(5/10) Sea Change by Robert B. Parker Page A

Mr. Darnell, for refusing a lawful order. Face the bulkhead, please. Hands on the top.”
    Darnell’s voice slid up into a high vibrato.
    “No,” he said. “No.”
    Jesse took hold of Darnell’s right forearm. Darnell tried to pull away, Jesse started to turn him, and Darnell swung at Jesse with his left hand. Jesse avoided the punch, used the momentum it generated to spin Darnell, slammed him against the bulkhead and pinned him there with his shoulder while he snapped the cuff on his right wrist. Darnell flailed with his left hand, but Jesse caught it, brought it down and clicked onto the left wrist. It was all so quick, Darnell had no chance to stabilize himself for a real resistance.
    Blondie said, “Ooooh!”
    Jesse let Darnell away from the bulkhead.
    “Suit, sit him down somewhere, and keep him there,” Jesse said.
    “Boy, Chief Yokel,” Blondie said. “You’re really quick.”
    “Maybe Mr. Darnell is really slow,” Jesse said.
    “Any time you want to play with your handcuffs…” Blondie said and giggled.
    Jesse heard Molly make a small sound.
    “First we’ll search the boat,” Jesse said.
    He and Molly started down the stairs.
    “Did I hear you snicker, Officer Crane?” Jesse said.
    “You might have, Chief Yokel,” Molly said, laughter bubbling beneath her voice.
    “Well, as long as it was a respectful snicker,” Jesse said.
    “Absolutely,” Molly said.
    Wearing gloves and carrying evidence bags, they went stateroom to stateroom together. Jesse never split a search. It was Jesse’s view that two people searching the same room made it less likely that either would miss something. The videotapes were right where Jesse had left them. There were two more. He took the tapes, including the empty substitute that he had substituted, so everything would look kosher.
    “There is a selection of controlled substances here,” Molly said. “Some weed. Some, I assume, coke. Couple of other things I’d need help with.”
    “Pack it up,” Jesse said.
    “We going to arrest them for possession?”
    “I might find it useful as leverage,” Jesse said.
    In the night table of the master cabin, Jesse found a Browning Hi-Power and a box of shells. He took the pistol and left the shells. In the crew quarters he found a shotgun. He left it. Most boats had a long gun aboard. He didn’t think it would do much for him. They confiscated a video camera. They found sex toys in most of the staterooms. There were several vibrators, some anatomically correct. Molly turned one over in her hands, looking at it from all angles.
    “When I was in parochial school,” Molly said, “we weren’t allowed to wear patent leather shoes, for fear someone might look up our dress in the reflection.”
    “I was always hopeful about that,” Jesse said. “But I never saw it work.”
    “But it probably kept you alert,” Molly said.
    “I don’t want you sneaking home with that thing,” Jesse said.
    Molly rolled her eyes at him, and put the vibrator back where she found it.
    “Ah, the stories it could tell,” he said.
    “What exactly is this,” Molly said.
    “That’s a ball gag,” Jesse said, “and those are restraints. Fetish toys. You can order them on the Internet.”
    “Ick,” Molly said.
    “You and hubby don’t use those?” Jesse said.
    “There are times, I think, he might want to stick that gag in my mouth,” Molly said. “But not during sex.”
    “Irish Catholic girls have sex?” Jesse said.
    “When we go bad,” Molly said, “we go way bad.”
    When they were through the search it was midway through the afternoon. Jesse made an inventory of what they’d confiscated, in duplicate, and signed it. Then he called Hardy on the cell phone.
    “What did you take?” Darnell said, when they reached the deck.
    “Stuff,” Jesse said. “Uncuff him, Suit.”
    Simpson unlocked the cuffs on Darnell. Jesse separated the two sheets of his inventory and handed the carbon sheet to Darnell.
    “You can’t take