by Mark Bentsen
“No sir, I’m not,” she said as if she’d already answered that question twenty times today.
“Is there another motel you’d recommend?”
“Not really. You can check the Moutain-Aire across the highway, but they won’t have anything either,” she said without expression. “Same with the others in town. You’ll be lucky to find a room within seventy-five miles of here.”
Luke thanked her and drove across the highway. They told him the same thing: there was nothing available and no hope of cancellations. He tried the other two and their story was the same. Discouraged, he headed into town hoping to find a bed and breakfast, a boarding house, or something. He remembered there was a newspaper machine outside the drugstore. There might be something in the want ads, he thought.
He slipped into a parking space and checked the machine but it was empty. Down the street he found another machine in front of Sonny’s camera shop, but there were no papers in it either. Sonny saw him through the window and stepped outside.
“The paper comes out once a week—every Friday. They’re usually gone by the next day,” Sonny explained. He tilted his head toward the diner. “They usually hang onto a couple for the customers to read. Why do you need a paper?”
“I’m trying to find a room. All the motels are booked up. Any ideas where I might look?”
“Try the real estate office two blocks down. They usually have a list of apartments and houses for rent. You might find someone who’ll rent you one by the week.”
“Good idea. Thanks.”
“Cops found anything yet?”
Luke’s first thoughts were Ernest’s accusation, that he was the only suspect at this time. Disgusted, he bit his lip and said, “No.”
Sonny nodded and said, “You know, I saw a show on TV one time about a guy who had a reaction to a drug that caused him to have amnesia. He wandered off for a few days and no one knew where he was. They said most amnesia cases last only twenty-four to forty-eight hours, and can be brought on by all kinds of things, even a concussion. Maybe they gave your wife some drugs at the clinic that affected her. She walked out of the clinic and being confused, she wandered off.”
“Interesting,” Luke said. “It’s a possibility, I guess.”
“You said she took a pretty good spill when she was jogging. Maybe that could have something to do with it.”
“Yeah, but that was the afternoon before, at least twelve hours earlier.”
“What else could it be? No one’s going to grab her in broad daylight, not at the clinic or on the street. Not in this town. She’ll show up before long. I’m sure she will.”
Luke shook his head and glanced down the street. “Yeah, I hope you’re right.”
When Luke stepped inside the diner the smell of home cooking made him realize how hungry he was. He had skipped breakfast and now his stomach was reminding him. He asked a waitress for a copy of the newspaper.
“Let me check in the back,” she said. “Sit wherever you want to. Meatloaf’s the special today. And it’s better than your momma makes.”
He sat down and a minute later she came back and dropped a paper on the table. “The sports section is missing. Hope that’s not what you wanted.”
It didn’t take long to discover there were no listings for rooms or houses for rent. Half an hour later he finished the meatloaf, which was better than his mother’s, and headed for the realtor’s office.
There he found a young lady with a pierced eyebrow engrossed in a Sudoku puzzle. She smiled and asked if she could help him. He explained his predicament and she pulled a piece of paper off the credenza behind her.
“This is the most current list. I don’t know if any of them will rent by the week; but it wouldn’t hurt to call and ask.”
He started down the sidewalk looking for a payphone. Halfway down the block he came to The Sportsman’s Outfitter and saw Lauren inside. She waved him in and Luke gave her an update on what had happened since he last saw her. When he mentioned his quest for a room to rent, she snapped her fingers and said, “You know, I’ve got an idea. Let me make a phone call.” She dialed and a few seconds later put the phone down. “Line’s busy. I’ll try again in a minute.”
He glanced at his watch and realized it was almost time to meet Mitzi. “I’ve got to meet someone in a few minutes and it shouldn’t take more than twenty minutes. Would that be okay?”
“Sure. Come back when you are done.”
Chapter 18
The Tudor-style apartment complex was small, about a dozen units. Mitzi’s red Miata was parked in front of the unit on the corner and Luke pulled into the parking space beside it. He hurried up the walk to #12 and rang the doorbell. Inside he heard a couple of dogs start yapping. The barking continued until Mitzi opened the door, a wiggling Yorkie under each arm.
She had changed into jeans and a white blouse with a plunging neckline. Around her neck he saw a turquoise necklace that looked just like the one he saw in the window of the jewelry store.
“How do you like my twins? Aren’t they cute?”
Luke assumed she was referring to the dogs.
“Very cute. Smaller than I expected by the barking.” Luke stepped inside and with her foot Mitzi pushed the door closed. He noticed the pink stilettos had been replaced with taller, black spikes.
“Come in,” she said as she put down the dogs. As he followed her, he realized why it took her so long to get to the door. Obviously it takes a while to put on half a bottle of perfume. She reeked of gardenias.
Her apartment was a small studio, nicely furnished in glass and chrome. Luke followed her into the dining room where he noticed framed photos everywhere—all of her.
“Have a seat,” she said, pointing to a glass-topped table. The dining room was separated from the kitchen by a breakfast bar, over which she held a clear plastic pitcher, half filled with a slushy white concoction. “I just made a pitcher of margaritas. You’ll help me drink it, won’t you?”
