“By a Pine View student.”

“Who is nameless?”

“No, the student has a name,” he said with a laugh.

I couldn’t open my mouth fast enough to stop him from punching his friend.

“I’m a process server,” I said.

“You find people. You help people.”

I didn’t respond. He hadn’t really asked a question. I make enough money to live by serving papers for lawyers. I didn’t want more work. I didn’t want money in the bank. I wanted to be able to pick up my duffle bag, which was always partially packed, add a few things, and walk out the door.

“We can pay,” said Greg. “What’s your fee?”

Victor got up on his elbows and looked over at us. He was wearing a red sweatshirt that had a Chicago Bulls logo and the word “Bulls” on the front. The sleeves on the sweatshirt had been roughly cut off.

Something in my face told the two boys that I wasn’t interested.

“You can listen,” said Greg, starting to rise, changing his mind and sitting again. “Ten minutes.”

“Five minutes. What’s your problem?” I asked.

“Ronnie Gerall is in jail, juvenile. He’s seventeen. They say he murdered a crazy old man. He didn’t. The police aren’t even looking for anyone else.”

Winn Graeme adjusted his glasses again and glanced at Victor.

“Okay,” said Greg. “We want you to find someone-the person who killed Philip Horvecki.”

I had read about the murder of Philip Horvecki in the Herald-Tribune a few days before. He had been beaten to death in his home. Horvecki was one of the Sarasota super rich. Semi retired, he had earned his money in land development when the market was hot. He was involved in local politics and had run without success for everything from property appraiser and tax collector to city council, and his causes were many.

His latest cause was something called Bright Futures, a program to provide financial aid to high school students going to a Florida college or university. Horvecki wanted the program abolished. He didn’t want to pay for people’s college education. The argument that the program was paid for by the Florida lottery made no difference to Horvecki.