THE WIDOWER.

CHAPTER 34.

Days dragged on as Nora went back to work. She knew that Gwen's case was biting her and kept on nagging her.
What she was happy about is her beautiful niece and how far she had come with opening up about her past.
Her friendship with CJ bloomed and she was liking how he trusted him with his past too. She was yet tell him hers.
"Nora, we got leads. Turns out that Peter  was murdered for he was about to spill beans in order to get the said cash that Mr Mbale had offered.
Guess who sold him out Jeffrey, remember him?" Richard grinned as he fell on the chair.
"How did you come up with that?" She asked as she went through the papers.
"I have my ways. I have an informant who wormed his way in the university. Before Peter's disappearance Jeffrey had met up with an unknown guy and that night Peter disappeared. Guess who was there during the meet up Louise Makena,his girlfriend. I believe Louise knows something that can help. We just need to make her confess." Richard spoke with enthusiasm.
"All I see is a love triangle. Jeffrey loves Makena, Makena loves Peter and Peter was the guy who hurt her more. She decides to find out what he was up to. It was bad and she confides in Jeffrey who sees as an opportunity to get the girl of his dreams and  gain money  to please Makena   who only wanted her boyfriend to get out of whatever he had gotten himself into." Nora concluded.
She stood and stared at her board.
"Wow! I love how your brain works." Richard smirked.
"Jeffrey meets up with the guy and makes a deal that would result to the disappearance of his best friend. The guy agreed since Peter was going to rat them out. Maybe Jeffrey thought that this would end so quietly. Peter disappears... He is paid in cash."Nora fumbled with the papers.
"All this happens on the night it rained heavily, How does Gwen fit in all this?" She asked no one in particular.
"We need to revisit Mr Joseph's claims about his daughters kidnap. We are looking this the wrong way. What if Mr X here is not involved? What if Gwen's kidnapping was not about being sold as a sex worker but something underworld and dark like politics and now Gwen was caught in the crossfire?" Nora's fist was pressed under her chin.
She went through the report again. Something was not adding up.
Gwen was grabbed from school gate as she waited for her chauffeur and that was a day before the heavy rains.
"I want to talk to Mr Joseph's estranged wife again. She may enlighten us about her ex husband's business details that we are missing. Nora said.
"We talked to her the first time and we saw how devastated she was." Richard frowned.
Nora's heart was skeptical, "what are we missing Richard? We only have a week before we lose our jobs and ..."
Her phone interrupted.
"Hello? Is this officer Nora Kimani?" The shaky voice asked.
"Yes this is she." Nora answered.
"This is Louise Makena,I stole your number and I need help. There is something I want to share with you about Gwen." She breathed heavily.
"Come let's meet at the location I will send you." She said as she disconnected  the call and Nora stared at Richard.
"It is Louise,she wants us to meet." Nora said as picked her jacket and gun.
Richard followed her to the said destination.
*****
"It must be here." Nora gritted her teeth as she looked at the empty field as people crossed, other sat and there was old incomplete house in ruins at the furthest corners.
"There!" Nora said as she matched towards the shambles.
She looked for any signs of a human being but found none. There was some rustle of someone stepping on dry leaves.
"Makena? Officer Nora here." Nora spoke to the figure that stood firm and then girl came out of her hideout in rags. She looked like she has been running for days.
She looked hungry and tired.
Nora approached her as she was shaking and launched herself with the little strength she had.
The walked at a slow pace towards the car. Richard reached and opened the car's door and Makena asked for what seemed like water as they settled in the car.
Nora gave it to her and the girl closed her eyes in exhaustion.
"Let's take her to the office and let her rest." Nora said as Richard drove them.
She stared at her and wondered if that's what Lora went through.
"Did anyone offer her water if she had begged for it?"Nora thought.
They reached at the headquarter and Makena woke up from her slumber.
"Come,let's get you cleaned up." She said and led her away from the front part of the office towards the washrooms.
Nora waited with outside with a clean T-shirt and a pair of jeans. She hope they would fit her.
She heard her crying but decided not to interrupt.
After thirty minutes she came out looking clean.
"Here change into this." She gave the set of clothes. Makena obliged.
The walked hand in hand into her office where Richard was waiting. He set before her a mug of tea and scones.
Nora waited for to open her mouth and talk for she was getting impatient.
"The last time we talked you said you didn't know much about your boyfriend's business." Nora started the conversation.
Makena nodded.
"I had to pretend because I was trying to find out was happening. It all began when I met Peter, I fell for him first but I couldn't miss the way Jeffrey looked at me .I made it clear to him that we will only be friends. Peter was something dangerous and alluring and mysterious. I stood by him no matter how badly he treated me I was still there for him but Jeffrey was the one listening to my heartache and complains of him neglecting me.
