I wasn't sure were to put this story but decided on loving wives even though there is no cheating wife in this story. Sexual content is very limited as this is more of mystery/adventure story.
I would like to thank Papagus for proof reading this story and correcting my many errors and typos.
Prolog
Detectives Olson and Barron were talking in the hallway. I had just finished telling my story for the second time that night when Detective Barron asked Detective Olson to step out of the room. I could hear them talking in the hallway. It seemed that the hole I had fallen into on Tuesday seemed to just keep getting deeper.
I had told the detectives the truth, at least everything I told him was factual, it just didn't all happen the way I said it did. What I didn't tell them had happened by accident but I was sure no one would believe me so I left out that part of the story. I just hoped that the two detectives wouldn't make the connection.
Chapter 1 – Riverton, Missouri
Riverton, Missouri is situated on the De Moines River, ten miles upstream from its confluence with the Mississippi. The city sits on the southwest side of the river and is protected from the river by a twenty-foot high levy that has saved the city from floods on several occasions. The current population of forty-two thousand is about the same as it has been since the end of World War Two.
Riverton Plastics was the largest employer in Riverton until 1995 when they were bought out by Detroit based Pace Automotive Plastics (PAP) which is a leading manufacturer of plastic parts for the automotive industry as well as being my employer.
My name is Tom Blanchard and I was born in Riverton. Except for the four years I attended the University of Missouri to earn a degree in electrical engineering I have spent my whole life here. PAP hired me right after graduation in 1997.
I had received some better job offers but I wanted to live in Riverton so I accepted a position as an Information Systems Specialists in PAP's IS department. My main job responsibility was to keep the company's computer network up and running.
My father, an Orthodontist, and my mother, an English teacher at Riverton Central High School, both took early retirement in 2000. They enjoy taking ocean cruises so they moved to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, which allows them to benefit from last minute deals on unsold cabins on cruise ships. Since retiring they have averaged a four or seven day cruise about every three months. The benefit to me was that they sold me their house, the house I grew up in, for a lot less than the market value. Up until that time I had been renting an apartment in town while my brother Jack, who was two years older than me, was working and living in St. Louis. Jack had no interest in the house or living in Riverton so he had no problem with my parents selling me the house.
Chapter 2 – Holly Albertson
After returning from college my life in Riverton had become a comfortable routine. I got up at six o'clock every morning and was at work by half past seven. Lunch was in a brown bag and was eaten at noon. At 5:30 PM I was out the door and on my way to dinner. At least three and sometimes four or five times a week, dinner was the special at the Riverside Diner. The diner sat on the levy and had a wonderful view of the Des Moines River and Iowa on the other side. It was my habit to sit in one of the booths along the windows so I could watch the river traffic and the fishermen on the bank of the levy.
Before I met Holly Albertson I had no serious relationships but usually had a date on Saturday nights. My dates usually consisted of dinner and a movie and sometimes a little horizontal mambo ending with a wet spot in someone's bed.
In January of 2002, I was promoted to Manager of Information Systems for Pace Automotive Plastics, Riverton Division. It was the Friday following my promotion and I had just returned from a week of meetings at PAP corporate headquarters in Detroit and had gone to the diner to eat before going home. I had just sat down by the windows like I always do when she appeared at my table. I knew all of the waitresses at the Riverside but I hadn't ever seen this one before. She was a tall, about five feet ten inches tall, and her long dark brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail. Her large hazel eyes were the most attractive feature of her very pretty face.
While she placed a glass of water on the table I quickly glanced at her nametag.
"Well, hello Holly. When did you start working here?" I asked.
Holly pulled back from the table and gave me a worried look.
"Why?"
"You are new here aren't you? I just wondered when you started."
"I started Monday," Holly said, still looking a little wary of me.
I guessed that being new at the job, Holly was probably still a little nervous and that might account for her reaction to my question. After what seemed to be a long pause, Holly managed to ask me if I was ready to order. I ordered the Friday special, fried catfish, coleslaw, French fries and hushpuppies. I don't think Holly and I exchanged more than two words before I left.
