CHAPTER 5

As Dani drove in her car with Tessa, her thoughts wandered off to Fred.

What he was  up to right then. Why he had killed Annie. What his plans were. How the urge to cover up for him had risen within the past few hours.

She also thought about Tess.

What the girl was going through. How she was feeling. How her sisters would feel on hearing the news.

She glanced at her and the girl was totally lost in thought. Dani bit her lip as she pulled over in her driveway.

Tessa got out of the car immediately and slammed the door shut.

" Hey, watch it" Dani said, as she also got out of the car.

" You treat my baby with respect, alright?" She said, patting her red Audi.

" Well, I guess this wouldn't be happening if you'd just left me at my own house."

" Yeah. Too bad that didn't happen, huh? Look young lady, I won't condone your attitude towards me. It's my responsibility to protect you and I'm gonna do that perfectly so get rid of those teenage hormones, okay?"

" I'm almost 20. I'm an adult."

" Same thing. Just... Don't get on my nerves. Come with me. I'll show you to your room and tomorrow, we leave for the hospital. You've got to get a check-up done." She said, walking towards her house. Tess, closely behind her.

After showing Tessa her room, Dani went up to hers. She went straight to the bathroom for a hot bath. She was stressed out.

She got out of the bathroom to find her phone ringing but it stopped just before she could reach it.

She checked the caller ID while drying her hair with a towel. It was her granny.

She smiled as she thought of her son. Within seconds, she was dialing her granny back as she dropped the towel on her bed.

" Gram–gram, how are you? It's been a while"

" Danielle, so good to hear voice. I've missed you, my darling" Gwen said, sounding sad and weak.

" What's wrong, Granny? You sound off."

" Dani, it's Xander. I've been trying to reach you for a long time now"

" Why? Is Xander okay?" She asked. She was feeling uncomfortable so, she got up and raked a hand through her hair.

" Well... Not really. Alexander's at the hospital, Danielle. He's been there since this morning."

" What... What do you mean, Grams?" Dani's heart throbbed with fear.

" Today is Xander's usual check-up so, we went to the hospital. Then, after the check-up, the doctor had invited me into his office, telling me he had bad news" she paused.

Dani's thoughts were everywhere. What was happening? Was her son safe?

Granny sniffed, then continued. " He'd told me that Alex has leukemia."

And then, Dani felt like her whole world had crashed. Like she had nothing to live for again.

Granny continued. " Said he was in the early stage and could still be cured if we acted really fast. They brought in a chemotherapist just for him and he's been on some drugs ever since" she ended. Dani slowly sat back down on her bed, not saying anything.

" Dani. Dani, are you there? We need you to come down here to sign some papers so they can proceed with the treatment."

Dani was lost for some seconds before she pulled herself back to reality. This wasn't the right time to sit around.

" I'll be there by Tuesday but just make sure his treatment continues before I get there, please. How is Xander feeling, though?"

" He's feeling normal. He doesn't even know what's going on"

" Great. And I would love for you to keep it that way. He shouldn't know about his disease which is why you should try to stop your tears and act strong for Alex. When he asks, tell him he's still getting his check-up done."

" Alright, my child. I'll do just that. And how are you?"

" I don't know, Granny. I'm so stressed and work is becoming more tiring."

" Then, take a day off."

" It's not that easy, Grams. Besides, this case is really important."

" Alright then. But try not to work too hard, okay?"

" I'll try, Grams. Take care of yourself and Alex for me, please."

" I will but try not to get disturbed by Alex's disease. I'll talk to you later"

" Okay, Grams. Bye for now" Dani said, then hung up.

She sat there, at the edge of the bed for some minutes before getting dressed and settling in.

With her duvet wrapped around her on her bed, and her phone next to her, Dani got her laptop placed on her lap, then began her research on leukemia.

Few minutes into her research, her phone rang. Mannie.

" Hey. Dani, are you home yet?" He asked.

"Yeah, I am and I've shown Tess to her room"

" Alright. I just got the autopsy results of Annie's corpse"

" Really? Tell me." Said Dani.

" Okay. Get this, turns out Annie had inhaled chloroform which made her unconscious and then, she'd been infected with a lethal substance which eventually led to her death."

" That explains why the death hadn't left any scars and why we hadn't heard noises"

" Exactly. Then, autopsy results of the girl by the playground showed nothing new. She'd been stabbed and raped but, wait for it... She had the same tattoo as Annie and on the exact same spot, too. I took a picture of the tattoo right before her body was taken away so I'll try to find out if anyone knows anything about the tattoo or anything relating to it"

" Okay, that's great! Have you spoken to Miller concerning Tessa's sisters yet?" Dani asked.

" Yeah. The older one's married with a child so she would be able to fend for herself. Miller had informed Molly, the married one, about the death and also told her to inform her other sister, Lisa about it..." Mannie explained further to Dani about his conversation with Mike earlier. Mike had explained everything to Molly who in return had volunteered to tell her sister about the death and also accept Lisa as her responsibility. Mike had informed Molly that Tessa was in good hands and there was nothing to worry about.

" That's perfect. Now, all we had to think of is Tess"

" Got that right. Okay, Dani. I've got to go. See you tomorrow night, then" Mannie said, about to hang up.

" Tomorrow night?" She asked, confused.

" Yeah. Saturday night, our date, remember?"

' Nope. I totally forgot' she thought. " Oh, yeah. Of course, I remember. I'll be there. Bye."

" Bye." and he hung up.

Dani thought about her date tomorrow night with Mannie. She'd totally forgotten about it, she didn't go shopping.

"Oh my God, I don't know what to wear ', she thought.

