Sea Change

“You’d be right,” Jesse said.

“And they’ve made a lot of messes in various places they’ve been. So one of them will scare and fuck up and you’ll catch him and it’ll either be him or he’ll give you the other one . . .”

“Or one of the messes they left behind will give them up.”

Healy nodded. They were quiet again. It was a late summer day. Still light, but the light slanting now from the west, and a darker tone. Healy sipped his whiskey. It would be nice, Jesse thought, to be able to sit at the edge of evening and sip a whiskey and talk. Maybe someday. Maybe not.

“You’re living with your ex-wife,” Healy said.

“We’re giving it another try.”

“Working?”

“So far,” Jesse said.

“Good,” Healy said, and sipped.

“You’re married,” Jesse said.

“Long time,” Healy said. “Some of it has been some pretty bad thrashing around, but we hung in there and it turned out good.”

Jesse nodded.

“Marriage is hard for cops,” Healy said. “Know a lot of them that can’t do it.”

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S E A C H A N G E

“Cop wasn’t the issue, I don’t think,” Jesse said.

“Some of the divorces are a mess. They hate each other, they fight over the kids and the money and anything else they can find.”

“I know marriages like that,” Jesse said.

“Yeah. But some of the breakups are bad. They loved each other, even liked each other, but they couldn’t do it.”

“Hard,” Jesse said.

“Hardest thing in the world, I think. Guys like us,” Healy said, “are not chit-chat guys. Closed in a little, maybe.”

Healy sipped whiskey, and sat a minute as it settled in.

“And the only people we know how to talk with is the women we marry,” he said.

“I know,” Jesse said.

“Then the marriage breaks up, and you need somebody to talk with more than you ever have and she’s the only one you can’t talk with. . . . Makes for a lot of guys alone with a bottle of vodka.”

“That’s why they have shrinks,” Jesse said.

“Lot of cops don’t do shrinks.”

“I do,” Jesse said.

“Which is maybe,” Healy said, “why she’s back in the house.”

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39

J enn’s dressing room was in the back part of a trailer, the remainder of which served as a production office.

“Just like a movie star,” Jesse said.

He sat on the little built-in banquette while Jenn took off her camera makeup.

“Big production budget,” Jenn said. “This isn’t just Channel Three. This is Allied Broadcasting, which owns five other stations in big markets all across the country. New York, Chicago, L.A. This is like national.”

Jenn washed her face carefully in the small bathroom, and S E A C H A N G E

came out and dried carefully, and began to reapply her own makeup.

“Why not just leave the other makeup on?” Jesse said.

Jenn glanced at him in the mirror.

“Don’t be silly,” she said.

“Just asking,” Jesse said.

Jenn leaned very close to the mirror as she worked on her face.

“When I get through,” she said, “I have something really interesting to show you. You know what B roll is?”

“Sure, second unit. No stars or anything, just the director and a camera guy getting background stuff.”

“Second unit,” Jenn said. “I forget you worked all those years in L.A.”