Death in Paradise

"And when she did leave he tried to force it more," Je

"Yep."

"He tell you this?"

"No."

"You're guessing, then?"

Jesse shook his head.

"I'm not guessing," he said.

Je

"You're talking about you and me," Je

"Maybe a little."

"You've never hit me."

"No. I never would," Jesse said.

"But you know how he felt," Je

"Something about the way I've clamped on to you," Jesse said, "you can't stand."

"I love you, though."

"I know that."

"You're my best friend in the world," Je

"I know that, too."

Jesse finished his Pepsi and got another can. He brought the can back from the kitchen and sat back down beside Je

"Maybe if I could let you go," Jesse said, "then, maybe you could stay."

"There are problems I need to solve, too," Je

"Sure," Jesse said. "But I don't have to be one of them."

Je

"The only way to have what you want is not to want it?" she said.

"Something like that."

"And this man you shot," Je

"Snyder."

"He never learned that."

"Nope."

"And it killed him," Je

"With a little help from me."

Chapter Sixty-two

Suitcase Simpson called Jesse at home at 10:15 in the evening.

"I'm at the motel," Simpson said. "Shaw's here."

"Is he in a room?"

"One-twelve," Simpson said. "Just arrived. Knocked on the door and went in."

"I'll be up."

"Shall I stop him if he tries to leave?" Simpson said.

"No. I want to catch him in the act."

It was 10:40 when Jesse pulled into the parking lot of the Boundary Suites motel. He drove through the big half-empty parking lot and parked a little ways from room 112. Simpson's pickup was two cars away. Jesse walked to it.

"He still in there?" Jesse said.

"Yes."

"Stay put," Jesse said.

He walked to the motel lobby and flashed his badge at the night clerk.

"Room one-twelve," he said. "Who's registered?"

The clerk was slim with a thin mustache and a lot of dark hair. He wore yellow-tinted aviator glasses.

"Why do you want to know?" he said.

" 'Cause I'm the police," Jesse said. "Gimme a name."

The clerk tapped for a moment on his computer and then read from the screen.

"Marsha Gottlieb," he said.

"We need to open the room."

The desk clerk didn't like it. But he didn't know what else to do. So he got a key and walked down to room 112 with Jesse. As they walked, Jesse gestured to Simpson, who joined them at the door.

"Don't knock," Jesse said. "Just unlock the door."

"We always knock first," the clerk said.

"Unlock it," Jesse said.

The clerk shrugged as if to exonerate himself, put the master key in, and unlocked the door. Jesse pushed. It opened a few inches.

"Chain lock," Jesse said. "Do your stuff, Suit."

Simpson put his shoulder down and lunged into the door. The screws holding the chain bolt pulled loose from the frame and the door slammed open. The lights were on. Shaw was on the bed with a young girl. Both were naked. Shaw just managed to roll off her as Jesse and Simpson came into the room. Jesse was holding his badge up. The desk clerk peered in after them.

"Beat it," Jesse said to the clerk, and shut the door.

Simpson leaned against it.

Shaw was sitting up with a pillow over his lap to cover himself. The girl seemed frozen. There was a quart of vodka, a can of cranberry juice, some ice and two half-empty glasses on the bedside table.

"What do you want?" Shaw said.

Jesse could hear the panic in his voice. The girl lay still on the bed. Her eyes big. Her breasts had barely begun to show.

"How old are you?" Jesse said to the girl.

The girl shook her head and didn't say anything.

"I know you," Shaw said.

"You should get under the covers," Jesse said to the girl.

She kept staring at him, without any response.

"Get off the bed," Jesse said to Shaw.

Shaw got up quickly and stood naked, with his pale belly sagging.

"What are you going to do?" he said.

Jesse pulled the spread loose on Shaw's side and folded it over the girl. He looked at Shaw.

"You don't have the right to just break in here like this," Shaw said.

There was no force in his voice. He sounded plaintive.

"How old would you say she was?" Jesse said.

"Twenty-one," Shaw said.

"She's jailbait," Jesse said.

"She is not," Shaw said. "She told me she was twenty-one."

"Put on your pants," Jesse said.

He looked at the girl, still motionless under the spread. He looked around the room. There was some black underwear and a short floral sundress on one of the chairs. Jesse picked the clothes up and put them on the bed beside the girl.

"You need to get dressed, too," he said.

The girl didn't move.

"You're not in trouble," Jesse said to her. "But we need you to go with us."

Still she didn't move.

"If you don't get dressed," Jesse said, "we'll have to dress you."

Wordlessly, she put the covers aside and got up and began to dress. Simpson looked carefully away.

"Where are we going?" Shaw said.

He was speaking slowly and very clearly, like a drunk pretending to be sober.

"We are going to jail," Jesse said.

Chapter Sixty-three

Shaw came to her front door in a pale blue sundress.

"Well, hello," she said.

"May I come in?" Jesse said.

"Of course."

Carrying a manila envelope, Jesse walked through the gleaming air-conditioned house and sat again in the atrium.

"Thank you for calling last night," she said.

Jesse nodded.

"Is Norman still in jail?"

"He'll be out this morning," Jesse said. "I wanted to talk with you first."

"I'm not clear what he was arrested for. Drunk driving?"

"We found him in a motel room with an underage prostitute," Jesse said.

He could hear Joni Shaw breathe in sharply.

"Oh, God!" she said.

"It's not the first time," Jesse said.

She didn't say anything for a time. She studied Jesse's face as if she were looking for something.

"Are you sure?" she said finally.

Jesse opened the manila envelope and slowly spread out Dick Pettler's pictures of Shaw. Joni Shaw looked at them for a moment then pushed them away.

"Those are little girls," she said.

"Yes."

"How long ago were those pictures taken?"

"During a previous marriage," Jesse said.

"I don't…" she said. "I don't know what to say."

"It gets worse," Jesse said.

"Worse?" Joni Shaw said.

There was no way to ease it in.

"We're pretty sure he killed one of them."

"Killed?"

"Does he own a gun?"

"A gun? You mean he shot someone?"

Jesse nodded. Joni Shaw had her arms folded across her chest as if she were hugging herself.

"Mother of God," she said.

Jesse didn't want to bombard her. He waited for her to reorganize.

"You know this stuff?" she said.

"Yes."

"Jesus," she said. "The fucking pervert."

"Does he own a gun?" Jesse said.

"I guess I sort of knew it," Joni Shaw said. "You know how you know something and you don't know it?"

Jesse nodded.

"He was out a lot, and drunk nearly all the time," she said.

Jesse nodded again.

"Look at me," she said. "If you were married to somebody like me, wouldn't you stay home nights?"

"Yes."

"He wasn't a big deal in bed," she said. "All that stuff in the books? Bullshit! Most of the time he was too drunk to get it up."