Nothing Is Negotiable (5 page)

Luke pulled out his cell phone and pressed Bonnie’s speed dial number. It rang once and went directly to her voice mail.

“Hey, Babe, I’m at the car. Waiting. Call me.”

For a few minutes he waited, unsure what to do. It wasn’t like Bonnie to wander off, but, knowing her, she probably had a good reason. He scratched his chin trying to remember their last conversation. It was likely he wasn’t thinking clearly since he was suffering from a world class hangover, but he couldn’t remember her mentioning anything she needed to do. Only that she wanted him to keep the shopping list.

He’d said she needed to get the rest of it from the grocery store. Maybe that’s where she went. But, the one they saw coming into town was at least half a mile from where he stood, maybe more.
She wouldn’t go that far without leaving a note, would she?

He sat in the driver’s seat and looked at his watch. Five past twelve.
It would probably be best if I just wait. She should be back in a few minutes.

He rolled down the window and pulled out the brochures from the Sportsman’s Outfitter and started to leaf through them. After about five minutes he got restless.

Luke tried to think of where else she could have gone. Maybe she went to look for him. Or, even better, she probably went to the drug store to fill a prescription. And he didn’t see her because he was at Lauren’s store. He hoped she didn’t see him in there because she’d accuse him of flirting.
Maybe I’d better find a guide who’s a guy
.

He waited, watched the sidewalks and checked his watch every minute or two.

Ten minutes later his patience was gone. He couldn’t believe she’d wander off like this without telling him first. If he did something like this, she’d be all over him for being inconsiderate. And he’d get the silent treatment at least an hour, for sure.

Now it was twelve-twenty. It had been thirty minutes since he had returned to the clinic. It was time to go find her. The town was small. Downtown couldn’t be more than four blocks long. He’d leave her a note.

He tore a piece of paper out of a notebook and wrote:
Bonnie – Looking for you. Stay here. I’ll be back at 12:30, Luke.
He stuck it under the windshield wiper, locked the doors, and started to walk.

On Main Street, there were about a dozen people on the sidewalks, but none with red hair. Luke headed toward the drugstore, glancing inside every storefront he passed.

Inside the drugstore he checked every aisle as he hurried to the pharmacy in the back. There a bald, rotund man in a white lab coat glanced up and asked if he could help.

“I’m looking for my wife and thought she might have dropped off a prescription to be filled? Could you check to see if you have anything for Bonnie Wakefield.”

“That name doesn’t sound familiar, but let me look.” The pharmacist turned to a counter behind him where little white paper bags were arranged in a series of rows. “When did she bring it?”

“I don’t know that she did. We got separated and I thought maybe she came over here to fill a prescription. It would have been in the last hour.”

“Nothing here, but let me check those I haven’t filled yet.” He turned and looked through a short stack of paper. “Nope, nothing for Wakefield,” he said. “Go ask Irene if she’s seen her.” He pointed to the front of the store where a little white-haired lady stood behind a cash register. “She sees everyone who comes and goes. Has for the last thirty-three years.”

“No, I’ve not seen anyone like that today," Irene said, shaking her head. “And I would know, because I get here every day at eight-thirty, except on Sunday. I don’t think we should even be open on Sunday but when Mr. Wilcox died, Arthur started opening on Sunday and I told him I wasn’t going to work on Sunday because I—”

“Thank you ma’am,” Luke said, cutting her off and backing away.

Luke started back to the clinic, this time on the opposite side of the street. He slowed for a closer look inside the gift shop and ladies’ boutique, but no sign of Bonnie.

At Second Street he turned and saw the rental car. As he got closer he saw the note on the windshield, exactly where he left it. Bonnie had not been back.

He checked his watch. Seven minutes left. He had been told the grocery store was only six blocks away.

He walked briskly in that direction, catching sight of a redhead across the street with her back to him. But she had on a bright green blouse with yellow slacks. Even though Bonnie had green eyes, she never wore green.

But that made him think:
what was she wearing?
He couldn’t remember.

