High Profile

20

The law office was in a storefront in a strip mall. Jenn stood in the doorway with her microphone. Her cameraman focused. Sunny stood behind him, watching. She had seen no sign of the stalker.

“Rolling,” the cameraman said.

Jenn knocked on the door. It opened, but not very much.

“Attorney Marc LaRoche?” Jenn said.

Someone muttered something from behind the slightly open door.

“Channel Three, how do you respond to allegations that you have consistently failed to adequately represent female clients in divorce cases?”

Another mumble.

“No, sir,” Jenn said, “it is our business. The public has a right to know.”

There was something inaudible from behind the open door and then the door slammed shut. Jenn pounded on it.

“Attorney LaRoche,” she shouted. “Why won’t you address this issue? Attorney LaRoche?”

Jenn turned and looked into the camera, holding her microphone.

“Perhaps Attorney LaRoche has something to hide,” Jenn said. “Perhaps not. Clearly he doesn’t wish to speak with us. We’ll stay on this until all the truth is told. We don’t take no for an answer. Jenn Stone, Channel Three.”

The cameraman pulled back for a wide shot that showed a sign in the window: ATTORNEY MARC LAROCHE. Jenn kept looking into the camera until the cameraman said, “Okay, Jenn.” Then she lowered the mike and all three of them walked to the News 3 van.

“You gonna do a lead-in?” the cameraman said.

Jenn shook her head.

“No. John will do the lead-in from the anchor desk.”

“Okay,” the cameraman said, “then let’s go home.”

Back at the station, Jenn took the tape to the editing room and left it.

“We’ll edit this afternoon,” she said to Sunny. “Right now we need lunch.”

Sunny smiled.

“I almost always need lunch,” she said.

As they walked across the vast brick plaza in front of City Hall, Sunny said, “Any sign of our stalker?”

Jenn glanced around and shook her head.

“Does he show up some places more than others?” Sunny said.

“No,” Jenn said. “I never know.”

As they walked, Sunny watched the men they passed. A number of them looked at Jenn, and some of them looked at her. It meant little. Jenn was recognizable, and both of them looked good enough for men to glance at them anyway.

In the Parker House they sat at a window in the restaurant. When they had ordered, Jenn leaned forward.

“We need to talk about Jesse and us,” Jenn said.

Sunny nodded.

“Do you love Jesse?” Jenn said.

Sunny sat back in her chair with her hands in her lap. She was quiet for a little while. Jenn waited, still leaning forward.

“When I’m with him,” Sunny said.

“And when you’re not?”

“I don’t miss him as much as I would expect to.”

“How much would you expect to?” Jenn said.

Surprise, surprise, Sunny thought. She’s not dumb.

“As much, I guess, as I miss my ex-husband,” Sunny said.

“Do you see him much?” Jenn said.

“He’s remarried.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t see him,” Jenn said.

“We share a dog,” Sunny said. “I see him when he picks her up or drops her off.”

“Why did you get divorced?” Jenn said.

“I’m not sure, I’m working on it.”

“No, I meant your idea or his?” Jenn said.

“I guess it was mine.”

Through the window Sunny could see a man standing outside King’s Chapel with his hands in his pockets. He was looking toward the hotel. Sunny didn’t know if he could see them through the window. It depended on how the glass was reflecting.

“Could that be our stalker?” she said to Jenn.

Jenn flinched momentarily, then turned to look at the man.

“No,” she said, “that’s not him.”

“You’re sure?” Sunny said.

Jenn nodded slowly.

“If it was him, I’d have that awful feeling.”

The waitress brought their salads. Jenn picked up a scrap of red lettuce from hers and ate it.

“I guess it was my idea, too,” Jenn said.

“To leave Jesse?”

“I left him.”

“Why?”

“I always say it was his drinking, but it wasn’t. His drinking got worse after I left.”

“So what was it?”

Jenn shrugged.

“I was an actress,” she said. “I had an affair with a producer.”

“Was he going to make you a star?” Sunny said.

Jenn made a face.

“Something like that,” she said. “When Jesse found out, he said he could forgive anything once.”

“You promised never to do it again,” Sunny said.

“Yes.”

“But you did it again.”

“Jesse couldn’t really forgive it. He didn’t rant and rave or anything. But... his drinking got away from him, I guess.”

“So you divorced him.”

“Actually, he divorced me. But it was my fault. By the time we divorced, he had no other choice.”

“Do you know why you continued to cheat on him?”

“Yes, I’ve talked with shrinks about it until my tongue hurts. It’s too boring to try and explain.”

“I don’t need to know,” Sunny said. “You still using the same techniques?”

Jenn smiled.

“Fucking my way to the top?” she said.

Sunny shrugged. Jenn ate a crouton.

“It’s worked great,” Jenn said. “I just recently got promoted from weather girl.”

Sunny smiled.

“Show-business opportunities are not unlimited in this market,” she said.

“For sure,” Jenn said.

“Did you come here because Jesse was here?” she said.

“Yes.”

“You still love him?”

“I think so.”

“But you still...”

“I’m still trying to fuck my way to the top,” Jenn said.

“But...” Sunny said.

“Jesse is like your ex-husband, you know? I can’t imagine life without him in it.”

“But...”

“Almost anything I know that matters, I learned from him,” Jenn said.

Sunny waited.

“I always needed to be somebody, and I always thought that what I had to offer was that I looked good and I could fuck,” Jenn said.

Sunny smiled.

“Most of us can,” Sunny said.

“But I do,” Jenn said. “Jesse was always somebody, you know? He was always so self-sufficient and complete and... somebody.”

“Except for you and drinking,” Sunny said.

“Yes,” Jenn said. “I think I kind of liked the drinking. It was a weakness, made him more human, sort of.”

“And you?”

Jenn smiled and nodded.

“I thought that was a weakness, too,” Jenn said. “You’ve had some therapy.”

“Yes.”

“One of my shrinks said if it weren’t for his weaknesses,” Jenn said, “me and booze, he would have been too complete, too... Jesse. If it weren’t for those weaknesses...”

“Of which you were one,” Sunny said.

Jenn nodded.

“Of which I was one,” she said. “Without those weaknesses, I probably couldn’t have loved him.”

Jenn moved her salad around with her fork, without eating any of it.

“How about you?” Jenn said to Sunny.

Sunny didn’t answer right away. She was looking out the window at the corner by King’s Chapel. The man was gone. She smiled without very much pleasure.

“Richie didn’t have any weaknesses,” she said.