"Yes, help. I would like to help you guys but only if you are ready to help yourselves" I said as a matter of factly, and that made her burst into laughter.
"Are you now a detective or something? Look, Laura, my lawyer is already taking care of things and I trust in him. Hence, I don't need your help. You should help your sister instead, she was the one that lured us into the store. And she's the only one left living in Cornfield and knows most of the people there" she said, showing no sign of fear.
"Okay, but..." I said as she quickly cut in,
"Look, Laura, you should get going now. Just go, okay? I don't need your help, I already get things covered. As for your sister, she's not been picking my calls nor replying my messages. Tell her if she has anything to do with the robbery, she should better submit herself to thr cops and confess. Otherwise, if she allow the cops to find out later, it's definitely going to be hell for her" she said.
And before she could end the conversation, I quickly uttered, "That's why I am here, do you know Reade?" I asked.
"Reade? Who's Reade?" she sounded like she'd never heard of the name before.
"Jessica's friend, the one she went to see in that motel" I responded, "Do you know more about him?"
"Oh, that prick? Of course not, all I know is he's her new guys. Apart from that, I know nothing. Why asking about him?" she said.
"Because I... I suspect him" I didn't want to say that but I wanted her to give me chance to have a broad conversation with her.
"Huh? That ridiculous!" she scoffed, "You don't know what you are saying, please leave now before my aunt wakes up and hear us talking. Besides, you should be talking with Shirley not me. You already know I don't really give a shit about... Sorry, bye!"
And that was it, she ended the conversation and locked their room's intercom reception. That was a slap on the face the fact that I didn't expect such from her, however I chose to be calm, even though it's not an option but something I had to do.
With sadness written allover my face, I turned and began leaving. I didn't even mind taking a taxi. I just kept talking and looking around the streets until I eventually arrived at a busy street with pedestrians everywhere. The vehicles were on a "go slow" traffic mode, hence I decided not to get a taxi there.
Mainland was unlike Cornfield which was a county, Mainland was actually a town. A big town with many things that Cornfield lacked. There were so many offices, business centers, industries, as well as stores and few medical centers.
The Mayor of the town was a middle aged man, Castillo Cortez. Also known as Double C. His pictures could be seen in almost every billboard around as if it was election period, he was probably commercializing his administration.
As I walked acrossed the busy street to get an ice cream from an ice cream truck, I saw a guy that really looked like Reade. The resemblance was too much that I kept looking towards him wondering if he was the one or not. Surprisingly, he turned out to be the one and he was holding a nylon filled with some groceries.
I turned my face around in order not to be seen by him, and when he walked past me I gently began following him. I must not lose him! I said to myself as I kept following him. I wasn't good at following people without their knowledge, thus I almost blew my cover... thanks to the ambulance that promptly appeared and drove past us, its siren was loud enough to get everyone's attention.
When the ambulance passed, I turned and began following Reade again until he stopped a taxi and stormed inside. Seeing I would be losing him if I don't get a taxi too, I looked around and began searching for available cabs. Unfortunately, almost all the ones I saw were full. And as the traffic lights displayed green, and ordered pedestrians to stop, the vehicles began moving... together with the taxi Reade boarded.
F*ck! I cursed under my breathe and looked around more harder until suddenly, my eyes landed on an empty taxi. I ran over to it and stormed in. "Follow that taxi please, the one with plate number DGX-2347!" I ordered, pointing at the direction of the taxi.
"What?" The taxi man turned around and gave me a suspicious look, "Are you a cop or something, I hope everything is fine?" he asked.
"Just follow it, now!" I said and told him I would pay him.
"Fine then!" he said as he swung into action. Despite high traffic, he was able to make some turns and approach Reade's taxi, hence he bagan following the taxi gently as it drove out of the 13th main street and began driving across the other side of the town.
The taxi then began accelerating and speeding, and so did mine. We kept following them until we arrived at the 36th main street. He then pulled over in front of an apartment building 18th, which happened to be the same building Maria lived, the daughter of the cabman that drove me to Shirley's house in the morning.
He told me she lived in room number 22, hopefully I would use that opportunity to check on Reade and know more about him from her. Since they were living in the same apartment building, it is possible she might know him. Even though, sometimes neighbors can be strangers too... especially if they choose to be left alone or to live their own life without interference from other people.
