Trouble in Paradise

Thirty-Seven

“That registration you wanted me to check?” Suitcase said as he came into the office. “Car’s registered to Harry Smith, okay. Address on Pier Seven in Charlestown.” He handed Jesse the pink message sheet. Jesse glanced at it. The address was the rehabbed Charlestown Navy Yard. He folded the pink slip and put it in his shirt pocket.

“Heard you was with Abby at the Gull last night,” Suitcase Simpson said. “Heard she had a few.”

“Observant,” Jesse said.

“Heard she was all over you.”

“I think one is connected to the other,” Jesse said.

“She spend the night at your place?”

“Suit, maybe you should start dating more,” Jesse said.

“Me and the other guys chipped in,” Suitcase said, “bought you these.”

He took a large bottle of multivitamins from the side pocket of his uniform jacket, handed them to Jesse, and nearly collapsed with laughter.

“Goddamn, Jesse — talk about a cock jockey,” Suitcase struggled to speak through the laughter. “Your ex-wife... Marcy Campbell... Abby... I’m going to start walking... my mother... to church.”

He staggered back against the wall of Jesse’s office, now laughing too hard to stand upright. His eyes were wet; his red cheeks were crimson. Jesse smiled and waited for him to get control. Suitcase was only twenty-five. He was a big twenty-five but not a very old one. Molly Crane knocked on the door as she opened it.

“Morris Comden’s here, Jesse,” she said. “Wants to see you alone.”

“Probably looking for sex tips,” Suitcase gasped.

“Take Suit out, and send Morris in,” Jesse said.

“You give him the vitamins?” Molly said to Suitcase.

Suitcase nodded, and Molly giggled and left the door open as she and Suitcase went out. In a moment Morris Comden came in, glancing back over his shoulder at the two cops who’d just left.

“Must be a hell of a joke, Jess,” Comden said.

“Doesn’t take a hell of a joke to get those two hysterical,” Jesse said. “What’s up, Morris?”

Comden looked around the office and glanced back at the half-open door.

“Mind if I close the door, Jess?”

“No.”

Comden got up and closed the door and came back and sat down. He hated how Jesse always just answered your question and nothing more.

“We got us a problem, Jess.”

Jesse waited.

“You know I’ve always been in your corner,” Comden said.

Jesse waited.

“You remember how I stood with you during the trouble last year,” Comden said.

“No, Morris, I don’t.”

Comden didn’t know what to say to that, so he went on as if Jesse hadn’t spoken.

“But this is a tough one,” Comden said. His voice was a little hoarse, as if he needed to clear his throat. “Kay Hopkins.”

Jesse leaned back in his chair with his elbows resting on the arms of the chair and his fingers laced across his flat stomach.

“You know she’s always backed me politically,” Comden said.

Jesse nodded.

“And her husband is financially well connected.”

“Uh-huh.”

Bastard doesn’t help you, Morris thought. He never helps you. He just sits there.

“Charlie makes a difference in a town like this,” Comden said. “And I’ve been very privileged to call Charlie my friend.”

“And supporter,” Jesse said.

“Charlie has supported me, and Kay has worked very hard for me.”

The office was quiet. Occasionally there was the sound of traffic going by on Summer Street. And the sound of a door shutting somewhere down the hall.

“And, ah, now, damn it, Jess they’re asking for my support.”

“And?”

“And I think they have a right to it.”

Again the room was silent. Jesse was perfectly still in his chair. Comden was unable to say anything else.

Finally Jesse said, “Well if that’s all you got to say, Morris, nice talking to you.”

“Jess... I... they, ah, want you to resign.”

“I’m sure they do,” Jesse said.

“They’re adamant.”

“I’m sure they are.”

“Jesus, Jess... Will you resign?”

“No.”

“They are prepared to go all the way with it.”

“I’m sure they are.”

“I... I can’t promise where I’ll come down on this issue, Jess.”

“I know where you’ll come down, Morris,” Jesse said gently. “Without Kay’s support and Charlie’s money, you can’t get elected, and being a selectman in Paradise is the only thing you ever achieved. Otherwise you’re just a badly dressed inconsequential dork.”

“Jess, you got no business talking to me that way.”

“And you’ll be trying to get me fired, so Kay Hopkins will be grateful and Charlie Hopkins will help you keep your job and you won’t have to go on welfare.”

“Jess, damn it, don’t you see I’m trying to talk some sense here? You resign. I’ll see that you get an excellent recommendation, anywhere you apply.”

“There’s a couple things, Morris. It will be hard to fire me. Talk with Nick Petrocelli about that. And two, I’m like you. I’m only good at one thing, and this is it. If I’m not doing this, what the hell am I? A guy with a drinking problem that can’t get his marriage straightened out.”

“I thought you were divorced,” Comden said.

“So I’m not going to resign,” Jesse said. “Just like you, I’m going to hang on as hard as I can to the only thing that seems to work in my life.”

“Well, you don’t leave me much choice, Jess.”

“I don’t have any to leave you, Morris.”

“I wish it wasn’t this way, Jess.”

“Sure.”

Comden had risen and was standing uneasily. He had every intention of being tough as nails. But he felt as if Jesse’s stare was pushing him backward.

“I hope we’re not enemies, Jess.”

“The hell we’re not,” Jesse said.

“We’re both just trying to do our job,” Comden said.

“Think about it anyway you want, Morris. We’re enemies, and I don’t want you in my office anymore.”

Comden opened his mouth, couldn’t think of anything to say, stood there open-mouthed for an indecisive moment, and then turned and went out. Jesse sat staring after him.

“And if you keep calling me Jess,” he said out loud in the empty office, “I’ll cut off whatever small balls you have.”

Comden didn’t hear him, but Jesse liked saying it anyway. It made him smile to himself in the quiet office.