Finding Watson

The metallic ring of my rotary telephone came out of nowhere. It was 6:30 in the morning and I usually never get calls from clients this early. Removing my pan from the stove, I hurriedly rushed over and picked up the phone. "Thank you for calling the office of Bruce Fox, how can I help you?" I was met with no response on the other end of the phone, and I waited for a few seconds to see if the caller would ask a question or even introduce themselves. After five seconds of listening to pale and monotone static on the other end, I hung up the phone. I never fully understood why some people would call and be not be able to speak when I answered the phone. I like to think that it's because they are so worried that the truth will end up being worse than what they thought. Nevertheless, most people end up calling back, after their curiosity catches up to them. I still thought that it was a bit odd to call this early in the morning, especially just to go ghost the second I answered the phone. As I continued to make my breakfast, I glanced at my whiteboard schedule on the wall to review my schedule for today. I had a meeting with a new client at 9:00 AM and a meeting with RGL Insurance company at noon. I typically don't take insurance cases, but RGL was one of the largest and most prosperous insurance companies in the city. They insured over $250 billion worth of assets, and every time a claim was filed worth over a million bucks, they called me to investigate the validity of the claim. After all, somebody has to do it, so it might as well be me. Just as I was placing my eggs and bacon on my plate, the phone rang yet again. This time, I took my time, rather than rushing to the phone just to be met with no words. "Office of Bruce Fox, how can I help you?" I repeated monotonously. "What do you charge to gather evidence?" a grizzly and serious voice said on the other line. "What kind of case would this be?" I answered. The thing about asking me to gather evidence is that, depending on the type of case, I might charge more. "There was a murder on Stark Street and I have zero leads. I was wondering if you could help." A murder case. That's something I don't get asked to collect evidence on every day. In fact, the police typically don't like using private investigators in the investigation of any crime, unless they need evidence collected in a case that they don't want to investigate themselves. Speaking of which, I never got the callers name. "Who am I speaking with?" "This is Lieutenant Mills. Are you able to help?" he questioned desperately. "Let's set up a meeting later today." I replied. I wasn't entirely sure if this was a case that I actually wanted to take, but I'd rather see if there was anything I could to do help than throw away a possible opportunity for future cases. "Does 1:30 this afternoon work for you?" I had a meeting with the insurance company at 12, which shouldn't take more than an hour, but to be on the safe side, I decided to give myself a little more buffer time. "Can you do 2:00?" "That works for me. Be at the station then." Lieutenant Mills ordered, before ending the call quickly. I never understood why some people are in such a rush that they can't end a call properly. I strolled over to my whiteboard and wrote in the 2:00 time slot "Meeting with Police". I wonder if it was Mills who had called earlier only to hang up the phone. If it was, I wondered why he had hung up once I answered the phone. When I'm alone and by myself, I tend to let my thoughts wander to different places. It seems as though one thought leads to another and that thought leads to more. That's why I like to keep busy. That way, I'm less likely to get caught in a thought loop that never ends. For now, I wanted to focus only on the food in front of me.