Nothing Is Negotiable (13 page)

“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 drowns 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.”

“Good. I’ve got to go back to the shop for a while. Let me know if you need anything else.”

As Luke headed to town he pulled a folded piece of paper from his pocket. Mitzi had circled Marinel Hayes. She was the first person he’d visit. Earlier he had picked up a city map when he returned his rental car.

Her address was easy to find and less than five minutes later he pulled up to a small bungalow on the north side of town. There was a light blue Honda parked in a one-car garage beside the house. Luke parked the Jeep in front and walked up the sidewalk. As he passed the large picture window he saw a TV on inside where
Wheel of Fortune
was blaring.

When he rang the doorbell, the sound was muted, and a thin, attractive, fiftyish woman with beautiful green eyes opened the door. He remembered her from the clinic. She smiled widely, showing perfect teeth, and said, “Hi,” as if she was expecting him.

This is not the woman Mitzi had described. She wasn’t supposed to be attractive and perky. “I’m looking for Marinel Hayes.”

“I’m Marinel.” She was short, maybe five feet on a good day and wore her brunette hair frosted, in a spiky kind of hairdo.

“Miss Hayes, I’m Luke Wakefield from Texas and here on vacation. I have a big problem and I was hoping you could help me out.”

The smile disappeared in a flash. “Well if you’re here for money you can forget it because I don’t give money to beggars. So you can just go.” The door slammed.

Through the front door he said, “No, ma’am, it’s nothing like that. I’m trying to find my wife. She disappeared from the clinic on Tuesday. I believe you were there at the same time she was. I was hoping you might remember something that will help me find her.”

It was silent for a few seconds then the door opened a few inches. Marinel, peeked out, and said, “I was there on Tuesday. What do you mean she disappeared?”

Luke started to explain what happened and Marinel’s face lit up. She interrupted him, “I remember you. You asked Monica where you wife was, and she said she had already gone.”

“Right, I asked the recep—”

“And you still haven’t found her?”

“No ma’am, I haven’t and I—”

“Well, isn’t that strange. ” Marinel pulled the door open wide. “Come in. I don’t know how I can help but I’ll try. And call me Marinel, everybody does. What was your name?”

“Luke Wakefield, ma’am. I—”

“Luke, have a seat over there,” she pointed to the sofa as she walked toward the kitchen, “I just got in from working in the yard a few minutes ago and I’m having me a little cocktail, can I get you one? It sure helps me relax.”

“No ma’am, I’m fine. What I really need is—”

“Now, let’s go back to the beginning,” she said as she came back and sat on the edge of the sofa facing him, an amber-colored drink in hand. “I remember seeing you and your wife come in. Her hair is beautiful. Is that her natural color?”

“Yes it is, but—”

“I thought so. But, you know, the clinic was really busy that day. It’s been a mess since Mrs. Milligan died. She ran that place for almost thirty years and Lord, did she do a good job. She died last winter—heart attack. She was seventy-nine years old but she wouldn’t retire.

“Marinel, did you see—”

“She worked for Dr. Duncan for twenty-eight years... or was it twenty-nine? Anyway, that doesn’t matter. It was a long time. But, now Mitzi runs it. She’s really doing a good job. She used to work for a doctor in Calgary. That’s how she got the job. Have you met her?”

“Yes, ma’am I did, but—”

“I thought you would,” she said, a knowing grin on her face. “She’s a looker, that’s for sure. Men notice her right away,” Marinel said raising her eyebrows.

Luke tried to get her back on track. “Marinel, you said you remember seeing my wife, right?”

“Oh, uh, well, yes I do. What was your wife’s name?”

Luke did not like the past tense reference. He said, “My wife’s name is Bonnie.”

“Wasn’t she kind of tall?”

Maybe tall to you
, he thought. “Yes ma’am, about five-eight. We were sitting against the wall over near the water fountain.”

“I always sit right next to the check-in counter. That way I can say hello to my friends when they are checking in or out, you know. I’ve lived in this town all my life, I know just about everyone here.”

Mitzi said she seemed to know everything that went on in town.
Maybe that’s why she knows so much—she listens in on everyone’s conversations
.

“Do you remember them calling my wife in to see the doctor?”

“No, I don’t remember that. I probably went in to see the doctor before she did.”

“So after you saw the doctor, did you leave?”

“No, my car was down at Merle’s Service Station getting the oil changed and the tires rotated. I do it every three thousand miles. They said it wouldn’t be ready ’til noon, so I didn’t see any reason to leave. I just stayed there in the air conditioning. We’ve had such a hot summer. I think it’s the humidity ’cause when the rain started—”

“Do you remember my wife coming out to the reception area after she saw the doctor?”

“I think so. When she came out she had some kind of brace on her arm. Did she break her arm? How’d that happen?”

“No, she sprained her thumb.” He ignored the other question. “So then what happened?”

“She gave Monica her credit card, some kind of gold card I think, maybe a MasterCard. And just before she left, Rita, that’s Dr. Duncan’s nurse, said the doctor had something else to tell her, so she went back to the doctor’s office.”

“Then what? Did you see her come back out?”

