"mornin' baby." i said to my horse. he looked pleased to see me. scampered over to me and stuck his nose out. i worried about you carlee--he seemed to say. i petted his nose and checked for food and water. andy was fine.

"miss mccord." a voice called, from a police car that had sneaked up behind me.

"yes sir?" i said.

"you should have reported this last night you know." i wasn't sure if he was referring to the rig or my car.

"sorry, i was too shaken sir, i did report it to captain zimmerman, he told me we'd take care of it today." i didn't offer anything else, in case he was speaking of the horse.

"is that your tractor-trailor miss mccord?"

"kind of." i answered.

"it's illegal to park it there you know."

"why?" i asked.

"for one reason you're blocking half the sidewalk and a quarter of the street."

"we're going to move it as soon as the traffic slows down." saved, harry pulled up in an unmarked crown victoria.

"good morning captain zimmerman," the policeman said.

"kelley," harry said. "isn't your shift ending?"

"in fifteen minutes," he said.

"go home kelley, i'll take it from here." kelley seemed miffed, but walked back to his car.

"oh, bye the way, love your top miss mccord." he smiled and said. no bra, i blushed.

"i almost hate to ask you why you're standing on the back of a horse trailor half dressed at this hour of the morning, where are your shoes?"

"i was in a hurry harry." he put his hand up under my tee and squeezed my left tit, while he kissed my neck.

"i wonder what patrolman kelley would have given to have done this?" he smiled. "hey, angel, you could have been killed last night." i stepped down.

"have you found out anything harry?"

"not yet, they're working on it, turned out to be over 300 posssible combinations for the numbers you gave me, providing they were half accurate."

"i couldn't see a thing harry, my eyes shut down when i get that nervous."

"i hope this rig is not yours."

"i'm sorry harry, it's a long story."

"listen, let's go up to your place, we have to complete this report."

"alright." i said. i climbed back up and gave andy's babe a quick peck on the nose. "i'll be back baby, don't you worry."

we walked back to the house and climbed the stairs. i unlocked the door. carie--i thought, but it was too late, the door was open. my bed was empty, and i smelled the wonderful aroma of carie's coffee.

"since the bed's unmade and you have so few clothes on carlee, could we....." carie appeared from behind the rice paper door to the bathroom. "oops." harry said. carie had on one of my dad's long sleeve shirts, and nothing else. she had done her hair, and looked wonderful.

"gosh, i'm sorry, harry, this is carie, my friend and neighbor, she lives downstairs. i had her come up last night." i was nervous. harry could tell. carie blushed and smiled, then headed back to the bathroom.

"hand me my pants carlee." she said.

"i forgot, harry." and he smiled. i handed carie's jeans in to her, and she told me to pour us a cup of coffee. i found three clean cups in the kitchen area and poured.

i introduced carie to harry after she was more presentable. harry couldn't take his eyes off her, i think he liked her more when she was less presentable. i was slightly, more or less, jealous.

"this coffee is very good carie." he said. i'm lucky to be alive to drink it. i thought.

"thank you captain zimmerman." finally he got to me.

"and you're sure you never saw that car before carlee."

"i'm sure." i said.

"our people interviewed a few of the witnesses this morning, the ones that were up. i took a psychology course once that was concerned with the variances in human reporting, but this account takes the cake, the car could be almost any make or model, almost any dark color. but, we'll find it dear, i promise."

"is the babe ok?" carie asked.

"he's wonderful, slept really well and wants to go to the park." i answered. harry's beeper went off.

"may i use the phone?" he asked.

"over there harry." i pointed to it.

"zimmerman, yes sir, of course sir. i'll be right there sir.!"

"maybe a break carlee, see you guys later. very nice to have met you carie." he said as he left.

"he's nice." carie said.

"he ravished you, you know."

"oh, carlee, he's old enough to be my father."

"so?" i smiled. "gosh, i should have told him to see lissell."

"why?"

"she has warned me twice about 'second-to-none,' she may know his name, i should have told him that."

"he's smart, he'll figure that out, and what about andy's babe?"

"boy, he's another problem." i answered.

"we'de better tend to him."

andy was completely out of food. water was no problem, but food was. "god, he really pigged out on the hay." carie commented.

"yeah, and he looks hungry, we'd better go to a feed store." as horsey as louisville was, we found only three feed stores in the yellow pages. one was in st. matthews (across the river) and the other two were on dixie highway on the very far west of town. the oldsmobile (or what was left of it) started promptly, for a change.

"you think it wants to show its scars of battle carlee?"

"sure seems like it." i answered. john and joseph's "feed mill" was the closest to us. we stopped outside the building. it was very amish, ancient horse rigs standing outside, a black jockey statue stood silently holding the reins of a stuffed horse.

"i thought they outlawed those," carie said.

"naaa, they just made them paint some of them white." we smiled at each other.

"top o' the morning to you ladies. how can we be of service to you?" he was wearing a white v-necked tee shirt, and had a flat black hat on his head, but he sure as hell didn't sound amish. actually he was very cute.

