Because he loved him..

30. Assay

*Paul's point of view*

I was sitting alone in the back seat while Ray drove through the streets of the town.

After a long, sleepless drive through the night, we finally reached the town.

Samar mumbled directions to Ray and he followed them till he hit the brakes sharply in front of Samar's apartment.

"Where are we?" Ray asked.

"Samar's place." I replied, looking at Samar inquisitively.

Ray growled. "Why the fu** are we here?"

"Listen Merchant, Sally knows all about Wander's hideouts. She is our best bet. We need her. Besides, it's 2:30 am. We need rest."

"Rest? Amay is out there with a psychopath and you think we need rest?" Ray's nostrils flared.

As much as I agreed with Samar about needing rest, I couldn't blame Ray for being worried. But I knew we couldn't keep on like that.

Since yesterday morning, I had travelled to and from between the states and combined with the worry and anxiety, I was a mess.

And about work, the less that was mentioned, the better. Right now, I was running work on out of sight, out of mind philosophy. I just hope no emergency arose.

God, I hadn't even gotten time to comfort Bethany. Who knows what that Wander freak would have said to her. My mind was drifting all over the place.

"He is right, Ray. We can't keep on like this. Sally can help us." I looked him in the eye.

Ray glared at me and scoffed but started parking the car and we made our way inside their house.

We allowed Samar to lead us and stopped a few places behind him when we neared the door. Sam rang the bell.

A young woman opened the door.
She was dressed only in a nightgown but she still looked carelessly beautiful. She had dark circles under her eyes and was holding herself in a very self assured, assertive way. So, this was Sally.

She sighed in relief and hugged Samar, who melted in her embrace.

"Oh Sammy! I was so worried. Did you find him yet?" She asked but then her eyes fell on us and she flushed. Immediately, an impassive mask appeared on her face and she straightened up.

"We need to talk. Let's go inside." Sam quipped. She nodded and held the door open for us. We went inside.

A couch and a couple of chairs encircled a table. A few abstract art paintings decorated the wall but there were no photographs etc.

There was a door which I guessed was their bedroom and a staircase at the far end of the hall which led to the room upstairs.

Samar collapsed on the couch. Sally went inside and returned with a bottle of water for us. I immediately picked up and gobbled down half of it.

"What's going on, Samar?" Sally demanded.

"Amay's alive! Amay's alive, Sally!" Samar wheezed and Sally's almost flinched at the urgency and desperation in her husband's voice. She was struggling to form a coherent response.