THE STARKS ALLEY

26

DAD'S POV

As she set the table quietly, it made me wonder why and how we got here. Our daughter was dead and her body was somewhere in Australia. Her funeral made our paths cross again after so many years and the smell of her cooking in the kitchen brought back all the good and bad times; especially the bad times.

"How did you hear about Kristie's disappearance?" She asked, sitting next to me.

"One of my friends here, in Australia, gave me a call and said that she was all over the news. What about you?"

"I was watching the international news when I heard my baby girl's name and..." She suddenly broke into tears and I quickly held her in my arms. Force of habit. "I still can't believe she's gone!" She wept bitterly. I was trying to be strong for her. I also had my fair share of tears to shed but I had to make that wait.

"I blame myself for everything," I said, "If I had kept out family tight, she would still be alive today."

"We both know that I caused all that. You were nothing but a good husband and father." I remained silent. The pain was still as fresh as it was back then, "I'm sorry for everything. I've never found peace ever since we separated. I know I've said this before and it sounds a bit stale but I really do mean it. You did not deserve that."

"Let's not talk about that." I didn't want to get into our dark past. I needed to handle one pain at a time; I needed to handle the loss of my baby girl and that would not help me at all. I let her go and stood at the window of the hotel that we were staying at. There's only so much that a man can handle.

"I suppose that what happened last night was a mistake?" Of course it was a mistake. We had never spoken since I sent her away and yet we spent a night together when we finally got in touch. I wasn't using her, I still loved her deeply which is why it's so hard to forget how she betrayed me.

"How is Keshun?" I dared to ask. She was so startled by this question that she choked on her cup of tea. We all know why.

"He's... great. I left him in Kenya."

"With who?"

"With a baby sitter."

"Where is his father?" I guess you could say it's a way

"He uh... he didn't want to take responsibility for his child. So I'm a single mom now."

Interesting

"Are you seeing anyone?" She asked me.

"You don't need to know that," I answered her, "I've seen that we need a few groceries if we're going to stay here so I'm going out to get some."

"I know I made a huge mistake. I live everyday knowing it," she stood from her seat and came towards me, "I've always wanted to call you just to hear your voice and I did but you never picked up. Even when I used an unknown number."

"I don't pick calls from anonymous sources."

"When you touched me last night..." she held my arm and stroke it, "It was exactly what I needed and I know you wanted it as badly as I did."

She's never ceased to have that seductive effect. Even after she betrayed me, and I had every right to hate her for the rest of my life, I just couldn't. She was the only one I ever thought about every day after we separated and every night before I went to sleep. She was the only one who could put me under pressure like right now. She came so close to me that there was no space between us.

Just then, the landline rang which caught us both off-guard. I let her speak on the phone as I recollected myself.

"It's the detectives! They're saying that they found something," she told me, grabbing her jacket, "We need to go."

We got to the precinct shortly where we barged in looking for the officer in charge of the investigation on Kristie's death.

"We are sorry it took so long but we had to go through a judge and there was a lot of paper work not to mention the lawyers and Hotel Sankara did not want their name tainted and..."

"Get to the point already!" I was eager to hear anything concerning my baby girl's brutal murder.

"This was our hardest evidence," he said, showing us a CCTV footage on his computer.

We saw Kristie going in to a room and afterwards she came out crying. The video was forwarded and we saw someone breaking down the door and Dale, Kelsie and Kelly walking out. The video was paused.

I knew Kelsie was no good for my baby girl

"These are the last people to be with Kristie before her disappearance and she seemed upset."

"They should be held accountable for this!" I yelled and Leila held my hand.

"The judge issued us an arrest warrant and they are actually here at the precinct." The officer led us to the cell where the three were.

"I'm so glad you're here! This officer thinks we murdered Kristie!" Kelsie cried. I could only look at her with overflowing rage in my blood. She picked up on that quite fast because of the change in her expression, "Sir, you don't think that we did this..."

"We would never do anything to hurt Kristie!" Kelly added.

"Then why was she crying when she left that room? You all hurt her and you clearly do not want anyone else to find out what you did. That's why you murdered her!" Leila spoke up.

Dale was awfully quiet. The guilt must be eating him up already.

"I hope you all rot in here for the rest of your days!!" I said before storming out.

Now that I can't get my baby girl back, I will do everything in my power to make them spend their miserable lives in jail!