Chapter 21 TENSION RISING
“Natasha! Natasha!!” William yelled as he walked around the house, searching for his daughter. Searched her room through her window and found that it was empty.
“Natasha! Where the hell are you?” he kept calling, looking around. “Natasha, you are making me really worried now! Come out already. It’s not safe for you to be out here on your own.”
Nothing.
Glancing around, his gaze met an old lady siting in the next compound. She was staring straight ahead at him as he moved about, looking for Natasha. The old woman sat under a tall tree, enjoying the cold breeze that blew at her face.
William walked towards to her. “Afternoon, Mrs. Peterson. I’m looking for my daughter. Have seen her around? You see, she came home a while ago to the sad news that her mum just passed away, and she ran off. Ever since then I haven’t seen her. It’s been fifteen minutes already, and I’m really worried that ...”
Gasping, she covered her mouth. “Oh good heavens William, I’m so sorry about your wife.” she looked at him with pitiful eyes.
“It’s okay, Mrs. Peterson…” he said, hiding his grief behind a straight face.
“Such wonderful lady, your wife.” she stared with a pained expression. “It’s a pity that she didn’t get to finish her…”
“Have you seen my daughter around?” he bluntly replied, trying to sound as polite as could. He was in no mood for little chit chat—and especially not with Mrs. Peterson.
She was taken aback a little by his abruptness, then answered, “Saw her a little while ago; the poor girl was crying her eyes out.”
“Did you see where she went?”
Mrs. Peterson gestured towards the garden. “I thought I saw her go that way.”
“Thank you.” he said and left in a hurry.
“Accept my condolences.” she sympathized, looking at him with sad eyes as he hurried away.
William entered the garden. His eyes were drawn to an area on the ground where the grasses had been uprooted. He noticed Natasha’s footwear and baseball cap lying around the mess.
As William bent to pick them up, his eyes were drawn to the footprints on the damp soil. The corners of his eyes crinkled as he edged towards the footmark to examine it.
His eye widened when he realized it wasn’t Natasha’s. He knew for sure that Natasha’s tiny foot couldn’t create this large a print. Then he noticed the path created on the damp soil by someone being dragged away. He immediately knew that his worst fears had come true.
Oh, God, no!
His hairs stood on ends at the sudden realization.
Natasha has been kidnapped.
“Sir, you are looking at this from the wrong perspective.” Alex stated, “From what you’ve described to me, I don’t think it was T-Rex that’d kidnapped your daughter.”
William frowned at his response. “He’d already made two attempts to kidnap my daughter, but failed. What makes you think he didn’t push his luck and succeeded this time?”
Alex took out an A2-sized file and showed it to him. In it was a photograph of the masked man with the letter ‘C’ carved on his mask. “A similar kidnap like this one was recorded a year ago.”
William watched in silence as Alex continued. “A young lady by the name of Loretta was kidnapped from her home, precisely April 31th—last year. She was kidnapped by the same masked figure whom I surmise took Natasha today. The two deceased detectives, Murphy and Leonard, were assigned to her case after she was presumed to be missing.”
Alex took out another picture and placed it in front of William. “I believe you are already acquitted with Kevin Logan. He attains the same high school as your daughter.”
William stared closely at the picture of Kevin. Recognition crossed his face. “I know this kid.” his brows waggled. “He brought my daughter home to me right after she went missing from the hospital. But what does he have to do in all this?”
“He’s got everything to do with what’s been happening; your daughter being kidnapped, the two officers who lost their lives, the torture of the little girl found in the park… everything. All these deaths revolve around this kid.”
William turned to look at him, momentarily confused. “You’re not making any sense right now. Are you saying he is indirectly involved in the kidnap of my daughter?” he leered.
“Sir, you have clearly misunderstood what I’m trying to say. I am not accusing Mr. Logan. All I am simply implying is that your daughter’s kidnap revolves around this kid.”
Taking a moment to catch his breath, Alex went on. “It all started when Loretta was engaged to be married to Kevin a year ago, but then two days before their wedding, she was kidnapped. T-Rex tortured her to death and made him watched as he rips her apart. Sad thing is the day she was tortured was the day they were supposed to get married.”
“I don’t understand, why telling me all this? What has this got to do with my daughter and the present situation?” he groaned with impatience.
“It’s possible that the masked figure that’d kidnapped Loretta over a year ago also kidnapped your daughter for the same reason.”
“What a load of crap.” his face hardened. “My daughter has no affiliation with this kid. Why would my daughter be involved in all this?”
“That is where you might be wrong.” he countered, “I strongly believe they are in some sort of intimate relationship that might not be aware of.”
Silence fell
“That is not possible.” William uttered, his mood slowly changing.
Or is it? He doubted that any of what Alex had said was true—but were they entirely impossible?
“Natasha tells me everything. If they were in any sort of relationship, I would know about it.”
Alex leaned forward, eyeing him. “Before T-Rex left Kevin in that room to watch Loretta’s remains, he had promised to torture him when he becomes an adult. Do you know what today is?”
“April 24th” William answered.
“That is exactly two days to Kevin’s eighteenth birthday—when he finally becomes an adult.” Alex pointed out. “The kidnapping of your daughter today wasn’t just a mere coincidence. It was all planned out from the very beginning. The two failed attempts made by T-Rex to kidnap your daughter were deliberate; T-Rex did that to scare Kevin. 24th April has always been the day he’d kept aside to kidnap your daughter.”
He felt his own throat catch. “But how do you know all this?”
Alex leaned forward. “I’d been a detective almost all my career, and over the years, I’ve learnt to trust my instinct. It’s what’s has gotten me this far.”
Then he relaxed back. “After Mr. Logan showed me to the warehouse Loretta had been tortured in, I revisited the prescient in Fallout where the original case had been filed in. I was granted access to the files on Miss Loretta, so I went through detective Murphy and detective Leonard’s reports. And here’s what I’ve been able to gather so far. T-Rex wants to recreate the event that’d led to Loretta’s torture—the only difference is Natasha would be the one who’d be tortured this time.”
“The masked man kidnapped your daughter two days to Kevin’s birthday, just as he’d kidnapped Loretta two days to her wedding with Kevin. T-Rex wanted her death to be significant, so he tortured her on the day they were supposed to get married. That’s exactly what he intends to do with your daughter—to torture her on Kevin’s birthday which is just two days away.”
William trembled all over at Alex’s words. The door suddenly burst open and in walked Derik, and by his side, a teenage boy bounded with cuffs. The room was left in sheer silence at their presence.
“What is the meaning of this?” William fumed.
“Sir, I’m really sorry for interrupting, but this is really important.”
William looked at him with scorn. “What’s more important than finding the kidnaper that had taken my daughter?” he retorted.
Derik froze in shock. Understood why William had acted hostile towards him. “Natasha… has been… kidnapped?” he mouthed, his eyes wild. He couldn’t believe it.
“She was taken just a few hours ago.” Alex enunciated.
“We have to get her back.” his expression turned pensive. “We have to…”
He trailed as he turned to the teenage boy standing beside him. “This is Jeffrey.” He paused to study their reaction. “And he is T-Rex’s son.”
A chilly silence fell over the room, and everyone shifted their attention to the boy.
