Here Comes the Night by Linda McDonald Page B

called me from the
hospital.”
    “But she’s still alive. Let’s try to concentrate on that,
alright? I’m going to let you go see her as soon as we finish. But I need you
to tell me what happened first, while it’s fresh in your mind, understand?”
    For the next twenty minutes, Edgars used his phone app to
record Mickey going through the events.
    “We were racing and yelling at each other. And the sound of
the horses…I should have heard the loud music, though,” Mickey said. “If I’d
been more…hollered at her sooner.”
    “Don’t beat yourself up. No one thinks you should have
realized what was about to happen. How could you?” Edgars said.
    Mickey gave him everything he could remember, including a
description of the Mustang and its unique license tag. After a few minutes,
Edgars could see the kid was too traumatized to offer much more.
    “Here’s my card, Mickey. We’re done for now, but call me if
you remember anything else. No matter how trite it may seem to you.”
    “Thank you.”
    “I know you need to go be with her. We’ll talk again.”
    Edgars took down Mickey’s cell number and gave him a card
with his number at the police station and his personal cell.
    “Have you got someone to drive you to the hospital?”
    “My parents,” Mickey said, motioning to a car parked outside
of the crime scene ribbon, where his father and mother stood, waiting for him.
    “Okay, I’ll call if there’s anything else,” Edgars said.
    Mickey ran to his parents, where they hugged one another in
a circle and cried for a few moments before getting in the car and taking off.
    Edgars felt for the kid. He knew Mickey would take the
vision of her sailing off that horse to his grave. A veteran of Iraq, Edgars
knew all too well how impossible it was to erase the memories of twisted and
shattered bodies. His buddies were bad enough, but the innocent children caught
in the madness had nearly torn his heart out.
    That’s why this case was already pulling at him. Candy Myers
was just a down-to-earth kid. He’d seen “Miss Candy” do her stuff at the Lazy E
Arena, cheered her on, thought she was one of finest riders to come along in an
age. Now the doctors said she might not even live, much less ride again. And
according to Mickey, it was some asshole racing his Mustang down the Myers’
driveway.
    Edgars wanted this guy bad. His cell beeped. “Yeah, Edgars,”
he said into the phone.
    “It’s Horse. We just found the car.”
    Edgars hoped that meant this would turn into a slam dunk.

Chapter 32
    Erika was surprised how out of it she felt, looking at her
newly made up face in Vivian’s dressing mirror in the bedroom. She had only had
a couple of tokes and a glass of champagne.
    Standing beside her, Vivian squeezed her hand. “You are one
of the greatest natural beauties I’ve ever seen. You okay, Sweetie?”
    Erika made a stab at politeness. “Oh, it looks great. But,
I’m not feeling—I need to go to the bathroom.”
    As Erika stepped back into the living area, she stumbled and
nearly fell from dizziness. Tony looked up from the table where he and Dell
were still sitting. “You’re so drunk you don’t even know what’s going on, do
you?”
    Dell gave him a cool it gesture with his hand. “She’s
fine.”
    Vivian grabbed her by the waist. “Here, honey, let me help.
Dell, give me a hand.”
    They both stood her up, each taking small liberties with
touching her body. Dell turned and gave Tony a pointed look. Tony got the
message, unrolled the C-note and put it in his pocket.
    Vivian was saying, “Hey, Erika, want to try out that shower
you liked so much?”
    Erika slurred, “Yeah, it might sober me up.”
    Dell was practically holding Erika up as Vivian guided them
into the bedroom area.
    “What about my clothes?” Erika said.
    Vivian came up behind her, taking off her own top. “Here,
hon, let me help you.”
    Tony’s last glimpse before the bedroom door closed was
Vivian in her bra, undressing