CHAPTER 6

Elisabeth rode down the road slowly, her helmet was sitting oddly on her head, causing her so much discomfort but she had stopped by the roadside three times already in a bid to adjust it but it wasn’t working. She could see properly through it and her breathing wasn’t obstructed, that was all she really cared about. As she approached Umber’s school, her heart began to race; she hoped that Umber would open the school gate and run towards her screaming “Mommy, you didn’t find me!”

She packed her scooter by the gate and took her helmet off; she examined her helmet for a few seconds wondering why it just wouldn’t sit perfectly. Her phone rang loudly sending her into a crude jolt. She reached for her waist purse and pulled her device out, sighing as she realized it was Antonio. She had been avoiding him since his last visit, she didn’t like that they moved too fast. She thought the sex was amazing and his company was just perfect but it was all too soon, maybe they needed to take things slow but she didn’t know how to tell him so she avoided him instead. She didn’t frequent the diner as she used to, didn’t take his calls either.

“Poor Antonio.” She muttered in obvious emotional distress. She put the phone back into her waist bag and placed the helmet gently on the head of her scooter.

“I’ll be right back Triller," she said to her scooter, patting the seat.

The security at the school was so tight ever since the disappearance of Umber. She smiled as she saw the security men clad in their uniform, manning the entrance.

“Hi,” she greeted as she approached the gate.

“Hello ma’am.” One of the men responded standing on his feet to attend to her.

“Hello Mr. Jones.” She replied as she read his name off the tag attached to the top left corner of his shirt, just below his breast.

“Who would you like to see Ma’am?” he asked politely.

“The school’s head of administration.” She responded.

“Any appointments with her today?” he asked again, this time looking at her hands anticipating a letter of appointment.

“None. Just want to make some enquiries concerning my child.” She replied, trying to remain patient.

“Alright. One moment please.”

She watched as he entered into the small security building beside the gate and placed a call. She couldn’t hear all he said as he sounded indistinct from the distance but she knew he was calling the administration’s office. She looked away and casted her glance at her ringing phone; a hissed escaped her mouth. She turned her silent mode on and put the phone into her waist bag again.

“Ma’am, you can come in now.” His voice resonated in her head, she briskly entered as the gate clicked open and walked into the large compound, her large eyes scanning the environment. She didn’t think the school had changed much; it was four years already but the scene of losing Umber played in her head like it was yesterday. She saw the taxi packed just few meters from where she stood, loaded with gifts and food. She saw Samantha holding her bag and phone, she alighted from the car all sweaty but very happy, definitely very happy, her baby was turning nine.

“Please come with me ma’am” a small welcoming voice pulled her back to reality. She turned around to see a petite woman briskly walking away. She followed closely with long strides. She wiped her eyes as tears had begun to well up in her eyes. As they entered the walkway in the school building, she searched for his classroom with her eyes, she remembered that Umber didn’t like his classroom.

“It’s too far from civilization.” He would say all the time making her laugh heartily.

“Do you even know what civilization means?” she would ask him but all the time, he would give her the same answer.

“I know what I mean and you know what I mean.” He would respond with so much confidence.

Of course she knew what he meant. His classroom was the farthest from the playground, the school lab was on the left side of his classroom and the head teacher’s office was by the right. The dressing room was just opposite his classroom so Umber always felt surrounded by boredom as all the fun was on the other end of the building. That was what he meant but she acted dumb just so she could listen to him speak because he made her laugh so much.

“Welcome ma’am. Please have your seat.” She heard someone say. She looked at the tired face closely to see if it was a familiar face but it wasn’t.

“Thank you. So much security at the gate, makes it so difficult to remain at rest.” She stated as she sat down facing the woman who had just offered her a seat.

“Yes. It was supposed to be a temporary measure but I pleaded with the local government to let me keep the security this tight. I am so sorry for the inconveniences but this gives you the confidence that your ward is safe here with us.” She responded as she sat down at the table, adjusting her glasses as she spoke.

“I am sorry but you don’t look familiar at all. I used to know the school’s head of administration and she isn’t you. You’re new here, aren’t you?” Lisa asked.

