Road Trip (2018 Wattys Long List)

Chapter 32

Vivian Lennox sat at her desk in her office at Glenwood. She had been wise to lock the office door before she sat down heavily behind her desk. The blinds were closed and the lights were off so that she would feel a little more cut off from the world. She had told the nurses more than once not to disturb her if her door was shut, but you just never knew. Having the door locked guaranteed her privacy. She needed that now. Just a few minutes alone with her thoughts.

She leaned forward and held her head in her hands. She closed her eyes and reviewed the misery of the past few days in her mind. She had lost four residents. It was unthinkable. Nothing even remotely like this had ever happened before in her twenty-five-year reign over the nursing home. Serious events had occurred over those years, but nothing as much of a disaster as this was now rapidly becoming. There had been many illnesses and deaths over the course of those years, but that was only to be expected. Elderly residents would get ill from time to time and everyone must pass away eventually. That was unfortunate, but these occurrences were natural and inevitable. But to lose residents from a locked and gated facility was unthinkable. Maybe she was getting too old for this job. Maybe she should leave her position here.

Vivian loved being in charge of Glenwood. The residents were like her own children so far as she was concerned. She loved them all, even Harvey Feldman who had only just arrived at Glenwood. They all relied on her to keep them safe and she couldn't bear the thought of actually losing any one of them even for a few hours. She had failed them terribly.

Four people missing and not just for a few hours but for days! Harvey Feldman's children especially were all over her. They were making her life hell. She was getting several calls a day from all three of them even though she had assured everyone that she would notify them personally the minute the four missing residents were found. But so far they had not been found. The police had a man on their trail and he reportedly had followed them all the way to the west coast! All the way across the country. How was that even possible?

It had been made very clear to her over the last few days that she would be facing numerous lawsuits if any harm came to any of those four missing persons. To be honest, she wasn't sure that she would be able to go on living with herself if even one of the four old folks didn't survive this. That was a worst-case scenario, but she could not keep such worrisome thoughts at bay. The missing residents had been gone too long. Vivian didn't have much, but she would gladly give up everything she owned to get them back here safely. Whatever happened in those lawsuits, she would accept the full blame for what had happened and whatever still might happen. She was ashamed and mortified to know that something like this could have occurred on her watch. She held her head in her hands and wept.

****************************************

Dan Colbeck was sure the old folks were here somewhere in this city. He could feel it in his bones. Vancouver was the most likely place for them to be, after all. This is a big and famous city. Lots of people and places to see. It was on the western-most coast of the country, and you couldn't really go any further west in Canada than this. Not unless you took a ferry to Vancouver Island, or the Queen Charlotte Islands, maybe. That would be a long shot, though. He didn't think that was as likely as the city of Vancouver itself. If he was right, and they were here, he intended to find them. If he were wrong, and they were not here, well, there goes his career. The chief would have his badge over that kind of screw up.

He was out of bed early, on the following morning. After a quick breakfast in the hotel, he got back into his damaged car and resumed the search of the downtown Vancouver streets. He concentrated on the best-known area of the city. This was where he hoped he would get lucky for once, and find them. He scanned the sidewalks, as he slowly covered the search area. He saw junkies, homeless people, joggers and early risers, the latter probably headed for their offices. But no elderly people. Dan hoped it was because it was still too early in the morning for the missing seniors to be out on the street.

Suddenly, he had another idea. Maybe he should check out the coffee shops. Oldsters were known to love donuts and coffee, right? It was a possibility, and worth looking into.

He would have to check that idea out, too. Lots to think about, this morning.

***********************************

Stan Peters was feeling desperate. He liked presiding over the town of Glenwood. As Chief of Police, he had control. It had been a soft position of power that hadn't taken too much effort to maintain over the years. Nothing much happened here to draw attention to himself or to make his life difficult and he was the final authority in this town.

Who would ever have predicted that a bunch of nursing home inmates would cause this kind of havoc in his life? Maybe it had been a mistake to put Colbeck on the case. Dan had failed to find these people the day they had gone missing and now it could cost both of them their jobs.

Peters had the relatives to deal with and that was a nightmare. Harvey Feldman's children had been particularly persistent and they wanted blood. His blood. The press had gotten wind of this and they were hounding him for answers too. He had assured them all that finding the missing persons was imminent. He had assured them that his top detective on the case and he was closing in very quickly. It would only be a matter of hours now. He fervently hoped that Colbeck was bright enough to actually make that true.

This was the last straw for that knuckle-head Colbeck. If he didn't corner those old-timers today he would fire his ass and start a massive manhunt for the old buggers himself.