“If anyone has anything, remembers anything, sees any of these people, whatever, please call me.”
The blonde ostentatiously reached out, picked up one of the cards, looked at it for a moment and then tucked it into the top of her bikini bottom.
“Maybe I’ll call you, Jesse,” she said.
“Or e-mail me,” Jesse said. “Localyokel.com.”
Hanging from the corner of the dining area, there was an ornamental brass monkey sitting on an ornamental brass tra-peze bar, with a long brass ornamental tail. Jesse stopped to look at it.
“Not anatomically correct,” Jesse said. “Must have been very cold somewhere.”
He chucked the monkey under its chin, smiled at the lunch crowd and went down the ladder behind Simpson.
7 2
16
J esse was in his office watching the Florence Horvath sex video when Jenn knocked and
entered without waiting.
“Jesse, I . . .”
She stared at the screen.
“Jesse, you pervert,” she said.
“Evidence,” Jesse said. “Care to watch?”
Jenn stood for a minute looking at the threesome on the screen.
“Oh, ick!” she said.
Jesse clicked the remote. The image froze. He clicked again. The screen went dark. Jenn wrinkled her nose.
R O B E R T B . P A R K E R
“I’m looking for something,” Jesse said.
“I hope so,” Jenn said. “The image of you sitting alone in your office watching a gang bang is not a pretty one.”
“I think a gang bang requires more people,” Jesse said.
“This is more a menage a trois, I believe.”
“It’s a menage a yuck,” Jenn said. “What are you looking for?”
“Something I saw on a yacht yesterday afternoon,” Jesse said. “A brass monkey with a long brass tail, and I have some sort of subliminal memory that I saw something like it, or part of it, or something brass, on this tape.”
“A brass monkey tail,” Jenn said.
“Yeah,” Jesse said. “And the couch on the boat where they were eating lunch was the same color as the bed she’s having her liaison on.”
“Blue-and-yellow stripe,” Jenn said.
“Wow, you journalists are observant.”
“I think the correct phrase is still
“Okay, ween,” Jesse said. “You’re still observant, want to help me watch?”
“Okay,” Jenn said, “but you better not enjoy it.”
Jesse clicked the remote again. The tape proceeded. Jesse and Jenn watched silently. As Florence shifted slightly in her delight, the camera moved right to stay on her, and something gleamed fractionally in the right corner of the screen.
“There,” Jenn said.
Jesse froze the frame, but it was past the flash. He rewound, 7 4
S E A C H A N G E
and went forward and froze the frame again, and this time he got it. Curling into the picture was a brass monkey tail.
“Every person on that boat said they didn’t recognize anyone in the pictures,” Jesse said.
“It doesn’t actually prove that it’s the same boat.”
“No, but it’s a pretty good coincidence,” Jesse said. “And coincidence just isn’t useful in cop work.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Get some stills made,” Jesse said.
“Then what?” Jenn said. “Confront them with it?”
“First I think I’ll check more on the boat. Some of those yachts are rented. These people may not have been aboard when Florence was. I need to be sure it has been around these parts long enough. She was in the water awhile.”