“Not entirely. My name is Cara and I took over from Mrs. Peterson nearly four years ago as the new school head of administration.” She replied.

“Mrs. Peterson wouldn’t have allowed such tight, uncomfortable security in this school,” Lisa retorted, keen to see Cara’s reaction.

“I doubt she wouldn’t. A child was suspected to have been abducted from this school in broad day light while school activities where on, nearly four years ago. I am just doing my job to make sure it never happens again.” Cara responded firmly while maintaining a calm stance and a polite look.

“That child was my son, his name was Umber and he turned nine on the day he was abducted.” Lisa replied in a low tone, her head seemed like it was about to explode.

“I’m so sorry ma’am, I—”

Lisa lifted her left hand indicating that she didn’t want her to apologize for anything.

“I have heard so many apologies for so long, I just need help finding my son, dead or alive. The police just reopened the case and I know it will not be open for so long if no leads are found quickly.” She stated.

“What do you need?” Cara asked staring at her intently.

“Miss Freda was his teacher as at the time, can I speak to her?” she asked.

“It isn’t professional for me to give you her contact details but as a mother, speaking to a mother, I will give you all you need.” Cara replied as she took out a paper and began scribbling some things on it. She folded the paper neatly when she was done and stretched it out to Lisa.

“Thank you so much, this means everything to me.” Lisa said with so much hope in her eyes.

“I hope you find him or better still, find his abductor.” Cara nodded.

“Thank you. I’ll like to take my leave now and about the security at the gate, I love it. It’s just sad that my son’s disappearance had to be the justification for such heavy security presence.”

Cara nodded again as Lisa stood to her feet, her eyes followed until she was out of the office.

After Umber disappeared, Lisa tried to carry out some investigations by herself but she was too mentally impaired to go through with it. She had approached some of Umber’s closest school friends and his class teacher, Miss Freda, everything proved futile but she knew she didn’t push hard enough. She was too broken by the news of his disappearance to fight through the pain but she was ready now, she was going to every length possible. She needed to do it and Umber deserved that much.

She rode past the diner on her way home and wondered if Antonio was inside, what he must think of her, how he was doing and if he was hurt by what she was doing. She didn’t know what she felt for him, but she cared about him and she wanted him to be okay. She hated that her paranoia restricted her from expressing the fullness of her emotions but she also knew she needed to concentrate on fixing her life. She needed to move past this pause that life had her fixed on, she wanted to be able to fully enjoy life once again like she did when she was a little girl.

She alighted from her scooter after parking by her garden as usual, she checked her phone to see that Antonio had called her thrice; she hissed and walked into the garden, dialing Miss Freda’s number on her phone. A mild tension bean to build up in her heart as she dialed the numbers, the tension further heightened when the other end of the line began to ring. She paced slowly, her breath slowed and her fingers shivered.

“Hello.” a bubbly voice from the other end of the line said.

“Hi. This is Lisa, am I unto Miss Freda?” she asked, her voice shaky as she supported the phone with her other hand to prevent it from falling as her fingers trembled.

“Yes please, how may I be of help?”

“I don’t know if this is a good time but I really need your help and I was wondering if I could come visit you, maybe we could talk over tea.” Lisa requested hoping for a positive response.

“Who is it please?” her voice began to fade off the line.

“This is Lisa, my son was abducted four years ago and you were his class teacher, remember. Do you remember Umber?” she asked desperately.

“Ahh yes, Miss Lisa?” she asked, her voice loud and clear.

“Yes, yes…yes please.” Lisa stammered in relief.

“I reside in Florida now. I moved after Umber’s disappearance, I could not live with it and definitely could not work as the class teacher at the school anymore so I moved.” She explained without mincing words.

“Oh I see.” Lisa replied in disappointment.

“Is it something of great importance and urgency?” she asked as she heard the disappointment in Lisa’s voice.

“Yes, it is. I don’t mind taking a flight to you, if you don’t mind receiving me.”

“That’s alright. If it isn’t too much trouble, you could come over. I hope it’s something we can handle” she said, with curiosity in her voice.