While I thought that Holly was quite attractive I am not the type of man who thinks that he has to get to know every attractive woman he meets. I had put her out of my mind as soon as I left the diner that evening and when I returned to the diner Saturday evening for dinner I had given no thought as to whether she would be working or not. I took my usual table by the windows and was watching a barge being pushed upriver by a large tug. I was still looking out the window when a glass of water was put down in front of me. I turned to look at my waitress and recognized her immediately.
"Good evening Holly, nice to see you again. How are you tonight?" I said, in what I thought was a friendly tone.
Holly looked at me suspiciously and asked, "Are you ready to order?"
It seemed that for some reason Holly didn't like me. I couldn't figure out why, but I had long ago learned that no matter how hard you try you cannot make everyone like you. So, I just didn't worry about it. I ordered the fried chicken special and didn't bother trying to engage Holly in any further conversation.
I went back to the diner again Monday evening hoping that Holly would not be there or at least would not be working my section of the diner. I was watching a young man pulling a large channel cat out of the river when she spoke to me. There was an edge to her words that startled me.
"Why are you following me?" she hissed.
"Following you?"
"You show up out of nowhere and then you keep coming back and sitting at my station," she said. "Are you stalking me?"
I could not believe what I was hearing. "Stalking you? You think I am stalking you just because I sat at your station three times? Don't flatter yourself." I said. Her accusation had pissed me off.
"You've only been working here a week, I have been coming to this diner three or four times a week for the last four years and I always sit at one of these tables by the windows. If you don't believe me you can ask any of the other waitresses, they all know me." I said. "Here's a news flash for you, I am going to keep coming here and sitting by the windows, so if you don't like waiting on me you can either work a different station or you can quit. So either take my order or send over another waitress."
Holly seemed to be a little flustered and she made a quick exit. A minute later I saw her talking to Carol and Jean, two of the other waitresses, near the kitchen door. She pointed at me and then it looked like she was just listening to what the other waitresses were telling her.
Two minutes later she was back at my table with a menu and a glass of water.
"I am so sorry that I acted that way. I guess I am still a little jumpy. I'm new in town and I don't know anyone here. Carol told me this was like your second home and now I just feel so fool."
"Apology accepted," I said. "Why don't we just start over? I'm Tom Blanchard and like I said I come in here three or four times a week. Once you get to know me you'll see I am not really a scary person."
"I'm Holly Albertson," Holly said.
Holly and I didn't immediately become a couple. I continued going to the dinner three or four times a week and Holly usually waited on me. Over time, as we learned more about each other we became friends. At first Holly wasn't very free with information about herself but I did manage to find out that she had gone to college in New Jersey but she was vague about exactly what school she had gone to or what she had studied. She was raised by her mother, who was killed in a car accident a couple of years earlier. Holly never knew her father.
We often discussed books and movies. As intelligent as Holly was it kind of bothered me that she was working as a waitress in a diner, but I didn't question her about it.
It was three months before I finally asked her out. We went out to dinner but not at the Riverside, and then to a movie. After the movie we went out for a drink. It was then that I asked her why she thought I might be stalking her.
"I lived in New Jersey before I came here," Holly said. "The guy I was living with was abusive and when I tried to break up with him he threatened to kill me. One night, when he was asleep, I packed what I could fit in one suitcase and I left. I stayed in a motel that night and emptied my bank account in the morning. After that I just started driving west. My car broke down when I got to Riverton and while I was waiting to get it repaired I saw a help wanted sign in the window at the diner. I made a quick decision to apply for the job and if I got it I would stay here for a while.
"When you showed up the following week you seemed to know my name and you asked how long I had been working at the diner, it scared me. I thought that ah... Mike... might have sent someone to find me. Then you were back the next night and again a couple of nights later. It just scared me."
"I knew your name because you were wearing a name tag," I said.
"I realized that later."