The primary aim of the "Novel Excerpts" blog category is to showcase my creative writing, specifically from the novels I've written. Hopefully, these posts will provide a glimpse into my storytelling style, themes, and narrative skills. It's an opportunity to share my artistic expressions and the worlds I've created through my novels.
The Boaz Scorekeeper, written in 2017, is my second novel. I'll post it a chapter a day over the next few weeks.
A few days after Greg, Matt, and I met in Interrogation Four, I had asked Matt to contact Fitz Billingsley and encourage him to contact Greg. Matt did so and shared that a Federal investigation was under way and that he was going to be the center of attention that likely would not turn out well for him and his family unless he cooperated fully with the U.S. Attorney’s office. Matt’s visit and information alone should have been more than enough to motivate Fitz to make the call but add in the ever-present death threat from the unknown man who had abducted and no doubt murdered Fred caused Fitz to call Greg the next day.
Over the next several weeks Matt and Trevor, or one of them, drove to Birmingham almost every day to assist U.S. Attorney Gambol. He pursued one activity: gathering evidence to present to a Grand Jury for indictments against Wade, James, and anyone else involved in the federal crimes. Matt and Trevor were both faithful to drop by the jail on their way back to Boaz every evening to update me on what was going on.
It was now February 9th. Shortly after Fitz had called Greg the first time, he convinced him to not only cooperate with him in the Federal case but also to assist Matt as he prepared my capital murder defense. It was surprising to Greg, Matt, Trevor, and me how ‘on-board’ Fitz was. He even asked if he could ride with Matt or Trevor as they drove nearly every day to Birmingham. It was like he was truly part of our team. His team play was never more evident than when he shared what he knew about Club Eden’s involvement in sex trafficking.
With Fitz’ assistance, the FBI had been able to convince Dale Watson, one of the four corrupt police officers, to also cooperate. I never cease to be amazed at the power of prosecutorial immunity. Most often, if a person has committed a serious crime he knows it. That’s obvious. Also, he clearly knows when he has been caught, when his foot is in the trap and there is nothing he can do to spring it. This is where Dale Watson found himself after Fitz, wearing a wire, met with him and laid out the Federal case that was about to go public. Dale, like Fitz, was an intelligent man and quickly concluded he had no choice but to cooperate if he wanted to retain his freedom.
Today, under oath at Greg’s office, Dale shared how he and three other Boaz Police officers, Chris Anderson, Paul Thomas, and Edward Hall, had abducted young Hispanic girls at night after a pretextual traffic stop. Dale stated that these stops were not random but targeted. He said he didn’t know how James Adams got his information but that it was never wrong. Dale was always the one to meet with James, there was never any written communication. After the scheme began, he and James would meet the first Sunday night of each month to discuss the operation. If during the prior month there had been a successful abduction, James would have a new name, a new target. The targets were always illegal, that is, they were not naturalized citizens. This was the key to the scheme. This way the families of the abducted girls would be far less likely to go to the police after their loved one had been taken. Usually, these families simply moved away, which is what Club Eden wanted most of all. Dale also shared how he and his three other police officer team-mates would search out and stalk the targets waiting for the opportune time to make a traffic stop. All abductions arose from a traffic stop by two of the four corrupt officers. Once the target was seized, the other two officers in another police cruiser would come and take the target’s vehicle to hide for later disposition.
This day, Greg had Fitz and Dale alternate the ‘testifying’ to fill in as many holes as they could. Not having any type of paper trail worried Greg so he turned to Fitz. He shared that he and Wade oversaw locating suitable targets and that the other members of Club Eden fed them leads. Fitz said he kept a log of every target, potential or actual. He also kept a written accounting of all sales as he put it. When asked how much the Club received from the sale of a Hispanic girl, he said that it depended, but the prettiest, what he called a ten, brought in $50,000.
Greg asked Fitz to describe how the sex trafficking scheme had gotten started. He said that when Boaz Poultry sold out to Platinum Foods in 1965 part of the deal benefited Liam Nilsson, the son of Ludvig Nilsson, the Swede who had helped the Flaming Five’s grandfathers set up the processing plant back in the early 20’s. After the sale Ludvig Nilsson, who was at least 75 years old, returned to Sweden but Liam stayed on as Plant Manager of Platinum Foods because he had a family and was well settled in Boaz. Liam had a son and a daughter. Lucas was born in 1952 and by the mid-sixties was good friends with John Ericson and James Adams. Liam retired from Platinum Foods in 1996 and he and his family moved back to Sweden to care for his ailing mother after his father had died several years earlier. Lucas, in 1977, after graduating from Auburn in Poultry Science, had returned to Boaz and was promoted to Plant Manager in 1993. He and John and James’s friendship had grown over the years even to the point of Club Eden entertaining the thought of admitting Lucas as a member. In the end, it decided against it based on the near disaster caused by my membership, me being the only outsider ever admitted to Club Eden.
