VERSION 1

A Vital Problem (or) What Could She Do?

On the morning of July 30th, the receptionist of the expensive hotel downtown, the one near the river, became greatly perplexed and somewhat alarmed. The night before, after 10:00 PM, a smartly dressed women in a dark navy suit with matching skirt walked into the hotel. Her high heels clicked as she crossed the lobby floor, rolling her carryon suitcase behind her. After checking in, she politely asked to borrow a phone charger for the night, insisting she left hers on the plane, blaming her forgetfulness on jetlag after a long day of international travel. She requested not to be bothered because she was incredibly tired and needed to sleep, notifying him that she had pressing business in the morning and that without fail, they should wake her at 6:00 AM.

Nothing more was heard from her that night.

At exactly 6:00 AM, the receptionist called her room, but no one responded. He hung up and dialed the room again and again there was no response. Figuring the guest was very tired, he went to her room and knocked, but no one came to the door. He knocked again louder, so loud that the guest across the hall opened their door to see what was going on.

“What if something happened to her?” he thought.

“I should open the door,” he concluded. His concern over the guest was growing, but more so, he really wanted his phone charger back before his shift ended.

“No,” he reminded himself, “I don’t want to be accused of anything inappropriate.”

He knocked hard on the door once more, then called the manager.

By this time it was nearly 6:30 AM, a half hour later than her requested wake up time. The manager wouldn’t arrive at the hotel until after 8:00 AM, but suggested he find a housekeeper, and together, they should enter the room and check on the guest.

“Do you think something happened?” asked the housekeeper.

“She is probably just a very sound sleeper, she seemed very tired” replied the receptionist.

The housekeeper opened the door and together they entered the dark room. It was empty. The bed was still made, her suitcase sat unopened near the closet, nothing in the room looked unusual.

“Check the bathroom while I look under the bed.” said the receptionist. He found nothing under the bed, but spotted her phone the nightstand plugged into the built in outlet. He quickly unplugged the phone and tucked the charger in his pocket, it was his after all.

“Nothing unusual in the bathroom, the towels haven’t even been touched.”

Simultaneously they noticed the notepad on the desk. On it was written, in beautiful cursive handwriting: “I’m leaving tonight at midnight and will not return. I will be seen walking across the toll bridge between 2:00 AM and 3:00 AM. Suspect no one.”

The receptionist called the manager who called for the police. They closed the door to the room without disturbing anything else and headed down to the lobby to wait.

——————-

“Another coffee officer?” asked the manager.

The officer hadn’t shown up until nearly 8:30 AM. He had already finished two cups of coffee while the manager carefully went over the details of the events as described to him.

“Please.” said the officer pushing his mug towards the manager who filled it from the carafe on the table. He let the fresh cup cool for a moment as he read the hand written note by the mysteriously missing guest.

“I’ve been up all night night responding to a call, but now it all makes perfect sense. This is an open and shut case, just a little paperwork and I can finally clock out.”

“What do you mean?” asked the hotel manager.

The officer took a small sip from the mug, checking the coffee’s temperature before draining the entire cup and beginning his story.

At 3:30 AM, a call came across the radio of a woman who reportedly falling or possibly jumping from the middle of the toll bridge. Witnesses, which consisted of two men who lived under the bridge in a makeshift hovel made of cardboard and found objects, reported hearing a blood curdling scream coming from the bridge, followed by a loud splash in the river far below. They didn’t see anything even though the moon was full and bright. The only thing they saw was a car stopped in the middle of the toll bridge, near the spot they suspected the scream originated. The headlights of the car were bright, half blinding the men as they made their way across the bridge. A third witness, the driver of the car and the one who placed the call to the police, reported seeing a woman in a skirt and heels who, while attempting to climb over the railing may have fallen or jumped into the river. Seeing a car stopped in the middle of the bridge, the toll both operator abandoned his booth to inspect the stopped car suspecting engine trouble, or possibly someone illegally dumping an old appliances or used tire into the river as people sometimes did at this hour.

“What’s going on here? asked the attendant. Hearing the car idle, he knew it wasn’t engine trouble, he became more suspicious . “You can’t stop like this on the bridge. Do you hear me? Sir! You need to keep moving.” he continued.

“A woman,” exclaimed the driver who had left his car with the door open and was leaning over the railing, looking at the water far below. “I saw a woman, it looked like she was climbing over the barrier but now she’s gone! I think she fell or possibly jumped.” He said, but he wasn’t talking to the attendant, he was already on the phone with the police.

“A woman jumped from the bridge?” asked the attendant. “Are you sure?”

By then, the two scraggly looking men crossing the bridge reached the scene, the tall one with a long unkempt beard chimed in. “I thought I heard something, it sounded like a woman’s scream, sounded like someone was in real trouble, the sort of scream that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand on end.”

