Bonnet took down his sunglasses. “Keeler. I was wondering what old Madame Vaugeois was doing down by the river in her big Mercedes. Had me concerned that she’d gotten stuck.” He looked down the hill behind me. I was sure he was able to see the trail bike. Maybe he’d already seen it. Maybe he’d seen everything. “Everything ok? What’s going on?”

“I was admiring the river. It’s a lovely day.”

He was looking at the trail bike. “Yeah, beautiful isn’t it? You have any trouble with that?” Bonnet pointed down the hill.

“No trouble really. Just a little thing.”

He was nodding his head. “Yes. That is a thing, isn’t it? Hard to be patient sometimes.”

“I’m an exceedingly patient guy.”

“But even so, sometimes even the most patient of guys run out of patience. Like there’s a tank of patience and it gets used up. Nobody’s infinitely patient.”

“That’s the truth. You’re a perceptive guy, Bonnet.”

“Thank you for the compliment. I aim to serve.” Bonnet admired the view for a while. Then he said, “Keeler, if I go down there right now, what do I find?”

“You find a trail bike without a key.”

“Key got misplaced.”

“The guy misplaced his key. I discussed that with him for a while. Then, he went to find a replacement key.”

“So in a way, you came down here to help out. You saw someone who was stuck and you came down, like a helpful tourist or something.”

“That’s right, something like that. The guy had a problem and I helped him make a plan.”

“So the guy’s gone. But he’ll come back.”

“Should come back for the bike, if I were him.”

“Maybe when he’s sure that nobody is here.”

“The guy wouldn’t want to disturb anyone, or be a public nuisance, I discussed that with him. Those bikes can be a problem. That’s for sure. At this point he’d want to take his bike and leave discreetly.”

Bonnet was nodding again. He was a good-looking guy, and easy going. The kind of guy that is easy to like. I was liking him. He said, “Well Keeler, looks like you’re a helpful type of person. We need helpful people like you around, maybe you should consider staying, putting down roots.” I didn’t say anything. Bonnet continued, “Anything I can do to help here?”

“Would be good if there was more of a police presence along the river. Maybe a couple of extra patrols, on top of what you already have. Some of the older residents are concerned.”

“I’ll tell the chief. We’re stretched pretty thin, but I’ll let him know your concern.”

“I appreciate that.”

“My pleasure. I hope to see you around.”