Mac wrote out his report of the events so far and about the crime scene and the victim. Lindsey came into his office. "This guy had been wearing those pajamas for a long time," she said. "Or it seems that way." She gave Mac her report. "Every kind of bodily fluid was on them…from urine, blood, sweat, vomit…you name it."

Mac looked at the report. "What happened to this guy?" he wondered out loud.

"There were no traces of dirt on the pajamas but there was something on the cuff of one of the sleeves. It turned out to be mold."

"Mold?"

"Yes. Maybe he was kept in an old house or tried to escape and touched something." Lindsey gave Mac another report. "I also had some scrapings from the fingernails that Sid sent up. There were traces of red brick under them as well as sheetrock and mold too."

Mac frowned. "He must have tried to get away."

Lindsey folded her arms. "You think someone held him captive and tortured him?"

"That's what it looks like. The victim was in his pajamas and he has all these broken bones and this report makes it look even more like it."

Just then, Sid came into the lab from the elevator. He came to Mac's office. "I found something else," he said. "Upon further examination of the body, I found what looks like imprints of whatever was used to torture the victim."

Mac looked at Sid's report. "So, somebody hit him with something," he said.

"That's what it looks like." Sid folded his arms. "I'm telling you, Mac. Those injuries on the toes…the imprints look like a sledge hammer…maybe the ball end."

"Well, I know the man didn't do this to himself."

Mac stood up. "We have to find some suspects," he said. He looked at Sid. "If you find anything else, let me know."

"Yes sir," Sid replied. He headed back to the elevator.

Lindsey looked at Mac. "Who do we start with?" she asked.

"First, I want to know where the victim was going when he disappeared," Mac said. "Then we'll go from there."

Mac got the full police report about the day that Archie Woods was reported missing. His secretary had reported him missing two days after he had gone. Mac thought that was strange. He wondered why she did not report it when he did not come back to the company after going to check out that house. He had a lot of investigating to do. He went into the lab where Danny was making out his final report on the evidence. "Let's go," Mac said.

"Just one more thing," Danny said. He finished what he was doing and put it away. "Where we going?"

"To see Carol Duncan, Mr. Woods' secretary," Mac answered as they were going to the elevator. "I want to know why it took her two days to report him missing."

"Good question."

They went down to the Avalanche and headed for Woods Construction, Mortgage and Rental. "This guy has only been in business for a few years but he has six owners with mortgages and five who rent," Danny said as he was looking over the records. "Question is: which of these houses was the problem?"

"It had to be one of the rental properties," Mac said. "When you own a place, you have to fix it yourself."

"Right." Danny considered that. "I guess it is easier to rent, right?"

"I don't know. I wouldn't mind owning my own place."

"I guess Lindsey would like us to own our own place. She grew up in the wide-open spaces with plenty of room to grow and all. Maybe we should move to Montana and own a ranch and start dressing like country people."

Mac smiled but then he felt a sneeze coming. He grabbed his handkerchief and sneezed. "I wonder if the allergies are worse over there than here," he said.

"I don't know. I guess they don't call it hay fever for nothing."

"Maybe not."

They soon arrived at the company which was out at the edge of the city close to the harbor. It seemed to have a lumber company as well. Mac could smell the fresh wood as they were walking toward the office even though his nose was stopped up and he could not smell much. "That's a great smell," Danny commented. "Don't you just love the smell of fresh wood?"

"About as much as the smell of fresh cut grass right now," Mac said.

They went into the office which was surprisingly cold. Mac was glad he had on his suit jacket even though the weather was warm outside. Danny folded his arms because he was in his usual attire of jeans and a polo shirt. "Wow, it's cold in here," he said.

"I guess there is some benefit to wearing a suit in the warm weather after all," Mac said.

"Yeah, you don't have to freeze to death in these cold buildings."

They walked over to the reception desk which looked just like a wood panel desk that had been built out of extra wood that had come from the lumber mill. The woman at the desk had red hair and it was done up in a tight bun on the back of her head and she wore cat-eye glasses that did not hide bright blue eyes. "May I help you?" she asked.

"I am Detective Mac Taylor, this is Detective Messer." Mac showed her his badge. "We're here about your boss, Archie Woods."

"You found him?"

"Yes, Ma'am. I'm sorry to tell you this, but he's been murdered."

The woman looked surprised. "Murdered?"

"Are you Carol Duncan?"

"Yes," the woman said.

"We have a report that you didn't report him missing until two days after he went out to take care of some sort of problem at a house."

"Yes, I did report him missing."

"Why did you not report him missing when he didn't return?"

"Because he said he wouldn't be back that day. He was going to take a day off but when he didn't show up the next day, I tried to call him and I could not get in touch with him. I went to his house but he was not there and neither was his car so I reported him missing. You know, they never found his car."

Mac scowled. "So, he just disappeared," he said.

"Yes and we didn't know where he was at all."

"Whose house was he going to work on?" Danny asked.

"That Mrs. Robinson," Carol said. "That woman was always having some sort of problem. She called Mr. Woods all the time."

Mac wrote that down. "Did he ever report her for harassment?" he asked.

"No. Mr. Woods would never do that. She was one of his renters after all. He was responsible for the house. Although, it never seemed to have all those problems until she moved in. He never saw the bad in people but that woman gave me the creeps." Carol looked sad. "How was he murdered?"

