“Drunk and disorderly?”
“Yeah, that was the charge. Pretty good-looking babe, too,” Molly said. “By the time I got her in the cell she had taken off every stitch. I gave her my coat but she wouldn’t wear it. Kept saying she was free and was going to live free, or something like that. She was pretty drunk.
·
Anyway all of my fellow officers were really worried about her and kept checking on her regularly to make sure she didn’t hun herself or escape or anything.“
Jesse smiled.
“She still in town,” he said.
“Oh’s‘ure. President of the
little theater group, parentteachers group, art association, you name it.”
“She ever talk to you?”
“Pretends she doesn’t know me,”
Molly said.
“Maybe she doesn’t,” Jesse said.
“Dunks don’t always, you know.”
“I’m Irish,” Molly said.
“I know about drunks.”
“She still drink a lot?”
“I guess so. I don’t move in her circles, but sh hasn’t required the cops again.”
“Kind of a status-conscious town, you
think?” Jesse said.
“Oh yeah. Funny thing is that’s where all the prejudice is. The WASPs and the rich Jews get along fine. Neither one of them Wants anything to do socially with working
“Maybe you’re generalizing a
little,” Jesse said.
“Oh yeah, whatever that means, I’m
probably doing it.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t wish I was
going to the Yacht
Club. I’m just looking forward to your
reaction.“
“Maybe I won’t have one,” Jesse
said.
Molly smiled, still leaning on the dooamb.
“I know what you’re like,
Jesse,” she said and pushed herself erect.
“You’ll have one. But you won’t show
it.”
With that Molly walked away, leng the door swing shut behind her. That was also something she did. Molly was a great one for exit lines.
Jesse looked back out the window and sat for a while longer.
Then he stood and carried Lou Burke’s personnel folder back to his upright file and put it away. Then he went back to his desk and dialed up Charlie Buck in Wyoming.
out to form the eastern shore of Paradise Harbor on its Inner shoreline, while it kept the open ocean at bay with its outer.
There were two roads on the Neck. One along the outer shoreline, and one along the inner. They joined at Plumtree Point, where the lighthouse stood. The Yacht Club was off the inner coast road on the Neck, down a narrow drive thickly arched with trees and into a broad parking area be’side some outdoor tennis courts behind a huge, haphazard, white clapboard two-story building. Jesse was amused that when you approached this tabernacle of Paradise high culture, you came at it from the rear. The Yacht Club faced the ocean, cantilevered out over the rust-colored boulders and bedrock that the sea had unearthed over time, its vast picture windows beaded with sea spray.
Jesse was amused also at the understated arrogance of the membership, naming it simply The Yacht Club, as if there were no other. At night, coming from the leaf-thick tunnel into the brightly lit lot was rather like coming on stage. He parked nose in one of the green composition tennis courts and got opened the door for Abby. She looked very eleganl tuxedo trousers and a whito blouse that looked sot like a boiled shirt.
At her throat was a siting of pea wore a dark suit.
In the ballroom, walled with windows, apparently :mg over the harbor, the guests were generally in for dress accented by Halloween-themed accessories. Sev, women sported satin half masks trimmed with rhinesto Hasty Hathaway was wearing a black-and-orange bow with his tux. The bow tie had. orange lights in it that fias on and off. A four-piece orchestra in one corner was ing music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. At the far end of room a bar was open, and along the wall opposite the w view a buffet table was laid with orange and black pa covered with food, and anchored at each end by a carved jack-o‘-lantern.
“Hasty is drawing a crowd with his bow
tie,” Abby in Jesse’s ear as they pushed toward the bar. “It’s his trademark. At Christmas he has one with red and g lights.”
“He’s a sporty guy,” Jesse said.
He got Abby a martini and himself a scotch and the bar. They came in the same-sized clear plastic gla… Abby sipped hers and made a face. Jesse needed to be ful with the scotch. This was not a good place for the of police to get drank. Abby drank again.
“Got to get some of ths in quick so that the rest won’t taste so awful.”
Jesse smiled. He started to drink his scotch and the better of it. Take your time, he said to himself. Sip and then. Nurse a couple of drinks. You don’t have to here forever. They edged over to the buffet table: p chips; a boiled ham; salted peanuts; cream cheese an logna roll-ups; pretzel sticks; potato salad; a large molded salad made of lime Jell-O and cabbage; pigs in a blanket; goldfish crackers; small meatballs in a sauce made from red currant jelly; a salad made with green beans, wax beans, and red kidney beans in oil-and-vinegar dressing; a platter of sliced American processed cheese food, two colors, yellow and white; some Ritz crackers; some salami chunks; a bowl of caramel corn; and a large bowl of something Jesse didn’t recognize. He asked Abby.
“That’s called nuts and bolts,”
Abby said.
“Yeah, but what is it?”
“Cereal.”
Cereal?
“Yeah, Cheerios, Wheat Chex, bite-sized shredded wheat, stuff like that, sprayed with oil and salted and baked in the oven. Then you add pretzel sticks, maybe some peanuts if you’re at the cutting edge. Some people sprinkle on garlic salt, some people put on some Kraft grated Parmesan cheese. Toss lightly and serve.”
