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Piecing through the fragments of someone’s life to determine what may be missing is difficult, especially when you don’t know the owner of the pieces. The police sifted and sorted Matt’s apartment based on what they believed should be there. What may be clues to his disappearance could be right there next to his dirty laundry for all they knew. Nothing stood out and screamed at them, or gave them any indication who had ransacked the place or why, or what they may have been looking for.
“Pretty boring existence,” one officer noted, “not a Playboy in the place.”
Matt Errington appeared, to those who analyzed his belongings, to be a straightforward guy, who led a simple life. But people who fit that description don’t usually piss someone off enough to have their home taken apart, and then disappear for no apparent reason.
It didn’t add up, and the police detective in charge of the case decided he wanted more information from Dr. Nowak.
Eager to learn what happened to Matt, Dr. Nowak was glad the Detective called. “I’ve been waiting to hear what you found. Any sign of Matt?”
“Nothing conclusive yet. There was little to go on, so we checked Matt’s apartment. Found it pretty torn apart. Other than the obvious damage, there was nothing out of the ordinary. No sign of personal violence, no indication he was harmed. You reported he was leaving on vacation. His shaving things and toiletries are gone. Empty hangers in the closet. His apartment was probably ransacked in his absence. Can’t tell if anything was stolen, but a computer and TV were there, and some cash in a drawer. Hard to know what else a guy like that owned. Did you know where he was headed?” the detective asked Dr. Nowak.
“No. He did say at some point he wanted to find a place to live in Washington. He was under a lot of pressure. He’d had some personal health problems, didn’t tell me much, but I know he took a long time to decide to move to Washington and the new position the company offered him.”
Detective George Jorgenson nodded, “Not much to go on. We have no idea where he was headed or if he got back. He could be staying with someone leaving us empty-handed. Without a destination we’re at a dead-end, we don’t have the manpower to search. He could have gone anywhere in so many weeks. The only thing we have to go on is the guy never returned to work when he said he would, and his place was thoroughly demolished. It looks like someone deliberately tore the place apart, but we have no apparent motive.”
Dr. Nowak recognized there was no more anyone could do, but asked the detective to keep him informed anyway.
“I will let you know if we find anything, and just to be certain we haven’t missed something here, I am putting a bulletin out on him throughout the different state agencies, it might generate some information we can use.”
***
DETECTIVE DON ORLISS couldn’t believe his eyes. Scanning a police report, the name Matt Errington grabbed his attention. Missing. Those dummies over in the Fairfield Department. The guy’s not missing; he went to England. Glancing at his calendar, the detective counted the weeks since he remembered speaking to Matt about his trip. Four, almost five weeks since then. Guess the guy decided to stay there. Must have found what he was looking for, but he should have let someone know. He’d grab a fresh cup of coffee and give Fairfield a call.
He was even more surprised when he reached Detective Jorgenson and heard about Matt’s apartment. Filling in some of the details about Matt, he agreed to fax a copy of their department’s report to Jorgenson. He had to admit the whole thing was strange. First, the guy was looking for a non-existent missing girlfriend, and now he had failed to turn up as well. It was obvious something was going on with the guy, and perhaps there was more to it than Matt’s apartment being trashed.
Once again, he thought back to their doubts about Matt’s mental state, although he declined to share that bit of info with Detective Jorgenson. There was no need to go in that direction yet. He wanted to talk to Brian York first before he said any more about Matt. The Fairfield Department might read between the lines of the report he was sending them, even though he finished his report for the file without adding his opinion that Matt’s girlfriend was all in his head.
If the Fairfield cops came to the similar conclusion that Matt was a lonely-heart, it was their case after all and their call, but they might drop the investigation, and Detective Orliss wasn’t sure that was a good idea. He liked Matt. If the guy truly disappeared, and it somehow involved a mysterious girlfriend, Don wanted them to do whatever they could to find him, and he wanted to help.
Sergeant Brian York called his cousin Jeremy and was relieved to hear Matt had arrived and had been deposited at his hotel. Jeremy told Brian he half expected Matt to take him up on his offer to tour London, but never heard from him again so there was little he could report about the guy.
“Thanks anyway,” Brian told him, “at least we know he stayed at the Royal Arms. We’ll get in touch with the manager there and see what else we can find out. It’s a good lead; it will help a lot.”