Chapter 46

Daphne looked at Javier in anticipation, he wasn't uttering anything. He sat there, palms on his forehead balanced in a rather stiff manner.  Daphne shifted uncomfortable on her seat, he wasn't saying anything and it was really awkward. She tapped nervously oh her lap with her finger nails. She looked around his enormous house in admiration but the awkwardness in the room caused her non chalant attitude toward it. She had called out to  him for over two times and he wasn't responding. She exhaled from her mouth, causing a slight swelling on her cheeks. She felt tensed and that partly helped In calming her anxiety 

"Javier" she called out much louder this time and he looked towards her. His eyes were bloodshot and she could clearly see the redness of his face, accompanied with the visible vein lines on the side of his forehead. That was wierd because she saw him about minutes ago and he was looking much normal, but now, he looked like he just engaged in deadly fight

"Are you ok?" She asked worriedly, accessing him steathily with her eyes

"Yeah Am fine" he said In a raspy voice. He spoke like someone who just ran a very long distance race. It sounded strained and as thou he was gasping for breath

"Are you sure?" She asked again, still wanting to be sure. She didn't have the stamina to carry a grown man to an hospital and plus, Hattie had already gone through alot. If she comes back and  finds out that her boyfriend was in the hospital as a result of passing out, she might just end up breaking down.

"Yeah" Javier said nodding slightly 

"Well, anyways. What are you doing about Hattie's disappearance?"

"As much as I can. I'm working on it"

"The police are not helping" Daphne stated with disdain

"You didn't know that when you went blabbing to them about Hattie?"

"You wouldn't blame me, I was scared" Daphne removed the excess hair on her face that was slightly obstructing her vision

"I told you the police can't help so we have to stick to me finding her by myself" 

"I still don't get it" Daphne squinted her eyes in confusion 

"How are you going to find her. The police can't find her so, how would you be able to"

"That's not important, the most important thing is that I bring her back, alive"

"Are you a mafia don or something.  Probably capomandamento or something?" she stated and Javier let out a slight chuckle at her assumption. She looked at him intently. It was then Javier knew that she was really serious about the question

"I didn't thing you would mean that, seriously" Javier said addressing her accusation 

"Well?" Daphne asked, still wanting to know more

"No Daphne, i do not belong to any society" he stated plainly

"So why has Hattie always been on  about you protecting her and now you speak like you are the only one that can find hattie. That was the only possible assumption that came up in my head" Daphne spoke and he agreed with her inwardly. It was wierd to those who didn't understand what was really going on.

"Assumption, like you say. Nothing more" he tried clearing her suspicions

"So how are you going to find her then?"

"Well you will have to leave it to me and take your questions with you. The last Thing I wanna have is questioning" 

"Damn, you are wierd as fuck" Daphne stated, rolling her eyes at him

"Pardon?"

"I will be going over to the police station today to see their lead on the case" Daphne said ignoring his request for an explanation

"You never listen, do you. I see Hattie has rubbed off on you".

"Am leaving" she smacked the chew gum on her mouth and Javier wondered how it got there in the first place

"Bye" she grabbed her bag and headed for the door 

*****

Daphne packed her car at the police station. She breathed out steadily. Words couldn't explain how tensed she was. She turned off the engine and highlighted from the car, shutting the door in the process. She leaned back with her backside pressing against the car material. She needed to brace her self. The police officers, always gave her tough time. They knew her very well as a result of her constant visits, but it was always from one question to another, making it seem like she was an accomplice.

 Daphne breathed in as she finally made her way to the police station 

"Hey Daphne" Moscow, a police officer that always stood at the entrance. More like a guard or somthing, called out to her.

"Hey Moscow, she called out to him with a slight smile at the corner of her mouth. A faked one

"How's work?" she asked walking away slowly 

"Better with you around" he said amidst a chuckle. Daphne couldn't blame him for his over familiarity with her. She had been visiting here like it was her second home, ever since Hattie went missing. She was always greeted by the same response all the time, whenever she came here 

 'we are still working on it" and it really wore her  off. She made her way to the counter and she could tell by the look on the officer's face that he was tired of her constant familiar face.

"Miss Daphne" he slurred not taking his eyes off the paper on the counter. He ran his tongue through his teeth, making a smacking noise as his tongue sucked through his teeth gap

"I suppose you know why I am here?" Daphne stated, trying her best not to release the content she had  taken this morning, out of her mouth as she stared at the man in disgust.

"You know ma'am, you could really leave us to do our job" he said politely but Daphne knew that there was more to What he said and it was even as though he forced the courtesy.

