“He had a reputation when I married him,” she said.
Her voice was steady and soft.
“But he was so handsome, and I was, I guess, naively flattered that a man who had been with so many women would pick me. I assumed it was love.”
“That makes sense,” Jesse said.
“I thought he’d change,” she said.
“But he didn’t,” Jesse said.
“No matter what I did,” she said.
The tears came harder. “No matter what I did. No matter how hard I tried. God, I was an idiot.”
“Maybe not,” Jesse said.
“I tried everything. I read books on sex, I bought sexy lingerie. I tried so hard.”
She looked at Jesse suddenly, as if she’d come out of a trance.
“He laughed at the lingerie,” she said.
“Hard,” Jesse said.
“I even went to a therapist for a while, to find out what was wrong with me.”
Jesse nodded.
“Your husband must have been unpleasant about the incident at school,” he said.
“I did nothing wrong,” she said.
“But his reputation . . .” Jesse said.
She nodded.
“He was very angry,” she said.
“And with the Night Hawk being the talk of the town,” Jesse said, “you thought maybe it would distract people from the school incident, and also engage you husband’s sympathy.”
“I was hoping he might say something like ‘Thank God you weren’t harmed.’ ”
“But he didn’t.”
She shook her head slowly.
“No,” she said. “He didn’t.”
“You knew there had to be a picture,” Jesse said. “Everybody knows about the pictures.”
“Yes,” she said. “I did it with a timer.”
“Nice job,” Jesse said. “But you didn’t know how he operated, because we kept that to ourselves. The fact that he never touched anyone, that his letters to me were of a particular kind.”
“No,” Betsy said. “I just knew about the pictures.”
“The good thing about this plan,” Jesse said, “was if it didn’t work, and you got caught, at least he’d suffer, too.”
“I didn’t think of that,” Betsy said.
Jesse nodded.
“Can’t think of everything,” he said. “Do you suppose you could come in to my office to-morrow and make a statement.”
“He’ll have a fit,” she said.
“So?”
“Of course I will,” she said.
“Thank you.”
“Am I in serious trouble?” she said.
“Not too,” Jesse said.
“Will I have to go to jail?”
“I doubt it,” Jesse said.
“Will you bring charges?”
“I don’t know,” Jesse said. “I’ll have to think about it.”
“Thank you for your kindness,” Betsy said.
“You’re welcome.”
“May I go?” she said.
“Yes,” Jesse said. “I’ll walk out with you.”
They stood. Jesse took her arm and they walked past the couch to the door.
