CHAPTER 2
Umber disappeared on his ninth birthday, it was the worst day of Lisa’s life and she still had no other day till date that topped that day. She had sent him off to school on the school bus and promised to come visiting with his cake, balloons and favorite drinks so he would share his day with his friends and classmates. He was a particularly happy and easy-going child. He would take his books and school activities so seriously because he enjoyed them and he was so easy to talk to. She cried when she gained his custody after the divorce with her husband because Umber was everything she had from her marriage with Reuben and the only beautiful thing she had obtained from the cruelty of life. There was no one in her life that didn’t love Umber; he was innocent, genuine, full of life, loving and very curious.
That day, when she arrived at his school all sweaty, and alighted from the taxi she had rented to take everything needed for his birthday celebration to school, she had gone in company of his nanny, Samantha whom he mostly referred to as Sam. She was so excited, she walked to his class and proceeded to tell his teacher what her intentions were. His teacher informed her that Umber had mentioned it and would not stop talking about it to his friends. His teacher proceeded to fetch him while Lisa unpacked the car with Sam and that was when everyone realized that Umber was nowhere to be found. Lisa was left in utter disbelief; the playground was his favorite place to be in but he wasn’t there. He wasn’t in class, or in the toilets and his friends could not remember when he left their sight. Lisa was devastated, she reported to the police; called her mother and her ex-husband to inform them of the occurrence. She was trying so hard to believe that Umber was pranking her like he always does on his birthdays but she realized by sunset that he was gone. He was really gone.
Lisa was a mess for many months; she could not concentrate at work, she would not talk to anyone, her mother and brother moved in with her to help her feel better and her ex-husband, Reuben, came visiting more frequently than he used to. He followed her to the police station every time she had to go and he had his driver pick her up and drop her off whenever he wasn’t available to do so himself. Lisa had thought Reuben would file a case against her accusing her of child neglect that led to Umber’s disappearance but Reuben did no such thing. Slowly, everyone began to move on from Reuben’s disappearance. Posters were placed and the people led a peaceful march every day to continue to motivate the police to continue their search for him. The case was mentioned on the radio every morning and in the Television channels for over eight months but after nothing was heard, not even a single clue, everyone moved on slowly. Her mother returned home, her brother left, the police closed the case and the town went back to business as usual. Everyone except Lisa went back to living normally. What she would give to see Umber again.
“Good morning miss”
Lisa struggled through the blinding light of day to see who was standing at her door and speaking to her. She had slept in and was woken by her ringing doorbell. She was still half asleep so she struggled to open her eyes and condition her mind to the moment of waking up.
“Good morning” she responded dryly, running her fingers through her roughened thick black hair in an attempt to make it appear neat.
“I am detective Nathan. I have a search warrant here, and my partner and I would like to search your apartment.” The man who was clad in police uniform and a charming smile said to her.
“Sure. Come in.” she yawned, opening the door further and wrapping her nighty around her thick body properly. He handed the search warrant to her so she could look through it while his partner flashed his badge at her face for a couple of seconds before proceeding to go into the house. Lisa’s eyes focused on the badge for the moment it was flashed in her face but she was not paying any attention, she didn’t bother going through the search warrant either. She closed the door softly and watched as they fiddled with objects in the living room, looked behind the TV, checked the paintings hanging on the wall; she could tell that one of the officers was admiring the exquisite painting of Monalisa that hung at the far end of the living room as the other officer searched the drawers.
“These must have cost a ton," he said referring to the paintings on the wall.
“I wouldn’t really know,” she chuckled lightly, “my ex-husband had a thing or two for art. I really didn’t care, I was indifferent.” She replied.
“Fine taste he does have.” He complimented.
“Why, thank you," she said feeling so awkward. He noticed her facial expression and body language and changed the topic immediately.
“I am the officer in charge of this case, so you’d be seeing me very often. My team and I are here to help you, you can tell us anything that would help us prove your innocence and help our investigation come to a quick end," he said rather empathically.
Lisa nodded her head with disinterest, she didn’t care what the outcome of the case may be.
“Now if you do not mind, I would like to ask you some questions.” He further requested, drawing a note pad out of his back pocket and a pen out of his chest pocket.
“Sure. Coffee?” she asked him casually as she walked to the kitchen.
“No, thank you.”
“Well then, I’ll be with you in a jiffy, need my coffee for a little brain awakening.” She passed by the other officer jotting down some things in a small note pad he drew out of his pocket.
She walked right out no sooner than later with a steaming cup of coffee.
“Please sit down, Nathan.” She beckoned to the officer as she caught a glimpse of his name tag.
“Thank you miss," he said as he sat down, “how often do you have visitors over?” he asked maintaining eye contact with her.
“No one visits me except my ex-husband. He comes twice a week.” She responded, reluctant to say anymore, she sipped her coffee whilst maintaining eye contact with the officer.
“Does he sleep over? Does he have restrictions to any areas of the house?” Nathan asked again, this time with a little more ease in his voice.
“He doesn’t sleep over and although he has no restrictions to any areas of the house, he stays in the living room or sits in the garden when he comes.” She replied and took another sip of her coffee.
“Do you talk about work with him?”
“No.” she responded.
“Do you bring home paperwork from the firm, maybe to finish up some job you had started at work or because you consider your home a much safer place for some of the firm’s documents?”
“No, I don’t.” she responded, she knew the trick in this type of question so well.
“Did you have a fallout with anyone at work?”
“No.” she responded.
“Do you think anyone fell out with you? Maybe didn’t like you? Or is there anyone you consider suspicious, that would want to do something like this to you?” He asked her, raising his brows as indications that she should consider the question properly before giving an answer.
“No.” she responded without really giving it a thought.
“I really think there is a mistake somewhere. If some of the firm’s paperwork and documents were being used illegally because someone was selling them, it wasn’t me,” she retorted, trying to keep calm.
“I understand ma’am. Thorough investigations are going on to make sure we reach the end of this case. I assure you that you just have to cooperate with us and this would be over in no time.” He encouraged her and went back to jotting in his note pad.
“Thank you,” she said as she nodded.
His colleague appeared at that instant and handed Nathan a transparent plastic bag full of documents. They seemed to communicate with their eyes.
“These are some documents from the firm you work with, although you had said you do not bring these documents home.” Nathan reiterated as he moved his eyes from the bag to her and back to the bag.
Lisa shrugged and sipped some more coffee. “I must have forgot.”
“Is there any other thing you now recall and would like us to know?” he asked emphatically, unimpressed by her earlier excuse.
Lisa genuinely thought for a few seconds. She stared at the file in his hands, “well no, officer,” she replied softly.
“Thank you, ma’am. If that’d be all, we’ll be taking this with us,” he said referring to the documents, “we will get back to you.” He concluded as he stood up and made to leave alongside his colleague.
“I will be waiting to hear from you,” Lisa replied as she stood up to lead them out the door.
It had been an exhausting week already, she slept, woke and over thought herself to agony. Sometimes she wanted to cry but her heart was just too heavy, she couldn’t bring herself to. She thought of her life as a child, she had always been bullied; everything she loved as a kid was forcefully taken from her. She lost her favorite doll to the kid next door, he snatched from her and left her in tears. In junior high, her bicycle, Betty, was stolen. She found it weeks later by the lake, but both tires were gone and it was in bad shape. Her father was always at work and her mum was married to another man; they were divorced, Lisa lived with her father. She snapped out of this reminisce, the loneliness was eating too deeply, and she really could use some company. She picked up her phone to call the diner. Maybe she could agree to that date with Antonio after all.