I settled on a leather-upholstered easy chair with a matching ottoman, one of two set at angles on either side of the snapping fire. The bed was stacked three deep with pillows, each covered in a faded chintz and trimmed with a thick fringe. Dietz had money. I had no idea how he’d come by it. To hear him tell it, his family was a shiftless lot of gypsies and vagabonds. His father worked the oil fields when jobs were available and otherwise spent his life crisscrossing the country in a series of dilapidated station wagons and vans. His mother rode shotgun, her bare feet propped on the dashboard while she drank beer and tossed empty cans out the window. Dietz and his grandmother occupied the backseat, playing cards or reading road maps and picking out towns with weird names. They made a point of traveling south for the winter, usually to Florida, but any place warm would do. If they couldn’t afford a motel, they slept in the car. If money was really in short supply, they’d cruise country roads and raid kitchen gardens for something to eat. He was largely homeschooled and he had little in the way of formal education. I suspected his job history was checkered, yet he seemed at home in this opulent hotel room, which felt alien to me.

“You hungry?” he asked.

“Getting there.”

“We should probably take a look at the menu. Room service is slow at this hour, so the sooner we order, the better off we’ll be.”

He handed me a menu while he sat down in the other leather chair with a menu of his own.

The bifold was oversize, printed on heavy card stock. I ran an eye down both pages, which were writ in an elegant hand as though a scribe had just left the premises. Shrimp cocktail was $14. Asparagus soup, $10. All of the entrees were $35 or more. Personally, I’d have preferred a peanut butter and pickle sandwich; seventy-five cents max. “A bit pricey, isn’t it?”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s my treat. If you’re feeling cheap, have a sandwich.”

“Who said anything about cheap? The cheeseburger’s twenty-one dollars! Two dollars more if you add bacon or avocado.”

“Relax. The burgers are prime sirloin ground to order. The patties are hand-formed and cooked any way you like.”

I held up my Champagne glass. “I think I’ll make do with this and fix my own supper when I get home.”

“Don’t be silly. If you don’t eat, you’ll get too snockered to drive.”

“I can’t stay that long anyway. It would have been smarter to postpone. I’m tired.”

“No, no. It was a great idea. Nick won’t roll in for another couple of hours.”

“What’s he going to think if he gets here and I’m in your room?”

Dietz studied me quizzically. “Are you concerned about that?”