But before I alighted from the taxi I boarded, I made sure he settled his taxi fare and already inside the apartment. Just as he went into the apartment, I paid the taxi man that brought me and them stormed out and gently headed to the apartment too.
While at the entrance of the apartment, I heaved a sigh and looked at the intercom on the wall beside the door. It took me some seconds before I finally made up my mind and stepped up towards it.
I then thought about what to tell Maria when she answers me on the intercom, that I met her father today and I decided to meet her? That would definitely sound someone, I thought to myself as I quickly discarded the thought.
I needed something more convincing than that, something like... I met her father and he told me to say HI to her after dropping me at the nearby street. That was a brilliant idea but I was also scared of being chased by her or even snubbed on the intercom.
After thinking for a minute or so, I decided to not give. I made up my mind and decided to just give it a try, and when I did I was surprised to hear the voice on the intercom, "Yes, who's there?" Said a male voice, and it wasn't just any voice, it was Reade's.
I quickly backed down and paused while he kept asking who the person ringing his bell was, then I heard a lady's voice inside, "Love, who's that please? Is it the plumber?" The lady asked.
"No, Maria, I don't think. I think it's a mistake, someone's trying to press another room's button and they mistakenly pressed us" he replied to her.
"Okay, love. Come over here, the baby is already sleeping. Come f*ck me please" The lady demanded as she began mourning as if he was already inside her, probably to lure him over to her.
"Shit, I can't believe we would have to do this again" he said as he released the conversation button and went silent.
To say I was speechless was an understatement, my brain couldn't even process what just happened. I couldn't believe the Maria I was told about was Reade's girl, I never knew the bad boyfriend of hers that I was told about was him. Does that mean he's a father now? I mulled over.
If he was Maria's boyfriend, then definitely he's a father. But why then was he dating, or should I say taking advantage of Jessica?
Did she even know about his relationship with Maria or has she any idea of what's going on in the Mainland right now?
I guess I should call and notify her, but wait a second, what if she condemned it all and call me names or accuse me of trying to ruin her chance of studying overseas, like she always does?
My thought was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a cop, he came and asked if everything was okay. "Mam, is everything okay? Or are you looking for someone?" he politely uttered.
"Yes, I mean... no, I... I was just about going home, I should be going now" I said and turned about going when he asked if he could give me a ride.
That was a wonderful offer, although I didn't want to accept it but seeing how easy it would be for me to be given a ride home without waiting to stop a taxi or paying any dime, I decided to take the offer.
Thus, I went into the patrol vehicle with him and he began driving gently while looking around for criminals or rule breakers. "So, what's your name?" he asked, breaking the silence that had crept upon us.
"Laura," I responded.
"Laura?" he uttered.
"Yes, Laura Ryan" I completed the name.
"Nice name" he commented.
"Thanks!" I gulped.
"You are welcome" he said and continued, "I am Trevor, although people used to call me Officer T. I work with the district police department here, how about you? I mean, you work. Where do you work at?" he was curious to know about my work.
"I work at... at StableGrid" I wanted lying to him but was scared about him finding out eventually and viewing as a liar, hence I decided to just tell him the truth. After all, it wasn't as if he was a criminal or something. He was a police officer.
Even though there used to be dirty cops, this one looked clean. He was young, probably freshed from the academy. And was always wearing a smile that made me thought for a while if he was trying to, you know, be friend. Something like that.
"Stable Grid? Wow, that's awesome!" he said, and I could tell from his excitement how happy he was for me. "That's one of the successful power company in this country, owned by the Walters Family" he added.
By mentioning The Walters Family, mind mind told me he knew a lot about the company. Anyways, he ought to... right? After all, he was an officer of the law and had access to confidential files, information that aren't available for the public.
"Have you been to the company before?" I asked in order to know if the police department had even bumped into the Walters Family, and also to know more about the Family and their company. By asking if he had been to the company before, he would be tempted to tell me what he knew about the company.
"Sure," he cleared his throat and continued, "I was among the officers that made some arrests in the company's head office few months ago" he said.
"Made arrests? What happened?" I asked out of curiosity.
"Actually, what happened was that the arrested staff were involved in some kind of criminal activities which involves corruption, within their department. It was the accounting the department. And when Mr Walter, the founder of the company caught them, he ordered for their arrests" he said, making me to gulp hard. That wasn't what I intended to hear, I wanted to hear stories about crimes involving the Walters Family.
