Robert B. Parker’s Damned If You Do

19

Jesse slowly pulled his cruiser into Paradise Cove. The gazebo sat on a small promontory, located at the water’s edge, on the curve of an inlet whose churning waters merged with the Atlantic in the near distance. Several yachts and small craft were sailing the sunlit cove. A handful of children played on the sandy beach nearby. The screeching of gulls interrupted the quiet. A warm breeze carried with it the pungent smell of the ocean.

On one of the benches inside the gazebo sat a large young African American man. He was wearing a black-and-gold Pittsburgh Steelers jersey that hung loosely over his baggy jeans. On the back, the name Roethlisberger was embroidered above the number seven. He had on high-top black sneakers without laces. Gold crosses hung from each of his pierced ears. There were two heavy gold chains around his neck. A Steelers cap, worn backward, was perched on his head. He had a small patch of facial hair on his otherwise beardless chin.

Jesse sat on the bench opposite him. The young man stared at him guilelessly.

“I never met no police chief before,” Nelly said.

“Am I fearful and intimidating?”

“You don’t look so bad.”

“And here I was expecting you to be quaking in your Nikes.”

Nelly didn’t say anything.

“Why do they call you Fat Boy Nelly?”

“Why you want to know?”

“Curiosity, I guess.”

“I always had weight issues. I always been gay.”

“You’re a gay pimp?”

“I never said nothin’ about bein’ no pimp.”

Then he smiled and said, “But yeah, I guess that’s right.”

The smile that lit up Nelly’s face was boyish and sincere. He was an attractive young man, in large part due to an air of innocence that masked whatever cunning and menace he kept hidden.

“The girls like me ’cause they know I got no sex issues with them,” Nelly said. “They know I look out for them.”

“Thomas Walker?”

“Piece of shit,” he said.

“He speaks well of you,” Jesse said.

“Not behind my back. I scare Thomas Walker.”

“Why?”

“’Cause I’m the future. He afraid I gonna ace him out of business.”

Jesse didn’t say anything.

“He know I ain’t scared of him. He know I would put a bullet in his head soon as look at him. He ain’t never seen nothin’ like Nelly before. We be worlds apart. You care about any of this shit?”

“Not really,” Jesse said. “I’m a big fan of peace in the valley.”

“Which means?”

“Bluster doesn’t interest me. If you boys are gonna play to the death, play somewhere else.”

“Don’t make no trouble on your turf?”

“Something like that.”

“I knew a girl went missing,” Nelly said. “Maybe she the one you looking for.”

“How did you know her?”

“I try to get her in my stable. Thomas try to get her in his stable, too. She say no to us both.”

“Why?”

“She want to be independent. She don’t think she need anyone to look after her.”

“You try to convince her otherwise?”

“Yeah. She tell me she think it over. Then I don’t see her no more. I figure she could be your Jane Doe.”

“How is it she caught your attention?”

“She different. She smart. She not just another hooker. And that’s not to say she ain’t great-looking or enthusiastic about her job. She understand the business she in, and she already have an impressive customer base to prove it.”

“She have a name?”

“When she talk with me she say her name was Janet Becquer. She pronounce it Becker but spell it different.”

“She have an address,” Jesse said.

“You mean where she live?”

“Or where she came from?”

“She from here. She say she start in the business here.”

“Anything else?”

“What anything else?”

“Friends. Customers. Any other names?”

“Why you want to know that?”

“I think she was killed by one of her customers.”

“Nelly don’t know nothin’ about that.”

“Can you ask around?”

“You want me to ask around about Janet Becquer’s customers?”

“Yes.”

“I think about it.”

“Anything you can learn about her could be helpful.”

Nelly didn’t say anything.

“Anything that might lead us to her friends or family.”

“You gonna deputize me for doin’ this shit?”

“You going to enroll in the Police Academy?”

Nelly broke into a full-faced grin.

“Yeah. Right,” he said.

“Customers?”

“I ask around. Maybe one of them other girls might know something.”

“Thanks, Nelly.”

“I never met no cop who be nice to me before,” Nelly said.

“First time for everything.”

“Yeah. I call you I find something.”

Jesse took out one of his cards and wrote his cell phone number on it. He handed it to Nelly.

“Call me on my cell,” he said.

“If I find somethin’.”

Jesse extended his hand. Nelly looked at him for a moment. Then he reached out and gripped it.

“You ain’t so bad,” he said.