“I’d better not. I’m going to try to talk to a few people on that list before it gets too late.”
“Oh, come on,” she whined. “With all you’ve been through, I think you need it.” She walked around the corner with two drinks and set one in front of him. She leaned over the bar and picked up a couple of pieces of typed paper. She slid them in front of him and said, “Here’s the list of patients we saw Tuesday morning.”
As he scanned the list, she sucked down her drink. There were about a dozen names on it with addresses and phone numbers.
“This shows everyone who came in that morning,” she said between slurps. She stepped around to the side of the table and stood while she swirled what was left of her drink. “These names are listed according to when they checked in. It includes everyone from about nine o’clock until we closed for lunch. Everyone on the first page saw Dr. Duncan. Those on the second page saw Dr. Birdwell.”
“Did they check out in the same order they saw the doctor?”
“I doubt it, but let me see,” she said as she bent over the table, proudly displaying so much cleavage that Luke felt obligated to check it out. She took her time as she looked down the list. “I think most of them did... except for Ed Couch, who was really sick, and Elsie George, who we had to send to the hospital. Marinel Hayes was in and out pretty quick, but I think she was about the last person to leave the office. I can’t remember much about the others.”
“This will help a lot. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”
She picked up a pen from the table and looked down the list and put check marks beside three names. “These would be the ones I’d talk to first.” Then she circled one name. “But if I were you, I’d start with Marinel.”
“Why’s that?”
“She’s Miss Know-it-All.”
“What do you mean?”
“If anyone ever needs to know something about anyone or anything going on in town, she’ll know about it. I don’t know how she does it, but she keeps up with ev
erything.”
Mitzi stood up, grabbed her empty glass and headed to the kitchen. Luke saw her get a refill over the breakfast bar.
“You need some more?” She held out the pitcher, swirling the margaritas.
“No, I’m fine,” he said as he picked up his glass and took his first drink.
“Anyway, she got there at least an hour before her appointment. She’s always early everywhere she goes. We talked a little bit, but I had lots of work to do. Let me warn you, she can talk your ears off.”
“You think she’ll talk to me, even though she doesn’t know me?”
“God yes, honey,” she laughed. “She’ll take one look at your gorgeous face and drag you in the front door.”
“If that’s the case, I’ll keep my distance.”
“Oh, I was just kidding. But, poor Marinel, she’s not bad, but she’s never been married. Just can’t get a man.”
Luke nodded as if he understood.
Then she raised her eyebrows and smiled when she said, “And from what she told me on Tuesday, she’s really in the mood for a man... if you know what I mean.”
“Then I’ll definitely keep my distance.”
She took the list from Luke’s hand, jotted something on the bottom of the page and handed it back to him. “That’s my cell phone number. Call me if you need anything else.”
“Thanks.” Luke stood and looked at the list.
“Tonight I’ll be at The Stampede. It’s a bar and dance hall on the north side of town. Stop in and let me know what you find.” She patted Luke on the hand and wiggled her eyebrows. “And I want to hear how it goes with you and Marinel.”
He grinned and said, “I might do that.”
They started to the front door, Mitzi swirled what was left of her margarita and said, “Since you’re going to see Marinel first, you don’t need to worry about having a margarita on your breath. Knowing her, she’ll probably have had a few by the time you get there.”
Before Luke could get out the door, she hugged him and gave him a kiss him on the cheek. “Good luck... and remember I’ll be at the Stampede until about midnight.”
“Okay,” he said as he closed the door behind him.
After Luke got in his car he checked himself in the mirror. He pulled a bandana out of his back pocket and wiped the lipstick off his cheek, then rolled down the windows, hoping the smell of her perfume would dissipate.
When he got back to Lauren’s store she was on the phone so he took a seat across from her and waited.
“Yes, sir. I’ll send a confirmation of your reservation to your e-mail address.” Her eyes came up to Luke with a furrowed brow, then said goodbye to the caller and hung up. With a sour look, she asked, “Do I smell gardenias?”
“Yeah, but that’s another story. Did you have any luck?”
“Yes, but not exactly what I was expecting.”
“So... what does that mean?”
“I called my dad. He has some rental property and I thought he might have something, but he said he doesn’t at this time. But, he suggested something else.”
“What’s that?”
“My place. Why don’t you stay at my place?”
Chapter 19
“Stay with you?” Luke said hesitantly to Lauren. “I don’t know...”
“Not really with me. I live on my daddy’s ranch. We have a bunkhouse out back and no one lives there right now. Back when I was a kid we always had a bunch of ranch hands living there, but over the years they’ve all decided they’d rather own their own place. Our foreman lived there until he got married a few months ago and moved to town. Now it just sits there empty.”
“That sounds good to me, but I don’t want to be too far from town.”
“It’s only four miles west of here. It’s a great little house. Got everything you need: dishes, linens, towels. But it doesn’t have a TV or telephone.”
“Fine with me. Let me pay you for a week right now.”
“No, you’re not going to pay rent. It’s just sitting there empty.”
“But—”
She shook her head. “No buts.” Luke opened his mouth to argue, but before he could speak she said, “And that’s final.”
