Wyatt's Hurricane / Bahama Crisis

by Desmond Bagley

  ‘Yes. It was a 12-bore shotgun.’

  Riker looked puzzled. ‘Twelve what?’

  ‘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. ‘I 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.’

  ‘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 Tyler 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 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 l
ack 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 photofit 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 JetStar. 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.

  TWENTY

  The boss of the bodyguarding 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.

  I went over everything Robinson had said and latched on to something. He had said that Kayles had reported that I knew all about his plans, whatever they were, and that I had not told Kayles directly, but that Kayles had overheard a conversation between me and Sam Ford.

  I thought back to the affray on My Fair Lady. Kayles could have listened when Sam and I were talking in the cockpit, but we had not talked about any mysterious plans, only about how to get Kayles back to Duncan Town. Anyway, Kayles would have been too busy cutting himself free and grabbing his gun to listen to us.

  The only other time he could have listened to Sam and me was when he was tied up on the bunk. I vaguely remembered that I had a notion he had been feigning unconsciousness at the time, so what had I said to Sam about anyone’s plans? I remembered I had been a bit irritable and had blown my top about something, but what it was I could not remember—a lot had happened since then. But perhaps Sam would know.

  I snapped on the intercom. ‘Jessie, get Sam Ford on the telephone. I don’t know where he’ll be; you’ll have to track him down.’

  ‘But didn’t you know?’ she said.

  ‘Know what?’

  ‘He’s in hospital in Nassau. A boat fell on him.’

  ‘Come in here and tell me more.’

  It appeared that Sam had been supervising the removal of a yacht from the water. Half-way up the slip it had fallen sideways from the cradle, and Sam happened to be in the way. It was a ten-ton ketch. ‘He’s in the intensive care unit of the Princess Margaret Hospital,’ said Jessie. ‘He was still in a coma the last I heard.’

  ‘When did this happen?’

  ‘About a week ago.’

  I was filled with a cold rage. If Robinson had tried to kill me because of what Kayles overheard he would certainly not leave out Sam. This was as much of an ordinary accident as the disappearance of Bill Pinder. I said, ‘Ask Mr Walker to come in.’

  Jessie stood up, then hesitated. ‘Who is he?’ she asked. ‘He’s just sitting there reading magazines. And he asked me to give him a signal if a stranger comes in.’

  ‘Don’t worry about him, but do as he says. And I’d appreciate it if you didn’t talk about him—to anyone.’

  All the same she looked a bit worried as she left. When Walker came in I said, ‘We have another bodyguard job,’ and filled in the details. ‘I don’t want anyone getting to Sam.’

  Walker tugged his ear. ‘That might be tricky. Do we get the cooperation of the hospital?’

  ‘I’ll see what I can do about that. In the meantime have a couple of your men on alert, ready to fly to Nassau.’

  He nodded and left, and I was about to ask Jessie to put me through to the hospital in Nassau when she buzzed me. ‘Commissioner Perigord to see you.’

  I had been expecting Perigord but not as soon as this. He was quick off the mark. ‘Send him in.’

  Perigord came in, as trim and elegant as ever in his wellcut uniform. ‘What can I do for you?’ I asked. ‘Please sit down.’

  He took off his cap and laid it on the desk, together with the swagger stick he always carried, and sat in the chair opposite. He regarded me with dark brown eyes set in a dark brown face, and said quietly, ‘Don’t be bland with me, Mr Mangan. You have much to tell me. When a Bahamian of some eminence is kidnapped in Texas and kills two men in the act of escaping it tends to make headlines in the newspapers. You are a man of some notoriety.’

  I should have expected that but it had not occurred to me. True, Jessie had looked at me with big eyes when I had walked into the office, but I had kept her on the run and we had not had time to be chatty. ‘I must get the clippings for my scrapbook,’ I said ironically.

  ‘Captain Booth of the Texas State Police telephoned me. He wanted to know about you, naturally enough. Your status in the community, had you a criminal record, and so forth. I gave you a clean bill of health.’

  ‘Thanks for the testimonial.’

  ‘We also talked about our common problems—drugrunning, for instance. Texas has a long border with Mexico.’

  ‘Do you still think this case has to do with drugs? I’m beginning to wonder about that.’

  Perigord shrugged. ‘I’m keeping an open mind. I read the transcript of the Grand Jury hearing with great interest.’

  I was surprised. ‘You did? That hearing was held in private.’

  Perigord’s lips quirked into a smile. ‘Like you, I have friends in Texas. It made…how shall I put it?…empty reading. For
example, there was the mysterious Mr Robinson, your kidnapper, floating about the case with no visible means of support—never found. And there was the body of Kayles which, again, has never been found.’

  ‘It wouldn’t be too hard to make a body vanish in Big Thicket,’ I said. ‘You could toss it into any swamp.’

  ‘True, but Captain Booth is moderately unhappy. You see, he only has your word for it that there was a third body or even a Robinson. He couldn’t ask Leroy Ainslee because he was inconsiderately killed by a train.’

  I said, ‘My wife never saw Kayles, but she did see Robinson. You must have read her evidence.’ I took a glossy colour photograph from my desk drawer. ‘Meet Mr Robinson.’

  Perigord took it from my fingers and examined it critically. ‘You did better with Kayles,’ he said. ‘That was a photograph. This is a photograph of a painting.’ He dropped it on to the desk. ‘Not what one would call hard evidence for the existence of Robinson.’

  ‘Are you saying you don’t believe me—or Debbie?’ I demanded.

  ‘No—but I’m dissatisfied. Like Captain Booth I’m moderately unhappy.’ He then said what Frank Cunningham had said before Billy hit him, but in a way that robbed it of offence. ‘You seem to have problems with your wives, Mr Mangan. I was very sorry when the first Mrs Mangan died because I had a regard for her, and I was equally sorry when I heard what had happened to your present wife. I ask myself if these events are related in any way, and if your problems are going to continue. Too much has happened around you in the last year or so.’ He leaned forward. ‘Now let us talk about Robinson.’

  So we talked about Robinson for a long time. At last I said, ‘I’ve been racking my brains to think of what Kayles overheard between me and Sam Ford, and I can’t ask Sam.’ I told him about that, and added pointedly, ‘And I don’t think that was an accident, either.’

  Perigord looked grave. ‘I’ll ring Commissioner Deane in Nassau, and we’ll have that incident investigated.’

  ‘And put a guard on Sam,’ I said.