Something Missing: A Novel by Matthew Dicks

Author:Matthew Dicks
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Mystery
ISBN: 0767930886
Publisher: Broadway
Published: 2009-07-14T10:00:00+00:00

If not for an inaccurately marked calendar, Martin might have been able to resume his daily routines without further deviation or incident.

Four days after mailing his letter to Alan Clayton, Martin was visiting the home of longtime clients Daniel and Justine Ashley when he heard a car pull into their gravel driveway.

This was not the first time in his career that a vehicle had pulled into a client’s driveway while Martin was inside the house. More than a dozen times in the past, Martin had been inside a home when a UPS or FedEx truck arrived with a delivery for a client. In each of these instances, the driver either dropped a package at the front door or rang the doorbell and, when no one responded, left the package or a note pertaining to the package at the front door. Although these visits were infrequent, Martin was always cautious when passing by windows and doors at the front of a client’s home, since deliveries were almost always made to the front of the house.

Once, Martin had been forced to cancel one of his clients, Jim and Joanne Bibeault of Coventry, when he discovered that UPS made deliveries to their home almost every day. Despite their secluded location and a house full of potential long-term acquisitions, Martin canceled the couple within a month of taking them on as clients, deciding that there was too much risk involved continuing to work with them.

Still, the sound of rubber grinding on gravel had always caused his heart to beat furiously, as was the case this time. Though the sound likely signaled a delivery, there was always an outside chance that the client had unexpectedly come home.

Standing in the Ashleys’ pantry, Martin froze, trying to control the panic that immediately welled up inside him. Oddly enough, it was his experience in the Clayton household just days before that allowed him to regain his composure quicker than normal and to act without delay. He had survived the worst situation he could imagine, being trapped inside a home with a client, and his success had given birth to a greater degree of self-confidence than Martin could ever have imagined. His attention to detail and training had paid off, and a sense of invincibility had begun to stir within him.

Returning the digital camera to the bag slung over his shoulder, Martin closed the door to the pantry and headed for the stairway to the second floor. If the Ashleys were home, he couldn’t risk passing through the kitchen to the back door, his normal point of egress, because the side door of the house also opened into the kitchen and served as the clients’ customary point of entry. Although it was very unlikely that the Ashleys were home, it wasn’t a risk worth taking.

Standard operating procedure in these circumstances was simple. Evacuate the house if possible, and if not (as was this case this time), take up a position in a predetermined hiding spot until the client exited the home again.

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