“I hope you and Bella stay safe tonight,” Garland said. “I’ll be thinking about you both. As it turns out, I have to work late tonight. I’ll probably be stuck here at the office until at least 8:00.”
Chapter 39: Colton’s Wild Ride
Friday, March 22, 1996
5:18 p.m. Matt turned the key—again. Nothing happened—again, which was to be expected, given the battery cable was disconnected.
This performance art—Matt’s pantomiming frustration that his Jeep wouldn’t start—was tiresome, affected.
He and Colton were ostensibly headed to the old farmstead to steal William’s little, wooden box of cards and “fairy letters,” which Colton would then use to get William expelled.
Matt’s real goal was to get Colton and his Audi to that farmstead. Everything—the entire planned take-down—hinged on that outcome. And the thing about Colton was that he was the type person who, if you even suggested he drive his car, would refuse to do so on principle. Hence this charade.
“Give it another go,” Colton growled.
“One of us needs to check under the hood,” Matt said. “The other should be ready to try starting it again.”
“It’s your piece-of-shit Jeep. You look under the hood.”
Matt had hoped Colton would make that choice but wanted him to believe otherwise.
“You’re the one whose dad owns car dealerships with body shops,” Matt groused. “I would think you would know some basic mechanics.”
“I’m not getting my hands mucky looking under your hood.” Colton gave Matt an appraising look, arched an eyebrow. “Not yet anyway.”
Matt froze. Had Colton Langley just made a clumsy pass at him? Surely not.
Matt popped his hood, propped it up with a rod. Peered in and frowned. Pretended to jigger with something.
“Try it now,” Matt called out.
Nothing.
“I think the starter is shot,” Matt said, “which is way above my skill set. In case I’m wrong, though, I should find someone to try jumping it. There’s no harm in trying, right?”
Colton shook his head. “This has been embarrassing enough without the added humiliation of asking people for a jump. I’m the SGA president, and you’re almost certainly my vice president elect. We’ll just take my car.”
“Are you sure?”
“Grab those bolt cutters out of the back of your Jeep and come on,” Colton said. He took off across the parking lot, towards his Audi.
Matt smiled.
5:23 p.m. “Where is this place?” Colton asked as he pulled out of MCU.
“Head west,” Matt said. He’d already spotted, in his side mirror, William, Evan, Josh, and Kevin walking to his Jeep. They would reconnect the battery, then drive to the rendezvous point. Harley and Luke would join them there in Harley’s pickup.
Jake should have already stopped at a liquor store and been nearing the Habana Inn. As soon as he picked up Bella, they too would head to the rendezvous point.
Matt’s job now was to slow things down, lead Colton on a circuitous route, and give everyone time to rendezvous.
Hopefully he could distract Colton with conversation, distasteful as that might be.
Besides, William had set two conditions for his acquiescence to Colton’s take-down, one of which was that Matt probe to see if the turd had any regrets about his misdeeds, and, if he did, Matt was to abort the whole operation.
Matt wasn’t worried about that possibility. The fact that today’s mission was to steal William’s “fairy letters” and use them against him did not bode well in terms of Colton’s redemption. Nor, apparently, did William hold out much hope for remorse on Colton’s part. William’s second condition was that no unnecessary violence be used in Colton’s take-down.
“Do you ever think about Adam Maxwell?” Matt asked.
