Collin took his sack with the sandwich, pickle, chips and the can of soda and walked on through the pleasant spring day to his office. He stopped and bought a newspaper out of the box. It was nice to see sixty degrees. It had been below that in the car the night before. He unlocked the office and entered. He put the sack on the reception desk and looked around. He’d been following Missus Holt for three weeks. The office had been closed up and felt stuffy. He walked back over and propped the door open with the door stop. It was nice to have an outside entrance. He took the sack, put in the code on the lock to the door of the inner office so he could enter. He flipped on the switch and sat down at his desk. He left the door ajar so he could hear if anyone came in the front.
He opened the newspaper and the soda. As he read he dialed the temporary office.
Misty answered, “Hello Mister Carter’s office, how may I help you?”
“Hello. Is that Misty?” Collin loved how Misty answered the phone. He hoped his clients did also. She sounded pretty, not trampy, just pretty. Of course he had no idea what she looked like. For all he knew she could be a man albeit one with a nice voice. “This is Collin Carter. Can you give me my messages? I’m taking the phones back for a while.”
Misty replied, “Yes, Mister Carter, it’s Misty. There is one message. A man called yesterday at three p.m. He left his name and number.”
“Great. I’ve got a pen. Go ahead.”
Collin wrote down the man’s name, Marvin Maxwell, and his phone number.
“Thanks.” Collin hung up. He dialed Mister Maxwell’s number.
“Hello.” A soft voice whispered.
“My name is Collin Carter. Is there a Marvin Maxwell there?”
The voice whispered, “Yes. I’ll get him.”
Collin could hear steps moving away from the phone. In a moment there was noise on the phone and Collin thought he had been disconnected but a strong masculine voice said, “This is Maxwell. Who is this?”
“I’m Collin Carter returning your call from yesterday afternoon.”
“You’re the private eye, right?”
“Yes, is there something I can do for you?”
“My niece has gone missing. Well she isn’t exactly missing. We know where she says she is but I need to have it checked out. Can you come to my house tomorrow maybe and let me tell you about it. Then you can tell us if there is anything you can do to help. I got your name from Hazel Trumble. Back awhile she said you helped her.”
Collin did remember Hazel. He wouldn’t turn down work in any case. He told Mister Maxwell he could come and got the address. The meeting was set for ten a.m. the following day at the Maxwell residence. The Maxwells lived on a farm outside of Hagerstown. Collin remembered Hazel had lived near Hagerstown as well. Hazel had been an eccentric old woman who had him dig up all the dirt on her kin so she could reward them appropriately in her will.
Collin finished his lunch and read the newspaper. He turned on the small TV he had in his office. He liked to be up on the news. He pulled out his ledger and checkbook and wrote out some payments. His mortgage company would be glad to hear from him. He hadn’t had a decent case for months before the Holts and he was two months behind both on the office rent and his house payment. Just for kicks, he paid next month’s payment too. That should keep the wolves from the door for a little while. Around five he went home.
Chapter Four
Gene Search: A Collin Carter Mystery Page 3
