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stopped ringing too.
    “Why are you doing this to me?” She yelled to the unseen forces. She was hungry and tired; but most of all she was lonely. She missed her boys and wondered what they were thinking when she did not return home.

Chapter Four
     
    The constant ringing of the phones rattled Arlin’s nerves as he stood at the counter filling out the missing person’s report. He did not know why he was so nervous . He finished up and handed the paper back to the clerk behind the bulletproof glass separating the civil servants from possibly angry, and in their mind, wrongfully accused citizens.
    “Take a seat sir and I’ll have a detective come talk to you.” The speaker box she spoke through distort ed her voice making her sound like a cartoon. He turned around, found a seat, and waited. The longer he waited, the more anxious he got. His phone rang and he hit ignore. He did not think he could talk to anyone right now. He took a deep breath. He had not anticipated having to talk to a detective so soon. He thought it took days to process missing person reports. He thought back to yesterday’s conversation with Penny and he relaxed. She had offered to keep the boys as late as necessary today if he needed her to.
    Maybe I’m over reacting. He thought as the detective came out of the door off to the side of the waiting area and called his name. Arlin took a deep breath, got up from the chair, and walked across the room to the big burly detective. He had a presence about him and Arlin could sense he was a seasoned detective.
    “Arlin Gilab?”
    “Yes , I’m Arlin Gilab .”
    “I’m Detective Sheldon.” He shook Arlin’s hand. “Come in here and let’s get started on why you think your wife is missing.” He held open the door for Arlin. “Over this way please .” He followed him in and guided him past detectives at their desk, busy with paperwork and even past some empty desk. Arlin guessed they were likely out investigating leads they got in their own missing person’s case perhaps. They reached Detective Sheldon’s old oak desk that had seen its share of detectives over the years. The scratches and worn spots were visible on the overly neat, almost OCD, desk.
    “Now you say she left to go on a weekend retreat. Was this something she often did?” Detective Sheldon took a seat and motioned to Arlin to sit in one of the w o rn cushioned chairs in front of the desk.
    “Huh? No. No. She rarely did things by he rself.” He tried hard to relax but something nagged at him. He took a deep breath.
    “Do you know where she went? You only put on here a spa retreat.” He tapped the form to show Arlin his answer.
    “I don’t remember the name. This was something she planned.” He leaned forward in the chai r. “Well…I mean…I got it for her but.” He shook his head. “I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t pay much attention. She would get on the computer and talk about trips like this but never take one. I found this one on her computer and her birthday was coming up. So I bought it for her…for us to go together. But work commitments came up and I couldn’t go. I was surprised when I got up Saturday morning and she had packed and was leaving.” Detective Sheldon wrote some notes in his yellow notebook as Arlin talked.
    “Why were you surprised?”
    “She never went anywhere on her own.”
    “When did she say she was returning?”
    “Sunday evening.”
    “You sound sure about that, so it is Tuesday and you are only now reporting her missing.” He leaned back in his chair and brushed his thick mustache with his fingers.
    “I thought maybe I was wrong; that she had said Monday. But I know it was Sunday. I remember thinking that she would be back to get the kids off to school and such. But I didn’t want to worry the kids and thought it better to give her one more day in case I was mistaken.”
    “Do you know Mitch Bullen ?”
    “Who?” The name sounded familiar but he could not place the name