There was little left to be done and Officer Manners, as senior man, thanked Lucy for her trouble and promised they would cruise the neighborhood until dawn just in case the burglar was still around. She walked them to the front door, and as the two cops turned to say good- night, she was silhouetted again in the doorway, her slender curves outlined in the diffused light that filtered through her nightie. God, was she ever a tease! thought the officer as he waved good-bye. Nobody could be that naively innocent!

«Bill, what'ya think of all that?» Jackson asked when they were back in the patrol car

«Just a routine break-in attempt.»

«Oh, not that. You know what I mean. That little prick-tease running around waving those titties in our face! Man, she's gonna' get herself raped if she keeps that up!»

«Yeah, well just don't get any ideas, Jackson. That's rich man's pussy, both of them. You and I just don't qualify,» the blond policeman said as he turned the ignition. «Call in and let them know we're back in the car, will you, Turner?»

The black officer waited for a gap in the unusually busy communications traffic, and then gave the appropriate code numbers to indicate they were again ready for action. He strapped himself into the bucket seat as the heavy police-special cruiser surged down Valley Farms Road toward the lights of Washington far in the distance. It would be light soon, time for some more coffee and perhaps a couple of doughnuts at the all-night Dunkin' Donuts out on the highway. «I was thinking, Bill,» he said after they had traveled a few blocks.

«'Bout what?»

«About those two women … how come they seem to be at each other's throats like they do. It just don't seem right. Mrs. Barrett being a widow and all.»