“Four, five, a couple are six.”
“Best and the brightest?” Jesse said.
“Yes.”
“How do they feel about breaking trail?” he said.
“Scared,” she said.
“But willing?”
“Marshport,” Nina Pinero said, “is not a good place to be a kid. Most of them are scared anyway. This way maybe we can save a few of them.”
“Not all of them?”
“God, no,” Nina Pinero said. “Not even very many of them. But it’s better than saving none.”
“Sort of like being a cop,” Jesse said.
“You do what you can,” she said.
They sat quietly for a moment. The room was not air-conditioned, and the windows were open. Jesse could hear the thump of the basketball on the asphalt court.
“You’re making your initial run Monday?” Jesse said.
“Yes. Do you expect trouble?”
“Probably not. Do you think the kids would mind if I rode the bus with them?”
“You?”
“Me and one of my officers,” Jesse said. “Molly Crane. I’d wear my uniform and polish up my badge.”
“You do think there might be trouble.”
“Not really,” Jesse said. “But there could be a picket or two. I’m thinking about the kids mostly.”
“Reassured by your presence?”
“Yes. And Molly’s.”
“Mostly, they are afraid of policemen,” Nina Pinero said.
“Maybe Molly and I can help them get past that,” Jesse said.
Nina Pinero nodded thoughtfully.
“Yes,” she said. “I can see how you might.”
12.
In the Gray Gull, Crow was nursing Johnnie Walker Blue on the rocks at the bar when his cell phone rang. He checked the caller ID, and answered it as he walked outside to talk.
“The kid charged a big television set,” a voice said at the other end.
“On your account?” Crow said.
“Yeah. She got one of those satellite cards, you know? Her name’s on it, but the bill comes to me.”
“Her real name?”
“Yeah.”
