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Gaia Wyndom had left a message on her bosses’ phone early Monday morning saying she was ill and would need to take sick leave. Her boss thought it odd when she didn’t show up or call on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, but hesitated to do anything because she was such a private person. Strangely private, in fact. He knew she lived alone and had no family. Finally he got up the nerve to phone her house on Thursday to see how she felt.
No one answered his call. The only emergency contact number in her personnel file listed a neighbor who sounded completely shocked that Ms. Wyndom would have given anyone her number as a ‘contact.’ The two never said more than “Hello” to each other.
The neighbor did say, however, that she had noticed Gaia’s living room lights remained on all night for the