“Oh,‘.’ Jesse said.
“One year they had a Crock-Pot of blushing bunny.”
Abby said.
“Which is?”
“Kind of a Welsh rabbit. Campbell’s cheese soup and Campbell’s tomato soup mixed equally and Served over toast.”
“It’s gotta be
Campbell’s?”
“Yes. WASPs are very brand-name loyal.”
Abby’s glass was empty. He stood near the end of the buffet table trying not to hear the music while she went for a refill.
He looked at the buffet table and smiled. I hope I don’t get hungry, he thought. He took another drink. Carefully.
“You’re all alone, you poor
dear,” Cissy Hathaway said.
Her speech‘ was slow and careful, the way people sI when they’re drunk and trying not to show it. She ha, more makeup than usual and behind the makeup J could see that her cheeks were very red. She wore a 1 sleeved formal gown, cream-colored with a red-andl floral pattern and a high neck. The dress was very’t Her high-heeled shoes were the same green as the le in the floral pattern.
“Abby’s getting a drink,” Jesse
said.
“Well pooh on her,” Cissy ‘said.
“Come dance me.”
If he said no, she’d insist. Jesse could see it in her Jesse put his glass down and let Cissy take him to the: The band played “We’ve Only Just
Begun.” Jesse’s good dancer. He had good
.coordination and he could the music. But dancing wasn’t really what Cissy h; mind. She pressed against him as they moved amonl dancers, pushing her pelvis against his and moving he‘
slightly without regard to “We’ve Only Just Begun.’
“Do you like my dress?” she said. Her face was’t up to his and her lilts almost brushed his face as she’t
“Yes, ma’am,” Jesse said.
“You don’t think it’s too
tight?”
“No such thing,” Jesse said.
“Men are all alike,”
Cissy said.
“They judge cloth how much of a woman they show.”
“You’re probably right,” Jesse
said.
“When a man is with a woman,” Cissy said,
“c are just in the way.”
Jesse said, “Un huh,” emphasizing the
second sy trying to sound both interested and noncommittal. No he thought, while being dry-humped on the dance fl
“It’s why when I’m with a
man,” Cissy said, h now actually brushing Jesse’s as she spoke, “I wear as little as possible.”
The band segued into “I Left My Heart in San Francisco.‘’
“Hasty’s a lucky man,” Jesse
said. He was looking past Cissy’s shoulder for Abby.
“Oh, Hasty,” she said. “I
can’t wait around all year for
Jesse smiled without speaking. He couldn’t think of anything to say to that. He was thinking of Suitcase.
“Can you tell,” she whispered against his mouth, “that
I’m not wearing anything under this dress?“
“I wasn’t sure,” Jesse said.
Cissy had a good body under her ridiculous dress. It was becoming difficult for Jesse tor emain detached.
“Is it something you might want to see?”
she whispered.
Christ! Jesse thought. Where’s Suit when you need him.
“Is it?”. Her mouth was against his.
“Not right here,” Jesse said.
“But somewhere you would, wouldn’t you. I can tell.”
Jesse was still struggling for gallantry.
“Anyone would,” he said.
Cissy clamped her mouth against his and began to kiss him aggressively. Jesse felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Hasty, his bow tie blinking steadily.
“Mind if I cut in?” Hasty said.
Cissy continued to kiss him.
Jesse pulled away and said, “No, not at all,” and turned Cissy, her eyes still half closed, into Hasty’s arms.
The band began to play an old Beatles tune. He found Abby near the bar, with a martini. The bar had cleared somewhat as people danced.
“Last Tango in Paris?” Abby said.
“Help,” Jesse said.
He ordered a fresh scotch from the bar.
“How’s she stack up as a
kisser?” Abby said.
“There’s better,” Jesse said.
“Good to know.”
Abby’s eyes were bright and Jesse realized that she might be a little drunk too. He knew their relationship wasn’t helping her drinking. He picked up his scotch.
Careful.
He sipped a small sip and put the drink back down on the bar.
Morris Comden, one of the other selectmen, came across the room and asked Jesse if he could have the next dance with Abby. It was the boldest thing Comden had done since Jesse had been in Paradise. At selectmen’s meetings, he sat quite still and watched Hasty so he’d know how to vote.
“Ask her,” Jesse said.
Abby smiled and said, “Of course,” and
went to the dance floor with him. Over Comden’s shoulder on the floor, she stuck her tongue out at Jesse. Jesse smiled at her and sipped his scotch. Hasty Hathaway came to the bar.
“Wild Turkey,” he said to the bartender.
“Straight, one ice cube.”
He got his drink and mined and put an arm around Jesse’s shoulder.
“Wife gets a little giddy,” he said,
“when she drinks.”
“Sure,” Jesse said.
Hasty took a drink.
“Mother’s milk,” he said.
- Jesse nodded. The dancers labored about the floor. Most people were terrible dancers, Jesse thought. He wondered if Comden had been dispatched to dance with Abby, so that Hasty and he could talk man to man. He didn’t see Cissy anywhere.
