Located on a dark stretch of South Front Street, and high on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, is a stretch of vacant warehouses that were once used to store cotton. Those days are past, and now most cotton was sold through the Exchange before it ever left the field. It went from the field, to the cotton gin and then to its predetermined destination – avoiding expensive warehousing and storage. Now only a small portion of the cotton brought through the Memphis market traveled via the river, with the majority being transported by truck or rail to the mills.
This left dozens of empty, rotting and shabby buildings in this dismal area of Southwest Memphis – now used only by the homeless, the drug dealers and the rats – both the four and two-legged kind!
Near the end of one of these rows of warehouses was a two-story brick and wood building with the name D.H. Overmyer showing in faded white letters along one wall. The windows, what few remained, had long ago been painted over – to keep the light and heat away from the stored cotton. The rest had suffered the fate of some vandal’s rock, or just some kids testing their pitching skills.
It was in this warehouse, according to Garrett’s informant, that Carrollton and Scarsetti would be meeting. It was scheduled for 10:00 PM, and they would only be together for fifteen minutes — maximum. Garrett’s window of time was small, so he arrived early – he didn’t intend on missing any part of their rendezvous.
Hiding on a side street in his unmarked car, Garrett staked out the warehouse and waited, and waited, and waited. The scheduled meeting never happened.
This left dozens of empty, rotting and shabby buildings in this dismal area of Southwest Memphis – now used only by the homeless, the drug dealers and the rats – both the four and two-legged kind!
Near the end of one of these rows of warehouses was a two-story brick and wood building with the name D.H. Overmyer showing in faded white letters along one wall. The windows, what few remained, had long ago been painted over – to keep the light and heat away from the stored cotton. The rest had suffered the fate of some vandal’s rock, or just some kids testing their pitching skills.
It was in this warehouse, according to Garrett’s informant, that Carrollton and Scarsetti would be meeting. It was scheduled for 10:00 PM, and they would only be together for fifteen minutes — maximum. Garrett’s window of time was small, so he arrived early – he didn’t intend on missing any part of their rendezvous.
Hiding on a side street in his unmarked car, Garrett staked out the warehouse and waited, and waited, and waited. The scheduled meeting never happened.
No comments:
Post a Comment