Then she said, 'I wish I had a twin.'
33
HARRY LYLE WAS a tall, portly man with receding hair and a good tan. He wore a blue pin-striped double-breasted suit and a white shirt with a white silk tie. He watched closely as Sunny sat down and crossed her legs.
Good sign, Sunny thought.
'How can I help you, Ms. Painter,' he said.
'Mrs. Painter,' Sunny said. 'Mrs. Elwood Painter.'
Lyle nodded.
'Very well,' he said. 'Mrs. Painter, how may I help?'
'I… It's my son.'
He nodded kindly.
'What about your son?' he said.
'He's left home.'
'Oh?'
'He's joined a cult,' Sunny said. 'I want him out of it.'
'Kids, huh?' Lyle said. 'How old is he?'
'Eighteen.'
'Okay.'
'He's not old enough to be on his own with a bunch of Bible-thumpers,' Sunny said.
'I'm sure you're right,' Lyle said.
'Can you help me?' Sunny said. 'Can we get a court order or something?'
'Might take some doing, at his age,' Lyle said. 'How did you happen to come to me?'
'A friend,' Sunny said. 'Of a friend.'
'They have names?'
Sunny shook her head.
'They told me that you had experience with adolescent rebellion, and they made me promise not to tell anyone they'd told me.' Sunny smiled and leaned forward and lowered her voice a little. 'I think they don't want anyone to know that they had problems with their children.'
'People often don't,' Lyle said. 'Everyone has problems. No need to be ashamed.'
'I know,' Sunny said. 'But I promised.'
'Well, arrangements for something like this,' Lyle said, 'can be expensive.'
'Money is not a problem,' Sunny said. 'Elwood has a great deal of money.'
'If there's enough,' Lyle said, 'it's possible to arrange something.'
'Can you take him away from these people?' Sunny said.
'It might be arranged,' Lyle said.
'If you did, how would we keep him from going back?' Sunny said. 'We can't just lock him in his room.'
'There's a residential treatment center in Westland,' Lyle said. 'He might find the proper treatment.'
'Is this all legal?' Sunny said.
'Absolutely,' Lyle said. 'Right papers, right judge, we can get him committed to the Rackley Young Adult Center.'
'In Westland?'
'Yes,' Lyle said. 'It's a secure facility.'
'My God,' Sunny said. 'I don't know. I need to talk with Elwood.'
'Of course,' Lyle said. 'Is there somewhere I can reach you?'
Sunny stood and smiled.
'I'll call you,' she said.
She put out her hand. He took it in his right and covered it with his left and shook it warmly.
'I can help you,' he said.
'I think you can,' Sunny said. 'I just have to talk with Elwood.'
Lyle held her hand for another moment, then released it as if he didn't want to, and Sunny left the office and took the elevator down to the parking garage.
34
JESSE GATHERED THEM in the squad room: Suit, Molly, Peter Perkins.
'We got a couple murders in town,' Jesse said. 'Let's talk about them.'
'Moynihan and Reggie Galen knew each other in jail,' Peter said.
Jesse nodded.
'They pretty much ran their wing of Garrison,' Peter said.
'They were tough guys, and they started out watching each other's back.'
'What was their connection?' Jesse said.
'They were white,' Perkins said.
'And the trouble was racial,' Jesse said.
'Yes,' Perkins said.
'Often is,' Jesse said.
'People at Garrison told me that they were both pretty scary. And they both had a rep, and they both had outside connections. Word got around. After a while, they were in charge.'
'Leadership qualities,' Molly said.
Jesse smiled.
'Know who the outside connections were?' Jesse said.
'Nope.'
'They got out at the same time?' Jesse said.
' 'Bout a month apart,' Perkins said.
Jesse nodded.
'Anything else?' he said.
'All I could find out at Garrison,' Perkins said.
Jesse walked to the end of the squad room and looked out the window at the Public Works parking lot.
'Okay,' he said, looking out the window. 'One of the outside contacts who belonged initially to Knocko was a big construction guy on the South Shore named Neal Bangston. His twin daughters married Knocko and Reggie.'
'Jesus,' Perkins said. 'So, what's it mean?'
Jesse turned.
'No idea,' Jesse said. 'Suit?'
'The two daughters, Roberta and Rebecca, are identical twins,' Suit said. 'And they promote it. Dress alike, same hair-style, same hair color, same makeup.' He looked at Molly. 'I think. Go everyplace together. Drive the same kind of car. You can't tell 'em apart.'
'Usually,' Perkins said, 'twins are, like, the other way. You know, dress different and stuff.'
'Well, these twins don't,' Suit said. 'And when they were in high school we found out that they used to have sex with each other's boyfriends and stuff like that.'
'Known in high school as the Bang Bang Twins,' Jesse said.
'Known and loved,' Perkins said.
'Oh, don't be so piggy,' Molly said.
Perkins grinned.
'So we figured it would be a good idea to see if they were still doing that kind of thing,' Suit said.
'Because?' Molly said.
'Because we didn't know,' Suit said.
'Where have I heard that before,' Molly said.
Suit ignored her.
'They both went to Paulus College,' he said. 'Roomed together, of course. So I went over there, talked with people, got hold of some alumni from their class… and, yeah, they were still Bang Banging in college.'
