Free Nothing Is Negotiable by Mark Bentsen Page B

and said, “So... what’s up, bud? Did you find what you were looking for?”
    Luke hesitated and then said, “I don’t know. Maybe.”
    Queenie said, “What do you fucking mean, ‘you don’t know’? Either you fucking did or you didn’t. Which is it, prettyboy?”
    “I’m looking for my wife. She disappeared yesterday.” Luke held out the glasses. “These were hers.”
    “What do you mean, she disappeared?” asked Queenie. “This ain’t New York City. People don’t just fucking disappear in Cardston.”
    “While she was waiting to see the doctor in the clinic, I left for an hour and when I came back, she was gone.”
    They watched him as he studied the green piece of paper and the mangled sunglasses.
    “The last time I saw her, she had this piece of paper with her. And this is her windbreaker and these are her sunglasses.”
    This puzzled Queenie. “People don’t just fucking disappear from the doctor’s office.”
    “I know. But she did. The police are looking, but they haven’t found anything. These are the first clues we’ve found.”
    “Do you think she’s in that dumpster? Is that why you were up there?” asked the guy with the crutch.
    “Shut up, Doc, you fucking dumbass,” Queenie snapped at her friend. Then she looked back at Luke and said, “So, what ’cha gonna do now?”
    “I guess I’m going to go to the police and show them what I found,” he said as he started walking toward the street.
    The trio hurried along with him as they exited the alley and made their way back to Second Street. Doc walked along side Luke and he couldn’t help but notice that he wasn’t using his crutch.
    Doc noticed his attention and said, “My neurotetronitus isn’t bothering me much today. That’s why I’m not using my crutch.”
    Luke glanced toward Queenie with a confused look. She shook her head in disgust. “He’s a fucking idiot.”
    “It is, Queenie,” the man said pleadingly.
    “Whenever someone asks him what’s wrong he always makes up some fucking disease. He thinks he’s a fucking doctor. There ain’t nothing wrong with him. He just uses that fucking crutch so people will feel sorry for him and give him some money.”
    Luke gave her a knowing nod and kept walking.
    Her short legs made it hard to keep up with Luke’s pace. She broke into a trot and said, “We can help you look for her if you want us to,” The other two nodded in agreement as they crossed the street. “You know, we don’t got nothing else to do.”
    “Thanks, I can use all the help I can get.” Luke approached the car and punched the button of his keychain and the door locks popped up. Luke noticed the stack of pictures lying on the backseat and considered it. It couldn’t hurt, he thought. He opened the back door and grabbed one of the pictures of Bonnie and handed it to the little woman.
    “Her name’s Bonnie... and my name’s Luke. If you see or hear anything, could you let the police know about it?”
    As she started to look at it, the other two looked over her shoulder at the photo. “She pretty,” Queenie said softly, the other two nodding in agreement.
    Luke watched them as they studied the picture and couldn’t help but notice their meager possessions. Ragged clothes and bedrolls appeared to be all they owned in life.
    As he turned to close the back door of the car he saw a paper sack full of groceries. Bonnie had packed it for their lunch the day before. There wasn’t much, just peanut butter, jelly, and crackers, which is why Bonnie had wanted him to go to the grocery store. He pulled it out and handed it to Griz.
    “Take this food? I’m not going to eat it.”
    They glanced at each other, and Griz said, “Sure, bud.”
    On the floor in the backseat, he saw the small Styrofoam ice chest. He pulled it out and set it on the curb in front of Doc. He opened the lid and said, “There’s some orange juice, fruit and other stuff in there, too.”
    Luke got in his car and pulled out onto the