An Absence of Principal Read Online Free PDF

the right qualities for the position. In fact, he had not taken a single phone call since he had placed the ad three weeks earlier.
    Garrison’s casework had increased steadily since he left McClatchy-Court, the famed Midland firm, more than a decade earlier. He lost a lot of sleep over the decision, but it was one that was proving even more fruitful than he could have imagined. As his second pot of coffee brewed he thought about all the years he had spent as a solo practitioner. It had been four years since he had gone out on his own. He was tight with his money but he paid a girl $36,000 a year to run the office. Filing, phones, running to the courthouse, the kind of work most anyone could do. He gave the young woman weekends off. Saturday was his alone day. Garrison knew Lucy Hannah, his wife of almost 20 years, didn’t like him being away six out of every seven days, but such hard work was necessary if he hoped to retain his standing in the local legal community. Plus, Lucy knew the long hours kept her in some of the finery and baubles that wouldn’t have been possible had her husband not worked quite so hard.
    As he walked back to his office he heard the tinkling of the bells at the front door. Garrison rarely had Saturday visitors unless it was by appointment, and he had made none this morning. He walked to his outer office. Standing there was a strikingly beautiful woman. Long, red hair, green eyes, impeccably manicured and modestly, professionally dressed.
    She took a step toward him and extended her hand.
    “May I help you?” Trask said.
    “My name is Alex. Alex Wallace. You have an opening listed in the Law Journal for an investigator.”
    If Garrison had learned anything from his mother and Lucy Hannah, it was to not pre-judge people. That didn’t stop Garrison from thinking this woman looked nothing like a private attorney’s investigator. He decided, wisely, to keep that thought, and many others, to himself.
    Garrison invited her into his office and the two chatted for a moment. He took her portfolio and her card and they talked for several minutes, mostly small talk. Trask told her he’d be in touch and she let herself out. He was skeptical. Why would a beautiful woman want such a small town, small potatoes job as a private investigator for a one-man law firm? Garrison was good and he knew it, but there was little prestige in working for a sole practitioner. Just the fact that she came in made him leery and suspicious enough to wonder what her angle was.
    He pulled out her resume. Four pages.
    Alex Wallace. 38. Born and raised in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. Graduated Oklahoma University. Bachelors in Criminal Justice. Masters in social work. Graduated FBI Training Academy.
    Not bad, he thought.
    Her schooling was followed by three pages of special assignments for lawyers and police departments across the country. Then, in 1999, a break, unexplained in the biographical narrative that accompanied the resume. In ‘02, Alex noted that she had been hired by the Drug Enforcement Administration-International Operations, an assignment that looked like it lasted six months. And since then, nothing.
    He was intrigued. But even more, he was impressed. He would call her first thing Monday.

CHAPTER 3  
    I t was all Ben Doggett could do to keep his composure during the weekend at home with his family. His hands shook, his stomach lurched and turned, and the dryness in his mouth wouldn’t stop.
    “Ben, you sure you’re feeling all right?” Angela asked, putting a hand to his forehead. “You look awful. You need a doctor?”
    “I’ll be fine, sweetheart. Bad Mexican food, probably. Besides we’ve got a busy day today. How can I miss my kids’ birthday, even if they are seventeen?”
    Doggett noticed a definite change in Angela’s tone toward him. She had gone from loving and warm to distant and unfeeling. When she asked how he was feeling, it seemed obligatory, like she didn’t really care. He supposed his recent