Esperanza had picked him up in front of Esme Fong's and driven him here. She parked across the street. She turned off the ignition and faced him.
'Now what?' she asked.
'I don't know. Matthew Squires is in there. We can wait for a lunch break. Try to get in then.'
'Sounds like a plan,' Esperanza said with a nod. 'A
really bad one.'
'You have a better idea?'
'We can go in now. Pretend we're touring parents.'
Myron thought about it. 'You think that'll work?'
'Better than hanging out here doing nothing.'
'Oh, before I forget. I want you to check out Esme's alibi, The hotel nightman named Miguel.'
'Miguel,' she repeated. 'It's because I'm Hispanic, right?'
'Pretty much, yeah.'
She had no problem with that. 'I put a call in to Peru this morning.'
'And?' '
'I spoke to some local sheriff. He says Lloyd Rennart committed suicide.'
'What about the body?'
'The cliff is called El Garganta del Diablo in English, Throat of the Devil. No bodies are ever located. It's Actually a fairly common suicide plunge.'
'Great. Think you can do a little more background stuff on Rennart?'
'Like what?'
' 'How did he buy the bar in Neptune? How did he buy the house in Spring Lake Heights? Stuff like that.'
'Why would you want know that'?'
'Lloyd Rennart was a caddie for a rookie golfer. That isn't exactly loads of dough.'
'So?'
'So maybe he had a windfall after Jack blew the U. S.
Open.'
Esperanza saw where he was going. 'You think somebody paid Rennart off to throw the Open?'
'No,' Myron said. 'But I think it's a possibility.'
'It's going to be hard to trace after all this time.'
'Just give it a shot. Also, Rennart got into a serious car accident twenty years ago in Narberth. It's a small town right around here. His first wife was killed in the crash. See what you can find out about it.'
Esperanza frowned. 'Like what?'
'Like was he drunk. Was he charged with anything.
Were there other fatalities.'
'Maybe he pissed off someone. Maybe his first wife's family wants vengeance.' '
Esperanza kept the frown. 'So they what?- waited twenty years, followed Lloyd Rennart to Peru, pushed him off a cliff, came back, kidnapped Chad Coldren, killed Jack Coldren .... Are you getting my point?'
Myron nodded. 'And you're right. But I still want you to run down everything you can on Lloyd Rennart. I
think there's a connection somewhere. We just have to find what it is.'
'I don't see it,' Esperanza said. She tucked a curl of black hair behind her ear. 'Seems to me that Esme Fong is still a much better suspect.'
'Agreed. But I'd still like you to look into it. Find out what you can. There's also a son. Larry Rennart. Seventeen years old. See if we can iind out what he's been up to.'
She shrugged. 'A waste of time, but okay.' She gestured toward the school. 'You want to go in now'?'
'Sure.'
Before they moved, a giant set of knuckles gently tapped on Myron's window. The sound startled him. Myron looked out his window. The large black man with the Nat King Cole hair the one from the Court Manor Inn was smiling at him. 'Nat' made a cranking motion with his hand, signaling Myron to lower the window. Myron complied.
'Hey, I'm glad we ran into you,' Myron said.,'I
never got the number of your barber.' '
The black man chuckled. He made a frame with his large hands thumbs touching, arms outstretched and tilted it back and forth the way a movie director does.
'You with my doo,' he said with a shake of his head.
'Somehow I just don't see it.'
He leaned into the car and stuck his hand across Myron toward Esperanza. 'My name is Carl.'
'Esperanza.' She shook his hand.
'Yes, I know.'
Esperanza squinted at him. 'I know you.'
'Indeed you do.'
She snapped her fingers. 'Mosambo, the Kenyan Killer, the Safari Slasher.'
Carl smiled. 'Nice to see Little Pocahontas remembers.'
Myron said, 'The Safari Slasher?'
'Carl used to be a professional wrestler,' Esperanza explained. 'We were in the ring together once. In Boston, right?'
Carl climbed into the backseat of the car. He leaned forward so his head was between Esperanza's right shoulder and Myron's left. 'Hartford,' he said. 'At the Civic Center.'
'Mixed tag-team,' Esperanza said.
'That's right,' Carl said with his easy smile. 'Be a sweetheart, Esperanza, and start up the car. Head straight until the third traffic light.'
Myron said, 'You mind telling us what's going on?'
'Sure thing. See that car behind you?'
Myron used the passenger-side mirror. ' 'The one with the two goons?' .
'Yep. They're with me. And they are bad men, Myron.
Young. Far too violent. You know how the kids are today. Bam, bam, no talk. The three of us are supposed to escort you to an unknowm destination. In fact, I'm supposed to be holding a gum on you now. But hell, we're all friends here, right? No need, the way I see it. So just start heading straight. The goons will follow.'
'Before we take off,' Myron said, 'do you mind if we let Esperanza go?'
Carl chuckled. 'Kinda sexist, don't you think?'
'Excuse me'?'
' 'If Esperanza were a man like, say, your buddy Win would you be making this gallant gesture?'
'I might,' he said. But even Esperanza was shaking her head.
'Me thinks not, Myron. And trust me here: it would be the wrong move. The young goons back there, they'd want to know what's up. They'd see her get out of the car and they got those itchy fingers and those crazy eyes and they like hurting people. Especially women. And maybe.
just maybe, Esperanza here is an insurance policy. Alone.
you might try something dumb; with Esperanza right there, you might not be so inclined.'
Esperanza glanced at Myron. Myron nodded. She started the car.
'Make a left at the third light,' Carl said.
'Tell me something,' Myron said. 'Is Reginald Squires as big a nut-job as I hear'?'
Still leaning forward, Carl turned to Esperanza. 'Am I supposed to be wowed by his sharp deductive reasoning skills?'
'Yes,' Esperanza replied. 'He'll be terribly disappointed if you aren't.'
' 'Figured that. And to answer your question, Squires is not that big a nut-job when he stays on his medication.' '
'Very comforting,' Myron said.
The young goons stayed right on their tail for the entire fifteen-minute drive. Myron was not surprised when Carl told Esperanza to tum down Green Acres Road.
