"can anyone see us here carlee?"

"god, i hope not andy, ihave big plans for you, the muses might be able to see, i'm not sure." i smiled. "here, take andy's babe inside, i'm afraid the humidity might mess it up." andy climbed back in the window and laid the picture in my bed. i was scratching by bare foot when he returned. he lay down beside me.

"not much room."

"enough." i said. andy put his arm around my neck.

"this was a good idea of yours carlee." i felt good with andy's arms around me, he gave me nice thoughts. his hands went right for my breasts, men are so predictable, they felt good though, and i didn't mind. we kissed, a long deep kiss, my hands found his participle, it wasn't dangling any longer. andy was fuzzy, not hairy, i don't like hairy men much. carie does though, i think she'd be comfortable in bed with a gorilla, i supposed. andy's hands wandered downward, he spread the lips of my labia and touched my clitoris, it hardened. "could i make you cum doing this?" he asked. his fingers rubbed wonderful circles around it.

"i'm not sure andy, keep it up for a while and we'll see." he did, and i did, almost violently. "god, andy, that was great." he was on top of me before i could blink my eyes, it went in easily, and felt so good. i put my hand between our legs and grabbed his balls. cum shot in me almost instantly, it was hot and wonderful, i suddenly wanted to lay in his arms forever.

"uhhhh." he moaned. "you're pretty near perfect carlee."

"and what prevents being perfectly perfect?" i asked.

"you smoke." he answered.

i looked down as he slid out. "i don't see any" i said. he laughed.

"carlee, you are the most fun person i've ever met, i would ask you to marry me, but i know what you'd say." i smiled. he was right though, i wasn't interested in marriage at this point in my life, but andy would be a consideration, his odds were better than most. we finished our beer and andy said that he had better get home.

"andy, i've really enjoyed tonight, i really have, thanks a bunch." i kissed him and we climbed back through the window. i went to the bathroom, and when i returned, andy was drinking a beer in that horrible donald duck sweat shirt.

"one for the road babe, hope you don't mind."

"of course not andy, don't wreak the can on your way home peaches."

"love you." he said as he headed for the door.

"love you too andy, please be careful." i bathed and got another beer from the fridge, put on my pjs and sat in the mayflower chair, in the dark. i put an old bob dylan cd in the player, and drank and smoked to an essence far before my time. the colonel had given me this cd for my twentieth birthday, it was nice to reflect. i loved him so.

the phone rang at 6:00 am, i could barely move. "hello." i said.

"you'de better wake up bright eyes." it was dad.

"i'm awake daddy, just tired."

"hey princess, i've found this great house for rent on green river at cromwell, i think you might like it."

"dad, i have a job here, and some unfinished business, i can't move to cromwell."

"i know that baby, but you might get tired of louisville, and this place is just you. it rents cheap carlee, at least come down and see it, when you can." i was trying to think of a day when i could. i had lissell and the other cops to deal with this week, sidney on the week end.

"i might manage a day of in the middle of this week dad, if it's that important."

"it's not urgent dear, but i'm just very excited about it."

"i'll call you, ok, i'm running late right now."

"i know carlee, just when you get a chance." not urgent, who was he kidding, i'd make book that he'd already rented it. i loved the green river so, and dad knew it. i thought about it over coffee, gosh, a respite from this situation would be nice, but i just couldn't do it now, i wanted to know more about lissell, and if leroy were the killer, i couldn't just leave and let him keep on, sidney wasn't a responsibility, but he seemed to need me. decisions decisions.........a knock at my door.

"who is it?" i asked.

"burkhart from homocide miss." my blood froze. if burkhart wasn't hard enough, he had two other vicious looking characters with him. "ms. mccord, this is sgt. riley from the state police, and special agent fischer of the fbi." they all nodded. the fbi, god, maybe i should call dad this very minute.

"please, gentlemen, find a place to sit, i want to get this over with as soon as possible." i said.

"i can understand that ms. mccord, just answer a few questions, and we'll be out of your life." that sounded rewarding. i sat in the mayflower chair, burkhart on the bed, sgt. riley and agent fischer were in chairs in my dinette area, a few feet from the bed.

"now, ms. mccord." sgt. riley started.

"please, call me carlee, it will save you a word, and that is my name." i suggested. they all smiled, and nodded.

"carlee. he said. tell us exactly what happened the night of the murder." i didn't want to tell them that i had company, so i told them i was asleep, i had not involved andy, and really didn't want to. i told them about the gun fire, and that i heard someone running down the stairs. i told them that was all i knew. the sgt. asked me how long i'd lived here, and i told him i'd been here less than a month. he asked if i knew mr. grey, and i said, not really.

"he was your neighbor carlee."

"he lived in the next apartment sir, i didn't consider him a neighbor." i retorted.

