“Molly still here? Good. Send her in.”
In a moment Molly opened the door and came in.
“This is the cop that roughed up your little boy, Mr.
Marino.”
Marino looked at his son and shook his head disgustedly.
“Jesus Christ,” he said.
“Mr. Marino,” Abby Taylor said.
“It might go better if you let
me talk.”
“Broads,” Marino said and shook his head again.
“Thank you, Officer Crane,” Jesse said.
“You’re welcome, Chief Stone,”
Molly said and turned and left
the room.
“Jesse,” Abby said, “are you
really going to keep this boy
overnight?”
“I am,” Jesse said.
He turned his chair a little and looked at Bo.
“I want you to understand something,”
Jesse said. “You deny
knowing any of the people in those pictures. We will track them down and find out if that is true. If you are lying to us, you’d be
wise to say so now, with your attorney present.”
“I don’t know them,” Bo said.
“Okay, we’ll bring him over to district court first thing,”
Jesse said, “in case you want to be there.”
“Can’t you do something about
this?” Marino said to
Abby.
“Probably not,” Abby said, looking at her watch. “Especially
this late.”
“This is bullshit,” Marino said.
“I’m telling you, make it
happen.”
“Theoretically that’s possible,”
Abby said. “But in fact, at
this hour, I’m not going to find a judge and argue my case and have
him issue a writ, so, I’m sorry, but Bo will have to spend the
night.”
“Dad?”
“You little shit,” Marino said to Jesse.
“I’m not little,” Jesse said.
“I’m just not as fat as
you.”
Marino gave him a long stare.
“You didn’t have that badge,”
Marino said.
“Your kid said the same thing,” Jesse said. “Now unless you want
to spend the night here too, why don’t you and your attorney go
someplace and plan your brutality case.”
“She won’t be my attorney long,”
Marino said. “I’m going to find
somebody with a pair of balls.”
“By which you mean a man,” Abby said.
“Okay, since you asked, yeah. A man. I never seen a broad you
could count on when it was on the line.”
Jesse smiled.
“You’re right,” he said to
Marino, “she won’t be your attorney
long.”
27
Marino had left with Abby, and Bo was in the four-cell lockup in
the back of the station. It was after six and getting dark when Molly came into Jesse’s office with a pizza and a six-pack of Coors. She put the pizza on the desk. She separated out two cans of beer, set them on the desk next to the pizza, and put the rest in the little refrigerator where Jesse kept spring water.
“I know you’re married,” Jesse
said. “But maybe we could have an
affair.”
“I’ll put you on the list,”
Molly said. “You think we’ve got the little prick?”
“Yes,” Jesse said.
He picked up a slice and took a bite.
When he had swallowed, he said, “There’s no real grounds for an
obscenity charge. I don’t think the possession with intent will
stand up, but we should be able to make the case for assaulting a cop. We know he’s lying about the pictures. And now, we can investigate the rape without anyone thinking that Candace squealed on them.”
“Won’t that require Candace to
testify?”
“I don’t know. If we flip one of the other kids, there might be
a plea bargain and she’d never have to appear.”
“Why’d you keep the kid
overnight?” Molly said.
Jesse ate a bite of pizza and drank some beer.
“Because I don’t like him,”
Jesse said.
“How was the father?”
“The tree doesn’t grow too far from the apple,” Jesse
said.
The pizza was made with green peppers and mushrooms.
Jesse’s
favorite. He wondered if it was a coincidence, or if Molly knew. He decided that Molly knew. Molly knew a lot.
“You want me to go get Kevin Feeney?”
Molly said.
Jesse sipped some beer.
“No,” he said. “Not yet. We need
to make it look like we didn’t
know who he was and it took us a couple days to find out.”
“I can’t show those pictures
around,” Molly said.
“Get the Feeney part blown up,” Jesse said. “Eliminate
Candace.”
“Okay.”
“Show them around for a couple days, principal, guidance, a few
teachers and students. When we’re sure the whole school knows we’re
looking for Feeney because we found the pictures, then we’ll pick
him up. Get Suit to help you. Tell him, now that he’s got a legitimate reason to be there, that he can,” Jesse smiled,
“abandon
his disguise.”
“And we don’t mention Candace,”
Molly said.
“No.”
“Ever?”
“I told her I’d keep her out of
it,” Jesse said.
“And you keep your word,” Molly said.
“When I can,” Jesse said.
“When Bo gets out,” Molly said,
“won’t he go right to his
buddies and warn them?”
“Sure,” Jesse said. “But
they’re high school kids living at
home. What are they going to do? Flee the jurisdiction?”
Molly nodded.
“Might even work for us,” Molly said.
“The other two creeps know
we’re after them, it’ll make them jumpy.”
“The jumpier they get,” Jesse said,
“the easier to
flip.”
“And you think you can flip them?”
“My guess?” Jesse said. “All
three.”
28
In a spitting snow, Jesse sat in his car with the motor running
and the heater on, in the parking lot outside Channel 3. He looked at the digital clock on his dashboard. Jenn would have finished her six o’clock weather. He had the wipers on low interval and between
swipes the sporadic snow collected thinly on his windshield. At 6:40 Jenn came out wearing a fake fur jacket and a cowboy hat. She was with a man Jesse didn’t recognize. Jesse sat for a moment listening to his own breathing, feeling his interior self dwindle and intensify. Jenn looked up at the man and laughed and bumped her head against his shoulder. Jesse turned off the motor and got out of the car. He was aware of the gun on his hip, under his jacket.
Jenn saw him.
“Jesse?” she said.
“You didn’t return my calls,”
Jesse said. “I thought I’d catch
you here.”
Jenn looked at him silently for what seemed to Jesse a long time, then she said, “Jesse, this is Bob Mikkleson, our station
manager.”
Bob was tall and healthy-looking, with silver hair combed back carefully, and lovingly sprayed. He started to put his hand out, realized Jesse wasn’t going to shake hands, and put his hand back
at his side.
“I’m sorry,” Jenn said,
“but I’m up to here. You’re on the list, I would have called you tomorrow.”
Jesse nodded and moved slightly closer to Bob. He didn’t know
why, and he hadn’t planned to. There seemed to be a force outside
himself. Jenn was single; she had every right to be with Bob. Bob wasn’t doing anything wrong. Jesse moved a little more toward him,
as if compelled by gravity. Bob was frowning.
“What was it you called about, Jesse?”
Jenn said.
“Just to talk,” Jesse said.
“Well,” Jenn said. “Let me call
you tomorrow. Bob and I have a
dinner reservation.”
“Sure,” Jesse said.
He was next to Bob now. What if I shot him?
The