Halfway Down The Stairs Is A Stair Where I Lay In Agony

Case Notes Part 2

Upon interviewing the subject’s neighbours the only out of the ordinary occurrence noted was number of localised power fluctuations occurring during the third week of July culminating in repeated outages on the Friday evening. Bank statements belonging to the subject show the purchase of a new midi stereo system, new computer speakers and two new surge protector multiboards the following week.

A customary check of immigration records show that the subject left the country for an overnight business trip to Sydney in the last week of July. Credit card receipts suggest that while the visit was brief Meredith managed to find the time to take advantage of the duty free offerings at Sydney airport.

With no clear reason why the subject has disappeared from the blogging world, standard procedure dictated a check be made on local hospital records. Wellington hospital documents show that Meredith was admitted to the emergency room with a suspected broken ankle. Following x-rays the medical notes record that the injury was in fact an ‘impressive sprain’ and it appears Meredith was discharged a couple of hours later with crutches. Along with the following photos, ACC forms claim that the subject was in fact sober when she fell down the stairs and note that if she had been drinking it would be far less embarrassing.

The Departed

Missing Person’s Investigation Report
Case #68534

Subject/Alleged Victim: Meredith

Known Alias: No-one of Consequence
Date Last Seen: 26th June 2007
Case Status: Open

Investigation into the disappearance of the subject ‘Meredith’ began with a visit to her last known place of employment at MU. Her desk and office had been cleared out and examination of a nearby paper recycling bin found a letter from the HR department reminding Meredith that her fixed term employment was due to expire on the 30th June. On the back of this letter were two columns of hand written text.
On one side:

• Creepy burnt we with a hot spoon guy down the hall
• Cellphone reception = poo
• 80% skinny jeans and slouch boots
• Bad coffee
• Arse traffic

and

• Vending machine alley
• Flexi hours/working in PJs

As this appeared a dead end lead, the investigation team began following other routes of enquiry. A quick Google search on the subjects name shows her attendance and presentation at a local conference in the last week of June. One attendee interviewed recalls overhearing two distinct discussions between a couple of gentlemen regarding the employment of the subject. The first on Monday 25th June where one of the men told the other that he didn’t think he had enough work for Meredith after all and would he like to employ her (to which the other party responded positively). The second conversations on Tuesday 26th June where the same gentleman told the other that some unexpected funding had come through and could he have the employ of Meredith back again (to which the other gentleman did not respond positively)

While probing into the location of the subject’s next place of employment, investigators interviewed cafe staff who remembered overhearing a discussion between Meredith and a nearby company director. Although informal it appears this was in fact a job interview. After some standard discussion around capability, expectations and salary, cafe staff recall Meredith asking for a week off before starting her new position which was agreed provided she come in to work on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.