Robert Parker - Split Image

"I say, 'Why would you kill me?' And Knocko says, 'Robbie told me about you. She told me what you were trying on her.' And I say, 'I don't know what you're talking about. I never touched her.' And Knocko says, 'She told me herself. You saying my wife's a liar?' And I say, 'Knocko, on my mother, I never came near her.' And he stands up and he's got a piece and he says, 'Get outta here now, or I swear to God I'll kill you where you stand.' And I know he means it, so I leave. And I ain't never seen him again."

"You mess with the wife?" Jesse said.

"I did not," Mulligan said.

He sat at his counter.

"You mind if I eat?" he said.

"No," Jesse said. "Go ahead, eat."

Mulligan shook salt and pepper onto his eggs.

"The wife mess with you?" Jesse said.

Mulligan had a mouthful of eggs and spinach. He raised his head and nodded approval.

When he had chewed and swallowed, he said, "You're pretty good. Yeah, her and her hot-pants sister, they both came on to me."

"Together or separately?" Jesse said.

"Both," Mulligan said. "You want some coffee?"

"No," Jesse said. "Thanks. But you didn't take the offer?"

"No."

"Because of Knocko?"

"Yeah," Mulligan said. "A'course."

Jesse nodded.

"You think they got you fired so somebody could kill Knocko?"

Mulligan swallowed again and patted his mouth with a paper towel.

"Yeah," he said.

"You know who killed him?" Jesse said.

"Nope, but I know it's got something to do with them two sisters. They'd fuck a haddock if they could get it to hold still."

"Think they messed with Petrov Ognowski?"

"Yeah, sure. I don't know it. But Bob Davis told me they tried him."

"Reggie's bodyguard?"

"Yeah. Don't let Bobby fool you," Mulligan said. "He's not big and mean-looking like me, but…"

"I picked that up," Jesse said.

"Yeah, there's something about Bobby," Mulligan said. "You got it, too."

"That's 'cause I'm the chief of police," Jesse said.

Mulligan grinned.

"No," he said. "It ain't."

Jesse nodded.

"Know why anyone would kill Ognowski?" he said.

"No."

"Knocko?" Jesse said.

"Aside from what I told you about the sisters? No."

"Knocko love his wife?" Jesse said.

"Yeah. Always said he couldn't get over that she married him."

"He get along with Reggie?" Jesse said.

"Far as I know, they was thick as thieves, you pardon the expression."

"You ever think of revenge?"

"On the twin bitches? You're a cop," Mulligan said. "I tell you yes, and something happens to them, who you gonna come see?"

Jesse smiled.

"Come see you anyway," he said.

Mulligan shrugged.

"My parole geek know you're here?" he said.

"Yes."

"He know why?" Mulligan said.

"Just that I wanted to ask you some questions. He wanted to come with me."

"What'd you say?"

"I told him if he showed up here I'd throw him into the middle of Lafayette Street and step on his face."

"Excellent," Mulligan said.

"Anything you haven't told me?"

"Pretty much all I know," Mulligan said.

He ate some toast. Jesse stood and took a card out of his shirt pocket and put it on the counter beside Mulligan.

"Think of anything," Jesse said, "call me."

"Sure," Mulligan said.

"I won't tell your parole officer what we discussed."

"Thanks," Mulligan said.

"But you try to even things up, and something happens to anybody in the case, I'll be back and I'll bring trouble."

Mulligan nodded again.

"You know," he said, "guy like me ain't got much else but trying to keep things even."

"It's trouble you don't need," Jesse said. "I'll even it up."

Mulligan nodded slowly.

"Knew Knocko all my life," he said.

YOU GOT that kid back to the Renewal folks?" Jesse said. "Yes," Sunny said.

"She okay?"

"I think so," Sunny said. "Physically, she's fine. I got my doctor to examine her."

"She's happy to be back with the Renewals?"

"Seems so," Sunny said.

"Nice work," Jesse said.

"I hope," Sunny said. "You know what's sweet? I stopped by to check on her, and she told me that Spike comes by once or twice a week to see that she's okay."

"Should make her feel secure," Jesse said.

Sunny nodded. She sat with Jesse on his little balcony in the dark velvet evening, with a glass of white wine. He was nursing a beer. Below them the harbor was dark except for the bob of an occasional light where someone was living on their boat.

"Thing 'bout a view," Jesse said, "is you buy a place for the view and you love it for a couple of days, and then you don't much notice anymore."

"You're noticing now," Sunny said.

"I'm with you," Jesse said.

"And that makes a difference?"

"Yes."

They were quiet. There was remote ambient sound: from the harbor, the faint sound of rigging slapping against mast; from Front Street, an occasional car going by; from the condominium complex, the muffled sound of a television set.

"Thank you," Sunny said.

"You're welcome."

They were sitting side by side. Jesse felt her beside him more insistently than he could remember feeling. The silence of the harbor-front night seemed right. It was as if something exciting might be teetering on the edge. Jesse didn't want to interrupt it.

"I want to tell you about my talk with Dr. Silverman yesterday," Sunny said.

"Okay," Jesse said.

She told him. He listened without a word until she was done.

Then he said, "That's what killed the marriage with Richie. He was too good?"

"Like my father," Sunny said. "And I was afraid I'd turn into a dependent mess, like my mother and my sister."

Jesse nodded.

"Well, for what it's worth," he said. "You didn't."

"I feared it," Sunny said. "I fought him every day, his goodness. I competed with him every day. I was fighting for my life."

"Not to be your mother."

"Yes."

"His flaw was he was so good?" Jesse said.

"In a manner of speaking," Sunny said, "yes."

"No wonder you like me," Jesse said.

"I do like you," Sunny said.

"Good," Jesse said. "I'll try not to improve."

"Stop fishing for compliments," Sunny said. "I think much more highly of you than you think of yourself."

"A divorced small-town cop with a drinking problem," Jesse said. "And no future."

"Take that up with Dix," Sunny said. "I've sort of broken out, and I'm thrilled, and I'm not going to be shanghaied into your pathologies."

"Oh," Jesse said.

"I am freed of a burden I've carried all my life," Sunny said.

"I know," Jesse said. "Good for you."

"She's a good shrink," Sunny said.

"Gotta have both," Jesse said. "Good shrink, good patient."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"How are you doing with the double murder," Sunny said.

"Good news/bad news," Jesse said. "I'm pretty sure how most of it went down, and I can't prove any of it."

"Knowing is good," Sunny said.

"Proving is better."

He told her what he knew.

"And not a fact to take to the DA," Sunny said.

"No," Jesse said. "But I do have two dangerous men circling the scene, looking for revenge."

"You think they're serious."

"Absolutely," Jesse said. "And worse than that, they're probably pretty good at it."

"You're pretty good, too," Sunny said.

Jesse shrugged.

"I misjudged those two women completely," he said. "They were beautiful, poised, completely devoted to their husbands. Hell, I was half in love with them myself."

"Things are not always what they seem," Sunny said.

"God, you sound like Dix," Jesse said.

"That was shrinky," Sunny said. "Wasn't it."

"It was."

"Have you talked with Dix," Sunny said, "about why you were so taken?"