When he got to the grocery store, it was 12:28. The store was so small that it didn’t take but a few minutes to check every aisle. In the back corner of the store he saw the restrooms. A lady wearing a blue apron was walking out. He stopped her.

“I’m looking for my wife. Is there anyone else in there?”

She shook her head.

As he started back to the car he pulled out his cell phone, but the screen was dark. He pressed a button and nothing happened. The battery was dead.

When he got back to the car it was twelve thirty-five, and nothing had changed. His note was still exactly where he left it.

Flustered, he unlocked the car and sat down. Looking at his phone he recalled a recent conversation where Bonnie had said they needed to get smartphones. All of her friends said sending texts was easier than making phone calls all day long. Luke thought it was a waste of time. His friends had told him how it works. They said you’ll be working, moving cattle from one pasture to another and your phone will buzz. You’ll have to stop your horse, pull out your reading glasses, clean the dust off them and read a message on the phone that says, “How’s your day going honey?” That kind of bull shit he didn’t need. He tossed his dead cell phone on the passenger seat, and thought, and another thing. I can’t even remember to keep
this
little piece of shit charged up.

Luke turned on the radio and tried to think of something else. But, two minutes later he turned it off. It was impossible to sit still, so he got out and stood in the open door looking over the roof of the car toward Main.

Where else could she have gone?

Luke closed his eyes and massaged his temples. His headache was almost gone. Food, he thought, might help, but he’d wait until Bonnie came back. He vowed to drink no more wine on this trip. Maybe no more wine in this lifetime.

A few minutes later he sat back down in the car. He glanced over the seat and saw the paperback he bought at the drugstore. Then it hit him. On the flight to Calgary Bonnie said she was almost finished with the book she was reading and needed to get another one before they left civilization. This small, nothing of a town was about the last chance. She probably went to find a bookstore, if they had one. And when Bonnie was in one, she lost all track of time.
I’ll give her a few more minutes, then I’ll find out if there is a bookstore in town.

With that logic, Luke relaxed; he knew she’d walk around the corner any minute with a new mystery or romance paperback in her hand. His anger seemed to settle down a notch, but they’d still have to talk about wandering off without leaving a note.

But five minutes later he couldn’t stand it so he walked up to the corner and watched, scanning the faces of the pedestrians as they came and went. For the next fifteen minutes, he walked half a block one way then the other. Just before one, he looked back at the car and noticed most of the parking spaces in front of the clinic were filled again. He might as well check with the receptionist one more time. He hurried inside and when he got to the open window the receptionist smiled with a look of recognition.

“I was in here before lunch looking for my wife. You haven’t seen her, have you?”

Her expression changed to confusion. “No, sir. Was she going to come back?”

“I don’t think so, but I can’t find her. If she comes back, would you tell her I’m looking for her?”

She nodded. “Yes sir, I will.”

He started to leave, and then turned back to her, “Is there a bookstore in town?”

“There’s only one and it sells mostly used books.”

“Can you tell me how to get there?”

“Just go to Main and turn left. It’s down on the left about five blocks.”

Luke thanked her and as he started walking he felt as if he was on a wild goose chase. She wouldn’t go that far without telling him. But he was out of ideas.

The Great Exchange Bookstore was bigger than he expected for a town this small. The bookshelves were tall and the aisles were narrow. As he walked through the store he felt like he was in a maze as he rushed from one aisle to the next, looking hopefully around every corner.

After passing an old man wearing a dirty gray Stetson for the third time, the man stopped him. “You look lost, son. Can I help you find something?”

“You work here?” Luke said, eyeing the old cowboy curiously.

“Not really, this is my wife’s store, but I kind of know my way around.”

“I’m looking for my wife,” Luke said. “She’s about five-eight with long reddish blonde hair. She might have a cast on her forearm.”

“You don’t know if she has a cast on her arm,” the man said. He gave Luke a wary look.

“It’s a long story, but bottom line is that we got separated down at the clinic.”

