'Maybe the Lord had help. Anyway the cops have written it down as accidental death. He's being buried in Kountze.'
'I see.' I saw that Texas could be a pretty rough place.
'It's best this way,' said Billy.
'Oh, by the way, Dade Perkins sends his regards.'
The case did not come to trial or, at least, not to the kind of trial we have in the Bahamas where the law is patterned after the British style. It went to the Grand Jury which was supposed to establish if there was a case to be answered at all. I never did get to the bottom of the intricacies of the American legal system, but I suspect that a considerable amount of string-pulling was done by the Cunninghams behind the scenes.
Because it involved kidnapping, a federal offence, the argument before the Grand Jury was not conducted by a local District Attorney from Houston but by a State Attorney from Austin, the State capital.
I was represented by Heller and, as far as I could judge, he and the State Attorney a man called Riker – had no adverse relationship at all. The whole hearing was conducted in such a way as to get a cool assessment of the facts.
There was a tricky moment when I was on the stand and Riker was interrogating me. He said, 'Now, Mr. Mangan; you have stated that you made certain preparations and quite elaborate preparations involving a pitcher of water to kill Earl Ainslee.'
'No,' I said.
'I thought it would be Leroy Ainslee.'
'I see,' he said thoughtfully.
'Did you have anything against Leroy Ainslee?'
I smiled slightly.
'Apart from the fact that he was keeping me prisoner at gun point, and that he was keeping my wife from me nothing at all.' There was a rumble of amusement from the jury.
'I'd never met the man before.'
'Yes,' said Riker.
'Now, to return to the man you actually killed – Earl Ainslee. He actually had you at gun point at that time?'
'Yes. It was a 12-bore shotgun.'
Riker looked puzzled.
'Twelve ^hat?'
'I'm sorry,' I said.
'It would be called 12-gauge here.'
'I see. Did you know the gun was loaded?'
'I had been so informed. Robinson said buckshot.'
'The mysterious Mr. Robinson said that?'
'Yes. I found his information to be accurate when Earl pulled the trigger.'
'Earl fired a shot at you?'
'That's right. The buckshot ripped up the bed I was sitting on.'
'Now, I want you to answer this question very carefully, Mr. Mangan.
Did Earl Ainslee pull that trigger involuntarily as a result of being struck on the head with the heavy pitcher, or did he shoot first? '
'I don't know,' I said.
'I was too busy getting out of the way.'
Again there came a murmur from the jury.
'But, at all events, you did pull the string which released the pitcher?'
'Yes.'
'Why?'
Into the sudden silence I said, 'My wife was screaming.' I moistened my lips.
'Earl said Leroy was having fun, and that it was his turn next.'
Riker waited until the stir had died away.
'Mr. Mangan, had your wife not screamed would you have pulled that string?'
Again there was silence.
'I don't know. I honestly don't know.'
Heller put up his hand.
'Objection. The witness can testify only as to matters of fact. That is a hypothetical question.'
'I withdraw the question,' said Riker.
And that was the worst of it as far as I was concerned. There were more questions concerning the death of Tukey and the chase through Big Thicket, but Heller steered me past all the pitfalls. Then I retired because I was not allowed to hear other witnesses giving evidence.
Debbie told me afterwards that they handled her gently and considerately, and her time on the stand was brief. I believe the evidence of the doctor who had attended Debbie at the Ainslee place, and that of Sherry-Lou, damned Leroy thoroughly.
Anyway the whole thing was tossed out as being no case of murder or culpable homicide to answer at trial. There appeared to be a slight incredulity mixed with gratification that a Britisher, as I was popularly supposed to be, could be as red-blooded as any American and, I suppose, the unwritten law had a lot to do with it. Anyway, it was over and I was a free man.
Afterwards, Heller said, 'I know I objected to that hypothetical question, but I'm damned glad Riker asked it. You'll notice I objected only after you had answered it.'
'Yes.'
He grinned. T had my heart in my mouth waiting for your answer. I was taking a hell of a chance on that. '
'So was I,' I said dryly.
He looked a bit startled at that, and said, 'You know, Mr. Mangan, you're no man's fool. That was a perfect answer. Have you studied law?'
'Not in any depth.'
'Well, there's a peculiar grey area that's not covered in any of the law books, and that answer of yours was right in the middle of it.
You did all right. '
Before I went home to Grand Bahama Billy One convened another conference. Again it was confined to his kitchen cabinet; present were Billy, Frank and young Jim. Jack was absent; although out of hospital he was still confined to his home. I was there, too, and waiting to find out why.
Billy One started by saying to Frank, 'Your Pa is a sick man and I don't reckon he'll be attending to business for some time. But decisions have to be made and someone has to make them, and I think it's up to me. Of course, it'll be put to a full meeting of the board as soon as we get around to it, but we don't have time to wait on that.' He looked around the table.
'Any objections?'*' Billy smiled and Jim merely shrugged he was not going to argue with the man who had promoted him to top table but Frank said, 'I think it should be put to the board.'
'No time,' said Billy One.
'Joe's in Scotland wrapping up that North Sea oil deal and I don't want to pull him from that. Besides, I'd want to have Jack at the meeting and he's not up to it yet.'
Frank nodded and accepted defeat.
'Okay but what's he doing here?'
His finger stabbed at me.
'He's here because he's a Cunningham,' said Billy One flatly.
'And because I want him here.' He ignored Frank's perplexed look and turned to me.
'How's Debbie today?'
'Not too bad,' I said.
'She's mended in body but…' I shrugged.
'She has nightmares.'
