Wow. Now I feel so much pressure to report something, but I have nothing.
Over dinner last night, I mentioned to Skip that the more days that pass, the less hopeful I am that today will be the day that we find out something! On Friday, I never would have thought I’d still be sitting here today wondering where she is. Then by the end of Monday, I thought, "Maybe tomorrow . . . "
Now I’m thinking it could be weeks, or even months! How weird would that be? (One thing I’d like to ask my boss, but don’t have the balls, is when the point will come where he decides that whether she’s alive and well or NOT, he’s going to fill her position.)
My boss and I were talking this morning when I came in (for once, the conversation did not start with MC–it started about my boss refinancing his home at 5.1%–but inevitably turned to MC.
Boss says that the detective has been pretty helpful in terms of sharing what he’s found out. I thought he’d already checked her apartment, but that’s on the agenda for today, it turns out (my boss says that he does respect the detective’s reluctance to toss her apartment and go digging all in her business before all other bases are covered). My ex-coworker (whom I emailed to see if maybe she had been in touch with MC lately, and if she knew anything–she didn’t) suggested getting a tech guy to do a thorough search of her computer hard drive(s) for clues. Skip says that stuff mainly happens in TV Land (and/or when the missing person is a minor), but my boss (to whom I mentioned it this morning) says that this may be the next step.
In the meantime, we’re basically putting the story out there–we’re sending a memo to some of our professional contacts, and are telling people, when they call here for her, what’s going on.
So now there’s a Prayer Circle forming as we speak. (One of the people who now knows is the director of a local senior center, who is also a practicing psychic; she has declared that she’ll be praying, too, but has offered none of her “other” services to try to help us locate MC.)
It seems that Trucker is rather high on the list of possible creeps–several of the people with whom the detective spoke mentioned him. Trouble is, nobody knows his last name–all they have is his first name (which is quite common) and his home state (which is not here). And apparently, Mystery Boyfriend was not just a boyfriend–word on the street is that she talked of getting married to this guy! But nobody knows his name at all.
My boss thinks that Brother should be high on the list of suspects, too. Apparently he’s a real asshole. Years ago, MC got a hefty disability settlement for an on-the-job accident (on a previous job, so it had to be at least 12 years ago), and Brother asked to borrow a big chunk, but didn’t want his wife to know.
Not only did he fail to pay it back, but several years later he cosigned on a funeral loan with MC, and then failed to assist her with the payments as he’d promised, stating that he had a “lifestyle to maintain,” and couldn’t afford to help her (did I mention that this guy is a minister?). Eventually, MC filed for bankruptcy, which meant that not only did Brother get stuck repaying that funeral loan, but also that the big chunk of borrowed disability money he owed her got listed among her assets, so he’s on the hook for that, too (and I’m guessing his wife knows now).
So he’s madder than a hornet stuck in a heavily hairsprayed updo.
I didn’t know any of this until this morning, but I suspected Brother just on the basis that on Law & Order, the person who is initially very helpful and likeable always turns out to be the Bad Guy in the end.
I think everyone’s questions have been covered (and kudos to Eats Crayons for an excellent synopsis), but let me know if I missed any–I’ll be here all day.
In the meantime, what are your theories, here?
Several people have theorized that she simply took off (which would be understandable–I’d flee from her family, too!), and others have implied that she was abducted.
What do you think (because I don’t know anymore)?
(She’s actually really funny; she invited me to a banquet celebrating her senior center’s anniversary (can’t remember how many years–25?) and, while making polite chit-chat at a work function one day, asked if I’d be coming. I said I might.