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It was three in thewhen I stepped out of the City of Anoka Public Safety Center I ht as well have stepped into ht and noise I found The redbrick building, which housed both the police and fire departments, had been built in a residential section of the city well off theand was as quiet as any of the old Victorians and English Colonials surrounding it The only sound I heard was the scraping of my shoes on the concrete sidewalk as I skipped around a bronze statue of a child holding the hand of a benevolent police officer I considered it yet another exa

I was just as lost as I had been the previous hts in the distance, and I followed theh, actually was Anoka’swas open No bars, restaurants, gas stations--ah, but a couple of blocks east I found the Anoka County Correctional Facility, which should not be confused with the City of Anoka Police Department The Anoka County Correctional Facility--or jail, to use the politically incorrect ter as the Anoka County Sheriff’s Depart "County" It was located in the "City" of Anoka just to confuse outsiders Like ate was stunned to see me at that hour He took one look at ht I was looking to break out one of the inmates I asked hiave hway 169 I asked hiht I was kidding hihed even harder when I assured him that I wasn’t

It was nearly 5:00 AM by the time I hoofed it to the lot Naturally, it was closed I waited Rush hour traffic heading into the Cities was at its height when they finally got around to releasing my Audi--for about the price of a ine ht forty-five

Two editions of the St Paul Pioneer Press aiting on h it while I listened to the eight es left on my voice mail The first was from Meyer, anted to knohere in hell I was and did I still want the dining roo "If you could get your directions straight"

The next hters wanted to come over and feed the ducks For the past several years I’ve had a fa in the pond in , leave in the fall, and return the following year, probably because inally there were seven, then nine, then five This year there were eleven I used to name them but stopped because I lost track of ho Except for Maureen Maureen was nairls seeh, and they were alelcoes were left by Nina Truhler

"Hey, McKenzie Are you taking irl can’t subsist solely on hors d’oeuvres and vodka et you on your cell, call et we had a date, did you?"

"Dammit, McKenzie, where are you? If you stand me up--these tickets cost five hundred dollars a pop, and I bought a new dress"

"Forget it You’re not the only guy I knons a tuxedo, and you’re sure as hell not the only guy who finds me attractive"

The Second Harvest Charity Ball It had a Jaht the tickets I had promised to take her Only I had been unavoidably detained Ery once I explain, I told myself Nina and I had been involved for nearly two years now We’ve even discussed the M word on occasion She was a reasonable woman I reached for the receiver, hesitated Nina owned and operated a jazz joint in St Paul called Rickie’s--nahter, Erica The hours she kept were more nocturnal than those the rest of us lived by No way she’d be up yet Besides, it’d be better if you go to the club and see her in person, ree

The phone rang while I was still standing there

"Where have you been, McKenzie?"

"Nina? I was just thinking of calling you"

"Sure you were"

"No lie I wanted to explain about the other night"

"Are you all right?"

"Yes, I’?"

"Accident? No, nothing like that"

"Did anyone shoot you?"

"No What happened was--"

"Where were you? Did you forget about me?"