Suitcase was only twenty-five. He was a big twenty-five but not a very old one. Molly Crane knocked on the door as she opened it.

'Morris Comden's here, Jesse,' she said.

'Wants to see you alone.'

'Probably looking for sex tips,' Suitcase gasped.

'Take Suit out, and send Morris in,' Jesse said.

'You give him the vitamins?' Molly said to Suitcase.

Suitcase nodded, and Molly giggled and left the door open as she and Suitcase went out. In a moment Morris Comden came in, glancing back over his shoulder at the two cops who'd just left.

'Must be a hell of a joke, Jess,' Comden said.

'Doesn't take a hell of a joke to get those two hysterical,' Jesse said.

'What's up, Morris?'

Comden looked around the office and glanced back at the half open door.

'Mind if I close the door, Jess?'

'No.'

Comden got up and closed the door and came back and sat down. He hated how Jesse always just answered your question and nothing more.

'We got us a problem, Jess.'

Jesse waited.

'You know I've always been in your corner,' Comden said.

Jesse waited.

'You remember how I stood with you during the trouble last year,' Comden said.

'No, Morris, I don't.'

Comden didn't know what to say to that, so he went on as if Jesse hadn't spoken.

'But this is a tough one,' Comden said. His voice was a little hoarse, as if he needed to clear his throat.

'Kay Hopkins.'

Jesse leaned back in his chair with his elbows resting on the arms of the chair and his fingers laced across his flat stomach.

'You know she's always backed me politically,' Comden said.

Jesse nodded.

'And her husband is financially well connected.'

'Uh- huh.'

Bastard doesn't help you, Morris thought. He never helps you.

He just sits there.

'Charlie makes a difference in a town like this,' Comden said.

'And I've been very privileged to call Charlie my friend.'

'And supporter,' Jesse said.

'Charlie has supported me, and Kay has worked very hard for me.'

The office was quiet. Occasionally there was the sound of traffic going by on Summer Street. And the sound of a door shutting somewhere down the hall.

'And, ah, now, damn it, Jess they're asking for my support.'

'And?'

'And I think they have a right to it.'

Again the room was silent. Jesse was perfectly still in his chair.

Comden was unable to say anything else.

Finally Jesse said, 'Well if that's all you got to say, Morris, nice talking to you.'

'Jess... I... they, ah, want you to resign.'

'I'm sure they do,' Jesse said.

'They're adamant.'

'I'm sure they are.'

'Jesus, Jess... Will you resign?'

'No.'

'They are prepared to go all the way with it.'

'I'm sure they are.'

'I... I can't promise where I'll come down on this issue, Jess.'

'I know where you'll come down, Morris,' Jesse said gently.

'Without Kay's support and Charlie's money, you can't get elected, and being a selectman in Paradise is the only thing you ever achieved. Otherwise you're just a badly dressed inconsequential dork.'

'Jess, you got no business talking to me that way.'

'And you'll be trying to get me fired, so Kay Hopkins will be grateful and Charlie Hopkins will help you keep your job and you won't have to go on welfare.'

'Jess, damn it, don't you see I'm trying to talk some sense here?

You resign. I'll see that you get an excellent recommendation, anywhere you apply.'

'There's a couple things, Morris. It will be hard to fire me. Talk with Nick Petrocelli about that. And two, I'm like you. I'm only good at one thing, and this is it. If I'm not doing this, what the hell am I? A guy with a drinking problem that can't get his marriage straightened out.'

'I thought you were divorced,' Comden said.

'So I'm not going to resign,' Jesse said.

'Just like you, I'm going to hang on as hard as I can to the only thing that seems to work in my life.'

'Well, you don't leave me much choice, Jess.'

'I don't have any to leave you, Morris.'

'I wish it wasn't this way, Jess.'

'Sure.'

Comden had risen and was standing uneasily. He had every intention of being tough as nails. But he felt as if Jesse's stare was pushing him backward.

'I hope we're not enemies, Jess.'

