“Ohhh yeah,” Jesse said, and smiled.
The twins giggled again.
9 1
R O B E R T B . P A R K E R
“Well, we didn’t do anything bad to Flo,” Claudia said.
“Of course not,” Jesse said. “Where were you staying on Long Island?”
“Well,” Corliss looked at her sister.
“We were at a guy’s house in Sag Harbor.”
“Name?”
“Ah, the guy that owned the house was, ah, Carlo.”
Jesse nodded and waited. Corliss looked at her sister again.
“What was Carlo’s last name?” she said. “You remember?”
Claudia frowned cutely.
“Funny name,” she said, “like it was part of his first name.”
Corliss frowned cutely. Jesse waited.
“Like Coca-Cola,” Corliss said.
“Carlo Coca,” Claudia said.
“C-O-C-A?” Jesse said.
“I guess,” Claudia said.
Both twins looked pleased. Jesse wrote down the name.
“Got an address?” Jesse said.
“Oh,” Claudia said, “I don’t know.”
She looked at Corliss.
“On the beach,” Corliss said.
“Phone?”
They both shrugged. Jesse nodded.
“Well, we’ll find him,” Jesse said.
“He may not remember us,” Corliss said.
Jesse smiled at them.
“Hard not to,” he said.
9 2
S E A C H A N G E
“You can’t tell our parents,” Claudia said.
“They’d have a shit fit,” Corliss said.
“I have no reason to tell your parents,” Jesse said.
“They think we’re still their little baby virgins,” Claudia said.
“How did you hear of Florence’s death?” Jesse said.
“One of our friends called,” Corliss said.
“The friend knew where you were?”
“Not really, she called on our cell phone.”
“What’s her name?”
“Kimmy,” Corliss said.
“Kimmy Young,” Claudia said. “Why?”
“I’m a cop,” Jesse said. “I like to know stuff.”
“We were thinking maybe we should hire some kind of private detective,” Corliss said.
Jesse nodded.
“You know?” Corliss said.
Jesse nodded again.
“I mean this is like a small town,” Claudia said. “You know?”
“I do,” Jesse said.
“So you won’t be like, insulted?” Corliss said.
“No.”
