"Gotta start somewhere," Jesse said.
"Lemme make a suggestion," Parrott said. "I got a Rotary meeting at noon, but my nephew is here; why don't I turn you over to him. I'll bet he even knows these girls."
"Go to high school with them?" Jesse said.
"No," Parrott said. "He went to Hempstead High. Bangstons woulda sent their kids to Holy Spirit."
"Catholic school," Jesse said.
"Yeah. But the schools are close and the kids mix with each other," Parrott said.
He leaned forward and flipped a switch on the intercom.
"Sergeant Mike Mayo, please come to the chief's office," Parrott said.
27
M
AYO WAS obviously a weight lifter, a big genial-looking guy with short red hair and a nineteen-inch neck. He shook hands with Jesse and Suit when they were introduced.
"Mikey," Parrott said. "These people are interested in the Bangston twins; you know them?"
Mayo smiled.
"I do," he said.
"Could you talk to Jesse and Luther about them?" Parrott said. "I gotta go to Rotary."
"Sure," Mayo said.
"Use my office," Parrott said. "Close the door when you're through."
Parrott shook hands with Jesse and Suitcase and left. Mayo went around and sat behind Parrott's desk.
"Try it out for size," he said.
"I notice you smiled when Chief Parrott asked if you knew the Bangston twins."
Mayo nodded.
"Tell me why you want to know about them," Mayo said.
Jesse told him.
"Living side by side," Mayo said.
"Uh-huh."
Mayo shook his head and smiled again.
"I knew them," he said. "We all knew them. We went to Hempstead, they went to Spirit. But we still hung together. We all believed that Spirit girls were easy. . . . You know how it was in high school."
"Ever hopeful," Jesse said.
Mayo nodded.
"We used to call them the Bang Bang Twins."
"Because they were, in fact, easy?" Jesse said.
"Yes."
"None of my business," Jesse said. "But did you . . . ?"
"Most of us did," Mayo said. "But they had a trick they did."
"Trick," Jesse said.
"You never knew which one you were having sex with."
"On purpose?" Jesse said.
"Yeah, they used to like to switch so one time you'd be with one of them, and next time you would think you were with her and you were with her sister."
"How'd you know?" Suit said.
"When it was over, they'd tell you," Mayo said. "Sometimes they'd take turns with you and make you guess who was who."
"Guess they didn't take all that Catholic stuff too serious," Suit said.
"Their parents did," Mayo said.
"They were famous for this twin sex trick?" Jesse said.
"Yeah, the Bang Bang Twins."
"I wonder why they did it," Jesse said.
"They liked it, I guess," Mayo said. "They were always into the twin thing, you know. I mean, a lot of twins dress different, do their hair different, maybe, different makeup. I mean, they don't want to be exactly the same."
"The Bang Bangs did?" Jesse said.
"They wanted to be identical," Mayo said. "When we were in grammar school they always came to school in the same outfits, same hair, everything."
"So their mother probably wanted them to look alike," Jesse said.
"I guess."
"Know the parents?"
"Not really. Old man was a contractor. He's dead now. They got a lot of money. Big house on the water. Big into church stuff. Probably guilt."
"About what?" Jesse said.
"Old man was always kind of a sleaze. Never got convicted. But a lotta talk about not meeting the specs for his construction deals. Lotta talk about sweetheart deals with the state. Stuff like that. Lotta people say he fooled around."
"How'd he die?" Jesse said.
"Heart attack," Mayo said. "On a business trip to Cleveland. I think he was in the saddle at the time."
"How about the mother?" Jesse said.
"Mother's still around."
"Can you take us over there?" Jesse said.
"Sure," Mayo said.
28
M
RS. BANGSTON WAS a brusque woman, not tall but erect. Her hair was iron-gray. She had pince-nez glasses, and she reminded Jesse of his elementary-school principal. They sat in the living room of her big glass-fronted modern home looking out over Hempstead Bay. It seemed totally out of keeping with the white-clapboard/weathered-shingle look of the town. It was out of keeping with the furnishings as well, which were overstuffed Victorian everywhere that Jesse could see. It was as if her husband had built the outside and she had furnished the inside without regard to each other.
"I did not know that Roberta's husband had died," she said. "I am sorry to hear it, and sorrier still that he was murdered."
"No one told you?" Jesse said.
"No."
"Perhaps they wanted to spare you," Jesse said.
"My girls call every Christmas and Easter," Mrs. Bangston said. "I get flowers every Mother's Day. I forward their mail."
"After all these years?" Jesse said.
"Yes, they still get mail here."
"Do you see much of them?" Jesse said.
"Not very much," she said. "They are dutiful, but nothing more."
"Do you know their husbands?"
"I have never met either," Mrs. Bangston said.
"Not even at the weddings?" Jesse said.
"No."
There were some rosary beads on the coffee table in front of where she sat. She looked at them.
"You weren't at the weddings?" Jesse said.