“Women are hard to figure, aren’t they, Jesse?”
“Yes,” Jesse said, “they
are.”
“I guess you’ve had your share of trying to figure them out.”
“Un huh.”
“Being divorced and all.”
“Still trying to figure that out,” Jesse said.
“Well,” Hasty said,
“that’s just how women are, I guess. When you want faster, they want slower. And when you want slower, they want fast.”
Hasty shook his head.
“You and Cissy seem happy,” Jesse said.
“Ciss? Oh hell, sure we are. But even a happy marriage isn’t easy, is it. There are adjustments.”
Hasty drank the rest of his Wild Turkey and ordered another.
“Sexuai problems?” Hasty said.
“Who?” Jesse said.
“In your first marriage. It’s usually
sexuai stuff that makes a marriage hit the reef.”
“No,” Jesse said. “We
didn’t have sexuai problems.”
Unless, Jesse thought, your wife boffing a producer could be consider’ed a sexuai problem.
“What was your deal,” Hasty said.
Jesse shrugged.
“I’m not sure I know,” he said.
“We didn’t seem to want the same things.”
“Let’s get some air,” Hasty
said.
With his arm still on Jesse’s shoulder Hasty steered him toward the sliders and out onto the deck over the water.
The strong sait smell reminded Jesse again of how far he was from home. The pacific never smelled like this that he could remember.
Maybe it was the cold weather made the ocean smell different. The light from the ballroom spilled out for a little way onto the black water.
There was a small chop. Across the harbor the lights of the town were strung along the coastline and rose up from the water to Indian Hill, where the park was.
They leaned on the deck rail. Below them, Jesse could hear the water moving over the rocks.
“Man to man,” Hasty said.
Jesse nodded to himself. Comden had been dispatched.
He was not a good choice. He was too dull to carry on a conversation. Poor Abby.
“Your ex ever fool around?” Hasty said.
He wasn’t looking at Jesse. Arms resting on the railing, he stared out across the water.
“Yes.”
“How’d it make you feel?”
“Bad.”
Hasty nodded.
“You fool around?” he said.
“Not till we separated,” Jesse said.
“You ever wonder why you weren’t
enough?”
“Yes.”
Hasty nodded again. He was silent for a time. Through the glass doors behind, them the band had finished its set and the sound of conversation and glassware replaced the sound of music.
“When we were dating,” Hasty said,
“she was hotter than a cheap pistol. Part of the reason I married her, I suppose.
I never had many girlfriends, and when I started dating her…“ He shook his head at the memory.
”But as soon as we got married she wasn’t interested anymore. The funny thing is when we dated we did everything but it, you know. Heavy petting, I guess you’d say. But never the dastardly deed itself. Didn’t want to cheapen the relationship.“
Hasty laughed at himself derisively.
“Talked a lot about saving it for
marriage,” he said.
“Then we got married and she wasn’t
interested. You know? She’d lie back and close her eyes and think of England.
But it was pretty much of a duty.“
“I guess marriage is different from
dating,” Jesse said.
“I guess it is,” Hasty said.
Across the harbor a small tender plugged in toward the town wharf from one of the yachts moored in deeper water.
Its running lights looked like slow shooting stars in
the dark. Hasty finished his drink. Jesse had already finished his.
“I finally just decided that she was frigid and that the hot stuff before marriage was a way to get me. But you know how it is in a marriage. You figure you’re supposed to stick it out.
After a while the way it is gets to seem like the way it’s supposed to be.”
“Yes,” Jesse said. “I
know.”
“She seem frigid to you?” Hasty said.
“Hard to say.”
“Come on, Jesse. She embarrassed us both on the dance floor ten minutes ago. She seem frigid to you then?”
“No.”
“So how come she’s frigid at home, and hot with other men?”
“I’m a cop, Hasty. That’s a
shrink question.”
“Aw, they’re all crazy
themselves,” Hasty said.
Jesse didn’t say anything.
“Well, anyway, I’ve come to terms with it.
We have our life together. Except for the sex, I like her. We get along good. What she does when I’m not home, I know she sees other men. I’m sure she’s hoter than Cleopatra with them.
I… I…“ Hasty made an aimless
hand gesture. ”We get along,“ he said.
“Whatever works,” Jesse said.
“You have anyone?”
“On the side, you mean? No.”
Jesse nodded.
“Anyway,” Hasty said, as if finishing a difficult chore,
“I wan,xl you to know that I don’t blame you. I apologize for my wife.”
“Sure,” Jesse said. “No
problem.”
Again they were quiet, the two men looking’t the black harbor, forearms resting on the railing, each holding an empty plastic cup in his hand. The tender had reached the wharf and disappeared. Its running lights were out. The
‘darkness between the men and the town across the water was unbroken and palpable. Hasty clapped Jesse on the back.
“Well, look at all that food,” Hasty said.
“Better go in and get some before they eat it all up.”
“That’s right,” Jesse said.
“That’s what we better do.”
tugal in.
“Remember me?” Portugal said.
“Sure,” Jesse said. “Have a
seat.”
“They’re cleaning out the
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