In 2004 Lucas introduced his cousin, Gustav Nilsson, to Wade and James who was in town for a two-week visit. One night, after Lucas and Gustav had toured the Processing Plant, Wade and James joined them for a few drinks. At some point Gustav said, “I have a business proposition that can make you guys millions. If you have the stomach for it.” This was the beginning of Club Eden’s sex trafficking scheme. Gustav said that his organization had a need for pretty Hispanic girls. It had a chain of massage parlors across Norway, Sweden, and Finland. Gustav described his operation as ‘upscale’ and providing select girls a comfortable and prosperous life. Someway Gustav convinced Club Eden to come to Sweden for a visit and tour several of the massage parlors. A few weeks later, Wade and James flew to Stockholm to see for themselves whether Gustav was shooting them straight. He was. Over the next several months there were multiple trips and meetings between Gustav and several of his associates, and Wade, James, Fred, John, and Randall. By 2005, the scheme was fully created and organized and four Boaz Police officers were enlisted and trained.
The first abduction took place March 8, 2005. Two 17-year-old Hispanic girls were seized on a cold and rainy Friday night. Julisa and Nadia Gomez were twins. Dale Watson and Edward Hall drove the girls to a small hotel outside Dalton, Georgia and stayed until the next morning when they drove the two girls to the Dalton Municipal Airport and met Gustav and his two sons who were piloting a King Air 250. An exchange of girls for $100,000 in cash was made. Fitz didn’t know how Gustav and his associates had gotten out of the country and back to Stockholm.
Matt said Greg waited until the day was almost over before surprising them all with the story of Alma Castenada. Greg’s question to Fitz, “who was the last Hispanic girl that was seized?” was a prison sentence for Fitz if he lied. And, Greg would know if he were lying. FBI agents Teague and Lonagan had supplied Greg’s office with solid evidence that Alma Castenada was abducted by Boaz Police Officers Chris Anderson and Paul Thomas Friday, May 26, 2017, following the Boaz High School graduation ceremony. Greg knew he had to trust Fitz and having verifiable evidence was the best way to test Fitz’ credibility and avoid a courtroom disaster.
Fitz answered truthfully, “Alma Castenada.” Greg then asked him to share everything he knew from the night she was abducted up until now. It took him nearly an hour and he was sweating and his eyes were a mix of light and darkness as though he was eternally thankful for being on the prosecutor’s side, but finally aware of the evil he had become.
Alma Castenada was the Valedictorian of the 2017 Boaz High School’s graduating class. It was either a miracle or the rarest of coincidences that had brought her and her family to Boaz in 1999. Wade had made good friends with Brian Thompson of San Marcos, Texas when the two of them were in Seminary. Around 1985, Brian had become pastor of First Baptist Church of San Marcos. Over the years, Wade and Brian kept up with each other. In 1995, Wade led a group from a collection of Marshall County churches, on a mission trip to San Marcos to assist Brian’s church in building a sister church for the growing population of Hispanics that Brian had been successful in assimilating, but who wanted their own place of worship. Wade’s 14-year-old son, Warren, went along and fell in love with the area and returned every summer to stay and work with Brian and his ministry. In the fall of 1998, after Warren graduated high school, he moved to San Marcos to attend Texas State University and to pursue a passion of helping Hispanic people.
By this time, Brian’s church, along with the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Creel, were working with the Tarahumara Indians. Creel was a town in the Sierra Tarahumara of the Mexican state of Chihuahua. The Tarahumara Indians are a people group that years ago fled to the isolation high in the Sierra Madre Mountains. It was during the summer of 1999 that Warren made his first trip with Brian to the Sierra Tarahumara. There, they met Mateo Castenada. Mateo had just returned with his pregnant wife Natamar, and three young children, from living two years among the Tarahumara Indians. Natamar was having problems with her pregnancy and needed special medical care. Long story short, Warren took a serious liking to Mateo and Natamar and convinced his father, Wade, to help. By this time, Wade and Club Eden were contemplating a tactic that countered their inner dislike for the local and vibrant Hispanic community in Boaz. Wade had convinced his fellow Club members to start a Hispanic ministry and to hire an Hispanic pastor to lead the church. Wade believed there was no better way to divert scrutiny than to have a visible ministry teaching and loving the very people you hate. Within three weeks of Warren’s request, Mateo and family had been smuggled out of Mexico, and Sophia was receiving the best of prenatal care at UAB in Birmingham. Alma Castenada was born December 2, 1999.
Alma had severe health problems as a young child, but with excellent medical care overcame them all by the time she was a third grader. Alma was the perfect student, with high IQ and dogged determination to become a doctor. She also was her father’s golden goose in persuading local Hispanics to attend and participate at Esperanza Baptist Church. Her and Mateo’s efforts, were so astounding, that around 2012 or 2013 the church facilities Mateo used were no longer large enough to contain the ever-burgeoning crowd on Sunday morning. Mateo had always encouraged his members to visit First Baptist Church of Christ and grow their relationship with Christ by learning from Wade, an educated and trained theologian. Wade and Club Eden’s diversion strategy to minister to local Hispanics backfired when every Sunday more and more of Mateo’s following became regular visitors at First Baptist Church of Christ. This was the beginning of Club Eden’s planning to dismantle their Hispanic ministry. And, what better way to disperse the growing Hispanic crowd than to have their magnetic leader disappear. Alma Castenada was the key to making that happen.
The Pencil Driven Life 