“Well, I can go get him if you don’t think we have got him,”
Agent Smith said.
“Bring him in,” Burkhart said.
White and Smith went and got Blackie and escorted him into the
room. While the gunman on the roof kept Blackie in his scope
through the window, the outlaw sat across from Burkhart, who
looked stunned.
Agent Smith turned to Blackie and said, “Blackie, have you told
me...the truth concerning the propositions made by Ernest
Burkhart to you?”
Blackie replied, “Yes, sir.”
Agent Smith added, “To kill Bill Smith?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Did you tell me the truth when you told me Ernest gave you an
automobile as part payment of that job?”
“Yes, sir.”
Blackie, evidently enjoying himself, looked squarely at Burkhart
and said, “Ernest, I have told them everything.”
Burkhart appeared defeated. After Blackie was taken away,
White thought that Burkhart was ready to confess and turn on
Hale, but each time Burkhart came close to doing so, he stopped
himself. Around midnight, White left Burkhart in the custody of
the other agents and returned to his hotel room. There were no
more tricks to play; exhausted, despairing, he collapsed on his bed
and fell asleep.
Not long after, White was jolted awake by the phone. Facing the
prospect that something else had gone wrong—that Blackie
Thompson had sprung loose—he picked up the receiver and heard
the urgent voice of one of his agents. “Burkhart’s ready to tell his
story,” he said. “But he won’t give it to us. Says it’s got to be you.”