UnVailed

As I was driving her home she was suddenly struck with stomach cramps and told me she needed a bathroom ASAP. My apartment was just a block away so I sped there and let her in to use the head. She thanked me profusely as she ran in to use the toilet.

"Even if I was gonna try for sex, she won't want to now," I thought to myself. I sat on a stool and waited for her to finish her urgent business.

Several minutes later I heard the toilet flush. "Oh thank you," I heard her say as she entered the living room. I turned; the words "no" and "problem" ready to roll out coherently when my breath caught in my throat.

The Joy who had entered my bathroom had been wearing nice jeans, a knit turtle neck pull over and a leather jacket. The Joy that stood before me now wore only a pair of skimpy red panties and a pair of high heeled boots.

I must have really been gawking because she laughed and said, "Take your coat off and stay awhile." I took off more than my coat.

The next morning we went to breakfast at a mom and pop place just down the block. After breakfast, we didn't reappear until it was dinner time. I took her home Sunday afternoon. Before she got out of my car she said her damn boss will get killed if he ever asked her to work another weekend. "Can't keep a girl from her drug of choice," she said eyeing my crotch.

If I was still her drug of choice, why was she now in a drug induced coma? I followed the nurse back out of the care room to the nurses' station, signed a bunch of pages and then they handed me her personal effects. They didn't really want to have to keep track of her things.

"The police have already looked everything over," the nurse told me. There is an itemized list of everything in the bag."

At that moment the intercom buzzed and she picked it up and talked for a moment to someone. I could tell she was talking about Joy. She told whomever that she had just turned over her things to the husband. She then handed me the phone.

"Mr. Rigby?" queried the voice on the other end.

"Yes this is he."

"This is Detective Phillips again. I hate to bother you, but would you mind coming down to the police station and answering a few questions for us?"

I told her that I didn't mind and she gave me the address. I thanked the nurse and went back to my car. "Pigs think you beat her." Why would I beat her?

"Cuz she's a cheating cunt?" I have no proof of her cheating.

"You have to admit that her being in fucking Vail looks awful damn fishy." Yes it does, but there might be a logical explanation.

"Like what Virginia?" Like last year when she won the week in Florida. Remember? Sand, sex, sun and all the bikini clad ass we could ogle?

"OK. It's possible she won a trip to Vail, flew into Denver, rented a car, and got her ass kicked before she could give you the grand news." I admitted that it's fishy.

"Hey, I'm just sayin' that mistakes have been made." Yeah. Joy should have had me meet her in Denver so we could go to Vail together.

"But then she'd have to explain her boy toy to you, and you'd get all pissy, and involve lawyers, and marines, and nuclear warheads." Dirty motherfucking cheating skank ass whore! Damn it I'd love to choke the shit out of that cunt!

"DO you have any proof yet that she's had another guy's cock inside of her?" No.

"Do you have any proof that she's even seen another guy's cock since you've been married?" No.

"So until we know more, why be pissed off?" Aren't you the motherfucker who's pushed the cheating angle all the way up until now?

"Your voice of inner reason reserves the right to change its position." Asshole.

I got to the police station just about the time the sun was going down. At the reception desk I told the guy who I was and he called someone. Pretty soon a decent looking brunette and a tall Harry Reems look alike came out to greet me. The brunette introduced herself as Detective Phillips, and Harry Reems introduced himself as Deputy Sheriff Devon.

Philips seemed to be rather nice, while Devon seemed to be one of those pricks that just waited for someone to commit an offence. He looked at me like I was Ted Bundy about to rape his mother.

"Should I have a lawyer present?"

"Do you have reason to feel that you'd need an attorney?"

"No. I have nothing to hide."

Detective Phillips led me to a room and gestured for me to sit. Devon headed a different direction. "I am going to tape our conversation Mr. Rigby, do you consent?"

"Yeah, I have no problem with it. Sorry about the fucker incident."

"Sorry about what?" she asked.

"When I called you a fucker on the phone earlier. I thought you were a buddy of mine hassling me during my 'me time."

"Your "me time," she asked with a raised eyebrow. "What does that consist of?"

