PLUMBING PROBLEMS: PART IX

               PLUMBING PROBLEMS IX

“Hang on,” she said, “I’ll try his cell phone.”  She came back on the line and said her call to Dave could not be completed; something was wrong with his cell phone.  I wasn’t prepared for her next response.

She half shouted and half cried, “That bastard!”

There was more to come.

“He’s with his slut, that son of a bitch.  That’s the only place he can be.”  Debbie continued with an explanation that I really didn’t need to hear.  “We had just been married a year, and I knew I wasn’t his first girlfriend, but I figured I’d be the last.  Dave had accepted a job from a woman new to the area and I found out he was servicing more than just her plumbing.  No that’s wrong, he was servicing her plumbing.”  Debbie wailed, “That’s the only place he could be, and if that’s where he is he can go to hell!”

As fast as I could, I offered to let her know if Dave returned, said good-bye and hung up.  I needed to have my plumbing fixed and not to be in the middle of a marital dispute.

I searched around the house and walked the fields again but there was no sign of Dave.  By now night was approaching.  With reluctance I called the police.  I related to the officer Dave’s disappearance and also about my conversation with his wife. 

“Sounds like a sticky situation,” came the officer’s reply.  He continued, “I’ll phone the wife. She’s the one that has to file a missing person report.  After I talk to her I’ll take a run out to your place and see if I can figure out what is going on.”

I said I’d be watching for him, hung up and looked into having the mess upstairs cleaned up.  A few hours later a police car pulled up behind Dave’s truck.  By now it was quite dark, so I put on the outside lights and saw a policeman walking towards the front door.  He introduced himself as Officer Marks and I asked him in.