Yep, clients flake out from time to time. Happened to me recently, too — very similar stuff. In my case, I think it was my billing system, which auto-sends out late notices. These people were okay clients, and always paid, but always were late doing so. Finally, one day they paid all of their outstanding invoices at once & I never heard another word. I think the auto-reminders annoyed them. But, then again, there *were* late. So… But yeah, total ghosting. Ahh well… f*ck ’em.