But did they do it decorously? Kelly Cruz said. I think we need to know more.

Wonder what else the parents don't know? Kelly Cruz said.

Or do know and aren't saying. What do you know about the three yachts registered in Fort Lauderdale?

Thomas Ralston, Allan Pinkton, Harold Berger, Kelly Cruz said.

Wow, Jesse said.

Thank you, Kelly Cruz said. Berger is up there with his wife and three children. Pinkton has his grown daughters and their husbands aboard, along with their combined four children, and his wife.

How about Ralston.

Owns the Sea Cloud, Kelly Cruz said. He's single, up there with some guests.

Find anything on Harrison Darnell?

Family money, she said. Been rich for a couple generations. Real estate development. Never married. Playboy reputation. No record.

Never married, Jesse said.

Everyone concurs that he's straight, and actively so. Hence the playboy rep, Jesse said.

Hence, Kelly Cruz said.

How about Darnell? Any connection between him and Ralston?

They're about the same age, Kelly Cruz said. Single playboys who live in South Florida and own yachts which they sailed up to Paradise for Race Week. They could easily know each other.

Or not, Jesse said.

Or not, Kelly Cruz said. I'll look into it.

How about the ex-husbands?

Aside from Horvath? Can't find one of them. He's not in the area, wherever he is. The other one is convinced she was a nymphomaniac.

I don't think we use that term anymore, do we? Jesse said. This guy does, with an accent. He's an Argentine polo player.

When were they married?

Nineteen ninety-four, ninety-five, Kelly Cruz said. Divorced?

Nineteen ninety-five, Kelly Cruz said. Sex life was hurting his game.

Tired all the time?

That's what he says.

He get a nice settlement? Jesse asked.

Yes.

You know where he's been the last couple of months? Playing polo. Every day. In Miami. I checked the papers. He was there.

There's polo writeups in the papers down there? You know what papers to look in, Kelly Cruz said. Okay. So he's not a prime suspect.

Too bad, I was hoping I'd need to interview him more. Didn't you say you had kids?

I did, but no husband.

And rich polo players make notoriously good fathers, Jesse said.

Notoriously, Kelly Cruz said.

What you need to do, Jesse said, is see if there's a connection between Ralston and Darnell. And I think you need to pressure the parents. There's too much going on that we don't understand.

No more Miss Nice Girl? Kelly Cruz said.

Exactly.

Okay, I need to do that, Kelly Cruz said. What do you need?

I need to get a look at their boats, Jesse said.

Chapter 23.

You go on the boat without a warrant, Molly said, nothing you find can be used as evidence.

I don't have enough for a warrant.

Not even Judge Gaffney? Molly said.

Jesse shook his head.

Marty Reagan says the new DA is very careful. So he won't even ask, Molly said.

Right.

So what's the point of going aboard?

Better to know than not know.

Even if you can't use it.

Can't use it in court, Jesse said. But maybe it'll point me toward something I can use.

Be good to know if they're viable suspects, Molly said. It would, Jesse said.

Be good to know if they weren't viable suspects, Molly said.

Also true, Jesse said.

So you could start looking someplace else.

Um-hm.

Of course, it's illegal, Molly said.

Nobody's perfect, Jesse said.

Molly nodded slowly.

You cut some corners, Jesse.

Sometimes you have to, if you're going to do the job right. So you do something wrong to do something right? Sometimes, Jesse said.

I'm not sure Sister Mary Agnes would agree, Molly said. Sister Mary Agnes a cop? Jesse said.

Molly smiled.

She taught Philosophy of Christian Ethics at Our Lady of the Annunciation Academy.

Certainties are harder to come by, Jesse said, in police work.

But there's a danger, isn't there, Molly said, that you start cutting corners and you end up doing bad, not good? Yes, there is, Jesse said.

Do you worry about that?

Yes, Jesse said, I do.

But you'll do it anyway.

Sometimes, Jesse said. I trust myself to keep it clean. Pride goeth before a fall is what Sister Mary Agnes would say.

Sometimes, Jesse said, it goeth before an indictment. Molly smiled at him.

I guess, if I'm going to have somebody bending the law on me, she said, I'd just as soon it be you.

Better than Mary Agnes?

Sister dealt mostly in theory, Molly said.

Like when they do marriage counseling, Jesse said. Do I hear anti-Catholicism?

No, Jesse said, anti-theory-ism.

Molly smiled again. You better hide your tracks, she said, in case you do get them in court. You don't one of those fruit from the poisoned tree things.

You're still taking those law courses, Jesse said. Aren't you.

One a semester, Molly said.

Different than Philosophy of Christian Ethics? Just as theoretical, Molly said.

But more commonly applied, Jesse said.

By people like us, Molly said.

You'll be DA someday.

I was thinking more about president, Molly said. How are you planning to search the boat without getting caught.

Everybody, Jesse said, goes to the Stiles Island Clambake.

Second Saturday in Race Week, Molly said.

Which is tomorrow, Jesse said.

Midpoint of Race Week, Molly said.

Was Race Week ever just a week?

I think so, Molly said, but sometime back when my mother was in high school it started expanding at both ends. The small boats the first two weeks, the big yacht races the second two. With the clambake in the middle.

But they still call it Race Week, Jesse said.

Race Month just doesn't sound right, Molly said. But it is the social occasion. Everybody goes.

Except me, this year, Molly said. I'm right here three to eleven. Applying legal theory.

And I'll be out in the harbor, Jesse said, committing piracy.

Shiver me timbers, Molly said.

Chapter 24.