Robert Parker - Split Image

He took in some air and let it out slowly.

Molly put her head in the doorway.

"The Patriarch guy from the Renewal is here reporting a missing person, Jesse," she said. "You want to see him?"

Jesse nodded. Molly disappeared and returned with the Patriarch. He took a seat in front of Jesse's desk.

"Coffee?" Jesse said.

The Patriarch shook his head and smiled slightly.

"We don't use caffeine," he said.

"I should have remembered," Jesse said.

"Perhaps you have other things to remember," the Patriarch said.

"And some I'd like to forget," Jesse said. "You have someone missing?"

"Cheryl DeMarco," he said. "She did not come home last night."

"You keep that close a tab?"

"We don't require them to come home," the Patriarch said. "But we need to know where they are, like any family."

"And you don't know."

"No. She went out yesterday to mingle and she didn't return."

" 'Mingle'?"

"We like all of us to mingle with our neighbors," the Patriarch said.

"Maybe some sort of romantic tryst?" Jesse said.

"Todd doesn't know where she is, either," the Patriarch said.

"Todd's her boyfriend?" Jesse said.

"Yes, her current life companion," the Patriarch said.

Jesse nodded.

"She wouldn't cheat on him," Jesse said.

"No."

"You're sure?"

"No," the Patriarch said. "Humans are too various for certainty. I don't believe she would cheat on her life companion."

"Have you tried her parents' home?"

"They will not take our calls," the Patriarch said.

"So as far as you know, they are not aware that she's missing?"

"I have no knowledge of them," the Patriarch said. "I know only that they hired a private detective to locate her and try to convince her to come home."

"Sunny Randall," Jesse said.

"You know her?"

"I do."

"Sometimes parents will arrange to have their children kidnapped," the Patriarch said. "Their own children."

"Not Sunny's style."

"No," the Patriarch said. "It didn't seem so to me, when we spoke."

"Have you told her that Cheryl is missing?" Jesse said.

"It didn't occur to me."

"I'll be speaking to her," Jesse said. "I'll tell her."

"You think she could be helpful?" the Patriarch said.

"She knows what Cheryl looks like," Jesse said. "And I don't."

"I hadn't thought of that."

"Do you have a picture?" Jesse said.

"No."

"How about Todd?"

"I don't know," the Patriarch said. "I can ask."

"She drive a car?" Jesse said.

"She didn't own one," the Patriarch said. "Why?"

"If she's got a license we can get a picture from the registry."

"Oh," the Patriarch said. "Of course. I am not very worldly about such things."

"No reason you should be," Jesse said.

"I can describe her," the Patriarch said.

"Sure," Jesse said.

The Patriarch described her. Jesse took a couple of notes. When he finished describing, the Patriarch said, "Do you think she's all right?"

"Probably," Jesse said.

"Can you find her?"

"Probably," Jesse said.

THEY TOLD ME she'd been brainwashed by a cult," Sunny Randall said, "when they hired me."

She sat beside Jesse in the front seat of Jesse's car as they drove southbound on Route 128.

"And that they wanted me to find her and talk to her and, if possible, bring her home."

"So you went to visit," Jesse said.

"I did," Sunny said.

"And you found something less than Charles Manson and friends," Jesse said.

"You've talked with the Patriarch person?" Sunny said.

"Yes."

"The whole operation seems to me about as sinister as a Brownie troop," Sunny said.

"Less," Jesse said.

"You're right," Sunny said. "I never liked all that scouting crap, either."

"And the kid didn't want to leave," Jesse said.

"No."

"So I said maybe I could bring Mom and Dad," Sunny said. "And the kid laughed."

"But you tried," Jesse said.

"I did. I told them it seemed very unsinister, and maybe if they saw it…"

"What did they say?"

"They weren't interested. Their name isn't DeMarco, by the way. They changed it to Markham."

"Sounded more Concordian?" Jesse said.

"Yes. Elsa said DeMarco was too North End."

"But the kid is keeping her birth name," Jesse said.

"Guess so," Sunny said. "They'll never let me in, or you, either, if I'm with you. You don't have much official standing here."

"I've arranged for a Concord police detective to go with us, sort of disarm the matter of jurisdiction," Jesse said.

"No wonder you made chief," Sunny said.

"I made chief because the selectmen at the time wanted a drunk they could control," Jesse said.

"They erred," Sunny said.

"They got the drunk part right," Jesse said. "I guess they were a little off on the control part… so far."

"Well, aren't we down on ourselves today," Sunny said. "Want to share?"

Jesse didn't answer for a time. They reached Route 2 and turned west toward Concord.

"The night Knocko Moynihan got shot they couldn't find me. I was passed out dead drunk at home."

Sunny nodded.

"You know what set you off?" she said.

"Maybe I'm just a drunk," Jesse said.

"Whatever you are, Jesse," Sunny said, "you are not just a drunk."

Jesse shrugged.

"What's Dix say?"

"You think I told him?"

"Of course you told him," Sunny said. "What's he for?" Jesse nodded slowly.

"We're working on that question," Jesse said.

" 'What he's for?' "

"No," Jesse said. "We're working on what set me off."

"Is it okay now," Sunny said. "I mean, in town?"

"Yes," Jesse said. "Molly and Suit covered for me. Said I was out of town at the time, an issue with my ex-wife."

"And the selectmen bought it?"

"They did," Jesse said. "They're not the smartest three guys in town."

"If they were," Sunny said, "they probably wouldn't be spending time as selectmen."

"Good point," Jesse said.

They paused behind several other cars at a stoplight at the juncture with Route 2A's bypass, where Route 2 took a sharp turn southwest.

"But you must feel lousy about it," Sunny said.

"Yes."

"Ashamed," Sunny said.

"Yes."

"Had a drink since?" Sunny said.

"No."

"Miss it?"

Jesse nodded.

"Yes," he said.

"I don't think you're an alcoholic, Jesse," Sunny said. "I think you like to drink. I think when you're unhappy it helps you feel better. But I don't think you have to stop. I think you could drink in moderation if you get your, for lack of a better description, psyche settled."

The light changed. Jesse drove across the intersection and into Concord.

"I'll work on it," he said.

"I know you will," Sunny said.

They were quiet until they reached the Concord police station. Jesse pulled in and parked. Then he turned and put his hand on Sunny's thigh.

"Thank you," he said.

Sunny put her hand over his and smiled.

"You're welcome," she said.

THEY PICKED UP a Concord detective named Sherman Kennedy and drove in a Concord police car to the Markham home.

"It's ugly," Jesse said, as they got out of the cruiser. "But pretentious."

"True," Sunny said. "But it's much worse inside."

Kennedy laughed.

"Summers," he said, "I used to work construction while I was going to college. And I worked on this place. They built a whole bunch of them out here when mortgage money was easy."

He was a sturdy young guy with a crew cut and some modest lettering that said Sherm tattooed on his left wrist.

"Some foreclosures around here?"

"Like a damned going-out-of-business sale. People got balloon notes all of a sudden coming due. People who had no business buying one of these fucking monsters… 'Scuse me, Ms. Randall."