Fool Me Twice

21

Richard and Portia Cassidy were waiting for Jesse at the station. They exuded money and breeding and a kind of arrogance that Jesse found offensive. He asked them to join him in his office.

Richard wore his black pin-striped Brooks Brothers suit well, but Jesse wondered why not even a single strand of his abundant salt-and-pepper hair was out of place. Had to be some kind of spray, he figured.

Portia was a handsome woman who might once have been beautiful. But Jesse saw that her looks had been augmented by plastic surgery. Her lips were drawn tight, and her skin appeared as if it had been ironed.

“May I offer you anything,” Jesse said as he stepped behind his desk.

“I’d like some coffee,” Mr. Cassidy said.

“Mrs. Cassidy?”

“I’d like your head on a platter,” she said.

Jesse looked at her.

Then he called for Molly, who appeared in the office doorway.

“Will you bring Mr. Cassidy a coffee, please,” he said.

“How do you take it,” she said.

“Black would be fine.” Molly left.

“We’re out of platters,” Jesse said to Portia.

“Don’t be impudent with me, Chief Stone,” she said.

“Jesse,” he said.

“Excuse me?”

“My name is Jesse.”

“Can you believe this guy,” Portia said to her husband.

“What brings you here,” Jesse said.

“You know damned well what brings us here,” Portia said.

Molly entered with the coffee and handed it to Richard.

“Thank you,” Richard said to her.

To Jesse he said, “I understand you’ve arrested Courtney again. Isn’t this all a bit much?”

“Your daughter seems to delight in breaking the law and then flaunting it. Within a matter of days she’s become a three-time offender and appears to be either oblivious of that fact or proud of it.”

“You’re harassing her,” Portia said. “You’re purposely singling her out.”

Jesse looked at her.

“You do know that she narrowly escaped with her life in a traffic accident that she caused,” he said.

“Says you,” Portia said.

“Please, Portia,” Richard said. “This won’t get us anywhere. What is it you want, Chief Stone?”

“Your daughter needs some serious discipline.”

“We’ll be the judge of that,” Richard said.

“You’ve already lost that privilege,” Jesse said. “She’ll be judged by the court now.”

“She’s seventeen years old,” Richard said. “She’s a minor. Nothing will come of this, I can assure you.”

“The law is clear about the penalties attached to cell-phone usage while driving.”

“And?”

“At the very least, your daughter’s right to drive is going to be suspended.”

“That’s a crock,” Portia said.

“And because she’s a three-time offender, this office is going to petition the court to have her placed on probation.”

“I’ve heard enough from this bastard,” Portia said as she stood. “I’m going after your head, Chief Stone. And you haven’t experienced the wrath of anyone like me before.”

“Have you always had head issues, Mrs. Cassidy?”

“Excuse me?”

“That’s the second time you singled out my head. I was just wondering if perhaps you had some kind of fixation.”

“There’s no talking to this asshole,” she said to her husband.

Richard Cassidy sighed.

“I suppose this isn’t over,” he said.

“You bet your sweet bippy it’s not,” Jesse said.