CHAPTER 4

She was filled with bitter memories from the past that haunted her the moment she sighted the police station afar off. She remembered how she visited the station every day for more than a year during her search for Umber; her ex-husband, Reuben, would stay by her side throughout despite his busy schedules and his new family. She began wondering why she divorced him during those times. She never saw that side of him, a side so selfless and sacrificial. She understood that Umber was as much his kid as he was hers yet she was so impressed that he could abandon everything to be there, be available, religiously, every day. Even when she was tired and at the verge of giving up, he would strengthen her, driving her each morning to the station and back, he kept the press away from her face, made breakfast and dinner whenever they were home. He even began staying with her when she started losing her mind. She smiled, wiped the tear that had begun to trickle down her cheek and walked into the detective’s office calmly.

“Hi Ms. Lisa”

“Hi detective,” she replied, quite uninterested and unhappy to be there. Sinking her body into the armchair right at his desk, she heaved a sigh as she faced detective Nathan.

“How have you been?” he asked with a smile trying to lighten her mood because he could read the negativity.

“Terrible to say the least. Could we please get to business?” she asked coldly, adjusting on her seat.

“I understand the complexities surrounding this case, and I also know how hard it must be for you considering the recent developments and your past experiences—”

“No you don’t understand,” she interrupted him calmly, “and that’s okay. You don’t need to pretend to understand, you are not required to understand or act like you care. You can simply just do your job and I would be impressed with that.” She concluded looking around at the pictures hanging on the walls of the office.

Nathan took a deep breath, reflecting on her answer and giving her a few seconds to feel more relaxed before proceeding. He could notice the pain that filled her large grey eyes and the discomfort that enveloped her being. He knew that more than anything, she hated been present at the police station.

“Forgive my manners! Would you like a drink?” he asked her, getting on his feet and strolling towards the mini fridge that sat at the far end of the office.

“Erm…soda water.” She requested.

“So how long have you worked with The Firm?” he asked placing a cold bottle of soda water on the table before.

“Do you mind? I would rather the soda water is at room temperature please.” She responded showing signs of distress as he proceeded to return the bottle back to the fridge.

“I visited the firm; your colleagues all had really nice things to say about you. Everyone misses you and can’t wait to have you back.” He placed another bottle of soda water on the table before her and continued speaking “It is pretty surprising that despite all the evidence tendered against you, everyone at the firm believes that there must have been a terrible mistake somewhere.” His husky voice filled the entire space, he sat gently facing her.

She took the bottle and twisted the cap open, raised it to her lips and took a little sip from the bottle.

“Your boss, Mr. Romero, insisted that I kept him updated. He wants me and my team to bring the fraud to book, he doesn’t think you have a hand in this. It defies my imagination. I just want to know why everyone seems to have so much trust in you.” He concluded, rested his back patiently and scratching his beardless chin.

“I have worked at The Firm for nearly ten years.” Lisa began to speak in a low tone, encouraged by what Nathan had said, “I doubled as the secretary and typist for the first three years because there was a shortage on staff and the firm was suffering. I did my jobs very well and the best of my ability. I never had any negative reports as concerns discharging my duties from my superiors or my colleagues.” She took one big gulp from the bottle.

“That’s amazing.” He responded in such gratifying tone, paying rapt attention with the hopes that she kept talking.

“I am honestly very surprised and upset with this recent development. I am innocent of all the accusations laid against me. I did not do it. I don’t even have a need for the money, I have all I need.” She added sounding frustrated.

“I understand Ms. Lisa.”

“No you don’t! You don’t understand what it means to go through a divorce, lose your son and your job; all within a decade. It’s not something you can understand. You’d have to go through it before you understand," she said strongly, searching his black eyes with her large grey eyes.

Nathan was happy to see her express herself; her words caused a tingling effect to his ears. He saw a grieving woman seated in front of him, tired of everything and needing a miracle and he was going to give it to her.

“A file filled with documents belonging to The Firm was found at your house the last time we visited. Do you take home documents from the firm for any reasons at all?” he leaned towards her as he asked, watching her body language and waiting eagerly for an answer.

“No, I don’t.” she responded without flinching; then she took a deep breath and took another gulp.

