“Good idea,” Sunny said. “They’ll have less reason to pretend.”
“What are you after?” Sunny said.
“At the meeting?”
“Uh-huh,” Sunny said. “You think you can get the father to straighten up and fly right?”
“No,” Jesse said. “But first I’ll get a sense of how bad he is—all my information on him is secondhand.”
Sunny nodded.
“And if he’s as bad as he sounds,” Jesse said, “maybe I can scare him into behaving better.”
“At least you’ll have firsthand experience with what he is,” Sunny said. “Long as you don’t expect him to turn into a better guy.”
“No, but maybe I can get him to stop with the wife-swapping, and no longer hit his wife and children,” Jesse said.
“That would be a start,” Sunny said.
“And then maybe if he seemed less scary to her,” Jesse said, “she might find her way out of the marriage.”
“Clinging too long to a marriage,” Sunny said, “is maybe not a good idea, huh?”
Jesse smiled at her.
“We need another cocktail,” he said, and gestured to the bartender.
“Two’s my limit on these,” Sunny said.
“I know,” Jesse said. “More than two martinis and my speech starts to slur.”
“In my case I start to undress,” Sunny said.
Jesse turned to the bartender.
“Make that a double for Ms. Randall,” he said.
They both laughed.
“No double,” Sunny said to the bartender. To Jesse she said, “It’s not necessary.”
“Good to know,” Jesse said.
They looked at their menus for a moment, and ordered stuffed quahogs.
“I had a thought,” Sunny said.
“Me too,” Jesse said.
“Not that kind of thought,” Sunny said.
She paused and sipped her martini.
“My sister,” Sunny said, “had an affair with a terrible man, and when she wanted to break it off, he haunted her.”
Jesse nodded.
“I talked to him,” Sunny said. “My sister talked to him, nothing.”
She ate half of one of the olives in her martini.
“He wouldn’t leave her alone,” Sunny said. “So finally I asked Spike to speak with him.”
Jesse nodded.
“He never bothered my sister again.”
Jesse glanced at Spike, who was working the room, the jovial host.
“Spike got his attention,” Jesse said.
“He did.”
“You think he could reason with Missy’s father?”
“I know he’d be happy to try,” Sunny said.
“What an interesting idea,” Jesse said.
50
JESSE SAT with Molly in the squad room. On the conference table in front of them were three photographs of naked women. Jesse took a fourth out of an envelope and laid it down beside the other three.
“Came this morning,” Jesse said. “Mailed in town. No return address.”
“Betsy Ingersoll,” Molly said.
“In the flesh,” Jesse said. “So to speak.”
Molly stood and bent over the picture, studying it.
“She looks better than I would have expected,” Molly said. “No cellulite, everything firm.
I’m surprised.”
“I’m sure she’ll be pleased,” Jesse said.
