“He came right up to me and put the gun right against my neck”—she pointed at the little hollow at the base of her throat—“right here . . . And he told me to take off my clothes. . . . I thought of Jay, and all the children at school. . . . And I said I wouldn’t, and he hit me across the face with his hand, and told me that if I didn’t he’d kill me.”
Jesse nodded.
“So I did,” Betsy Ingersoll said.
Jesse glanced at Jay Ingersoll. Ingersoll’s face was tight and impassive.
“And, and . . . he touched me.”
“Intimately?” Jesse said.
“Yes. He, ah, fondled me.”
Jesse nodded.
“Then he stopped and backed away and took out a camera and made me stand there while he took my picture.”
She put her face in her hands and her shoulders shook slightly, but she didn’t actually cry.
Then she raised her face.
“Then he tied me up on the couch,” she said. “And he left. When he was gone I was able to wriggle myself loose and call the police.”
“You got dressed first,” Jesse said.
“Yes, of course.”
“And Officer Maguire came,” Jesse said.
“Yes.”
“Could you recognize anything about this man?”
“Oh, it was the Night Hawk, all right,” she said.
“But you couldn’t recognize him otherwise,” Jesse said.
“She already told you he was masked,” Jay Ingersoll said.
“Of course,” Jesse said. “Could you tell me about the gun, Mrs. Ingersoll?”
“I don’t know anything about guns,” she said.
“Was it sort of blue-black, or was it sort of silver?” Jesse said.
“I don’t know. It happened so quickly. I was terrified. It was just a gun.”
“Of course,” Jesse said.
“I might remark, Stone,” Jay Ingersoll said, “that if you had worked as hard on the Night Hawk business as you did on an innocent mistake my wife may have made while trying to do her job, maybe you’d have this pervert behind bars where he belongs.”
Jesse shrugged.
“You never know,” he said.
“I’m particularly convinced,” Ingersoll said, “that you certainly would never know.”
“Small-town cop, Mr. Ingersoll,” Jesse said. “Small-town cop.”
“That’s apparent,” Ingersoll said.
“You didn’t see his car or anything, did you, Mrs. Ingersoll?”
“How could I see his car?” she said. “I was tied up on the couch.”
Jesse nodded.
“It’s just that Officer Maguire made no mention of seeing any rope or anything.”
“Of course not,” she said. “When I got loose, I threw it away. I’m very neat, Chief Stone.
And I had no sentimental attachment to it.”
Jesse nodded.
“I’m sure you didn’t,” he said.
“About this, ah, groping,” Jesse said. “Could you talk about that a little more?”
Betsy Ingersoll looked at her husband.
“That’s enough, Stone,” Jay Ingersoll said. “I’m not going to let her be further traumatized while you go all over this for your salacious pleasure.”
From her chair in the corner, Molly said, “Hey.”
Jesse made a stop gesture at her.
“Are you speaking as her husband or her attorney,” Jesse said to Ingersoll.
“Attorney,” Ingersoll said.
