Outside the car, Kevin, who had taken the spot from Adalana when he heard the tires thudding over the tracks, went to the rear and saw that the tires were okay. If there had been a flat, he would have run off, but everything looked fine, so he got back in and drove away.

“Take your pants off ” Kevin said.

“What?”

“Take your fucking pants off!” he shouted.

She did as he said, frightened by the sudden change of mood. She knew he was doing this to keep her from running away. And rightly so. Even if she hadn’t been handcuffed, she’d never run without clothes on.

As they drove, she tried to keep her eyes on her optometry book so as not to upset him. But she noticed he was taking King Avenue west, and then he cut onto Olentangy River Road north. He was driving her out into the country, talking at times to himself: “Just escaped this morning … beat him up with a baseball bat …”

They passed a cornfield, then a barricade in the roadway. He drove around it into a wooded area, past junked cars in a field.

Carrie remembered a pair of sharp scissors she kept between the seat and the shift console, and she thought of grabbing it and stabbing him. But as she glanced at the scissors, he said, “Don’t try anything funny,” and pulled out a switchblade. He parked the car, unlocked the handcuffs from the door but left them attached to her right wrist, and spread her buckskin coat on the muddy ground.

“Take off your underpants,” her whispered, “and lay down.”

Carrie Dryer saw his eyes drift from side to side …

Adalana lay back beside the woman, looking up at the trees. She didn’t understand why she kept losing the spot to Philip and Kevin. Twice they had taken over while she was behind the wheel, and she had to keep wishing them off the spot. Everything was mixed up.

“Do you know what it’s like to be lonely?” she asked the woman lying beside her. “Not to be held by anyone for a long time? Not to know the meaning of love?”

Carrie Dryer didn’t answer, and Adalana held her as she had Marlene.

But this young woman was very small, and something else was wrong with her as well. Try as Adalana might, each time she attempted to enter, Carrie Dryers muscles went into spasms and forced her out—rejected her. This was strange and frightening. Confused, Adalan lost the spot …

Carrie explained to him tearfully that she had a physical problem, that she was seeing a gynecologist. Anytime she tried to sleep with someone, she got these spasms. Carrie noticed the nystagmus again, and suddenly he turned angry and nasty.

“Of all the damned girls in Columbus,” he snarled, “I had to pick on I couldn’t do anything with!”

He let her put her slacks back on and told her to get back into the car. Carrie noticed him change again. He reached over and handed her a paper towel. “Here,” he said gently, “blow your nose.”