`I'm sorry. You'll have to wait.'
`But I can't wait. My son is in the hands of criminals. They're trying to extort money from me.'
`Is that true?'
Her voice was unprofessional and sharp.
`I'm not in the habit of lying.'
The girl excused herself and went into Sponti's office, closing the door carefully behind her. I spoke to Hillman, telling him my name and occupation: `Dr Sponti called me in to look for your son. I've been wanting to talk to you. It seems to be time I did.'
`Yes. By all means.'
He took my hand. He was a large, impressive-looking man. His face had the kind of patrician bony structure that doesn't necessarily imply brains or ability, or even decency, but that generally goes with money. He was deep in the chest and heavy in the shoulders. But there was no force in his grasp. He was trembling all over, like a frightened dog.
`You said something about criminals and extortion.'
`Yes.' But his steel-gray eyes kept shifting away to the door of Sponti's office. He wanted to talk to somebody he could blame. `What are they doing in there?' he said a little wildly.
`It hardly matters. If your son's been kidnapped, Sponti can't help you much. It's a matter for the police.'
`No! The police stay out. I've been instructed to keep them out.'
His eyes focused on me for the first time, hard with suspicion. `You're not a policeman, are you?'
`I told you I was a private detective. I just came down from Los Angeles an hour ago. How did you find out about Tom, and who gave you your instructions?'
`One of the gang. He telephoned my house when we were just sitting down to lunch. He warned me to keep the matter quiet. Otherwise Tom will never come back.'
`Did he say that?'
`Yes.'
`What else did he say?'
`They want to sell me information about Tom's whereabouts. It was just a euphemism for ransom money.'
`How much?'
`Twenty-five thousand dollars.'
`Do you have it?'
`I'll have it by the middle of the afternoon. I'm selling some stock. I went into town to my broker's before I came here.'
`You move fast, Mr. Hillman.'
He needed some mark of respect. `But I don't quite understand why you came out here.'
`I don't trust these people,' he said in a lowered voice. Apparently he had forgotten, or hadn't heard, that I was working for Sponti. `I believe that Tom was lured away from here, perhaps with inside help, and they're covering up.'
`I doubt that very much. I've talked to the staff member involved. He and Tom had a fight Saturday night, and later Tom cut a screen and went over the fence. One of the students confirmed this, more or less.'
`A student would be afraid to deny the official story.'
`Not this student, Mr. Hillman. If your son's been kidnapped, it happened after he left here. Tell me this, did he have any criminal connections?'
`Tom? You must be out of your mind.'
`I heard he stole a car.'
`Did Sponti tell you that? He had no right to.- '
`I got it from other sources. Boys don't usually steal cars unless they've had some experience outside the law, perhaps with a juvenile gang-'
`He didn't steal it.'
Hillman's eyes were evasive. `He borrowed it from a neighbor. The fact that he wrecked it was pure accident. He was emotionally upset-' Hillman was, too. He ran out of breath and words. He opened and closed his mouth like a big handsome fish hooked by circumstance and yanked into alien air.
I said: `What are you supposed to do with the twenty-five thousand? Hold it for further instructions?'
Hillman nodded, and sat down despondently in a chair. Dr Sponti's door had opened, and he had been listening, I didn't know for how long. He came out into the anteroom now, flanked by his secretary and followed by a man with a long cadaverous face.
`What's this about kidnapping?'
Sponti said in a high voice. He forced his voice down into a more soothing register: `I'm sorry, Mr. Hillman.'