“How then did all those documents get there? They were lying in the drawer in your house. They looked deliberately arranged and kept for a particular reason. What could the reasons be?” he asked wondering.

“I don’t know, I am very honest with you detective. I never leave work with any document belonging to the firm.” She explained.

“Which of your colleagues comes visiting from time to time?” he asked, pulling out a file from the opened drawer alongside a notepad and pen.

“None” she chuckled.

“That doesn’t seem like a very positive situation if you ask me” he retorted, looking up at her for emphasis.

She laughed hard and snorted. “Well, I am not so big on friends.” She replied sniffing, drying the little tear bead beneath her right eye with her forefinger.

“Why not?” He asked, a surprise look all over his pale face.

“Well, I guess I have always been an alpha. Alphas find it hard making friends because everyone that comes close feels inferior” she swallowed and smiled hastily.

She hated the current direction of the conversation. It was such an uncomfortable situation for her because she knew how many times she had tried to make friends and failed. She always felt inferior growing up, everyone seemed to be better than she was at everything. One time in high school, she joined a girl’s band; everyone had their special magic but her. Ashley and Tiana sang so beautifully together with one’s voice complementing the other. Deborah played the electric guitar and she could play the piano when she wanted to and Tiffany drummed so beautifully, the drum set obeyed her and then there was Lisa. She tried to learn to play the clarinet but after some painful unprogressive months, she gave up. The same happened with the harp, violin, piano and the cello. Eventually, she thought it’d be better to just sing. She even registered with a small music academy but the music director could not even tell what type of voice she had. “This doesn’t fit in with any of the singing voices” he would remind her every day, renewing her misery.

He tried to make her fit in with the rest of the children. “Maybe you’re a tenor singer.” He told her two weeks after assuming she could sing soprano and trying to teach her all the basics for singing soprano. It was just one failed step after another; eventually he said she was tone deaf and could never do music. He even suggested she tried art or dancing and she did but she despised recalling all those moments. It is all in the past now, she exhaled and heaved a sigh.

“Ma’am!” Detective Andrew called out to her, bringing her back to reality.

She knew he said something while she was lost in thoughts and she had missed it.

“Did you say something?” she asked him, raising her brows to show remorse and concern.

“You’ve had a rather generous moment with all your thoughts. Can you now remember anything concerning the documents?” he asked with a beam of hope in his eyes.

“What documents?” she asked visibly confused and irritated.

“The file on the table contains some documents you’re familiar with” he began, the beam in his eye dampening, “we found that in the drawer at your house if you can remember. I asked you a few minutes ago to think carefully about these documents and how they came to be at the place they were found.” He concluded, adjusting on his seat disappointedly.

“You did?” she asked still lost and confused.

“Miss Elisabeth, if this is a bad time, I can reschedule for a day that might be better suited for you,” he told her compassionately.

“No, no! I’m fine. I was just lost in my thoughts for a short while. I didn’t hear anything you said during the time I was in my head. We can absolutely do this today.” She replied erratically.

“Are you certain about moving forward Miss Elisabeth?” he asked again, looking directly in her eyes to see her reaction.

“Yes, I am certain.” She replied with a calm spirit, surrendering her emotions.

“Would you like to tell me anything?” he asked still maintaining eye contact.

Elisabeth took a deep breath deciding to be completely open with detective Andrew. She felt exhaustion from being here again; sitting in this same place she sat in four years ago when her son went missing, trying so hard to answer questions thrown to her with Reuben by her side, holding her hand and patting her back. She felt defeated all over again like she did when she came back for sessions upon sessions to help the detectives investigate, the nights she spent in the station refusing to go home until Reuben begged and begged and some officers escorted them home with their patrol vehicle. She was sad like she did when Umber went missing because she felt that life was being unfair to her. She was a great parent; she loved Umber with all her heart, cared for him, protected him and took care of him. How cruel was life to have taken the only thing that gave her strength and brought her joy. She felt that history was repeating itself all over again and this time, she didn’t even have Reuben by her side holding her. She was alone, sad, defeated and almost so certain she would be getting a sentence. She buried her head in her palms at that instance and she began to weep. She wept sore; all her life she has spent in the pursuit of happiness and acceptance but every time she had it, life took it from her again and again. It was a vicious cycle but maybe that was her own burden. She was prepared to carry it once more.

