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roles as father, husband, and provider, but domestic stability did not settle him down. It appeared to bring out his wildness and his desire to break the law and to generate money any way he could. The more conventional one part of his life became, the more he explored the darker side of himself and others. The more his wife tried to help him, the more he violated the codes of marriage. He seemed to need the stability of marriage in order to give free rein to his deviancy. Once he took on adult responsibilities, he began searching the landscape for vulnerabilities in people and in the places that employed him. He was now under pressure to support his wife and children, and like most people, he constantly needed more income. He was never interested in working steadfastly for others, in getting raises and promotions and in gradually moving ahead. All that took far too much time. Routines were boring and pay increases lay in the distant future. He was lazy and ambitious at the same time. He enjoyed looking for weaknesses and hunting for criminal opportunities, using his natural intelligence and cunning to observe things carefully and to find areas to exploit.
    Getting caught stealing from Dr. Graham didn’t deter Robinson, but only made him more determined to get better at being a thief. On probation, he worked as the manager of a television rental company. When the owner learned that Robinson was lifting merchandise, he was fired but not arrested or prosecuted. He went back on the street looking for another chance—eager to convince someone new that he was something he was not.

III
    I n 1969, Robinson became a systems analyst for Mobil Oil, the best job he’d had thus far. His pleasant appearance and glib manner had once more helped him land the position. No one at Mobil had bothered to look into his background or discover that he was still on probation. His own probation officers were so impressed with his new employment that they believed he’d put his past behind him. While he was working at Mobil, the Missouri Board of Probation and Parole wrote a letter stating that Robinson “does not appear to be an individual who is basically inclined towards criminal activities and is motivated towards achieving middle class values.”
    A second officer, this one a female, offered the opinion that Robinson was “responding extremely well to probation.” She encouraged him “to advance as far as possible with Mobil Oil.”
    His advancement was soon cut short when he was accused of stealing 6,200 postage stamps from the corporation, worth just under $400. He was fired and charged with theft but ended up paying restitution and again avoiding jail. Because his record in Kansas City was lengthening, he and Nancy made plans to leave the area. In 1970, the Robinsons moved back to Chicago. John took a job as an insurance salesman with a company known as R. B. Jones; he made such a good impression on those interviewing him for this position that no one at the firm thought about running a background check on him (most businesses would normally only do that for those who raised suspicions). Robinson was good at selling insurance policies and had found something he could be successful doing, despite his having violated his parole in Kansas by coming to Illinois. But after working there only a few months, he began stealing from his employer, embezzling $5,586 before he was caught and fired. Once more the police were brought in, but Robinson avoided jail by making another restitution payment, and the charges against him were dismissed. With no prospects in front of him in Chicago, and a hopeless record as a corporate employee, he began thinking of a new career direction: he wanted to form his own business. He had more connections in the Kansas-Missouri region than in Illinois, so perhaps he should resettle in Kansas City. This decision was made easier when a Chicago court told a Kansas circuit court that he’d just broken the law in