Happy Monday!

Thanks to everyone who's been kind enough to read and review this story. I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint...

Too Good To Be True
By: Mariel

Chapter 3

Samantha got down on her hands and knees to look under Georgina's bed. There was nothing there - no missing sock, no partially read book, not even a dust bunny. Remaining on her knees, she straightened up and leaned against the bed, her hands clasped loosely on top of the richly textured duvet cover. She looked around the room thoughtfully.

Movement in the doorway made her turn her head.

"Saying your prayers?" Jack asked lightly as he entered the master bedroom.

She shook her head. Feeling silly, she rose and brushed imaginary dust from her pant leg. "I can't believe how clean she keeps this place. There's nothing out of place, no garbage, no nothing to indicate anything about what goes on in her day-to-day life." She glanced around the room, explaining, "Most bedrooms have a garbage can filled with receipts, Kleenexes, dry cleaning cellophane, that sort of thing. Hers has nothing." Gesturing towards the offending receptable, she said, "It looks as though she's never used it. The garbage can in the bathroom is the same."

"Anything in the bedside table?" Jack asked. With a sudden pang, he remembered the clutter of items hidden in the drawer of hers.

She shook her head. "It's almost empty. Just a paperback novel, a few pens and pencils, and some blank paper. No diary, no date book, no anything. I can't even find an address book."

Jack frowned. He'd found nothing downstairs, either. Everything was spotlessly clean. The small den off the entryway held a computer, an empty garbage can, and a filing cabinet that held a suspicious number of empty hanging files. Now, faced with this last piece of evidence supporting the theory he'd begun to build downstairs, he told her, "Someone's been through here and cleared things out since she left."

Looking around the blue-walled room with its tasteful artwork and perfectly placed lamps, candles, and other decorative pieces, she considered the pristine kitchen, the spotless bathrooms, and the total lack of clutter where one would expect to find it. "It's a definite possibility," she agreed, "There isn't even any mail lying around. It's positively eerie, when you think of it." She looked towards the large walk-in closet. "But her suitcases are in there."

Both agents paused, wondering who had done the clean up, what they had taken, and why.

Making his decision, Jack told her, "Call our CSIs. I want someone to go through this place top to bottom. I knew this place didn't feel right."

While she took care of that, he did his own examination of the bedroom. Something was very, very wrong.

When Samantha hung up the phone and walked towards him, he said, "Let's take a quick survey of the neighbours. Someone may have seen something."

-XXX-

After quickly talking to two neighbours who knew nothing, they spoke to a Kelly McKinnon, who lived across the street. Georgina had had coffee with her the morning of her disappearance, narrowing the time of Georgina's disappearance to between ten a.m. on the 11th, when she'd left Kelly's home, and four o'clock that afternoon, when Victoria had arrived to find her not there. Kelly also informed them that she had seen Georgina's sister's car in the driveway until late that night.

"Was her sister's car there the entire evening?" Samantha asked.

Kelly shook her head regretfully. "I don't know. My oldest had a soccer game. It was the nanny's day off," she explained, "so I took him to it, and then took him and a couple friends out afterwards for ice cream. I was out from about six until after nine o'clock. I don't know when she left, but her car was still there when my husband and I went to bed around 10:30. It was gone when I got up this morning, though."

The two agents asked questions about Georgina's state of mind, her marriage, and the chances that she might have decided to go somewhere. "She never mentioned an affair, or anything like that," Kelly told them. She and Jason, she assured them, were "trying to be mature about things", and the cause of the marriage breakup was something Georgina had never discussed. She was a very private person, Kelly told them. She didn't have a nanny . And, she added, only had a cleaner in once a week. This last bit of information was added as though to prove just how much Georgina treasured her privacy. Still, she insisted, Georgina would have certainly said something about going away if that had been her plan.

After a few more minutes of questions about the children and Georgina's interests and activities, Jack rose. "Thanks for your help."

"I hope you find her. I can't imagine where she could have gone or why she hasn't contacted anyone. It's really not like her," Kelly said, her round, freckled face showing her worry. "She'd be sure to let her boys know where she was."

"If you think of anything else, please call," Samantha told her, holding out a card. "Our number is on this."

Nodding her thanks, Kelly took the card and then showed them out. Both agents were aware of her watching them as they walked down the long drive to their car.

Getting into the car, Samantha waited for Jack to start the engine and drive away before saying, "She's been living the perfect life - two great kids, a lovely home, a marriage that failed, but which didn't go down the tubes with the bad feelings most do. I don't get it. She can't have disappeared on her own. Something's happened to her."

"Either she left on her own to go somewhere, expecting to be back in time to meet her sister and something happened to her before she could return, or someone came to the house and she went with them," Jack guessed. "The house may have been cleaned up to destroy any evidence of that."

"None of the neighbours mentioned seeing her leave."

"Which means that at the moment, one scenario is as likely as the other. I think we need to find out more about the marriage and more about what Georgina did with her spare time. We're not getting a good picture of who she is, and until we do, our chances of finding her are close to zero."

"Danny and Martin will get something from the husband," Samantha said confidently.."If anyone knows her, it'll be him."

Jack kept his face expressionless and said nothing. If there was one thing life had taught him, it was that marriage to someone was no guarantee of knowing them.

Samantha looked at her watch just as Jack's phone rang. Jack flipped it off his belt and passed it to her. "Take it. I have to figure out how to get out of here," he told her, leaning over the steering wheel and peering up at a street sign.

"Must be Danny and Martin," she said. Flipping it open, she said her name and then listened intently.

When she closed the phone, she filled Jack in immediately. "That was Danny. The husband says this isn't the first time Georgina has disappeared, but wouldn't say when or why. Insists we should talk to the sister if we want to know more."

Jack nodded thoughtfully. "Fine. We'll go see her now. Odd she didn't mention this wasn't the first time Georgina has dropped out of sight. Since we don't have a record of it, it must mean they didn't report it." He paused to think, then said, "It may just be a red herring. It'll be interesting to see what spin Mrs. Newbury puts on things." He looked at her. "Are they on the way back to the office?"

Keeping up with the change in topic, Samantha shook her head. "No. Mr. Blackwell was expecting someone, so they're waiting around to see who shows up. Danny says that he was in an awful hurry to get them out of there before his guest arrived."

Jack shrugged. "Could be anybody. A girlfriend he doesn't want the kids to know about, maybe."

"Well, Danny and Martin will be able to tell us soon enough."

Passing the phone back to Jack, Samantha settled back to enjoy the cool temperatures of the air-conditioned car, her thoughts mulling over their upcoming meeting with Mrs. Newbury.

"Do you think Mrs. Newbury will be able to add anything to what she told us when she reported Georgina missing?"

Jack shrugged again. " To be honest, I think there's a lot more she could tell us. There always is. Whether or not she'll be willing to tell us is another matter."

Samantha looked about to speak, then thought better of it. Nodding, she looked out of the window, content to wait and see.

End
Chapter 3