Five Days in Summer

one.
    “Your wife stressed out, by any chance?” Snow asked.
    “Of course she’s stressed out,” Parker answered. “She lives in the twenty-first century. Aren’t you?”
    “Not really.” Snow glanced at his notes. “Can I call you Bill?”
    “It’s Will.” Parker forced a smile but it didn’t work. He looked a day past exhausted.
    Geary took a mug from the cabinet and poured himself some coffee. He leaned over the counter drinking it and kept his ears open. His interest was piqued and he wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t just that a woman was missing; it was something else.
    “What do we do now?” Parker asked.
    “Roll call’s at eight,” Snow said. “I’ll be off duty but your wife’s case will be presented. We could use a photo, Will. Something that gives a good idea of how your wife looks. We’ll fax the photo to every station house on the Cape and to Middleboro, that’s the state headquarters.”
    “Then?”
    “We keep looking. Sometimes someone calls in with a lead. Maybe someone saw something.”
    “What did they tell you at the grocery store?”
    Snow thought too long; Geary could tell he hadn’t bothered to go. Obviously Snow had decided to see if she would turn up on her own. Geary had seen it too often. And then it was too late.
    “Nothing out of the usual,” Snow said. “No one remembered her.”
    “I’ll call my mother-in-law and ask her to fax over a picture of Emily,” Parker said. “What’s the fax number?”
    Snow had to go find it. While he was gone, Geary couldn’t help saying something. “Don’t mean to pry—”
    “I didn’t catch your name?” Parker let his edgy tone spill onto Geary. The young ones did that sometimes, figured you were too old to notice or wouldforget it happened. They needed a punching bag and it was you.
    “Dr. John Geary, retired special agent with the FBI.” Geary waited for it to sink in.
    “Excuse me, Dr. Geary. But if you’re retired, why are you here?”
    “Same reason you’re here. Looking for people who disappeared. I’m writing a book.”
    Parker nodded. He stood and fished in his pocket for his cell phone. “Where did he go?”
    “Snow’s a slow walker. Give him a minute.”
    Parker paced to the window, where the venetian blinds were pulled all the way up. Traffic on Route 151. A white sun pulling into a baby blue sky.
    “If I were you,” Geary said, slipping in this one coin on the chance it might start Parker’s motor, “I’d go to the grocery store myself. I wouldn’t wait for a snowball to roll up a hill.”
    Parker laughed.
    Geary liked him.
    Snow returned with the girl with long dark hair. Geary let out a little snort but luckily no one heard. He went back to the coffeemaker, poured himself another cup, and stayed just long enough to hear Snow introduce her.
    “This is Detective Amy Cardoza. She’s on shift for the rest of the day. She’ll take care of the photo and she’ll present your wife’s case at roll call.”
    Amy stepped forward to shake Parker’s hand. She was younger than he was, maybe thirty, smooth skin, no tan, nice eyes.
    “We’re going to do our best to find your wife,” Amy said. Her gaze shifted rapidly to Snow, then back to Parker. “I know this is frustrating for you.”
    Parker seemed to appreciate the acknowledgment. “I’ll need that fax number.”
    Amy handed him a Post-it note with the number on it. “There’s a phone on the wall. When you’re done I’d like to ask you a few more questions.”
    Parker turned his back to them, flipped open his cell phone and pushed two buttons.
    Geary walked out of the room. He had something he needed to do.
    Geary drove the seventeen minutes back to his house at Cotuit Bay Shores. It was a nice little postand-beam prefab just right for a retired couple. That was what the broker had said. Not too big, not too small. Cozy. A screened-in summer porch. Fully winterized. All the amenities. What sold them in the end was that there was a groundskeeper who took care of the whole community for a small annual fee. John and Ruth were done with cleaning gutters and shoveling snow. And Roger Bell’s house was just two dead ends away.
    Geary pulled into the driveway but not the garage. He’d only be home a few minutes. He unlocked the front door and went straight to his desk in an alcove off the living room. It was a mess but he had a system; he knew where everything was. The file he wanted was from the Woods Hole precinct. It was on the left