Kisscut

"I've got no idea," Jeffrey said. "He's got a tattoo like the one I sent you."

"What am I looking for?"

"He was cruising a day-care center when I happened upon him."

"Can't really arrest him for that," Nick said, though they both knew this was obvious.

"He's got a computer at home. Probably hooks up with other pedophiles that way," Jeffrey said. "Said he was a girl-lover."

"Man," Nick sighed. "I really hate that phrase."

"We could do a search here at the station, but to tell you the truth, Nick, I don't think any of us knows how to find that kind of thing."

"Feds have got a whole squad on it. Having a name makes it a priority. Maybe they can squeeze this guy and get him to flip?"

"Very possible," Jeffrey said. "He didn't have much of a spine when I interviewed him. I can see him turning in some of his friends to save his hide."

"Interviewed him, huh?" Nick chuckled. "He know you were a cop at the time?"

Jeffrey smiled. Nick was a lot of things, but he was not stupid. "Let's say we had a conversation and leave it at that."

Nick laughed again. "How fast you want me to do this?"

"Really fast," Jeffrey said, not wanting the responsibility if Pry

"I'll put it through to the Alabama boys, pronto," Nick said. Then, "We just caught something over in Augusta that might interest you."

"What's that?"

" Augusta cops busted this guy at his hotel on coke distribution. They kind of stumbled across a bunch of magazines that weren't exactly legal."

"Pornography?" Jeffrey guessed.

"Kiddy porn," Nick confirmed. "There was some freaky shit."

"In Augusta?" Jeffrey asked, surprised that he did not know about this. Augusta was pretty close to Grant, and they tended to swap information with the cops there just to keep everyone in the loop.

"We're sitting on it," Nick said. "Trying to pull down the big guys."

"The perp's turning state's evidence?" Jeffrey asked.

"Flipped faster than a two-dollar whore," Nick told him. "And, before you ask, he doesn't know anything about a black Thunderbird or a missing little girl."

"You sure?"

"Sure as two fists can be."

Jeffrey frowned, though he was hardly in a position to feel superior. "Thanks for checking."

"No offense, Chief, but you better hope she's not with one of these guys. They trade kids like you and me used to trade baseball cards."

"I know that," Jeffrey said, but the truth was, he didn't want to. Thinking about Lacey Patterson being trapped with someone like Pry

"Anyway," Nick sighed, "there's supposed to be a delivery tonight or tomorrow. Evidently, Augusta is the distribution point for the Southeast."

"I can't believe they're still printing that shit when you can get it for free on the Internet."

"You can trace through the Internet if you know what you're doing," Nick reminded him. "You want me to give you a holler when it's going down?"

"You've got my cell number, right?"

"Yep," Nick said. "You think this Pry

"No," Jeffrey said, because his impression had been that Arthur Pry

Nick asked, "He go

"I think he has been all his life," Jeffrey said, looking up to see Lena standing in the doorway. "I've gotta go, Nick. Call me back when you get something on that bust, okay?"

"Will do, Chief."

They hung up, and Jeffrey motioned Lena in, surprised by the way she looked. Her eyes were bloodshot, the way people tend to get when they've been crying for long periods of time. Her nose was red and there were dark circles under her eyes.

"Wa

She gave him a puzzled look, like she didn't understand. She asked, "Any word on Lacey?"

"Nothing," he said. "Have you set up that appointment we talked about?"

Lena bit her lower lip. "I didn't have time."

"Make time," he told her.

"Yes, sir."

Jeffrey sat back in his chair, staring at her for a few beats. He said, "Tell me what happened when you snatched up Mark. Did he say anything?"

"He's being real tight-lipped all the sudden," she told him. "He won't say anything."

"He lawyer up?"

"Buddy Conford," Lena told him. "Won't that be a conflict of interest?"

Jeffrey considered this. Buddy was the lawyer representing the county if and when Dottie Weaver brought a case against Jeffrey. He asked, "Does Buddy know there's a co

"He knows Mark's the one Je

"I mean," Jeffrey said, "does he know we suspect Mark of being the father of the child?"

Lena 's eyebrows went up. "Do we?"

"Tell me why he wouldn't be."

"There could be another boy," she suggested.

"With the mother around?"

"She's been sick a lot," Lena said, shrugging. "I get a vibe from the father. He likes to push people around."

"I'll give you that," Jeffrey said, because Patterson had made a sport out of pushing Lena around in the trailer the other day. Jeffrey had been torn between stepping in and seeing if Lena could take care of it herself.

Lena said, "Maybe he molested Mark, and so Mark molested his sister? Kind of like a cause and effect?"

"That's not how pedophiles work," Jeffrey said.

"I don't follow."

"Not all pedophiles were abused as children. You can't make that assumption."

"We're talking theory here, right?" Lena asked. "I mean, it could have happened that way. I don't see Patterson being into boys, though."

"The vibe again?"

"Yeah," Lena nodded. "I don't get that vibe."

"What about Mark?" Jeffrey asked, remembering how Lena had behaved when they first interviewed the kid. "What kind of vibe do you get off of him?"

Lena had the grace to look down. "Well," she began, "he's hypersexual."

"Go on."

"He really seems to work off his appearance, his sexuality." She looked back up. "I think he probably doesn't know how to communicate any other way."

"That tattoo," Jeffrey began. "I found a guy in Alabama who had the same one."

"The hearts?"

"He was watching a day care," Jeffrey said, feeling the same disgust he had felt at Possum's store. "Looking at the kids there."

"Little kids?" Lena asked. "He's a child molester?"

"More like a pedophile," Jeffrey corrected. Sara had given him a lesson on the difference between these two a long time ago during another case, and he told Lena about it now. "Child molesters tend to hate children, and don't want to be around them except to abuse them. Pedophiles think they're doing the kid some good. They think they love them."

"Uh-huh," Lena said, skeptical.

"Pedophilia is considered a mental illness."

"So was homosexuality until the early sixties. I still don't see the difference."

Jeffrey knew that Lena 's sister had been gay, so he was surprised to hear her say this. "I suppose the big difference would be that adult-to-adult sexual contact is healthy. Children aren't prepared for that kind of thing." She did not respond, so he continued, "With a child-adult relationship, the balance of power is always going to be on the adult's side. It's not a level playing field. The adult is always going to be the one in control of the kid."

Lena gave him an incredulous look. "It sounds like you're justifying it."

"I'm not doing that at all," Jeffrey said, feeling prickly at her accusation. "I'm just telling you what the mindset is."

"The mindset is pretty fucking perverted."

"I agree with that," Jeffrey told her. "But you can't let your disgust color how you approach this, Lena. If Mark has that tattoo because he's a pedophile or a child molester, you can't let him know that you disapprove. He'll never open up to you." Then, because he had taught her this before, he added, "You know that."