Evil Eyes by Corey Mitchell Read Free Book Online Page B

word. It was all over.”
    Coral Eugene Watts was no longer talking.
    Officers had also drawn blood from Watts at the Detroit Receiving Hospital. The blood work failed to tie Watts to any of the crimes.
    With no confession and no blood tie-ins, Bunten had no choice but to resume the campaign of antagonism. The officer would “accidentally” bump into Watts on a more-than- regular basis. He would walk up to Watts and blurt out, “I want to talk to you, Coral” in front of other people. He would follow him to the grocery store and when Watts would walk out of the store, Bunten would be there waiting for him ready to have him “answer a few questions.”
    On March 10, 1981, Bunten was inside the Washtenaw County Courthouse when he noticed Watts chatting on a pay phone. Bunten decided to pay his favorite suspect a visit. He walked up to Watts and said, “Hi, Coral. You want to come talk to me?”
    Watts looked up at his tormentor and said, “I am not interested in talking to the police no more.” He then dropped the phone and took off.
    The pay phone swung from its metallic cord.
    It was the last anyone saw of Coral Eugene Watts . . . for a while.

PART II TEXAS

CHAPTER 7

    Paul Bunten drove Coral Watts out of Michigan. The suspected murderer packed up his bags and headed out of state the same day as the encounter at the courthouse.
    He didn’t even let his mother know.
    Watts’s first stop was Coalwood, West Virginia. He ran to his grandmother Lula Mae Young. His stay was brief, as he needed money, so he packed up and headed back to his original home: Texas. Somehow, he managed to scrape up enough money to buy a plane ticket.
    Watts had asked some of his coworkers where the best place to get a job would be. They all told him Houston, Texas. Once again he drove off to get away from everything that haunted him, especially Paul Bunten.
    Watts flew to Houston. He made plans to be picked up by a friend of his, forty-one-year-old Garland Silcox and his wife, Pat, who lived at the 7600 block of Lemma Drive on the northwestern side of Harris County, in the Chimney Hills subdivision. Silcox and Watts knew each other from working together at E&L Transport Company in Michigan five years earlier.
    Silcox offered to let Watts stay with him until he got

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    himself situated with a job and a place to live. Watts, however, declined because he did not want to impose. Subsequently, he slept in Silcox’s car for the first few weeks in Houston. Silcox also let Watts use his house as a location to retrieve his mail.
    Watts began to look for work. He first went to United Transport, located on the 6500 block of Homestead Road, to find work as a mechanic and a parts man. One of his buddies from Michigan, Jerry Brock, worked there, and Watts hoped their friendship might open some doors for him at United. According to assistant manager Woody Meyers and maintenance superintendent Jerry Mooty, Watts applied for the job on March 23, 1981. He came to the company wearing a backpack. Meyers and Mooty did not hire him.
    Watts next went for a job as a diesel mechanic at Coastal Transport Co., a Houston trucking firm, located on the 8600 block of Wallisville Road. Jerry Brock’s brother, William Brock, worked there, as did Watts’s friend Garland Silcox. Watts secured the shift of 4:00 P . M . to midnight. Afterward, he moved into the Liberty Courts motel, off Highway 90 and Interstate 10. A few days later, he trekked back up to Michigan to pick up his trusty brown 1978 Grand Prix.
    He felt safe.

    In Ann Arbor, Michigan, Officer Paul Bunten continued his search for the elusive Coral Watts. He continued to call Watts’s family and friends to see if they had any idea where he went, but they all claimed not to have a clue. Bunten contacted his former employer at E&L Transport and found out that Watts had left a forward-

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    ing address to receive his final paycheck. The 7600 block of Lemma Drive in Houston, Texas.
    He