Sea Change

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27

W hen Molly came back into Jesse’s office, Jesse was looking out his window at the

fire trucks being washed on the firehouse driveway beneath his window. He liked the way the stream of water from the hose sluiced away the suds worked up by the sponge. He liked the way it slid smoothly off and as the water dried up, the red finish of the truck gleamed in the morning sun.

“Rape, my ass,” Molly said.

Jesse nodded. Outside the firemen began to polish the chrome. They liked that truck. Like grooming a horse, Jesse thought. If it was alive, they’d give it a carrot.

S E A C H A N G E

“Let’s hear her statement,” Jesse said.

Molly got the audiotape of her interview with Cathleen and they listened to it in Jesse’s office.

“They made me do a striptease,” Cathleen said.

“What were the circumstances?” Molly asked.

“They got a video camera, and they said I had to do a striptease or they wouldn’t take me home.”

“Who is they?” Molly said.

“The guy that raped me and other guys and some women, too.

They said I had to strip.”

“Perfect,” Jesse said.

“Keep listening,” Molly said.

“And then the guy who owned the boat took me into his bedroom and closed the door and threw me on the bed and raped me. He was like an animal. Just threw me down and jumped on me and stuck it in.”

“But, he did wear a condom,” Molly said.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Did he put that on just before he jumped on you like an animal?”

“Yeah, just before.”

“Was it in a packet?” Molly said. “Did he have to open the packet?”

“No, he just . . . he had it in his pocket and just pulled it out and put it on.”

They listened to the rest of it. She might have had a drink, but if she did, it was only one and she didn’t finish it. What kind of drink? Vodka. Straight? Yes. Who brought her home?

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

Same guy brought her out. The one she met in the bar. Could she pick him out of a lineup? Yeah, ’course.

When the tape was finished, Jesse said, “She got drunk at the Dory, went on a lark to the yacht. They fed her more booze.

She got drunker and did a striptease. Then the owner brought her into his bedroom and had sex with her. They brought her home. Maybe they didn’t treat her respectfully. Maybe she just was in trouble at home for being late and being drunk. Maybe she was afraid the tape they made of her striptease would get out. Whatever, she came up with this story.”

Molly nodded.

“Her mother knows she wasn’t raped,” Molly said.

“Yes,” Jesse said. “She does.”

“I guess Sam believes her. I hope he doesn’t do something about this that will get him in trouble.”

“He’ll let us do our thing,” Jesse said. “He’s like a lot of fathers in this situation. He’s saying what he thinks he’s supposed to say.”

“What are you going to do?”

Jesse smiled.

“We don’t know she’s making this up,” Jesse said.

“We’re pretty sure,” Molly said.

“It’s not our job to decide,” Jesse said. “It’s our job to in -

vestigate. The DA and the courts decide.”

“If we got her in here alone and talked to her for a while,”

Molly said, “she’d tell us she’s lying.”

“We don’t want to do that,” Jesse said.

“We don’t?”