'The hell we're not,' Jesse said.

'We're both just trying to do our job,' Comden said.

'Think about it anyway you want, Morris. We're enemies, and I don't want you in my office anymore.'

Comden opened his mouth, couldn't think of anything to say, stood there open-mouthed for an indecisive moment, and then turned and went out. Jesse sat staring after him.

'And if you keep calling me Jess,' he said out loud in the empty office, 'I'll cut off whatever small balls you have.'

Comden didn't hear him, but Jesse liked saying it anyway. It made him smile to himself in the quiet office.

THIRTY-EIGHT.

He had them together in Faye's living room for the last meeting.

'You got the bridge rigged?' Macklin said to Fran.

'Yep, JD and I been under there all week.'

'How long will it take you to blow?'

'From the time you say go? A minute.'

'Yacht club landing?'

'Yep. Pretended I was working on a boat.'

'How about the phone lines?' Macklin said.

'Same thing,' JD said.

'I hit the cut-off switch, and they're dead.'

'Which kills the alarms.'

'Yes. But it won't kill cell phones,' JD said.

'Or car phones. You can't cut the island off completely. Somebody's going to make a call.'

'It's about odds, JD,' Macklin said.

'It'll probably be a while before anyone gets to a cell phone. We try to buy as much time as we can before they find out. When they do find out, if we're not done then, Fran dumps the bridge. Then it'll be another while until they can get boats organized. And it's a lot easier to keep the cops pinned down if they're coming in a boat. Sooner or later they'll get there.

But we only need about twenty-four hours. And if we have to, we buy time with hostages. Everything we're doing is temporary. We delay them for a day. We buy ourselves twenty-four hours, and we can clean the island out and be gone. I like our odds.'

At the periphery of the group, which was where he always was, Faye thought, Crow smiled slightly, as if he knew a joke no one else knew.

'I don't like our odds,' JD said.

'Well, of course,' Macklin said.

'Nobody likes odds, for cris sake Everybody likes a sure thing. But there isn't any sure thing.

All there is are good chances and bad ones. This is a good chance.

A good chance here to be rich for the rest of our lives. Is that worth taking a run at?'

'I got four kids,' Fran said.

'And you got a chance to make them rich,' Macklin said.

'We got a great plan, we got the best guys for the job, and it's time to do it.'

No one said anything. Crow was still smiling slightly.

'Can't have anybody pulling out now,' Macklin said.

'Nobody's pulling out,' Fran said.

'

'Course not,' Macklin said.

'Just the pre combat jitters before we hit the beach.'

Faye realized suddenly that Crow was looking at her. She met his look, and she realized that he knew what she knew. She knew that Jimmy was never the planner he thought he was, that now he was riding the crest of a manic wave that would sweep him right into the operation. She had tried over the months to rein him in and keep him grounded, but she knew finally she couldn't. He loved the action too much. He loved to be the leader. He loved to think of himself as a kind of master strategist, coolly going into battle with exactly the right troops, with every detail meticulously covered, with the enemy outwitted. But she knew better. Jimmy managed to get the feeling without actually doing it. Like masturbation. And she realized for the first time that Crow knew the same thing she did. That Jimmy was maybe more George Custer than U. S. Grant. Mostly he got by on craziness and courage. The sandwich platter was empty, and Faye picked it up and took it to the kitchen. Crow drifted out behind her and got some ice from the freezer and added it to his glass. He leaned on the counter and sipped his drink.

'Can you pull this off?' Faye said.

Crow shrugged.

'Jimmy thinks so,' he said.

'Jimmy's enthusiastic,' Faye said.

Crow smiled.

'Maybe it's not as sure a thing,' Faye said.

'Maybe.'

'You scared that it'll go bad?'

'I'm not scared,' Crow said.

'But you think it might go bad.'

'Might.'

'So why are you in it?'

'Why not?' Crow said.

Faye looked at him for a while and knew that there was too big a gulf for her to bridge. All she could do was

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