Gladden guessed she worked out on the pipes, He also thought she was a lesbian. He could tell these things. He had a sense.

Sweetzer had a washed-out face and a laconic demeanor.

He had lost hair in a pattern that left him with a thin strip of growth down the center of his pate. Gladden decided to concentrate on Delpy. She was the one.

Delpy took a card from her pocket and read Gladden his constitutional rights.

"What do I need those for?" he asked when she was done. "I didn't do anything wrong."

"Do you understand those rights?"

"What I don't understand is why I'm here."

"Mr. Brisbane, do you under-?"

"Yes."

"Good. By the way, your driver's license is from Alabama. What are you doing out here?"

"That's my business. I'd like to contact a lawyer now.

I'm not answering any questions. Like I said, I do understand those rights you just read."

He knew that what they wanted was his local address and the location of his car. What they had was nothing. But the fact that he had run would probably be enough for a local judge to find probable cause and give them a warrant to search his premises and car if they knew where those were.

He couldn't allow that, no matter what.

"We'll talk about your lawyer in just a moment,' Delpy said. "But I want to give you the chance to clear this up, maybe even walk out of here without wasting your money on a lawyer."

She opened the duffel bag and pulled out the camera and the bag of Starburst candy the kids liked so much.

"What is all of this?" she asked.

"Looks pretty evident to me."

She held the camera up and looked at it as if she had never seen one before.

"What is this used for?"

"Takes pictures."

"Of children?"

"I'd like a lawyer now."

"What about this candy? What do you do with that? Do you give that to children?"

"I'd like to speak to a lawyer."

"Fuck the lawyer," Sweetzer said angrily. "We've got your ass, Brisbane. You were taking pictures of kids at the showers. Little naked kids with their mothers. You fucking disgust me." Gladden cleared his throat and looked at Delpy with dead eyes.

,i don't know anything about that. But I do have a question. I have to ask, where is the crime? You know? I'm not saying I did it, but if I did, I didn't know taking photos of children at the beach was against the law now."

Gladden shook his head as if confused. Delpy shook her head as if disgusted.

"Detective Delpy, I can assure you that there are numerous legal precedents that have held that observation of acceptable public nudity-in this case, a mother cleaning up a young child at the beacha'nnot be transcribed as prurient interest. You see, if the photographer who took such a picture committed a crime, then you'd have to prosecute the mother as well for providing the opportunity. But you probably know all of this. I'm sure one of you spent the last hour and a half consulting the city attorney."