“That’s awful nice of you.”
Lauren glanced at the clock on the back wall. “If you want to run out there, I’ve got time right now.”
“Okay, but I need to take my car to the local rental agency. The window is broken and with this rain, I need to get it fixed or trade cars.”
“I’ve got a better idea. See that sign?” She pointed to a chart on the back wall that listed the services she offered. In addition to guide service, it also said she rented Jeeps. “I have six Jeeps. Four are rented now, but the other two are at the ranch. Why don’t you use one of them?”
“Sounds great,” he said as he pulled a credit card from his billfold. “But I’m paying for this.”
“Okay, but let’s take care of that later,” she said pulling a long white form out of a drawer and handing it to him. “Here’s the rental agreement. Fill it out and bring it back to me later.”
Light rain was falling as they returned the Sebring with the broken window to the rental agency located in the Chevy dealership. They transferred all of Luke’s gear into Lauren’s white Suburban and headed out of town on a two-lane ranch road.
“Do your parents live out here, too?”
“No, a couple of years ago, my mother had a stroke. She’s doing okay, but she can’t climb stairs anymore, and their house has two stories. They couldn’t really sell it since it’s on the ranch, so they came to me with a deal. They wanted to trade houses.”
“That sounds interesting.”
“I had a home here in town and it was only one-story, just right for them. It was a perfect deal for me because I kept a lot of my equipment for my business at the ranch anyway. So, they moved into my house and I moved out to the ranch.”
A couple of miles down the road Luke saw a two story Victorian style house with a wraparound porch that sat about a hundred yards off the highway. It was on what appeared to be about five acres, with pastures on the east, west and north sides. The house wasn’t huge, but it was stately and well-kept. There were several other structures scattered around the property.
“That’s my house over there,” she said, pointing. The truck slowed and turned down a dirt driveway on the edge of the property.
“Very nice. You live here alone?”
“No, Elvis and Buddy live here, too.”
“Elvis and Buddy?” Luke raised an eyebrow.
“Um hum.”
The rain had stopped and they rolled down their windows as they drove down the drive that snaked between tall pine and spruce trees that dotted the property. They passed an equipment barn that was open on one side and a red barn that appeared to have a fresh paint job. Luke saw a black Labrador Retriever, followed by a much slower, brown Dachshund, running their way as they approached a small white clapboard house in the back corner of the property.
“This is it,” Lauren said as the SUV rolled to a stop. “It doesn’t look like much but I think it’ll work just fine.”
Lauren climbed the three steps to an unpainted porch that wrapped around the cottage and pushed open the front door.
“You don’t keep it locked?” he asked.
“No, as long as Elvis and Buddy are here, no one’s about to come on this property. That’s Elvis,” she said pointing at the brown wiener dog that was almost to the porch. The black lab was already standing next to Luke, nuzzling his hand to be petted. “And that’s Buddy. They’re dangerous, believe me,” she said in a no-nonsense tone.
Elvis climbed the stairs onto the porch and ambled over to Luke. As soon he bent down to pet her, she rolled over to have her belly scratched. Luke obliged her and Buddy moved in, vigorously licking Luke on the face.
Luke pushed Buddy away. “I can see how dangerous they are. Elvis trips them by rolling over in front of them, and then Buddy drow
ns them with slobber.”
“I think you’ve got it figured out,” Lauren said.
Luke wiped his shoes on the doormat and followed Lauren inside. The air was musky and stale, and he saw she was already opening windows. A stone’s throw beyond the bunkhouse was a barbed wire fence that separated the pasture where hundreds of black cattle grazed in belly-deep grass.
They left the bunkhouse and went over to the barn where Lauren opened a side door and disappeared in the darkness. Luke waited and a few seconds later a row of florescent lights began to flicker on one side of the building. As the lights came on, he made his way over to where she was waiting.
“Daddy’s office is in here,” she said, pointing to a closed door back in the corner. There’s a phone in there you can use. Make all the calls you want. I’ll put all of your charges on your credit card when I bill you for the Jeep.”
He followed her around a tractor and together they slid open a wide door on the front of the barn. As sunlight flooded in, Luke noticed among the assortment of farm equipment, bales of hay, saddles and bridles, and welding equipment. Along one wall were two Jeeps, both Wrangler Unlimited models.
“Take your pick,” she said. “These two are practically brand new.”
One was black with four doors and a removable hardtop. The other was red with two doors and a cloth top. He eyed the black one and said, “I’ll take this one.”
“That’s great. These new ones have a GPS tracking device on it. If you get lost, I can find you.” Lauren opened the door and sat down in the driver’s seat.
“Does that happen?”
“Oh, yeah,” she said as she opened the center console and pulled out a key. “It’s easy to get lost in the mountains.”
Luke’s eyes scanned the dashboard. “I don’t see it. Can I use it like a map?”
“No. It’s not a navigation system. It’s a small device attached onto the undercarriage that I can use to see where the vehicle is. You won’t even know it’s there.”
She started the engine and pulled outside beside the Suburban. “Have you driven a Jeep before?”
“Yeah, I’ve got an old one back home.”