his twenty Gs.’
“That boy Jean-Pierre said: ‘I never had no twenty Gs. I had ten. Charlie-O had the other ten.’
“The one in the backseat with the boy—the one who got killed—did all the talking: ‘We caught up with Charlie-O. He said you kept it all.’
“ ‘Charlie-O lied. He got half.’
“ ‘Charlie-O lied?’
“ ‘If he said I took it all, he lied.’
“ ‘When a man beg you to hurry up and kill him he’s lying?’
“ ‘If he said I took it all, he’s lying.’
“All of this came out in court from the one who lived. Where you at, Lucas?”
“Right here with you, man,” Lucas assured him.
“ ‘You remember Li’l Jim? You remember what Too Tall Sammy did to him for just misappropriating one G? Not twenty—just one? Made you want to puke—remember? He did twice as much to Charlie-O.’
“ ‘Yeah,’ the one under the wheel in front said. ‘And Li’l Jim wasn’t nothing more than a li’l humpback.’
“The one in back said to the one in front: ‘I’ve told you a thousand times, it’s hunch. He was a hunchback. Hunch. You ought to read a book sometime.’
“ ‘Yeah. Hunch. I liked the li’l fellow.’
“ ‘We all liked him. That’s why you wanted to puke for the suffering he was taking.’
“All of this came out at the trial. You know how them lawyers like to get to the bottom of things.
“The one in the backseat—the one got killed—said: ‘Let’s talk about you and Too Tall Sammy’s money. Too Tall Sammy wants his twenty Gs, or bring you back alive. I think he has plans for you. Big plans.’
“ ‘I done told you already, I had only ten.’
“ ‘Hand over the ten, and we’ll try to figure something out.’
“ ‘I don’t have it.’
“ ‘You don’t have it? You don’t even have half of the money? Don’t tell me that you been giving Too Tall Sammy’s money to that little funny-ass-looking white gal?’
“ ‘I lost it gambling.’
“ ‘Am I hearing you right? You’ve been gambling with Too Tall Sammy’s money—and losing?’
“ ‘I was trying to win, and I wanted to come back, and pay him, and ask him to forgive me.’
“ ‘I’m feeling sorry for you already,’ the one in front said. ‘Too Tall likes to make people watch. I don’t want to watch this.’
“ ‘I don’t want to see it, either,’ the one in back said, ‘but it’s up to you.’
“ ‘I don’t have it.’
“ ‘You want to face Too Tall Sammy?’
“ ‘I don’t have his ten grands.’
“ ‘Why do you keep saying ten when I say twenty? You’re trying to say I’m lying.’
“ ‘No, but Charlie-O is.’
“ ‘No, baby boy—not Charlie-O—you’re the one lying,’ he said. And he told the one in front to light up a reefer. He called it a joint. All that came out in court. Lucas was there.
“Say, Luke?”
“Every word you spoke.”
“The one in front lit up the reefer and took a long drag on it (all this came out in court) and he passed it to the back, and after Lawton (I’m not sure if it was Lawton something, or something Lawton), anyway after he took his drag, he passed it to the boy. The boy took his drag, and he gave it back to the man in front who held on to it for while before he passed it round again. A matter of fact the one in the back had to reach for it.
“The one in the back with the boy said, ‘You wouldn’t happen to have a rich daddy, or a rich uncle—or know one of those old southern colonels you-all down here call “Massa”—who would be willing to lend you the money?’
“ ‘I don’t know anybody in the world who would lend me ten thousand dollars.’
“ ‘You keep saying ten, and I say twenty.’
“ ‘I don’t know anybody in the world who would even lend me twenty dollars.’
“ ‘Not even that little white gal you’ve been screwing?’
“ ‘What li’l white gal?’
“ ‘Don’t play games. We saw her leave the house.’
“ ‘She’s poorer than I am. She’s been bringing me food.’
“ ‘Feeding you and fucking you too, huh? They pretty generous down here.’
“The one who lived, Fee, said they lit up again. Jean-Pierre stayed quiet.
“ ‘This ain’t getting us nowhere,’ Lawton said. ‘You ready to head back to California?’
“According to Fee, Jean-Pierre sat there mumbling to himself awhile, before he looked up at Lawton.
“ ‘What?’ Lawton said.
“ ‘I need some money, too.’
“ ‘All I want is twenty thousand dollars, and let me head back to civilization,’ Lawton said.
“ ‘You can’t find that kind of money ’round here ’cept in a bank.’
“Fee said Lawton looked at Jean-Pierre a long time. Jean-Pierre looked back at him, then nodded his head. ‘The only place.’
“ ‘You ever tried to rob a bank before?’ Lawton asked.
“ ‘No. Take more than one person to rob a bank, and everybody ’round here too scared.’
“ ‘You not?’
“ ‘I need money.’
“ ‘And three people can do it?’
“ ‘I think so.’
“ ‘You know anything about this bank?’
“ ‘Just a little old bank.’
“ ‘Where is this bank?’
“ ‘In town. On the main street.’
“ ‘How many people work in the bank? Guards? Clerks? Everybody?’
“ ‘Three or four—that’s all.’
“ ‘Guards—with guns?’
“ ‘No.’
“ ‘How do you know?’
“ ‘I been there a couple times. Never seen a guard.’
“ ‘Other people—clerks?’
“ ‘Two clerks—women. Two men in the back office.’
