All in all, the Lockwood estate was very "stately"

and worthy of the term "manor," whatever that meant.

Myron and Win were staying at the guest house or as Win's father liked to call it, "the cottage." Exposed beams, hardwood floors, fireplace, new kitchen with a big island in the middle, pool room not to mention five bedrooms, four and half baths. Some cottage.

Myron tried to sort through what was happening, but all he came up with was a series of paradoxes, a whole lot of "which came first, the chicken or the egg?" Motive, for example. On the one hand, it might make sense to kidnap Chad Coldren to throw off Jack Coldren. But Chad had been missing since before the tournament, which meant the kidnapper was either very cautious or very prophetic. On the other hand, the kidnapper had asked for one hundred grand, which pointed to a simple case of kidnapping for money. A hundred grand was a nice, tidy sum a little low for a kidnapping, but not bad for a few days' work.

But if this was merely a kidnapping to extort mucho dinero, the timing was curious. Why now? Why during the one time a year the U. S. Open was played? More than that, why kidnap Chad during the one time in the last twenty-three years the Open was being played at Merion the one time in almost a quarter of a century that Jack Coldren had a chance to revisit and redeem his greatest failing?

Seemed like a hell of a coincidence.

That brought it back to a hoax and a scenario that went something like this: Chad Coldren disappears before the tournament to screw around with his dad's mind. When that doesn't work-then, to the contrary, Dad starts win' ning he ups the ante and fakes his own kidnapping. Taking it a step further, one could assume that it had been Chad Coldren who had been climbing out of his own window. Who better? Chad Coldren knew the area. Chad Coldren probably knew how to go through those woods.

Or maybe he was hiding out at a friend's house who lived on Green Acres Road. Whatever.

It added up. It made sense.

All of this assumed, of course, that Chad truly disliked his father. Was there evidence of that? Myron thought so.

Start of with the fact that Chad was sixteen years old.

Not an easy age. Weak evidence for sure, but worth keeping in mind. Second and far, far more important Jack Coldren was an absent father. No athlete is away from home as much as a golfer. Not basketball players or football players or baseball players or hockey players. The only ones who come close are tennis players. In both tennis and golf, tournaments are taking place almost all year there is little so-called off season and there is no such thing as a home game. lf you were lucky, you hit your home course once a year.