Connor at first didn't think too much of it.  His wife was at a conference.  While it was in the same city they were in, it was far enough away that it was much more convenient for her to stay at the one of the hotels near the convention center than to come home each night.  Plus, this way, she reasoned, if anything came up, she could be there, and not have to figure something out from home.

Given what he knew of the conferences and the companies involved, Connor knew that this made sense.  He didn't exactly love it, since he wouldn't get to see her for five days, but he did understand the rationale.

So, the first day, she texted him as she entered her hotel room.  Which was completely normal for her.  Later that day, she sent him a picture of a cocktail she had ordered at bar after the official activities had finished for the night.

The next day though, he didn't receive any texts from her.  It was odd for her, but he figured the conference was keeping busy.  Plus, it's not like she's a child who has to check in all the time.  She was a grown woman.

The next day, around three in the afternoon, he noticed that she hadn't texted again.  He did think that was odd.  While he could see things keeping her busy, he did at least want to hear how things were going.  He texted a quick message asking how things at the conference were going.  By evening, he still hadn't heard back.  Maybe she was out with people.  Maybe things were more packed than she had anticipated.  He texted again.  He wasn't worried, not exactly, but he did at least want to hear something.

When he woke up, he checked his phone.  Nothing.  Not a damn thing.  Now, by this point, it was strange.  He called up a work friend of hers.

"Hi, is this Maria?"  He asked.

"Uh, yes," Maria said.  From the sound of her voice, she didn't know who this was.

"Well, this is Connor.  You know, Marcy's husband."

"Oh, yes, you know, I was going to call you.  Do you know where Marcy is?"

"What?"  He said.  He was too surprised to ask a more detailed question.

"Oh."  She said.  She heard it in his voice.  "You don't know either.  Oh shit."

"What, hold on, Marcy is missing?  When?"

"The second day I saw her.  She said she was meeting a rep about some new software for our medical division.  That was two days ago.  I got a text yesterday from her phone saying she was still going over requirements with the rep.  It was weird, though.  It didn't sound like her.  Today, nothing."

Connor's blood ran cold.  He asked her if anyone else at the conference had heard anything from her.  She said she'd immediately start asking, and she'd call him back.

At this point, he was quite worried.  This wasn't like her at all.

An hour later, Maria called back.  No one had seen her since before meeting the rep.  In fact, no one had seen that rep again, either.  And, much more worrying, another person from that company who would be in the know had no idea why a rep would be taking about software at this conference.  That wasn't the point of it.

With this, Maria met Connor at a police station with what they had.  They gave the officers all the information, and the officers took it.

"So, what are the chances?"  Connor asked.

"What do you mean?"  One officer asked.  He was a tall, thin black man well dressed in a black suit.

"Of her being found?"

"We don't tell people.  Not because we don't have the statistics for this city, but because each case is different enough that it's hard to gauge.  It's been about forty-eight hours since she was last seen.  That's quite a bit of time, but not insurmountable.  All I can say is that we will investigate this thoroughly."

Connor wasn't happy with the officer's response, but Maria seemed, well, not content, but she seemed to understand it.  Connor decided to take her lead and both left the station.

Wondering if he should do anything else, he thought about putting signs up with a picture of her on them, but wondered just how much people would even notice it.  There was a local park close by, with a bulletin board whose location he knew.  He'd at least see if it was worth it.

He got a couple of blocks from the police station, and was no more than a few blocks from the park when he saw a woman come out of a nearby apartment building.  She was walking the same direction he was.  At first, he paid little attention to her.  After all, he had much bigger things to worry about.  Then, though, he noticed the dress.

It was a blue dress, with sleeves that came up just past the elbow.  It hit a couple of inches above the neck.  He didn't need this, he thought.  That looked just like one of Marcy's favorite dresses.

He didn't want to look anymore, but she was in front of him and was close enough that deliberately avoiding looking at her would just make him look weird to anyone around, so he just had to suck it up for the moment.  He was walking a little faster than her, understandable given her heels, and he was slowly catching up with her.  Once he got closer, he noticed something on one of her heels.  It was a little bit of red paint on the bottom of the heels.  If standing, no one would notice, and you'd only notice if you were really paying attention, but Connor noticed it right away.

Marcy had the same exact bit of red paint on a pair of heels just like that.

He shook his head.  He had to be imagining that.  He figured he was so concerned that his mind was looking for even the faintest trace of her.  Still, though, he'd at least look when she brought her foot up again.

There it was.  Same spot, same shape, same color.

His heart raced.  He started to really look over the woman in front of him now.  He saw the height was right.  He then looked at her ass, her legs, seeing legs that always looked so good in hosiery, especially with the ones with the seam on the back.  Which the ones this woman was wearing had!  He looked at the arms, seeing tan skin and even nice, manicured blue fingernails at the end of long, feminine fingers!

Was that her, he thought.  Could it be?

He couldn't see the back of her head due to a hat that someone seemed almost designed to keep someone from seeing the back of her head!  He knew that couldn't be the case, but this was driving him mad.  He picked at the pace.

As he got a little closer, the woman turned slightly.

He didn't seem much more than a slight glimpse, but his pace slowed.  He caught a small bit of the cheek and nose, and, when he saw the entrance to the park, he walked toward it.

It couldn't be her, he knew.  She didn't have that nose or that cheek.  Honestly, maybe he was just seeing what he wanted to see.  The mind, he knew, was really good at doing that.

As he turned toward the park, Lionel breathed a sigh of relief.  He noticed that guy was looking him over.  Given the way the man behind him was acting, he guessed that the man thought it was someone he knew.  In fact, given the age, looks, and the way the man seemed to compose himself, he guessed the man thought he was someone pretty close to him.

Well, it was likely most of Lionel was that person!  Lionel had, after all, was still in town after the procedure, and he guessed that the "donor" of his new body below his neck was a local.  While he was told that it was unlikely that the person would be a local since they do try to avoid that, he was also told that the odds weren't zero on that either.

Lucky for him, he was just about to leave town.  Soon, he'd be hundreds of miles away, and this new, sexy, feminine body would be his forever.  He smiled at that.  He was now younger, womanly, and below the neck very sexy.  He'd have so much fun with his new body!