"Maybe it was because it was about a personal thing, his newfound sister."
"I want the boy to be a success. I want him to be ready to take over when the time comes. But not yet."
"Just how big a success do you want him to be?" asked Angie.
"What do you mean?"
"I'm going to suggest how big," she said. "Big — but not quite as big as you. Right?"
Jonas kept silent for a quarter of a minute. "You're like Bat," he said then. "You're too damned smart for your own good."
3
"I was warned," said Bat to Glenda. "People told me I'd become his errand boy."
"Damned highly paid errand boy, I'd say," Glenda commented.
They were in bed at the beach house.
"I'm like a dog on a leash. I can run out a certain distance; and then, whenever he wants to, he jerks me back. I won't be your producer anymore, incidentally. He dropped that one on me this afternoon."
"You won't? Who will be?"
"I don't know yet. I don't know if it's my call or his. I'll be executive producer but I won't be in charge of day-to-day operations. I'm going to have to spend a lot more time in New York."
"In other words, I won't be seeing you so much anymore."
"I'll come to LA as often as I can. And you can come to New York."
"Not until a season of shows is in the can," she said.
"Well, I'll get out here. Often. It's just that we won't be together every day."
"Every night," she said quietly. "You won't need the beach house anymore. I can — "
"Of course I need the beach house. We need the beach house."
"So the old man's going to have his way, after all," she said dully.
"What makes you say that?"
"You've got to go to New York. I've got to stay in California. He seems to be arranging things so as to keep us apart."
"I'm my own man," said Bat grimly.
"Sure you are," she sneered.
4
The Wall Street Journal published the story of the reorganization of what it, like many other newspapers, chose to call the Cord Empire.
NEW "CEO" CORD EMPIRE
Jonas E. R. Cord, the son of Jonas Cord II, has been assigned broad responsibilities in the restructured Cord conglomerate.
While the thirty-one-year-old Jonas Cord III is obviously being groomed to succeed his formidable father and grandfather at the head of the Cord Empire, it is apparent that the real reins of power remain in the hands of the fifty-three-year-old father, who has retained his positions as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of what is now to be called CE — this in addition to owning a majority of the common stock.
Toni Maxim, although she was a political reporter and not a business reporter, covered the story for The Washington Post, writing in part:
The third Jonas Cord — Jonas Enrique Raul Cord y Batista — is anything but the All-American Boy. He is his father's illegitimate son and was born and reared in Mexico. He was educated in the States, though — at Culver Military Academy, Harvard, and Harvard Law. His education was interrupted by a stint in the United States Army, during which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and two Purple Hearts.
He continues a family tradition begun by his grandfather and father, in that he is a ladies' man of note. He is frequently seen with nightclub and television star Glenda Grayson and recently took her with him on a visit to Cuba, where he inspected a Cord investment in a gambling casino and renewed his acquaintance with his great-uncle, Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista.
When Toni came to New York, Bat showed her the wire he had received from his father.
I HAD SUPPOSED THIS GIRL WAS OUR FRIEND. SHE KNOWS TOO MUCH AND SHE TALKS TOO MUCH. REMEMBER WHAT I SAID ABOUT TELLING YOUR WOMEN ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS.
She sat across from him at his desk in the Chrysler Building. His desk was a big table, actually, and behind it, instead of a credenza, sat two handsome rolltop desks. It was in Bat's nature to live with clutter on his desk but also to like to hide the clutter by closing the rolltops. The teletype machine his father used to send him messages from Las Vegas stood in a corner. It was chattering away now, printing some query or complaint from Jonas. He seemed not even to notice it. When it stopped he didn't get up to see what message had arrived.
Toni was more beautiful than ever. At thirty-one, she had gained no weight; she was if anything maybe slightly thinner than before. Her heavy breasts swelled provocatively under the white silk of her blouse. He hadn't touched them for a very long time. The thought made him draw a deep, tense breath.
"I didn't mean to offend your father," said Toni. She said it with a sly little smile that contradicted her words.
"His heart attack has made him more curmudgeonly," said Bat. "The doctor warned me it might."
"Brush with death," she said.
"Something more than that. Something about the blood supply to the brain."
"I didn't stop by to talk about your father," she said. "I'll be interviewing the mayor this afternoon and wondered if you would like to meet for dinner."
"You bet," said Bat. He flipped a page on his calendar. "I'll cancel a couple of things."
"Fine. Where shall I meet you?"
"Where are you staying?" he asked.
"At the Algonquin."
"There's a fine dining room in the hotel. But, uh ... why are you staying in a hotel? You know, I've got the place in the Waldorf Towers."
"How would Glenda react to my bunking in with you?" she asked.
"It's none of her business," said Bat.
"That's right — any more than it's any of mine that you've been sleeping with her. I mean, if we only see each other once every few months, I can't expect you to be celibate in the meantime. And, for that matter, you can't expect me to be either."
"Now that I'm on the East Coast we can see each other a lot more often," he said.
Toni nodded. "I'd like that. I still care for you, you know."
"Well, I care for you, too. We — "
"Let's don't get into a deep discussion," she interrupted. "I'll come to the apartment. When will you be there?"
He opened the center drawer in one of the rolltop desks and handed her a key. "Come as soon as you can," he said. "If I'm not yet there you can let yourself in. Keep the key. You don't ever need to go to a hotel in New York."
5
It was like it had always been when he was with her. On nights after long separations, they did not sleep at all. He would drop away from her exhausted, then quickly recover under her ministrations and return for something more. She denied him nothing. He denied her nothing. Twice they went in the bathroom and showered together, to rinse off their sweat and other fluids. Afterward they returned to the bed, straightened the tangled sheets, and gave themselves to each other again.
At four in the morning the telephone rang. Bat hesitated but then answered it, knowing that nothing but something urgent would generate a call on his unlisted number at that hour.
"Jesus Christ!" Toni muttered.
"It's my father," Bat whispered. "Calling from Las Vegas."
"You heard from your sister?" his father asked.
"No. Should I have?"
"You can't guess where she is!"
Jonas was excited. Too excited. "Where is she?" he asked quietly, trying to communicate calm.