Chapter 5

The bed was so comfortable that I hated to get up the next morning, but I finally did. One of the good things about the Royal Hotel was that you could order breakfast at any time and have it delivered to your room. Sure, that cost a little more, but I wanted to establish the reputation of a scatterbrain with more money than good sense before I went after Mr. Abner Folsom.

After a good breakfast at the scandalously late hour of 9:30 AM, I made a trip to the Oldsmobile dealer to have my automobile looked after and to order the extra tires that I would need for the return trip. I was assured that I could pick up my fully serviced vehicle tomorrow afternoon, so I left it in the dealer's tender care. He was impressed at how far I had driven it, and I am sure that I would be cited in all upcoming sales pitches.

When I finished at the dealer, it was so near dinner time that I wondered if it was worth while to visit the bank now, or should I wait until later. I decided on trying the bank; I could always go back if I missed Mr. Folsom. I took a taxi to the bank and arrived at 11:40 AM, plenty of time to catch Mr. Folsom before he left for dinner.

I went in and asked for Folsom by name. He was just finishing with a client, so he would see me right away. I was dressed in my finest, but I still wore my shoulder holster concealed by a light jacket. I had hoped to make a good impression on Folsom and establish more than just a business interest in his eye. Apparently, my blond hair and deep blue eyes had that effect, because he invited me to have dinner with him before we had mentioned any business.

I had told Folsom that I was from Texas, which he should have known from my accent. I said that I was there on the recommendation of a friend whose husband had done some business with the bank and had been very happy with his dealings. I explained that I was a recent orphan with a lot of money who was touring the country before settling down to domestic bliss with a man that I had not yet found. In fact, I shyly admitted that I was using this trip as kind of a scouting venture looking for a suitable man.

This perked up Folsom's interest in me even more, and he was especially attentive as he ushered me to a taxi to convey us to his club where he normally ate dinner. Oh-ho, I was really getting the special treatment. We went in and Folsom asked for a private room, instead of eating in the main dining room where he usually went.

Folsom started out with an order for champagne. My previous experience with beer reminded me to go easy with this stuff, though I'd had enough beer by now to help with my alcohol sensitivity. Nevertheless, I was going to be careful not to imbibe too much of the champagne. I think that Folsom wanted to get me at least slightly drunk so that he could learn more about my financial standing.

We had an excellent dinner of buffalo ribs with an adequate supply of appropriate vegetables, so I had a little dampener to put on the champagne. For desert, I settled for a bit of fresh fruit and refused an after dinner cordial.

We spent some time at the club, and did not leave until long after the end of the normal dinner time. I knew that Folsom was married, but I got the distinct impression that he was trying to promote a mistress-of-the-moment hanky-panky if he could arrange it. Well, I pretended to be oblivious to that possibility and just let him rave on about how great he, his bank, and Santa Fe, were. It was obvious to me how transparent he was, and I was hoping to lead him to talk about his connection to the KGC.

He never got around to that subject at this meeting, but I hoped to make several more appointments with him to draw out more loose talk from him. We returned to his bank where he had to rush to a meeting he was already late for, so I never did get to transact any bank business with him. Folsom invited me back the next day for an 11:00 o'clock appointment to talk about that and to eat dinner with him again at his club. I accepted and left to do some sightseeing and shopping. I felt that I needed to walk off the effects of that meal, especially the wine.

I had idly walked about three blocks, admiring the store windows and generally enjoying the afternoon sun, when I was roughly jerked by the arm into a narrow alley. A very rough looking man was pulling me down the alley toward another man standing in a doorway. When we got that far, I was pushed into the room and the door was slammed and locked.

I'd broken out of my surprise by now and was sizing up the situation. A man I had not seen before commented, "Well, Zeke, this one looks like she has earned you a bonus. She ought to bring us a pretty penny at the slave auction."

That was all I needed! They had not yet taken the time to search me for weapons, so I still had my Savage in my shoulder holster. I didn't wait, but drew it and started shooting. Quicker than I can say it, three dead men were lying on the floor. When my ears returned to normal, I could hear some banging on the door opposite the one that I had come in. I had my gun ready as I went to open it. Four women with torn clothes were standing near the door in a hurry to get out.

I said, "Please calm down and tell me what is going on?" All of the women started talking at once, so I pointed to one of them and said, "You, first."

The first woman said, "These three men were capturing women for a sex slave auction to be held later today. I don't know where it's to be held, but it is scheduled to begin at 5:00 o'clock. We were headed there when they spotted you on the sidewalk and decided to add you to their bunch."

Another woman said, "The auction is to be held at a warehouse on Delaney Street. I think the place is called Samuelson's Storage Co."

I looked at my watch and saw that we had about 45 minutes until the auction was scheduled to start. "I am a Federal Deputy Marshal. I am going to the nearest town marshal's office and tell them about the auction. I'll ask them for help in stopping it. Where is the nearest office?"

"It's four blocks that way. You can't miss it."

"OK, you three go home and don't say anything about this to anyone until tomorrow. I want to keep our raid a secret."

We all left in a hurry. I rushed to the hotel and changed into my man's clothes and pinned my Federal badge on my shirt. I rushed to the marshal's office and told them that I needed help in breaking up a slave auction. At first, they didn't believe me, but I pointed to my badge. That convinced the man in charge, which was all I needed. Four men were dispatched to the other satellite offices to gather as many men as they could find. Meanwhile, four men joined me in going directly to the warehouse.

When we got there, we removed our badges and mingled with the crowd of men wandering around looking at the naked women chained to the posts supporting the roof. There appeared to be about 30 women, all White, and ranging in age from about 14 to 30. It looked like there were approximately 150 potential customers, and the women were having to endure pinches and prods in sensitive areas by nearly all of them.

About 15 minutes before the auction was scheduled to start, one of the men sent to gather the others came up to me. He said that the Marshal wanted to talk to me outside before anything got started. I thought that was a good idea, so I followed the deputy outside.

The Marshal and I discussed the situation and decided that we did not have enough men on hand to arrest all of the customers, so we would concentrate on the people running the auction. We agreed to surround the stage and let the first sale go through so that we would have solid evidence against the slavers. As soon as the money was collected for the first slave, we would move in and arrest all of the slavers.

Two men were detailed to arrest the first purchaser before he could get out of the warehouse. That way, we would have one customer to use as evidence.

It appeared that everything was going well as far as the slavers were concerned, and the auction started on time. The first woman auctioned was a rather plain brunette who had small breasts and was fairly tall. She appeared to be about 26-28 years old. This woman was not very desirable judging from the lack of bidding from the audience.