Robert B. Parker’s The Devil Wins

36

Instead of stopping at the station, Jesse swung his Explorer toward the bridge to Stiles Island. Molly, who’d been silent during the ride back from Boston, took notice, sitting up in her seat, her head swiveling left and right.

“What are we doing?” she asked, her voice strained. “Where are we going?”

“That’s up to you,” Jesse said.

“I don’t understand.”

“I think you do. I think you understood the minute Szarbo said there were boys and girls on that rowboat.”

“He wasn’t sure about anything he said. You heard him.”

“I did.”

“I don’t—” Molly went quiet.

“Where would they have taken the boat to, Molly?”

“I don’t know,” she said.

“C’mon, Crane.”

Her eyes got a faraway look in them. “Humpback Point, I guess,” she said, her lips turning up at the corners.

“Where?”

“No one calls it that anymore. It’s not there anymore. I mean, it’s there, but there’s a house on it now.”

“Which house?”

“The Sugar Cube,” she said.

Jesse knew the place. Everyone on Stiles and in Paradise knew it. And owing to the fact that it had been featured on the cover of several magazines, people all over the world knew it, too. They called it the Sugar Cube because it looked like one. The only thing that broke up the white exterior was a continuous horizontal line of blue glass panels that ran around all four walls of the home. It was all very minimalist. There were no fencing, no stone walls around the property, no formal driveway, no formal landscaping to speak of. Just some well-kept lawn, a Japanese rock garden, a few pieces of abstract sculpture. The lot’s one signature outdoor feature was a twenty-by-twenty black stone square with a central fire pit surrounded by four long slabs of gray granite. There was a rectangular white marble pool and white cabana as well. Jesse thought it was pretty enough, but about as cozy as a mausoleum. The place was owned by a New York City architect who used it as a summer home and to impress potential clients. It had been closed for the season, the owner having notified local security and the Paradise PD that he wouldn’t be back until after Memorial Day.

Jesse parked his Explorer on the shoulder of the road that ran past the north side of the property. He hopped out and waited for Molly to follow. She came around and stood next to him. The sun was up and strong, but no matter how strong the sun, it wasn’t the time of year to be standing on a finger of land sticking out into the Atlantic. The winds whipped cold sand into their faces.

“Show me,” he said.

“This way.”

Molly walked across the road, through the straw-colored dormant dune grasses, over the low dunes and onto the narrow strip of beach that bordered that part of Stiles. She turned right and led Jesse to a V-shaped outcropping of rocks that nearly bisected the beach.

“You could take a boat out here and tie it up,” she said. “And if it was dark, there was no way you could see a boat tied up here from the water. Then you could climb over the rocks.” She pointed. “See, the rocks kind of form a natural ladder. There wasn’t a paved road here back then, just a kind of a berm between the beach and the field. This lot didn’t used to be elevated the way it is now. When we were kids, the field sloped down below the berm.”

“So passing boats couldn’t see anyone up here.”

Molly nodded.

“Was it called Humpback Point because of the berm?” Jesse said.

She nodded again.

Jesse said, “You smiled before when you called it Humpback Point.”

“I did?”

“You did. There was another reason you guys called it that. Emphasis on the hump in Humpback.”

“You should be a detective,” Molly said.

“Like you.”

She smiled. “That’s just pretending.”

“So kids came here to get high, drink, make out?”

“Sometimes more than make out,” she said.

“Did something happen to you here, Molly?” Jesse’s voice was low and serious.

Molly looked up and saw the pained expression on his face.

“Oh, no, Jesse, it wasn’t like that,” she said. “It was kind of awkward. I guess it always is, right? Was it like that for you?”

He smiled at her. “Awkward doesn’t quite describe it. Quick and awkward is more like it.”

She laughed. “With us it was really sweet and beautiful.”

“It wasn’t your husband?”

She clenched her lips together and shook her head. “I guess I hoped it would be, but I was a sixteen-year-old Catholic high school girl. What did I know about anything? But he was really sweet and gentle.”

“Do you think Mary Kate and Ginny were on that rowboat and do you think they were coming here?” he asked.

“We found their remains in the Swap, Jesse. That’s all the way off the island at the western end of town. And I think the cops searched the island after it was reported they were missing. Didn’t they?”

“They did. Doesn’t mean they weren’t here or that they weren’t killed here.”

“I guess not,” she said. “But...”

“But what? Come on, Molly. You’re not that girl anymore. You’re a cop, the best one I’ve got.”

“The killer crushed Ginny’s skull and he stabbed Mary Kate multiple times. That’s a lot of blood and a lot of deadweight to transport, even if they weren’t very big. How did he get them off the island and over to the Swap without anyone noticing?”

“Good question.”

Jesse’s phone buzzed in his pocket. He checked the screen. It was the ME. He looked over to Molly. “I’ve got to take this,” he said.

Molly walked back down the beach toward Jesse’s SUV.

“What you got for me, Doc?”

“The proximate cause of death was a fractured cervical vertebrae, likely resulting from a violent fall. Several of her vertebrae were broken, so take your pick. As I suspected, she was pretty badly broken up internally. I am listing it as a probable suicide,” the ME said with some hesitation in her voice.

“Probable. Why probable, Doc?”

“It’s her panties.”

“Her panties. What about her panties? Were they on backwards or something.”

“That’s just it, Jesse. They weren’t on her at all.”

“What?”

“She met her maker commando-style,” Tamara said. “Takes all kinds.”

“Let’s keep the missing panties between us, okay? Fax the report over.”

“Already done.”

“You up for a little more friendship tonight,” he asked.

“As long as that’s what it is, sure. If you’re looking for love, you’re looking in all the wrong places.”

“I got the message, Doc. You’re nobody’s right gal.”

“Nice to meet a man who can handle his scotch and pay attention.”

“I’ve never been flattered like that before.”

“Call me later.”

When Jesse got back to his Explorer, Molly had retreated back into herself and her past. He had some other questions to ask her, but let them slide. Molly’s debut as a detective had already been a tough one.

He dropped Molly back at her house before heading to the station.

“Take a little while, then get yourself back to the station,” he said.

“In uniform?”

“Up to you, but it will really get Suit crazed to see you dressed like that. I’ve let him play detective once or twice, too.”

“That’s okay, Jesse,” she said. “I think I’ll get my uniform back on.”