“ ‘How do you know that’s all of them?’
“ ‘I been in there, I looked around. I thought about this.’
“ ‘Just waiting for help?’
“ ‘Kind of.’
“ ‘What you think, Fee?’
“ ‘I move with the wind, man.’
“ ‘How far is town from here?’ Lawton asked.
“ ‘Couple—few miles.’
“ ‘Let’s go see that bank.’
“ ‘Tonight?’
“ ‘I want to see what it looks like.’
“Ten minutes later they came into Bayonne. They had been quiet all the way.
“ ‘Drive slow, but not too slow,’ Lawton told Fee.
“Jean-Pierre pointed out the bank. Y’all all know what it look like—a little low building settin’ between David Hardware and Morgan department store.
“They drove up to the courthouse to turn around, and coming back Lawton told Fee to go slow so he could study the surroundings again. Then they drove out of town, passed the pecan factory, up to Old Cajun Road. They drove about a mile down the road and parked by the ditch. Very few cars drove that old road at night.
“ ‘We’ll sleep here tonight,’ Lawton said. ‘Fee, you keep the first watch. Keep your eyes on the bank robber. He might change his mind.’
“ ‘He won’t change his mind. He likes robbing banks.’
“Lawton slept until around midnight, then he told Fee that he’ll keep watch. Jean-Pierre slept the whole night through.
“ ‘Where can you wash up around here?’ Lawton asked, the next morning.
“ ‘The river back ’cross the highway. They got a bathroom at the courthouse for colored to use.’
“ ‘Yeah, you would like for us to go to the courthouse, wouldn’t you?’ Lawton said.
“He told Fee to get his shaving kit and food out of the trunk. Fee brought the stuff, and a large Coke bottle of water. Lawton poured water in his hand from the bottle and washed his face and dried it on a handkerchief. Jean-Pierre and Fee did the same.
“Lawton passed out ham and cheese sandwiches. (All of this came out in court.) They ate and drank water from the big Coke bottle. After they finished eating it was piss time. They got out of the car and peed in the ditch. Back in the car, Lawton told Fee to light up again.
“ ‘What time this famous bank opens?’ Lawton said.
“ ‘ ’Round ten.’
“ ‘Yeah, everything down here moves slow and late,’ Lawton said. ‘We’ll leave at ten—don’t want to be the first ones in the bank.’
“Lawton told Fee to give him the package. Fee reached under the passenger seat and brought out a little leather sample case. Lawton snapped it open and studied the guns. Must to had four or five different guns in there. Couple automatic pistols, couple revolvers. He looked them over. Fee said he watched Jean-Pierre’s face. He said Jean-Pierre started sweating. He said Lawton checked a revolver and handed it to him. He checked it again to make sure it was loaded. Lawton stuck one of the automatic pistols under his belt. He snapped the case shut.
“ ‘We are ready if any of those honkies stop us. You’ll get yours when we get to town. I don’t want you to get anxious. It’s five ’til, let’s go.’
“It was five after ten when they came into Bayonne. Lawton told Fee to drop him and Jean-Pierre off a half block before reaching the bank. He gave Jean-Pierre the revolver and told him to put it in his pocket before he got out of the car. He told Fee to turn the car around, headed out of town. Him and Jean-Pierre got out and started walking, just casually. Only one customer was in the bank and he was leaving.
“ ‘What can I do for you boys?’ the little clerk asked them.
“Lawton said: ‘If you make a sound I’ll kill you.’ He leapt over the railing. ‘How much money you got in that draw’?’
“ ‘Not much.’
“ ‘Keep your hands where I can see them,’ he told the little clerk.
“He stuck his gun in her back and told her to go to the office door and knock softly. If she tried to make any sign, he told her, he would kill her as sure as hell. She knocked softly, and they went in. Ted Morgan, president of the bank, was at his desk. The other clerk who worked up front was talking to Leigh Melacon at his desk.
“ ‘Any crazy movement—any—I’ll kill every one of you. One of you get up and open that safe—no monkey business—I want twenty thousand dollars.’
“Ted Morgan, with his hands over his head, stood up and went to the safe.
“ ‘Don’t bring anything out of the safe but money—I mean it. I’ll kill every last one of you.’
“That li’l clerk who had been talking to Leigh Melacon turned red as a beet and went down on the floor. Lawton took his eyes off Leigh for no more than a second, but that was enough time for Melacon to reach for his gun. He and Lawton must have fired at the same time. Melacon’s bullet caught Lawton; Lawton’s bullet caught that li’l clerk in the back. The clerk fell, Melacon kept on shooting. Lawton stumbled out of the office reaching out to Jean-Pierre to help him. Melacon came out of the office, still shooting. Jean-Pierre shot once, hit nothing, dropped the gun, and started running.
“Fee had heard the shooting, and headed out of town. Jean-Pierre hollered for him to stop, but Fee drove even faster. The people came out of the stores and offices, calling for the police and pointing. One of Mapes’s deputies caught up with Fee just after he had passed the pecan factory. Two white men in a pickup truck saw Jean-Pierre coming toward them. By the way he was running from uptown, they figured he had done something wrong. They stopped the truck, and both men jumped out and grabbed him, and held him against the truck until one of Mapes’s deputies showed up.
“Lawton was dead. Both Fee and Jean-Pierre was sentenced to sit in Gruesome Gertie’s lap. Brady cheated the chair out of one, when he killed his own boy.”