“Four years ago when I lost my son” she sniffled as she took the wipes that detective Nathan her and patted her eyes with them in a bid to dry them, “I was trying to seal a deal for the firm. I had so much work to do at the time, typing a truckload of papers, submitting letters, attending meetings and drafting letters of requests and project proposals.” She heaved to relax her breathing pattern which had already become labored and irregular.

Detective Nathan nodded to signify that he was following.

“I didn’t want to tell the firm that my son was missing, I did not want to be found wanting at my job too but I desperately wanted to find my boy” she broke down again in tears, sobbing quietly. She felt warmth on her right hand which she placed on the table; when she looked up, she saw his hand on hers. She raised her head to allow her to meet the most compassionate eyes she'd ever seen.

“Take your time miss Lisa," he said with utmost kindness that soothed her broken spirit. She nodded as she tried to pull herself together. Her eyes were swollen and her pale skin shone bright red.

“I tried to balance work with the whole incident that had happened, losing Umber. In a bid to do this, I took some paperwork home. I can’t remember the kind of documents and how important they were anymore but there were some contract papers on the deal we were trying to seal. I also took home the company’s seal and stamp because usually I was allowed to authorize papers already signed by my boss.” She sniffled and cleared her throat. She felt better already.

“These documents you speak of, do you remember taking them back to the firm?” he asked her, trying to be as sensitive as possible.

“I took them back to the firm, or I thought I did.” She replied casting a glance at the file filled with documents on the table.

“Did anyone know about this? I mean, was anybody aware that you were trying to work from home?” he asked again, this time firmly.

“Yes” she responded bowing her head, “My ex-husband knew.” She replied as she lifted her head to meet his gaze.

“Did you report the disappearance of your son to the firm eventually?” he had a curious look on his face.

“I didn’t have to. It was all over the news because it became a sensation. I was seen on TV a couple of times and that was how the firm found out.” She answered wryly.

“What was done after the discovery?” he tapped his pen on the table even more curiously.

“I was given some time off to focus on all that was happening in additional to some other bonuses and privileges.” She appeared to be smiling.

“How long were you away for?” he leaned forward in desperation to hear her answer.

“For a long time, about nine months.” She replied trying to think it through carefully.

“Nine months.” He whispered as though he had struck gold in an unusual place.

“Yes” she replied absentminded.

“What happened to your office while you were away for nine months? Did you have any colleague that shared these duties with you while you worked?” he asked, this time putting the pen between his teeth and gripping it tightly.

“I didn’t have anyone discharging my duties with me, I work alone. That explains why I am here alone. When I was away from work, Malcolm from Filing and Records department filled in for me.”

“What’s his name ma’am?” he asked wearing a victorious look.

“Malcolm. Henry Malcolm.” She replied.

“Have you ever worked with Henry before?” He seemed at ease now.

“Well, it depends on how you look at it. Henry is responsible for filing and saving documents for our records after they have fulfilled their intended purpose. If we also need to look back on a document from moments or years back, he was in charge of that. He and Karen.” She shrugged.

“Who is Karen?” he leaned forward again.

“She and Henry work together at the departmental office.” She replied wondering why that was important.

“Have you ever had any personal problems with these two? I mean Malcolm and Karen.” He asked staring at her intently.

“No I have not. Do you think they could have done this?” she fired back with fire in her large grey eyes.

“We cannot say for a certain miss” he wrote down something as he had been doing since the conversation began and closed his notepad, placing the pen neatly beside it, “but we definitely have a lead. Let’s see where this takes us. Thank you so much for your time; if you need to talk to me, you can call me at any time or drive straight here. Would you like to tell me anything Miss Elisabeth?” he asked with a wide smile.

“I have a question detective.”

“Go ahead and ask.” He responded meekly, putting the file back in the drawer and turning the key to lock the drawer securely.

“Can I reopen the case on my son’s disappearance?” her voice faded at the back of her head as his gaze pierced hers after the words left her mouth.

“Why would you want to do that Miss?” he looked worried suddenly.

“If you had an opportunity to find your missing child again, no matter how long ago he was declared missing, would you take it?” she asked maintaining eye contact with him.

“Without skipping a heartbeat, I would.”

“There. That’s your answer right there detective.” She exhaled confidently.