Destination Unknown

Mary stood outside the club and looked at her phone. It wasn’t very late. A quiet sob escaped her throat as she searched for the Uber app and set up a ride home. Friday night, likely a ride will come quickly, she thought, trying to steady her breathing. She knew her face was a mess, but the crowds walking by and the long line of people waiting to get into the club paid no attention to her. She focused on the little car moving across the map on the phone, willing it to arrive quickly and take her away from the loud music and noisy people.

A maroon, 4-door Ford 250 pulled up and Mary absently wondered how anyone could use such a vehicle for Uber, especially in the city. She climbed into the back.

“Are you Mary?”

“Yes.”

He pulled away slowly due to the crowds, then proceeded onto Broadway. Mary stared out the window. The driver glanced at her through the rear-view mirror.

“Whoa! Rough night?”

Mary shut her eyes tightly and answered, “Yes.”

“What happened?”

“You know, I really don’t want to talk about it.”

“Well, jeez, I was just trying to be nice.”

He sounded annoyed and Mary realized he was one of those drivers who liked to talk with the customers, a proclivity of many drivers she did not appreciate. Mary leaned back into the seat and felt something behind her. She reached for the offending object and pulled out what felt like a book. It appeared to be a small black notebook. She opened it and flipped through the pages but it was much too dark to make out any of the words.

As the driver pulled up to Mary’s building she briefly considered alerting him to the lost and found item but decided against it, thinking him a bit of a jerk.

******

Mary unlocked the door to her apartment and threw her purse, coat, and finally her shoes onto the chair in the hallway. She went straight to the bedroom, looked into the mirror hanging over the dresser, and saw the smeared mascara all over her face. Mary sighed and suppressed another sob, then remembered the small notebook that was still clutched in her hand. She climbed into bed, not bothering to undress, and opened the book. The name Katarina, along with an address, were written neatly on the first page beneath the printed words, In case of loss, please return to. No telephone number was included.

******

Mary looked at her phone and was surprised to see that an hour had passed. She felt consumed by what she had found - journal entries, doodles, poems, lists, plans. Although a part of her felt like an uninvited voyeur, the pages took her outside of her own heartbreak and into the life of another.

"I can’t help it. I’ve tried so hard to end this but I feel like I need him in my life. He is kind, giving, loving. He is nothing like Paul. He loves me. He wants me. Yesterday he asked me to marry him. What do I do?"

It’s an affair, Mary had concluded, between Katarina and a man named Miguel. There were no dates in the book, just page after page of the desperation obviously inherent in Katarina’s marriage, and the longing for another whom she wanted more.

"We’ve been saving for the last 2 years and we finally have enough to leave for good."

They would meet at Miguel’s house, he evidently lived outside the city. Katarina had drawn a picture of his house which seemed to be surrounded by trees. In an earlier part of the book there was an address scribbled down hastily in the margin, without any context. There were lists - a page of pros and cons describing her relationship with Paul; items she was going to pick up at the grocery store for a special dinner she was going to make for Miguel; an itinerary for packing and obtaining airline tickets to Oaxaca, with a separate list of items to pack.

*****

Mary opened her eyes, the small black notebook still held in her hand. She took it into the kitchen and made coffee. Suddenly she was overcome with sadness and sank to the floor, sobbing into her arms. Fool! she told herself.

Still crying, Mary thought about the previous 6 months. Last night she had told Simon that she loved him. His answer was a blow to the head.

“I don’t want a serious relationship. I’m not looking for that.”

And he had broken up with her.

Mary sat up and wiped her eyes on her sleeve, the makeup mixed with her tears. She knew what she was going to do.

*****

The address was about 12 miles outside the city. Mary drove, the notebook sitting on the dashboard, and thought about Katarina. Something drew her to this unusual situation, and to a stranger she felt she knew intimately.

As she pulled up to a large stone house Mary suddenly became nervous. Her presence might be considered intrusive, but she was hoping to return the book to Katarina and meet this brave woman who only wanted true love. The notebook concealed in her coat pocket, Mary walked up the long driveway and finally the stone steps to the front door. She rang the bell.

A tall man with grey hair and wearing a dark brown suit opened the door.

“Can I help you?”

“Yes, good afternoon,” Mary tried to sound casual. “I was in the neighborhood and stopped by to see if Katarina would like to go to lunch.”

“She’s not here.”

“Oh! Are you Paul?”

The man looked at her suspiciously.

“No, I am…a business associate of Paul’s. He had to run an errand. May I ask how you know Katarina?”

“We take the same dance classes at the gym.” Mary was glad to know certain details about Katarina’s life from the notebook.

“I see. Well, I am happy to tell her you stopped by.”

He then closed the door, neglecting to ask her name.

Mary felt a little stunned but tried to remain nonchalant as she walked back to her car. She got in and sat for a moment, thinking. Her hand reached for the notebook in her pocket and she flipped through it quickly, trying to locate the address that had been scribbled in the margin. Before she could change her mind, she typed the address into the phone and was following the map to the new destination.

*****

The location was about 25 miles outside the city. Mary couldn’t believe what she was doing but she felt compelled to find this woman. The road became more rugged as the directions took her into the country and finally to a wooded area. There were no other houses around, no stores, no activity. She pulled onto a dirt road and drove the last mile through thick trees. The air was filled with the sound of birds and sunlight filtered through the leaves.

As she pulled up to a small house that wasn’t much more than a cabin, she noted 3 parked vehicles and the open front door. Her heart began to pound, there was not a sound from anywhere. She grabbed the notebook, left her car, and started walking to the front of the house. Her pace slowed and she cautiously rapped on the open door.

“Katarina?” She called softly.

Mary stepped through the doorway and immediately her hand went to her mouth in shock, time seeming to stand still.

A woman with long auburn hair was lying face-down on the floor, her arm stretched out to a man with dark hair, also lying motionless. A pool of blood surrounded them.

Mary took a step backwards and gasped as her foot touched another body lying in the corner of the room beside the doorway, a gun in his right hand.

She saw the suitcases stacked neatly next to the bed. On top of the dresser were some papers and Mary walked over and discovered that they were printed boarding passes to Mexico City. Next to them was a large envelope that appeared full of money.

Mary looked around the still room, her eyes ending on Katarina. She took the notebook out of her pocket and hugged it against her chest. Then Mary carefully picked up the envelope of money without disturbing anything else on the dresser.

Walking gingerly around the debris of a badly-ended love affair, Mary left the house, got into her car, and drove back to her apartment.

****

Sitting on the floor Mary counted the money - $20,000 in 20s, 50s, and 100s. Mary turned to the next blank page in the black notebook and made the following list:

1. Contact supervisor and explain that there has been a family emergency, and that you need an indefinite leave of absence with likelihood of terminating employment.

2. Pay the final 3 months on apartment lease and give notice of departure.

3. Cancel all utilities, provide hold on mail.

4. Pack only what you want/need.

*****

At 06:30 Monday morning Mary was driving, car packed full, towards Kansas City - destination unknown. She glanced at the small black notebook sitting on the dashboard, and smiled. Katarina, she thought, thank you.