'Come on."

Mindy pulled away. "Let go," she said, stretching out the last word.

"Mindy, this isn't fun and games here. You helped someone try to kill me."

"So you say."

"What'?"

Mindy put her hands on her hips, chewed gum. "So, like, how do I know that you're not the bad one, huh'?"

"Excuse me?"

"You, like, come up to us yesterday, right, all mysterious and stuff, right? You don't, like, have a badge or nothing. How do I know that you aren't, like, after Tito?

How do I know that you aren't another drug dealer trying to take over his turf?"

" 'Tito?' " Myron repeated, looking at Esperanza.

"A neo Nazi named Tito?"

Esperanza shrugged.

"None of his friends, like, call him Tito," Mindy went on. "lt's way too long, you know? So they call him Tit."

Myron and Esperanza exchanged a glance, shook their heads. Too easy.

"Mindy," Myron said slowly, "I wasn't kidding back there. Tito is not a nice fellow. He may, in fact, be involved in kidnapping and maiming a boy about your age.

Somebody cut off the boy's finger and sent it to his mother."

Her face pinched up. "Oh, that's, like, so gross."

"Help me, Mindy."

"You a cop'?"

"No," Myron said. "I'm just trying to save a boy."

She waved her hands dismissively. "Then, like, go.

You don't need me."

"I'd like you to come with us."

"Why?"

"So you don't try to warn Tito."

"I won't."

Myron shook his head. "You also know how to get to Parker Inn. lt'll save us time."

"Uh-uh, no way. I'm not going with you."

"If you don't," Myron said, "l'll tell Amber and Trish and the gang all about your new boyfriend."

That snared her attention. "He's not my boyfriend,"

she insisted. "We just, like, hung out a couple of times."

Myron smiled. "So I'll lie," he said. "I'll tell them you slept with him."

"I did not!" she screamed. "That's, like, so unfair."

Myron shrugged helplessly.

She crossed her arms and chewed her gum. Her version of defiance. It didn't last long. "Okay, okay, I'll go.' ' She pointed a finger at Myron. ' 'But I don't want Tit to see me, okay? I stay in the car."

"Deal," Myron said. He shook his head. Now they were after a man named Tit. What next?

The Parker Inn was a total redneck, biker, skeezer bar.

The parking lot was packed with pickup trucks and motorcycles.

Country music blared from the constantly opening door. Several men in John Deere baseball caps were using the side of the building as a urinal. Every once in a while one would tum and piss on another. Curses and laughter spewed forward. Fun city.

From his car parked across the street, Myron looked at Mindy and said, "You used to hang out here?"

She shrugged. "I, like, came here a couple of times,"

she said. "For excitement, you know?"

Myron nodded. "Why didn't you just douse yourself with gasoline and light matches?"