“It’s about Umber and it’s nothing serious. I just want to see you in person to discuss it” Lisa added.

“I’ll be expecting you then. I will send my address to you immediately.

“Thank you so much Freda, this means everything to me.”

“Oh, anytime.” She replied.

“I will be in touch, have a nice day.”

“Bye.” Freda responded and the line beeped off.

She jumped in excitement. “Yes!” she screamed, her voice echoing through the quiet town. She turned around and it struck her that someone had been in her garden. Some of the flowers were missing; some roses, lilies and hibiscus were gone and the garden seemed to be in a huge mess too. She suddenly grew afraid and upset. She thought about the children who lived around, maybe they found their way up there and decided to play with the flowers. She examined the garden extensively, the rest of the garden seemed untouched. She walked away briskly towards her front porch. As she climbed the stairs that led to the front door, she saw a bunch of flowers lying by her doorstep with a card near the flower stalk. She gave it one suspicious look then proceeded to pick it up. The card was a small, square-shaped cardboard material that smelt like lavender. It had a note on it that read:

With love, Antonio.

She was unimpressed by this gesture. The flowers were messy, and it was obvious that they had been removed from her garden. She preferred uniformity, a bunch of one type of flowers not a bunch of different types of flowers. She hissed, visibly upset, she hated that he had been in her garden to begin with.

“People are a lot to deal with," she said aloud, throwing the flowers to the ground as she proceeded to unlock the doors. She noticed the key would not turn counterclockwise or make the click sound that indicated that it had been unlocked; she turned the doorknob gently, and the door gave way. She stood there with arms akimbo and mouth agape. She was certain that the doors were properly locked before she left the house that morning. Her mind was too puzzled to think. She began to walk into the house slowly, her heart beating fast behind her ribcage.

“Hello?” she called out as she entered into the living room, she waited for a response but the house was as quiet as a graveyard. She turned on the lights frightfully, her eyes met with the mud footprints on her marble floor. Now she was certain that someone had been in her house; she grabbed her phone and dialed a number, as she backed away from the living room and moved towards her study room, she discovered that a lot of her books and papers were lying on the floor, the room had been turned upside down, she let out a shriek of horror. Her phone beeped; someone was at the other end of the line. As she heard a voice come in through the phone, she grabbed unto the phone tightly and said in a broken, fear-stricken voice, “It’s Lisa. Please come over; someone broke into my home.”

She crept up to her bedroom slowly, she wondered if it could have been Antonio. The muddy footprints in the living room suggested him, he had been in the garden after all, and he could have gathered all that mud from the garden. Maybe she left the door open and he got in somehow but why would he throw all her books and papers down in her study? Her mind went round in circles, she felt dizzy, almost like a sudden darkness clouded her. As she turned the doorknob that led into her room, her eyes met briefly with the photo of Reuben that hung on the wall before everything suddenly went pitch black.

***

There was so much noise, sirens blaring and daylight that threatened to blind.

“What’s going on?” she asked with confusion written all over her face, she tried to get on her feet.

“Hey, you might want to stay on the couch, we found you passed out on the floor.” Detective Nathan replied.

“Where?” she asked again, her head was throbbing and her body felt weak.

“In your room, just by the door. Can you remember what happened? Did anyone try to hurt you?” He spoke so fast as he handed her a glass of water, she could barely make what he was saying.

“Uhm,” she mumbled, taking the glass and sipping from it slowly. She handed it back to him and looked around to be sure. She felt relieved to see that she was in her living room and on her own couch.

“Elisabeth, can you hear me?” he called out to her as if in an echo.

“Antonio, he has been in my house, the mud prints must be his; I mean, he went in my garden and cut my flowers off. He left me this note.” She turned around, searching frantically for the note she had picked up earlier. “I swear it was here.”

“Is this what you seem to have a hard time finding?” he asked in reply as he showed her a polythene nylon containing the note.

“Yes,” she muttered in relief.

“Investigators have been here. Evidence has been taken, and it will be used to find out what happened here, but in the meantime, I suggest you go someplace until this is solved,” he explained.

