In the small town of Applegrove, California, on a rainy night, a police detective walks into a nursing home, soaking wet. His jaw is set, and the look on his face tells you that he knows exactly what he hopes to find there and that he fully intends to get it even if it takes him all night. He walks confidently over to the desks and quietly inquires of the woman there, showing her his badge."I need to speak with a resident here, a Mrs. Margaret Ashton. Could you please show me where she is?"
His tone of voice is calm but the look on his face conveys a sense of urgency and the woman immediately complies.
"Please come with me sir", she says. She leads him to a small room with a couch sitting in front of the fireplace. She motions for him to sit down in front of the fire.
"Please wait here for a minute sir," she says.
In a moment she returns pushing a wheel chair. She leaves the wheel chair by the couch and exits the room. Sitting in the wheel chair is an old woman with white hair, pale blue eyes and a very alert look on her face. The detective on the couch stands up.
"Mrs. Ashton?" he says. "I'm Detective Mark Barry, I'd like to ask you a few questions."
He extends his hand but Mrs. Ashton keeps her hands folded in her lap and says coolly,
"What do you want?"
Detective Barry sits back down.
"Mrs. Ashton, I'd like to ask you a few questions concerning your husband."
I blank look crosses her face.
"What husband? I don't have any husband."
"Forgive me," he says, "Your late husband, Mr. Richard Ashton."
"Richard?" she whispers to herself. "Oh yes, Richard. Mr. Barry," she says looking strait at him, "Richard has been dead for 73 years. I don't know what you could possibly want to ask me about him."
"Mrs. Ashton, this concerns you husband," looking at her he says, "And a man named Jack D'Arte."
She gives a little gasp and puts her hands over her mouth. "Jack," she whispers and then says, "I don't want to talk about Jack."
"Mrs. Ashton, I know this may be difficult, but it's very important that you tell me everything you know about Jack D'Arte. It's a matter of life and death."
"Whose life, and whose death Mr. Barry?"
"As you probably know, in the 1920's liquor was banned from the United States. In this period of time bootlegging, selling illegal liquor, became very popular."
Mrs. Ashton nods silently.
"There were criminals who established bootlegging rings, the most famous of these being Al Capone and his gang. We believe that one of these gangs, started in Boston 76 years ago is still in operation today. We managed to obtain a list of the original members. Among these is a man named Jack D'Arte, who we found out used to know your husband."
"Wait a minute," says Mrs. Ashton, "Prohibition was repealed. There is no illegal liquor anymore."
"True," replies Detective Barry. "After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933 we think that this particular gang gradually switched over to other illegal drugs. Recently there has been a series of murders all over the country apparently unrelated, but when investigated we found that all of the victims were somehow directly or indirectly connected with this gang. We think that they are killing off anyone who might possibly be a threat to their organization. In order to protect the rest of these people and stop this from going any further we need to arrest the men in charge. We think that their base is still somewhere in Boston. You used to live in Boston, didn't you Mrs. Ashton?"
"Yes," comes the reply.
"Then I suggest you tell me everything you know."
Mrs. Ashton closes her eyes, takes a deep breath and then begins,
"It was 1924 in Boston and I was in love. With Richard. We met at a dance. He was 22 and I was 17. My father was a well-known physician and he disapproved of Richard. Richard didn't seem to have any career goals. He had a job as a clerk at a grocery store. Not a very good match for a doctor's daughter I suppose, but we were in love. My father wouldn't let us get married but at least he didn't forbid us to see each other."I first met Jack one day when I went to see Richard at his house. I walked in the door as I always did and found Richard and Jack sitting at the table deep in conversation. My walking in made Jack very angry,
" 'Get her out of here!' he yelled at Richard. Richard immediately got up and ushered me out the door saying, 'I'm sorry Meg, this is a bad time.' Before I knew what was happening I was on the porch and the door was closed behind me.
"The next day I came to see Richard again but a bit hesitantly. This time Jack wasn't there and Richard greeted me like he always did. When I asked him about the man who had been there yesterday he frowned and said,
" 'Oh just a friend of mine, Jack D'Arte. Don't mind him.' But the way he said Jack's name didn't sound like he was a friend.
"After that I seemed to see Jack a lot. Sometimes it was at Richard's house. When Jack was there I was never allowed to stay. A few times I saw him in the grocery store where Richard worked, standing there against the wall just watching people. And then there was the library. I loved to read and so I was at the library a lot. Countless times I would be sitting there and Jack would walk through. I never saw him pick up a book or even sit down. Just walk passed me and on to the back of the library around a corner towards the back door. Rarely would he see me there, but whenever he did he glared at me. I constantly asked Richard who Jack was and how Richard knew him but he always evaded answering me. I also started noticing large envelopes in Richard's house. There was only one at a time, sitting on his table or by the door. But soon it would be gone and after a while there would be a different one. Sometimes they were fat and sometimes it hardly seemed like there was anything in them. When
I asked him what they were he said that he'd started writing and they were stories sent in to be published, but he'd never let me read one.
"One day I went over to Richard's house and he wasn't home, but there was one of those envelopes sitting on the table. I looked around and then quickly opened it. There were two sheets of paper inside. The first sheet of paper was a list of different addresses. A few were in Boston, but others were in cities just outside of Boston. The second sheet of paper was a list of names. There were nine names in all. I found a piece of paper and copied down the addresses and the names and then left and ran home as fast as I could.
"When I got home I wasn't sure what to do. I wasn't sure what any of the things I had written down were about, but I did know that Richard had lied to me and I was determined to find out why. I decided to start with the newspapers. We had newspapers in our house saved up from about the last week. As I looked through them all, I was shocked to find that out of the nine people on my list at least five of them who had been living in Boston had died within the last week. All of them were dead from gunshot wounds but as far as I could tell no one had been arrested for the shootings.
