Stranger in Paradise

“I’ll leave the door open,” Molly said, “and close the curtain. You need anything, come see me.”

Amber nodded. Molly went back to the front desk.

“She jumps pretty quick when you speak,” Molly said.

“She knows I mean it,” Crow said.

Molly nodded. Crow was wearing a faded tan safari shirt with short sleeves. Molly was fascinated with the play of intricate muscles in his arms.

“So what do you think we’re going to do with her?” Molly said.

“Her mother’s dead,” Crow said. “She doesn’t want to go back to her father. She’s on the run from her boyfriend.”

“So you don’t want to look out for her?”

“That’s what I’m doing now,” Crow said.

“We can’t keep her here until she’s like twenty-one,” Molly said. “I mean, she can’t live in the jail.”

“Maybe we can figure something out,” he said.

Molly nodded. They were quiet. Crow seemed comfortable with quiet. He’s all angles and planes, Molly thought, like some kind of really good machine, where everything works perfectly. His eyes were black and seemed to penetrate everything. Molly felt as if he could see through her clothes. It was almost embarrassing.

“Why do you care?” Molly said to Crow.

“I feel like it,” Crow said.

“You care because you feel like caring?”

“Yes.”

“What if you didn’t feel like it?”

“Then I wouldn’t,” Crow said.

He smiled at her.

“I know who you are,” Molly said. “And I know what you do. Actually, you probably do worse than what I know.”

“Much,” Crow said.

“But there seems to be this streak of—What? Chivalry?—running through it.”

“Maybe,” Crow said.

“You like women.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Crow’s eyes held on her. She felt herself blushing. Crow smiled.

“Besides that,” Molly said.

“That’s plenty,” Crow said.

“But is that all?” Molly said.

“Trying to figure me out is a waste of time,” he said.

“Have you figured you out?” Molly said.

“I know what I feel like doing,” Crow said. “And what I don’t.”

“Is that enough?” Molly said.

“Yes,” Crow said. “It is.”

Again, Molly had the odd feeling that she was naked under his gaze. It was a puzzling feeling. It’s even more puzzling, she thought, that maybe I like it.

41.

“Amber Francisco is here,” Molly said when Jesse came into the station.

“Why?”

“Crow brought her in,” Molly said.

“Where is he?”

“He left,” Molly said. “Told me he’d check in with you later.”

“Where is she?” Jesse said.

“In back,” Molly said. “In the women’s cell.”

“Let’s go see her,” Jesse said.

“You want me to fill you in first?” Molly said.

“Nope. I’d rather start fresh. We’ll talk with her and you can compare what she says to what you know.”

Molly nodded and walked with Jesse back to the curtained cell. Molly pulled the curtain aside and looked in.

Amber was lying on her side with her legs bent and her eyes closed. She had washed her face and looked much younger.

“Amber?” Molly said. “You awake?”

Amber opened her eyes and didn’t speak. Molly nodded and pulled the curtain aside and she and Jesse went in. Amber stared at them without moving.

“You remember me, Amber?” Jesse said.

She didn’t say anything.

“If we’re going to work this out, you’ll need to talk. You may as well start now,” Jesse said. “You remember me?”

“Yes.”

“You know who I am?”

“Yes.”

“How did you get here?”

“Guys in a pickup truck brought me from Marshport.”

She remained lying on her side. Her face held no animation. Her voice was flat.

“How come?” Jesse said.

“My boyfriend was gonna sell me back to my father.”

“Your boyfriend is Esteban Carty?”

She didn’t answer.

“What’s your boyfriend’s name?” Jesse said.

She shook her head.

“Did he kill your mother?”

She didn’t answer.

“Why won’t you talk about him?” Jesse said.

“I won’t,” Amber said.

“Why not?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you know who killed your mother?”

She didn’t answer.

“Do you?” Jesse said.

“No.”

“Why did you call Crow?” Jesse said.

She shrugged, which, Jesse thought, might not be easy lying on your side.

“You think he’d protect you from your boyfriend?”

“I had his phone number,” she said.

“And you thought he’d protect you?”

“I thought Esteban would be afraid of him.”

“Your boyfriend,” Jesse said. “Esteban?”

“No. I didn’t mean Esteban. My boyfriend is another man.”

“But you said ‘Esteban.’”

“No,” she said.

Jesse nodded.

“You could have called us,” he said.

“The police?”

“Uh-huh, nine-one-one would have done it.”

“I was afraid you’d arrest me.”

“Arrest you for what?” Jesse said.

“I don’t know,” she said. “For nothing…that’s what cops do.”

“Why don’t you want to go back to your father?” Jesse said.

“He’s creepy,” Amber said. “He’s got all these creepy guys around. And he’ll make me go to school with the nuns. Nuns are creepy.”

Jesse nodded.

“What’s your father do for a living?” Jesse said.

“He does a lot of stuff. He makes a lot of money. But he’s creepy.”

“Any of the creepy guys around him bother you any?” Jesse said.

“Yeah.”

“You ever tell him?”

“He told me to shut up and not talk dirty.”

Jesse nodded.

“So you have a plan?”

“Plan?”

“Yeah,” Jesse said. “Where you’re going to live. What you’re going to do for work.”

She looked at him silently with her eyes wide and empty for a long time.

Then she said, “I don’t have no plan.”