CHAPTER TEN

THE MAKEUP

"Abraham I need the voices of the whole James'family, especially the ladies"

"Got it" he makes his way to leave but turned "have you thought about it?"

"About what?" She acts oblivious to his question

"Have you thought about your Dad and what you want him to be in your life?"

"I don't wanna talk about that here in the office"

"You can't run from it you know beautiful. Think about it. He is still your father regardless" he finished and left. Not even waiting for her to say anything

He left the office to the Mansion. He pressed the button and few minutes later the door swung open to James in just his pants and brief with no shirt. Abraham looks at him and confirmed he works out really well. He's a very handsome young man and every girl in school would be head over hills for him. Abraham bets.

"Detective" he greets

"Hey James"

"Come on in" they made their way to the sitting room.

"Have a seat I will inform everyone"

"Thank you"

"Do you want anything?"

"No thank you"

"Ok. I will be right back" he made his way to the master bedroom and asked Mandy to inform his siblings. Few minutes later they all gathered in the living room.

"Oh detective" says Alessia

"Good day Mrs James"

"Good day" she smiles "to what do we owe this visit? I hope my family and I are safe?"

"Oh yes you all are. I just want voice recording of every member of your family"

"Why?"

"Well Mrs James we might have found a lead to the death of your husband" her face wasn't cheerful anymore but she pretends

"Ok detective. You can go ahead" he turned on the recorder and recorded their voices one after another.

"Thank you. I will be on my way now" he rose to his feets and made his way to the door.

"Thank you" Alessia called out and he turned and saluted before opening the door, making his way to the car.

He got the office and went straight to Stacy

"I have gotten it" he said as soon as he saw her

"Ok that's good"

"One more thing" he swallowed " we will have to look into Mrs James. She wasn't happy about the voice recording"

"Ok. Sure will do" she smiles at the recorder as she took the recorder from him. "Request for Maya Alex to be brought to the office" she smiled again and they both left to discussion room

Minutes later a message came in that Maya Alex was kidnapped. What?! This is pure jinx and game spoiler for Stacy.

"How did that fucking happen?!" She is beyond mad.

"No one knows" Abraham breaths out. Amanda rushes into the room

"She got kidnapped after the voice recording was taken from the James' family" Amanda informs

"Now I think one person in the James family has a hand in this" Stacy declared

"I think so too" Abraham agreed

"Look into Alessia James" she commands and they all began to work in their computer while Amanda went back to the ICT room.

Few minutes after Amanda left the room she rushed back, breathing like she ran thousand miles

"We found her location" she announced to them with a heavy breathe and breathing

"Where?"

"You do be surprised when you find out where. Come on" she said and beckoned on them to follow her. They rushed in Stacy's car and Abraham zoomed off. They kept driving till they came to an abrupt stop.

"This is where she is" Amanda said to them. It is a cottage at the out sketch of the city. They made their way into the cottage, guns in hands and every one of them at alert mode.

Step by step they moved quietly but not slowly. They keep dodging whenever there's a wall so they would check if the path is clear. They kept going until Amanda called to their attention. They made their way to the part of the cottage where she called for them.

"She's gone" she goes ahead and picked up Maya's cell phone. It was covered with the pillow on the small spring bed. They looked around for more leads but that's all there is to find. They also saw the tape used for sealing her mouth and holding her bound. Stacy took the tape in case the killer's fingerprint is on it.

They made their way outside of the cottage and drove away. Meanwhile Maya was beneath them. She couldn't make any sound no matter how much she tried and I bet you all know why.

"Unlock the phone" Stacy shouted at Amanda as soon as they got to the ICT room. Amanda and her team got to work. She has never seen Stacy this angry before. Stacy is using her hands to support herself on the desk where she kept them, tapping continuously. Abraham could feel how tensed up she is. He walked to her

"Calm down beautiful" he whispered to her. He knows how she can be when she is angry and frustrated. She breathed out in frustration

"We have been working on this case for months and nothing to show as a lead or evidence. No suspect. No fucking nothing" she almost screamed out

"Come with me" Abraham took her wrist and led her out of the room. He nodded to Amanda and she understood perfectly what he meant.

They walked into her office and she huffed really really hard. She is just a little way to breaking down again. She has always been the strong one. Always the one at the top of her game. How is this happening. For some reason she thinks the killer is tormenting her. She is punishing her and the reason for it she can't decipher. She can't place her hands on anything or anyone she has hurt.

"You need to control yourself and your emotions Stacy—"

"How am I to do that? How?!" She didn't even allow him to finish "I am here trying very hard to give justice to the people who deserves it and this killer is making it hard for me! Maybe she's trying to torment me but, who did I offend? I...I..." Abraham let her let all her built up anger and frustrations out. She is at verge of sobbing again

"Hey, hey, hey" he goes close to her and hugs her. Placing his hands on her head and lower back respectively. He pats her head and rubs her back. He kisses the centre of her hair "everything will be alright beautiful. You will find her. She won't be in hiding for long I promise you" she just sniffles and nods to what he said.

