Death In Paradise by Robert B. Parker Page A

cop."
    "So?"
    "Seeing a psychiatrist is not something cops and ballplayers are supposed to do."
    "What are they supposed to do?"
    Jesse paused, thinking about it.
    "They're supposed to hang in."
    "Forever?"
    "As needed," Jesse said.
    Lilly looked at him thoughtfully. "Wow," she said. "You need a shrink worse than I thought."
    "Jenn says so, too."
    "She seeing one?"
    "Yes."
    "Well," Lilly said. "You'll go when you're ready."
    Jesse didn't say anything. Maybe he would. But if he did, it would start with the provision that he wasn't going to stop loving Jenn. The champagne was gone so quickly.
You have to concentrate every minute
, Jesse thought.
    "I have made us a lovely supper," Lilly said.
    "I could use one," Jesse said.
    "But if we eat it first," Lilly said, "we'll both be thinking about afterwards and how that's going to go, and won't be able to enjoy the dinner as we should."
    "That is a problem," Jesse said.
    "So I think we should have the afterwards first. Then we'd be free to concentrate on the lovely supper."
    "Sure," Jesse said.
    Lilly put down her champagne glass and stood.
    "Follow me," she said, and walked past the kitchen counter toward her bedroom.
    He felt the familiar smooth curve as he ran his hand up her thigh. The familiar soft slope of her belly. He had done this often. This time, like each time, it was brand-new. He could hear her breathing, felt the pressure of her hips, she was skillful and fully engaged. The part of him that was not making love smiled. Didn't matter if she was skillful. His father used to say, The worst piece of ass I ever had was excellent. There was always that part. The one that wasn't engaged, whether it was lovemaking or fighting. There was always the amused, nonjudgmental
other
observing it. He wondered if she had an
other
.
    Finally, dressed and relaxed, they sat at her glass-top dining table and ate in silence in the gently moving light of the candles Lilly had lighted. There was a bottle of white wine at hand in an ice bucket.
    "That's your real hair color," he said.
    "My hair turned silver when I was twenty-six," Lilly said.
    She poured some white wine into Jesse's glass.
It's all right. I'm nowhere near drunk
. He drank some.
Nice wine
. He ate some of the supper she had served them.
    "What am I eating?" Jesse said.
    "Lobster meat in a light cream sauce," Lilly said. "With sherry, pearl onions and mushrooms and different-colored sweet peppers, over basmati rice."
    "You can cook."
    Lilly smiled at him.
    "Second best thing I do," she said.
    Jesse nodded several times and drank some wine.

Chapter Nineteen
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    Jesse was pretty sure that things would go better with Hooker Royce if his parents weren't around when they talked. He found Hooker at the high school, on the football field, running sprints. He had on expensive athletic shoes, a stopwatch on his wrist and a pair of gray cotton sweatpants that had been cut off to mid thigh. Jesse stood quietly watching Hooker as he did forty-yard sprints, timing each one. He was a muscular, in-shape, middle-sized kid, a little bigger than Jesse, with an even tan and a blond crew cut. When Hooker paused to rest, Jesse spoke to him.
    "My name's Jesse Stone. I'm with the police in Paradise."
    "Is it about Billie?"
    "It is."
    "I don't know where she is. I already told the lady from your department that called me."
    Jesse nodded. They began to walk around the quarter-mile track that circled the field.
    "When's football start at Yale?" Jesse said.
    "I'm supposed to show up day after Labor Day."
    "You a running back?" Jesse said.
    "Yes."
    "What'd you run out of in high school?" Jesse said.
    "Deep back in the I. You play?"
    "High school," Jesse said. "You plan to show up in shape."
    "Be dumb not to," Hooker said.
    "You were a
Globe
all-scholastic in three sports," Jesse said.
    Hooker nodded.
    "And an honor student."
    Hooker nodded again.
    "Full boat to Yale?"
    "Yes."
    "You're a nice-looking kid," Jesse said.
    "Thank you."
    "Probably don't