He stood at the veranda of the backyard and searched for a clue to her disappearance. When he got none, he concluded, “The janitor must have aided her.”
“I thought she would be happy that I tried to deliver her from slavery and give her a dignified life,” Then, he shrugged his shoulder, locked up the doors and returned to the underground.
“Welcome back boss. How was your visit to the family house?”
The facinorous Stephen ignored him and walked to the bar and picked a packet of cigarette, lit it and puffed out a smoke ring. He did that two times before he walked to a corner of the underground and took a seat. Now, the partner watched him staring into space. He sat back on his seat and relaxed while waiting for his next order. However, Stephen remembered that he had not given the janitor a call.
'I hope he will not implicate me?'
He thought and set out to give him a call. He turned on his phone and waited for it to booth. Then, he puffed a smoke ring again. Now, he saw the message he got from a strange admirer, and his hard and numb eye beamed with a snaky gleam as he read through the message again.
(Hi Mr. Bailey. I'm Lorene. The woman who had admired you and wished to make you the happiest man whoever lived if you give me your heart.)
'If the woman whom I love does not want me, let me want the woman who loves me,’ he said to himself. Then, with a mischievous intent, he replied.
(I'm sorry to have kept a queen like you waiting. What about lunch? Your place or mine or any place you chose in Dover would be fine by me.)
He sent the message to the number that sent the message to him and momentarily forgot about giving his janitor a call.
At Phil's Office.
Denise got to his office as they agreed during lunch. After conveying his father's message that they would accompany him and his wife to the airport the next day, he informed him of his plans to attack his uncle’s resort.
“This uncle had bitten more than he can chew.”
“You are right, Denise, we will allow it to choke him to death. Imagine what he would have done to mom,” Phil responded with so much disdain.
“I have a plan.”
“Let us hear it.”
Denise explained how he intended to bomb his garden while Phil listened with murderous intent written all over his face.
“That is a good one. We must…”
“But there is a problem.” Denise interrupted him when he wanted to say we must leave no trace.
“What is the problem?”
“Father said, no life must lose.”
Then, Phil who was bewildered asked, “How would one bomb a place without lives been lost?”
“That is my dilemma. What other alternative do you have?"
He brainstormed, and after a few seconds, he came up with an unimaginable idea. He tabled out his plans before Denise, who inched backward on his seat and beamed with surprise.
“Brother in-law, this idea is cogent. And the crime will not be traceable to us.”
“You are right. We will set the ball rolling right away and strike when father will be away tomorrow.”
“That is a good one.”
At The Government Hospital.
After Lorene got the message from her supposedly Arthur promising 'I will get back to you soon', her phone became precious to her.
'It will be impolite to keep him waiting when he gets back to me.' She thought, and went about her work with her phone in her uniform pocket and checked her phone whenever she got a message alert.
(Ding)
She hurriedly pulled out her phone from her uniform pocket, ignoring the patients who were queued up in front of her. She punched on the message from the number she collected from Nichole, which she saved as Sweetheart. Her eyes sparkled with delight as she read through. Then, she quickly replied.
(Lunch is accepted, and my place is ideal for me. My address is Flat 10 Favor Estate, No 2 Barracks Avenue, I will be at home at 1:00 pm. See you.)
She smiled from ear to ear as she typed the message while the patients looked on. After she sent the message, she looked up from her phone only to see that the patients were glaring at her the whole time, she ignored them. Sounding quite pompous, she apologized perfunctorily, “Sorry, please.”
She absent-mindedly got back to work, which affected her output. When she was done with the patients, she hurriedly walked to Evelyn's office and showed the message to her. She read through and expressed her pleasure over their accomplishments.
“I told you, getting his number from Nichole was not going to be as difficult as you thought.”
“You are right. The man must have been love starved since Nichole overshadowed him with her presence.”
“That is it. He is lucky to have accepted your invitation. I trust what you can do.”
“Certainly. It will be a weekend shut down. I will make him forget all his years of loneliness.”
“Got it.”
At The Underground.
Stephen was on cloud number nine after he got Lorene's message.
'This is the only good thing that had happened to me since last week. She must be a rich woman to leave in such an area.'
He concluded, as he swam in the ocean of love. However, his partner's voice broke his reverie, “Was that from your woman?”
He glared at him with an untold wrath and hostilities, as though he was responsible for his plight. The truth was that, he did not know how to wriggle himself out of the issue of 'my woman'. He felt that ignoring him was the best defense mechanism.
“How is that your business?” he asked curtly.
However, Jude could not believe that such a comment could come from him. Then, he sat quietly and penniless on his couch and watched him fantasize about. A few minutes to the time scheduled by Lorene, he began to dress up. When he was satisfied with his look, he chartered a taxi and headed to Barracks Avenue.