The little black book

Life has a way of making you think deeply. People tend to get lost in thought over things that have little to no meaning to them though it feels important at the moment. I stand here thinking deeply about nothing as I wait for my dog scruffs to do his thing. I find myself listening to the crickets as they sing their melodies to catch their mates attention. They are humming unanimously to each other, just waiting for a chance to make the big move. I listen to the approaching tires of a car passing by. My thoughts turn to wondering if the person driving is headed to a barren house or if perhaps they have a family waiting for them. Could they have a slew of random people sitting around the house? Maybe I am over thinking this. I start to wonder what the person’s house might look like. I wondered if the state of the house match the dilapidated car that they drove. They could have a clean house with upgraded furniture, they are renting from a store that has been so well kept that they didn’t have time to care for the car. I mean it could be the opposite, this person could have the house filled with boxes of useless items stacked from floor to ceiling. It is always interesting to see how another person lives. It’s probably just my overwhelming curiosity or loneliness, who knows at this point.

I shake off these thoughts as scruffs scrapes the grass to mark his completion of his duty and trots towards the house. Once inside I am met with the patter of his claws against the hardwood floor. He dashed to his bed in the living room of my empty bungalow. I have not been here long enough to really furnish the place. Never really cared since I don’t plan on staying in this town long. I prefer to follow my work where ever it leads me. I spend most of my days out with scruffs handling my freelance job. My job entails Investigating for worried spouses who have too much time and money to ask questions directly or those who are paranoid about being used. Those who are paranoid usually have a good reason to be but every so often they end up wrong. I have ultimately learned how to be a ghost and capture with my camera what words cannot. I hand out the proof of their fears or tell them to grow up and to stop sticking their noses were they don’t belong. Either way I do enjoy there reactions and it’s almost a form of payment. I will say the cash is well worth it in the end.

Alas, this night I did not have any boyfriend/husband to trail. This made a good opportunity for scruffs and I to kick back on the sofa to unwind with my feet up. I won’t be doing anything special, usually after playing “stealthy ninja” I tend to enjoy the boring silence of a good book. I have to find a way to get my mind off the engineer’s wife that I had dealt with most of the morning. She was complaining about how he could be sleeping with the barista at his local coffee shop when she was “A class stunning” and he was a ragged bald freak. It was a little annoying to take but worth the chuckle. I barely open my book when the sound of my mail slot screeching open and the slide of a paper like object scraping against the metal. Scruffs scampered over to the door the second the package hit the floor. He retrieved it happily with a little skip at each step.

I pulled the envelope from his light grip with ease. He is always very careful not to destroy any item he brings to me. I’m proud of him for that, and proud to have a dog with that amount of awareness for other things that are normally meaningless to a dog. The envelope was addressed to Michael Shwift, which of course is me. I usually am addressed as Mike so this detail on the mystery around a random envelope only strengthened how uneasy this made me. I could only bring myself to stair at it and tense as an overwhelming curiosity boiled. I had questions stirring in me that left me wanting to be overcome with anger. I decided to open it out of spite as I was not afraid of someone who had the nerve to track me down. I never gave my address out for my own safety and peace of mind. When you have to deal with being a home wrecker it’s a line of defense you want in your corner. I used public places as a means to meet clients, that way they could not track me down or harass me for any reason.

I sighed with both relief and annoyance when I found myself looking at a letter attached to a book. I opened the letter to find a check for $20,000.00 attached. It was made out to me but I could not make out the signature nor did I find where it came from. The only information I could discern was the amount and my name. They were very generous for paying me up front. I usually only require a partial up front and the rest when the job was done. After placing the check to the side I glanced at the letter briefly, not really reading it as my eyes kept bringing me back to the book. The little black book had me more intrigued than anything. I began flipping through the book and it brought me to the realization that it was names listed on each page with a small paragraph underneath labeled description. I read a few names and recognized them immediately, I decided to read a few more names to see if they were more people I recognized. I was surprised that nearly every page had names of people I have dealt with. These were all of my clients and their targets. Each page had each client listed alphabetically and each spouse that they had me investigate. The description under the names were the crimes that each person had committed and the information I had gathered during my investigations. It shook me hard to see this information, but the thing that really rattled me was seeing my name in this book as well. It’s paragraph was not labeled the same as the other names. Mine was listed subject. It read as followed:

“Subject Micheal is a very difficult subject to find. He weaves in and out of civilization as easily as a predator on the hunt. Subject is a single male with only one animal companion. After a few chance encounters with subject I was able to locate and confirm no family connections. It was confirmed that the last known member of subjects family passed from cancer. Subject is a private investigator and can locate nearly anyone without being noticed. Subject would be perfect candidate for program. After confirming with higher ranking officials I have decided to retrieve subject for recruitment. I have submitted check and information to subject before retrieval.”

I could barely grasp what I had just read before It dawned on me to read the letter that the check was attached to. I figured I had read the wrong information first considering the letter might have more information on what I had just read. Once I did bring the letter back into focus I realized how much information it truly was lacking and I am surprised I hadn’t noticed this before. The only thing that was written on the letter was the words “knock. knock” point blank on the middle of the page. My eyes widened and my very core shook when the door echoed the same knock… knock…

Scruffy ran barking towards the front door with fur raised on his back, you could not expect anything different from a devoted pooch. I couldn’t even quiet him as I hastily and quietly approached the door myself. I couldn’t even fathom who I would be finding on the other side of the door. I wondered if this could possibly be connected so perfectly to what I had just read. How could they have known I was reading that right then? Who could this strange person be collecting me for some random program that I had no knowledge of? So many questions raced through my mind as I gathered my composure to answer this door. I had to prepare for any scenario possible. My knuckles whitened as I clenched the door, the sweat from my distress smeared the handle. I steadied myself as I flung open the door almost incautiously as to prepare for who I might find on the other side. To be honest I am not sure why I was so careless after I had already prepared myself for anything. Probably an anxious unconscious reaction to the situation. I’m not usually this stupid.

I found myself face to face with the darkness of the night and a figure standing in front of me. At first I could not decipher any features on this visitors face. My eyes had to adjust the void of light around him.

“Who are you? And what do you….” I started sternly and paused when I recognized who I was looking at.”Holy crap. It’s you!”

The investigation on the disappearance of Micheal shwift never occurred, they never located his beloved dog scruffy. The bungalow he resided in remained unclaimed until his payments discontinued and they were forced to foreclose. No questions were asked about his whereabouts not even by his clients, it was simply as if he never existed. In a moment of pure curiosity he was completely removed from this world. It was this way until I obtained possession of his home. Recently I purchased a home for me and my cat. I came across an envelope tucked under the rug which helped me find the location of a little black book. It has way more than just Michael’s clients. I now have the little black book but it’s contents.. well that is a whole different story…