THE BABY AFFAIR
PART
V:
Gary dropped Marissa home and went back to the store where he was going to keep the waiting policeman company. She had tried to persuade him to go home and get some sleep, but Gary was determined to stay till the shop closed. The policeman hadn't minded, in fact almost seemed to welcome the company. Gary was taking over his duties for a minute, while the policeman got a cup of coffee from a nearby shop, when he caught a glimpse of a woman hurrying out of the shop, a dark-haired woman. She carried two to three bags of clothes and was walking very fast. Gary didn't have time to wait for the policeman to come back. He ran after the woman, but she had gotten a lead start and was quite a bit ahead of him. She was getting into a car now, there were others inside it too. Gary ran faster and reached the car just as she got in and closed the door. He pulled it open once more and started into the surprised face of the dark-haired woman, but it was not the one he was looking for. He apologised profusely saying he had mistaken her for someone else and made his way back to the store dejectedly. The policeman stood there with an enquiring look, ready to call for help if necessary. "It wasn't her." said Gary shortly. Just then a girl came running out calling for help. "The woman you were looking for, she was just here! I didn't realise till she left, she left from the back." The girl gestured towards the back door, "She said it was closer to her place." Gary didn't wait to hear anything more, he took off at a run and went around the back of the shop. There were only a few people walking there, hidden by shadows, but even at a distance he could make out that none of them could be a woman. He quickly asked the nearest ones if they had seen a young woman, but nobody seemed to have. It was as if she had vanished into thin air. The policeman had called his headquarters and now came running. Gary told him that the woman had just disappeared and the only way she could do that so fast was if she had gone into one of these houses. Both men were standing undecided when a loud scream rang through the quiet street. They both looked at each other in shock and ran to the house where the noise had come from. When they got closer they could hear some shouting, it seemed like two women shouting at each other. Gary suddenly realised that one of the voices was of the woman from the store, the kidnapper! His hands clenched in fear and apprehension as the baby's cries drowned out the women's voices. He pushed open the door and barged in, but the scene that confronted him stopped him in his tracks.
Agatha was finally convinced. Her Chrissy was not completely cured. All she did was to shout at the child. She kept insisting that the baby was hers, that she loved her, that she had loved all her babies; yet she often looked like she could strangle the small neck to keep it quiet. Till she had come the baby had been quiet, but the moment it saw her, it had started crying again. All Agatha had done was to take the baby in her arms to quieten her, but that had enraged Chrissy. She had slapped her own grandmother, pushed her to the ground and had taken the baby in her arms, and that was how Gary found them. The old woman was against the wall, trembling in fear, the young woman holding the baby in one hand and reaching for something with the other. Neither of them noticed Gary. He stood in shock as the woman took a sock in her hand and stuffed it into the baby's mouth. "There! That should keep you quiet. I just can't stand your crying anymore!" In the sudden quiet that followed, she heard footsteps running towards her.
Gary was galvanised into action. He tried to take the baby from the woman but she wouldn't let him. The baby's face seemed to be changing colours, choking. The woman held the baby in one hand and fought off Gary with the other, scratching his face with her nails. The policeman ran behind her and tried to stop her. When she realised she was outnumbered, Chrissy lifted the baby high up into the air and screamed, "Here, you want her so much? You can have her!"
Gary watched as if in slow motion the baby lifted up in the air and then thrown through the air. The old woman screamed and the policeman shouted, but he couldn't seem to be able to do anything. The kidnapper fell to the ground as the policeman finally overpowered her. In a split second, Gary's reflexes kicked in and he lunged through the air, catching the baby just in time before he fell to the floor himself. But the baby was against his chest, unhurt by the fall, cushioned by his body as he fell on his side. Still on the ground, he held the baby with one hand and with the other pulled out the sock from its mouth. The blessed wail of a baby resounded through the room and he heaved a sigh of relief.
Author's Note:This is the last chapter. I really didnt know how to end this story so I've left it at this. Please review!
