Robert B. Parker’s the Hangman’s Sonnet

46

Back at the office, Jesse was working off some of his energy by pounding a hardball into the pocket of his old glove. Then, as suddenly as he had started, he stopped and called Alisha into his office.

“What is it, Jesse?” she asked, closing the door behind her.

“I’m sorry about yesterday. You shouldn’t have been put in that situation.”

“You don’t have to apologize to me, Jesse. Where would I be if you didn’t hire me? I know I wasn’t who they wanted you to hire. I was happy to help. Proud that Molly trusted me enough to ask.”

“I’m grateful, but that’s not the point, Alisha. It’s not your job to babysit me. It’s not Molly’s, either. I’m sorry.”

“Apology accepted.”

There was a knock at the office door and it opened before Jesse could answer.

“This a private party or can anyone join?” Molly asked, stepping in and closing the door behind her.

Alisha said, “Is that all, Jesse?”

“Sure.”

Molly was curious, but waited until Alisha had gone back to the desk. “What was that about?”

“Yesterday.”

“Oh.”

“‘Oh’ is right.”

“If you’re going to bite my head off for—”

“Relax,” Jesse said, interrupting her. “I was apologizing to her.”

“Why? I was the one who got her in the middle of the situation.”

“But there shouldn’t have been a situation. I was responsible for that.”

Molly wasn’t going to argue with him, so that’s where they left it.

Jesse asked, “Are you in for the day?”

“For as long as you need me or until the overtime budget runs out. I’ve cooked enough food for my family for the next two days and everyone knows where they can find me.”

Jesse waved Molly over to his desk and handed her the photo of the missing dragonfly ring.

“My goodness, it’s gorgeous.” Molly held out her left hand next to the photo as if imagining the ring on her finger.

“It’s also missing from Maude Cain’s house.”

Jesse told Molly about his visit with Henry Wilmott. As he explained it to her, he could see Molly’s wheels turning.

She asked, “You think Curnutt and Bolton ripped Maude’s house apart to find this ring? It would explain why one might kill the other if they found it.”

“In L.A. I handled more than one case where friends killed each other over pocket change, so something worth as much as that ring would be reason enough.”

Molly saw the look on Jesse’s face. “But this isn’t L.A. and that ring isn’t pocket change. I can tell you don’t like it.”

“You do know me.”

“Too well,” Molly said with a laugh. “So what’s bothering you about it?”

“Everything.”

“That narrows it down.”

“Okay, how do two low-rent guys like Curnutt and Bolton know about this ring? You read their sheets. Either one of them strike you as a master jewel thief?”

“You know what it’s like inside. All those guys do is talk about big scores.”

“But only a very few people even knew she had the ring or about her deal with the museum.”

“Maybe someone hired Bolton and Curnutt.”

Jesse smiled. “I like that better, but unless you suspect Henry Wilmott, Maude’s lawyer, or Maude herself, who hired them? And it doesn’t explain why Bolton would make Curnutt come back to Paradise to kill him.”

“Maybe they never left town and maybe Bolton just picked the wrong place to get rid of his partner.”

“And maybe he just happened to decide to call it in to the police to make sure the body was found. I’m also pretty sure the person who called it in to the station was the killer. Why would Bolton do that?”

“Okay, so then what?”

“I don’t know. I read the ballistics report,” Jesse said. “The bullets that killed Curnutt were .22s, most likely fired from a Walther.”

“Yeah, Jesse, I read it, too. The slug recovered from the head was badly distorted, but the one recovered from the chest was in pretty good shape.”

“We recovered a nine-millimeter at the scene with Curnutt’s prints all over the gun and ammo. Either Bolton or Curnutt strike you as types to carry .22s or to bother with homemade sound suppressors?”

Now Molly was wearing the same skeptical face as her chief. “Okay, Jesse, so if the ring is missing but no one hired these guys to find it and the job wasn’t their idea—”

“It means they were looking for something else.”

“But what?”

“You tell me.”