Sea Change

What if tape number five had been Florence Horvath. Then he’d have a choke hold on the son of a bitch. Jesse shook his head. He was guessing. Darnell may not have known Florence Horvath. Florence Horvath might have fallen off the Stiles Island Causeway and drowned. Darnell may have lied just because he didn’t want to be bothered. Guys like him would be too busy to be involved in a homicide. Had nude film to watch. Jesse sat for a moment doodling the yellow legal pad on his desktop. Why would Darnell kill Florence?

Why would he go to such voyeuristic lengths to get nude movies of women he saw naked regularly? Sick bastard.

The door opened a crack and Molly looked in.

“Got some time?”

“Sure,” Jesse said.

1 2 0

26

M olly brought in Sam Holton and his wife and daughter.

“You know Sam,” Molly said.

“From softball,” Jesse said. “Lotta stick, not much foot.”

Sam said, “Hi, Jesse.”

“This is his wife, Jackie, and his daughter Cathleen. Cathleen says she’s been raped.”

“I’m sorry,” Jesse said.

Cathleen nodded. She was a tall, robust, dark-haired girl with big breasts and long legs. She looked about twenty-five. Her mother was thin and small and pale-skinned, with R O B E R T B . P A R K E R

narrow lips and small eyes which looked bigger behind thick glasses. Nobody said anything.

“Says it happened onboard a yacht named the Lady Jane, ”

Molly said.

Thank you, Lord.

“Tell me about it,” Jesse said.

“I already told her,” Cathleen said.

“Tell me,” Jesse said gently.

“Go ahead, Cathleen,” her father said.

“Sam, it’s embarrassing,” Jackie said. “She already told the woman.”

Jesse looked at Molly.

“Rape kit?” he said.

“Inconclusive. Signs of penetration, but no semen, no evidence of force.”

“You saying I lied,” Cathleen said.

“No, honey, inconclusive doesn’t mean you lied.”

“He wore a rubber,” Cathleen said. “Naturally there’s no sperm.”

“Who?” Jesse said.

“She doesn’t know for sure,” Molly said. “She thinks it was the boat owner.”

Jesse nodded.

“Could you pick him out of a lineup?” Jesse said.

“Absolutely,” Cathleen said.

“Good,” Jesse said. “How’d you happen to end up on the yacht?”

1 2 2

S E A C H A N G E

Cathleen looked down and didn’t answer.

“She met one of the crew,” Molly said, “at the Dory. He offered to show her the boat.”

“How old are you, Cathleen?” Jesse said.

“Seventeen,” she said. “Ill be eighteen in September.”

“What happened when you got to the boat?” Jesse said.

Cathleen looked irritated.

“I can’t talk about stuff like that in front of them,” she said.

Sam looked at his hands, folded in his lap. He was a thick man, a landscaper in town. As he got older he’d put on weight but he still looked like someone who’d worked all his life. Jackie glared silently at everyone. Her thin self was tight with anger.

“How about me?” Jesse said.

She looked disgusted.

“No way,” she said.

“Okay, then it’ll be Molly. Take her to the squad room,”

Jesse said. “It should be empty. If anyone’s in there, give them the boot.”

Molly nodded.

Cathleen said, “I don’t like talking about it.”

“Come on, hon,” Molly said. “I’m fun to talk with.”

“Yeah, right,” Cathleen said. But she stood and followed Molly out.

“She didn’t do nothing wrong,” Jackie said. Her thin hands were clenched together in her lap.

1 2 3

R O B E R T B . P A R K E R

“I’m sure she didn’t,” Jesse said.

“Probably shouldn’t have gone out to the yacht,” Sam said.

“She’s a teenager,” Jackie said. “They do foolish things.”

Sam nodded. His head was down, and he appeared to be studying his thick hands.

“You got to do something about this, Jesse.”

Jesse nodded.

“I didn’t want to come here. I wanted to get some guys and go out and beat the shit out of everybody on the fucking boat.”

“Coming here was better,” Jesse said.

“I have to, I’ll go out there myself and break the fucking boat up.”

“You won’t have to,” Jesse said.

“She’s a good girl,” Jackie said. “A little wild, maybe, like most kids. But at heart she’s a good girl.”

“Anyone can see that,” Jesse said.

“She’s got a boyfriend. She’s going to UMass in the fall.”

“This will pass,” Jesse said, just as if he meant it.

“And she’s underage, isn’t she?” Jackie said.

“No, Jackie, she’s not. Not if she’s seventeen,” Jesse said.

“Statutory age of consent in this state is sixteen.”

“Well, they took advantage of a young girl.”

Jesse nodded. Everyone was quiet. Jesse was good at quiet.

Silence was his friend.

“Does everyone have to know?” Sam said.

“There might be some publicity, depends mostly on the 1 2 4

S E A C H A N G E

suspect. If he’s not newsworthy, and we stay out of court with a plea bargain, nobody needs to know. I got no need to talk about it.”

“You called him a suspect,” Jackie said. “You think she’s lying?”

Jesse shook his head. “Just cop talk, Jackie. He’s a suspect until we convict him.”

“Well, she says she was raped, she was raped.”

Molly brought Cathleen back.

“I have a full statement,” Molly said.

Jesse nodded.

“Anything else you want to say, Cathleen?”

“Nope.”