Upon arriving home, I found a note for Lucy. The note advised me that she had gone home to work on the Hollis file. Becky had sent her a electronic copy of the paper file I had in my hand.

I sat down to read it even though Lucy would give me her take on it as soon as I went to her apartment. I wanted to feel the tone of the file not just the facts. It was only ten pages of facts. It was more a series of statements than a narrative.

The first troubling thing I found was that Ed owned and operated a night club of sorts. Most likely it was a hole in the wall somewhere. I couldn't see St Marys being all that high on live entertainment. I made a mental note to have Lucy ask our other neighbor about Ed. He would surely at least know of him. Hell he probably had dealt with him at some time.

The troubling part was that club owners in general are an unsavory lot. Ed didn't strike me that way, but he was in contact with people who were. It would be easy for someone in need of a few bucks to volunteer to remove Ed's problem. I know innocent until proved guilty, but I wasn't interested in proving anything. I just wanted to know the truth. After that what happened was up to Becky.

Hollis' wife had disappeared eleven months before according to the statement. It was Ed's version that he returned from the club on a Wednesday night at 3AM to find his wife gone. He would usually find her in bed but on that particular night she was not to be found.

There was no sign of a struggle and nothing was out of place. He didn't call the police immediately because he thought she might be having an affair. It would do no good to make a lot of noise if she just showed up in the morning.

Again according to Ed's statement, he didn't sleep well that night. He was worried about her and angry that she would spend the night out without leaving him a message at least.

The next morning he began to worry when she wasn't home. He still thought she might have run off with a lover. He thought that until he found her purse with her diver's license and credit cards. Inside the purse nestled in the bottom he found her cell phone. Those things were the impetus for him to call the police.

At first they gave him a hard time about not having let enough time pass. However when he told them about her purse and cell phone, they came over to at least take a report. Since her car was in the drive, and it appeared that nothing but his wife was missing, the cops were baffled. There just did not seem to be any evidence of violence and without a robbery of any kind, they were at a loss.

As the days passed without any word from her and no use of her credit cards the case went cold. According to the statement, Ed had been polygraphed and passed it with flying colors. I had my doubts but had to believe his version for the moment. It hadn't matter to him that people had suspicions about him. Hell it probably helped his business to seem a little shady.

He had become interested in clearing his name only when Becky came into his life. At least that is how he put it in the statement.