About 6:30 pm on a Tuesday I got a ride at Park Meadows Mall to Castle Rock Mall. A 15 minute drive from the south suburb in the Denver Metro area further south where there is actually vacant land between the cities. I’m thinking will I ever get a ride back or is it going to be an empty ride with me paying for gas the the time. Plus it good be surge pricing when I am but no chance where I’m going. But since I accept every ride, I go.

I drop her off and take a look at the map. There’s a couple cars in this small town so maybe I’ll get another ride. After about 20 minutes I DO!

I drive a couple of blocks and find my ride. He’s dressed in black pants and a black code sorta hiding next to a tree. He’s on the phone but lets me know he’s my ride with a wave. I wait a few minutes and he gets in the car.

He starts the conversation by saying “You don’t have to take this ride. I won’t blame you to cancelling the ride. But I have to be truthful and want you to know what you’re getting into”.  Dana was between 35-40 years old, clean cut but somewhat emotional. His voice wasn’t really “shaky” but there were long pauses between sentences. So I figured something was wrong and wanted to find out the details.

Dana proceeded by explaining he thinks his finance is having an affair and is in one of the 5 or 6 hotels within walking distance. I’m thinking this would be fun so I agree to continue the ride.

Here is the background he provides:

“Two week ago he found brand new sexy lingerie in the trunk of her car saying she doesn’t wear that for him. Then last weekend she said she was going with some girlfriends to Fort Collins.” (About an hour drive north of Denver for those not familiar with the area.) “I drive up to the hotel she was supposed to be staying at and shes not there. On Monday I looked at her phone and there are turn by turn directions to a hot springs in Steamboat, Co.” (About 4 hours west of Denver).

Dana continues to explain that he believes she has actually been with 2 guys  in the last 3-6 weeks and he knows both of them. One is somehow connected to her father who recently passed away. The other is the cowboy in Castle Rock we’re tracking this night. He doesn’t understand why she would cheat on him especially since someone else cheated on her. I didn’t say much other than I know how he feels since I have been cheated on but I let him do most of the talking.

We drove the the 5-6 hotel parking lots looking for a white Lexus RC350 and/or a silver “BIG” Ford 4×4 pickup. (This isn’t a cheap car!)

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After the first pass through all the parking lots, no luck. Dana starts wondering what to do next.

Dana is on the phone a lot but doesn’t say anything but when he’s on the phone I am respectively quiet. Sometimes he’s even talking to her. She even knows he’s been in Castle Rock earlier. She knows he saw he at the liquor store. But I guess she believes it when he says he’s almost home – 30 minute drive into Denver.

Eventually he tells me he has placed a burner phone in the trunk of her car and is tracking her. He started about 3:00 pm that afternoon and found he at a liquor store. He suspects she is buying alcohol and setting up a sexy environment in one of these hotels.He also explains the Castle Rock cowboy is married and has cheated before. In fact his wife has a lojack on his truck. He doesn’t elaborate on how he found that out – and I don’t ask.

He has to call the phone to get its location. After some thought, we directs me to drive back to the mall where her phone says she is. We do and she is not there. Then he says she is back at the hotels. We drive back though 4 hotel parking lots- nothing. Then we find her car. Its parked in the far corner of the lot next to a motor home. We pull into a parking space on the other side of the lot.

I offer to walk into the hotel and see if I can find her. He gives me her description and I take a wonder. Its a pretty small lobby – no one there. I walk up the stairs checking 3 floors and the hallways are empty. Dana dwells on this information when I return.

Then I volunteer to walk towards her car and see if she’s there. But I also suggest where she is parked in the the lot for 1 hotel but she has easy access to the back/side entrance of the other hotel. She could be in either. So he asks me to take the walk.

It turned out to be a pretty good walk. The view was awesome! Looking over a large valley – quiet and peaceful.

As I get closer to the car I can see the bright white light coming from the in-dash screen. (I also drive a Lexus and it’s a familiar site). As I turn back from my sightseeing view, I see the TRUCK!

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Dana was right – it is a BIG truck but it was a GMC not a Ford. Very nice truck!

Then the light changed and I could see two heads in the Lexus.

As I return to the car and tell Dana I found the truck and 2 people in the car his first question was “front seat or back seat?”.  I reply “front seat”. He says ” If I was doing her it would be in the truck. There’s no room in her car”.

