Chapter 22

1st October 2015: 19:44 pm.

Bentley had his hand at my back as he swiftly led me out of the station. Then he did a side nod to Dad and we were all outside. This time I asked Dad for a cigar. I hadn’t smoked one in years, but I needed it. He passed it to me and then we continued to walk a little further until Dad broke the silence. “So, what happened?” He had calmly exited the station as if he had just come out of a business meeting. Outside as we were away from the station. Away from prying eyes and ears, he showed his true frustration.

“His girlfriend’s child was the one that Emma came in with this morning. They think that she kidnapped the child and that is why they are arresting her.”

“What the fuck!” Dad screamed out. “Shit, Ted, what have you got yourself into? We all know that Emma wouldn’t do a thing like that. I thought I told you. Warned you to stay away from that scheming little bitch. I’ve forgotten her name. Shit, Lu something. That was what the police said when they arrested Emma, but I didn’t put two and two together! Shit, why didn’t I see this coming. Where the hell is my granddaughter?!”

Dad was shaking me, he was furious and all I wanted to do was curl up and die. This wasn`t a coincidence. I knew my wife. I knew that she had problems and was weak, but to kidnap someone else’s child… My love child that I had outside of our marriage... she wouldn’t stoop so low. I should have fucking known. Dad was right, I was weak. The question was what we were going to do about that.

“What has she said to you?”

I shook my head, shocked that i had been so naive. “They have her locked up. I can’t speak to her. Who’s defending her?”

Bentley turned to Dad. “Ralph go and fucking calm down. You’re not helping things.”

Bentley started to instruct and fill me in on what was really going on at the moment.

“Ted take a deep breath, if you’re not a good actor, then you’re going to have to be for your daughter’s sake. You know how your mom feels about Emma. I assigned a lawyer to her case to get her out on bail. And then your mom threatened Ralph, claiming that Emma had kidnapped Barbara. So for now, Emma has no one. That’s not the point. We can worry about Emma later. We need to focus on Barbara. Now, what did Li say to you?”

“That Elizabeth is missing, but now she’s been found,” I sighed, remembering Li’s relief on the phone about Elizabeth being safe.

Bentley nodded, “Good. Don’t you even try and make out that you know that Emma is being charged with kidnapping her. Do you understand me?”

I nodded again, thinking that I had to do this for my daughter, and then after I would work on Emma. She was safe for now, which was more than I could say for Barbara. Dad was cursing behind me like a mad man and I saw his car pull up. He shouted out, “Always thinking with his cock. Always fucking around. Always having to clean up his mess.”

“Dad is being fucking dramatic. Only one time he cleaned up my mess and he’s acting like he does it on a weekly basis.”

Bentley shook his head as we walked towards the car. “Not once, Ted. Five times, and all because of this one person. Your dad didn’t want you to know about them. He thought that he had made himself clear. We thought we did last time.”

What the fuck was he talking about five times?

“You need to reach out to Li. Pretend or act like you’re happy about Elizabeth being back.”

“Elizabeth. He named her fucking Elizabeth!” Dad shouted as if I was fucking death.

“If your mother knew that you named your love child after her, then she would be in her grave right now! What’s wrong with you?”

“Then afterwards you find Barbara. You make sure that you find her. I’ll get an investigator on the case now that we know what we’re dealing with.” He got into the car and I stood on the curb confused what to do next. Dad rolled down the window and said, “You better find my granddaughter, because if I don’t chop off your cock your mother will. Especially if she finds out that you named that girl after her.”

That was the problem, I hadn’t even named her. Li had. She did it behind my back. Just like everything else, and now I was totally screwed, because my wife was being charged for kidnapping and my daughter was still lost.