It took another eight days of waiting but, with Lester finally feeling better and having traveled to the Sleepy Hollow resort area to make the call, the police had the opportunity to put their plan into action.
“Barnett.” The detective, tall and handsome with thick black hair and sharply cut features, answered the desk phone in his usual clipped manner.
“I’m calling about the investigation into Robert Lester,” Leo stated, “I need to know if he has been found.”
Detective Barnett, who was not assigned to the case but was well aware of the plan, waved at his colleague Dan Robbins.
“Go ahead, what was that again?” he asked, stalling for a little time.
“You know what I asked,” Leo snapped back, “do you have Lester in custody?”
“Robbins here, this is Leo, isn’t it?” the other detective asked, picking up the second extension.
“Yes, of course, now answer me!”
“Ok, I had to see if it was you. We try not to give this information out to everyone, you know? It’s been awhile since we heard from you Leo. I had started to wonder if you still cared about this case.”
“Of course I do, the man tried to kill me!” Leo replied angrily. “Now, tell me what is going on.”
“Ok, settle down a bit. We did finally apprehend him two days ago.”
“Two days? Why wasn’t I notified?” Leo responded angrily.
“Well, I’m sure we would have if we knew where you were. I’ll come talk to you now though. Where are you?”
Leo had realized his mistake as soon as he spoke. “Never mind that,” he said, “so you got him then? That’s good. Now shoot him and throw the body in a shallow grave.”
Robbins chuckled before replying, “You know that’s not how this goes Leo. We need you to come in though and give us another statement. It’ll help get this wrapped up quickly just like you want it.”
“I already gave you a statement, use that. Are you sure you have him?” Leo asked warily. “He’s in jail, right in Pomona?”
“Yes,” Robbins replied.
“Let me talk to him. I want to talk to him.”
“Again, that’s not how this works.”
“You need to take care of him, get him locked up for good. He tried to murder me.” Leo’s voice was rising as he spoke. “Get him locked up for a good long time.”
“Yes, that’s what we are trying to do, “ Robbins replied. “Now listen, because like I said, you can help us get this wrapped up. We need you to come down here. If you won’t come today then you need to be at the courthouse for sure on Monday, next Monday the first, at nine in the morning, ok? He’ll be there for arraignment and we may need you to provide some testimony so he doesn’t end up back on the street.”
“Well, I mean, I don’t know, what if you’re just foolin’ me? Is this some kind of a set up? Why can’t you use the statement I already gave you?”
“Leo, we have him and if you want him in jail so damn bad you need to be there, ok?”
“Prove to me you have him. Can I see the, damn, forget that. How do I know you have him?”
“We’ve been working on this case Leo, for you, to get justice for you. You’ve called before and we never said we had him, did we? If we were trying to trick you we would have tried that already. We just arrested him and now you need to come in and help us convict him. You need to be there, you understand?”
“Well, ok,” Leo responded in a half-hearted way before slowly hanging up the phone.
August first was just a few days away and Leo thought about what to do during his entire ride back to Pomona. By that night he had managed to give himself quite a severe headache from the constant worrying and collapsed into bed hoping to put it out of his mind. That did not happen and he was back up again at two a.m., pacing his room. Leo was consumed by the conflict between making sure Lester received full punishment and his fear that the entire thing was a set up. He wished he had better contacts in Pomona, ones he could check to see if there was a record of Lester’s arrest, but he did not and his need to lay low made any real inquires difficult anyway. He spent the next two days that way and it was ten p.m. on Sunday when he found himself sitting in his easy chair, exhausted and staring up at the ceiling. The streets were mostly quiet with the faint sound of a dog barking carrying into his room along with the hum of a radio playing in another part of the boarding house. Leo was almost there, right on the edge of complete exhaustion, finally about to fall asleep, when a devastating fact occurred to him. He realized that his call from the Kress building had likely been traced somehow, that the police knew he was nearby and had set up a trap for him. They did not have Lester after all but were sure to get him if he showed up at the courthouse on Monday.
Energized completely now despite his lack of sleep Leo packed up a valise with his cash and the few items he had purchased since arriving in Pomona and waited impatiently for morning. Once it arrived, he flagged down a passing oil truck and hitched a ride out of town.
San Bernardino Sun article on Humbert and Lester court appearance
Leo ended up being only partially correct. The police did in fact have Lester, who had been arrested on July 27th in northern California and brought back to Pomona, and they did bring him to the courthouse on Monday, August 1, 1927. His arrest had been a fortuitous addition to their plan as it initially was just to lie to Leo and see if they could get him to come in if he thought they had arrested the person who tried to kill him. Lester had other issues that day in addition to the potential attempted murder charges involving Leo, as the Portland police also came down to serve a warrant on him. There was also the plan to arrest Leo, both by the Pomona and Los Angeles police, who had sent officers to arrest him for the gas station robbery. Ultimately though, Lester ended up back in jail and facing extradition to Oregon, while Leo escaped into the unknown thanks to his last minute realization.
…to be continued
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