Sea Change

R O B E R T B . P A R K E R

“Well, we didn’t do anything bad to Flo,” Claudia said.

“Of course not,” Jesse said. “Where were you staying on Long Island?”

“Well,” Corliss looked at her sister.

“We were at a guy’s house in Sag Harbor.”

“Name?”

“Ah, the guy that owned the house was, ah, Carlo.”

Jesse nodded and waited. Corliss looked at her sister again.

“What was Carlo’s last name?” she said. “You remember?”

Claudia frowned cutely.

“Fu

Corliss frowned cutely. Jesse waited.

“Like Coca-Cola,” Corliss said.

“Carlo Coca,” Claudia said.

“C-O-C-A?” Jesse said.

“I guess,” Claudia said.

Both twins looked pleased. Jesse wrote down the name.

“Got an address?” Jesse said.

“Oh,” Claudia said, “I don’t know.”

She looked at Corliss.

“On the beach,” Corliss said.

“Phone?”

They both shrugged. Jesse nodded.

“Well, we’ll find him,” Jesse said.

“He may not remember us,” Corliss said.

Jesse smiled at them.

“Hard not to,” he said.

9 2

S E A C H A N G E

“You can’t tell our parents,” Claudia said.

“They’d have a shit fit,” Corliss said.

“I have no reason to tell your parents,” Jesse said.

“They think we’re still their little baby virgins,” Claudia said.

“How did you hear of Florence’s death?” Jesse said.

“One of our friends called,” Corliss said.

“The friend knew where you were?”

“Not really, she called on our cell phone.”

“What’s her name?”

“Kimmy,” Corliss said.

“Kimmy Young,” Claudia said. “Why?”

“I’m a cop,” Jesse said. “I like to know stuff.”

“We were thinking maybe we should hire some kind of private detective,” Corliss said.

Jesse nodded.

“You know?” Corliss said.

Jesse nodded again.

“I mean this is like a small town,” Claudia said. “You know?”

“I do,” Jesse said.

“So you won’t be like, insulted?” Corliss said.

“No.”

“But we don’t know how to go about it,” Claudia said.

Jesse nodded.

“Talk with Rita Fiore,” Jesse said.

He wrote the name and phone number on a piece of yellow paper and handed it to Claudia.

9 3

R O B E R T B . P A R K E R

“Criminal lawyer at a big Boston firm,” Jesse said. “Use my name. I’m sure she can put you in touch with someone.”

“We, ah, forgot your name,” Corliss said.

Jesse took a card from the middle drawer of his desk and handed it to Corliss.

“She’ll be, ah, you know, she won’t talk about us to anyone,” Corliss said.

“Soul of discretion,” Jesse said.

They nodded.

“Are you pla

“Until our sister’s killer is brought to justice,” Corliss said.

“Before you leave here this morning, give Molly your address.”

“Is that the policewoman out front?”

Jesse smiled. Molly would bite them if they called her that.

“At the desk,” he said.

“Okay. We got a nice suite at the Four Seasons. With a view.”

“In Boston,” Jesse said.

“Un-huh,” Corliss said.

“Did anything bad happen to Flo before she died?” Claudia said.

“Hard to say.”

“I mean did anybody hurt her?”

“Can’t tell,” Jesse said. “You think someone would?”

9 4

S E A C H A N G E

The twins looked at each other.

“Not really,” Corliss said. “But she ran with a weird crowd sometimes.”

“Names?” Jesse said.

Both twins shook their heads.

“Oh, we don’t know that,” Claudia said.

“We don’t know any of them really,” Corliss said.

Jesse took the sex video head shots from a drawer and put them out on the desk where the Plum twins could see them.

“Know either of these gentlemen?” Jesse said.

They did. Jesse could tell by the way their shoulders froze when they looked. They both shook their heads at the same time.

“No,” Claudia said.

“No, we don’t,” Corliss said.

Jesse took out three other pictures.

“One of these Florence?” Jesse said.

They looked.

“Course,” Corliss said.

“That one,” Claudia said.

“You didn’t even know which one she was?”

“I did,” Jesse said. “I wanted to be sure you did.”

They both stared at him silently for a moment.

Then Claudia said, “Jesus Christ.”

Corliss said,” Don’t you trust anybody?”

“Trust,” Jesse said, “but verify.”

“What’s that mean?”

9 5

R O B E R T B . P A R K E R

“It’s a reference to Ronald Reagan,” Jesse said.

“That president?”

“Him,” Jesse said.

“Well, I think it’s mean not to trust us,” Claudia said.

“You’re right,” Jesse said. “I’ll never do it again.”

9 6

20

After the twins were gone, Molly stuck her head in the office door.

“Steve Friedman called in,” she said. “Got a couple of kids shoplifting in Waldo’s Variety Store.”

“What did they take?”

“Skin magazines.”

“Tell Steve to confiscate the magazines, let the kids sit in the cruiser for ten minutes to scare them, then kick ’em loose. No lectures.”

Molly gri

“That’ll be hard for Steve,” she said.

“I know. Tell him I said so.”

R O B E R T B . P A R K E R

“No parent notification?” Molly said.

“No.”

Molly was still gri

“How were the twins?” Molly said.

“Vague,” Jesse said.

“You survive with your virtue intact?”

“So much sex,” Jesse said, “so little brain.”

“You learn anything useful?” Molly said.

“Mostly I learned that they know more than they are say -

ing, and that they conceal that fact badly.”

“What do you think they know?”

“They know the two guys in the sex video,” Jesse said.

“They say so?”

“No.”

“What did they want?”

“I don’t think they quite know,” Jesse said. “They asked me to recommend a private eye.”

“To help us on the case?”

“Un-huh.”

Molly rolled her eyes.

“There are some good ones,” Jesse said. “I sent the little darlings to Rita Fiore, told them she could recommend.”

“Can she?”

“Probably. I know she uses some guy in Boston that’s supposed to be good.”

“You think they were serious?”

“I don’t think they’ve been serious in their whole vapid life, either one of them.”

9 8

S E A C H A N G E

“And you sent them to Rita,” Molly said, “so you could call her in a while and asked if they showed up.”

Jesse smiled and pointed a finger at Molly.

“You’re mastering my technique,” Jesse said. “When I leave, you can be chief.”

“Fat chance,” Molly said. “I better get on the horn to Steve. He’s probably already started his lecture.”

“Cruel and unusual punishment,” Jesse said.

“Wading through the skin magazines would be cruel enough,” Molly said.

“Not if you’re an adolescent boy,” Jesse said.

“You would know,” Molly said and left the office.

Jesse stood and walked to the door.

“Be sure Steve brings in the confiscated magazines,” he said.

9 9

21

J esse was on the small balcony off the living room, drinking club soda, with his shirt

off, when Je