uncomfortable.”
Dix nodded.
“Her husband always comes with her,” Jesse said. “You know who her husband is?”
“No,” Dix said.
“Managing partner at Cone, Oakes, and Baldwin,” Jesse said.
“Ah,” Dix said.
“Ah is right,” Jesse said. “DA won’t prosecute and, in person, has told me to leave her alone. I’ve been admonished by the town selectmen not to bother her, also the chairman of the school committee.”
“Has he supported the candidacy of these people?” Dix said.
Jesse smiled without humor.
“Oddly enough,” Jesse said, “he has.”
Dix nodded.
“But you can’t let it go,” Dix said.
“What will these kids think, if someone can violate their privacy like that and get away with it.”
“Probably what they already think,” Dix said.
“Even more reason,” Jesse said. “And . . . and, goddamn it, I want to know why she did it.”
“You’ve asked her,” Dix said.
“Every time,” Jesse said. “Sometimes she says she doesn’t want them embarrassed if someone saw them.”
“Which is why she made them publicly show what they were wearing?” Dix said.
“Uh-huh. I don’t have kids,” Jesse said. “So maybe I don’t know. But my guess would be that the most embarrassed would be some kid wearing white cotton undies that her mother bought in a six-pack at Kmart.”
Dix nodded.
“Last time we talked she said she was trying to keep them from becoming sluts when they got older,” Jesse said.
Dix smiled.
“Would that it were that easy,” he said. “She offer any other explanations?”
“Not really. As I said, her husband is always with her, and he doesn’t let her talk much.”
“Like any good attorney,” Dix said.
“Yeah,” Jesse said, “I know. He always accuses me of harassment and threatens to bring charges.”
“So why have you told me this,” Dix said.
“I don’t know,” Jesse said. “You got any thoughts?”
“There may be a civil action available to the parents,” Dix said.
“Yeah.”
“But you want more,” Dix said.
“I want to know what she was really doing,” Jesse said. “What do you think?”
Dix leaned back a little in his chair and put one foot against the edge of his desk. His shoes gleamed with polish.
“I agree with you that her avowed reasons are bullshit,” Dix said.
“So what was she doing?”
“Acting out something we know nothing about,” Dix said. “We don’t know what her interior life is. We don’t know what underwear means to her in that life. One reason she did what she did is that she could.”
“You mean power,” Jesse said.
“Yes. And we don’t know where the connection is made between power and sluthood and underwear. Or why it’s made.”
“How do we find out?”
“We could have her come talk to me for a couple of years.”
Jesse grinned.
“Her and her husband,” Jesse said. “Who’d be telling her not to speak.”
“You think he oppresses her in more than a lawyerly way?” Dix said.
“I don’t know. He’s an oppressive kind of guy.”
“If he is, then you could throw that into the mix,” Dix said.
“And then what have I got?” Jesse said.
“A mystery,” Dix said, “wrapped in an enigma.”
“So far,” Jesse said.
17