“I don’t have another place.” She sat up defiantly.

“No friends, parents, boyfriend, anyone?” his expression showed confusion as he asked.

“None. I will figure it out.” She replied, her tone hit better.

“Give me everything I need to know about this Antonio.”

“Well, he is a friend, I’d like to think.” She replied reluctantly.

“You don’t seem to be telling the truth Miss.” He raised his eyebrows and bent his head sideways.

“It’s a long story, detective,” she fired back in defense.

“Summarize this story ma’am. We have a criminal to apprehend," she said lightly.

“He was really nice to me. He visited when I was at my lowest, and we had sex. He has been calling me ever since, and I haven’t been answering, but he won't take the hint that I'm not interested in a long-term commitment,” she narrated as she avoided eye contact with him.

“So you have a stalker. Do you think he would have done that to your study?” he asked scratching his chin.

“I really don’t know because I really don’t know him that well. He doesn’t pass of as that kind of person though. He is a good guy and I enjoyed the sex but I am just not mentally ready for a relationship.” She explained.

“The latter aspect of that explanation is for your therapist Miss, and I really think you should see one, no offence.” He lifted his arms in a surrender.

“None taken sir.” She replied quietly.

“The culprit left through the back door. We seem to be looking for someone who has spare keys to the doors. None of the locks were broken; the glazier confirmed that none of the locks were tampered with, rather, the doors were accessed using keys. I don’t mean to be such a pessimist and scare you further but Antonio does not seem to be the man we are looking for.” He smacked his lips and shrugged.

“I strongly believe this has everything to do with Antonio.” She insisted.

“How many times has he been here?” he asked, fiddling with his pen as he thought of a million different scenarios.

“Once.”

“Do you think that one time was enough to get your keys?” he asked, staring at her to hear what she would say.

“I do not think it is wise to underestimate him.” She responded trying to sound reasonable.

“We have to think this through. Are any of your keys missing?” he asked her, putting the pen in his mouth.

“No,” she replied slowly.

“What does that tell you?” he squinted, hoping to get a good answer from her.

“Uhm, someone has copies of my keys and comes in my house at will?” she asked with uncertainty.

“Exactly. That’s what it means and that person does not seem to be Antonio from your narration. When you first lost your son, who were the people staying here with you?” he asked again.

“That’s family detective, you’re not suggesting that my family have been burgling my house and probably stealing from me.” She replied embarrassed and in disbelief.

“That’s not what I am saying Miss. I am saying that this requires a lot of time to pull off. Whoever has your keys must have duplicated them while they lived here with you. We just need to collect their fingerprints and run them against the ones we found on the evidence to see if we get a match,” he explained.

“Okay, that seems to make sense. I stayed with my mother, brother and ex-husband as at the time when I lost my son.”

“Their names and contact details please; If you don’t mind writing them down here.” He handed her the note pad and pen with him.

She scribbled with some difficulty. She was worried about involving her family members in this. She has given everyone nothing but trouble since Umber’s disappearance and now, the people who came around to help her find strength were suspects in the burglary incident.

“I still strongly believe that Antonio has everything to do with this, you can find him in the diner just down the road.” She reiterated.

“Every man is innocent until proven guilty, no matter how strong your intuition may be. We will surely act on your intuition no doubts, Antonio will be called in for questioning as soon as possible.” He assured her while scribbling some more notes in his pad.

“Please keep me updated.”

“I will. From the look of things when we got here, I think someone was here earlier but became alarmed when he or she heard Antonio at the door and then proceeded to leave through the back door.”

“So you think Antonio has nothing to do with this?” she asked in disbelief.

“I think Antonio was at the right place at the wrong time but we will find out.” He replied smiling.

“Thank you for coming here as soon as you could. I had a terrible moment and passed out, you and your team saved me.”

“I suggest you get as much rest as you can, try not to worry too much about things you cannot change and let us do our job. My team helped put your study together and cleaned the floor to the best of our ability. Please, keep your phone close to you at all times and call me at any time of day if you need to report anything or drive to the station if you can.” He advised as he stood up to leave.

