Thomas Cook - Streets of Fire

Suddenly he saw her face again, oddly gray on the dark ground, and more isolated at the moment of her death than it would ever be possible for him to imagine.

‘I just didn’t think about anybody not knowing that about Doreen,’ Esther explained.

Ben walked over to a small cigar box which rested on a scarred wooden stool beside her bed. ‘What’s in here?’

‘Open it.’

It was filled with costume jewelry, strings of plastic pearls, snap beads, a few rhinestone necklaces and a single ivory cameo.

‘This was her mother’s,’ Esther said as she picked up the cameo. ‘My sister gave it to her before she died.’ She returned it to the box. ‘You said something about a ring.’

‘A large one was found in the pocket of her dress,’ Ben said. ‘But it didn’t look like any of this, and it was way too big for Doreen.’ He closed the lid. ‘It was way too big for almost anybody.’ He walked to the small square window that looked out onto the muddy alleyway behind the house. A skinny yellow dog, its rib cage clearly visible beneath its hide, was hungrily sniffing its way down the shallow ditch that ran beside it. Not far ahead of it, the rusty frame of an old car, its tires torn off, its windows shattered, rested in a weedy lot. A large spotted cat watched the dog anxiously from the car’s dented hood, then leaped into the brush and disappeared.

‘She was almost too old for toys,’ Esther said as her eyes moved over the little metal shelf.

Ben continued to stare out the window. Rows of dilapidated shacks lined the unpaved roads, and the mounting clouds seemed to draw a dark curtain over them, as if to shield them from his eyes.

FOURTEEN

The first thunder could be heard rolling in from the north by the time Ben made it back to headquarters. Dozens of squad cars surrounded the area, and police barricades seemed to sprout up at every corner. Lines of young Negroes were being funneled into the underground garage, while still others were being moved to the large parking lot which spread out, flat and gray, behind City Hall.

Ben parked across the street, then walked up the stairs and into the building. He could see Luther sitting nervously in the Chief’s outer office. He looked as if he had been summoned to his own execution, and Ben hurried up the stairs to the detective bullpen before he could be spotted.

Even before he walked through the double doors of the bullpen, he could hear loud voices coming from the room. The loudest one belonged to Breedlove, and when he walked into the room, he was not surprised to find Daniels standing alongside him. A tall slender Negro stood quietly between them, his eyes glaring straight ahead while they screamed at him.

‘You’re going to keep these fucking kids out of this!’ Breedlove yelled.

The young man did not move. His eyes remained calm, his face utterly expressionless.

‘Did you hear me!’ Breedlove demanded.

‘We have a constitutional right to demonstrate,’ the young man said coolly.

‘You don’t have shit!’ Breedlove shouted. He stepped in front of the man and shoved him backward, pressing him against the wall. ‘You hear me, Coggins? Huh? You hear me, Leroy?’

‘The constitutional rights of the United States apply to the children of the United States,’ Coggins intoned.

‘Bullshit!’ Breedlove shouted. ‘Bullshit on your fucking rights.’

Daniels laughed slightly, then stepped forward, pressing his face near Coggins. ‘You know what kind of shit these kids could get caught up in if you keep using them, Leroy?’

‘They are demonstrating for their constitutional rights,’ Coggins said. ‘Sacrifices must be made.’

‘You want them dead, Leroy?’ Daniels asked. ‘You want them shot down in the streets?’

‘They’ll be blood and hair all over the place if this keeps up!’ Breedlove screamed.

Coggins closed his eyes wearily. ‘I came up here to discuss having the children you have gathered in the parking lot – probably more than a hundred of them – to discuss bringing them inside before it begins to rain.’

‘Yeah, well we don’t want to talk about that, Leroy,’ Breedlove said. He grabbed him by the collar and jerked him forward. ‘We want to talk about the fact that these kids shouldn’t be doing what they’re doing in the first place.’

‘Thunderstorms are predicted,’ Coggins said quietly.

‘Who gives a shit?’ Daniels asked with a laugh.

‘Yeah,’ Breedlove said. ‘You know what this whole thing is, Leroy? It’s a passing fad.’ He grinned maliciously. ‘Like the hula hoop. It’ll be gone in no time, and everything will be back just the way it was.’

Breedlove and Daniels laughed together for a moment, then stopped suddenly.

‘Stop putting them kids in the streets, Leroy,’ Breedlove said icily. ‘Everybody’s had enough of that shit.’

Coggins eyes slid over toward Breedlove. ‘Were VD tests conducted on the girls who were arrested yesterday?’

Breedlove and Daniels exchanged cheerful glances.

‘Well, what if they were?’ Breedlove asked.

Coggins eyes narrowed mockingly. ‘Did you do that, Mr Breedlove? Did you check those little girls out?’

Breedlove’s hand flew up and struck Coggins hard on the side of the face. Coggins’ head snapped to the left, and Breedlove hit him again, this time with his fist.

‘Charlie, stop it!’ Daniels cried.

Breedlove drew back his fist. His face was trembling wildly as he held Coggins by the throat, his fingers digging into his neck.

‘You better stop me, Harry,’ he cried. ‘You better stop me before I kill this nigger shit!’

‘Ease off now,’ Daniels said, almost soothingly. ‘Ease off, Charlie.’

Ben moved forward quickly and gripped Breedlove’s shoulder. ‘Let go, Charlie,’ he said.

Breedlove turned toward him and smiled thinly. ‘You just saved this nigger’s life, Ben,’ he said. He pulled his hand from Coggins’ throat. ‘You ought to get some sort of award.’

Coggins gasped loudly and massaged his throat. ‘You can’t get away with this shit!’ he said angrily.

Breedlove glared at him. ‘You ain’t took over everything yet, Leroy,’ he said grimly.

Daniels swept his arm over Breedlove’s shoulder and tugged him away. ‘Let’s go have a drink, Charlie,’ he said. He looked at Ben and winked. ‘You don’t mind cleaning this nigger up, do you, Ben?’

Ben stared silently at Coggins until Daniels and Breedlove were safely out the door.

‘You going to “clean me up” now?’ Coggins asked sarcastically after they had disappeared.

‘I’m going to try to keep you alive,’ Ben told him. ‘But you’re not making it very easy for me.’

‘I’m ready to die,’ Coggins said. ‘There’s not one person in all these jails that’s not ready to die.’

‘That may be so,’ Ben said. ‘But does it have to be today?’

Coggins turned away slightly and wiped a line of sweat from his lip. His hand was trembling. ‘I just came up here about those kids they have out in the parking lot. That’s all I came up here for, and I got into this shit.’

Ben said nothing.

‘It’s going to rain like hell,’ Coggins went on, ‘and those kids shouldn’t be left out in it like a herd of cows or something.’

Ben eased himself back down on the desk behind him and folded his arms over his chest.

‘They used to be able to treat us that way,’ Coggins added angrily, ‘but no more, goddammit!’ He sucked in a deep, shaky breath, and let it out in a loud burst. ‘No, sir,’ he proclaimed loudly, regaining his resolve, ‘I’m not afraid to die.’

‘Then you’re a fool,’ Ben said.

Coggins’ eyes shot over to him. ‘Don’t you believe there’s anything worth dying for?’