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okay.  I broke into a slight jog and seconds later I was at the truck .  I knocked softly on the window so as not to frighten Trina.  A second later I saw her little face appear before mine behind the glass.  She waved her little hand back and forth, her mouth unsmiling.  I pointed at the lock, and she pulled it up.
    I opened the door.  “Hey, baby.  Good girl.”
    “Did you find Jesse and mommy?” she asked.
    I didn’t want to have this conversation, so I lied to her, the way adults are supposed to lie to kids when what they’ve got to tell them would shatter their worlds.
    “No, baby.  I think maybe your mommy felt better and they went and hid.  I’m hoping they took your daddy’s car and drove to Jacksonville .”  This was a lot of bullshit that she’d likely have trouble sorting through.  I was just talking off the top of my head so had no idea what I’d said the moment it was out of my mouth.   I hoped she wouldn’t ask any questions and test my powers of recall , and I got lucky.
    She nodded.  “I hope she’s better.  Maybe she was pretending, like at Halloween.”
    “I think you’re right , honey .  Just play-scary, like Halloween .  Now I have something to do that’s going to take me about an hour.  But first I’ve got to hook your daddy’s trailer up my car so we can bring some stuff with us .  I want you to stay right here, just like you were , and if you feel the car bouncing and stuff, it’s just me.  Get back on the floor and see if you can go to sleep for awhile, okay ?”
    She nodded.  I looked at her for a moment.  “Baby, wait right here, okay?  Just a sec.”
    She nodded.  I locked and closed the door again, and ran back inside the house.  I ran right by the scene in the entry and to the girls’ bedroom.   I grabbed the two twin sized Disney Princess comforters from the beds and ran back to the truck.  I unlocked it with my key and pulled the door open.  Her head popped up.
    “Here, Trinie,” I said, using my pet name for her.  “I know it’s warm out, but I want you out of sight.  Cover yourself with this and stay on the floor, okay?”
    She nodded, her blonde hair bouncing with her cute little head.  “Okay, Uncle Flexy.”  That was her pet name for me.
    “On the floor,” I said.  I pushed the lock knob down again and closed the door tight.
    The trailer was parked up against the side of the house.  I didn’t want to start the truck ’s engine because of the noise, so I lifted the tongue of the trailer and walked backward, rolling it over the uneven ground toward my Suburban.  I passed the truck and spun the trailer slowly around, then dropped it down o nto the tow ball, snapping the latch into place.  I plugged in the electrical connector just to be safe.  Hauling what I planned to haul, it wouldn’ t be smart to get pulled over, though I kind of doubted that dead running lights were something the police would be concerned with right now .  They’d be more likely to take you for a criminal if you were hunched over somebody sawing the top of their skull off with a steak knife .
    That job complete, I had three more tasks left before I could get my ass on the road.  I was exhausted, but the adrenaline was still coursing through my veins, and sleep was the last thing on my mind.
    My next task was to bury Jesse .  That sweet little girl who loved to play checkers with me.  The one who really taught me the r ules of hopscotch, and who could beat me at both even when I wasn’t letting her.
    But first I needed to get Jamie secured in the back of the equipment hauler .  I went back inside the screened pool enclosure and lifted one end of the cylindrical shaped sarcophagus I created for Jamie, then dragged it behind me as I walked b ackward toward the Suburban .  The plastic slid fairly easily over the ground, and I got her to the trailer in just over a minute.  I lowered the rear hatch, which converted into a ramp, and dragged her up onto