“Ahh,” Jesse said. “So that’s how you got to be a senior partner.”
“Along with brilliant trial work,” Rita said.
“You are brilliant in both arenas,” Jesse said.
“You should know,” Rita said.
“You think Betsy is aware?”
“I have no idea,” Rita said.
“Is he careful?” Jesse said.
“No,” Rita said.
“Is there a particular squeeze?” Jesse said.
“He tends to graze among the new lawyers. At the moment he’s got a blonde kid from Tax and Trust that’s two years out of Stanford.”
“Do we know how he feels about his wife?”
“He thinks she’s excruciatingly conventional,” Rita said.
“That doesn’t sound like love to me,” Jesse said.
“Nor to me,” Rita said.
“Do you know why he has stayed with her?”
“She doesn’t occupy much of his time,” Rita said. “He is here probably twelve hours a day, and spends a lot of his evenings and weekends with the plonk du jour.”
“Plonk?” Jesse said.
“You know, as in he’s plonking her?”
“Plonk,” Jesse said.
“So he’s not home much. There are no kids. Probably finds it convenient to have somebody cleaning the house and sending his shirts to the laundry.”
“Think he plonks her?” Jesse said.
“His wife?” Rita said. “I haven’t thought about it. Why are you interested?”
“I think she staged the home invasion,” Jesse said.
“Staged?” Rita said.
“Yes.”
“And took her own picture?” Rita said.
“Yes.”
“And cherchez l’homme ?” Rita said.
“Well, it’s a theory,” Jesse said.
“She’s trying to get his attention?” Rita said.
“Maybe.”
“Or maybe he pays no sexual attention to her, poor baby,” Rita said. “And she wants to show him that someone might care to see her naked.”
“Even if it’s a wacko?”
Rita smiled.
“There are people who think a wacko is better than no one,” Rita said.
“I’ve heard that,” Jesse said.
56
“DID YOU know that Hannah Wechsler isn’t teaching any night courses this semester?” Molly said.
“I didn’t,” Jesse said.
“It was bothering me that we were sitting on Seth Ralston every Wednesday night and he wasn’t moving.”
“I figured after he spotted me and Suit on his tail last time,” Jesse said, “he was laying low again.”
“I called the university,” Molly said. “Hannah Wechsler is not teaching a night class this semester.”
“So he can’t get out,” Jesse said.
“At least on Wednesday nights,” Molly said.
“Do you know what she’s doing?” Jesse said. “Does she teach days?”
“No,” Molly said. “It took me about eight thousand phone calls, but apparently she’s taking a year off to write her Ph.D. dissertation.”
“So he can’t count on her being out of the house on a regular schedule.”
“My guess,” Molly said.
“And neither can we,” Jesse said.
