Something Missing_ A Novel - Matthew Dicks [6]
So Martin waited again, knowing that patience and professionalism would eventually win the day. He wanted to be sure that Sophie wasn’t taking measures to replace the earring, by taking it to the jewelry store where it was purchased, for example, and matching it up with a new twin. Martin waited three months for a new earring to appear in Sophie Pearl’s jewelry box before deciding that today, September 17, would be the day to acquire the second. After removing the earring from the jewelry box and sliding it into a small plastic bag, he placed the bag into a Velcro pouch sewn into the inside seam of his baseball cap. If he were arrested, he did not want to be caught with the earring, and after experimenting for years with false-bottomed shoes and hidden coat pockets, and considering the possibility of placing stolen jewelry in bodily cavities (a concept Martin could never stomach), he had settled on the baseball cap, deeming it the last place a police officer would look and the easiest item of clothing to ditch in the case of police pursuit.
Pleased with his new acquisition, Martin photographed Sophie’s jewelry box again, scanned the bedroom for any recent changes, and then backtracked to the second floor bathroom, where he acquired two bars of Dove soap from the neat stack of eight in the cabinet underneath the sink. Martin also took a moment to photograph the inside of this cabinet after noticing a large supply of toilet paper and two new bottles of Scope mouthwash. Although the theft of either or both of these items would probably go unnoticed by the Pearls, and though he knew that his own supply of mouthwash was running low, Martin never acquired items that did not appear on his original shopping list. Instead, he would photograph the items while in the house and later use the digital photos to plan his next visit, calculating the value of the items taken from the home over the past month, as well as the time these items had spent on the shelf, before deciding which items were safe to acquire. After all, Martin had plenty of other clients, so if he wasn’t able to stock up on toilet paper at the Pearls’ house, there were always others available to meet his needs.
Before the days of digital photography, Martin had used a pencil and notepad to keep track of the inventory in each of his clients’ homes, and this system had worked well. When the idea of taking digital photos first occurred to Martin, he immediately rejected it on the grounds that he was a professional, and professionals didn’t need fancy gadgets in order to be successful. Martin considered himself an old-school pro, as evidenced by his burlap sack and his cautious nature, and digital photography was anything but old school. However, after thinking about it some more (because Martin believed that professionals constantly reevaluated their decisions), he began to see the tremendous potential of digital photography for his business. And though there was nothing wrong with holding on to old-school beliefs, Martin also came to realize that professionals, old-school or otherwise, also kept abreast of the times, paid attention to new technology, and found ways of making their business better while adhering to traditional values. Digital photography was a way to make his business even better.
By taking digital photos, Martin was able to reduce the overall number of minutes spent in each of his clients’ homes, a huge benefit in a profession where stealth and speed were of the utmost importance. Martin also found that digital photos were easier to rid himself of in the event of capture.