Chapter 47
Wheeler
Wheeler was sleeping on Kwame's sofa, (he's supposed to be sleeping) he hadn't slept for a month, usually since Linka's kidnaped he is sleeping for a few minutes and often woke up frightened, but this particular night it was hard for Wheeler to sleep.
"It's been a month babe, a whole fucking month my love, a whole month I didn't see you, a whole month I didn't hear your voice, a whole month I didn't feel the sweetness of your companion to me and your touch, a whole month and you are missing, a whole month I don't know if you are alive or not" His eyes were closed and he could feel the heat of the tears running down the side of his face while he was blindfolded, he covered his face with the blanket that Kwame gave him.
He was immersed in their memories together, he remembered her smiles, her facial features and her wonderful expressions, he remembered her anger at him, and her contentment with him, he could almost hear her whisper in his ear, he remembered their intimate privet times, he remembered her swollen stomach and how he used to touch her and feel the baby kicking in against the palm of his hand "Damn who can do That to a pregnant woman."
He got up from the sofa and sat flat. He opened the gallery in his mobile phone and stared at her pictures, or the pictures that they were together. In one of the pictures they had on Christmas, she was still in her first trimester of pregnancy, and he embraced her from behind and the Christmas tree seemed luminous, behind them. a picture of them in a restaurant with a group of friends, a picture of her with his mother after her stomach bulge appeared and they put their hand on the baby bump," my mother has loved her since the first time they met, she always consider her as a daughter in low ", he received a text message on his mobile from a strange number, but he neglected the topic and kept looking at her pictures
"I don't remember seeing a girl prettier than you, and I'm sure it won't be, my love. The princess you may carry may be as beautiful as you, but where are you, my queen? And where is my little princess? You have no idea, Linka, how my world became after you disappeared, it's a sad dark and bitter world, I don't know if I can stand it, I don't think I can" Wheeler threw the phone from his hands to the edge of the sofa and continued to cry silently, his head in his hands and his elbow on his knees, "I thought I couldn't confront your memories in our apartment, my love, but your memories are with me wherever I go, they are here in my mind, and in My heart, the smell of your perfume is still on my body, I can't forget you, Linka"
He went to the kitchen, decided to drink some coffee, which might help him relieve the headache he was feeling. He looked at the clock, it was half past four in the morning. "What if she's alive, what if what Ma-ti said is true? No, that's nonsense." Over the past few days, he searched all the city bookstores, and nothing suspicious has been found."
An hour later, Wheeler's alarm rang, it's half past four in the morning, "Oh, I've got to turn that annoying alarm off quickly before Kwame hears it, it looks like I sit the alarm at a wrong time, it was supposed to ring two hours from now." He turned off the alarm, then he noticed the presence of a text message from a strange number, he opened it negligently, usually it's just promotional campaigns from different companies, or a message from the state government about the various awareness campaigns they are doing, or to donate to some charitable organizations, or even some fraud messages
"I'm trapped behind the library" When Wheeler read this sentence in the letter he froze for a moment, his heart was pounding hard, he looked at the time the letter arrived at 3:45 in the morning, his heart was telling him it was Linka, she was crying out for him to save her, Wheeler didn't realize that he was sitting on the sofa again, because his feet could not hold him for much longer
"Is this Linka? Is it possible that someone else just wants to play with my feelings? What if she is, but …which library, Lin?"
Wheeler was in great shock, and although he is a law enforcement man and knows how to make the right decision at the right time, he now felt that he was unable to think clearly, that he could no longer even trust his eyes, "Is this message real or am I starting to hallucinate and dream?" Wheeler directed He hurried to Kwame's bedroom, shouting Kwame's name.
"Kwame, please, my friend..."
"What, what, what happened, Wheeler?" Kwame said as he jumped out of bed in panic
"Kwami, please, I'm not sure of anything anymore, look, is what I see real? Do you think it's Linka?" He pointed the mobile at his friend's face, his hands were trembling, which is a strange thing, when he was fighting criminals and thieves he was very steady, but when it's about his love , he become emotional
It took a while until Kwame rubbed his eyes, and sat up straight on the bed, when he grabbed the mobile from Wheeler and was staring at the bright screen with narrow eyes, He was staring in amazement and reading the letter over and over, then he looked at Wheeler and said to you as if he were ordering him
"Bring a paper and a pen and write down this unknown number, we don't want to lose it in case anything happens to your mobile." Wheeler voluntarily wrote the number on a piece of paper, and Kwame captured the screen and sent it to his mobile number so that he would have another reference in case the message was deleted for any reason.
