“She knows, you think?” Healy said.
“Cruz says she does.”
“She know he killed their daughter, assuming he did?”
Healy said.
“I don’t know. It might be a nice piece of leverage to shake her loose.”
“Course, your original theory might actually be true,”
Healy said. “Darnell, or Ralston, or both.”
“Or they’ve just been lying every step of the way because they’re afraid of getting caught in the sex ring stuff.”
“Most of which is not illegal.”
“True,” Jesse said. “But it is not universally popular in the best yacht clubs.”
“Everybody has things to cover up in this thing,” Healy said.
“Most things,” Jesse said.
Healy grinned at him.
2 7 0
S E A C H A N G E
“Ah, Laddy Buck,” Healy said. “The job is making you cynical.”
“Anyway, I’ve got them on the stat rape charge,” Jesse said.
“Nice to have a fallback position,” Healy said.
Jesse smiled for a moment.
“At least I can arrest somebody,” he said.
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58
W e’re going to have to talk to the Plum twins again,” Jesse said to Molly. “Can
you stay sober long enough to sit in?”
Molly blushed.
“Shut up,” she said.
“Let’s have a little respect here,” Jesse said.
“Shut up, Chief Stone,” Molly said.
Jesse nodded.
“Better,” he said. “Get Steve to cover the desk.”
“We doing good cop, bad cop again?”
“Play it by ear,” Jesse said. “But it doesn’t do any harm if they like you and fear me.”
S E A C H A N G E
“They bring a lawyer?” Molly said.
“Nope.”
“Wow,” Molly said. “They are dumb.”
“I’m counting on it,” Jesse said.
The twins sat beside each other in front of Jesse’s desk.
Molly sat as she had before, behind them, near the door.
“We want to stay together,” Corliss said.
Jesse looked at them without expression.
“Maybe I can get you adjoining cells at Framingham,”
Jesse said.
“Framingham?” Claudia said.
“Women’s Reformatory,” Molly said behind them.
They both turned toward her.
“Jail?” Corliss said.
“We might go to jail?” Claudia said.
“It happens,” Molly said. “If you don’t let us help you. It could happen.”
Jesse glared at Molly.
“What are we, the Salvation Army?” he said.
“Part of our job is to help people,” Molly said.
