Alpha’s Girl - 13 13

I have a suspect. I just needed proof to tie the suspect to the crime scene. I called Paul and we agreed to meet in Tony’s tomorrow. Suspecting him was a heavy burden on my heart. There was some part of me telling that he could have never done this. If it’s true, well I can’t even think what will happen if it turns out to be true. I sincerely pray to God to prove me wrong.

To distract myself from depressing thoughts I thought of doing what I have been doing from past couple of days – my search for Ephraim. With everything else that is going on, my research on him has not been very progressive. I asked my parents for my biological parents’ names. They gave it and that was it. They refused to talk about Ephraim, to even give his full name. We didn’t speak about it again. So I had three names, with no last name and no other reference to proceed further. The internet had given no satisfactory results so far. I didn’t find anything to place the three names together.

I was sure that digging in my father’s den would definitely give me some clue. That would be my last resort. I still had no clarity what I would do once I found out about Ephraim. I probably didn’t want to believe they were murdered.

My phone started ringing. I didn’t have to look at the screen to know who was calling. I had assigned a ringtone special to me to this person. Maybe I should change it. Should I pick it up? I should probably never speak with him again. But then again if he is the one, I need to be closer to him to get some proof. Every time I suspected Adrian there was a piercing in my heart. It felt like I was stabbing myself by doubting him.

“Hello”, I answered hesitantly.

“Hi. What took you so long to answer. Were you asleep?” His voice alone calmed me. How could I doubt him?

“No. I was just busy. Was researching something. Anyway wassup?” I didn’t want to tell him about my research, though it had not yielded any results.

“Nothing much. I just wanted to check on you. And hey listen something has come up. I need to go out. I’ll not be available for a couple of days.”

“Oh okay.” The thought of him going away made me sad. Something must be seriously wrong with me. On one hand I’m suspecting him and on the other I’m missing him terribly.

“I just saw you this morning but it feels like decades ago.” He tells with a deep longing. I was drowning in his words when something clicked. We didn’t meet today.

“We didn’t meet today.” I tell him.

“What? Oh yeah, yeah. Yes, I meant yesterday.” He covered that up pretty well. Was he stalking me? Or was it a honest mistake?

“Hmm okay. I’ll miss you.” I didn’t mean to tell that to him. It just came out.

“I miss you too.”

The next morning, I got up a little early and went to the office. As it was a Sunday nobody was there except one guard at the front. He didn’t look like a security guard at all. He looked at me suspiciously. I told him that I had some important work and it needed to be done right now. He opened without questioning. I felt he gave up too easily. For all he knew I could be spying and stealing some important documents. After all this was sorted, I seriously had to talk to Ronan about security in this office, both physical and online.

Speaking of Ronan, did he know about his brother’s true colors? Is he an accomplice? I need to get some proof before I start suspecting every Tom, Dick and Harry.

I went to Alyxandrina’s desk and started going through the drawers. All the files I found were work related. I had to meet Paul in two hours, which gave me plenty of time. When I was sure that there was nothing left in the drawers, I fired up her system. I already knew the password and looked like nobody had touched the system after I left the other day. Whatsapp web version was still open. I went through Adrian’s chat thread again but found nothing new. I then started going through other messages. There was nothing out of the ordinary.

She had a text from an unknown number. They had agreed to meet for dinner on Friday night. It was probably a date. If she was alive maybe these two would have gone on more dates and hit it off. I mentally noted down that number. I shut down the system and made sure that there was no trace of me being there at her desk and then left.

Paul was already seated by the time I went. He got up from his seat in a show of respect. I had no clue that I commanded so much respect from people. We both sat and ordered tea.

“So you said it was something important on phone. What do you want to talk about?” He was restless. His body language said so.

“Are you busy? Do you have to go somewhere else?” I asked.

“Uh no.”

“Anyway I wanted to talk about Alyxandrina and also Alexa. You do know about Alyxandrina right? She was murdered a few days back.” I was being careful. If I told my suspicions about Adrian how would he react? I wasn’t sure if he would take me seriously or not. I had to be careful.

“Yeah. There are no clues what so ever about both of them. Poor Alyxandrina was murdered. At least I know Alexa is alive.” He says.

“You are very optimistic.” I comment.

“If something had happened to her, I would know.” He says.

“How would you know?” I ask back.

“I just do. It’s tough to explain.” He runs a hand through his hair in a sign of frustration.

“Anyway, coming back to the reason I called you is because I have a hunch. I need your help to follow it up.” I tell him. He gives me a look. He must be wondering what I could have come across which the others hadn’t picked up on.

“First of all where did you find Alexa’s phone?” This was important. If the phone was found in the location of my dream then it could mean something.

“I found it in the woods. Why do you ask?” I have his complete attention now.

“I’ll get to that in a minute. And where is her car?” I continue asking him.

“There is no trace of the car too.” He sounds angry.

“If I give you a person’s number, will you be able to tell their location on a specific date?” Please tell it’s possible.

“Hmm I think I can but it will take time. And also I need to go back to my place for that.”