"Wheeler, listen, I don't want you to put high hopes and expectations on this message, but, if we're lucky, there's a good chance that this is the tip of the line that might lead us to find Linka," Kwame said seriously, as he made sure the he received the screenshot from Wheeler's Mobil.
"Oh please, my God,... can , can we try to call this number back?"
"Wheeler, are you out of your mind, this could be very dangerous, if she wanted to call you, she would have called, obviously she couldn't call before, and she had no way to contact us except now."
kwami gets up from his bed and head toward the bathroom, "Get dressed, we'll go early to the police station to check the records "He takes a few steps back and points to Wheeler, with warning finger
"and the most important thing, Wheeler, you have to promise me that you won't do anything without an order from Captain David and the detectives."
"What makes you say that, man?"
"I know you when it comes to her, you'll come to her rescue even if you risk your life, you're crazy, man."
When Kwami entered the bathroom, Wheeler stayed on the edge of the bed looking at the message and praying with all his heart that this message was really from Linka.
Linka
Linka couldn't sleep that night, while she knows that this human monster sleeps next to her and he may wakes up at any moment, this is the first time she feels that she really wants to kill someone, but she can't, first because she is pregnant and she doesn't have the strength to do so, also because Greg was careful not to leaves her with something that she can attack him with , there is no metal or wooden piece, there are not even mirrors, there is only white mattress, and she knows that even if she kills him, she will not be able to escape because she does not know the code for the iron door, and she will remain trapped here With a dead body, also he's the only one who brings her food and essential supplies
She was feeling the place where she hid Greg's phone by her hand, and praying from her heart that he would not find out.
She was very tired that night, she was not sure of the reason. Is that because she is now in her ninth month and this is normal? Or because she is suffering from some problem in pregnancy, especially since she cannot go to see a doctor? Or because of all this psychological pressure and lack of food he provides for her? Or because the anxiety and fear that Greg will harm her and her unborn baby?
After about two hours, Linka sensed Greg had woken up, tried to seem composed, and play the role of obedient girl that he wanted.
When Greg looked around, he quickly sat up on the bed and looked around in amazement, then looked at Linka in astonishment. He looked like he didn't know her before, she was surprised and scared at the same time, She looked into his angry lifeless eyes, then his look changed, and he came as if he remembered " why I am here ?" He was yelling at her as if she was responsible for it
"Hey Greg, you... you spent the night with me, don't you remember?" She extended her hand and started groping his arm from above his suit jacket, he did not answer her, he started rubbing his head and face as if he remembered, it seems that what she said he did not like at all, and this scared Linka the most, "You... you said that you cheated on me last night."
"Oh, yes, the bar, this hooker." Then he set and straightened his clothes and hair with his hands. "I think I drank too much. I don't remember what happened or what I did." Then he started groping his pockets. It is clear that he is looking for his other mobile, he is taking out everything in his pocket and then returning it, then he started hovering and looking around him, until he stood and started looking in the bathroom toilet, then returned to Linka
"Get up"
"What?" Linka knew he was looking for the phone but she tried to stay calm
"I told you to get up quickly." He grabbed her by the arm and made her stand up quickly. Linka groaned in pain.
He overturned the bed and began to shake and grope the pillow, when he found nothing, he went to Linka and his hands were groping all parts of her body, apparently thinking that she might have hidden it among her clothes.
Then he looked at her like a predator and grabbed her by the hair and said to her in anger, "Where is it? Answer me now quickly"
"Greg, please, it hurts, I don't know what you're talking about."
"Answer me now immediately where is my other mobile, look, I advise you not to lie to me, otherwise your safety and your life are in serious danger, do you understand" and he tightened his grip on her neck
"Greg please, I really don't know, please believe me, you came here last night drunk and I told you I love you and we had this great kiss, then we fell asleep in each other's arms, that's all that happened, I swear. Please let me go you're hurting baby, Greg "She chokes, trying hard to catch her breath.
"You're lying, tell me where is the mobile quickly." He threw her to the ground, she fell down and cry in pain
"Greg, I don't know, I don't know what's in your pocket." She clutches her back in pain. "Please, please, have mercy on me. Believe me, if I had it, I would have given it to you. Maybe you left it with that woman you cheated on me with, or in your car, or in your house or room, but he's not here, I told you I want to stay with you, believe me, I won't hide the fact that you have a phone."
"Fine, I'll go look for it, but if I knew that you were hiding something like this from me, you can consider this day as the last day of your life, do you understand," he said to her, grabbing her jaw and pointing her face to his , then he left her and opened the iron door and went out.
