Sea Change

“Jesus Christ,” Molly said.

Jesse froze the frame.

“I know her,” Molly said.

“Local girl,” Jesse said.

“Katie, Kate DeWolfe. She’s in school with my oldest.”

“Which would make her how old?” Jesse said.

“Fifteen.”

“Under age.”

Molly nodded. They both stared at the frozen image of the girl.

“Which gives us another handhold on Darnell,” she said.

“Doesn’t prove he killed Florence Horvath,” Jesse said.

“Proves he’s a bad man,” Molly said.

“We knew that.”

“What in God’s name will I tell her mother?” Molly said.

Jesse didn’t say anything. They both looked at Katie De-1 5 0

S E A C H A N G E

Wolfe for another moment. Then Jesse pressed play, and the videotape unspooled relentlessly. The tapes seemed infinite.

Blondie Martin took her turn. They watched all day and when it was over had not seen Florence Horvath.

They sat silently when the last scene had played and the last tape had rewound. There was nothing to say. They didn’t look at each other.

“I may never have sex again,” Molly said after a time.

“I know,” Jesse said.

“You’ve probably seen worse,” Molly said.

“Yes.”

“But . . .”

“It’s the quantity,” Jesse said.

“Yes,” Molly said. “That’s what it is. The women become interchangeable. They are just parts. Nipples and pubic hair.

There’s no . . . there’s no . . .”

Molly stopped and shook her head.

“Humanity,” Jesse said.

“Yes. Nothing human is happening. Do men find this exciting?”

“I don’t,” Jesse said.

“Not for a minute?”

“First ten seconds, maybe,” Jesse said. “More anticipation, probably, than anything.”

“Those tapes shouldn’t exist,” Molly said. “Am I a prude?”

“We had to watch it,” Jesse said. “Not everybody does.”

“So you’re saying it should exist.”

“Most people, I’d say if you don’t like it, don’t look at it.”

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

“It’s worse than that,” Molly said. “I don’t want it available to anyone who wants to look.”

“Not my area,” Jesse said. “But my guess is that it would probably do more harm to try and prevent it.”

“Censorship and all that,” Molly said.

“I don’t mind censorship,” Jesse said, “long as I get to be censor.”

Molly smiled.

“Yes. I know. But damn . . .”

“Consenting adults,” Jesse said.

“Not all of them,” Molly said.

Jesse smiled.

“There’s that,” he said.

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32

K elly Cruz sat with Mandy Morello at an outdoor table outside a bakery and deli

near the Marriott Marina Hotel. Kelly

Cruz was drinking coffee. Mandy was having a Pepsi-Cola and eating some sort of napoleon and smoking a cigarette.

“Is sex against the law?” Mandy said.

“Not for consenting adults.”

“How about posing for nude pictures?”

“Not for consenting adults.”

“Okay,” Mandy said. “What would you like to know?”

“Does being one of Mr. Ralston’s girls involve sex and nude pictures?” Kelly Cruz said.

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

“Sure,” Mandy said.

She wiped whipped cream off her upper lip.

“Tell me about that,” Kelly Cruz said.

“That give you a charge?” Mandy said. “Hearing about it?”

Kelly Cruz sighed.

“Mandy,” she said. “I’m a fun person, just like you, but I am also a cop investigating a homicide, and I would just as soon not fuck around with it too much, okay?”

“Whoa,” Mandy said. “Kelly, I didn’t mean anything. It’s just how I talk.”

“Sure,” Kelly Cruz said. “Tell me about life with Thomas Ralston.”

“Well, ah, what can I tell you. He parties.”

“With you?”

“Sometimes with me.”

“Sometimes with others?”

“Sure.”

“One at a time?” Kelly Cruz said.

Mandy rolled her eyes and laughed.

“Not always,” she said.

“Other men involved?”

“Sometimes.”

“Are we talking about gang bangs here, Mandy?”

“Sometimes.”

“Willing?”

“Willing? Oh, sure, willing. Of course, it’s all in fun. Somebody doesn’t groove on that. Fine. Don’t party. You know?”

“What about the nude pictures.”

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S E A C H A N G E

“Oh those,” Mandy laughed and stubbed her cigarette out in the remains of her napoleon. “Tommy got it all rigged on his boat, cameras in the bedrooms, all hooked to a VCR.”

“Do the participants know they’re being taped?” Kelly Cruz said.

Mandy shrugged.

“I know,” she said, “because he showed me some pictures of me.”

“You didn’t mind?”

“Hell, no, fun stuff. I thought it was cool.”

“How’d you meet Mr. Ralston?” Kelly Cruz said.

“Around. I like yachts and men who own them,” Mandy said. “You hang around the right marinas and you get to see a lot of both.”

“And the other women?” Kelly Cruz said.

Mandy laughed.

“I’m not there,” she said, “because I’m interested in the other women.”

“Any names?”

“No. I don’t know any of them. There’s some babe named Brittany, and somebody named Janine, but I don’t know any last names.”

“Men?”

“Harry,” Mandy said with a big smile, “and Mike and a guy named Ace.”

“No last names,” Kelly Cruz said.

“We’re real informal on the yacht,” Mandy said.

“You know what Mr. Ralston does with all his videotapes?”

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

“He looks at them, I guess, in his spare time.”

Kelly Cruz nodded.

“Do you know where he is now?” Kelly Cruz said.

Mandy tipped her glass so that the small chunks of ice in the bottom slid into her mouth. She crunched them thoughtfully, and shook her head.

“He’s up north near Boston someplace,” she said after she swallowed. “There’s some big race thing going on.”

“Do you know when he’ll be back?” Kelly Cruz said.

Mandy shrugged and shook her head.

“Do you know anyone named Florence Horvath?” Kelly Cruz said.

“There was a Florence, hung with Tommy for a while.”

“Know anything about her?”

“She was old for Tommy.”

“Anything else?”

“No.”

“Know where she is now?” Kelly Cruz said.

“No.”

“Know any other friends of hers?”

“No.”

“Do you know Corliss and Claudia Plum?”

“Twins?” Mandy said.

“Yes.”

“Corliss and Claudia, yeah. They been on the boat with Tommy, pretty sure. I mean how many twins you meet, let alone named Claudia and Corliss. Yikes.”

“They party with Tommy too?”

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S E A C H A N G E

“Absolutely. College cuties, you know.”

Kelly Cruz took out the three head shots Jesse had sent.

“Know any of these?” she said to Mandy.

Mandy studied the pictures.

“I mighta seen them around the marina, hard to say. Pic -

tures aren’t really great, you know?”

“I know,” Kelly Cruz said.

Mandy looked some more.

“I can’t tell,” she said. “Everybody hangs around the marina looks the same, tan, blond. Boys, girls, doesn’t matter.

Hard to remember.”

Kelly Cruz nodded and took the pictures back. She took a card out of her purse and handed it to Mandy.

“Anything occurs to you, call me.”

“Sure,” Mandy said and tucked the card into her bra.

“Tommy give you money?” Kelly Cruz said.

“He helps out, bless his horny little heart.”

“So what are you doing now,” Kelly Cruz said, “while Tommy’s away?”

Mandy paused to light a new cigarette.

“I have other friends,” she said.

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33

I been working my little butt off for you down here,” Kelly Cruz said on the phone.