comfort him.
'Were the voices both male?' I
' 'Actually, one sounded like a female. But I was pretty out of it. I can't say for sure.' `
Chad looked back down at his bandages. He moved his lingers a bit. Testing them out.
'What happened next, Chad?'
He kept his eyes on the bandages. ''l`here's not a lot to tell, Aunt Vee. They kept me that way for a few days. I
don't know how many. They fed me mostly pizza and soda. They brought a phone in one day. Made me call Merion and ask for my dad.'
The ransom call at Merion, Myron thought. The kidnapper's second call.
'They also made me scream.'
'Made you scream?'
'The guy came in. He told me to scream and to make it scary. Otherwise, he would make me scream for real.
So I tried different screams for, like, ten minutes. Until he was satisfied.'
The scream from the call at the mall, Myron thought.
The one where Tito demanded a hundred grand.
'That's about it, Aunt Vee.'
'How did you escape?' Victoria asked.
'I didn't. They let me go. A little while ago someone led me to a car. I still had the burlap bag on my head. We drove a little. Then the car stopped. Someone opened the door and pulled me out. Next thing I knew, I was free.'
Victoria looked over at Myron. Myron looked back.
Then she nodded slowly. Myron took that as his cue.
'He's lying.'
Chad said, 'What?'
Myron turned his attention to him. 'You're lying, Chad. And worse, the police will know you're lying.'
'What are you talking about?' His eyes sought Victoria's.-'Who is this guy?'
'You used your ATM card at 6:18 P. M. on Thursday on Porter Street,' Myron said.
Chad's eyes widened. 'That wasn't me. It was the asshole who grabbed me. He took my wallet '
'It's on videotape, Chad.'
He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Then:
'They made me.' But his voice was weak.
'l saw the tape, Chad. You were smiling. You were happy. You were not alone. You also spent an evening at the sleazy motel next door.'
Chad lowered his head.
'Chad?' It was Victoria. She did not sound pleased.
'Look at me, boy.'
Chad slowly raised his eyes.
'Why are you lying to me?'
' 'It has nothing to do with what happened, Aunt Vee.' '
Her face was unyielding. 'Start talking, Chad. And now.'
He looked down again, studying the bandaged hand.
'It's just like I said exeept the man didn't grab me in my car. He knocked on my door at that motel. He came in vith a gun. Everything else I told you is the truth.'
'When was this?'
'Friday morning.'
'So why did you lie to me?'
'I promised,' he said. 'I just wanted to keep her out of this.'
'Who?' she asked.
Chad looked surprised. 'You don't know?'
'I have the tape,' Myron said, giving a little bluff here. 'I haven't shown it to her yet.'
'Aunt Vee, you have to keep her out of it. This could really hurt her.'
'Honey, listen to me now. I think it's sweet that you're trying to protect your girlfriend. But I don't have time for that.'
Chad looked from Myron to Victoria. 'I want to see my mom please.'
'You will, honey. Soon. But first you have to tell me about this girl.'
'I promised that I would keep her out of it.'
'If I can keep her name out of this, I will.'
'I can't, Aunt Vee.'
'Forget it, Victoria,' Myron said. 'If he won't tell, we can all just watch the tape together. Then we can call the girl on her own. or maybe the police will find her first. They'll have a copy of the tape too. They won't be so worried about her feelings.'
'You don't understand,' Chad said, looking from Victoria Wilson to Myron, then back at Victoria again. 'I
promised her. She can get in serious trouble.'
'We'll talk to her parents, if need be,' Victoria said.
'We'll do what we can.'
' 'Her parents?' Chad looked confused. ' 'I'm not worried about her parents. She's old enough .... ' His voice died away.
'Who were you with, Chad?'
'I swore I'd never say anything, Aunt Vee.'
'Fine,' Myron said. 'We can't waste time on this, Victoria. Let the police track her down.'
'No!' Chad looked down. 'She had nothing to do with it, okay? We were together. She went out for a little while and that's when they grabbed me. It wasn't her fault.'
Victoria shiiied in her seat. 'Who, Chad?'
His words came out slow and grudging. But they were also quite clear. 'Her name is Esme Fong. She works for a company called Zoom.'
Chapter 28
It was all starting to make awful, horrible sense.
Myron did not wait for permission. He stormed out of the office and down the corridor. It was time to confront Esme.
A scenario was fast taking shape in Myron's mind.
Esme Fong meets Chad Coldren while negotiating the Zoom deal with his mother. She seduces him. Why? Hard to say. For kicks maybe. Not important.
Anyway, Chad spends Wednesday night with his buddy Matthew. Then on Thursday he meets up with Esme for a romantic tryst at the Court Manor Inn. They pick up some cash at an ATM. They have their fun. And then things get interesting.
Esme Fong has not only signed Linda Coldren, but she has managed to land wunderkind Tad Crispin. Tad is playing wonderfully well in his first U. S. Open. After one round, he is in second place. Amazing. Great publicity.
But if Tad could somehow win if he could catch the veteran with a gigantic lead it would give Zoom's launch into the golf business a nuclear boost. It would be worth millions.
Millions.
And Esme had the leader's son right in front of her.
So what does the ambitious Esme Fong do? She hires Tito to grab the boy. Nothing complicated. She wants to distract Jack big time. Make him lose that edge. What better way than kidnapping his kid?
lt all kinda lit together.
Myron turned his attention to some of case's more bothersome aspects. First of all, the not demanding the ransom for so long? suddenly made sense. Esme Fong is no expert at this and she doesn't want a payoff that would
