“We see a pattern anywhere?” Suit said.
“The women,” Molly said. “All of them in their forties. All of them married, with children in school.”
“All of them in neighborhoods which are relatively deserted during the day,” Suit said. “At least the school day.”
“So, which is the appeal?” Jesse said. “Married? Children? Forty?”
“Alone during the day?” Maguire said.
“Relatively upscale neighborhoods,” Suit said.
“All of the above?” Molly said.
“Age is maybe a function of other things,” Molly said. “Most women with kids in school would be in their thirties or forties.”
“Like you, Moll,” Suit said.
“Like hell,” Molly said. “I’m the same age as my oldest kid.”
“How’s that work?” Suit said.
“It just does,” Molly said.
Jesse looked at Maguire.
“Any reports of our Peeping Tom since the first home invasion?” Jesse said.
“No,” Maguire said.
“We have to consider that it may be the same guy,” Jesse said.
“We don’t know who he is,” Suit said. “So what we consider don’t make a hell of a lot of difference.”
Jesse ignored him.
“And we can also entertain the possibility that it’s not,” Jesse said.
“The peeper was my case, Jesse,” Maguire said. “Are the home invasions mine, too?”
“The home-invasions case belongs to all of us,” Jesse said. “If it is our peeper, he’s escalating, and we have no way to know how far it’ll go.”
No one said anything.
“Molly and I will keep talking to the victims,” Jesse said. “I want each of you to listen to everybody you know, questions, gossip, idle chitchat, thoughtful discussion, jokes, whatever, and always listening for anything that might send you somewhere, tell you something, lead you anywhere.”
No one said anything.
“A good police force,” Jesse said, “allows people to feel safe in their homes.”
Everyone was quiet.
“We need to do better,” Jesse said
No one spoke. Everyone looked glum.
Jesse grinned.
“Win one for the Stoner?” he said.
They all looked relieved.
“Okay,” Jesse said. “Time to go back to work. Molly, you fill in Arthur and Buddy. Suit, stick around for a minute. Everybody else . . .” He jerked his thumb toward the door and they got up and left. Suit stayed sitting at the table with his yellow pad.
“We get all the rest of the doughnuts,” he said.
He reached into the box and took one.
“You still talking to the swingers?” Jesse said.
“Sure,” Suit said. “Can’t say I’m learning much.”
“See if they have anyone in their group that especially likes to watch.”
Suit nodded as he chewed down half a doughnut.
When it was swallowed he said, “You think it might be one of the swingers?”
“No,” Jesse said. “To tell you the truth, I don’t. But I got nowhere else to go, and at least the swingers group is atypical in their sexuality.”
“It’ll take a while,” Suit said. “I have to do a lot of schmoozing to get a little information, you know?”
“It’s called police work,” Jesse said.
“Awful long shot,” Suit said.
“At the moment, I don’t have a shorter one,” Jesse said.
Suit nodded. He finished his doughnut.
“You think this guy will do something worse?”
“If he’s our peeper, he went up the ladder pretty quick,” Jesse said.