"I can't give you any details about that, Ma'am," Mac said. "But it looks like he died a pretty gruesome death and we want to find whoever did it."

"I'll help you any way I can but I'm afraid I've told you everything I know."

"Who's in charge here since Mr. Woods has been gone?" Danny asked.

"His son, Benny. He took over after we realized that Mr. Woods was missing. Someone had to run things."

"Do you know anything about his personal life?" Mac asked. "Did he have any girlfriends?"

"Not that I know of," Carol answered. "I think he still loved his ex-wife. He was always talking about her and that he hoped they could get back together some day."

"Had she made it look like there was a chance of that?"

"No. It didn't seem like it to me. She looked like she despised him to me."

"And what is her name?"

"Rhonda Jernigan. Do you think she would have killed him?"

"That's what we're going to find out, Ma'am. We need a list of the people who have mortgages here and who rent along with the addresses. We also need to talk to Benny Woods."

"Yes, sir. I'll get that information for you and I'll call Mr. Benny."

Mac and Danny walked away from the desk. "What do you think?" Danny asked. "You think she's too cooperative?"

Mac considered that. "I don't know," he said. "She seems honest. I think there's something else weird going on with this case."

"Who has kept this guy for two weeks?"

"That's the question. Who could keep this guy for two weeks and no one knows it?"

"I can tell this case is going to keep me up nights."

"Too many questions."

Soon a young man came from the office area dressed in a white shirt and khaki pants. "Hello, Detectives," he said and shook their hands. "You found my father?"

"Yes, I'm sorry you had to learn about it this way," Mac said.

"And you say he was murdered?"

"Yes."

The young man sighed and looked down at the floor. "What happened to him?" he asked.

"Can we talk in private?" Mac asked.

Benny Woods looked at them a moment. "Sure," he said. "Come with me."

Mac and Danny followed Woods to his office, which was a very large office with a couch along with two chairs and a large desk with a reclining desk chair behind it. "Have a seat," Woods said.

Mac and Danny sat down in the chairs. "Mr. Woods," Mac said. "We're sorry about your loss but I have to ask you some questions so we can try and figure out what happened to your father."

Woods frowned. "It's alright, Detective," he said. "I knew something had happened to him because he would never have disappeared like that. Some people tried to say that he probably just skipped the country because he was tired of his life but I knew better than that. I figured he was dead. I gave him up a week after he was gone. Sometimes you just know."

"Do you know of anyone your father was having trouble with?" Mac asked.

"My father was a good man. I don't know of anyone who would want to hurt him." Woods stared at Mac a moment. "Can you tell me what happened to him? How did he die?"

"Well, it looks like he died a gruesome death. He had several broken bones and he was dressed in pajamas."

"Pajamas? Why would he be dressed in pajamas?"

"That's what we're trying to figure out. I'm sure he didn't have on pajamas when he left here."

"I don't have an answer for that unless he went home and was kidnapped from there but why would he just now show up?"

"I don't think he was wearing pajamas when he was kidnapped. This case has me puzzled, but I want to know why he was not reported missing until two days after he went missing."

"I was out of town when this happened but I returned the day he was reported missing."

"You didn't have any contact with him during the time you were gone?"

"I left town the day he disappeared, I was in a meeting all day the next day and I came back the next. That was when I learned he was missing."

Mac wrote that down. "The secretary mentioned a Mrs. Robinson," he said. "You know anything about her?"

Woods rolled his eyes. "A pest!" he said. "That's the word for her. She was always complaining about something. I would say she called this office more than once a week for any little thing that she thought was wrong. I mean, who can't get some liquid plumber and unstop their sink?"

"So, she called all the time. And did your father go out there every time?"

"He did some of the time but we have a maintenance man who works part time but she would demand that things get fixed that day when she called. It was funny that most of the time when she called was when the maintenance man was off."

"Did you tell the police all this?"

"Sure I did." Woods stared at him a moment. "You mean you think she might have done something to my father?"

"I don't know," Mac said. "How old is this woman?"

"Probably in her late forties or fifties."

"What about Mr. Woods' ex-wife? Your mother?"

Benny Woods stared at Mac. "My mother would never hurt my father," he declared. "How dare you suggest it."

"Hey," Danny said. "We're just trying to get at all the facts."

"I'm sorry but my mother would never hurt my father. They were apart but they were not enemies."

"That's not what your secretary said," Mac said.

Woods leaned on the desk. "The secretary doesn't know as much as she thinks she does and she better watch her mouth or she will be looking for a job."

"What about the other people who rent these houses and who have mortgages?" Mac asked.

"We hardly get any complaints from them."

"Is Mrs. Robinson still living in this house?"

"Yes."

"She still calls all the time?"

Woods scowled. "Now that you mention it, she hasn't called in quite a while."

Mac and Danny looked at each other and then stood up. "Thank you for your time," Mac said as he shook hands with Woods. "Again, we're sorry for your loss."

"Just find out who killed him."

Mac and Danny left the office. "Sounds like this Mrs. Robinson might have been a little obsessed," Danny said.

"Could be but things are not always what they seem," Mac replied.

"So, who's our next suspect?"

"Looks like Mrs. Robinson deserves a visit."