Hi Mum, it's Sammy clone 36 (Part 8)

I went to visit Maggie Net-Lessen again, to ask her some more questions. She wasn't home, Mick was though. So I briefly chatted to Mick about Maggie's first boyfriend and some of the other missing guys.

He got this really distant look on his face, then said that sounded very familiar. When he first moved to town, he had a housemate. Christian Montgomery. Christian went off to gym then he was going to work. He never came back. His girlfriend of the time, Cat,  visited once to ask why Christian rang to break up. Mick had no answers.



I asked a few more questions. Christian was in sports, not at too high a level. And Mick just never worried about where he'd gone. He's a grown man, capable of making his own decisions.

I went down to the stadium. I had a chat with the team coach and a few of the other players. They all remembered Christian. They all assumed that he had been recruited by another team and they'd be on opposite sides in a game sometime.

I did a bit of snooping around the stadium. I didn't learn anything more though.

So far I've found that Antonio, Ollie, Wyatt and Christian went missing. All relatively new in town, not people born here. All young, working on careers. There seemed to be no sign of anything wrong, but no one has any idea where they might be or what might have happened to them.

That's about as far as I got when I had a request from Meredith Kane to meet. I thought maybe the boys were playing stupid pranks on each other again. I was wrong.

Meredith had heard about my enquiries of missing men and she's worried. Jeb left home on Saturday and hasn't returned.

I started to ask her about filing a police report then she gave me a look. That special look women reserve for times when a man has said something particularly idiotic.

"The police would not be the least concerned about Jeb. If anything, they'd celebrate."

Oh yeah, I have seen him. In his work clothes. She has a point, the police are not going to be keen in looking for a master thief.

I asked her if she'd heard anything. Jeb does not fit the profile of the other missing guys. He's at the top of his profession, fully mature and they have kids.

She didn't have a chance to answer me. Her phone rang.

It was Jeb.

He was ringing to break up the marriage. Damn, that is not good. Not at all.

Meredith is beside herself with anxiety. Three kids at home and Jeb's just not the kind of guy to do this.

I asked if she had noticed anything unusual on Saturday.

"I was upstairs with Amelia and I thought I heard a woman's voice talking to Jeb."

"Recognise it?"

"No, I don't have any clue who it might have been."

"Do you think you might know the voice if you heard it again?"

"I doubt it. I was upstairs, and it was very faint. I'm just not sure."

I left Meredith with a promise that I'd concentrate on this. She offered a large amount of cash for the safe return of Jeb.

I hope I claim that money.