Time To Move On

By Gerald Goble

Eric Hunter modern private detective lives in a trailer in a trailer park and handles small cases that keep him busy and provide a small income. The owner of the park Grace Baker acts as his girl Friday directing his clients to him. Eric is off searching for people and things again. A man asks Eric to find his wife who is off her Meds and can’t find her way home. A student asks Eric to find is a teacher who is excavating an old temple, and his replacement is a task master. An older woman says things seem to disappear and reappear. Is it a poltergeist? A woman whose husband died three years ago is reliving happier times. Maybe it is time to move on.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gerald Goble
• Release date: Jun 24, 2017
• ISBN: 9781311377982

Gerald Goble

Gerald Goble has PhD in Theoretical Physics and has been a research scientist, teacher, federal employee, businessman, manager, and martial arts instructor. He is author of several scientific publications, U.S. Army Publications on Ammunition and Explosives, non fiction books "The Way of Two as One“, "The Bear Slayer – Women’s Self-Defense“; the fiction books, the Bunko Club Murder series, and the Jack Wellington UN Attaché Series, Westerns “Jacob’s Coat”, "Strays" and "Warrior Woman" and Science Fiction, "The Majestic Committee."

Book preview

Time To Move On

an

Eric Hunter Detective

By

Gerald Goble

Time To Move On

an

Eric Hunter Detective

By

Gerald Goble

Time To Move On

an

Eric Hunter Detective

By

Gerald Goble

ISBN 9781311377982

Copyright (c) 2017 Gerald Goble

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including, photocopying, recording, taping by or by an information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author with the exception of brief quotations. This is a work of fiction.

For Joan my friend my love

Chapter 1

Eric was watching the small black-and-white TV in the kitchen of his trailer mounted on the wall above the utility shelf behind his kitchen table. He had a half a cup of coffee left from his breakfast and was leaning forward watching the Soccer Penalty Shoot-Out between Ecuador and Germany. There was a knock on the door to the trailer. The knock caused him to blink and wave at the closed door as he said, Yeah yeah just a second.

There was a second knock, but louder and causing the door to rattle causing him to again turn and look at the door. The announcer screamed into the microphone, Scoooore. Eric grumbled, Right."

When he opened the door, there was a man in his forties with thinning reddish-brown hair in a crumpled blue suit, with his tie knotted but not up to his neck. The man looked up at him and said, Mr. Hunter. My wife is gone, and she has meds she needs to take.

Eric motioned him in and looked up at the TV and the team from Germany jumping up and down as he turned it off. Eric said, Have a seat. I will need some information. He reached up by the TV and pulled down two printed 3 by 5 cards and one of his business cards placing them in front of the man. He said, My rates are on the back of the business card, and the three by five cards ask for the basic information about you for billing and contact. Here is a small lined pad for you to tell me about you wife."

The man began writing and said, My name is Harold Craven, and my wife's name is Carol. You were recommended by Wanda Barting. Carol is Bi-Polar and she has been gone for two days. She gets confused and alternately is short-tempered and a bundle of tears. The longer she is off the meds the shorter the periods of lucidity get.

Eric asked, Has this happened before?

Harold said, Yes about four years ago, and she was spending nights in a Salvation Army Shelter for drunks, and her days screaming at football and other sports practice sessions at the college and high school.

Eric asked, Do you have a picture of her, and have you checked with the police?

Harold said, Yes. First, here is a picture. He pulled out his wallet and wiggled out a picture from one of the plastic sleeves. He continued, I'll want this back. As far as the Police, this is the third time I've been to them, and they were not particularly interested. They said they'll look into it. But the two of them didn't budge from their seats.

Eric placed the picture on his computer printer and made a copy of it. He picked up the cards Harold had filled out then said, Well let me look into it, and I will get back to you. He paused then said, Either at your Real Estate Office or at your home. Right at the moment I am between cases and can get on it this afternoon.

Harold said, Good. Wanda said you wouldn't treat it casually. At least, I have someone other than myself concerned about it. He paused then pulled a ZipLock bag out of his pocket with four pills, two blue and two white. He said, If you find her hold her down and force her to swallow these, then in about twenty minutes, she will be rational again,

Eric showed him out of his trailer and watched him go. He looked up at Gracy Baker on the back porch of the office and thought, I've got my rent check all made out. I better drop it off before she asks me how business is? In that smirky voice she has.

He turned back grasped the check, his little notebook and suit jacket, then went out the door. He climbed into his car and headed to the gate of the trailer park. He stopped at the gate got out took a couple of steps to the porch, handed Gracy the check turned, got back in his car and was off out of the gate.

At the Police Department, he went to the Missing Persons Unit. There were two people in the unit, an Officer Jake Peterson and an Officer Maria Poco. Maria looked up at him as he entered and yawned. Jake looked up and said, Well Eric, I bet I can guess what brings you here, Carol Craven.

Eric said, Well, if you know, why don't you handle it so you don't have to see me come in the door?

Jake said, Well last time she took a swing at Maria and gave her a black eye and turned and kicked me in the er ah groin then a few minutes later was all sweetness, and was concerned about our welfare.

Eric asked, Where did this happen?

Maria said, At the Salvation Army shelter for Indigent Women. They mostly handle women alcoholics. They took her in, because she was incoherent, and she didn't give them any trouble, just that they couldn't get anything out of her to contact her husband. When her husband found her and gave her the meds she was taking it was like night and day. Half an hour later, she was a rational human being with concerned about the other women at the shelter and worried about leaving her husband unattended. Mr. Craven came back, and we went out and looked at all of the obvious places, but she wasn't anywhere to be found.

Jake pulled a drawer on his desk out and retrieved a typed sheet of paper and handed it to Eric. This is are list of places to look for people without money to secure shelter. We regularly update it, so I guess I should call it this months list of places."

Eric smiled and took the list, Yeah I got one from you guys not too long ago when I was looking for some kids dog and found him on a leash with some guy using the dogs's sad look to get bigger hand-outs at the corner down at the interstate bridge over the river.

Jake smiled and said, The same bum, now is using a black cat that meows loud. He paused then said, "I suppose Craven is annoyed with us, but he called when she first went missing, and we went through the list and got no leads. We also