For the first time in Jesse’s recent memory, Nita Thompson and the mayor seemed pleased to breathe the same air he did. He knew better. It wouldn’t last. In fact, the mayor was trying her darnedest to poke holes in their détente, even as Nita Thompson was working the phones with the Boston media.
“You’re one-hundred-percent positive these are the men?” Mayor Walker asked, biting her lip in anticipation.
“No.”
“No!”
“These are the names given to me by a confidential informant and Rudy Walsh picked both men out of separate photo arrays. Am I sure these are the men? Yes. Am I a hundred percent sure? No.”
“I’m going to go in front of cameras and microphones in an hour and I don’t intend to look foolish when I do so, nor do I want to be proved a fool later on.”
“Prisons are full of innocent men and women. Just ask anyone inside. But there are actually a few who don’t belong there, and that’s not right. No doubt the people who put them in there were sure they were guilty. Maybe they were a hundred percent sure.”
“Save the sermons for Sunday school, Jesse. Give me an answer.”
“I’m as sure as I’m going to be until I get a voluntary confession.”
“This confidential informant. You trust him?”
“I didn’t say it was a him.”
“Don’t be obstinate, Jesse.”
“I trust my source and there was no doubt in Rudy Walsh’s mind. He didn’t hesitate for a second. Went right to both of them.”
Nita Thompson put down the phone and stepped between the nearly warring parties, finding herself in the unlikely position of peacemaker.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “This is a good day all around. A win for the mayor and for the Paradise PD.”
Jesse said, “When we bring them in, it’ll be a win.”
The mayor pointed at Jesse. “And he can’t say he’s a hundred percent sure these are the perpetrators.”
That displeased Thompson.
“Look, Stone, the mayor is going to put herself on the line here. So you better be damned sure about your facts.”
Jesse had reached his politics-tolerance threshold. He had been through this same two-step in L.A. with a few high-profile homicide cases. Ones where there was a lot of public pressure to solve the cases and/or a load of political capital to be gained. The pols and the commissioners were always hot to parade any piece of good news in front of the media but never wanted to risk blowback if the details turned out to be less than rock-solid. He’d been through it on an almost yearly basis here in Paradise. If it wasn’t the mayor, it was a selectman who wanted to reap all the benefit while letting Jesse take all the risk. His job had been threatened so many times, he’d lost count. He stared directly into Nita Thompson’s eyes.
“No, Nita, you look. You want the mayor to take a lap of honor before we even have these guys in custody and have a chance to question them, that’s on you.”
Thompson withered under Jesse’s gaze, her upper lip twitching slightly. She didn’t like it, but she knew he was right. The mayor screwed up her face, opened her mouth to say something. Nita Thompson stopped her by speaking first.
“What do you suggest, Chief?”
“Let the mayor make a brief statement. Something about her commitment to keeping Paradise safe for its citizens, but noncommittal in terms of the suspects. Then let her turn the announcement about the potential suspects over to Lundquist and me. She gets face time on camera, but it’s the staties and the Paradise PD who’ll take the lumps if I’m wrong.”
Nita Thompson fiddled with her fingers and her lips as she listened. “I’ll never underestimate you again, Chief,” she said. “You’re better at this game than I imagined.”
Jesse shook his head in disdain.
“What’s that about, Jesse?” the mayor wanted to know. “Nita just gave you a compliment. The polite thing to do is to say ‘Thank you.’”
“Game? Polite thing to do? This is where people like you, Miss Thompson, and I part ways. You see this as a game, as a lever to boost your career or a club to beat mine down. I played a game for a living for a long time. I know what a game is and I know what police work is. I never get them confused. When you decide how you want the press conference to go, call me.”
He turned and headed out of the mayor’s office, making sure not to slam the door shut behind him.