Sea Change

Both girls turned back toward Jesse. He could see Molly behind them, while they weren’t looking, take a deep breath.

I know, Jesse thought, I know.

“You have lied to me,” Jesse said to the girls, “every time you could, since the first time I talked with you.”

“We didn’t do anything, like a crime,” Corliss said.

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

Jesse let his chair tip forward. He stood and came around his desk and bent from the waist and put his face an inch away from Corliss’s face.

“I don’t like you,” he said. “I hate everything you are. So you keep sitting there lying to me, it makes me happy. It makes it easier and easier for me to put your degenerate asses in jail for ten years.”

“Leave her alone,” Claudia said.

Jesse shifted his face a half inch toward her.

“Both of you,” he said.

“We’re not lying,” Corliss said. “We haven’t even said anything.”

“You don’t know that your father was up here in June,”

Jesse said.

Both of them said “Ohmigod” at the same time.

“You didn’t feel like you should tell me that, huh?” Jesse said.

“Jesse,” Molly said. “They’re kids.”

Jesse raised his eyes and stared at Molly.

“I’m getting sick of the bleeding heart, missy,” he said.

“You don’t like how I question suspects, you can leave right now.”

“I can’t leave them in here alone with you, for God’s sake,”

Molly said.

“Then button it up,” Jesse said.

“If I have to go to the selectmen, I will,” Molly said.

“Fuck the selectmen. I nail these two degenerates, they’ll give me a raise.”

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S E A C H A N G E

“Did Daddy kill Florence?” Corliss said.

Jesse was still for a moment. The anger left his face. Then he straightened and rested his butt against the edge of his desk, and folded his arms. His voice was gentle when he spoke.

“You think?” he said.

“We were afraid of it,” Claudia said. “It’s why we came here and why we wanted to get a private detective.”

“To whom you wouldn’t reveal a name.”

“We got too scared,” Corliss said.

“Of Daddy?” Jesse said.

“Yes,” Claudia said.

“If he found out,” Corliss said.

Jesse nodded.

“Let’s run over that videotape you made of your sister and the two guys,” Jesse said.

“It was for Daddy,” Claudia said.

Jesse could hear Molly exhale. He nodded softly.

“Okay,” he said. “Okay.”

He went around the desk and sat down.

“She hated Daddy,” Corliss said. “She said this was her kissing him off.”

“And she sent him the tape?”

“A duplicate,” Claudia said. “She had a bunch of duplicates made. I think she was going to keep sending them to him, you know? Every month? Drive him crazy?”

They both spoke rapidly, the words flowing out as if through the widening crack in a dam.

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

“So how did a copy end up on Harrison Darnell’s boat?”

Jesse said.

“We talked about that,” Corliss said. “Me and Claud. We thought maybe Florence brought a copy to show him. Harrison liked stuff like that.”

“I think it was mailed from Miami,” Jesse said.

“That’s the other thing we thought,” Claudia said.

“Which was?” Jesse said.

“Maybe Daddy sent it,” Corliss said.

“Why would he do that?”

“Daddy’s odd sometimes,” Claudia said.

“We thought maybe he sent it to Harrison to embarrass Flo,” Corliss said.

“He didn’t know that it wouldn’t?” Jesse said.

“I think he thought Flo had a nice upper-class wealthy beau,” Claudia said.

“He thought we did, too,” Corliss said.

“What were you afraid Daddy would do if he found out you had hired a private detective to investigate him?” Jesse said.

“We thought he’d kill us,” Claudia said.

She looked at Corliss. They both nodded.

“Who told you about your sister’s death?” Jesse said.

“Mom,” Corliss said.

“So why did you tell me Kimmy Young told you?”

“Kimmy?” Claudia said.

“We told you Kimmy?” Corliss said.

“Yep.”

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S E A C H A N G E

“God, why would we do that?” Claudia said.

“That was what sort of tore the cover off,” Jesse said.

“We were scared,” Corliss said. “I guess we just said a name.”

“We were afraid if we told you Mom, that would sort of lead you to Daddy,” Claudia said.

“Because you didn’t want to get him in any trouble,” Jesse said.

“Yes,” Corliss said.

“We love him,” Claudia said.

“And he loves us,” Corliss said.

“And you were afraid he might kill you,” Jesse said.

“Daddy gets so mad sometimes,” Claudia said.

They looked at each other again and nodded.

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59

K elly Cruz met Jesse at the gate in the Miami airport. She had a short black haircut and a wide mouth and nice posture. Her

ass was, in fact, perky. She was wearing white heels and white slacks and a blue linen jacket and holding a handmade sign that said stone. Jesse was glad that she was good-looking. They shook hands and he followed her outside where they got into a maroon Crown Victoria parked under a no-parking sign in front of the terminal. Kelly Cruz got into the front beside the driver. Jesse got in back.

“Jesse Stone,” Kelly Cruz said. “Raymond Ortiz.”

The driver turned and said hello.

S E A C H A N G E