Something Missing_ A Novel - Matthew Dicks [66]
with a dozen more next week. It will mean more than you
can imagine.
Trust me.
A friend
He was pleased with his creation. One of his first drafts had been more than two full paragraphs long, full of unnecessary details and instructions. In the end, Martin had managed to cut back all but the most essential words. He was especially happy with the use of the word “tomorrow,” as it added the urgency to his suggestion that Martin felt was so important.
Martin wasn’t sure how Alan Clayton would receive a letter like this, but he was sure that the message would do no harm. With its Rhode Island postmark, he would be unlikely to suspect his wife of sending it herself. And regardless of whether or not Alan Clayton recognized or acknowledged his own flaws, Martin had found that men were generally receptive to advice in the romance department. He might be a bit of a slob, but Martin doubted that Alan Clayton was a fool.
Reading through his letter one final time, looking carefully for anything that might hint at his identity Martin folded it and placed it in the envelope, sealing it with a wet sponge, also purchased at the office supply store and moistened at the rest area on the Massachusetts Turnpike. No DNA left behind. He then affixed a stamp to the top right corner of the envelope (purchased from a vending machine at the rest area as well) and dropped his letter into the mailbox, checking twice to be sure it had slid into the belly of the blue box.
One his way back to Connecticut, Martin treated himself to a strawberry shake from McDonald’s.
He had rarely been more pleased with himself.
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