getting the feeling that Sarah would never be found.
“I’ll keep trying, Terry, but you’re going to have to be patient, unless you’ve got anything new for me to go on. Did you remember anything that could be of help?”
“Well, yes. A couple of strange things happened today.”
“Oh, yeah?” Holman dragged a pad across the counter toward him and took a pen out of his shirt pocket.
“I started my new job.”
“Where’s that?”
“Genavax. Do you know it?”
“Uh-huh.”
“At lunch, one of the guys said my wife had gotten into an argument with my new boss in the staff lunchroom about six weeks ago. It was very public and very heated.”
“What was she doing there?”
“Dropping off my contract.”
“So why was she in the staff lunchroom?”
“I don’t know. I suppose she just stopped for something to eat.”
“Okay.” Holman scribbled notes. “What was the argument about?”
“Don’t know. I never got that far.”
“Hmm. So what are you saying?” Holman stopped writing and put his pen down. “That your new boss abducted your wife, is that it?”
That had been Terry’s thought and it seemed like a good one in his head, but hearing Holman say it out loud, the thought sounded ridiculous. Obviously their confrontation meant something, but whether it had anything to do with Sarah’s disappearance seemed unlikely. Terry let the idea go.
“I don’t know what I’m suggesting,” he conceded. “Just that it was odd. I shouldn’t be listening to gossip, I suppose.”
“Okay. And what’s the second thing?”
“Yeah. A man called asking for Sarah.”
“A friend?”
“I don’t think so. He didn’t know about us being married.”
“So he might not be a close friend.”
“This guy was peculiar.”
“Peculiar, how?”
“He gave me the creeps. I don’t know how to say it better.”
“Okay. He wasn’t a friend, so what’s your guess?”
His guess was an ex-boyfriend, but his fear was a not-so-ex-boyfriend. He didn’t have much stock in either theory. They were just products of a neurotic imagination.
“I wondered if he’s involved with Sarah’s disappearance.”
“If he had abducted Sarah, he wouldn’t be calling asking for her. Would he now?”
“I suppose not.”
“Terry, listen to me. You’re worried, and nobody can blame you, but stop trying to make three and two equal four. Let me do my job. Okay?”
Terry nodded.
“Let’s put things in perspective,” Holman said. “She’s missing, but on the positive side, no news is good news. She’s not in a hospital, so she’s probably still okay.”
Unless she’s dead in a ditch and no one’s found her yet
, Terry thought but kept it to himself. If he didn’t say it, maybe it wouldn’t come true.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“I think it’s dead, buddy,” Oscar said.
“Huh?” Terry grunted.
Terry was standing over the Gold Rush’s Dumpster. He stopped smashing the broom down on the overpacked Dumpster. The last trash bag that had gone on top of the others had burst from the repeated blows. Soda cups littered the trash enclosure, leaking out various soda-colored fluids. Strewn paper napkins turned the spill into a pulpy mess. It wasn’t a pretty sight. He wiped away the sweat beading on his forehead in the evening heat.
“You killed that trash bag, all right.”
“Sorry,” Terry said.
“If I wanted a mindless thug to smash the joint up, I could have gotten someone doing community service,” Oscar said without any rancor. “I thought a little evening work would keep you sane.”
Since the weekend, Terry had been helping Oscar close up the Gold Rush, which meant emptying the trash, mopping out the toilets, sweeping the floors, and generally making the amusement center shipshape for a new day. The plan had worked up until tonight, but now Sarah and his sad situation was back on his mind. The innocent Dumpster had just gotten in the way.
“Sorry,” Terry said again.
“Do you want get down from