Behind The Flames: A Detective Chineke Series

Chapter 3

Shortly after Zale left, Tarah woke up from being knock unconscious.

"Damn it, Chineke!" Tarah whispered angrily after she stood up from the couch.

She pulled her phone out of her black jeans and there was a blue flashing light. Tarah grabbed her car keys from her handbag and left the loft.

"I'm going to kill him!" She told herself angrily.

~~~~~

Finally, I made it to the house of the missing children's parents. I put my motorcycle in neutral and switched it off. I grabbed the keys out of the ignition and walked up to the front of the house.

"This is a nice area to live." I told myself as I admired the scenery.

The house sat on private land with green grass and pecan trees in the yard. It was bright orange with a black, front door. Just before I was about to knock, the door opened, and the parents were standing there waiting. I was greeted with a pump-action shotgun and a revolver pointed at my face! I immediately threw my hands up in the air.

"WOAHHHH! Hold up!" I yelled anxiously with slight fear in my eyes.

"Who the hell are you?" the white man questioned nervously.

Luckily, my water intuition helped me sense that both parents were highly dehydrated. Missing kids will do that to you.

"My name is Zale...Chineke. Imani sent me to help find your missing kids." I told the couple.

Then, they lowered the guns, and I dropped my hands.

"Sorry, she said a detective was coming, but we expected somebody..."

"White?" I responded to the woman before she finished her sentence.

"Excuse our rudeness detective. We've been on edge a bit." The man said sincerely.

"Yeah, I noticed!" I replied sarcastically.

"It's nice of you to help us detective. Please come in." The woman said politely.

They both appeared as if they hadn't slept at all.

"Sure. I just need to ask a few questions." I responded as I followed them into their house.

"Okay, we'll get to the point." The woman mentioned quickly right before I sat down at their kitchen table.

"Please do. Time is essential." I responded as I thought about my situation.

The last thing I needed was the prison time. Along with that, children's lives were on my conscious. I come to help these poor people and I get guns shoved in my presence. Ridiculous!

"Long story short, we left our two kids with our usual sitter while we were at work. We came back about six hours later, and they were gone." The man explained it clearly.

I noticed the family photos on the walls and the refrigerator door. It was a white girl and her little brother. From all the photos, I figured the kids were aged around seven to nine years old.

"Did the kids or sitter have their phones? Nothing left behind here?" I questioned the couple.

The couple glanced at each other then back at me.

"We never gave our kids phones. But the sitter had one of her own." The woman replied nervously.

I took a deep breath. In my head, I was wondering what kind of people don't give their kids phones in case of emergencies.

"How old is the sitter? Do you think she would have any reason to...?"

"No, she'd never do anything like that. We knew her parents before they died. But she's sixteen." The woman responded to my questions.

"So, THREE missing kids?" I asked loudly.

The man nodded.

"Please find them! We can't sleep and Henry is afraid of the dark." The woman added sadly.

She stood up from her chair with a tear forming in her left eye.

"First off, you two need to get some rest and eat! Your kids won't have a home to come back to if you die of hydration or starvation." I replied to the woman as I pointed to her and her husband.

"You're right. We'll try detective." The man agreed surprisingly.

BOOM! There was a loud noise at the front door. Suddenly, Tarah walked right into the kitchen like a real police officer without a warrant.

"Hey there, partner!" Tarah spoke shortly after making eye contact with me.

I slowly placed my hand over my face when I noticed her wearing her black shades with gold frames. The couple glanced at me with curious eyes.

"Tarah, these are the parents of the missing kids I told you about earlier. I'm still gathering information to help with the case." I mentioned to Tarah with a slick wink.

She looked at the couple and smiled. The couple probably felt tensed after seeing Tarah's style of clothes and her essence.

"You're not the normal cop, are you?" The woman asked Tarah curiously.

"Nope. I'm better!" Tarah replied as she took off her shades.

I was hoping she wouldn't find me. The only way she could've known where I was is... No! A tracker! It had to happen when she took my keys. Now, I had no choice but to include her in the case.

"Tarah, gather whatever info you can from the couple. You two give my partner any further information you can. I'm going to check around for clues." I commanded the three of them as I got up from the table.

"Alright, lay out the details for me." Tarah told the couple.

I looked through the house carefully. Eventually, I came across the boy's room first, and inside there were no clues at all. Next, I found the girl's room. Nothing!

"Damn it!" I whispered.

Then, I made my way back into the living room. Except for this time, my intuition was signaling me. I followed my intuition to the garden in the back yard. There, I found microscopic traces of dirt from small footprints that appeared to be leading further out into the woods. This was the first clue that drew me closer to finding those kids. One step closer to freedom!