Dana’s mood changed once he found the evidence of what he was expecting. While it didn’t make any sense they were sitting in a car in a hotel parking lot and not in the hotel room, I was back in listening mode. I could only imagine the pain he was feeling. I’m sure his stomach was in tight knots, his heart racing and his brain creating vivid images.

Not sure what to do next I volunteer a suggestion. I was thinking this ride is over and its to get back to making money and maybe getting even better stories. So I suggested I could take another walk. This time towards the other hotel up to the motor home and there I could get a picture of her car and his truck. I thought this would be the end of my efforts.

So I could easily get from the parked car and make it look like I was coming from the other hotel. If they hadn’t seen me from my previous walk I’d be ok plus the motor home would hide me the entire time.

As I reached the hotel and turned towards the motor home, a short lady and tall guy had gotten out of the Lexus and were walking start towards me! Quickly my mind decided to stand there, wait from them to approach and ask for local directions or something.

As they approached I noticed each carried a plastic bag. More like a shopping bag then a grocery bag and both had an open bottle of beer. Seeing the beer I knew what to say.

“Hey are you two from around here?”. The Castle Rock cowboy said yes. “I’m looking for a good local bar – any suggestions?” Neither of them provided a quick reply so I added “I noticed a brew pub around the corner but I prefer whiskey. Is there a bar with a good selection of whiskey’s?”

I have to admit I was a bit nervous. The Castle Rock cowboy was taller than me (and I’m 6’1″), wearing a baseball cap and blue jeans. But his eyes were quite penetrating. A quick look into his eyes and I knew I had to be as strong or he would see right through me. So we stared eye to eye as he suggested a place to go. While he was talking her yell DANA! Followed by a loud crash. I looked over and somehow her bottle of beer was smashed on the ground. I don’t know if she was so startled at seeing Dana she dropped it or???

About the time the Castle Rock cowboy heard Dana, I started to walk away. I didn’t expect Dana to get out of the car. Then the Castle Rock cowboy asked me to stay with him. I say why and he said “because”. He stopped speaking at the sound of the beer bottle breaking and tried to hand me his bag and beer but I didn’t take them. Dana and her were close together by now and the arguing started. The Castle Rock cowboy turned towards them and quickly was chin to chin, chest to chest with Dana. The arguments switch from fiance to fiance and was not Castle Rock cowboy to Dana.

It was evident to two guys testosterone was peaking and we were moments away from a fight. (Realize all this was happening and only Dana knew how I was involved.) I started yelling standing a safe distance away “NO…NO You don’t want to fight. No fighting tonight? I don’t want to see anyone fight.” Neither of you want to spend a night in jail!” I lifted my voice a little and tried to speak as if telling a joke. Putting a bit of light energy on the situation. It must have worked because they backed off each other.

As I walked away I realized both of the bags were on the ground. The Castle Rock cowboy’s had a bottle of wine, champagne, and a few beer bottles. Her’s was dumped on the ground and contained red panties and matching bra and what looked like a pink thong.

The three continued talking so I went back to the car wonder was my ride over?

I waiting 5 or 10 minutes then drove up to them with the window down. I asked “which one of you is going to go with me to the bar?” I was pretty much ignored but the Castle Rock cowboy did change his suggestion of where I should go. I didn’t know if my ride was over and didn’t want to leave my rider who was paying the tab (and maybe a big tip) so I made an excuse that I had to back to my hotel to change shirts then I would go.

I actually drove to another spot in the parking lot, turned off the lights and waited.

I could see the three of them in the shadows but not hear them. After a few minutes, the Castle Rock cowboy started walking back to his truck. I was parked not far from his truck but doubted he could see me inside in the dark. He drove over to where the other two were standing, stopped for a bit, then drove out of the lot.

The fiance’s walked to her car. Dana opened the trunk and I think he showed her the tracking device. Then they walked back to the corner where the argument started. I couldn’t see anything. I may have seen a shadow walking up the hill and from what I could see, it was dressed like Dana so I call him. He said he didn’t need me any more and he would give me a big tip on the app. (Knowing Uber doesn’t do that, I thought of saying something but Dana could have been crying – I’m sure he wanted to, so I left him alone.

As I left the parking lot, she was getting into his GMC truck in front of the other hotel. They drove out right behind me – I’m sure not knowing it was me or that I was involved in anyway.

Uber charges $0.10 per minute for waiting. So I made a total of $13.28. But have a great story to tell!

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