“She mentioned how he always worked late, I recall,” Jesse said.
“And she implied he didn’t have much respect for her,” Molly said. “Maybe she did it to get his attention.”
“As Dix would say, we don’t know enough about what drives either one of them,” Jesse said.
“Are you suggesting he might be in on this?” Molly said.
“He might be,” Jesse said. “This could be some weird sex game they are playing with each other . . . and us.”
“Christ,” Molly said. “I feel like I’m serving and protecting in Sodom and Gomorrah.”
“It’s getting a little gamy around here,” Jesse said. “Maybe it’s affecting us. Maybe she did it to divert attention from the panty-patrol incident.”
“This seems a little extreme for that,” Molly said.
“Unless there’s some sort of exhibitionism that somehow ties to her suspicion of the girls.”
“God, we’re in way, way over our heads,” Molly said. “What are you going to do?”
“I’ll ask her to come in, show her the letter, see what she says.”
“Her husband will come with her,” Molly said.
Jesse shrugged.
“I’ll show him the letter, too,” Jesse said. “See what he says.”
Molly nodded. She was looking at Jesse, smiling slightly, and nodding to herself. Jesse waited.
“I’ve gotten to know you pretty well since you got here,” she said after a while.
“Know and love,” Jesse said. “I am the chief of police.”
“Yeah,” Molly said. “And I am pretty sure I know another reason you released all this sort of embarrassing publicity of Betsy Ingersoll.”
“Which is?”
“It’s her punishment for embarrassing those young girls.”
Jesse smiled.
“You can’t arrest her or anything,” Molly said. “But you sort of balanced it out this way.”
“You do seem to know me,” Jesse said.
“Seem?” Molly said.
“Okay, you know me,” Jesse said. “Does this mean we can have an affair?”
Molly smiled at him warmly.
“No,” she said.
55
THE CONFERENCE room on the thirty-fourth floor at Cone, Oakes provided a long look out over the harbor and a good way out onto the Atlantic Ocean. Across the harbor you could see Logan Airport, and looking almost straight down, the archway that led to Rowe’s Wharf. Jesse turned from the view when Rita Fiore came in.
“The view is to impress clients,” Rita said.
“Impresses the hell out of me,” Jesse said.
“And you’re not even a client.”
“Friend of the firm,” Jesse said.
Rita went to a sideboard and poured them each some coffee, then sat on the conference table with her legs crossed. Jesse nodded at her legs and made a thumbs-up gesture.
“ Thumbs-up was not quite my plan,” Rita said.
Jesse grinned.
“We talked about the managing partner of the firm a while ago,” Jesse said. “Now I need to know more. Tell me what you didn’t tell me before.”
“You’re exploiting our past, if fleeting, relationship?” Rita said. “To get me to gossip about my boss?”
“Yes,” Jesse said.
“What about ethics?”
“You’re a lawyer,” Jesse said.
“Oh, right,” Rita said. “I withdraw the question. What do you need to know, off the record?”
“Does he fool around?” Jesse said.
“He’s a cock hound,” Rita said.
“And you know this how?” Jesse said.
Rita grinned.
“Firsthand,” she said. “So to speak.”
