subway back downtown, caught a bus back to Jersey.”
“And went home?”
Jeremy’s eyes shifted. “Not right away.”
“Where’d you go?”
“Down by the school. Newsstand there. Went in and played a few video games.”
“That where the school kids hang out?”
“Yeah.”
“See any of them there?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“I dunno. Happen to mention to ‘em you were gonna be rich?”
“Christ, no. Why the hell I do that?”
“It’s not every high school kid finds out he’s gonna be a millionaire. It’s the type of thing you might mention.”
Jeremy’s eyes were wide and innocent. “Hey. Uncle Jack told me tell no one.”
“I understand.”
“Well, that’s what I did.”
“Fine. So what’d you do then?”
“Hung out a while and went home.”
“What time was that?”
“Why is it important?”
“’Cause Uncle Jack is dead.”
Jeremy winced. He shook his head. “Shit, that’s so hard to understand.”
“Yeah. So what happened when you got home?”
“Whaddya mean?”
“You see anyone?”
“Just Carl Jenson.”
“You talk to him?”
“He talked to me.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. He heard me come in, he came out pissed as hell.”
“Why?”
“School called. Told him I skipped out, was cuttin’ class.”
“What did he say?”
“Wanted to know where I’d been, wanted to know if I’d seen Uncle Jack.”
“What’d you tell him.”
“Told him to go fuck himself.” Jeremy shrugged. “Carl’s a moron.”
“Why’d he ask about Uncle Jack?”
“Whaddya mean?”
“What do you think I mean? Did he know something, or was he just taking a shot in the dark? I’ll spell it out for you. Maybe someone at the school saw you with Uncle Jack. So when the school called and said you were cuttin’ class, they might have mentioned you left with some old bum. I’m wondering if you could tell that from anything he said.”
Jeremy thought about it. “I don’t know. I’m not really sure. Like I said, I didn’t talk to him, just told him to go get fucked, and walked out of there.”
“What did you do?”
“I went upstairs, took a shower, changed.”
“And did you go out again?”
“When?”
“That night.”
“Yeah, actually I did.”
“What time?”
“Around seven.”
“Where’d you go?”
Jeremy’s eyes flicked again. “I went to the movies.”
“You go with anyone?”
“No, I went by myself.”
“What’d you see?”
“A teenage picture.
“
“Teenage suicide and murder. Good picture. Kind of funny.”
“What time was the picture?”
“Eight o’clock.”
“Where was it playing?”
“In Teaneck.”
“You were at a movie in Teaneck from eight o’clock till when?”
“Got out about nine-thirty. Hung out for a while. Didn’t feel like goin’ home.”
“What time did you
“I don’t know. Twelve. Twelve-thirty.”
“Anyone see you come in?”
Jeremy grimaced. “Yeah. Aunt Claire.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. She’s in the living room watchin’ the Johnny Carson show. She heard the door, jumped up to bawl me out.”
“For what?”
“Skippin’ school.”
“I see. So she knows you came in around midnight?”
“Somewhere between twelve, twelve-thirty. Couldn’t have been later than that ’cause the Carson show was still on.”
“Tell me something. Did
“Huh?”
“When she bawled you out about skippin’ school-did she mention him?”
“No, she didn’t.”
“Good.”
“Why?”
“’Cause then it’s more likely the school didn’t. O.K. Did you go out after that?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“What’d you do?”
“Went to bed.”
“And then what?”
“Whaddya think? I went to sleep. I got up the next morning and went to school. Next thing I know, two cops show up and drag me out of class.”
Steve looked at him for some time. “And that’s all you know?”
“Yeah.”
“From the time you left your uncle early yesterday afternoon you never saw him again?”
“That’s right.”
“And last night you went to a movie called
“That’s right.”
“And you have no idea who killed Uncle Jack or why?”
