progress.
He called Big Cyndi.
I was just about to call you, Mr. Bolitar.
Oh?
I have Hester Crimstein on the line. She says that she urgently needs to talk to you.
Okay, put her through in a sec. Big Cyndi?
Yes.
About what you said yesterday. About people staring. I'm sorry if
No pity, Mr. Bolitar. Remember?
Yes.
Please don't change a thing, okay?
Okay.
I mean it.
Put Hester Crimstein through, he said. And while I'm on the line, do you know where
Esperanza keeps the reverse phone directory CDs?
Yes.
I want you to look up a number for me. He read it off to her. She repeated it. Then she put
Hester Crimstein through.
Where are you? the attorney barked at him.
Why do you care?
Hester was not pleased. God damn it, Myron, stop acting like a child. Where are you?
None of your business.
You're not helping.
What do you want, Hester?
You're on a cell phone, right?
Right.
Then we don't know if the line is safe, she said. We have to meet right away. I'll be in my
office.
No can do.
Look, do you want to help Esperanza or not?
You know the answer to that.
Then get your ass in here, pronto, Hester said. We got a problem, and I think you can help.
What kind of problem?
Not on the phone. I'll be waiting for you.
It'll take me some time, Myron said.
Silence.
Why will it take some time, Myron?
It just will.
It's almost noon, she said. When can I expect you?
Not until at least six.
That's too late.
Sorry.
She sighed. Myrpn, get here now. Esperanza wants to see you.
Myron's heart did a little flip. I thought she was in jail.
I just got her released. It's hush-hush. Get your ass over here, Myron. Get over here now.
Myron and Win stood in the Hamlet Motel parking lot.
What do you make of it? Win asked.
I don't like it, Myron said.
How so?
Why is Hester Crimstein so desperate to see me all of a sudden? She's been trying to get rid of
me from the moment I returned. Now I'm the answer to a problem?
It is bizarre, Win agreed.
And not only that, I don't like this whole hush-hush release for Esperanza.
It happens.
Sure, it happens. But if it did, why hasn't Esperanza called me? Why is Hester making the call
for her?
Why indeed?
Myron thought about it. Do you think she's involved in all this?
I cannot imagine how, Win said. Then: Except that she may have spoken to Bonnie Haid.
So?
So then she may have deduced that we are in Wil-ston.
And now she urgently wants us to return, Myron said.
Yes.
So she's trying to get us out of Wilston.
It is a possibility, Win said.
So what is she afraid we'll find?
Win shrugged. She's Esperanza's advocate.
So something detrimental to Esperanza.
Logical, Win said.
A couple in their eighties stumbled out of one of the motel rooms. The old man had his arm
around the woman's shoulder. They both looked postsex. At noon. Nice to see. Myron and Win
watched them in silence.
I pushed too hard last time, Myron said.
Win did not reply.
You warned me. You told me I didn't keep my eye on the prize. But I didn't listen.
Win still said nothing.
Am I doing the same now?
You are not good at letting things go, Win said.
That's not an answer.
Win frowned. I'm not some holy wise man on the mount, he said. I don't have all the
answers.
I want to know what you think.
Win squinted, though the sun was pretty much gone by now. Last time, you lost sight of your
goal, he said. Do you know what your goal is this time?
Myron thought about it. Freeing Esperanza, he said. And finding the truth.
Win smiled. And if those two are mutually contradictory?
Then I bury the truth.
Win nodded. You seem to have a good handle on the goal.
Should I let it go anyway? Myron asked.
Win looked at him. There's one other complication.
What's that?
Lucy Mayor.
I'm not actively looking for her. I'd love to find her, but I don't expect to.
Still, Win said, she is your personal connection into all this.
Myron shook his head.
The diskette came to you, Myron. You can't run away from that. You're not built that way.
Somehow you and this missing girl are linked.
Silence.
Myron checked the address and name Big Cyndi had given him. The phone was listed to a