“I will do as you have suggested.” She replied with enthusiasm.

“Would you like to tell me anything?” he asked with concern.

“None at the moment but I will call your phone if anything comes up.” She stated.

“Enjoy the rest of your day," he said from halfway across the living room.

“Will do.” She muttered.

She stood up as she heard the down thud shut, reached for the keys, locking the door securely. She walked to the study as she held the blanket around her tightly. It was truly beautiful; she couldn’t have done a better job. She glanced at the book “Angels and Demons” by Dan Brown that laid on the study table. Picking it up, she placed it on one of the shelves and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her.

She walked briskly past the kitchen, her eyes capturing everything in a glance, she checked the back door and locked it securely, bolting the locks as well. She wondered if it would be better to call everyone ad tell them to expect a call from the police, especially her mom as she didn’t want to alarm her but she was too exhausted. She exhaled and collapsed on the couch, a yawn escaping her mouth at the same time. She picked her phone up and dialed Reuben’s number.

“Hey sweets.” His deep voice echoed through the phone.

“Hi. Do you have a business meeting at Florida?” she asked awkwardly.

“You want us to go to Florida for that vacation huh?” he teased.

“Well, if you want to. I will come along.” She replied acting uninterested.

“Of course I want to but why Florida.” He asked.

“Florida seems to be on the news lately. It seems a lot of new businesses have sprung up in Florida now.” She replied, trying hard not to mince words.

“Really? I haven’t heard that at all. Where did you get that information? You know that all of these blogs are full of shit these days.” He seemed upset.

“Well, the other day on the news.” She replied loosely.

“What news? E-news?”

“Yeah…Yes that’s the one. Florida is starting to emerge as one of the top places to run a lot of businesses.” She replied, trying hard to keep up her act.

“I will check that out but is that why you want us to go to Florida? Wouldn’t you rather we go somewhere I don’t have to work?” he asked with concern in his voice.

“I don’t mind. You won’t be working per say, you’ll be scanning the entire perimeter and I’ll be by your side.” She responded positively.

“I love the sound of that, sounds like a great plan.” He admitted.

“So when do we leave?” she asked nervously.

“Missed me that much?” he asked romantically.

“Yes, I do,” she lied.

“I miss you too, Liz. I cannot wait to have you in my arms.”

“Ew,” she muttered.

“Did you say something?” he asked on the top of his voice.

“Yes. Is tomorrow a good day to do this?” she asked with enthusiasm.

“Of course love, anything you want.” He replied.

“Alright, will go pack a few things then.”

“I got to go, someone’s calling my phone. Please, a few things only; try to keep it as light as possible too.” He added.

“Got that, bye," she said and the line went dead.

Despite all that had happened, Lisa was so optimistic about the outcome of events. She had never been to Florida but she liked the idea of leaving for Florida because asides finding out about Umber, she needed a change of environment, the sunshine and warmth of Florida as she always heard, was all she needed to feel great again. She played “Extraordinary Being” by Emeli Sande from her stereo, and in high spirits, she began to pack her bags for the trip. She needed a lot of nude color lingerie and shoes that made her feet hurt, wigs for the fun of it and to switch things up a bit, a lot of chiffon dresses, revealing much but concealing much while at it; jewelries, of course, nothing to complex, just to add a little bit of glitz. She grabbed her sex toys too, she didn’t want to rely on Reuben too much, and he could become occupied with work at any point. It was going to be just a couple of days and she had promised to take only a few things but everywhere she turned, there was something to take along. She tried to streamline all her ideas and reduce the items she intended to take along: hairbrush, makeup kit, shoes, more shoes, perfume, wigs, jewelry, music box, sashes, beach hats (how could she forget the beach hats?), supplements, sunscreen, shampoo, bags, more bags, and so on. She had packed three boxes by the time she was done.

“Oh no! Dear God,” she exclaimed softly, dropping her tired body on the bed. She had turned her room into a pig’s sty, but it was worth it. For all it was worth, if Florida turned out to be a great place to live, she would happily move to Florida permanently.