Dade Perkins was in on it, and outlined on a table what the Ainslee place was like, using match books and tobacco tins. Then there was a brief argument when Sherry-Lou announced that she was coming along.

The senior police officer was Captain Booth who was inclined to want to know the whys and wherefores until he was cut down by Billy.

"For Christ's sake, Captain, quit yammering! We can hold the inquest after we've gotten my i79 cousin out of there." It was a measure of Cunningham influence that Booth stopped right then and there.

Now he said decidedly, "No place for a woman. There might be shooting."*' "Miz Mangan will need a woman if she's…" Sherry-Lou swallowed the words 'still alive', and continued, "I know Leroy Ainslee."

Dade turned red in the face.

"Has he interfered with you?"

"No, he hasn't!" she retorted.

"Not since I laid a rock against his head an' then got me a gun an' told him I'd perforate him."

Dade glowered, and Booth said thoughtfully, "There'll be one chopper in the air all the time. They might scatter and we'll want to see where they go. I reckon Miss Perkins could be in that one."

We left in the helicopters and descended like a cloud of locusts on the Ainslee place less than five minutes later with the precision of a military operation. I was in the chopper which dropped right in the middle. No one shot at us because there was no one there to shoot.

All the Ainslee menfolk were absent and only the women and a few kids were left. The children were excited by the sudden invasion but the slatternly women merely looked at us with apathetic eyes.

Billy had a gun in his hand when he jumped out, and Dade carried Leroy's shotgun. I looked about and saw cops closing in from all sides. Billy bolstered his pistol.

"They're not here."

"Still out lookin' for Tom, I reckon," said Dade. He squinted up at the helicopter hovering overhead.

"They'll know something's wrong.

Been nothin' like this since I seen the Vietnam war on TV. They won't be back in a hurry. "

I said, "For God's sake, let's find Debbie." I picked out the biggest house, a ruinous shack, and began to run.

It was Billy who found her. He came out of a smaller shack bellowing, "A doctor! Where is that goddamn doctor?" He caught me by the shoulders as I tried to go in.

"No, Tom. Let the doctor see to her first. Will you quit struggling?"

A man ran past us carrying a bag and the door of the shack slammed shut. Billy yelled at me, "She's alive, damn it! Let the doctor tend to her."

1 sagged in his arms and he had to hold me up for a moment, then I said, "Okay, Billy, I'm all right now."

"Sure," he said.

"I know you are." He turned and saw Booth "Hey, Captain, better get the Perkins girl down here."

"Right, Mr. Cunningham." Booth spoke to one of the pilots standing by, then came over to us.

"Mr. Mangan, I'd like you to come with me." I nodded and was about to follow him, but he was looking at Billy.

"You okay, Mr. Cunningham?"

Billy had developed a curious greenish pallor and beads of sweat stood out on his forehead. He sat down on the stoop of the shack.

"I'll be all right. You go with the Captain, Tom."

I followed Booth to the shack in which I had been held prisoner.

Earl's body had been laid out parallel to the wall and beneath the window. The big pitcher was lying on its side, still intact, and a pool of water lay on the floor, as yet unevaporated. Tukey lay on the bed; he was dead and stank of faeces

Booth said, "Know anything about this?"

"Yes. I killed them."

"You admit it," he said in surprise. I nodded, and he said, "You'd better tell me more."

I thought about that, then shook my head.

"No, I'll say what I have to say in a courtroom."

"I don't think I can accept that," he said stiffly.

"Not in a case of murder."

"Who said anything about murder?" I asked.

"When you lift Tukey you'll find the bed has been ripped up by buckshot. I happened to be sitting there when Earl pulled the trigger. I stabbed Tukey when he was going to shoot me. Don't prejudge the case, Captain; it's for a court to decide if it was murder." He made a hesitant movement, and I said, "Are you going to arrest me?"

He rubbed his chin and I heard a faint rasping sound "You're not an American, Mr. Mangan. That's the problem How do I know you'll stay in State jurisdiction?"

"You can have my passport, if you can find it," I offered.

"I

i8i had it on me when I was snatched. It may be around here somewhere.

Anyway, Billy Cunningham will guarantee I'll stay, if you ask him.

"

"Yeah, that'll be best." Booth seethed relieved.

"There was a murder." I nodded towards the window.

"It happened out there. Leroy Ainslee shot a man in the back. I saw it."

"There's no body."

"Then have your men look for a new-dug grave." I turned on my heel and walked out of that stinking room into the clean sunlight. The hovering helicopter had come down, and I saw Sherry-Lou hurrying into the shack the doctor had gone into. I felt curiously empty of all feeling, except for a deep thankfulness that Debbie was still alive.

My rage was muted, dampened down, but it still smouldered deep in my being, and I knew it would not take much for it to erupt.

I went over and stood in the shade of a helicopter. Presently I was found by Chuck Perkins.

"Jeez, you sure kilt Earl," he said. His face sobered.

"Tukey died bad."

"They deserved it."

"Pop's been looking for you." He jerked his thumb.

"He's over there."

I walked around the helicopter and saw Dade talking to Sherry-Lou.

His face was serious. As I approached I heard Sherry-Lou say,"… tore up real bad. "

He put his hand on her arm in a warning gesture as he saw me. He swallowed.

"Sherry-Lou's got something to tell you," he said.

"I'm sorry, Tom, real sorry."

I said, "Yes, Sherry-Lou?"

"Did you know Miz Mangan was pregnant?"

"Yes." I knew what was coming.

"She lost the baby. I'm sorry."

I stared blindly into the sky.

"Rape?"

"An' worse."

"God damn their souls to hell!" I said violently.

She put out her hand to me.

"Some women are hurt more in birthin' a baby," she said.

"She'll be all right."

"In her body, maybe."

"She'll need a lot of love… lot of attention. She'll need cherishin'."

"She will be. Thanks, Sherry-Lou."

They brought her out on a stretcher, the doctor walking alongside, and a nurse holding up a bottle for an intravenous drip. All that could be seen of her was her face, pale and smudgy about the eyes. I wanted to go with her in the helicopter back to Houston, but the doctor said, "There's no use in it, Mr. Mangan. She'll be unconscious for the next twenty-four hours I guarantee it. Then we'll wake her up slowly. We'll want you there then."

So the helicopter lifted without me aboard and I turned to find Captain Booth standing close by talking to Dade. I said bitterly, "If I find Leroy Ainslee before you, Captain, I can guarantee you'll have a murder case."

"We'll get him," Booth said soberly, but from the way Dade spat on the ground I judged he was sceptical.

Billy came up. He had recovered something of his colour.

"Dade Perkins, I want to talk with you. You too, Tom."

Dade said, "What do you want?"

Billy glanced at Booth, then jerked his head.

"Over here." He led us out of earshot of Booth.

"I know we've been putting pressure on you, Dade."

Dade's face cracked in a slow smile.

"An' not getting' far."

"All I want to say is that it stops right now," said Billy.

Dade glanced at me then looked at Billy speculatively.