Sea Change

But whenever she’d get drunk or strung out or pregnant, or divorced, she’d come home until she straightened out. Then she’d fight with her parents and her two younger sisters and disappear again.”

“How old are the sisters?”

“Twenty,” Kelly Cruz said. “They’re twins.”

“Our ME says she was mid-thirties.”

“Thirty-four,” she said.

“Fourteen years,” Jesse said.

“I know. They didn’t comment,” Kelly Cruz said. “But they felt she was a bad influence on her sisters and last time she left they told her not to come back.”

“Talk to the sisters?”

“Nope. They’re spending the summer in Europe.”

“Plum and Partridge doing okay?”

“Very well,” Kelly Cruz said. “You should see where they live.”

“They got any theories on Florence’s death?” Jesse said.

“No,” Kelly Cruz said. “But I think they feel she deserved it.”

8 1

R O B E R T B . P A R K E R

“Home is where the heart is,” Jesse said.

“You got kids?” she said.

“No.”

“I got two,” she said. “No matter what they did or what they turned into, they could never deserve it.”

“What are the twins’ names?” Jesse said.

“You’ll love this,” Kelly Cruz said, “wait a minute, I got it in my notes. . . . Corliss and Claudia. Isn’t that sweet?

Corliss and Claudia Plum.”

“When are they coming back from Europe?”

“Don’t know. Probably in time for senior year at school.”

“What school?”

“Emory,” Kelly Cruz said.

“When you talk with Molly about Darnell’s address, could you leave her the Plums’ address, and phone?”

“Sure,” she said. “You coming down?”

“Maybe if the case runs into winter,” Jesse said.

“Lemme know,” Kelly Cruz said. “You’ll be on expenses and I can get us into Joe’s Stone Crab.”

“Sure,” Jesse said. “You tell the parents about the sex tape?”

“No.”

“You didn’t have the heart.”

“That’s right.”

“Show them head shots from the tape?” Jesse said. “The two guys?”

“Yes. They didn’t recognize either one.”

“Thanks, Kelly,” Jesse said. “I know you got other cases, but anything comes across your desk . . .”

8 2

S E A C H A N G E

“I’m a curious girl,” Kelly Cruz said. “And sometimes it’s slow around here. I get time I’ll look up Harrison Darnell, and I’ll sniff around when I can.”

They hung up. Jesse sat looking at the Lady Jane without the binoculars.

“I wouldn’t have told them about the video, either,” he said aloud to no one.

8 3

18

M olly stuck her head in the door to Jesse’s office.

“Lady to see you, Jess.”

Jesse nodded. Molly went away and came back in a moment with the mouthy blonde from the Lady Jane. She was wearing sunglasses, a backless yellow halter sundress with large blue flowers, and white slingback shoes with three-inch heels. The dress came to about the middle of her thighs.

“The local yokel,” she said.

“Chief Yokel,” Jesse said.