"I was getting really scared now. I didn't know what to do, but I trusted Richard and I knew that Richard must have a good reason for having this list. It may have been stupid, but I went back to Richard's house. This time he was home. I walked in the door shaking. He asked me what was wrong and I told him what I knew. To my surprise he started crying. I'd never seen Richard cry before that. He said,
" 'Meg, did I ever tell you that my brother was killed?'
" 'No,' I said.
" 'Well, my brother was killed about three years ago. He was shot. They never found out who did it, but the truth is, I did it. I killed him Meg! I killed him! I didn't mean to! It was an accident! I'd never held a gun before and I didn't know it was loaded I pulled the trigger and�' his voice trailed off and he started sobbing. I didn't know what to do so I just put my arms around him and held him for a minute. Pretty soon he was ready to talk again. He said,
" 'Somehow Jack found out. I don't know how. One day he just came to me and said that he'd tell the police about my brother if I didn't help him. Jack is a member a gang of bootleggers. All he has me do is deliver the envelopes. I put them in different places all over Boston. I don't want to be a part of this Meg. I just don't have a choice.'
"I assured Richard that we'd figure out something. That I'd find a way to expose Jack without incriminating Richard, but he said,
" 'No Meg! I don't want you to get involved! You know what they did to all those people on the list. I don't want them to kill you like they did those people.'
"Just then there was a knock on the door. Richard said,
" 'It's Jack! Quick, get in the closet! I don't want him to know that you're here!'
Richard pushed me into the closet and shut the door. Then he went to let Jack in. I sat in the closet listening to what they said. Pretty soon Jack said,
" 'You're girlfriend is getting suspicious Richard. If I were you I would stop seeing her. You know Dana, the person in charge of the whole operation. If you're not careful Dana will have her killed.'
" 'Dana won't have Meg killed,' Richard replied.
" 'Well if your not careful someone's going to kill her,' Jack said.
" 'She doesn't know anything,' Richard said.
" 'It's your call,' Jack said, 'but I'd be careful if I were you.'
"After he left I came out of the closet and Richard hugged me and said that he wouldn't let anything happen to me, but I was more worried about him. That night I lay awake trying to think of something that I could do. I finally remembered the library and how Jack was always there. I went there the next day.
"I sat down to read and after about an hour Jack walked in. As he walked past me to the back of the library I followed him. As I peered around the corner I saw him, instead of going out the exit, unlock a different door and go through it down into what appeared to be the basement. I waited there just around the corner for what seemed like forever when finally Jack came back out and exited the library out the back door. I hurried and caught the door to the basement before it closed and slowly went down the stairs not exactly sure what I would find. I was scared to death but I was doing it for Richard.
"Down in the basement there were hundreds of files containing who knows what, a safe with a lock on it, and a table in the middle of the room. I barely had time to look around when I heard a noise. I don't know what it was, but I ran out of there as fast as I could, up the stairs and out the back door of the library. I didn't stop until I got home. I didn't know it at the time, but Jack had seen me run out of the library and apparently he guessed where I had been.
"The next day I went to Richard's house and told him about the library and the basement. He took my arms and shook me and said,
" 'Meg I told you not to get involved! I don't want you to be killed! It's too dangerous!'
" 'I'm sorry!' I said, 'I'm trying to help you!' and I started crying.
" 'It's okay,' he said and he hugged me, 'It's going to be okay. We'll go to California.'
" 'California!' I cried, 'What's in California?'
" 'We'll be safe there,' Richard said, 'It's far away. They won't follow us there. Don't worry, we'll be happy. We can get married and start a life there and we'll be safe. I've saved up enough money. We can go tonight. I'll just go grab a few things and we can go.'
"He left the room and I sat there my mind racing. I didn't want to leave my family, but I wanted to be with Richard and I wanted us to be safe. I sat down in a chair and put my head in my hands trying to think. I didn't even hear the door open. I looked up and there was Jack holding a gun to my head. He said,
" 'I know what you saw and I'm afraid I can't let you leave here alive.'
"Suddenly there was a shot, but it wasn't me who was shot, it was Jack. I looked behind me and there was Richard holding a gun.
" 'We've got to get out of here right now!' he said. He grabbed my hand and we ran out the door. We didn't stop until we were on a train going to California.
"Richard and I were married and we lived in California rather happily for two years, until one night he never came home. Two days later they pulled his jacket out of the river. They never found a body, but I'm positive that they killed Richard."
Mrs. Ashton stops and looks up at Detective Barry."Mrs. Ashton that library in Boston, we need to know where it is. It may still be where they run their operation from. We need to go there and arrest the men in charge and their leader, Dana."
"This Dana," says Mrs. Ashton, " he was in charge 75 years ago. He wouldn't still be running it now."
"We think that "Dana" is an alias," says Detective Barry. "Whoever assumes control also assumes the name Dana."
"Of course," says Mrs. Ashton tiredly.
"Mrs. Ashton this needs to stop now," says Detective Barry. "Please tell me about the library."
Two days later Detective Barry and a group of other officers arrest six men in the basement of a library in Boston. When questioned they all confess to being part of this gang originally of bootleggers, now dealing other illegal drugs. Detective Barry asks one man who "Dana" is. The answer is surprising,"The original "Dana" just died six months ago," he says, "but before he died he released a list to us of anyone who might know anything about us. Anyone who might possibly be a threat. For safety we were supposed to kill all these people before choosing a new "Dana." He was 97 years old."
"Was Mrs. Margaret Ashton on the list," asks Detective Barry.
"No," says the man, looking surprised.
"Just out of curiosity," says detective Barry, "what was the name of this "original Dana" "
The man replies, "his name was Richard Ashton."