"Its almost as if you people aren't doing anything." She said with honesty

"We are trying out best, you need to give us time. And space." He added the last two words with emphasis

"Can I speak to the police captain?" 

"He is not in" he blurted out and Daphne immediately knew that he was lying about it

"I still want to see him" she stood her ground

"What part of he is not in, did you find difficult to understand?"

"Do you realise that this is a life and death situation" she was almost losing her mind at his non chalancy attitude towards the whole situation 

"We are on the case but we do not seem to have a stand right now. I promise we are trying out best. You don't need to be so worked up about it"

"How dare you. You just presumed I should be calm?. Do you realise that she might even be dieing as we speak or rather still, already dead"

"Look young lady. We have had cases like this. This one appears to he the strangest. We can't seem to get anything no matter how hard we try. It is a very strange case according to the detectives"

"So no hope?" Daphne asked almost breaking down.

"I didn't say that. You just need to calm down and Let us do our jobs. Hopefully, things will turn out better than it is at the moment"

"Wow" that was the only statement that found its way out of her lips. She felt lost and baffled by the Whole  thing. Could Javier be right about the police not being able to do anything. If he made such statement and it turned out to be true then, there was something he was hiding and she knew it had to be something big. She had always suspected Javier from the start, after Hattie broke up with him and refused to tell her the reason. Her first assumption was him belonging to a secret society or even a mafia. He just didn't sit well with her. He looked like someone with a lot of secrets and she was aching to know about it, if it could bring Hattie back. 

Daphne looked at the police officer in front of her and she rolled her eyes. He had gone back to his reading, totally ignoring her presence. Daphne knew that she won't be able to see the PC because the fellow in front of her was really adamant towards her meeting him. She felt frustrated and angry at the whole matter and she really wished that Hattie would magically appear from where ever she was and the case would be dropped naturally. 

She sighed and made her way out of the station, defeated. There was no way she could fight him to produce the PC. She would be charged for assault. The last place she wanted to be, was at a police station but she didn't mind, as long as it would get Hattie from wherever her hosts kept her.

She stepped out of the police station and the first thought that came to her mind was,

"What if she was already dead" 

Her heart sunk. She immediately thought against it. She couldn't even stand the thought. Hattie had already been through alot. Speaking of the misfortune that seemed to befall her loved ones. Life was unfair but it was brutal towards Hattie. She felt like Hattie really deserved better but life was just so cruel. When Daphne thought that Hattie was finally happy because of her sudden bond with Javier, she received news that they broke up and shortly after, Hattie was kidnapped.

Daphne breathed out steadily. She was really under a lot of pressure and plus she had to explain to Aida about how Hattie got kidnapped and probably console her.

Daphne walked over to her car, opened the car door and walked in. She ignited the engine and drove off. She had to stop by at Hattie's hospital because most of her colleague were worried after seeing the news of her declared missing. She could hardly even focus on the road, her mind kept going in circles with different thought flooding into her head. She gripped on to the steering wheel tightly with her hand as a result of the tension that she had in her. The constant hunk she heard from cars behind her, signalling her to drive straight, confirmed that her thinking was really affecting her, physically. She kept loosing grip of the steering, causing the car to sway in various position. She even wondered why and how she hadn't ran into a truck because of how recklessly she drove. 

Daphne finally stopped at the entrance of the hospital. She exhaled and inhaled rapidly. She needed to look calm because if she looked tensed, Aida and her other colleagues will realise how bad the situation was.

 She opened the car door and highlighted from the vehicles, slamming the door shut in the process. She adjusted her hair that was partly in her face before making her way to the hospital. She walked through the hall way and made her way to Aida's stand.  She normally visits Hattie so finding Aida's stand wasn't a big deal since her stand was really close to Hattie's office. Daphne found Aida busy scribbling something in a paper on her table.

"Hey Aida" Daphne called out plainly with the smile never leaving her face. Aida looked up to her 

"Daphne" she called out in a soothing mother tone

"I just came to check on you to see how you might feeling especially after hearing of Hattie missing "

"I was so heartbroken, how did it happen and who found out about it?"

"I went over to her house and the scene wasn't promising. J reported to the police that she was missing and I was asked to wait for 48hours"

"How long have she been missing?" Aida asked with a worried expression

"For over 5 days now, almost a week" Daphne said and Aida could tell that she was really exhausted.

"What are the police saying about it?"

"They are investigating it and it's going smoothly" Daphne lied 

"I hope they find her soon" Aida said with sympathy

"I hope so too" Daphne sighed