"did you and he ever have a confrontation?" riley asked.

"no." i answered.

"are you sure?"

"i'm certain." i lied.

agent fischer asked "did you know of any friends of mr. grey's, visitors, acquaintances, anyone like that?"

"no sir, i never saw anyone go up to his apartment, in fact, i rarely saw him." i was beginning to sweat.

"were you frightened when you heard gun shots that night carlee?" burkhart asked.

"of course i was captain, wouldn't you have been?"

"probably." he smiled.

"is there anything else you can tell us miss, anything at all?" sgt. riley asked.

"i'm sorry, no gentlemen, i haven't been here that long, and i really didn't know mr. grey at all." i said apologetically.

"we understand carlee, and thanks so much for the information that you did give us, and have a good night. think though, and if you come up with anything that might help in this investigation, please give us a call." burkhart gave me his card, and i was thankful to show them out. whehhw. that was rather easy, too easy methinks. the fbi guy must have been in on the investigation because mr. grey's civil rights had been violated (i'd read of that.) if the cops knew anything about grey it was more than i knew. i didn't think that i had obstructed justice by not telling them about andy, and not mentioning leroy nor the rat picture. i was sort of scared though. maybe if lissell turned out to be ok i could tell her.

i had coffee with carie the next morning. she was as radient as ever; i told her about the investigators, she told me that she expected them today or tomorrow.

"i don't have much more to tell them than you did carlee. do you think that they'll feel we're holding something back?" she asked.

"i certainly hope not."

"and you didn't say anything to them about ms. manasco?"

"no, i didn't, i felt like what she did was her business and if she wanted to tell them she could." god, i was beginning to sound like leroy. carie had to go, i kissed her and went back upstairs. the phone was ringing, it was sidney wishing to confirm our date saturday. lissell called at 10:00am and said that she had the day off and was riding, would noonish be alright--i told her that would be fine.i felt like pink and white today, so after my bath i pressed a pair of white denim shorts (which were a little tight) and put on a short sleeved hot pink tee shirt. i laid out a pair of white sandals, but didn't put them on. i was letting my hair grow and it was down past my shoulders, i brushed it out and was thinking what a pair of black combat boots would do for this outfit. i had to laugh outloud, i'd look stranger than leroy this far from new york city. lissell knocked on the door a little before noon. i didn't recognize her. she was dressed in a riding habit, red shirt, black riding pants and boots up to her knees, a black cap almost covered her beautiful red hair. there was dirt all over her, even on her face, but she was cute, never-the-less. i smiled at her.

"i thought you only rode in sulkies?"

"i may go to them carlee, a horse threw me after i talked with you." her blue eyes looked scared. she carried an overnight bag in her left hand. "i have a change of clothes in this, if it's ok?" she asked.

"sure, come on in." i answered. she sat in the mayflower chair.

"it's good to sit down carlee. i'm studying polo at the university, and today was terrible." she was slim, but well proportioned. she opened her bag and pulled out a pair of jeans and a blue tee with POLICE on the front and back. she struggled with a riding boot until prespiration broke out on her face. "damn" she said.

"here, let me lissell." i grabbed the boot and pulled hard, i almost pulled poor lissell out of the mayflower chair.

"oh god carlee, i suppose my foot swelled." she was embarassed.

"isn't there an established procedure for this sweetie?"

"yes, but i don't want to get your shorts dirty."

"i can take them off." i answered.

"the established procedure is for you to put my leg between yours and pull back."

"sounds exciting to me" i said, as i removed my shorts. ibegan to tingle all over, but it felt kind of nice to be in front of l issell in my panties and a hot pink tee shirt. after a lot of struggling on both our parts, lissell was bootless. i sat down on the floor next to her and removed her thick white socks, her feet were pretty, i rubbed them briskly. "feel better?" i asked.

"god yes." she answered. she was enjoying this. so was i.......lissell was easy to talk to, she told me that she was in her third year of pre-law when she became interested in police work. u of l housed the police academy, so she transferred over and was in her last year.

"it's been a long haul, but i love it. i've worked for the city police off and on for over a year. sometimes junevile hall, sometimes a meter maid, and this time in homocide. i love investigative work, i think that's what i want to get into after graduation." she expained. she was single, lived rent free at sister margo's, was originally from ohio and seemed to be the studious type. i thought she was neat. i told her much about my so-called life and pleasantries were adequately exchanged. i told her that i was jobless, it was easy for me to talk with her, she was very intelligent.

she was picking bobby pins out of her red hair as i put my shorts back on. when i looked up, all of that pretty hair had falling down, beyond her shoulders.

"it needs brushing lissell."

"i know." she said shyly. "but all i have in this bag in one i use on horses." i went to the bathroom and brought her a new brush, still in the package.

