“Your protector?”
“Yes,” Marcy said. “Stockholm syndrome, gratitude, call it what you will. I was lying on my back with my hands and feet tied and my mouth taped. There were five bad men in the room involved in a crime that would send them all to jail forever if they got caught.”
Jesse nodded. “So they had nothing much to lose,” he said.
“Nothing,” Marcy said. “I was helpless, and they were free to do anything they wanted to with me. I couldn’t resist. I couldn’t even speak. About all I could do was wiggle. Can you even imagine what that is like?”
“No,” Jesse said.
“That’s right,” Marcy said. “You can’t. I wish I couldn’t. I wish I could forget it.”
“But they didn’t touch you,” Jesse said.
“No, because they knew that they’d have to deal with Crow, and they were afraid of him. Even Harry Smith.”
“Macklin,” Jesse said.
“I know. He was Harry Smith to me.”
“If he’d needed to,” Jesse said, “Crow would have swatted you like a fly.”
“No,” Marcy said. “I can’t bear to think about it if I don’t think of him protecting me.”
Jesse started to speak and stopped. He put his hand out and patted her hand.
“Okay,” Jesse said. “You came out of it okay, and that was because of Crow.”
“And you.”
“Me later, maybe,” Jesse said.
They ate their salads quietly. The waitress cleared their plates and brought the entrees. Marcy sat looking across the table at Jesse. She was tapping her fingertips together near her chin.
“He came to see me,” Marcy said. “Two days ago.”
Jesse nodded.
“He threaten you?”
“No,” Marcy said. “He was pleasant. Asked if I was okay. Said he had some business in town, and thought he’d check on me.”
“You believe that?”
“I believe what I need to believe,” Marcy said. “If I stop thinking of him the way I do, I can’t stand to live with the memory. I can’t be Marcy. Can you understand that?”
“Yes,” Jesse said. “I can.”
5.
Molly sat with Jesse in his office.
“Nobody on Stiles Island will say anything about Mr. Cromartie,” she said.
“Neither will Marcy Campbell,” Jesse said.
“Even though you questioned her all night?” Molly said.