"World War Two movies. Joy hates them, so when she is out of town I sit and veg out on war flicks until she comes home."

At that moment Deputy Devon walked in and sat down. "Are we ready?"

"Yes," detective Phillips said as she keyed a switch on the wall that I assumed started whatever recorders were in the room. "For the record this is Detective Desirae Phillips interviewing Mr. Roger Rigby in the interest of case 1256g victim is one Joy Tanya Rigby. Ok Mr. Rigby, will you please state your name, age and date of birth for us?"

"My name is Roger Ezekiel Rigby I am 35 years old and I was born on December 16th."

"Can you state your address and occupation for the record please?"

"I live at 1467 West Danube Avenue in Colorado Springs. I am a brick mason."

"Can you tell us where you were between the hours of 6 o'clock pm last evening and 8 o'clock am today?"

"Well let's see. From nine in the morning yesterday until seven last night, then I was in Manitou Springs repairing a fireplace. From seven 'til eight thirty I was in transit from Manitou to Jerry's Bar on the North west side of town nearer my home. I left Jerry's around eleven, and I was home by 11:30. I was at home until you called me up here."

"Can anyone verify you were at these locations at these times?"

"Mrs. Blanche Donovan can verify my presence at her home in Manitou, Paul Hannibal can verify that I was at Jerry's, and my neighbor Steven Harper can verify I was at home at midnight, and again at three in the morning, and at six this morning as well."

"And how is it that Steven can verify you were home at those specific times?" Devon asked in a snotty voice.

"Because our dogs both need to piss and shit at the same times. Steven is a night owl and when he sees me out with my dog he always has to some out to say hi and let Bosco do his business."

They conferred for a moment then Phillips continued with her questions. "When was the last time you saw your wife?"

"Monday morning when I dropped her off at the airport so she could fly to Houston."

"Why was she going to Houston?"

"For her company's annual convention. Only the top people in each region get to attend, and this is the third year in a row that she's gone."

"What does your wife do?"

"She sells life insurance for Trans United. You know, the dorky fucking commercials on TV with the old Asian dude trying to tell the five year old how to prepare for the inevitable? Fucking kid can barely color on the paper and the guy is telling him to prepare so his loved ones won't be burdened. I keep thinking 'Hey asshole, let the kid watch cartoons while you go jump in front of a bus," I realized I had gone into a rant, but I hated their stupid commercial. "You know the ad I'm talking about?"

They both nodded. I cringed every time the damn ad came on TV.

"And did she fly to Houston?"

"Now that seems to be the million dollar question. I saw her carry her suitcase into the airport, and then I drove to work. I had an appointment I had to get to."

"You didn't go to the ticket counter with her?"

"No. I planned to. I had planned to get us to the airport an hour before she had to check in and clear the TSA point. I had hoped we could have breakfast together before she left."

"So why didn't you have breakfast with her?"

"When we were two miles from the airport, she suddenly remembered that she didn't grab her bag off of the bed and we had to go back home to retrieve it."

"How could she forget something as important as her luggage?"

"She claimed that she thought I had taken it to the car when I went to warm the car up."

"Why didn't you take the bag with you to the car?"

"Because when I told her I was going to start the car, the bag was still opened on bed. I didn't even notice she didn't have it when she finally got to the car."

"How often does your wife travel for her work?"

"Twice a year. Two weeks in February for the convention, and two weeks in August for meetings and training seminars in Indianapolis."

"And is the convention in Houston every year?"

"No, it moves around. It's been in Los Angeles, New York last year and this year Houston."

They huddled together again and then Denton asked me, "Mr. Rigby, do you know of anyone who would want to harm your wife?"

"No one that I know of, well except for maybe a few of her would be customers."

"Why would they want to harm your wife Mr. Rigby?"

"Well, the way the company puts their sales force in your home to sell you shit is kind of a scam. Most of the people she sees are people who have signed up for a free child information kit. My wife calls them up and tells them she has their kit and she has to see them face to face to present it to them. Once she's given them their kit, she lays a life insurance pitch on them. Real high pressure shit too."

"Was she meeting clients in Vail?"