Linka noticed some fluid coming out of her womb again, she was very sore and afraid for the fetus, she just wished that the message had reached Wheeler and that he would come as soon as possible to save her and the baby, she dragged herself hardly to mattress, wiping away her tears with her trembling hands.
Wheeler
Wheeler was hovering back and forth in Captain David's office, looking at his watch or at the anonymous message that had reached him and made his heart burn with anxiety as he thought of its source. It's hard for him to stay calm
"Wheeler, come sit down man, I told you, you have to control your nerves, try to think that the message is just a wrong message that has reached you, don't put too much hope on this, my friend."
"I can't Kwame, I can't sit, for God's sake put yourself in my place, what would you do?
"I know this is hard, Wheeler, and that's why I'm trying to calm you down, just pray we can find the beginning of the thread that will lead us to find her."
"Why is Captain David late? Wasn't he supposed to be here a fifteen minutes ago? Kwame called him again."
"Wheeler, we called to him twice, it is not appropriate for us to call him a third time, he told us to wait for him in his office, we have only been waiting for ten minutes, not fifteen minutes."
"Damn"
"Good morning, officers, have a seat please." The two policemen stood up to greet Captain David, and he motioned for them to sit down. Then he looked at Wheeler and said, "Wheeler, let me see the message you received yesterday." Wheeler pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, opened it, and handed it to Captain David, "Sit down, son."
"Oh no, thanks Cap, I'd rather stand up please."
Captain David pondered the message, and after a few seconds he unlocked his device and pressed the buttons, entered the state's citizens' records, and typed the number "I wish we had a case, and now I'm (enter)."
This was the longest five seconds of Wheeler's life, his heart was beating fast, he could hear it in his ears, he felt like his feet couldn't hold him any longer, he looked at Captain David's features as he read the records, his eyes narrowed as he focused on the screen, then He opened his eyes slightly and smiled a sly smile
"Well, this phone is registered under Hanco International Company, and the official user of this number is Greg James Hanson."
The memory tape was running through Wheeler's mind as he remembered Greg's looks at Linka, he was remembering his looks at her several years ago, and he remembers his creepy smile as he looks at Wheeler defiantly, he knew from the beginning that it was Greg who can do this things, and now he found the evidence.
"I knew is" Wheeler hit the table hardly, then turned around and kicked the wall. "I knew from the beginning it was him." He was screaming
"Calm down Wheeler, we need to check if he did this just to piss you off, and wants to waste our time, make us worried, here we should sue him for mislead justice and wasting police time, don't forget that he accused you of kidnapping her at first, we have to make sure it's Linka who sent the message, and what did she mean that she is trapped behind the library? Which library exactly?" Captain David said Then he grabbed the phone and called the detective who was working on the case to come to his office, "Detective Roger, how are you? Listen, can I meet you in my office if you please, I'd like to give you some new details, yes, I'll be waiting for you, sir."
At this moment Wheeler collapsed on the chair and grabbed the head with both hands and thought, "Why did he imprison her? How does he do that while she's pregnant? Oh, what did he do to her? My god her pregnancy is unstable, there's a danger on her and the fetus. Oh my God, please make her safe, please."
Twenty minutes later
"We can't summon him and interrogate him, this would pose a threat to her life, he might kill her or change her place of detention to hide his crime, we must never let him feel that we know anything."
"What do you mean, Detective, and how are we going to get to her? How will we know where is she? Can't we catch him and beat him to death until he confesses, I'm really looking forward to doing this job," Wheeler said nervously.
"Let's suppose he didn't confess, or died as a result of torture, that's not good for our cause, he's supposed to be the only one who has access to her, and he's the only one who provides her with the resources I think."
"What do you suggest we do, Detective?" Captain David said
"We must monitor him and know his movements so that we know which library she means in this message, and we must also make sure that the victim sent the message and not the suspect."
"He's the culprit, not a suspect," Wheeler said nervously again
"but we've searched the house so many times, we've watched Greg's movements before, but we didn't find anything suspicious of it" said Kwami.
Everyone looked at Detective Roger in silence, so the detective looked at Wheeler and said, "What I'm going to say must be kept a secret between us, officers, may I make myself clear."
"Of course, sir" said Captain David and all of the officers nodded in agree
"We will install hidden cameras all over Greg's villa, especially in that suspicious library, and we will watch him for a while until we are sure."
"But, detective, how can we simply enter Greg's house and install cameras like this without anyone discovering our matter, that Greg claims that there are important things in his library, every time we searched the library he was always watching us" said Kwami
"Leave the plan to the professionals, officer, all you have to do is watch," said the detective