The Tin Man: Simeon Cain PI Mystery; 1 (Simeon Cain Mysteries) by Brian W. Caves

Author:Brian W. Caves [Caves, Brian W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Red Dragon Publishing LTD
Published: 2022-09-07T16:00:00+00:00

21

There was a low stone wall at the end of my garden, easy enough to vault over, so I did. I walked slowly up the path, keeping my eyes on the plant pot just to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.

I wasn’t.

Someone had moved it. I could tell because I’d watered the plants two days before, and where the water soaked through the bottom of the pot, there would be a damp patch in the shape of the pot on the decking. And here was a half-moon shaped damp patch where no damp patch should be. I looked around at the various pots and plants on the decking just to make certain I wasn’t going crazy, and sure enough there were no damp patches. Whoever it was had probably bumped into the pot and not bothered to shift it back in position. It was dark, so why would they. And then I looked up at the patio doors.

You would miss it if you hadn’t been looking for it; a small nick in the wooden frame right by the lock. I stepped over to the door, grabbed the handle, and pulled. The door slid back easily. I always kept it locked. Someone had picked the lock and had accidentally nicked the frame with whatever tool they had used. Someone, while I was sleeping over at Dean and Caroline’s, had been in my house. And I figured I knew who that someone was; the same man who went through Edward’s apartment: the bald man with the Audi 4x4. He would only need to do a quick search of my name on the electoral roll to find my address.

I searched my house very methodically. Only then did I notice the subtle changes: a book moved here, a photo frame there. He wouldn’t have found anything as my laptop was in my office. I didn’t have a PC or an iPad type device, and the only phone I owned was now lying on the kitchen worktop.

It’s a strange thing to have your house broken into. There’s a feeling of being invaded, violated even, especially when items of value — personal or otherwise — have been taken or the property has been trashed. But this didn’t apply to me, and you would never have known that anyone had been here. In actual fact, it didn’t bother me at all, just gave me another piece of a complex puzzle to put together.

I picked up the phone and called Dean. He answered almost immediately. After the initial ‘Where did you get to?’ and my response, I filled him in on the break-in.

“So nothing was taken?” he asked.

“Nothing to take,” I said.

“You don’t sound worried.”

“I’m not.”

“If it’s who you think it is, you’re putting your life in danger, mate. I can’t let you do that. Come stay with us.”

“I’m okay, Dean, really. I need to get to the bottom of this. I have to get that WAV file on the second flash drive translated.”

“There’s a problem with that and you know it.

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