Страница 9 из 41
5 5
R O B E R T B . P A R K E R
“I heard you couldn’t get it up anyway, Arthur,” Peter Perkins said.
“Give you a list of satisfied customer, you want,” Arthur said.
“Look at the weapon on that guy,” Buddy Hall said.
“Jesus,” Suitcase said, “if that’s a penis, what am I walking around with?”
The film ended after about eight minutes with Florence apparently having an historic orgasm while the cops laughed and bantered. Jesse wondered if the banter covered any dis-comfort. He didn’t enjoy porn very much. But he didn’t mind it much unless it was gross. Jesse had always thought heterosexual anal sex verged on gross. Nothing in Florence’s home movie had changed his mind about that.
“Didn’t see any clues,” Peter Perkins said. “Maybe we should play it more.”
“Did you look at the guys?” Jesse said.
Nobody said anything.
“Okay, we’ll run it again,”Jesse said.
Around the table the cops groaned. Perkins had been kidding. Most of them were bored with it already.
“Look at the guys, this time,” Jesse said. “Maybe we’ll see one again.”
Jesse rewound the tape. And rolled it. The cops watched again, looking at the men. Jesse noticed they were quieter.
Less uncomfortable, maybe. Jesse looked, too. There was nothing in the film to tell him where it was shot. Just a bed-5 6
S E A C H A N G E
room. Or at least a place with a bed. There was a hint of decorative brass. The room looked small. Could be a boat.
When the tape had finished, Jesse said, “Okay, Peter, you’re the evidence specialist. Take the tape and get some head shots made of the guys. May as well get one of Florence, too. It’s better than her license photo.”
“Guys at the lab will love this,” Perkins said.
“Just make sure it comes back,” Jesse said.
“You don’t think they’ll make a dupe?”
“Of course they will,” Jesse said. “But I want the original in our case folder.”
“Yessir.”
Perkins started to remove the tape from the VCR.
“Leave it,” Jesse said. “I’ll give it to you after lunch.”
“Gotta look for more clues, Jesse?”
“Chief Jesse to you, pal. Go relieve Molly on the desk. Tell her I want to see her in my office.”
Perkins saluted and the cops filed out. Jesse took the tape and went in his office. In a moment Molly came in. Jesse put the tape into the office VCR.
“You know how to run this?” Jesse said.
“No.”
“Okay, I’ll start it and leave.”
Molly nodded. Jesse punched up the tape and went out.
He closed the office door behind him and leaned on the wall near it. He smiled to himself. Porn guard.
When Molly came out she said, “That was disgusting.”
5 7
R O B E R T B . P A R K E R
“Yes,” Jesse said. “It was.”
“Did the guys like it?”
Jesse shrugged.
“They pretended to. In fact, I think they probably found it a little disgusting, too.”
“Did you?”
“Yes.”
“You going to get head shots made?”
“Peter Perkins is going to take care of it,” Jesse said.
Molly nodded. “Thanks for letting me watch it alone,” she said.
Jesse shrugged.
“You’re a nicer guy than most people know,” Molly said.
Jesse smiled at her. “Let’s not let that get around,” he said.
5 8
14
W hen Jesse went to meet Je
“What draws them here,” she was saying. “What brings them from all over the Atlantic coast to converge here . . . in Paradise . . . for Race Week.”
The director who had been staring at the monitor yelled R O B E R T B . P A R K E R
“Cut.” And as Je
“I smell Emmy,” Jesse said.
“You smell something,” Je
“We could walk up to Daisy’s,” Jesse said. “They bake all their own bread.”
“Let’s,” Je
“So what does draw them?” Jesse said as they walked up Washington Street. “Top-flight police work?”
“Probably that,” Je
“Anybody sail?” Jesse said.
“Not in the evening,” Je
“For us, it’s mostly fights and public urination and van-dalism,” Jesse said.
“Boy,” Je
“What’s up this afternoon?” Jesse said.
“I’m off a couple hours,” Je
“Without you?”
“In a helicopter.”
“Without you,” Jesse said.
The crowd on the streets, even at midday, was thick and 6 0
S E A C H A N G E
boisterous. The range of dress was extreme. Horizontal-striped shirts were popular, with three-quarter-length white canvas pants. There were a lot of women in big hats and gauzy dresses. Men in blazers and white fla
“Zero tolerance,” Jesse said.
“Egad,” Je
The door was open and the line of people waiting was out onto the sidewalk.
“Be the same,” Jesse said. “It’s like this everywhere.”
Several people on the sidewalk had drinks. Jesse ignored them.
“Selective enforcement?” Je
“You bet,” Jesse said. “They’re just waiting to have lunch.
They won’t do any harm. Besides, I don’t want to hurt Daisy’s business.”
“Is there actually a Daisy?”
6 1
R O B E R T B . P A R K E R
“I’ll introduce you,” Jesse said.
“But first, could you arrest somebody at a good table,”
Je
“I’ll talk to Daisy. Stay here.”
Jesse slid past the crowd and in through the open door. He came back out with a strapping red-faced blond woman wearing a big white apron and holding a spatula. The woman pointed at Je
“You Je
“I am.”
“I’m Daisy, get your ass in here,” she said.
A woman in wraparound sunglasses and a large straw hat said, “We’ve been waiting half an hour.”
“And you’ll wait a lot longer,” Daisy said, “you keep talking.”
“But they . . .”
Daisy waved the spatula under the woman’s chin.
“My restaurant,” Daisy said. “I decide. Come on, Je
Je
“Sorry I left you twisting in the wind out there,” Jesse said.
Je