“That’s gonna really squeeze
us,” Perkins said. “Suit and Molly
are already off the roster.”
Jesse looked at Perkins silently for a moment, then he said,
“That would not be your worry.”
“No,” Perkins said. “No,
‘course not.”
22
“You think we cut it a little
close?” he
said.
“That’s what makes it work for
us,” she said. “I lose the
feeling if we don’t stay close to the edge.”
“I know,” he said.
They were silent for a moment, holding hands, on the couch, with
a pitcher of martinis.
“As long as we keep control,” he said.
“It was difficult to stop
touching when those kids showed up.”
“But we did it,” she said.
“Yes,” he said. “I thought about
killing them
too.”
She shook her head emphatically.
“No,” she said. “We’re
not doing random slaughter. That would be like a gang bang, you know? Where’s the love in a gang bang.”
“I know,” he said.
“I’m just telling you how I nearly lost control.”
“Of course, I always nearly lose control. But that’s part of it,
to give ourselves to it, to let it possess us entirely, and then, at the very verge of the abyss, assert our will.”
He sipped his martini.
“It’s sort of like this,” he
said. “Martinis. You like them so
much you want to drink a dozen, but if you do
…”
“The precise joy of a perfect martini is gone. You might as well
slug gin from the bottle,” she said.
“So we shouldn’t hurry,” he said.
“No, but we can start focusing in on the next one.”
He leaned over and kissed her gently on the mouth.
“Let’s go to the videotape,” he
said.
23
The three killings in an affluent suburban town led the local newscasts. The Boston papers gave it front-page coverage. Reporters and camera people hung around outside the police station. Jesse was interviewed twice, to little avail. And his picture was on the front page of the Globe one morning. When he came into the
station on a bright Tuesday morning, Arthur Angstrom was at the desk.
“Manny, Moe, and Larry are waiting for you,” Arthur said. “In
the conference room.”
“Perfect,” Jesse said.
When Jesse went into the conference room the three town selectmen were sitting at one end of the small conference table.
Jesse pushed a pizza box aside and sat in the fourth chair and waited.
