Lamech sat in the compound and, as though he was mourning, groaned in his heart, missing his son, Minteh.
"Where are you, Minteh? Come home!," he thoughtfully pleaded.
"Dad, lunch is ready," called Ginn.
Lamech seemed to not have heard her. She came so close to him and called but he was lost in thoughts.
She then touched him gently. But he jumped up, as from a dream.
"Dad! I called you innumerable times and you didn't hear me! You are worrying me!," she said worriedly.
"Does your mother know that you called me all those times and I was absent in the mind?," Lamech asked.
"No...! Why?," she asked, curiosity rising.
"I don't want to worry her; she will get sick!," he explained.
"Okay ....," she replied, skeptical about his explanation though.
The two moved to the house and sat at dinner but Lamech couldn't appreciate the aroma and the sweetness of the meal. He looked lost in thoughts.
"Reyes, when did you last talk to Minteh?," he suddenly asked.
Reyes, who was seated opposite to Lamech didn't know how to respond to the old man. He had not prepared for any questions, especially of such a kind.
"Uncle, I have really taken long," Reyes replied, unsure if the answer was satisfying.
"How long?," he asked.
But before Reyes replied to that question, Lamech gave a hard instruction, "prepare! Tomorrow, take my car and conduct a search! Get to anyone who can help you and make sure you come back with news about my son!"
Ginn felt the urge to protest but she felt it was a good thing to hold her peace.
In Mitete town, at the Mitete Police department headquarters, a sheriff was seated in his office, but with a puzzled look.
"Where's is this man now? How can he take that long a time absent without reason? No communication, no what!," he muttered to himself.
He called on the police officer who was in the next room, who was also in charge of the officers' well-being, and asked him, 'when did you last receive communication from the deputy sheriff?"
"Sir.., I really have taken close to a fortnight!," the young lady replied, standing attentively.
"Two weeks?! Close to two weeks?! Why didn't you tell me about it?," the sheriff was wroth.
He then moved out of his office without another word, not even listening to the officer's response to the question. He grabbed his car keys and rushed out.
He hurriedly climbed his official car and drove hurriedly to the deputy's home.
The sheriff found no one at home and the place was like an abandoned home. He was puzzled; for the deputy's phone was totally off, and he couldn't know where to start from.
He then drove back to the police station and called for an immediate meeting.
"Listen to me! Tomorrow morning we are conducting a search for one of our workmates, the deputy sheriff. But before that, whoever knows any of his whereabouts, you can give us a heads-up," he said, then dismissed the assembly.
The next morning, Reyes, took Lamech's car and called Sam his brother.
"Sam, we have an urgent matter at hand! I need your help as soon as you can," he said, when Sam picked the call.
"What's up big bro?," he replied.
"The old man instructed us to look for Minteh," he said, chuckling.
"Is he in any trouble, or what?," Sam panicked.
"No..., the old man is just worried to sickness. He thinks he might have run into trouble or something like that!," Reyes explained.
"Lemme come ASAP! He might be right though," Sam said, before hanging up.
Minutes later, Sam pulled over in Reyes' car.
"Where are we starting from?," he asked Reyes.
"The police..., I think!," Reyes replied.
The two brothers went to the police, only for them to be shocked by what they were told; the deputy sheriff was also missing!, and everyone was on a search except a few officers left to attend to the people that come at the station.
They called Lamech hurriedly to report the news to him.
He replied with just, "Oh!," and then hung up.
They then decided to separate and search from different places. Reyes drove heading to the deputy's home, while Sam headed to the old bungalow.
Heading there, Sam was surprised by the business of the road. Police cars, around four of them, passed him coming from the way to the old bungalow.
"Is something going on that I am green about?," he questioned himself, loud enough as though with someone.
"Oh no! It can't be! Or, maybe it can!," he said.
What was he saying can or can't be?
Sam continued driving slowly, since it's a murram road, to the old bungalow.
Reyes on the other side, reached the plot, where the deputy sheriff's house was located, and was also hit by the reality of what was happening there; the area was demarcated by the police as a 'no-go' zone.
"What has happened here?," he asked himself before packing up at a distance, not very far from the house though.
He watched police officers, about six of them, coming out of the house. They then climbed in the two police patrol-vehicles, by threes and left the place.
He then sneaked into the house, but was put on gun point, immediately he entered.
"Put your hands on your head and turn around, slowly!," a familiar, yet commanding female voice commanded.
Reyes complied and raised his hands, and slowly put them on his head, and turned around slowly.
"Reyes?!!! What are you doing here?!," the female police officer asked in surprise, lowering her pistol and putting it back in it's holster.
Are they acquainted? Why is she surprised?
"Charlene?!!," Reyes replied in shock.
"Look, this may sound weird but I am looking for my cousin, Minteh," he explained, relaxing.
"Why here, in all places?," officer Charlene asked, not sure if he was telling the truth.
"Reyes, we may have dated some time back, but you gotta give me a good reason to believe you. The deputy sheriff is missing, and here you are telling me that you're looking for your cousin in the deputy sheriff's house! C'mon!," she demanded.
"Do you remember our niece who was raped?," he asked her
"Yes, Sonia?!," she replied.
"That's her! She was gang-raped, sodomized and then strangled to death! And guess who was part of all that?," he posed with a question.
"The deputy sheriff!!," she replied in disbelief.
Reyes didn't say a word after that dialogue and the two stood in awkward silence. The silence caused a tense environment with mixed emotions.
"He was my boyfriend; though he ran away from me, yet I still love him. But is he telling the truth?," officer Charlene thought.
"I am letting you go for now, but we have to meet and finish this conversation. Something's not adding up!," she said, resisting the urge to hug her.
"Got it, officer C," he replied romanticizing his voice.
"Don't start!," officer Charlene snapped, picking up a serious tone in speech. But deeply, she felt a prick in the heart she felt it melting.
Reyes moved out of the house and drove away.
Officer Charlene fought back the desire to follow him.