"thank you carlee, this is very nice." she said as she opened it. i smiled as she brushed her long hair, how much like a little girl she looked, not hardened- as she looked when she confronted leroy, just gentle, like andy's babe, maybe. "i didn't mean to come over here looking such a fright carlee, i so wanted to make a good impression." she sounded very sincere, i was afraid she was going to cry.

"oh lissell, you've impressed me ever since the first time i saw you, you're just fine." and i smiled. she reached for my hand, and held it gently. lissell walked to the bathroom with her bag of clothing and emerged in her jeans, police tee shirt and bare foot.

"carlee, i've lost my shoes. what else is going to happen today?"

"oh, don't worry lissell, i have some sandals over there in the closet area, your foot is about the size of mine." she put on a pair of cordovans that i had bought the week before, they looked nice with her blue.

"thanks babe, hey, i know this horse." she exclaimed as she picked up andy's babe.

"yeah, isn't he nice, i won some money on him at the track last night." i said.

"do you know 'pork pie' anderson?" she asked.

"not really, i hunted him up last night and he gave me this picture at my request."

"sweet man, i've met him once or twice." we chit chatted for an hour or so, talking about the track and louisville in general. she told me my pony tail looked nice and asked if i would mind putting hers back. it made a long pony tail, lissell had nice ears and she looked fabulous in casual clothes. she suggested that we have lunch at her favorite restaurant, a seafood place off of market street, "the crab apple house," i knew it. lissell's car was hardly a can; it was new and red, very clean, lots of books and horse things in the back seat, i thought it was a little pricey for a student, but i didn't know her very well.

we both ordered crab leg salad and ice tea, it was rather early--we didn't even have to wait for a table. "gosh carlee, i feel very awkward, i should have borrowed one of your tees, everyone is staring at me wearing this police thing." i smiled, she was really something to stare at, the only reason they were staring at her shirt was the way she made it stick out. i believed that lissell truly was shy and had no conception of how lovely she was. pity, she had a lot to flaunt, if she only knew.

the salad was really, really great, i was stuffed. as we drove back home, lissell asked me if we could talk about my neighbor's death when we got there. i agreed.

"mr. grey's demise is probably as investigated as much as it's going to be after they talk with your friend carie and the lady who lives upstairs. it's kind of sad really, but the fact is that no one cares. if he had relatives that bugged city hall every day it might be different, but if the killer was apprehended there wouldn't even be that much ink." she explained.

"ink?"

"press, newspaper reports and things, the stuff that is important in a coming election year carlee."

"would it benefit you to catch him lissell?" i asked.

"in a way it would, i wouldn't become hero of the day, or be given a promotion, but it would mean a lot to me personally, it would make me think that i had done my duty rather than have done something to make me or someone else rise into another tax bracket. duty means a lot to me carlee." i believed her, maybe i could even learn to trust her. i gave her a wide smile of approval. in my apartment, lissell asked me to start from the beginning about grey, she did not take notes.

"i probably didn't see him three or four times lissell, he was always stoned or drunk, i was a little afraid of him." i told her about his asking for pills, and hurting my arm. i started to tell her about ms. manasco, but i remembered that she still was a cop, even if it was part time. i just didn't trust her enough yet.

she knew, she looked me directly in the eye and said "quid pro quo, carlee, you tell me things and i'll tell you things, ok."

"ok." i answered.

"leonard grey was a brilliant engineer, he worked in lexington for a consulting firm in the 80's, had a wife and two children. the firm closed in '89 and he looked for work elsewhere, he couldn't find a job after a week of looking, so he joined the navy. his wife was furious, and accused him of being spineless. she eventually left him, and his short lived career in the service ended with a medical discharge for a bipolar disorder. he left norfolk and came here in '91, he lived homeless on jefferson street for years. he was busted eleven times by our guys on petty charges and following the last arrest, was referred to the va hospital where he was treated for two years."

"you've done careful research lissell." i said.

"oh, it wasn't hard, the databases hold a lot of information." she replied. "the sad part of this whole thing is there wasn't a person in the world who cared about leonard grey, his parents were both dead, he had no siblings, the police considered him a nuisance, and the va hospital needed his bed for someone more deserving. they got him on disability, and he drew a $450.00 check each month. so, leonard grey, the brilliant college student and engineer's life meant nothing, nothing to any body." she was saddened.

"if you catch mr. grey's killer, would it change things?" i asked.

she smiled--"no, i'm sorry, it wouldn't change a damn thing, i'm sorry to say. and maybe i've quid pro quoed enough." i really didn't know what to say, i was at a loss. i knew that she wanted to catch grey's killer, but although "duty" was an option, i wasn't sure that this was the real reason. i could sense that lissell was a very complex person, and as much as i didn't understand her, i felt that she didn't understand herself either. i then did what i do best, i put my arms around lissell, hugged her tightly and kissed her on her right ear. she held me, and started to cry. we held each other for a long time, her ample breasts felt good against mine.

