“Who’s Lillian Whatsis?”
“Forget Lillian,” Jesse said. “Go look.”
“It’s a big lake,” Simpson said.
“Take your time. When in doubt, assume it’s a clue.”
“I’ll call Eddie,” Simpson said.
He stood, hitched his gunbelt a little, and walked from the room. A man on a mission. When he was alone, Jesse sat for a moment listening to the dog howl. Then he got up and found a roll of crime scene tape and cut off a length and went down to the cell block. The dog stopped howling the minute he saw Jesse. His tail wagged hesitantly. Jesse opened the door and went in.
“We can improve your accommodations,” Jesse said to the dog. “You can stay with the chief of police himself.”
He looped the length of plastic tape around the dog’s neck and led the dog back down the corridor to his office.
Chapter Five
The dog was sleeping behind Jesse’s desk.
When Jenn came into Jesse’s office at twenty minutes past five, the dog raised his head and growled at her. Jenn stopped short.
“I know you’ve gone out with some dogs since we broke up,” Jenn said, “but right in the office?”
“His name’s Deputy,” Jesse said.
“His?”
“We’re just friends,” Jesse said.
“Well, can you leave your friend long enough to go to dinner with me?”
“I feel like I ought to bring him,” Jesse said.
“For God’s sake,” Jenn said. “Don’t you have a dog officer in this town?”
“Yeah. Bob Valenti. Part-time guy.”
“Well, call him up, have him take the dog to the kennel or the pound or whatever you call it.”
“He howls when I leave him,” Jesse said.
Jenn squatted in front of the dog. Given how tight Jenn wore her pants, Jesse thought it was no small thing. But she did it easily, though it made her pants pull tighter over the curve of her butt.
“Does he bite?”
“I don’t know,” Jesse said. “He’s only been here a couple of hours.”
Jenn put her hand out. Women, Jesse thought, squat much more gracefully than men.
“Clench your fist,” Jesse said. “It makes it harder for him to bite your hand.”
“Jesus,” Jenn said and jerked her hand back.
The dog kept his head up, looking at her. She made a fist and put it toward the dog’s nose very carefully. The dog sniffed at her fist carefully, and thumped the floor with his tail a couple of times.
“I think he likes me,” Jenn said.
“Probably,” Jesse said.
“If we take him with us, won’t he howl when we leave him in the car?”
“We could eat in the car,” Jesse said.
Jenn stared at him.
Finally she said, “Jesse, haven’t you killed several people?”
Jesse nodded.
“And yet you can’t leave a stray dog to have dinner with your ex-wife who, I guess, still loves you, and whom I believe you still love, for fear that the dog will be unhappy?”
Jesse nodded.
“What would we eat in the car?” Jenn said.
“Pizza?”
“Split three ways?” Jenn said.
“I guess.”
“And maybe a six-pack?”
“Sure,” Jesse said.
“Glad I dressed up,” Jenn said.
