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I wander over to the track and then into the clubhouse. I walk slowly. I don’t have a clear plan, just a mission.

Post time for the first race draws close and I still haven’t seen hide nor hair of the Jockey. Truth is, I’m not sure how I’m going to take care of matters but from what Ava told me, Robert Cardinal’s planning to have the Jockey work Darwin tomorrow. Time is of the essence.

As I head toward the jocks room, luck falls my way. I see him, just coming through the turnstile between the grandstands and the clubhouse. He’s got a hat on and looks like he’s attempting to travel incognito but I’d have picked him out five miles away and wearing a wig. He walks right by me. Once he’s a few feet past, I follow him. He’s apparently not going to the jocks room though. He veers to the right and walks into the racing secretary’s office, closing the door behind him. I walk on a few paces and then park myself to the left of the door. The frustrating thing is that I still do not have a clear plan in my head. I’ve got a little gun Ava gave me, and she has helped by telling me what to do and where to take the Jockey. She gave me keys and directions to a little house upstate that belongs to a friend of hers. I can bring the Jockey up there until Ava sorts things out and can prove to the cops that Attila is no good. Providing I can ever get close enough to the man to capture him.

I try to quiet my mind but it’s a tornado in there. Then, the Girl approaches me. The Jockey’s girlfriend. It’s obvious she doesn’t know who I am or exactly what I’m doing. She may have noticed me following the Jockey but that is all. I manage to lure her to the exit stairs. She is quite gullible. Once I have her there on the cement landing, I take the gun from my jacket pocket and point it at her. She looks terrified.

“Don’t scream. I will hurt you,” I tell her in a quiet voice.

Her skin looks gray. She doesn’t scream though.

I walk behind her, nudging her ahead of me down the stairs. I stay slightly to her left, with the gun in my right hand but pressed so closely into her back that it can’t be seen. Not that anyone is looking. It’s a slow day at Aqueduct and we pass few people as we walk out into the clubhouse parking lot.

The Girl is being good, keeping her mouth shut. We make it to the lot where I’ve got the Chevy parked and I tell her to get in the backseat. Crow, my slut of a dog, immediately starts licking the Girl. I have to order him into the front seat. The Girl looks baffled.

“What do you want?” she asks me.

“Don’t worry about it,” I tell her.

She pleads with me as I get the rope out of my glove box and start tying her hands. I put the gun to her temple and that quiets her.

“Please don’t do this,” she says after a few moments of silence.

“I’m not gonna hurt you,” I tell her. “Just shut up, all right?”

I bind her hands and as I lean down to find a rag to gag her, she screams. I put my hand over her mouth and she sinks her teeth into it. I shove her away and clutch my bleeding hand. Though Crow is looking from me to her and back, he hasn’t seen fit to come to my rescue and I mentally curse him. Usually, anyone makes one false move toward me and Crow is on them like a bad dream.

“Don’t do anything like that again!” I yell at the Girl, looking into her huge frightened eyes. For a moment, I almost feel badly for her. Then I gag her, pat her down, and find a cell phone and forty dollars, which I take for safe keeping. I leave the half pack of cigarettes I find in her pocket though I can’t tell you why. I cover her with an old blanket I’ve got in the backseat for Crow, before getting behind the wheel.

“We’re gonna drive a coupla hours. You’ll want to get comfortable.”

I get back into the front seat and put the car in drive. It occurs to me to go leave a note for Carla but then I might run into her and have some explaining to do. I figure she’ll get by without me. She won’t be happy about it but she’ll get by.

Crow has settled into the passenger side of