A Visit to the North Ch. 01

Liz barked my name again. There was no one else on the block.

"He couldn't just disappear." Barbara was worried now after looking about the area for five minutes.

Julie called my name but again there was nothing but a reverberation. Barbara had moved toward the end of the block of closed shops.

Returning she asked "Why had we chosen this bleak path back to the Hotel? He just disappear Julie? What do I do now Liz?"

Liz asked, "Let me see his phone dear. Humm, the last number was 'blocked', and the battery is near dead too. The glass face is smashed, and the corner damaged. It appears to have been thrown."

On the next block they asked a Chinatown shop owner. "I not see such a man."

At nearly midnight they'd reach the local Police Service Station No.20. Barbara was hysterical, she just couldn't see clearly. They spent the next hours just waiting for the next small event at the station, though the Police didn't have any news regarding my whereabouts.

It was a nightmare. Since the moment of my disappearance in the streets south of Chinatown the girls had neither clue nor any assistance from the officials. The Police Incident Report they filed was public information and the Sisterhood had access to the file within a few hours. There was nothing the Montreal Police could do to aid in a search since it was less than 24 hours therefore I wasn't 'missing'. Though they presented my damaged phone and the recovered shoes the Sergeant simply smiled at the curious personal affects. The girl's memory of the street was a bit clouded by the wine.

Julie thought I was about fifty meters behind them, "I turned around and didn't see him. Then I alerted Barbara, this is his wife. Someone doesn't disappear Sergeant. He's been taken, by whom we can't guess, nor why?"

Liz was essential in guiding the three through the system and eventually decided they needed to return to the St. James for some rest sometime after 3am. Julie had some sleeping pills, which helped to get the charged up Barbara to rest. Julie plugged my phone in to her charger. The redial wouldn't function though.

Sometime early in the morning Barbara left the Hotel and headed back toward the spot the phone was found. Julie and Liz awoke nearer to 9am, found Barb missing and went to the scene as well. After the first hour Barbara found my wedding band in a joint in the cobblestone drainage basin.

"This means nothing to the Police's inquiry but it's strange. He wouldn't have discarded this would he?" Barbara was crying again.

to be continued,

End of Part One