The Final Detail: A Myron Bolitar Novel Read Online Free

with,” he said, “but if you want to talk about Jessica or Brenda or whatever …” He released the steeple, made a waving motion with his right hand. Win was trying. Matters of the heart were not his forte. His feelings on romantic entanglement could objectively be labeled “appalling.”
    “Don’t worry about it,” Myron said.
    “Fine then.”
    “Thanks, though.”
    Quick nod.
    After more than a decade struggling with Jessica—years of being in love with the same woman, having one major breakup, finding each other again, taking tentative steps, growing, finally moving in together again—it was over.
    “I miss Jessica,” Myron said.
    “I thought we weren’t going to talk about it.”
    “Sorry.”
    Win shifted in his seat again. “No, go on.” Like he’d rather have an anal probe.
    “It’s just that … I guess part of me will always be enmeshed in Jessica.”
    Win nodded. “Like something in a machinery mishap.”
    Myron smiled. “Yeah. Like that.”
    “Then slice off the limb and leave it behind.”
    Myron looked at his friend.
    Win shrugged. “I’ve been watching
Sally Jessy
on the side.”
    “It shows,” Myron said.
    “The episode entitled ‘Mommy Took Away My Nipple Ring,’” Win said. “I’m not afraid to say it made me cry.”
    “Good to see you getting in touch with your sensitive side.” As if Win had one. “So what next?”
    Win checked his watch. “I have a contact at the Bergen County house of detention. He should be in by now.” He hit the speakerphone and pressed in some numbers. They listened to the phone ring. After two rings a voice said, “Schwartz.”
    “Brian, this is Win Lockwood.”
    The usual reverent hush when you first hear that name. Then: “Hey, Win.”
    “I need a favor.”
    “Shoot.”
    “Esperanza Diaz. Is she there?”
    Brief pause. “You didn’t hear it from me,” Schwartz said.
    “Hear what?”
    “Good, okay, long as we understand each other,” he said. “Yeah, she’s here. They dragged her through here in cuffs a coupla hours ago. Very hush-hush.”
    “Why hush-hush?”
    “Don’t know.”
    “When is she being arraigned?”
    “Tomorrow morning, I guess.”
    Win looked at Myron. Myron nodded. Esperanza would be held overnight. This was not a good thing.
    “Why did they arrest her so late?”
    “Don’t know.”
    “And you saw them drag her in cuffs?”
    “Yep.”
    “Didn’t they let her surrender on her own?”
    “Nope.”
    Again the two friends looked at each other. The late arrest. The handcuffs. The overnight. Someone in the DA’s office was pissed off and trying to make a point. Very not a good thing.
    “What else can you tell me?” Win asked.
    “Not much. Like I said, they’re being quiet on this one. The DA hasn’t even released it to the media yet. But he will. Probably before the eleven o’clock news. Quick statement, no time for questions, that kind of thing. Hell, I wouldn’t know about it if I wasn’t a big fan.”
    “A big fan?”
    “Of professional wrestling. See, I recognized her from her old wrestling days. Did you know Esperanza Diaz used to be Little Pocahontas, the Indian Princess?”
    Win glanced at Myron. “Yes, Brian, I know.”
    “Really?” Brian was big-time excited now. “Little Pocahontas was my absolute fave, bar none. An awesome wrestler. Top drawer. I mean, she used to enter the ring in this skimpy suede bikini, right, and then she’d start grappling with other chicks, bigger chicks really, writhing around on the floor and stuff—swear to God, she was so hot my fingernails would melt.”
    “Thank you for the visual,” Win said. “Anything else, Brian?”
    “No.”
    “Do you know who her attorney of record is?”
    “No.” Then: “Oh, one other thing. She’s got someone, well, sort of with her.”
    “Sort of with her, Brian?”
    “Outside. On the front steps of the courthouse.”
    “I’m not sure I’m following you,” Win said.
    “Out in the rain. Just sitting there. If I