Night Passage (A Jesse Stone Novel)

them out.”
    “Oh sure, Jesse, no sweat. I won’t say a damned word.”
    “And the other thing, Suit, if you know anybody that tried to get a gun permit and couldn’t, could you let me know his name?”
    “That off the record too, Jesse?”
    “Yes.”
    “Okay,” Simpson said and his round pink face widened as he smiled. “Suitcase Simpson, Undercover.”

36
     
    The strand movie theater in the old downtown section of Paradise was left over from the time when every town had a movie theater. There was a balcony. The ceiling was high. And the screen was big, with maroon drapes gathered at each side of it. Jesse didn’t like the movie much. But he liked the theater. And he enjoyed being with Abby.
    “What’d you think?” she said as they walked out onto Washington Street.
    “The computer broke, they’d have had no movie,” Jesse said.
    He had the slightly disoriented lightness he always felt coming out of a movie.
    “Computer?” Abby said. “Oh, you mean all the special effects.”
    “Un huh.”
    “But that’s how film is made these days. I mean art is partly about making use of the technology available.”
    “Art?” Jesse said.
    There was a gym on the second floor next to the theater, and coming out the front door of the gym and walking toward them was Jo Jo Genest. He had on a cutoff black tee shirt and gray sweatpants and a black headband. His long hair was wet with sweat. He was wearing the fingerless leather gloves that everyone wore in the movies. His face was dark with an unshaven beard. The tee shirt read, I am an animal. I will eat you , across the front.
    “Hey, Chief Stone,” Jo Jo said. “How you doing?”
    Jesse looked at him without speaking.
    “How you doing, little lady,” Jo Jo said.
    “Fine,” Abby said.
    “Closing in on that cat killer, chief?”
    Jesse continued to look at him dead-eyed.
    “Whatsa matter, you can’t hear me?” Jo Jo said.
    Some of the people coming from the movie slowed, looking covertly at the confrontation.
    “You got an alibi for the time of the cat killing?” Jesse said. He was smiling, playing to the crowd, which was pretending not to notice as it moved around the scene.
    “Sure do,” Jo Jo said.
    “How do you know when the cat was killed?” Jesse said.
    “Huh?”
    Jo Jo stopped smiling.
    “You got an alibi for the time the cat was killed, you must know when the cat was killed. How do you know that?”
    “Hey, don’t be an asshole, Stone. I just meant whenever it happened, I didn’t do it, so I’d have an alibi.”
    “Turn around,” Jesse said.
    His voice was flat.
    “What?”
    “Turn around. Put your hands flat against the wall.”
    “Wait a freaking minute, Stone.”
    “You disobeying the lawful order of a policeman?” Jesse said.
    He unbuttoned his blazer jacket.
    “What are you gonna do? Shoot me?” Jo Jo said.
    “Hands on the wall,” Jesse said in the same flat voice.
    Abby had taken a couple of steps away from Jesse, moving closer to the passersby who paused and stared, or walked by as if nothing were happening, depending on their temperament.
    “Oh for crissake,” Jo Jo said.
    He placed his hands flat against the building.
    “Step away from the building, leaving your hands in place,” Jesse said. “Spread your legs.”
    Jo Jo did as he was told. His face was flushed, and his breath was coming shorter. Jesse tapped his ankles with the edge of one foot, moving Jo Jo’s feet farther apart. Then he patted him down. When he was through, he stepped back away from Jo Jo and stared at him without speaking.
    “How long am I supposed to stand here?” Jo Jo said.
    “Until I tell you to stop,” Jesse said.
    He continued to look silently at Jo Jo for another full minute.
    Then he said, “Okay.”
    Jo Jo straightened and turned from the wall. He glared at Jesse without speaking. Jesse stared back at him.
    Then Jesse spoke very softly. “We both know something, don’t we, pal?”
    “Whaddya mean?”
    “We both know,” Jesse said again.
    “Aw,” Jo Jo said and made a push-away motion with his left hand, and stepped past Jesse and walked down the street away from them, trying to swagger.
    Jesse stepped over beside Abby.
    “Want to eat at the Rosewood?” Jesse said.
    “Jesus Christ,” Abby said.

37
     
    “I don’t like this,” Hasty said to Jo Jo as they walked along Tremont Street.
    “Gino says it’s this way or no way,” Jo Jo said. “He likes to see who he’s doing business with.”
    “Why does