'Tom, I know you want to get back to her, but this won't take long.'
Billy One leaned back and surveyed us.
'I want to remind you young fellows of some history family history. We Cunninghams originally came from Scotland. Two brothers, Malcolm and Donald, settled here in tidewater Texas when it was still Mexico. They were piss-poor but it was a goddamn sight better than crofting back home.'
He clasped his hands.
'Over the years the family prospered. We helped Sam Houston take Texas from the Mexicans, and the family were among the leaders who pressurized Tyier into admitting Texas to the Union.
We grew rich and strong and now we're not only powerful in Texas but over the whole goddamn world. And the way we did it was this. ' He raised his clasped hands before him, the knuckles white under firm pressure.
'The family stays together and works as a team.'
Frank said in a bored voice, 'We know all that.'
'Sure,' said Billy One mildly.
'But I want Tom to know the score. It was Billy's idea to bring him into the Bahamas deal Me, I was neutral but willing to go along. I didn't think all that much of Tom but I had nothing against him. Same when he married Debbie.'
'He cut himself a fair slice in that Bahamas deal,' said Frank.
'Sure he did,' agreed Billy One.
'And my respect for him went up a notch.' He looked at me.
'Why did you set it up that way?'
'I like my independence.'
'That can be good but solidarity can be better. How would you like to join the Cunningham Corporation?'
'As what?'
'You'll be on the board making policy.'
'The hell he will!' said Frank outraged.
Billy One swung on him.
'You've still got a sister and Jack's still got a daughter on account of this guy, and he killed two men making it that way. He's shed blood and lost some of his own. In my book that makes him family a Cunningham.' He stared Frank down and then sighed.
'Okay, Tom, what do you think?'
It was a handsome offer but there had to be a catch As Dade Perkins had remarked, the Cunninghams were not notorious for offering free handouts. There had to be a catch in spite of Billy One's rhetoric, and he confirmed it by saying, 'Before being appointed to the board there's something you'll have to do.'
'And that is?'
'Well, there's something I want. Another thing about us Cunninghams is that we take insults from nobody. Now, my brother nearly died in that damn hospital, and my niece your wife was raped, and that's the biggest insult you can offer a woman.' His voice trembled.
'I want this guy, Robinson, and I want him real bad.'
Jim said, 'The State Police haven't gotten far on it.'
'They don't have our reasons,' snapped Billy One. He stared at me.
'You'll have the whole family right behind you, and that means the Cunningham Corporation. You can have any resources we have and, believe me, that's plenty.'
I said, 'Wow!' but not aloud. I did not know how many iqi billions of dollars the Cunningham Corporation controlled, but it was a respectable chunk of the GNP. It was not the biggest corporation in the United States, but it was not the smallest, either, not by a long way 'It might not be a question of money,' I said.
'In any case, I have plenty of that.' I held Billy One's eye.
'And I don't need any reasons from you why I should find Robinson; I have plenty of my own.' I leaned back.
'The problem is that we have a total lack of information.'
Jim said, 'We have a pretty fair intelligence unit; you can put that to work.' I nodded, thinking of the ready way Rodriguez had hustled up bugging devices.
'Anything you want you get through Billy or Jim,' said Billy One.
'You'll liaise with them.'
'What about me?' said Frank.
'You and me have the Corporation to run. Have you any immediate ideas, Tom?'
'I think the answer lies in the Bahamas,' I said.
'That's the reason why your State Police have come up with nothing. I don't think Robinson is in Texas, or even in the United States. I think he's in the Bahamas. That's where I'm going to look for him, anyway. I'm leaving tomorrow with Debbie.'
'With Debbie?' said Frank.
'Wouldn't it be better if she stays here?'
I said deliberately, 'We've had enough of separate lives both of us.'
I turned to Jim.
'But I'd like a twenty-four-hour bodyguard on her until this thing is settled. Can you arrange that?'
'Sure, no problem. We have some dandy bodyguards Treasury-trained.'
I did not see the point of that remark.
'What's that got to do with anything?'
Billy said, 'The Department of the Treasury bodyguards the President of the United States. Those guys are very good.' He smiled.
'We get to hire them because we pay better than the Treasury. But I've had an idea, Tom. I know you did a photo fit of Robinson for the cops, but they've gotten no place with it. I have a kissing cousin who is a pretty fair portrait painter. Maybe she can produce something better.'
So it was that I was introduced to Cassie Cunningham, aged about twenty-five and unmarried, who came armed with a sketching block, pencils and water colours. She was quite a good portraitist and, after a few false starts, I began to feel hopeful of success. When we had done Robinson for good measure I asked Cassie to do another of the fake doctor who had whipped me from the lobby of the Cunningham Building.
The next day we flew to Freeport in the Cunningham Corporation Jet Star Apart from Debbie and myself there were six large men with bulges under their arms.
'Six!' I said to Jim Cunningham.
'I'm not going to start a bloody war.'
'Billy thought you ought to have a bodyguard, too. Anyway, allocate them as you choose.'
After thinking that one over I thought that Billy could very well be right.
'One thing,' I said.
'They're not employed by me. The Bahamian Government is very strict about firearms, and if these men are caught they're on their own.'
So we went home and I installed Debbie back in the house, with Kitty Symonette as attendant and companion. After making arrangements to bring Karen back from Abaco I went to see how the Theta Corporation had fared in my enforced absence. But it was just going to be a quick look because I was not going to leave Debbie for long. I had learned that lesson well.
^3 The boss of the body guarding team was Steve Walker and he went with me to the office. I introduced him to Jessie in the outer office, then we went into my own. Walker looked around.
'Two doors,' he commented.
'Where does that one lead?'
'To the corridor.'
The key was in the lock so he turned it, locking the door.
'I'd rather you use just the one door,' he said.
'Can I have a desk in the corner of your secretary's office?'
'Sure. I'll have Jessie set it up.' So I did, much to her mystification, and when Walker had settled down I sat behind my own desk to do some heavy thinking.