I knew Peter was involved in something shady but I couldn't be sure so I asked Jeffrey to investigate. Little did I know I had put him and I in harms way. He told me he would find out.
One week after I talked to him he asked me to take him and meet a friend of his. They meet and talked in whispers but from their body language the hooded man seemed pissed off. Peter disappears after two days and he ends up dead in a..." Makena sobbed as she wiped her tears with the back of her hand.
Nora passed some tissues and waited.
"I suspected Jeffrey. I started gathering evidence so I pretended to be grief wrecked and I sobbed in his arms and I allowed him comfort me." Makena said with a shudder and recoiled from the memory.
"Before that, Peter had sent an audio on WhatsApp that he wanted to be a changed man and in doing so he had to right his wrongs. He wanted to change because I had told him were going to be parents. He wanted to be a good father so he wanted to call it quits. I lost my phone though." She sobbed even more.
"Fast forward after Peter's funeral I told Jeffrey about my pregnancy and he promised to take care of us but I wanted to find out happened to Peter and I had to pretend I was angry with him for choosing to abandon us. It worked for a while until I came to eavesdrop on his conversation with a someone on his phone one night. Jeffrey was working with Peter and the hooded guy I saw. All this time he was his partner but very good at hiding it. He knew that Peter was going to rat them out and he had him murdered. I was in shock but I went on with my facade.
Two weeks Jeffrey tells me there is a road trip and it was a surprise. I was nervous and scared. It was a trap because Jeffrey discovered that it was a hoax and an act so my cover was blown. I have never seen a vicious person in my entire life this up close. He confessed to have murdered his best friend and he knew I would never love him like I loved Peter. I was cornered and when I looked up. I realized we are heading to a suburbs of Garissa town. I was supposed to be killed the night preceding their trade night. It is a remote area with low power and internet connection. They were transporting the package as they called it through the coast of Somalia they had to use very dangerous routes to reach out to the Indian ocean where a ship and some bribed officers were to receive the package. I later learnt the package was children's organs and where we were was their laboratory." Makena narrated as Nora noted down everything.
"After two days of being locked up, they let me out but not for freedom but to.." Makena swallowed the rest. Nora nodded.
"I lost my pregnancy due to hunger and thirst. They said I could be sold into prostitution. I begged Jeffrey not to but he said I was a whore and I deserved it for refusing his love for me. Later on I heard that they had problems with transporting the packages for their boss was being watched about a kidnapping case of one of his partner's  daughter. They said the girl was not supposed to be touched until he signed off some documents giving their boss a whole entity to run some shipment and containers at the coast.  Mr Joseph as they spoke of him seemed  reluctant because he has some shady business that he wanted to still keep at the coast. That's why he wanted this to be done privately and quietly. Though he had employed some PI to find his daughter,the boss threatened to strangle the girl. Joseph,I think gave in for the next shipment was set to be in one week when I was there so that means you have two days." She said with a conviction.
Gwen is in a safe house down town. She never left the city." Makena ended her narration.
"How did you escape?" Nora quizzed.
"I pretended to be sick and Jeffrey sympathized with me. They took me to a room that had a window. I broke the glass and ran through the vast land for days until I met a group of herders  that helped me. They nursed my wounds and later I slipped away from them and looked for a way to get back to Nairobi. Luckily there was a truck transporting cargos to Nairobi. I slipped in there unnoticed and had to lay still till I got here. As for your number I saw it on Jeffrey's drawer and I memorized it just in case." She explained.
"What else did you see?" Nora asked.
"The laboratory looks like an abandoned house and  there was room that held children. I heard them every night. There screams and blood reeked everywhere. I was kept in a storage room that was dark." She explained as Nora stared at cuts and scars.
"Do you know which part of down town Gwen is held?" She pushed farther even though Makena seemed she would fall asleep anytime.
"Yes, I think an unused warehouse. They didn't say that exact place." She tried to remember.
"Well, you can rest and thank you for your help. I am sorry about Peter and your child." Nora tried to comfort.
Richard was making calls.
"I think I paid for betraying him. Now everything I had is lost. If you find Jeffrey make sure he rots in jail." Makena moved to stand as Richard held her steady.
She turned around and to speak to Nora was fumbling with her notes.
"I want to be like you someday. When I am well and strong I would like for you to recommend me so I can start on my training. I want to be fearless and fight to defend children from such creeps." Makena confessed.
Nora stared at in amazement. She saw the fire that pushed her too in her eyes.
"I want to help and find justice for them." She added.
"Get well first then we will talk." Nora agreed.
"Thank you for everything."
Nora nodded as Richard called for another officer to help Makena.
"We have a lot to do. We need to call in the task force." Nora said as peered into Richard eyes.
Nora's brain ran to all directions of victory ahead.
She thought about the dead girl they had found had nothing to do with the kidnapping saga. She was just killed by a psycho. She knew they had to act fast.