“Of course, we can go right now if you are okay with it.”

After ten minutes we were back at his place. He immediately went to the laptop which was on the study table and started running some program.

“Give me the number.” I tell him the number. He didn’t recognize the number, which was good for me. With the advent of technology people these days hardly knew anybody’s number by heart.

He entered the number which I gave him and ran another program. He asked for which date I wanted to know this person’s location. It was on a Saturday morning that Alyxandrina was reported murdered. So I told him to start from Friday evening to Saturday morning. A detailed map of our town came up with pin points along with timestamp, to indicate where the person was located. Next I gave him Alyxandrina’s number and asked him to check for the same time, from Friday evening to Saturday morning.

“Whom does these numbers belong to anyway?” He asks as the program runs.

“One belongs to Alyxandrina and the other to.. Hey the program is completed. Can you combine both and check if there are any overlapping? I mean, see if the two were present at the same time at same place.” He did as I asked. He used different colors to indicate the two people. Much to my dismay the two colors overlapped at one place. It was on Friday evening.

“Now can you rerun with a different number and different date?” I tell in a small voice. I was trying my hardest not to burst out crying.

“Sure” He immediately recognized Alexa’s number. He didn’t tell anything but there was recognition on his face.

“To whom does the other number belong? You have to give me a name here.” He begs me sincerely. There is so much pain in his eyes.

“I’ll tell but not now.” He didn’t probe me further. He silently ran the program. He combined both the results into one map as he did for the previous one. Here also it overlapped.I couldn’t control the single tear which escaped my left eye. He took a printout of both the maps and gave it to me.

“Thanks Paul. I’ll let you know when I find something more.” I turn towards the door and start walking out.

“Oh no not so soon. You need to tell me what’s going on over here.” I didn’t pay heed and continue walking. He followed me while doing something on his mobile. He was searching for the owner of the other number. Sooner or later he would eventually find out. It was better this way. Tellingthe other person’s name aloud would make it final. I was still in denial.

“Where are you going?” I didn’t answer him. I couldn’t answer him. My voice will break if I try to.I had only one destination in mind.

He continued following me and I didn’t mind. We stopped where my realistic dream happened. I took a deep breath before speaking.

“Was this where you found her phone?”

“Yes, but how did you know the exact spot?” He is surprised.

I don’t answer him and continue walking towards the cabin which I had loved so much. A part of me had even wondered how it would be to live in such a beautiful place with your man. We almost reached the front door when Paul exclaimed.

“Holy shit.” He had completed the search. He knew the identity of the other number’s owner.

I didn’t bother knocking. He had said he won’t be available, which was fine by me. I could dig around and find more proof but in reality I wanted proof that he is not the one.

I opened the door and walked in. The scene which beheld me was the most unexpected. I thought there was nothing more which could break my heart. But here it was. There were two girls at two corners who were in various stages of undress. One had her back to me and she was putting on a pant while her top was bereft of any clothing. The other one was better. She was currently putting on a top. She finished and was completely covered. They both heard us walk in.

I had no words. I was dumbstruck. Adrian walked out of another room. He must have heard us. He just had his shorts on. He had a very nice and muscular body, which was very odd of me to notice at such a situation. He locked his eyes with mine. He held my gaze and said nothing. My tears easily flowed now. I couldn’t control them. I never knew I could feel so much pain and that too for a guy whom I had recently met.

He didn’t move a muscle as though afraid that I would run away. It felt like my whole world had stopped. The girls had finished dressing. They silently walked out along with Paul. The soft thud of the door closing broke our eye contact. I closed my eyes and tried to control myself. I was taking in deep breaths.

“It’s not what you think.” He said in such a gentle way, like talking to a wounded animal. That made me snap.

“What do you think I was thinking?” I shouted. He flinched.

“Is that why you said you were not available? Oh my God, that too with tw..” I couldn’t complete the sentence. He walked to me and came to take my hand. I took a step back and held my hand out of his reach.

“Don’t you dare come near me.” He looked pained when I said that.

“You were cheating on me the whole time, weren’t you? What was I to you? Some person in your list or something?” I was yelling very loudly at him. Paul and the other two, if they were still outside, could clearly hear us. But I didn’t care.

He tried to take hold of my hand again and this time the rage, more than rage the heartbreak, consumed me and I slapped him. I slapped him so hard that if one listened carefully there was an echo of it. I slapped him so hard that my hand print was on his cheek. He looked completely shocked. I thought he would get angry. But there was no anger, only shock at first that I slapped him. Then hurt, pain and acceptance. No guilt. He seemed to be not guilty of anything.

“Please let me explain.” He begged me. He was wise enough to keep his hands to himself.

“I don’t care anymore.” I turned and ran out into the woods. I lied. I did care. If I didn’t care then it wouldn’t hurt so much.

“It’s not what you think. You have got it all wrong.” It was Paul who shouted as I ran but he did not follow me.

I was running when suddenly there was a wolf besides me. It took me a moment to realize that it was my wolf. I stopped. He too stopped and came to me and licked my face. I hugged him tightly and cried. I cried and cried and cried.