"Those gangsters," Myron said. "Pity they don't channel their creativity into honest marketing."

" 'Honest marketing,' " Jake repeated. "Talk about your basic oxymoron. Anyway Squires got a kiloton of family dough and all this blue-blood breeding and schooling and shit."

"So what's he doing keeping such bad company?"

"You want the simple answer? The son of a bitch is a ' serious wacko. Gets his jollies hurting people. Kinda like Win."

"Win doesn't get his jollies hurting people."

"If you say so."

"If Win hurts someone, there's a reason. To prevent them from doing it again or to punish or something."

"Sure, whatever," Jake said. "Kinda touchy though, aren't we, Myron?" +

"It's been a long day."

"It's only nine in the morning."

Myron said, ' 'For what breeds time but two hands on a clock?"

' "Who said that?", "No one. I just made it up."

"You should consider writing greeting cards."

"So what is Squires into, Jake?"

' "Want to hear something funny? I'm not sure. Nobody is. Drugs and prostitution. Shit like that. But very upscale. Nothing very well organized or anything. It's more like he plays at it, you know? Like he gets involved in whatever he thinks will give him a thrill, then dumps it.

"How about kidnapping?"

Brief pause. "Oh shit, you are involved in something again, aren't you?"

"I just asked you if Squires was into kidnapping?

"Oh. Right. Like it's a hypothetical question. Kinda like, 'If a bear shits in the forest and no one is around, does it still reek'?"

"Precisely. Does kidnapping reek like his kind of thing?" .

"Hell if I know. The guy is a major league loon, no question. He blends right into all that snobbish bullshitthe boring parties, the shitty food, the laughing at jokes that aren't remotely funny, the talking with the same boring people about the same boring worthless bullshit "

"It sounds like you really admire them."

"Just my point, my friend. They got it all, right? On the outside. Money, big homes, fancy clubs. But they're all so fucking boring shit, I'd kill myself. Makes me wonder if maybe Squires feels that way too, you know?"

"Uh-huh," Myron said. "And Win is the scary one here, right?

Jake laughed. "TouchT. But to answer your question, I

don't know if Squires would be into kidnapping.

Wouldn't surprise me though."

Myron thanked him and hung up. He looked up. At least a dozen security cameras lined the top of the shrubs like tiny sentinels.

What now?

For all he knew, Chad Coldren was laughing his ass off, watching him on one of those security cameras. This whole thing could be an exercise in pure futility. Of course, Linda Coldren had promised to be a client. Much as he didn't want to admit it to himself, the idea was not wholly unpleasant. He considered the possibility and started to smile. lf he could also somehow land Tad Crispin . . .

Yo, Myron, a kid may be in serious trouble.