As Susannah drove home from work, she mulled over what an odd day it had been. Shortly after getting to work, employees had complained about missing items. Not big things at first but it continued to escalate throughout the day.

When getting their morning coffee, some employees saw their personal coffee cups were missing. And while it was a common occurrence for one or two to go missing from time to time, more than that did seem unusual.

A bit later, a little rift developed between two coworkers. One of them accused the other of carrying off their water bottle. When the manager went over to calm the situation, she found no one that would admit to taking the water bottle. Instead, two more employees claimed theirs were also missing.

It was then Susannah was called into her boss' office. As she walked in she saw her lieutenant Ken sitting behind his desk with an irritated look on his face. "Susannah, I need you to look into these missing cups and bottles. Seems we have some kinda clown out there."

Susannah was obviously surprised that Ken was setting her on this hunt. Tricks were routinely played on the unsuspecting in the department. "Ok...is there something else missing besides those items?"

"No. Well, there could be. That is why I want you to check this out." Susannah could tell that Ken was annoyed at being questioned. "What you all do out there is your own concern. But when someone comes into my office and takes my 'World's Best Grandpa' mug off my desk. Well, things are just getting out of hand then!"

"Yes, sir", she replied and with difficulty held back her amusement until she was out of his office.

As she made her way through the office area she asked about any missing items. She was startled to find that quite a few things had disappeared since that morning.

When tallied up, they were as follows: 5 coffee cups, 3 water bottles, 7 staplers, 15 pens, 2 sandwiches, 1 jacket, 2 sweaters, 1 computer mouse, 6 computer keyboards and 1 shoe. Not a pair of shoes. One. Shoe.

As Susannah chatted, she learned a couple things. People really love their pens. And I'm pretty sure the people claiming to have their sandwiches stolen had not even brought sandwiches in. They had all the common tells of lying. She also wondered a couple things. Exactly how long were the people without computer equipment going to go without letting anyone know? Were they hoping to go all day before reporting it? And how does someone go all morning without a shoe?

Her conclusion was that nothing important was taken. So naturally, at first, the department heads thought it was 'the clown' at work. They gathered everyone together and good-naturedly announced that it was quite the amusing joke. Which, Susannah felt, it really wasn't. They continued by saying it needed to end now so everyone could get back to their jobs. And, whoever it was, could they please give everyone their property back?

So the office staff anxiously waited to see when and where the stuff would show up and who would bring it back. A couple hours went by. And then a couple more. And no one did.

So the men and women in charge held another informal meeting with everyone and this time were not so jovial. In fact, they were downright irritated by it all. Because not only had things not been reappearing but they had continued to disappear.

Added to the list were: numerous other office supplies, 5 more computer keyboards, 2 chairs, 4 computers and one entire cubicle including computer, accessories, desk, chair, pictures and personal items.

The occupant of said cubicle, Deborah claimed she had left the area to make a few copies and when she returned, it was gone. "Just gone", she told Susannah with a wave of her arms. Somehow no one, not even her cubicle neighbors, had seen who had taken it. In fact, had not even noticed its absence until Deborah returned and brought it to their attention.

And that was the story each time something went missing. No one noticed anyone taking anything. And no one noticed anything was gone until they reached for it.

Susannah now had two people assisting her in the investigation. Every half hour, they would search the entire office. She had also asked that the other floors be searched on a regular basis. Still, nothing had turned up and she had no leads as to who was doing this. None of this made any sense to Susannah or to any of the other detectives.

First of all, Susannah knew this was not how a thief would work. She knew how thieves worked not only from her training but also from her husband. A thief wouldn't mess around all day with all this small stuff risking arrest.

Second, where were they putting it all? They were continually searching the building and nothing had turned up yet. Not even the shoe.

Third, how were they moving things so fast?

Maybe it is time to get the hubby in here since he is the police consultant on matters of thievery. Or maybe it really is just 'the clown' and he is afraid to confess at this point. Susannah had felt this was a silly little case she would clear up in a few minutes and now here she was more confused than ever.

Mystified, by the end of the day, everyone in the office was angry. More office items disappeared. It seemed that if a piece of clothing was not on your body, it was fair game to be taken. Everyone was missing something.

The latest thing that had gone missing were parts of a large number of case files. The whole file was not taken, only certain pages from those files. This could have been the main goal the whole time. All the rest could have been a distraction. Hoping to find some sort of pattern to the files that were taken, Susannah started to examine the files and room itself.

