“Well, your record there is not unblemished,” Jesse said.
“Enough,” Ingersoll said. “This interview is finished.”
“She has told me you’re not her lawyer,” Jesse said.
“Goddamn it,” Ingersoll said. “I am also her husband.”
“As such, you have no standing to stop the interview,” Jesse said.
“What blemish,” Betsy said.
“The panty-check escapade was a little odd,” Jesse said.
“Betsy,” Ingersoll said.
Betsy was leaning forward toward Jesse, her shoulders hunched, her hands clasped tightly.
“Odd?” she said. “Odd that a dedicated educator would care enough about her charges that she would try to prevent these girls from growing up to be sluts?”
“Betsy,” Ingersoll said. “Please, please, please, please shut up. If not for yourself, then for me.”
“For you?” Betsy said.
“My reputation,” Ingersoll said.
“Your reputation?” Betsy said. “Your reputation. Your reputation is sluts. I sit here and look at that couch and wonder how many little law-school whores you’ve been with there.”
Ingersoll stared at her for a moment.
Then he said, “Fuck this. Hang yourself.” And walked out of the office.
She screamed at him as he left.
“Whoremaster!”
Jesse sat quietly.
Betsy said more quietly, “Whoremaster.”
She seemed to be speaking to herself.
“He why you faked the home invasion?” Jesse said.
“He didn’t even care,” she said thoughtfully. “You know what he said when he learned what happened?”
“Tell me,” Jesse said.
“He said, ‘If those pictures get out, I’ll be laughed out of court.’ ”
There was a dreamy quality to the way she was speaking.
“Did he know it was a fake?”
“No,” she said. “He thought it was real.”
“And he didn’t care,” Jesse said.
“No, he didn’t even want to hear about it. He seemed angry that I’d called the police.”
“That must have been hurtful,” Jesse said.
Betsy nodded absently.
“ ‘Hang yourself,’ ” she murmured.
She seemed to be talking to herself much more than to Jesse.
“Okay,” Betsy said. “I’ll hang us both. See how he likes that.”
Jesse nodded. Betsy took a deep breath.
“He has cheated on me since I’ve known him,” she said.
As she spoke, some tears appeared on her cheeks.
“He had a reputation when I married him,” she said.
Her voice was steady and soft.
“But he was so handsome, and I was, I guess, naively flattered that a man who had been with so many women would pick me. I assumed it was love.”
“That makes sense,” Jesse said.
“I thought he’d change,” she said.
“But he didn’t,” Jesse said.
“No matter what I did,” she said.
The tears came harder. “No matter what I did. No matter how hard I tried. God, I was an idiot.”
“Maybe not,” Jesse said.
“I tried everything. I read books on sex, I bought sexy lingerie. I tried so hard.”
She looked at Jesse suddenly, as if she’d come out of a trance.
“He laughed at the lingerie,” she said.
“Hard,” Jesse said.
“I even went to a therapist for a while, to find out what was wrong with me.”
Jesse nodded.
“Your husband must have been unpleasant about the incident at school,” he said.
“I did nothing wrong,” she said.
“But his reputation . . .” Jesse said.
She nodded.
“He was very angry,” she said.
“And with the Night Hawk being the talk of the town,” Jesse said, “you thought maybe it would distract people from the school incident, and also engage you husband’s sympathy.”
“I was hoping he might say something like ‘Thank God you weren’t harmed.’ ”
“But he didn’t.”
She shook her head slowly.
“No,” she said. “He didn’t.”
“You knew there had to be a picture,” Jesse said. “Everybody knows about the pictures.”
“Yes,” she said. “I did it with a timer.”
“Nice job,” Jesse said. “But you didn’t know how he operated, because we kept that to ourselves. The fact that he never touched anyone, that his letters to me were of a particular kind.”
“No,” Betsy said. “I just knew about the pictures.”
“The good thing about this plan,” Jesse said, “was if it didn’t work, and you got caught, at least he’d suffer, too.”
“I didn’t think of that,” Betsy said.
Jesse nodded.
“Can’t think of everything,” he said. “Do you suppose you could come in to my office to-morrow and make a statement.”
“He’ll have a fit,” she said.
“So?”
“Of course I will,” she said.
“Thank you.”
“Am I in serious trouble?” she said.
“Not too,” Jesse said.
“Will I have to go to jail?”
“I doubt it,” Jesse said.
“Will you bring charges?”
“I don’t know,” Jesse said. “I’ll have to think about it.”
“Thank you for your kindness,” Betsy said.
“You’re welcome.”
“May I go?” she said.
“Yes,” Jesse said. “I’ll walk out with you.”
They stood. Jesse took her arm and they walked past the couch to the door.
“You’ve seen the picture of me,” she said.
“Yes.”
“I’m not so unattractive,” she said.
“You’re quite attractive.”
“Did you like seeing me undressed?”
“Yes,” Jesse said.
“He doesn’t even bother to look,” she said.
“Whatever he does, or doesn’t do,” Jesse said, “it’s not because of you.”
“What?”
“The reason he is a womanizer is not in you,” Jesse said. “They’re in him.”
“You seem so sure,” Betsy said. “How do you know that?”
Jesse smiled at her.
“I am the chief of police,” he said, and opened the door.
61
JESSE PHONED Sunny Randall in the morning.
“You’re still seeing that shrink, right?” he said.
“Dr. Silverman,” Sunny said. “Yes, I am.”
“So you still think she’s good?”
“Very.”
“Okay, I might have someone I’d like to refer to her. She taking new patients?”
“I’ll ask her,” Sunny said.
“What’s her first name?” Jesse said.
“Susan,” Sunny said. “Susan Silverman.”
Jesse wrote it down.
“Got a phone number and address?”
Sunny gave him both. He wrote that down.
“How soon?” Jesse said.
“Will I ask?” Sunny said. “Today. I see her at ten. I can give you an answer about eleven.”
“Good,” Jesse said. “Woman’s name is Betsy Ingersoll.”
“The panty peeker?”
“Yep,” Jesse said.
“The recent Night Hawk victim?”
“Sort of,” Jesse said.
“Sort of ?”
“She faked it,” Jesse said.
“Faked it?” Sunny said. “Why would you want to send her to a shrink?”
“Everybody’s going,” Jesse said.
“Speaking of that, why not send her to Dix?”
“Too close,” Jesse said. “Dix wouldn’t do therapy with me and take on someone I’m involved with as a cop.”
“Of course not,” Sunny said. “Dumb question. Why’d she fake it?”
“Maybe to get her husband’s attention,” Jesse said. “Maybe other reasons.”
Sunny was quiet for a moment.
Then she said, “You’re going to squeeze her.”
“You think?” Jesse said.
“You’re going to give her a choice between being arrested for filing a false police report and going to see a shrink.”
“That’s correct,” Jesse said.
“You’re a good guy,” Sunny said, “but I’m not sure you’re that good. She strike a nerve?”