"How the fuck should I know? Her ass is supposed to be in Houston with others who pull the same shit."

"Do you know of anyone she may have been with?"

I gave them a list of her co-workers I knew. Some of them had maybe gone to Houston with her and could say why she was not there.

Devon sighed and looked over at Phillips. "Ok Mr. Rigby you can go. Are you planning to drive home tonight?"

"No, I suppose I'll find a motel."

They gave the usual "we'll be in touch" admonishment as I left. As I drove back to the hospital I realized that I had way more questions than I had answers. Was Joy fucking around on me? I had no solid proof but it seemed fishy to me that I dropped her off at an airport a week ago so she could fly to Houston Texas, and she ends up in a hospital bed in Vail Colorado less than a week later.

When I got back to the hospital I was informed that visiting hours were done for the day but I was welcome to return at seven in the morning. I asked the security guard if he knew of any cheap but decent motels nearby. He told me that decent was no problem, but in Vail during ski season "cheap" was a relative term; it meant you stayed with relatives.

I politely laughed at his quip and headed back into the cold. Then I remembered that I had Joy's belongings. I pulled the manifest list and looked it over and didn't see what I was looking for. I looked at the items that the police had asked not be returned.

The only thing on that list was a prescription bottle with 5 Percocet pills in it. Joy had a root canal done three weeks prior and hadn't needed all of her pain pills. I wasn't sure why she carried them with her though.

When I saw that her boots were on the "returned" list, I looked through the bag to find them. Joy's "traveling boots" went everywhere she traveled. Inside there was an almost unperceivable flap. Inside this flap you could hide credit cards, or more appropriately a motel room keycard. Her reasoning was that if she hid the room key in that flap, we'd still have access to our room if we were mugged while out and about.

I found the flap and sure enough there was a keycard in it. Only problem was it was just a blank card. It didn't have a color scheme or any identifying logos on it. It was pure white, so that if you dropped it while you were skiing you'd be fucked.

So now I had a key to her room, but not a clue where her room was. "Where's her cell phone dumb ass?"

Her cell phone! I looked at the list and didn't see it, then I looked in her handbag to see if she'd secreted it away. It wasn't here. Actually this was a good sign.

Months ago my neighbor Steven had a problem. His life partner Joe was having to buy a new cell phone every few weeks because he'd lay it down somewhere and forget where. Usually it was on a store shelf or restaurant table. Steven, who was a software developer for a company that specialized in aps for cell phones made an ap that could use the GPS in a cell to track it down.

Joy had lost a few phones too so he gave me a copy of the ap for her phone. It was nice. I could open the ap and put her cell number into it and it would give a distance and direction. When you got within a mile it got more specific. The only problem was, it couldn't tell the difference in altitude.

I found this out when she lost her phone at a store. She was damn sure it was still in that store. When I fired up the ap it lead me not to the store, but back home. Once in the house it led me to the couch. I looked all over the couch; under it and even under the cushions. The it struck me that our bedroom was over the living room.

Upstairs the ap pointed the way into our bedroom, and there between Joy's nightstand and the bed was her cell phone. The nice thing was the ap ran off of the phone's memory power, so if the phone was off or the battery dead, the phone was still locatable.

So I opened up the ap on my phone and immediately it told me I was 4 miles northeast of Joy's phone. I started the car and began driving a meandering path towards the mountain.

When I got to the base of the ski area it led me up a road to several posh ski lodges. "I don't know who he is, but he's got class." Shut up fucker. I have things to see before I come to any conclusions.

The indicator finally told me that I was within a half mile as I turned down the drive way to a lodge. It was four stories and I saw a lot of Lexus and Audi products in the parking area. I was glad I had driven Joy's BMW instead of my older work truck.

I saw that there were two entrances to the lodge. One led past the front desk to the restaurant and lounge area, while the other led directly into the hall way. I opted to take the second entrance. I figured I'd have less to explain if I didn't pass a clerk.

I entered the hallway and moved down the hall. The indicator on my phone claimed that Joy's phone was in room 114. I tried the keycard and got nothing. Nonplussed, I went back down the hall and climbed the stairs to the second floor. I moved along until the indicator claimed that Joy's phone was in room 214. Once again the keycard failed, so I made my way to the stairs and the third floor.

