“How true,” Jesse said.

“And do we have any hard evidence to support our theory?” Molly said.

“You mean like clues?” Jesse said.

Molly nodded.

“No,” Jesse said.

“So what do we do now.”

“We go back into everybody’s history,” Jesse said.

“Everybody?” Suit said.

“Everybody on the chalkboard,” Jesse said.

“And of course we may find out that Lutz is telling the truth.”

“However ineptly,” Jesse said.

“And that Lorrie and Alan are simply adulterers. People cheat on their spouses without killing them, you know.”

Jesse smiled at her. “From experience, Moll?”

“Not yet.”

“Well, when you’re ready…” Jesse said.

“You’re on the list, Jesse.”

“How about me,” Suit said. “Am I on the list.”

“Not till you’re old enough,” Molly said.

“For crissake, Moll, I’m almost a detective.”

“So we have a theory, let’s see if we can find something that proves it or disproves it,” Jesse said.

“Wow,” Molly said. “Like the scientific method.”

“Sort of,” Jesse said.

“What’s the scientific method?” Suit said.

“And you wonder why you’re not on the list,” Molly said.

She finished her cruller.

“I don’t know why I bother to eat these,” she said. “I might as well apply them directly to my hips.”

46

Sunny sat at the bar with Jesse in the Gray Gull. She put the pictures of Jenn and Timothy Patrick Lloyd on the bar.

“You recognize Jenn,” Sunny said. “The guy she’s with is the stalker.”

Jesse drank some scotch.

“Who she denies knowing,” he said.

“And who denies knowing her,” Sunny said.

Sunny looked at Jesse’s face as he stared down at the pictures. His face showed nothing. The couple in the pictures was embracing.

“They are not strangers,” Jesse said.

“No.”

“You have a plan?” Jesse said.

“My plan was to see what you thought I should do.”

Jesse nodded. She wondered how it must feel for him, looking at the pictures of Jenn with another man. It wasn’t like a surprise, but it had to be painful, Sunny thought. She sipped her martini and looked at him over the rim. He was still looking at the pictures. His face was empty.

“I guess we need to confront her with these pictures,” Jesse said.

“I can do that,” Sunny said.

“No,” Jesse said. “I need to do it.”

“Why?”

“It’ll be easier for her,” he said.

“For you to catch her in deceit instead of me?”

Jesse nodded.

“She’ll be less mortified,” he said.

Sunny didn’t say anything.

“Imagine if it were Richie,” Jesse said. “Wouldn’t you want to do it?”

“Proving that I’m crazy,” Sunny said, “doesn’t prove that you’re not.”

“I know.”

“She…” Sunny started and stopped.

“I know,” Jesse said.

They both drank.

“Is there anything she could do that would make you give her up?” Sunny said.

“I don’t know,” Jesse said. “For a while there, when we were in L.A. together…”

“I remember,” Sunny said. “And now?”

Jesse stared into his drink.

“I love you, Sunny,” he said. “Hell, I probably love Molly Crane.”

“Whom you’ve never touched,” Sunny said.

“Of course not.”

“But Jenn is Jenn,” Sunny said.

“Yes.”

“God save me,” Sunny said. “I understand this.”

“I know you do,” Jesse said.

He finished his drink and motioned for a refill.

“So what do you want me to do with her?” Sunny said.

“Stay with her,” Jesse said.

Sunny nodded. She finished her drink and nodded to the bartender.

“When will you have time to talk with her?” Sunny said.

Jesse smiled slightly and shook his head.

“I can make time,” he said. “It’s when will I have the strength.”

47

From his window, looking down over the driveway of the fire station, Jesse watched the arrival. The governor of the Commonwealth, his man Richard Kennfield, and three suits whose function Jesse did not know got out of a trooper-driven limo and moved through the press of reporters toward Jesse’s office. A big black Chevy Suburban parked behind the limo. No one got out.

The governor stopped to talk with a gaggle of television reporters. Jesse couldn’t hear what he said. Probably something forceful and positive. Then he and his cluster moved into the station and came to Jesse’s office. The governor stuck out his hand.

“Chief Stone?” he said. “I’m Cabot Forbes.”

Jesse shook his hand. The governor looked around.

Kennfield said, “The governor would like his staff with him. Is there a bigger room?”

“Sure,” Jesse said.

They went down to the conference room. Jesse moved an empty pizza box off the table and gestured for the group to sit down. He sat at one end of the table. The governor stood at the other. He was tall with close-cut gray hair and a thin face.

“We’re here to help,” the governor said. “Not to criticize.”

Jesse nodded.

“But this case has dragged on long enough to become an embarrassment to the Commonwealth, and the people of the Commonwealth need to know that there’s an end in sight.”

Jesse nodded. The governor paused, and when Jesse didn’t say anything, he looked a little annoyed.

“This is made more embarrassing because I count both Walton and Lorrie as personal friends,” the governor said.

Jesse nodded.

“Is there progress?” the governor said.

“Yes.”

“Do you have a suspect?”

“Many,” Jesse said.

“Is an arrest imminent?”

“No.”

“What do you need to bring this case to a close?”

“Clues,” Jesse said.

“Are you being deliberately uncooperative, Chief Stone?”

“No, sir. I’m listening attentively.”

“I am especially concerned that Mrs. Weeks be treated with every consideration,” the governor said. “This has been a nightmare for her and she deserves closure.”

Jesse nodded.

“For God’s sake, Stone, I was at their wedding.”

“Really,” Jesse said. “When did they get married?”

The governor looked at Kennfield.

“Nineteen ninety,” Kennfield said.

“Where?”

“Baltimore, wasn’t it,” the governor said to Kennfield.

Kennfield nodded.

“At the Harbor Court,” he said.

“How’d they meet?” Jesse said.

Again, the governor looked at Kennfield.

“Oddly enough, through Walton’s bodyguard,” Kennfield said. “He introduced them.”

“Lutz?” Jesse said.

“Yes,” Kennfield said, “Conrad Lutz.”

“How did he know Lorrie,” Jesse said.

Both the governor and Kennfield shook their heads.

“Let me remind you,” the governor said, “that I am the chief executive of this state. I’m not going to be sidetracked. I came here in good faith to offer the complete resources of the Commonwealth to expedite this investigation.”

“Thank you, sir,” Jesse said.

“Stone,” Forbes said, “can you cut out the ‘Yes sir no sir thank you sir’ crap for one minute. Are you getting anywhere on this goddamned case or not.”

“I’m doing what I can, Governor,” Jesse said. “And I’m pretty good at it. As soon as there’s an arrest, I’ll be in touch.”

The governor reddened slightly and looked at Kennfield again.

Then he said, “We’ll hold you to that,” and wheeled and walked out of the room. The staff hustled to pick up their notebooks and briefcases and followed him out.

48

Lutz checked out,” Suit said when he came into Jesse’s office.

“When?”

“Day after you last talked with him,” Suit said. “I tried his New York address. He doesn’t answer the phone. I talked to the building manager, and he talked to the doorman, and they haven’t seen Lutz.”

“Well, something started moving,” Jesse said.

“Except we don’t know where, or why,” Suit said.

“Yet,” Jesse said. “Any movement is good.”