High profile

“Good police work by you, sloppy by me,” Jesse said. “I should have asked when I called them.”

“Does this mean a salary increase for me?”

“No.”

“Even if it turns out I’ve cracked the case?” Suit said

“Puts you right at the top of the list for detective.”

“Soon as we have detectives,” Suit said.

“Right after that,” Jesse said.

Suit shrugged.

“It means Lutz lied to us,” he said.

“Or at least left stuff out,” Jesse said.

“We maybe should ask him about that?” Suit said.

“Sooner or later,” Jesse said.

“First, you want to get all your ducks in a row?”

“I’d settle for getting them herded into the same area,” Jesse said.

30

Jesse stood with Su

“Where’s Je

“Spike’s with her,” Su

“They get along?” Jesse said.

“Sort of. Je

“You getting along?”

Su

“Yes,” she said. “And no, we haven’t talked about you.”

“Thought never entered,” Jesse said. “Making any progress on who did it?”

“That’s why I wanted to talk,” Su

Jesse nodded. Rosie spotted a seagull and stiffened, motionless, looking at it. The seagull went about his business.

“But the thing is,” Su

Jesse stared for a while at the water moving against the stone base of the wharf. Then slowly he raised his eyes and looked across the harbor at the neck. It was still morning, and the strength of the sun out of the east made him squint even through the overcast.

“Shit,” he said after a time.

“Yes,” Su

Jesse looked up at the overcast, and rolled his neck as if to stretch out a cramp.

“Well, at least someone’s actually following her,” he said.

“Yes.”

Rosie held the seagull in her laser-like stare. The seagull had flown up on a pier piling and was staring back at Rosie.

“You ever notice that Rosie and the seagull have similar eyes?” Jesse said.

“Beady?”

“I guess,” Jesse said.

Su

“But soulful,” she said.

“In Rosie’s case,” Jesse said.

“Exactly.”

They were quiet. The seagull flew away. Rosie watched it briefly, then turned her blank attention to the harbor, where the gray water was calm and the upright masts of the sailboats were nearly still.

“This Walton Weeks thing is burying me,” Jesse said.

“I know. It’s okay. I’ll take care of Je

“We need to know if she actually was raped.”

“I know.”

“I can’t get away from the Weeks thing.”

“I’ll find out about the rape,” Su

“Could the stalker be someone different than the rapist?” Jesse said.

“Seems crazy,” Su

“Why would she refuse to ID him if he was the rapist?”

Su

“Don’t know,” she said.

“Didn’t she tell us the rapist was stalking her?”

“She told you that,” Su

“And she told me she didn’t know him before the rape.”

“Yes.”

“But that she recognized him as the rapist when he was stalking her.”

“Yes,” Su

“Any sign of anyone else stalking her?”

“No.”

“You have a plan?” Jesse said.

“Spike and I have been discussing one,” Su

“We want her safe,” Jesse said. “But we want him for the rape, too.”

“I know. If Spike had a talk with him, I’m sure he’d stop with the stalking. But, like you, I don’t want to scare him away. I want to know what’s going on.”

“Maybe you could get them in a room together,” Jesse said.

“That’s what Spike and I are talking about.”

“And?” Jesse said.

“I need to know she can do it. That it won’t traumatize her worse than she already has been.”

“If she was traumatized at all,” Jesse said.

“Something happened,” Su

“Yes,” Jesse said. “I think so, too.”

At the open end of the harbor, a lobster boat plodded in around the outer tip of Stiles Island.

“She asked me to get her a gun,” Jesse said.

“I have several,” Su

Jesse nodded.

“You can issue her the license.”

Jesse nodded again.

“But,” Su

“No,” Jesse said. “I’m not.”

“It should be her call, Jesse.”

“She doesn’t even know how to shoot,” Jesse said.

“I can teach her.”

“You think she should have one?” Jesse said.

“Believe her story for a moment,” Su

Jesse nodded. The lobster boat had rounded Stiles Island now and was moving stolidly along the shoreline of Paradise Neck.

“And if we don’t believe her story?” Jesse said.

“Something has happened to her,” Su

“And maybe she needs to be trusted.”

“Skeptically,” Su

“We think we might want to be together, you and I,” Jesse said.

“And here we are worrying about one of the people who may keep us from being together,” Su

“It’s hard work,” Jesse said.

“But we need to do it,” Su

Jesse looked at her. He felt the pull of her. But it was not the same kind of pull Je

“Okay,” Jesse said. “Give her a gun.”

Su

“I already did,” she said.

31

Healy pushed through the crowd of reporters outside the Paradise police station.

A reporter held out his microphone and said, “Who are you, sir?”

“The Pied Piper,” Healy said. “When I leave, I want you all to follow me out of town.”

He went in through the front door and closed it behind him.

At the desk Molly said, “Hi, Captain.”

“Hello, darling,” Healy said.

“Officer Darling,” Molly said. “Chief Stone is in his office.”

Healy gri

“Thought I’d stop by,” Healy said, “on my way to work, see how fame was affecting you.”

“I think I’m opposed to freedom of the press.”

“King Nixon might have agreed,” Healy said.

“Okay,” Jesse said. “It has its place.”

“Just not here,” Healy said.

“Exactly.”

“You know anything I don’t know?” Healy said.

“Probably,” Jesse said. “But not about Walton Weeks.”

“How ’bout Carey Longley?”

“Less,” Jesse said.

“She’s thirty years old, from New Jersey. Her father’s an executive with Curtiss-Wright,” Healy said. “Her mother’s a housewife. Two older brothers, both work at Curtiss-Wright. She was married to and divorced from a guy who works for her father.”

“So how come nobody has contacted me?” Jesse said.

“They all disowned her,” Healy said. “They’re very religious. When she divorced their handpicked husband and went off to work for Walton Weeks, and live sinfully, they all agreed she was no more.”