He said, 'Tom, do you know what's happened to Debbie?'
The question could have had two meanings he really wanted to know if I knew, or it was rhetorical and there was no way of knowing from the inflection of his voice. I said, 'How would I know? She left me.'
12^ 'He admits it,' said Frank.
'Admit! I admit nothing I'm telling you, if she hasn't told you already. She's her own woman and she ran away.'
'Ran away from what? That'S'what I'd like to know.'
Billy casually walked up to the table and picked up a whisky bottle.
'Any clean glasses around?' Then he swung on Frank.
'Button up your mouth.'
'You can't…'
'Shut it,' said Billy quietly, but there was a cutting edge to his voice.
'Your sister's a brat. Everything she ever wanted she got, but she wouldn't know a man when she saw one, not a real man. When she found she couldn't handle him she picked up her marbles and wouldn't play any more.' He looked at Jack.
'Nobody's going to hold a kangaroo court on Tom. Hear?'
Billy One stirred.
'Quiet, boy.'
'Sure,' said Billy easily.
'I've said the core of it, y'all know that.' He dropped into a chair.
'Come sit here, Tom; you look as though you need a drink.'
I suppose I did; we both did. And it was half past three in the morning. I took the chair he offered and accepted the drink, then I said, 'If you want to know what happened to Debbie why don't you ask her?'
I was now facing Billy One across the table. He laid his hands flat.
'That's just it, son. She's not around to be asked.'
'Jesus!' said Billy, and stared at Jack.
'Your little girl runs away again, and you jerk me from making the sweetest deal you ever saw?'
The tic convulsed Jack's cheek; he looked defeated.
'Tell him. Billy One,' he said in an old man's voice.
Billy One stared at the back of his hands. He said slowly, 'We weren't sure at first, not really, not even this afternoon when.. ' He looked up at me.
'Now you're here we're pretty sure Debbie's been kidnapped.'
Suddenly it all did not seem real. My head swam for a moment as a host of questions crowded in. I picked the first at random.
'Who by?'
'Who the hell knows?' said Frank disgustedly.
'Kidnappers don't hand out business cards.'
He was right; it was a stupid question. Billy said, 'When?'
'Saturday, we think; maybe Sunday early.' And today was late Monday or, rather, very early Tuesday. Billy One nodded down the table.
'Last one of us to see her was Joe's wife.'
'Yeah,' said Joe.
'Linda and Debbie went shopping Saturday morning Sakowitz and Nieman-Marcus. They lunched together.'
'Then what?' asked Billy.
Joe shrugged.
'Then nothing. Linda came home.'
'Did she say what Debbie was going to do Saturday afternoon?'
'Debbie didn't tell her.'
This did not seem to be getting anywhere. I cleared my throat, and said, 'How do you know she's been kidnapped? Billy, here, jumped to the conclusion that she'd taken off again. So did I. So how do you know7' ' Because the goddamn kidnappers told us,' said Frank.
Billy One said, 'We got a letter this… last afternoon least, Jack did. Tell the truth I don't think we believed it at first, neither of us. Thought it was some kind of hoax until we discovered she really wasn't around.'
'Where was Debbie staying?'
'At my place,' said Jack. He looked at me reproachfully.
'My girl was very unhappy.'
'She was last seen by the family at midday on Saturday and it took you until Monday to find out she'd disappeared?' I looked at Jack.
'Wasn't her bed slept in?'
'Take it easy, Tom,' said Billy One.
'We thought she'd gone back to you.'
'She'd have left word,' I said.
'She may be irresponsible, but she's not that irresponsible. When she left me she at least had the decency to leave a note telling me where she'd gone, if not why. What about her clothes? Didn't you check to see if any were missing? Or, more to the point, not missing?'
'Oh, Christ!' said Frank.
'She'd been living away. Who knew what clothes she had?' He waved an impatient hand.
'This is wasting time.'
'I agree,' I said emphatically^ 'Have you notified the police?'
There was silence around the table and Jack evaded my eye. Finally Billy One said quietly, 'Kidnapping is a federal offence.'
I knew that; it had been a federal offence ever since the stink caused by the Lindbergh kidnapping.
'So?'
He tented his fingers.
'If it was just a matter for the State Police we'd be able to keep control we draw a lot of water here in Texas.
But once the Federal Government gets into the act and that means the FBI then anything could happen. Since Watergate every Government department has been as leaky as a goddamn sieve, and that damn fool, Carter, calls it open government. ' In his voice was the contempt of the old- line Republican for a Democratic administration.
'The FBI is no exception, and if the newspapers get hold of this I wouldn't give a bent nickel for our chances of getting Debbie back safely.'
'We can control our press down here, but those newspapers back east would really screw things up,' said Frank.
'To say nothing of the professional bleeding hearts on TV,' Joe commented.
'So you haven't told the police,' I said bleakly.
'Not yet,' said Billy One.
'Hell, we can pay,' said Billy. He grinned sardonically.
'And stop it out of Debbie allowance when we get her back.'
'If we get her back,' said Jack. There was agony in his voice.
'You know what kidnappers are like.'
'Right,' said Billy.
'But if you don't call the cops you don't get her back unless you pay so let's start opening the coffers.'
'It's not as easy as that,' said Billy One.
'Not by a long shot.
There are. difficulties. '
'What difficulties? These guys want dough, we want Debbie. We give them how many dollars they want and we get Debbie.' Billy's voice turned savage.
'Then we go hunting and we get the money back and maybe some scalps. But I don't see any difficulty.'
'You brought one with you,' said Frank.