Then, she remembered Fred telling her not to overdress which also reminded her that Fred was gonna be there.

' Shit! '

She wondered why he really wanted to be there. He probably wanted to create a scene. She shook off the thoughts and continued with her research.

Turns out, leukemia was curable and this made her calm down a little.

She would do anything, absolutely anything for Xander.

About half an hour later, she got hungry so she ordered pizza quickly before they closed then went down to the lounge with her laptop.

She booked her flight got Tuesday to Paris while she awaited the circular goodness.

She hadn't heard from Tess ever since they walked in and she was sure she hadn't had dinner, so she planned to share the pizza with her.

Dani walked towards the door as soon as the doorbell rang. She paid for the pizza and collected it.

Taking her phone along with her, she went up to Tessa's room. She knocked on the door and went in after been  told to do so.

Tess was laying on her bed but doing nothing. She was just staring up at the ceiling and obviously lost in thought.

"Hey, Tess. You hungry?"

" No" Tess replied, not looking away from the ceiling. " Really? What have you had to eat for dinner, then?" Dani asked, as she sat at the edge of the bed, lifted the lid if the box and took a slice. She slowly but into it and marvelled in its goodness.

" What's it to you?" Tess asked. " Well, for one, you're my responsibility and I can't have you go hungry" she replied, taking a second bite.

" Well, I'm not hungry." Tess said, still not looking away.

Dani stayed silent and finished off her first slice. Then, she concentrated hard on Tessa's face and placed a hand on hers. This made Tessa stare hard at her.

"You don't have to hide your feelings Tess. I know what you must be going through right now and how you must be feeling but—" she was cut off by Tess.

" Don't. You know nothing about how I'm feeling. You don't know shit so don't lie to my face." She said with a straight face.

What a strange girl.

She stared back at Dani, her eyes, void of any emotion. Dani became quiet again.

" Alright, fine. I don't know shit, you're right but I know how it feels to lose someone you love. I know how it feels to think that the world is against you but then, I realized that no one's an island. You are not alone, Tess. You never will be." She paused, then continued.

" Each and every one of us make up this world which means it is incomplete without you. We are together always, alright?" She stopped and gave Tessa's hand a little squeeze. " I'm here with you so don't fret"

" Wow" Tess started. " Are you always this motivational?" She asked, flashing a little smile.

" Never. I only do this for girls whose plans are made to make my life miserable. It's tiring, though."

" Yeah. You've got eye bags already." Tess said and Dani laughed. Dani reached for the box and took another slice of pizza then handed the box over to Tess.

"Now, please, have something to eat", she said and Tess gave her a mischievous smile. " I was gonna eat it eventually, I just wanted to give you a hard time. I'm starving", Tess said and took a large bite of her pizza slice.

Half way through her pizza slice, Dani asked," So... are you into any relationship?" but Tessa's smile turned upside down, then she bit her lip.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have asked that, it's a personal subject " Dani said, quickly.

" No, no, no, no ,no. It's fine. But, no, I haven't got a boyfriend." Dani really wanted to ask why but knew better.

Tess continued "And you? No boyfriend? I thought I caught that other detective staring at you."

"What ? You mean, Mannie? " Asked Dani and Tess nodded, taking another bite of another pizza slice.

"No... Mannie's not my boyfriend".

"Really?" Tess asked and Dani nodded. " Alright. But he likes you and I think you know that" Tess pointed out and Dani shrugged. " Maybe I do, maybe I don't" Dani said and finished off her pizza slice.

"When you're done with that, place the leftovers in the refrigerator. I'm off to bed." she said, getting off the bed.

" What leftovers? I'm gonna finish this off" said Tess.

" Wha— You can't be serious. You're gonna finish an extra large?"

" Hey, not just me. You also had some of it. Besides, I've gone through a lot within the past hours, I really need food."

" Yeah, but—" she stopped, as Tess raised an eyebrow. " Alright, Alright, have it all ." She said, raising her hands in surrender. And with her phone in head , she walked out of the room.

" Good night, Tess" she said over her shoulder. " Good night" Tess said back.

As Dani walked back to her room, she remembered Tessa's checkup the next day and her date with Mannie. As soon as she got to her room, she picked picked out what she would be wearing for the date and retired to bed.

*******************

At the stroke of twelve, Danielle's phone began ringing. The noise woke her up so she slowly checked the caller ID.

' Private Number ', it said .

' Fred ', she thought as she immediately sat up and became alert.

"Hello. Who is this, please?" She asked. " Cut the crap, darling. You  know absolutely who it is."

" Just checking."

" Did you love my gift to you?" Fred asked. " Why did you kill her, Fred? She did nothing wrong."

" I know she did nothing wrong but I just had to kill her, you know. I only killed her to make you know that I'm aware of every fucking move you make. Nothing much" Fred said and Dani was shocked.

She hadn't imagined that Fred will kill someone for such a useless reason. She recovered quickly though.

" You'd better stop this madness, Fred. You'll be caught very soon and put behind bars."

" Oh, I won't get caught little kitty. You know why? It's because I have you. Face it kitty, you won't be able stand me going to jail."

" Wow, Fred. You seem so confident of yourself but you're gonna be disappointed soon enough. Besides, Mannie's really determined on solving your case. If I were you, I'd stop."

" Alright Elle, we'll see about that. On a less dangerous note, I would like to remind you about our date on Saturday night. You've got to be there because I want to speak to you about something important. Don't be late.  Have a nice rest my kitty. Bye" and with that, he hung up.

Elle let out a groan and ran her right hand through her hair . She took the bottle of water that she always kept by her bed and took a large gulp. She went back to sleep but kept on wondering what important thing Fred had to tell her.