continued, voice thundering. 'Are you some sort of pervert?'
Myron almost flew off another wisecrack, but he bit it back. 'No.'
'Then tell me what you want with him.'
Myron squinted into the light. He still couldn't see anything but the shadowy outline of Squires. What should he say? The guy was a major loony tune. No question about that. So how to play this . . . ?
'You've heard about Jack Coldren's murder,' Myron said.
'Of course.'
'I'm working on the case.'
'You're trying to find out who murdered Jack Coldren'?'
'Yes.'
'But Jack was murdered last night,' Squires countered. 'You were asking about my son Saturday.'
'It's a long story,' Myron said.
The shadow's hands spread. 'We have all the time in the world.'
How did Myron know he was going to say that?
With nothing much to lose, Myron told Squires about the kidnapping. Most of it anyway. He emphasized several times that the actual abduction had happened at the Court Manor Inn. There was a reason for that. It had to do with the egocentricity. Reginald Squires the ego in question reacted in predictable fashion.
'Are you telling me,' he shouted, 'that Chad Coldren was kidnapped at my motel?'
His motel. Myron had figured that out by now. It was the only explanation for why Carl had run interference for Stuart Lipwitz.
'That's right,' Myron said.
'Carl?'
'Yes, Mr. Squires?'
'Did you know anything about this kidnapping?'
'No, Mr. Squires.'
'Well, something has to be done,' Squires shouted.
'No one does something like that on my turf. You hear me? No one.'
This guy had seen waaaaaay too many gangster films.
'Whoever did this is dead,' he ranted on. 'Do you hear me? I want them dead. D-E-A-D. Do you understand what I'm saying, Mr. Bolitar?'
'Dead,' Myron said with a nod.
The shadow pointed a long finger at Myron. ' 'You find him for me. You find who did this and then you call me.
You let me handle it. Do you understand, Mr. Bolitar?'
'Call you. You handle.'
'Go then. Find the wretched bastard.'
Myron said, 'Sure thing, Mr. Squires. Sure thing.'
Hey, two can play the Bad Movie Dialogue game. 'But the thing is, I need some help.'
'What sort of help?'
'With your permission, I'd like to speak with your son Matthew. Find out what he knows about all this.'
'What makes you think he knows anything?'
'He's Chad's best friend. He may have heard or seen something. I don't know, Mr. Squires, but I'd like to check it out.'
There was a brief silence. Then Squires snapped, 'Do it. Carl will take you back to the school. Matthew will speak freely to you.'
'Thank you, Mr. Squires.' .
The light went off, bathing them again in thick darkness.
Myron felt his way to the car door. The 'recovering'
Esperanza managed to do likewise. So did Carl. The three of them got in.
Myron turned around and looked at Carl. Carl shrugged his shoulders and said, 'Guess he forgot to take his medication.'
Chapter 32
'Chad, like, told me he was hooking up with an older babe.'
'Did he tell you her name?' Myron asked.
'Nah, man,' Matthew Squires said. 'Just that she was take-out.'
' 'Take-out?' '
'You know. Chinese.'
Jesus.
Myron sat facing Matthew Squires. The kid was pure Yah Dude. His long, stringy hair was parted in the middle and hung past his shoulders. The coloring and texture reminded Myron of Cousin It from the Addams Family.
He had acne, a fair amount of it. He was over six feet and weighed maybe one hundred twenty pounds. Myron wondered what it had been like for this kid growing up with Mr. Spotlight as a father.
Carl was on his right. Esperanza had taken a taxi to check out Esme Fong's alibi and look into Lloyd Rennart's past.
'Did Chad tell you where he was meeting her?'
'Sure, dude. That hot sheet is, like, my dad's haunt, you know.'
'Did Chad know your father owned the Court Manor?'
'Nah. We don't, like, talk daddy's dinero or anything.
Not righteous, you know what I'm saying?'
Myron and Carl exchanged a glance. The glance bemoaned today's youth.
'Did you go with him to the Court Manor?'
'Nah. I went later, you know. I figured the dude would want to party after getting a little, you know. Kinda celebrate and shit.'
'So what time did you go to the Court Manor?'
'Ten thirty, eleven, something like that.'
'Did you see Chad?'
'Nah. Things got, like, so weird right away. Never got the chance.'
'What do you mean, weird?'
Matthew Squires hesitated a bit. Carl leaned forward.
'It's okay, Matthew. Your father wants you to tell him the whole story.'
The kid nodded. When the chin went down, the stringy hair slid across the face. It was like a tasseled curtain opening and closing in rapid succession. 'Okay, like, here's the deal: When I pulled my Benz into the parking lot, I saw Chad's old man.'
Myron felt a queasy surge. '. Jack Coldren? You saw Jack Coldren? At the Court Manor Inn?'
Squires nodded. 'He was just, like, sitting in his car,'
he said. 'Next to Chad's Honda. He looked really pissed off, man. I wanted no part of it, you know? So I took a hike.'
Myron tried not to look too sturmed. Jack Coldren at the Court Manor Inn. His son inside a room screwing Esme Fong. The next moming Chad Coldren would be kidnapped.
What the hell was going on?
'Friday night,' Myron continued, 'I saw someone climb out the window of Chad's room. Was that you'?'
'Yeah.'
'You want to tell me what you were doing?'
'Seeing if Chad was home. That's what we do. I
climb through his window. Like Vinny used to do with Doogie Howser. Remember that show?'
Myron nodded. He did know. Kinda sad when you thought about it.
There was not much more to extract from young Matthew.
When they finished up, Carl walked Myron to his car.
