Death in Paradise

"Maybe he liked people to watch," Pettler said.

"Maybe you been doing this too long," Jesse said.

"Maybe I'm right," Pettler said.

"You never saw him pick up these kids?"

"Nope. Never saw him pick up anybody," Pettler said. "Just showed up at the motel. Stayed a couple of hours and went home. Wham, bam, thank you ma'am."

"You never saw anybody deliver them?"

"Nope. Shaw was my job. I was behind him. The broads were already there when he arrived."

"And you don't know anything about his habits after the divorce?"

"Nope. But I'll bet he hasn't changed," Pettler said. "I don't know shit about psychology. But I'd say this is a guy doing something he needs to do, you know? Has to do."

"I'd like to copy these pictures," Jesse said. "I'll see that you get them back."

"Keep 'em," Pettler said. "I still got the negatives."

Jesse stood and put out his hand.

"Thanks," he said.

Pettler shook hands without getting up.

"I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you want to know all this?" he said.

"That's right," Jesse said. "I'm not."

"Not my job, anyway," Pettler said.

Chapter Fifty-six

"We still can't co

He and Kelly were in Kelly's car parked along Day Boulevard near Carson Beach. They had coffee in paper cups. A bag of donuts was on the seat between them.

"Everything but," Kelly said.

"But we still can't co

"Or Billie Bishop with Alan Garner," Kelly said.

"Or Shaw with Garner," Jesse said.

"Shaw's the one," Kelly said.

"You think?"

"Yeah. The sonovabitch jumps out at you."

"Nice if we could prove it."

"At least we know where to look," Kelly said.

"What we can prove," Jesse said, "is that Shaw likes young hookers."

"And that he took them to a motel on the North Shore, and Billie Bishop checked into that same hotel."

"Can we prove that he took Billie Bishop there?" Jesse said.

"You tell me," Kelly said.

"No."

"And if we could prove he took her there, can we prove that he killed her?"

"No."

They were silent. Kelly took a ci

"The only co

Kelly took a bite of the donut, leaning far forward over the steering wheel so as not to get ci

"Because Billie Bishop called Gino's phone number," he said.

"Yeah. But it might be that she called Garner at Gino's office."

"I don't like Gino for this," Kelly said.

"Because?"

"Not his style," Kelly said. "Why would Gino pimp for a fucking pedophile? Risk is big and money's small."

"Favor for a friend?" Jesse said.

"Gino?"

"He doesn't value friendship?" Jesse said.

"He's never experienced it."

"So you think Garner was working out of Gino's office?"

"And maybe Gino don't know nothing about it."

"Which makes the Shaw co

"Big coincidence," Kelly said.

"You can't assume coincidence," Jesse said.

"No you can't," Kelly said. "Garner could know Shaw through Gino."

"So?"

"So we're right where we were," Kelly said.

Jesse broke off a piece of ci

"How would Gino feel if he found out Garner was ru

"He would be offended," Kelly said.

They were both silent, watching a flatbed tow truck hook up to a Dodge pickup that was parked in a tow zone. A motorcycle cop was supervising.

"You think we're next?" Jesse said.

"Traffic division's a menace," Kelly said.

The tow truck driver squirmed under the pickup and hooked his cable on the frame. Then he stood beside his truck and worked the lever and the pickup began to winch up onto the flatbed.

"So," Jesse said. "If Garner found out we knew about him, and were pla

Kelly smiled and said, "Bingo!"

Chapter Fifty-seven

There were two blue-and-white Paradise cruisers, one pulled up onto the sidewalk, nose in, blue rights still flashing, parked in front of the Atlantic Market. Jesse parked on the street behind them and got out. Behind the car that was up on the sidewalk were Anthony DeAngelo and Eddie Cox. Cox had a shotgun.

"Hostage," Anthony DeAngelo told him. "I think it's Snyder and his wife. You know, the one beat her up all the time?"

"Where are they?"

"Back of the store, I think," DeAngelo said. "By the service counter."

"Anybody else?"

"Some customers. Couple of store people. I don't know yet how many."

"Anybody here from the store?"

"We got one of the cashiers," Cox said. "She's the one came ru

"Got the back covered?"

"Suit and Buddy."

"Anybody made contact?"

"I went to the front door," DeAngelo said. "Guy yells at me from the back. Says he'll kill her and everybody else if I try to come in."

"I said I was just there to help. Was there something he wanted," Cox said.

"And?"

"He said I should get out or he'd start shooting. Then he says to the broad, 'Tell him,' but she don't talk. I can hear her crying."

"What about the other people in the store?"

"I don't know. I didn't see anybody."

"Okay," Jesse said, "where's the cashier?"

"In Eddie's cruiser," DeAngelo said.

In the distance there was the sound of another siren.

"That'll be Arthur," DeAngelo said.

"Call Molly," Jesse said. "She covers the station. I want everyone else down here."

DeAngelo nodded and began to speak into the microphone clipped to his epaulet. Jesse walked to the other cruiser and got in. An adolescent girl with a lot of brown hair worn up, and braces on her teeth, was sitting in the passenger seat hugging herself.

"I want to go home," she said.

"Anybody coming to get you?" Jesse said.

"No."

"What's your name?"

"Kate."

"Kate what?"

"Ryan."

"What's your phone number, Kate?"

She gave it to him.

"But no one's home," she said.

Jesse nodded.

"Okay," he said. "You got a work phone for one of your parents?"

"My father works in Boston," she said. "My mother sells real estate."

She gave him both numbers.

Jesse picked up the radio and called Molly and gave her the phone numbers.

"Get a parent down here for Kate Ryan," he said.

"I'm on it," Molly said. "What's happening?"

Jesse put the mike away without answering.

"They'll be here soon," he said to Kate. "So what happened?"

"He came in the front door and right past me."

"Snyder?"

"I don't know his name. I never seen him before."

"You were at the checkout?"

"Yeah and he went right past me and he took out his gun and he said he was going to kill her."

"Mrs. Snyder?"

"Yeah. She just started working, customer service, and he said he was going to kill everybody and I run out and seen that cop, and started screaming and…" She shrugged and spread her hands. "What if they can't find my mother or father?"

"She's a cop," Jesse said. "She'll find them. What kind of gun did he have?"

"Just a gun. I don't know nothing about guns."

"Was it a handgun or something longer like a rifle or a shotgun?"

"Hand."

Jesse took his.38 off his belt.

"Did it look like this?" Jesse said. "Kind of round, or was it more square?"

"It might have been more square," she said. "I don't know. It was a gun."