"We found nothing in her cell" Amanda clears her throat and said when she entered Stacy's office. Stacy breaths out as she loosened her hold on Abraham.

"I want to examine the cell myself"

"Okay" Amanda says and left the office to go get the cell phone. She returns and hand's it over to the Stacy

"Thank you" she says and made her way behind her office desk to sit down "and I'm sorry for earlier. I shouldn't have shouted at you or your team"

"It's fine Stacy. I understand your plight"

"Thank you Amanda" she says as she squeezed her hand a little. Amanda smiles at her and left the office.

The next morning she sends a mail to the Mayor's office. When he was informed, he became the happiest man alive. Stacy wants to have lunch with him.

At noon, he made his way to the restaurant where she choosed for them to meet. He sees her as the side edge of the restaurant and walks to her.

"Hi jellybean"

"Hey. Have a seat" he sits down and they ordered their lunch. They ate in silence until they finished up their meals.

"Why did you truly leave us?"

"Your Mom and I were facing hardship and I didn't know how to go about it. I didn't have money or anything. Your uncles made sure they took everything away from us. They never liked your Mom and their request was to leave her and I will get my property. Your Mom said I should do it for your future. I refused her but she said that she doesn't want you to suffer like we did. Our only crime was that we were in LOVE. I refused to marry who your grandfather wanted me to marry. So he took everything away from me. Every single thing" he heaves. Those days were the worst days of his life. "I had to agree to your mother's persuasion" he swallowed hard and deep "I left you two but I was never happy about it, not the slightest. I went back to the David Mansion and they welcomed me with open arms. I forged fake divorce papers and gave it to them. They made me sign a contract that kept me away from you and your mother for five good years" now he is crying "After some time when I felt they trust me, I began looking for you two. The landline number never connected. I checked our old house and I found out that it already has a new occupants. I asked and asked about you and my wife but it seems even all our friends didn't know where you two relocated to. I hired a private investigator but to no avail" now he is seriously crying. Who would have thought that the strong and stern Mayor has a weakness and can also cry? The world is full of surprises. "I never stopped searching, even for many years I never stopped searching..."

"I'm sorry Daddy" she said in tears. Did she really just call me daddy? Mayor is surprised and flabbergasted

"You...you...you just called me da... Daddy" The Mayor stammered like a child who is still learning how to speak. It wasn't a question but a statement. Stacy nodded with a smile. He squeezed her hands and she let him.

"Now I know why Mommy insisted I don't hate you. Even on her death bed, she told me never to hate you. I never understood why she do say that even after all we went through. But now I definitely do. I do" she broke down again. The Mayor stood from his chair and hugged her. They hugged and cried in each other's arms. It's a beautiful reunion. A family lost, is found.

"Thank you jellybean. You've made me the happiest man on planet Earth. I Love You baby" he said as he sat on his seat

"I love you too Dad" she bit her lower lip "And I'm SORRY"

"Oh no bean. I am sorry. I shouldn't have left you and your mother. You know there were many ways we could have survived then but we saw my family's property as the only way" he sniffles "I could have gotten a job or something. Maybe start with working as a waiter or maybe barman or something—"

"Dad please. It is not your fault or anybody's fault. Let's leave the past in the past" he nods at her squeezing her hands a little. "When ever you are free I will take you to Momma's grave to say Hi"

"I'm ready anytime you're ready jellybean. Thank you princess for accepting me back into your life and I promise that you will never loose me again. Thank you jellybean"

"Oh daddy, you don't have to thank me. I should have tried to understand you. I'm sorry Papa" well now his happiness and joy can't be measured. She only calls him Papa when she has truly agreed to something. Be it forgiveness, loosing an argument and so on. He is happy. Really really happy.

"Thank you princess"

"You wanna go now?"

"Sure jellybean" he is excited and happy. He is going to see his wife. His Love.

"Okay" they left the restaurant hand in hand. On their way to the grave yard they bought flowers for the woman who has made so much difference in their lives.

It is a dream come true for both of them. They got to the grave of Liliana David and he wept bitterly. He couldn't even control himself. His beloved wife is dead and even in her death bed he didn't do anything to save her. He is not a good husband or father. 'I hate myself' he said to himself.

"Daddy like I said before, it's not your fault and Mommy knows that too. Stop blaming yourself" it was as if she read his mind. He hugged her again.

"Thank you princess" they finished up and dropped the flowers for her. He promised to always visit her. "I love you Liliana" he blew kisses at her grave before they left the grave yard.