"we have a wee horsey in need of nourishment," i answered, in my best irish accent. "do ye sell purina horse chow here?"

"we handle purina goat chow and duck chow, but no horse chow, i'm afraid."

"what a pity, what will our poor horse do?"

"we have hay, lassie," he answered.

"how much?"

"five dollars a bale."

"we'll take eight bales, and what kind of hay?"

"several varieties lass, please come in and we'll look around."

"isn't he about the most?" i whispered to carie.

"he's cute, wonder if he's john or joseph?" she asked. i shrugged.

we went inside. john introduced us to his partner joseph. as opposed to john, joseph did look amish. strict, very strict looking, unsmiling he looked at us, then at john.

"are they buying?" he asked.

"yes joseph, food for their horse."

"what kind of horse is he, there's different feed for different horses you know."

"a race horse," carie answered.

"quarter horse or thoroughbred?"

"thoroughbred." i answered. joseph got up, and he smiled; pointed to a large bin in back of the store. "number four is what these girls need john."

number four horse food cost us twenty eight dollars, john loaded the feed into the back seat of the oldsmobile, it filled it. there were bales of hay, some stuff that looked like doggie treats, some apples and various and sundry other things that i didn't recognize. john smiled at us a lot, we paid him and started to pull out. there was a girl getting out of a lexus that i recognized.

"look carie." i said.

"god, she's beautiful, who is she?"

"that's brianna, lissel's house mate."

"she's positively breathtaking carlee."

"isn't she though. mr. anderson had some nude pictures of her, looks like an angel, but what she does for a living would curl your eyebrows."

"you never really know anybody carlee." she explained. "there was this girl that i went to high school with who was so pretty, and so stuck up that no one could reach her. we all made fun of her, her dad was a state senator, her mom was dead. she never dated, and come to find out, her dad beat and raped her every night. she wound up in a mental institution, her dad wound up in prison." i wished carie hadn't told me that. how very sad. i suppose that we really don't know anyone.

andy loved us anyway, and he certainly did his number four. he ate and ate, carie said that he was smiling.

"we've got to do something with him carie, and the truck, the police will be checking."

"call mr. anderson, maybe it's safe now for him to deal with."

"great idea." just then, harry pulled up in a police car and stopped. "don't arrest us officer, we're taking him to the park after he finishes breakfast." i smiled.

"i need you downtown first carlee." he was quite serious. i walked over to the car.

"what is it harry?"

"they think they've got your man carlee, please, get in. carlee, this isn't so simple. the man has to be positively identified."

"i can't do that harry, his windows were tinted and i never saw him."

"yes you did, you just have trouble remembering angel. he's everett luttrell, a homosexual and a good friend of leroy's. he's the second man in the line up, quite tall, you can't miss him."

"but harry."

"no buts girl, i realize that this unorthodox, but you've got to identify him."

"are you sure it's him, the man who tried to kill me?"

"yes, i'm sure, beyond any shadow of a doubt. the car fits, the license plate fits and he's leroy's friend. now identify him from the line up, or he'll be out on the town, probably looking for you, by this evening." i didn't like it, but i didn't want to go through another night like the last one.

"is this legal harry?"

"don't ask me that carlee, just do as i say."

the county jail was cold. i hated it, harry had told me the line up was scheduled for 2 pm., some men would be real prisoners, others would be cops, or even civilians who willingly participated. he introduced me to seargeant culver, who he said was in charge of the line up. his first name was dave. promptly at 1:55, dave and i went downstairs. suddenly it was even colder and very damp, musty. we sat in a row of seats behind a large glass partition, i recognized a black lady from last night, she had been nice to me. three others i didn't know. it was dark behind the screen, someone was chewing gum and popping it, very nerve racking. then the lights came on. my god in heaven! the person behind door number four was leroy himself. "and his eyes had all the seemings, of a demon that is dreaming." i was scared, and shook, dave held my hand.

"everything alright miss mccord?" he symphatically asked. i couldn't speak, my mouth opened, but words wouldn't come out. leroy looked horrible, he had lost weight and looked.....hardened! he had always looked pleasant before, even at the track, when we talked about his killing mr. gray and hazel, he had looked pleasant. what had they done to him here? i felt very sick to my stomach.

"they can't see us can they dave?" i frantically asked.

"of course not carlee, the glass is one way. what's upsetting you so?" i started crying and i couldn't stop.

"carlee." dave said as he held me tight.

"she recognize the muthafucker, that's what's upsetting her," the black lady explained. i suddenly grew numb, it was my fault that leroy was here, he did it all for me. "your arm is as soft as a bird, i could crush it you know." that's what mister gray told me that night, and he might have, but leroy stopped him! crazy stuff was running through my mind, crazy stuff. "bitch, you weren't worth it!! and now look at me, look what you've done to me!!" i heard leroy shout, in my mind. "damn you to hell!!" he said again. i had to get out of here, i had to, my life was being destroyed by being here, i had to get out!