He nodded as if he understood, and said, “I haven’t seen her, but let’s go ask Ruthie.” He started toward the front of the store, talking as he walked. “I just got here a few minutes ago. Brought Ruthie some lunch.”

At the checkout counter he relayed the question to his wife. She said, “I can’t remember seeing anyone like that, but I could have missed her. Lots of people come and go.”

Disappointed, Luke thanked them and started back to the car.

On the way he came to the fire station and saw two fire trucks and an ambulance backed into the stalls. Two EMTs in black uniforms were standing near the open doors, one smoking a cigarette.
What if something happened to her,
Luke thought
. If she got hit by a car or fell on the sidewalk and got knocked out, no one in the clinic would know about it. The EMTs would take her to the hospital, if there was a hospital in town.

“Excuse me,” Luke said as he stepped over and spoke to the EMTs. “I wonder if you could help me.”

“We’ll try,” the smoker said. “What’s up?”

“I’m looking for my wife. We got separated a couple of hours ago and I’ve looked all over town and can’t find her. She was at the clinic waiting to see the doctor and I left for about an hour. When I came back, they said she was gone. Have you guys gotten any calls to pick up a woman this morning?”

“No, we came on at seven this morning and haven’t had a call at all. You might go down to the hospital and see if they know anything. It’s down there in the next block,” he said, pointing down the street. “Go in the emergency entrance and talk to the lady at the desk. If she was taken in for any reason, she’ll be able to tell you.”

“Okay, thanks.”

At the hospital Luke explained the situation and was told no one had been admitted all morning.

Back at the clinic he found the car exactly as it was when he left. He dropped into the driver’s seat and with his thumb and forefinger rubbed his eyes while he tried to make sense of it.

He knew that something was not right. This was a little town, the downtown area not more than four blocks long and he’d searched it over and over for the past two hours with no luck and now his concern turned to fear.

As he looked out the window, a couple of kids on bicycles rode past on the sidewalk, and his imagination began to wander.

Maybe someone grabbed her when she came out the front door? No way
, he thought.
Not at eleven thirty in the morning in broad daylight in this little Podunk town.

Maybe the police arrested her for something, like J-walking.

Or maybe those jerks from the border crossing came and got her and now are trying to convince her to file charges against him as a wife-beater. She’d never do it, because it wasn’t true.

Luke shut his eyes and unconsciously shook his head. None of those options seemed possible. Nothing made sense and he knew he had to do something about it now.

He locked the car and trotted back to the clinic. As soon as the receptionist saw him, she stopped typing and gave him a stunned look.

“You still haven’t found your wife?”

“No, I haven’t. Rita’s a friend of hers, and I was wondering if I could talk to her.”

“She’s busy with a patient right now, but let me tell my boss.”

The receptionist disappeared around the corner and a minute later returned. She took Luke back to an office where an attractive blonde sat behind a desk.

As soon as she saw him, she stood and walked around the desk toward him.

“I’m Mitzi Lindsey, the office manager. Monica told me you can’t find your wife. That’s bizarre. I’ve never heard of such a thing. Let’s go talk to Rita.”

He followed her down a hallway to the nurses’ station where a brunette in a green smock stood making notes in a file. She appeared to be about forty with a trim body and dark hair in a ponytail. As they got closer, she gave them a sidelong glance and said, “What’s up, Mitz?”

“Rita, this is Luke Wakefield. He said his wife was in here this morning and is a friend of yours?”

“That’s right,” she said, looking at Luke.

“He’s got a few questions. Can you help him?”

“Sure,” she said. She closed the file and looked at Luke. “Your wife is a fantastic photographer. Everyone loved her presentation and I can’t wait to get her book. I ordered one for me and one for my mom.”

“Thanks, I know she enjoyed coming up here to talk,” Luke said, shifting his weight. “Did you see her this morning?”

“I did, but just for a few minutes,” Rita said, pulling another file. “Is she feeling better?”

“I don’t know. I left her here at the clinic about ten-thirty to run some errands and when I came back they said she was gone. I’ve been looking for her since noon and can’t find her. Did she say anything about going anywhere else?”