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The whole thing had been eating at me all week long and I’d found myself keeping an eye on the jockey. But I hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. Yet.

MY BODY IS aching now and I’m not sure I’m going to be able to get back to sleep. I check the alarm clock propped on top of the TV and see that it’s three already and I’ve got to head to work in another half hour. I shuffle into the bathroom to urinate and, as I’m coming back out to the living room, Ava appears in the hall.

“Can’t sleep?” she asks.

“My body hurts,” I say. “I guess I’ll go in to work a little early,” I tell her, just for something to say.

“Carla must love you for coming in to work early.” She smiles.

“She likes me okay,” I say. “Excuse me,” I add as I walk past her to the living room where I start getting my things together.

I take my work clothes into the bathroom and put them on. Once I’m dressed, I go peer inside Grace’s room where Crow is curled up at the end of the kid’s bed. I make a little noise in my throat and eventually the bum lifts his head and looks at me.

I call to him softly and he reluctantly hops down off the child’s bed and follows me. Ava has gone back in her bedroom, I guess, and, without further ado, Crow and I leave the house.

My car has definitely seen better days—probably in the eighties—and is protesting the cold. I finally get it started and uneventfully drive to the backside of Belmont.

I make my way over to the barn and am greeted by a few snorts and whinnies. My equine friends are awake and ready to eat. I tie Crow up near the tack room and he shoots me a filthy look, probably wondering why I tore him away from the comforts of Grace’s bed in order to come here and lie in the cold dirt.

I get all eight horses fed quickly and, since I’ve got at least a half hour before Carla gets in, I take the opportunity to go over to Robert Cardinal’s barn and say hello to Darwin. By now I’ve made friends with most of the people Cardinal has working for him and even Sammy, the security guard who lords over this area of the backside, knows not to think twice if he sees me lurking. I walk directly to Darwin’s stall.

My colt has his head hanging over the top of his door and he nickers as I come close. I feel my heart melt as the little guy points his ears forward and shakes his head at me. Even if he only remembered me slightly in the beginning, Darwin’s definitely come to know me in these few weeks I’ve been working at Belmont.

I go over and start scratching his cheeks, mindful not to get my face too close to his since he’s hungry and pretty excitable this time of day. If I had any sense, I wouldn’t mess with him at all until he’s had his grain.

“Hello?” I suddenly hear a voice behind me. I turn around and find Robert Cardinal standing there, looking at me.

“Oh, hi, Mr. Cardinal,” I say.

“What you doing here?”

“I’m just visiting with Darwin,” I say. Even though all Robert Cardinal’s employees are used to seeing me around here, Cardinal himself probably doesn’t know about how I visit the colt every day.

The old trainer is frowning and seems on the verge of saying something but then changes his mind. He shoves his hands deep in his pockets and turns to walk away.

“Mind you don’t get bitten. He’s a mouthy one,” the trainer says.

For a minute I stare after him. Then I go back to scratching at Darwin’s cheeks—the whole damn world could stop spinning and I wouldn’t notice it.

A FEW HOURS LATER, I’ve done most of my morning work and Carla is in her office chain-smoking and yelling at owners on the phone. I decide to take a little journey over to Henry Meyer’s barn to snoop. Ever since Ava told me how her ex is up to no good and maybe on the verge of hurting horses, I’ve been keeping an eye on him. For the last week or so I’ve made it my business to learn all the little creep’s habits. Which sometimes isn’t that easy in light of the fact that there’s a big guy with a shaved head that shadows the jockey everywhere.