“Curious,” Jesse said.
“Professionally?” Hannah said.
“Sort of,” Jesse said.
“What do you mean ‘sort of’?”
“Well,” Jesse said. “We’ve found a possible connection between the man who does the home invasions and the Free Swingers.”
“So why isn’t that completely professional?”
“Personal,” Jesse said.
“And what is this connection?” Hannah said.
“Can’t talk about it right now,” Jesse said.
“And why choose to question me?” Hannah said.
“Well, in fact, we checked out everybody’s background and found out you were studying for a Ph.D. We figured you’d be smart.”
Hannah laughed.
“That shows how little you know of Ph.D.’s,” she said. “But on that basis, why not talk to my husband as well? He already has a Ph.D.”
“We will,” Jesse said. “Just arbitrarily chose you first. We’re a small department, you know.”
“Or you thought because I was a woman, you could bully me,” Hannah said.
“How hard have I tried that?” Jesse said.
“I’ll bet you don’t have any leads and you heard about the swingers, and decided to scapegoat us.”
“So how’s it work,” Jesse said.
“No,” Hannah said. “It’s a free and loving human experience, and I’m not going to let you make it into something else because you don’t know what else to do.”
Jesse nodded.
“Anyone else we should talk with?” Jesse said.
“Absolutely not,” Hannah said.
“Okay,” he said. “Tell your husband, if you would, that we’ll be checking with him, too.”
Hannah stood and looked scornfully at Jesse for a moment, then turned and walked away.
Jesse sat quietly and finished his coffee, and then he left.
41
“YOU GET anywhere with Hannah Wechsler,” Molly said.
“I got a handle on who she is,” Jesse said.
“She tell you about the Free Swingers?” Molly said.
“She told me it was a free and loving human experience,” Jesse said.
“Everybody knows that,” Molly said. “She tell you anything else?”
“She told me she’d find it exciting to have men looking at pictures of her naked.”
“Okay,” Molly said. “She’s got a good body.”
“I guess.”
“You don’t know?” Molly said. “You, an experienced investigator.”
“She was wearing some kind of dress that looked like a garment bag,” Jesse said.
“But her hair was good, and she wore makeup,” Molly said.
“How’d you know?” Jesse said.
“I, too, am an experienced investigator,” Molly said.
“And there is no woman in the Paradise Free Swingers club that doesn’t think about her appearance,” Jesse said.
“That too,” Molly said.
They were alone in the squad room. The conference table had several cardboard coffee cups lying on it, the wrappers from some fast-food cheeseburgers, and a couple of french fries that had escaped by nestling under the wrappers. As they talked Jesse cleaned up the table and put everything in the corner trash can. When he finished, Molly got a wet paper towel from the washroom and wiped down the table. Then they each got a fresh cup of coffee and sat down again.
“I hate a mess,” Jesse said.
Molly nodded.
“You find out anything that will help with the Night Hawk?” she said.
“No, but I didn’t expect to,” Jesse said. “She’ll tell her husband that I talked to her. If he’s our guy, it may pressure him a bit.”
Molly grinned.