I paused outside of 314. It struck me that I didn't have a plan. Should I walk into this room and beat the shit out of the occupant? Should I call Detective Phillips and ask her to come? I didn't know if anyone was even in the room, let alone the person who had beaten Joy.

I listened at the door for a moment. I couldn't hear a TV or any voices so I stuck the keycard in and the light flashed green as the lock disengaged. I pushed down on the lever and the door started moving inward. I opened the door fully and stepped back expecting something to come flying at me.

The room was dark, and I could see very little of it from what illumination snuck in through the open door. I cautiously edged my way in until I found the light switches. I kept my back to the wall as I flicked the switches on. The entryway light came on as did a single lamp on the far side of the room.

I felt like a cop or a soldier clearing the room. I kept my back to the wall as I pulled the door closed. I engaged the security lock and put my back to the door.

I couldn't see much in the bathroom nor could I see the entire room. I debated on clearing the main portion of the room first. "What if someone slips out of the bathroom?" That thought made me think that I should do the bathroom first. "What if someone is hiding just around the wall and they slip in behind you?"

Just shut up if you're not going to help. "Lips are sealed. But I do get to say 'I told you so' when someone ass rapes you because you're not really a cop."

I finally managed to ignore my inner voice and I reached in and turned on the bathroom light. No one came out of the head wielding a hatchet, nor did anybody slip out from the main room and brain me.

I then moved to the main room. As I reached the corner of the entry way I could see about three quarters of the room. I simply stepped around the corner and saw that there was no one in the room. Joy's suitcase was on the neatly made bed and her cell phone was charging on the nightstand, and her laptop was sitting on a small table by the window.

It suddenly struck me that the room looked too sanitary. It didn't look like anyone had been in the room prior to that moment, but it also didn't look like a professional hotel maid had made up the room. I went back into the bathroom and took a good look.

There were a few water spots in the sink like someone had tried to clean it, but without any real cleaning products. The soap was in the soap tray in the shower, and not in a wrapper. The towels that were at the bottom of the small stack of towels weren't as neat as the ones on top and they were damp.

Someone had tried to make this room look as if it hadn't been used already. The bed was made, but the comforter just didn't hang evenly. "You should have been a cop." Speaking of cops, I wonder if I should call them. "Why? It doesn't look like she was beaten here."

I pulled back the comforter and saw the sheets had been slept in, but no signs of violence. None of the walls looked damaged. I grabbed Joy's phone and sat down at the table with it. While I waited for her laptop to boot up, I looked through her phone. It was easy because Joy had never been one to password protect anything.

As I was opening her lap top I was suddenly struck with the thought that nobody knew where I was. I first called my sister Beth and asked her to go take care of my dog. I didn't tell her exactly why I was in Vail, just that I had some things to deal with and I'd be home in a day or two.

My next call was a little harder to make. I called my father-in-law Jim and told him everything I knew. He, like me, hoped it was a case of her winning a trip again. I told him I'd call him the next day after I had talked to the doctors.

The last call I made was to my cousin Hugh. Hugh was a detective with the El Paso County Sheriff's Department. He lived just three miles from me, and we spent a good amount of time together. He told me to be sure to let the Vail PD know I found out where Joy had been staying.

I asked him if he could reach out to the Vail PD so that we'd be kept in the loop. He said he would and then we rung off. I then had an idea. I pulled out my cell and called the lodge's front desk and asked for Joy Rigby.

"I'm afraid we don't have any registered guests with that name sir," came the reply.

"Maybe she registered under her maiden name."

"How about Joy Macintyre?"

"Sorry sir. No one is registered under that name either."

I thanked the clerk and rung off. By that time Joy's lap top had fully come to life. I looked through it and all of the history had been wiped clean. I knew Joy hadn't done that because she never deletes anything.

I opened both of her e-mail accounts to find they were cleaned out as well. Her password for both was easy; it was my birthdate. I knew I could take the lap top over to Steven. He and Joe were both top notch programmers and knew how to get missing info off of computers.