Going through file after file, once again, gave Susannah no leads. Giving up, she started shoving each box back in its place. As she was putting back the third box she stopped and looked at the shelf closer. The shelf was littered with tiny black specks. Thinking the shelf was dirty, Susannah swept her hand over it. The dirt didn't wipe off. Umm, stubborn dirt. She grabbed a rag that was hanging off the end of the shelf and scrubbed at the black dots. Still, they clung to the metal.

A thought formed in Susannah's mind. She slid that box into its space. Then she went back to the first two boxes she had already put away and checked that shelf. Sure enough, she found black spots on those shelves too. Then she checked every place a file had been taken and found black spots on all of them.

Deciding to follow up on this one lead, she went out to the office and looked at all the areas where large items were missing. Little black spots covered them all.

She headed to Ken's office, excited that there was finally some kind of break in the case. She knocked quickly on the open door before entering the room.

"Ken, I finally have a break", she started and then went on to tell him what she had found.

But Ken was not convinced it was what they were looking for. "Susannah, I know this must be a frustrating, irritating case. But I don't think that dirt specks are really our answer here."

"No, Ken, they look like dirt specks but they aren't. I can't scrub them off. If you don't believe me you try."

"I believe you. Maybe it is mold. It can really cling sometimes, you know." He cleared his throat. "But Susannah, this case is about the missing items. Not about dirt specks."

"I think you are wrong, Ken. I think the missing items don't matter. I think what is important is the tiny black flecks. Somehow I think they are the lead we need to explore."

Ken grumbled around a bit before he said, "Ya know, just head home. It is late and maybe something will come to you tonight. Those specks, whatever they are, will be there in the morning for you to stew over."

While Susannah wished he had taken her more seriously, she knew he was right about one thing. Some down time was often the key to clearing up cases.

So case unsolved, she headed home.

******

She arrived home to find Charles already in the house. "Did you have any trouble getting into the house?" she asked him.

"No," Charles replied. "I just scaled the house to a second story window that was open."

"Um." Susannah accepted that answer as if it was the way everyone entered their home. "Have you seen my keys by any chance? I am missing them." He replied that no, he had not. Then, hoping to get some insight from him, she filled him in on the strange events of the day.

She gave him a heads up that she may need him tomorrow as a consultant. Charles was good at this job. He had a lot of experience at his job before this one. In fact, that is how Susannah met Charles. He had been arrested after a big bank heist. It was a big deal for the department. They had been trying to track down Charles for years.

Susannah had waited anxiously to get a glimpse of the notorious burglar. And then in walked Charles...in handcuffs. One could say it was love at first sight. 

Susannah had asked Ken if there was some alternative to jail time. After some thought, Ken had come up with this solution. He told her the police could use an expert in the field to help catch the increasing amount of thieves. It seemed everyone was choosing that career now, he had said. And besides, Ken had always been a sucker for a love story.

So that had been the beginning of Charles and Susannah. And they had lived quite happily since then. Now they had the twins and Susannah had her career and Charles had, well Charles had a lot of free time. And quite frankly, Susannah never questioned him too closely about that.

Soon, it was time to start dinner. Susannah's mom and dad were bringing the girls home and staying to eat. While Susannah made dinner, Charles decided he would go out to his beloved garden. Charles spent almost all of his downtime gardening these days. It was his new obsession. But his hard work supplied her with countless vegetables, so she didn't complain.

She heard her mom and dad's car pull up. Then the girl's oohing and aahing over something. Shortly after that, she heard them calling her outside to see whatever it was.

Susannah stepped outside to stand beside the four of them. Charles had heard the commotion and headed over too. Susannah's mom pointed up to the sky and said, "Look dear, isn't that the most beautiful sunset you have ever seen?"

Susannah turned her eyes to the sky. It is beautiful! She had never seen a sunset quite like it before. But it somehow made her uneasy. She shot a quick look at Charles, the little frown between his eyes told her he felt the same way.

The bright colors faded into a strange kind of black that seemed to go...beyond. That is the only word she could think of, like it went beyond the sky. The black held no color of any kind. No bright stars to lighten it. The beyond looked empty, like it was nothing at all. The black spots from the police office flashed through her mind.

Susannah turned away, no longer seeing the sky as beautiful. Glancing back one last time, she felt a shiver go down her spine, then she called everyone to dinner.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading the second part of Disappeared. Only one more part to go! If you liked it, please press the star. :)