In all his years of life experience and eventual wisdom, there wasn't much that mystified Cliff Barnes.
"Miss Ewing," he diplomatically folded both hands into one another. "May I call you Eleanor?" The brunette adolescent nodded her head, her polite smile reminiscent of Sue Ellen's and Cliff cleared his throat with a weak smile of his own. "Eleanor, I'm not sure I understand how you think I am in a position to help you." It had to be another one of J.R.'s vitriolic schemes. Curiosity alone was the reason Cliff had even permitted her entrance beyond the ivory gates of Barnes Global.
"I understand you're considering Casey Denault for the position of Deputy C.E.O. here at Barnes Global." Cliff frantically rewound his memory to yesteryear. She couldn't have been older than twenty, yet she held an aura of such confidence as she sat across the desk from him that he actually felt nervous in her presence.
"This is about Mr. Denault." Cliff shuffled forward, an interested party with a newfound confidence. "Casey warned me this would happen," he muttered to himself. "Did your father send you?"
"I'm here of my own volition," Eleanor disputed, matter-of-factly. "Casey Denault is an untrustworthy snake in the grass, Mr. Barnes, and there is no line that he won't cross to stir up trouble for my father, including intimidation of his children. You brokered peace with my uncle a few years back, the two of you put an end to the feud between our families and I am here to make sure it stays that way." On the rare occasion Bobby spoke of his former brother-in-law, he described Cliff as a level-headed man, a far cry from the desperate soul he had once been. Eleanor prayed that her uncle hadn't made a terrible miscalculation.
"Does your father know you're here?"
"Any association you may have with Mr. Denault would put you in the firing line should my father decide to retaliate - and you and I both know he will strike back, hard and fast." Her failure to directly answer his question was an answer in and of itself. "I believe it would be in your best interest to cut all ties with him."
Cliff admired her audacity and tenacity; she was unmistakably J.R. Ewing's daughter. "I stopped fearing your daddy a long time ago, Miss Ewing," he reverted to pleasant yet detached formalities. "His reign of power in the oil world isn't what it once was and I do business with whoever I please, Mr. Denault included. Frankly, the only reason I entertained your request for a meeting was out of courtesy to your mother."
"My mother?"
"I used to know her well. She's a very special lady." There was a fondness in his voice when he spoke of Sue Ellen that struck Eleanor but it disappeared within a matter of seconds.
"Did you know her sister?" Eleanor blurted out, almost in opposition of her will.
Somewhat stunned by the odd question, Cliff tilted his head with a clumsy smile. "Kristin? Our paths crossed once or twice during her time here in Dallas," he confirmed. "Any reason for the interest?" Eleanor quickly shook her head, satisfied that he was unlikely to have been aware of the envelope she received, and Cliff hestitantly reversed the conversation. "Look, Miss Ewing, you have no reason to trust my word but I have no qualms with you, nor do I have any interest in a war with your father or anything connected to the name Ewing, for that matter." Cliff asserted, "I can't be held responsible for the actions of Mr. Denault. You do, however, have my personal assurance that any vendetta Mr. Denault pursues will be without the weight of Barnes Global behind him."
Cliff extended his hand in an old-school fashion of promise and Eleanor shook it respectfully. "Thank you, Mr. Barnes."
He watched her wander from his office, escorted to the elevator by his personal assistant. By the time she returned to her desk, Cliff buzzed for her attention. "Get me Casey Denault on the phone."
"Sorry we're late everybody."
Eleanor breathed with relief when Bobby and Ann breezed into the house via the patio doors. Their arrival interrupted her father's animated recount of a successful deal he and John Ross had secured which Eleanor was sure he had embellished as part of her perpetual punishment. "Hi, Bob, Annie," J.R. welcomed them with an obvious check of his watch. It had become tradition that every Friday the family sat down for dinner at Southfork. "Fix them a drink, would you?" He ordered Eleanor with a cool smile.
The brothers and their respective partners naturally entered into pleasant small talk while Eleanor poured her uncle a charitable shot of Bourbon and his wife a Merlot. "Need any help?" John Ross isolated his sister near the cocktail bar, his voice low to prevent their conversation being overheard.
"No," Eleanor dunked a selection of ice cubes into Bobby's Bourbon and filled it with branchwater.
"C'mon, Len, you can't be mad at me forever," he whined. She had iced him out for a week and the sudden chill to their relationship hadn't been unnoticed by their mother.
"I'm not mad." Her disposition didn't match her words but Eleanor rarely said things she didn't mean. Even when they bickered as children, she never met his immature hollers of 'I hate you' with screams of her own and she was always the first to offer an olive branch, after some tender persuasion from their mother.
"So, we're cool," he checked doubtfully. He half expected Eleanor to have run to their father with tales of his misdeeds and Casey's subsequent blackmail. John Ross feared his assurances that all loose ends had been tied up, so to speak, had fallen upon deaf ears. "Mama and daddy don't need to know 'bout the pictures?" She had left him in limbo after the barbeque.
"What's the matter - you worried daddy'll have a heart attack if he sees you in bed with that Italian Stallion?" She referenced one of the pictures that displayed a muscular body entwined with her brothers. John Ross' eyes darted across the room to their parents who were individually absorbed in Bobby's excitement about Lucas' impending visit for the summer break. "Relax. They won't hear about it from me," Eleanor afforded her brother a placid smile. "But you need to be more careful. If it was that easy for Casey Denault to catch on, it won't stay secret for long and daddy won't be as forgiving as he was with your D.U.I. last year." John Ross shifted his weight between both feet in visible discomfort at the reminder. "Lucky for you, I have a way to keep Casey Denault in check."
"Cliff, I don't understand the problem here." Casey frantically paced his condominium. After several missed calls from Cliff earlier that day, the majority of which he had intentionally eluded, he finally reached out only to be met with hostility. "You said you hated J.R.," he stroked his face in blatant confusion.
"No, what I said was; the name J.R. Ewing is non-existent in my vocabulary," Cliff corrected him in a loud, opinionated voice. "Now, on that basis, I've been able to avoid animosity with the Ewing family for a few years and believe me it's worth it." His sister's disappearance had left an unfillable hole in his heart but the one positive consequence of her absence had been his sense of clarity. The tunnel vision that had plagued him for years fell apart and Cliff focused on his priorities; the company and his family in equal measure. "If you want to forge a war with J.R., then that's your prerogative but it will be the end of our business relationship."
"All this because his kid came to your office?" Casey attempted to comprehend the basis for Cliff's complaint. "I've played by your rules, Cliff. You said the only way you'd take me on is if I could hold my own against J.R. and I've proven I can," he lamented. "I helped you steal those leases in the Gulf right out from under him."
"All you've proven yourself capable of is playing games with children," Cliff reprimanded him. He had perceived more from whatever Eleanor didn't say than what she did, and suspected Casey's insider information was wholly connected to the intimidation Eleanor spoke of. "That's not how we do business at Barnes Global. Consider this your one and only warning," Cliff concluded in a detached manner.
"Cliff?" Casey beckoned into the void and hurled his cell into the nearest wall when he was met with silence.