Well, I think it's mean not to trust us, Claudia said. You're right, Jesse said. I'll never do it again.

Chapter 20.

After the twins were gone, Molly stuck her head in the office door. Steve Friedman called in, she said. Got a couple of kids shoplifting in Waldo's Variety Store. What did they take?

Skin magazines.

Tell Steve to confiscate the magazines, let the kids sit in the cruiser for ten minutes to scare them, then kick 'em loose. No lectures.

Molly grinned.

That'll be hard for Steve, she said.

I know. Tell him I said so.

No parent notification? Molly said.

No.

Molly was still grinning.

How were the twins? Molly said.

Vague, Jesse said.

You survive with your virtue intact?

So much sex, Jesse said, so little brain.

You learn anything useful? Molly said.

Mostly I learned that they know more than they are say - ing, and that they conceal that fact badly.

What do you think they know?

They know the two guys in the sex video, Jesse said. They say so?

No.

What did they want?

I don't think they quite know, Jesse said. They asked me to recommend a private eye.

To help us on the case?

Un-huh.

Molly rolled her eyes.

There are some good ones, Jesse said. I sent the little darlings to Rita Fiore, told them she could recommend. Can she?

Probably. I know she uses some guy in Boston that's supposed to be good.

You think they were serious?

I don't think they've been serious in their whole vapid life, either one of them.

And you sent them to Rita, Molly said, so you could call her in a while and asked if they showed up.

Jesse smiled and pointed a finger at Molly.

You're mastering my technique, Jesse said. When I leave, you can be chief.

Fat chance, Molly said. I better get on the horn to Steve. He's probably already started his lecture.

Cruel and unusual punishment, Jesse said.

Wading through the skin magazines would be cruel enough, Molly said.

Not if you're an adolescent boy, Jesse said.

You would know, Molly said and left the office. Jesse stood and walked to the door.

Be sure Steve brings in the confiscated magazines, he said.

Chapter 21.

Jesse was on the small balcony off the living room, drinking club soda, with his shirt off, when Jenn came home. It was hot, but the air off the harbor was cool and as the sun went down it got cooler. When they had been married and worked in Los Angeles, Jesse and Jenn had lived in one of those old bungalows in Hollywood, with an overhanging roof and a big front porch. Jesse used to like to sit out on the front steps of the porch in his undershirt and drink beer and feel the air.

She kissed him gently when she came in.

I'll join you, she said. Thank God it's evening.

She went to the kitchen and got some white wine and brought it with her to the balcony and sat in the other chair.

It was late enough to be dark. Jenn sipped her wine. Many of the boats in the harbor showed lights, particularly the big yachts farther out. The black water moved quietly below them. In daylight there was usually some trash floating on it. In the darkness it was unmarred. Barely visible, its presence announced mostly by its dark movement.

Domestic, Jenn said after a time.

That's us, Jesse said.

I mean it, Jenn said, as a good thing.

I know, Jesse said.

Just sitting together, Jenn said. At the end of the day. Maybe I should buy a couple of rocking chairs, Jesse said. And a shawl, Jenn said.

Jesse looked at his glass.

Nothing like a bracing club soda, he said, at moments like this.

You still miss it, Jenn said.

Every day.

Is it a physical craving?

No, never quite has been a craving, Jesse said. It's just, I like it and I miss it.

Jenn smiled.

Like me, she said.

No, Jesse said. You're a craving.

They were quiet for a time. There was a dim sound of music from among the moored boats in near shore. Across the harbor, they could see the running lights of a powerboat moving silently along the inner shoreline of the Neck.

Glad I'm ahead of Johnny Walker, Jenn said after a time.

Jenn drank the rest of her wine and went to pour a second glass. Jesse drank some soda, and put his feet on the balcony railing. He crossed his ankles. The running lights of the powerboat turned silently and began to trace the causeway at the south end of the harbor. Jenn came back.

You know, Jesse said. Craving is pretty much all about the craver and nothing about the cravee.

No shit, Jenn said.

Jenn had kicked off her shoes. She put her feet up on the balcony next to his. It made her skirt slide up her thighs. Jesse felt the surge of desire. What was that about? He'd seen her naked a thousand times. He'd had sex with her a thousand times. Why did he feel this way because her skirt slid up her thighs? He'd always assumed such feelings were the result of normal masculine humanity.

I'm leering at your thighs, Jesse said.

Good.

You want to be desired, you dress sexy, you look sexy, you want to be seen as sexy. We both know that.

And we both know you are making something out of nothing, Looney Tunes, Jenn said. You're supposed to get riled up looking at my thighs, for crissake. You're supposed to leer.

Looney Tunes, Jesse said.

It's like we don't have problems anymore, Jenn said. And you're trying to invent some.

Jesse wished he had a drink. He shrugged.

Anyway, Jesse said. It was a loving leer.

Chapter 22.

Molly came into Jesse's office and stood in front of his desk. I called the registrar at Emory, she said. The Plum sisters haven't been students there since first semester last year.

I assume they didn't graduate.

No, they left school after first semester of their junior year.

Did they say why?

They didn't say anything. They just ceased to be there. Molly smiled.

They didn't get the boot or anything?

No. Just stopped going.

Take all their belongings? Jesse said.

I don't know. I can check back.

Please, Jesse said.

Molly went out. Jesse picked up his phone and called Kelly Cruz in Fort Lauderdale.

Know anything new about the Plum sisters? Jesse said. Models of decorous southern behavior, Kelly Cruz said. Decorous?

I'm taking a night course, Kelly Cruz said, at the community college. So far that's what I've learned.

Who says they're, ah, decorous? Jesse said.

Mom and Dad.

You check with anyone else?

Not yet, Kelly Cruz said. I told you, this isn't the big one on my caseload, you know? This is yours.

And here's what I know, Jesse said. The Plum girls haven't been in Europe looking at art. They've been in Sag Harbor, Long Island, partying. And they dropped out of Emory last fall.