Officer Travis Bucholz took a deep breath, and reached for his radio. Julio Perez was looking him over as he turned around. Travis pulled his radio out halfway, then slid it back into place. He dug in his pocket for a cell phone. He found Detective Hetfield’s number on a scrap of paper and punched in the numbers. Travis thought about using the radio after the first three rings.
“Hetfield. Who is this?” Travis hesitated for a moment, as he was already reaching for his radio with his free hand.
“Detective, this is officer Travis Bucholz. I’m here at the rail yard with Julio Perez.”
“Who?”
“Julio Perez.”
“I heard the name Bucholz, who the hell is he?”
“He’s…he’s from railroad security. The captain wanted you to interview him about a lead.”
“What? When?”
“Officer Black told me to call. She said the Captain called you.”
“Black? Robby Black? I thought he transferred out.”
“Is Robby a girl?”
“What?”
“I mean, the officer Black I talked to was female.”
“Look, I have a lead here at the airport. Tell the railroad rent a cop I’ll be there as soon as possible.”
Travis opened his mouth to protest, but Hetfield had hung up. He turned to Julio, who was staring at him with his arms folded, and an angry posture. “Detective Hetfield has a new lead, so he’s a bit hung up, but he’ll be here as soon as he can.”
Julio nodded and walked towards the wall. He pulled out a cell phone of his own as Travis paced nervously.
***
“Do you really think I’d pull Michelle into this?” Phil was angry now, and Bob was back on his heels.
“Whoa, wait. I was just making sure.” Bob was using hand gestures, and that told Phil that Bob was lying.
“Just making sure of what? That I wasn’t going to go scouring a town of 30,000 while the police and some nutball assassin are looking for us? Then what?” Phil was yelling louder with each passing word as Bob backed away. “YOU HONESTLY THINK I WOULD DRAG HER INTO THIS MESS YOU’VE GOTTEN US INTO?” Bob raised his hands up, almost as if to stop Phil from getting to close. Phil spun around and slapped his hands on the side of his head. He walked towards the door and looked out at the farms, fields and cars flying by. The houses and cars seemed to be appearing with greater frequency now. Phil briefly thought about jumping out. He could still remember the day he came home. He could see the empty drawers. The words on the note she left behind jumped out in his mind. Phil wanted to scream, cry, and punch Bob all at the same time. He heard Bob pacing behind him, and he rocked his body forward slightly. He thought he could survive jumping out of the train, but he just couldn’t do it. Maybe Bob was right about Phil’s motivation to jump out in Aberdeen. Phil had done his best to bury his feelings for Michelle, but he could feel them clawing out of his stomach the closer the train rolled to Aberdeen. He lowered his hands as Bob crouched beside him.
“I’m sorry” Bob said.
