Schism

Chapter 22 part 1

(Author's note:  Just wanted to give you all a heads up...the first half of this chapter is about the bad guys, and there is some very racist language that they use.  They're words that I find really distasteful, but they were necessary for the story.  Thanks for understanding. -Bruce)

Chapter 22

Jared held up his hand and the District Attorney finally stopped his questions.  He sat still for a moment, palm still out. 

He waited.  It didn't take long.  The man first straightened his tie, then his jacket.  In only seconds, he was scratching the thin hair at the back of his head.  Jared watched the lawyer's eyes sneak away from his own to the lieutenant who stood behind Jared's chair in the small motel room.  He let the lawyer wait just a moment longer before he spoke. 

"You seem to think this is a deposition.  It's not.  Remember, your reelection is the reason all of this is happening.  You wanted this to happen."  He waited again, watched the man fidget.  While the D.A. had been the catalyst that had brought Jared here, he was still just a lawyer.  Taken out of his office, the man seemed to have no power or backbone at all.

"I've done all that I can," District Attorney Giles said.

Jared pushed his palm out further and the lawyer stopped again.  "We wanted a city to clean, you wanted a safer voting base, one with less of those other races who voted against you in the last election.  That's happening, thanks to the work our people have done."

He watched Giles look around the small hotel room.  The man looked as if he expected to find a reporter in the corner.  "I understand that.  And I appreciate what you've done.  For all of us."

"That's very nice," Jared said.  "But we still need your help."

"I've kept the police from investigating the fires as race related.  I don't know what more..."  The lawyer stopped as Jared leaned forward.

"Mr. Giles.  Stop.  Listen to me."  Jared waited as Giles settled down into his seat, eyes still scanning the room.  "There is someone out there killing our men.  Killing good men and disrupting all of our plans.  We can't have that.  We need you to get the police to find him and kill him."

Giles opened his mouth, then waited.  Jared nodded and the man spoke.  "I've already made it a priority.  There are officers from all over the city looking for him."  Giles waited again, went on.  "Maybe if your men laid low for a little while.  He's only found them in the streets, he hasn't been near any of your safe houses."

Jared kept his face completely still.  How did the District Attorney know where his safe houses were?  He waited for the lawyer to go on.

"You're their leader.  You can get them to stop.  The ones in the hospital, your men, they're talking racist, they look racist.  If they do that, I can't cover it up.  You need to get them to stop," Giles said.

"Who says I'm their leader?"  Jared asked. 

Giles paused, looked around the room again.

"I'm just another concerned citizen, Mr. Giles," Jared said.

"Well, maybe someone, someone could tell them to stop for a while, to lay low."

"Do you think this is something that can be stopped?"  The lawyer stared at him, with no answer.  "You don't know your history, do you?  You don't know what is happening here."  Jared leaned forward and continued.  "Some would call it banishment, others racial cleansing.  It works.  It works here in America.  Have you heard of Monett, Harrison, Forsyth County, Corbin?  There is a long list of places that evicted the blacks and stayed clean.  You, Mr. Giles, may have wanted a few undesirable voters to move to another city, another state, but it's the good people here that decided to do the work."