Free Slow Burn by Terrence McCauley Page B

“Mr. Van Dorn told me Jack’s been in trouble before. What kind of trouble?”
    “The usual kind that a boy with too much money and not enough sense tends to find himself in,” Soames said. “Drinking. Gambling. Women.”
    “Anything serious?”
    “Nothing so egregious that Mr. Van Dorn’s name or money couldn’t get him out of,” Soames said. “He isn’t Al Capone, Detective. He’s just more careless than he should be, but young men often are.”
    “Does he have a particular group he runs around with?”
    “A young man with his kind of money never lacks friends,” Soames said. “Some from reputable families. Others aren’t so reputable.”
    “Any names?”
    Soames shook his head. “I’m afraid he didn’t talk about them much, and he never brought any of them here. Only the nice, supposedly respectable boys who had the same shortcomings as he. I doubt they’d be mixed up in anything like this, They’re simply not that industrious. But I’ll be happy to give you their names if you’d like.”
    I’d need their names eventually, but I’d come back to that later. “What about girlfriends?”
    “A still more varied group,” Soames sighed, “though he did seem to have been fascinated with one girl named Rachel as of late. I believe she lives somewhere downtown and, no, I don’t know her last name. But Jack’s fascinations never run too deep and they never last very long.”
    Rachel. I wrote that down. It wasn’t much, but it was one more lead than I had before I’d walked in. “Any idea on where I might find her?”
    “Jack stopped confiding such things in me long ago, back when he became old enough to begin lying to me about them. He was always rather guarded about his romances.” Then something in Soames’ eyes changed. Something had come to him.
    “What is it, Soames? Tell me. Whatever it is could help.”
    He held onto it a little longer before giving it up. “It’s something that his parents don’t know about.” He looked up at me, “Nor do they need to know about it now, if at all possible. I must ask for your discretion before I tell you.”
    I wouldn’t lie to him. I’d worked too hard to win his trust to do that, and I had a feeling I’d need him again before all of this was over. “I’ll do what I can, but it might come out in the wash before this is done.”
    Soames seemed to accept that. “I happen to know that Jack keeps a small flat here in the city. For what purposes, I can only imagine.”
    So Junior had a joy pad. “Where?”
    “A studio apartment in Greenwich Village,” Soames said. “I gather it appeals to some of the Bohemian tendencies for which he’s expressed such fondness as of late.”
    I swallowed hard. “Where is it?” Soames didn’t seem to hear me. “I found the lease for the flat amongst his things when I was bringing them down to be laundered some months ago. I left it on his bureau after I found it.”
    I kept my voice steady and even. A solid gold-plated goddamned lead. “Could you go up and get it for me?”
    “I’m afraid that’s quite impossible. He must’ve taken it with him because I haven’t seen it in his room since.”
    “If you could let me take a look, I—”
    “—would have no more success finding it than if I did,” Soames said. “Believe me, I’ve known all of Master Van Dorn’s hiding places since he was a boy. There’s nothing up there of any interest to you at present.”
    But I knew by the way he was looking at me that there was more to it than that. “Spill it, Soames. What is it?”
    “Nothing,” he allowed, “except that I happen to remember the address.”

ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET
    I LEFT Loomis to babysit the Van Dorns while he called in the lead to the station. We were almost an hour overdue at the station house, and I knew there’d be questions. A lot hinged on Loomis being able to stall them. Part of me doubted his nerve. He was used to doing what he was told and wasn’t used to lying,