Sea Change

“I do,” Jesse said.

“Have I broken the law?” Jurgen said.

“No,” Jesse said. “I’d just like you to tell me a little about the tape, if you would.”

“I . . . I do not know what to tell you,” Jurgen said. “I have done that never before.”

“Had sex for the camera?”

“No, that either,” Jurgen said. “But I have never shared a woman. It is very embarrassing.”

“Who’s the other guy?”

“My brother.”

“His name is Jurgen, too?”

1 9 1

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

“Yes. Konrad.”

“How’d the tape come about?”

“Florence wanted to make it.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. She was living on the boat. We were crew.

Everyone else was ashore.”

“Darnell there?”

“God, no. I could not do that in front of another man.”

“Except your brother.”

“That is different,” Jurgen said.

“Where were you moored?”

“Fort Lauderdale.”

“Who took the pictures,” Jesse said.

“Her sisters.”

“Florence Horvath’s sisters,” Jesse said.

“Yes.”

“Corliss and Claudia Plum.”

“I think so, I don’t really remember the names very well but that sounds as if it is correct.”

“And this was Florence’s idea.”

“The whole thing,” Jurgen said.

“She approached my brother and myself,” Jurgen said.

“We were embarrassed. But we are brothers. I could not do such a thing with a stranger.”

“How about the Plum sisters?”

“Oh, yes. We didn’t know them. But they were not, ah, actively involved, if you see what I mean. And besides, they were girls. I wouldn’t want another man watching.”

1 9 2

S E A C H A N G E

They were quiet. Jurgen sat obediently, waiting for another question.

“Anyone enjoy this pig pile?” Jesse said.

“Well, it was . . . different,” Jurgen said. “If a man crews on this yacht circuit, he gets a lot of sex. It’s pretty routine after a while. This was . . .”

He rolled his right hand as he tried to think of the right word.

“It was unusual,” he said.

“How about Florence?”

“I guess she liked it,” Jurgen said. “She was quite interested in the filming, though.”

“And you did this because she asked you.”

“Yes. I liked Florence. Kon, my brother, and I both liked her.”

“She pay you?”

“No sir, absolutely not, sir. She did not pay us anything.”

“No offense,” Jesse said. “You have any idea how she died?”

“No sir.”

“Where’s your brother?”

“In the Caribbean, sir. On Mr. Damon’s boat.”

“Where’s Mr. Damon from?”

“Boat’s out of Miami, sir. I don’t know if Mr. Damon lives there.”

“First name?”

“Mr. Damon? I don’t know, sir.”

“And where do you live when you’re not on a boat?”

“Miami, sir. Kon and I have a condo.”

1 9 3

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

Jesse pushed a pad of paper toward Jurgen.

“Write down the address,” Jesse said.

Jurgen did. Jesse took the pad back and looked at it.

“Gimme your driver’s license,” Jesse said.

Jurgen produced it and Jesse compared addresses. They were the same. Jesse gave the license back and grinned at Jurgen.

“Suspicious by nature,” Jesse said.

“That is fine, sir. I know you have a job to do.”

Jesse nodded.

“I’d like it if you didn’t talk about this conversation.”

“They will ask me, sir.”

“Tell them it was routine. I simply asked you if you’d observed anything unusual on board.”

“My God, sir . . .”

Jesse put up his hand.

“Just say you told me no.”

Jurgen smiled.

“If you say so, sir,” he said.

1 9 4

41

J esse had a drink with Rita Fiore at the Seaport Hotel on the South Boston harbor-front.

“Thanks for coming out here through the Big fucking Dig,” Rita said. “But I’ve been in federal court most of the day and needed a double martini immediately after.”

“Glad to oblige,” Jesse said.

“You drinking Coke?”

“Yes.”

“On the wagon?”

“Eleven months,” Jesse said.

“Eek,” Rita said.

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

She drank some of her martini.

“That’s like the last time I saw you,” she said.

“I stopped shortly after.”

“Scared you sober, huh?”

Jesse smiled.

“There were other issues,” he said.

“Yeah. I know. Like the ex-wifey-do.”

“She would be one,” Jesse said.

“How you and she doing.”

Jesse held up crossed fingers.

“We’re living together at the moment.”

“Oh,” Rita said, “how nice for you.”

“Aw, come on,” Jesse said. “You and I weren’t going any -

where.”

“Maybe you weren’t,” Rita said.

“You were?”

“Seemed like a good idea at the time,” Rita said.

Jesse didn’t say anything. Rita wore her thick copper hair long. She was wearing a short skirt, and sitting sideways on the bar stool with her legs crossed. Jesse studied her for a moment. Rita watched him and raised her eyebrows.

“You would be a good idea,” Jesse said. “Anytime.”

“But not a keeper,” Rita said.

Jesse smiled and didn’t answer. Rita gestured to the bar -

tender for another martini. She turned back toward Jesse and smiled widely.

“Okay, so you’re not here to propose,” she said.

“I sent a couple of sisters to you awhile ago,” Jesse said.

1 9 6

S E A C H A N G E

“The Plum twins,” Rita said.

“Anything work out?” Jesse said.

“Hey, you think just because you got my clothes off a cou -

ple of times, I’ll betray professional confidences?”

“I was hoping,” Jesse said.