“Then there was a splash.” said the shorter of the two men. “We both heard the scream and then then a splash down in the river.” They sidled up to the driver, all three men stared down into the water hoping to catch a glimpse of anything far below.

“Woman troubles?” asked the tall bearded man. “I’ve had my fair share of those ya know, but I never thought of throwing one of them in the river.” he said casually as he picked up a chunk of concrete from the walkway and tossed it out into the night. Everyone watched as it fell through the air and left only a small disruption in the silvery reflection of moonlight reflecting from the dark surface of the quickly moving river.

“What? No!” the driver quickly responded. “I saw her struggling to climb over the railing and slowed down to see what was going on. By the time I reached her, or reached the spot where she was, she was gone. I couldn’t tell if she fell or jumped”

“or was pushed.” mumbled the tall bearded man quietly to his buddy.

“I stopped because I thought she might need help, might not have fallen all the way to the river, might still be hanging on to the railing or something, or maybe if she fell she might still be alive down in the water. I don’t know what I was thinking. I don’t know, I just knew I had to stop and see.”

“People don’t just walk up to the edge of a bridge and jump off.” said the attendant. “They stand there for a while, contemplating, building up the courage, hoping someone will stop them and ask if they are ok. Also, they never scream.” said the attendant. “at least I didn’t scream.” he added.

Everyone looked up from the water into the face of the attendant. “I was young and really messed up after the stuff I saw in the service. I was in a real bad place mentally, I didn’t think anyone cared, I was sure no-one cared. I didn’t care. I got lucky and got a second chance. Anyway, it was a long time ago, I don’t want to talk about it, I’m a different person now. At least I try to be.”

Silence fell across the group, broken by the sound of a slowly approaching car. It was the police.

Two officers exited the cruiser, one took photos while the other started collecting statements.

The arrival of the police attracted attention to the bridge. A trio of fishermen on their way down to the river, approached the scene to investigate the early morning excitement.

“Maybe this will help.” said the youngest fishermen after hearing the story as told by the group. He pulled a large casting net from the dirty old bucket held in his hand.

“You’ve never caught anything but beer cans and bottles with that. What makes you think you can catch yourself a woman?” slurred the oldest of the fishermen, his ancient leather folded and creased as he laughed at his own cleverness. “HA! She’ll be a miles away by now.” he added, pointing a bottle shaped bag downriver, then draining the contents and tossing the parcel into the river far below. “What problems could a good looking woman have? Her life was set on easy mode from day one and she still couldn’t hack it. Good riddance. You can waste your time but she’s not my problem, I’m going to go catch myself some breakfast.”

‘I’d like to take a look at your fishing license Sir?” asked the officer as she lowered the camera from her face.

“Shit.”

“Listen, I had nothing to do with whatever happened to that woman. I don’t know if she did whatever she did on purpose. I don’t know if she jumped, or if she fell”

“or she was pushed” mumbled the old man

“Maybe she was trying to do some stupid viral internet challenge” continued the driver, “but if there is anything I can do to help, I feel obligated to try in whatever way I can.”

“But why was she even out here at this hour, a nice dressed women in high heels”

“She could have been looking to score some drugs.” said someone from the crowd.

“She was probably depressed.” said another.

“Well if she jumped, she was certainly just being a selfish idiot” the old man said. “Only thinking about herself and her problems, just like all women, probably just a stupid selfish bitc-”

“THAT IS ENOUGH! Roy, you’re coming with us back to the station. We’ll see how many fish you catch in the holding cell while you sober up and think about your life choices.” Said the officer as she led him into the back of the cruiser.

Selfish. Even if she was drunk, or depressed or trying to take a selfie with the full moon almost everyone agreed she was a selfish idiot and was probably a bitch too. Why else would she be out here alone, she would have a husband or some friends or family to take care of her.

The toll both attendant was the only one who felt strongly opposed to the conclusion of the group, but he didn’t have it in him to speak up.

—-

The police officer finished his fourth cup of coffee and motioned for the tray of pastries which just appeared from the kitchen.

“I was back at the station going over the details of the woman’s description with the driver and our sketch artist when I got your call. I was afraid it would take a week to identify the woman, especially without a body but seeing this note and hearing your description of her makes my job much easier. Case closed.”

Everyone agreed it was obviously a suicided and everyone agreed the woman was incredibly selfish for doing what she did and most people thought she probably was a bitch or else she’d have a husband or friends or some family to help her out of whatever situation she was in. What sort of problems could she have anyway.

“She seemed alright to me.”

“At least she didn’t do it in the hotel bathtub, that was thoughtful.” thought one of the new housekeepers who overheard the story from the hall.

“Thank goodness she didn’t jump from her room.” said the manager