Her eyes drifted to the side as she thought about it. “No, I don’t think so, but I can’t remember for sure. My friend Joyce Pratt was there. Joyce’s husband was mayor for two terms... got beat last time. Joyce may be my friend but, glory be, her husband was a horrible mayor. They say he sold out to big business... you know, that mobile home factory. But anyway, we started talking about cars. Joyce is going to buy a new car and she was asking me about my Honda. Those Hondas are really good cars. Have you ever had one?”

Luke could see why this lady wasn’t married—she never shut up long enough for someone to ask her. “Marinel, could we stay on the subject please? When did you leave the doctor’s office?”

“Right at twelve, a few minutes after you did.”

“So you saw me leave?”

“Oh, yeah. You were the only one in the clinic I didn’t know that day... so I remember you.”

“How long before I got there did Bonnie go back with Rita?”

“I don’t know, five minutes, maybe ten.”

“I see. And after I left, did you see my wife again?”

“No, but I could have been talking to Joyce when she came out.”

“But you noticed me and you weren’t watching for me, right?”

“But you’re a man, and I notice men.” Coyly, she looked down at the floor, “Especially the nice-looking ones... you know, just like you noticed Mitzi. Know what I mean?”

Luke forced a grin and said, “Yeah, I think so. But don’t you think you would have noticed her if she had come out?”

“I’m pretty sure I would have, but I couldn’t swear to it.” She got up and walked toward the kitchen rattling the ice cubes in her empty glass and said, “Are you ready for one yet?”

Luke needed one now. “Sure, I’ll have whatever you’re having.” When she came back she was carrying a couple of translucent gold drinks in short cocktail glasses. She put his on a paper napkin on the coffee table in front of him.

“So tell me, Marinel, if Bonnie went back in to see the doctor, and didn’t come back out into the waiting room, is there a back door or another way to get out?”

“Oh sure, there’re two other doors. There’s a door at the end of the hallway that opens out into the alley.”

“Do patients ever leave that way?” Luke picked up his drink and sipped it. Something sweet. Too sweet for him.

“I never have. I think it’s mostly employees that use it because they park in the alley parking lot. The other door is from Dr. Duncan’s apartment and opens into the alley, too.”

“What do you mean, his apartment?”

“Oh. I guess you wouldn’t know about that. He has an apartment, it’s kind of behind that vacant building next door.

“You mean that closed-up store next door?”

“Yeah, Computer Solutions. They closed last year, but the building is kind of deceiving. The computer store only occupied the front part of the building. The back half is Dr. Duncan’s apartment.”

“How do you know this?”

“I used to be manager of a Commercial Cleaning Service here in Cardston. We cleaned lots of the businesses around town, including the clinic and the computer store.”

“So there’s an apartment connected to his office?”

“That’s right. See, Dr. Duncan owns the whole block. Twenty years ago he lived up in the mountains and during the winter the roads are dangerous. They’re covered with ice and snow, so he remodeled that building and put an apartment back there so he didn’t have to make that dangerous drive home every night during the winter.”

“But, he doesn’t live there now?”

“After his wife died he moved to town, so he hasn’t used it for at least ten years.”

“What do they use it for now?”

“I don’t know, but they use it for something because I think I saw the carpet cleaners there a couple of days ago.”

“When was that?”

She tapped on her nose and thought. “I guess it was the day I went to the doctor. Because I had just picked up my car at Merle’s and when I drove past the clinic I saw a white van in the alley. Two people were putting one of those long rolled-up carpets in the back of it.”

Luke scooted onto the edge of the sofa and turned directly to face her. “You’re sure it was a carpet?”

“I guess so. It took two people to carry it.”

“What carpet cleaners? Did you see the name?”

“Well, I said carpet cleaners, but I don’t know for sure. All I know is that it was a silver van.”

“I thought you said white.” Luke felt like his star witness was falling apart on the stand. The more he wanted her to be sure the less she wanted to commit.

“Well, either silver or white. A light color. I can’t remember for sure. It might have been gold.”

Luke made a mental note to check out the carpet cleaners in town. “From what I’ve heard,” he said, “Dr. Duncan is a pillar of the community. Everyone loves him.”

“That’s true, he’s wonderful. He’s been the ‘Citizen of the Year’ at least five times. Maybe more.”

“Let’s go back to the clinic for a minute. Did you see Willy Standalone leave?”

“Oh yeah. Willy and Little John left together, a few minutes before you came back. I know that because I remember thinking that you were lucky he didn’t start a fight. He’s a troublemaker. Did you know he went to prison for killing a man?”

“I heard that, but—”

“That’s not the only one, either. They say he killed someone else too but they don’t have any proof.”

“Is there any—”

“He was messing with another man’s wife and—”

“Marinel, we’re getting off track here.” Luke knew she would ramble all night if he didn’t keep her focused. “Is there anything else you remember about that morning? About Willy or Bonnie or anything that might be unusual?”

“I’m sure there’s something I’m forgetting.” Marinel got up and walked back toward the kitchen. “Let me think about it, how’s your drink?”

“I really need to talk to some other people tonight,” he said as he stood up and moved toward the door.

Marinel stepped out of the kitchen with a bottle of Southern Comfort, “Why don’t you have another drink. I’m sure I can think of something else you need to know.”

“I think I’ve got enough for now, Marinel.”

“Don’t you want to know about the other man Willy killed?”

“Not right now,” he assured her as he opened the door. “But if I do, I’ll call. Okay?”

“Okay,” she said, seemingly disappointed. “Anytime.”