"i'm so sorry carlee. i don't know why i feel so weird, maybe i'm just tired, or very confused, i'm not sure." i patted her back.

"it's ok lissell, and i'm willing to make a deal with you, maybe."

"what kind of a deal?" she asked.

"depends, if you want mr. grey's killer for the department, i won't say much; if it's for yourself, i'll tell you what i can."

"oh, carlee, i suppose i do want him for myself, for a great reason though, vanity; i've been lately thinking about quiting police work and returning to law. i guess that i want to do something with my part time police career. are you proud of me?" she attempted a smile.

"i'm proud of your honesty lissell." i kissed her nose. "let's have a drink and start all over."

"i will drink to that." she sniffed. it was near sunset, well, pretty near; the colonel had always told me that drinking before sunset was the ways of alcoholics, after then, you could drink a barrell-full. it didn't make a lot of sense, but i believed him, as i always did. earlier, i would not have confided in lissell, even though i thought she was pretty, but now, i knew she was particularly human, and i wanted to tell her all i knew. she was becoming my friend. i made drinks, i was short on everything in the liquor cabinet, i mixed a quarter of a bottle of scotch in a half a bottle of jack daniels and thought it would taste sort of irish. soda was good for lissell, water was good for me, ice was great for both of us. we sat on the bed and sipped.

"lissell, what do you know of leroy-that we saw at the track?" i asked.

"leroy van cleeve, star of the downtowner's lounge?" she smiled.

"yeah, him." i seriously said.

"scum mainly, we've busted him three times in the past two months, sexual perversion, kids and stuff. i arrested him twice at the zoo, they got him at the savoy down on jefferson for exposing himself. they never keep him though, maybe for overnight, and he's back out on the streets until he does something really terrible, like kills someone."

"gosh" i said.

"that's the way the system is carlee, at least i could make some money doing law." i had to agree. i thought about poor sidney at the zoo. i told lissell about eddie and hazel in bowling green. she listened attentively. then about his calls to me here, and about his threats.

"god carlee, why didn't you tell the police?"

"quid pro quo lissell, realistically, there are things you share with the police if you want to complicate your life, and if you want peace and quiet, there's a lot you don't tell. this thing with leroy has really been bothering me though, i suppose i've been waiting for the right time to share, and the right person." she squeezed my hand and kissed me on the cheek. i went on to tell her about carie's theory, and she nodded.

"i've never had occassion to really investigate him, but i will, it seems likely, carie must be pretty smart." as i returned to the kitchen area for seconds, i though of something. when i first came to louisville and met leroy, he told that "hamlet" was my favorite. big leo was in both of my shakespeare classes, a link, a big link. i told lissell when i returned to the bed.

"smart thinking, honey, very smart, i have a lot of work to do tomorrow after class."

"hey, wanna walk across the street to the park, they're doing mid-summer's night dream?"

lissell smiled, "yeah, i'd love to." it was almost dark, the crowd was average, the play had ten minutes. the breeze was nice, the smell of magnolias was fantastic, i was feeling good for a change.

"carlee, did you have company the night of the shooting?" lissell asked.

"why yes, how did you know?"

"your sheets were wet, in the middle of the bed, just an observation." i wasn't sure what to say next, but i had told her so much that i didn't think telling her about andy would do any harm. i told her the truth. she nodded. we were sitting on the ground with our legs crossed. the play began and we watched intently. "mid-summer's night dream" wasn't one of my favorites, but i had studied it. lissell had never seen it. the college students were doing a great job, the costumes were superb.

suddenly, a dark shadow engulfed us. "good evening, ladies, is this seat taken?" he pointed beside lissell. we looked up. leroy wore a black cape, his blonde hair was unkept, and i could smell him from the ground. lissell said nothing, just glared at him. "well?"

"yeah it's taken scum bag, buzz off." said lissell.

"now officer stacy, this is a public park, buuzzz, buuzzz." he sat down beside her. "carlee, this was our date, you weren't suppose to bring the fuuzzz, fuuzzz."

"shut up, i can't hear what they're saying!" she said.

"oh, doesn't matter dear lady, miss carlee can quote it to you verbatim when she gets you home. she's great with girls, you know." leroy was really going too far.

"look, asshole, you leave or i'll call the cops."

"why officer stacy, how mundane, you could make the arrest yourself, you've done it before." leroy had a strange look in his eyes when he said that, i didn't like it, at all. lissell grabbed my arm and stood up. she was very angry, she asked me if i wanted to leave. i said yes.......