“I know.”
“But for all of that, there’s some quality in her,” Sunny said, “that makes you want to protect her. Some sort of little-girl thing, like she really shouldn’t be facing life alone.”
“I know that, too,” Jesse said.
He admired his whiskey.
“Yes. I can see why she’s hard to let go of,” Sunny said. Jesse took another drink.
“Can I trust her?” Sunny said.
Jesse set the glass down on the counter.
“No,” he said.
“Nobody’s perfect,” Sunny said.
“Some are less perfect than others,” Jesse said. “Who’s with her at night?’
“Nobody. She lives in a secure building. Twenty-fourhour concierge. I take her home when she’s through for the night. And pick her up when she starts the morning.”
“Doesn’t leave a lot of time to find the rapist,” Jesse said.
“If he’s stalking her,” Sunny said, “I’m hoping that maybe he’ll find us.”
1 0 0
H I G H P R O F I L E
“Is there a Plan B?”
“Of course there’s a Plan B,” Sunny said. “You remember my friend Spike.”
“Yes.”
“I’m going to introduce them,” Sunny said, “and see if she’ll let Spike babysit her sometimes, while I try to find the rapist.”
“Spike would be effective,” Jesse said. “She won’t like it so much that he’s gay.”
“Because she can’t vamp him?”
“Something like that,” Jesse said.
“You know her,” Sunny said.
“I know her better than anyone,” Jesse said. He put some more ice into his glass as he talked, and added whiskey. “But I have no judgment about her. I know the facts of her, but I can’t seem to make anything coherent out of what I know.”
“Yes,” Sunny said.
Jesse started on his second drink.
“How is Walton Weeks going?” Sunny said.
“Gathering information,” Jesse said.
“Anything promising?”
“Too early.”
“And the public attention doesn’t help,” Sunny said.
