Public Enemies_ America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI - Bryan Burrough [285]
Karpis invited the manager, William Morley, to his room, offered him a shot of rye, and inquired about renting a furnished home or apartment in the area; Morley promised to look into it. Around lunchtime Karpis, escorted by the hotel’s handyman, walked up to Sloteroff’s, a men’s store on Arctic Avenue, and bought winter clothes, a black box-shouldered overcoat and two suits, a banker’s gray single-breasted model and a double-breasted oxford, both of which needed to be altered. Karpis took the overcoat, arranged to pick up the suits at five, then went with the handyman to a veterinarian’s office, where he waited while the vet explained why the handyman’s dog had just died.
Outside, Karpis noticed a man and woman in their forties he had seen earlier. He thought he was being followed. All that afternoon Karpis, Campbell, and their girlfriends meandered through stores buying winter clothes, dresses, and slips for the women, and a second overcoat for Karpis, which he paid for with a bill he peeled from a roll of fifties. Campbell also thought they were being followed. Karpis arranged to have the car oiled. They would leave the next morning.
Miami, Florida That afternoon
The maid thought it strange that her employers at the house on 85th Street, the Greens, had disappeared. Ever since the pregnant Mrs. Green had bolted from the house with her luggage Wednesday afternoon, she hadn’t heard a word. The maid had stayed alone in the house two nights, then returned to her parents’. Saturday she found the house still empty. Unsure what to do, she phoned the landlady, Grace Thomas. Mrs. Thomas said she suspected the Greens wouldn’t be coming back. In fact, she thought they might be connected to the shoot-out at Lake Weir. Mrs. Thomas picked up the phone and called the Miami Police Department.
On Saturday afternoon two detectives arrived to see Mrs. Thomas. They interviewed her, then spoke with the maid. The description of the Greens matched that of Alvin Karpis and Delores Delaney. Inside the rented house the detectives found dozens of papers left behind when the Greens left. Among the papers was a description of the black two-door Buick the Greens had purchased at the Ungar Buick Company. The detectives passed the information to the FBI’s Miami office.
Just after nightfall the news was relayed to Earl Connelley, who had remained in Ocala, cleaning up loose ends. After checking with Washington, Connelley ordered a description of the car broadcast to police departments up and down the Eastern Seaboard.
Atlantic City Sunday, January 20
At 2:30 that morning an urgent message spit out of the Teletype machine at the Atlantic City Police Department: INFORMATION WANTED BY FLORIDA POLICE ON A SERIOUS CRIMINAL CHARGE WHITE MAN FIVE FOOT TEN DARK COMPLEXION DARK HAIR DARK EYES VERY SLENDER BUILD ACCOMPANIED BY WOMAN WHO WILL BECOME MOTHER IN FEW DAYS DRIVING NINETEEN THIRTY FIVE BUICK SEDAN D5306 . . . HE IS ARMED WITH 45 CALIBRE AUTOMATIC AND RIFLE REPORTED TO BE DANGEROUS USE EXTREME CAUTION IN APPREHENSION.
At 3:25 Officer Elias Saab was walking his beat near the Atlantic City boardwalk when he checked in from a phone box and was notified of the alert. He strolled into the Coast Garage on Kentucky Avenue and walked through, glancing at license numbers. To his amazement he found the Buick mentioned in the Teletype. He called his captain, who dispatched three detectives to the garage. The attendant told the men the car belonged to someone staying at the Dan-mor Hotel.
The detectives crossed the street to the Dan-mor and woke the manager, William Morley. Morley stonewalled. The police wouldn’t explain why they wanted to question his new guests, and Morley later said he assumed the matter involved the pregnant girl who wasn’t wearing a wedding ring. He didn’t want to cause a commotion over such a trivial matter.