"No."
"Either wedding," Jesse said.
"No."
"Were you invited?" Jesse said.
"Yes."
"But?"
"I did not approve of the men they were marrying," Mrs. Bangston said.
"What did you disapprove of?" Jesse said.
"They were both criminals," Mrs. Bangston said.
"How did you know that?" Jesse said.
"My husband told me."
"He knew these men?"
"I don't know," Mrs. Bangston said. "My husband knew a great many people. Business was his sphere; mine was home and family."
"Your husband did business with the men your daughters married?"
"I don't know."
"Do you know how they met their husbands?"
"I do not," she said.
She leaned forward and picked up her rosary beads from the coffee table and held them in her left hand.
"They had the finest religious education we could give them. Holy Spirit High School. Paulus College. They made their First Communion side by side in identical white dresses. They were confirmed together . . . and they married criminals."
"The Church is important to you," Jesse said.
Jesse had no idea where he was going. But he wanted to keep her talking.
"It has been the center of my life," she said. "My late husband and I attended Mass every Sunday. Since he has gone, I attend every morning. It is my consolation."
"The girls are the most identical twins I've ever seen," Jesse said.
"Yes. Even I cannot always distinguish them."
"They dress alike," Jesse said. "They do their hair alike. Makeup, manner, everything."
"Yes."
"Did you encourage them in that?" Jesse said.
"Of course; had God not wanted them to remain identical, he would not have created them identical."
"Did your husband feel that way, too?" Jesse said.
She smiled and looked past Jesse out the wide front window at the whitecaps in the bay.
"My husband used to say he was luckier than other fathers. He had the same daughter twice."
The room was quiet. Mayo was sitting a little behind Jesse with his arms folded. Suit sat beside Jesse with his hands folded in his lap.
"You got any questions, Suit?" Jesse said.
Suit looked startled. Jesse waited.
"Were your daughters good girls?" he said finally.
"They were angels when they were small. As adults they have disappointed me," Mrs. Bangston said.
"Anything besides marrying men you disapproved of?" Suit said.
"No," Mrs. Bangston said.
Suit looked at Jesse.
"Anything at all," Jesse said, "that you can think of that might aid us in our investigation?"
"No."
The room was silent. Mrs. Bangston continued to look past them at the ocean. It was as if she'd left them. The beads moved in her left hand, and Jesse realized she was praying. He stood.
"Thank you for your time, Mrs. Bangston," he said.
She nodded slightly and continued to move the beads slowly with her left hand.
"We'll find our way out," Jesse said.
Again, a slight nod.
The three cops left.
29
T
HE BANG BANG TWINS ," Suit said, as they drove back up Route 3 toward Boston.
"Yep."
"Wish we'd had them when I was in high school," Suit said.
"Luck of the draw," Jesse said.
"You said those sisters were so nice," Suit said.
"I did," Jesse said.
"And you didn't know the half of it," Suit said.
Jesse nodded.
"I think we need to find out if they are still the Bang Bang Twins."
"Want me to see what I can learn?" Suit said.
"I do," Jesse said. "You grew up in this town. They've lived here awhile. Maybe you know some of the same people."
"I don't know any people like that," Suit said.
"Maybe Hasty Hathaway's wife?" Jesse said.
Suit's face turned red.
"Man, you don't forget nothing," he said.
"Of course not," Jesse said. "I'm the chief of police."
"Mother was kind of weird," Suit said.
"She's religious," Jesse said.
"Like I said."
"It works for some people," Jesse said.
"Not for the Bang Bang Twins," Suit said.
"So young, so judgmental," Jesse said.
"What? You think what they do is okay?"
Jesse shrugged.
"You think Mrs. Bangston knows about the Bang Bang stuff?" Suit said.
"Yes."
"Because she sort of clammed up when you asked her about why she was disappointed in them?"
"Uh-huh."
"See," Suit said. "I notice stuff."
"You do," Jesse said. "There's a donut place at this next exit."
"You notice stuff, too," Suit said, and turned into the exit.
They sat in the car in the parking lot and had donuts and coffee.
"All-American grub," Suit said.
"Highly nutritious," Jesse said. "I wonder how the father knew Knocko and Reggie were bad guys."
Suit swallowed some donut and drank coffee.
"Maybe they done some business or something," Suit said. "Mike says the old man was kind of shady."
"Be good to know," Jesse said.
"Why?"
"Because we don't know," Jesse said.
"That's what you always say."
"Except when we do know," Jesse said.
"Except then," Suit said. "Is any of this going to solve our two murders?"
"Maybe," Jesse said.
"Or maybe not?"
"Or maybe not," Jesse said.
"I guess we should look into that, too," Suit said.
"I'll do that," Jesse said. "You work on the Bang Bang Twins."
"So, why'd you drag me along all the way down to Hempstead?"
"Training," Jesse said.
"So I could become a crack sleuth like you?"