Appetite For Love

Chapter Thirty Four

Aden was starting to wake up, as he heard loud tapping on the driver side window. He looked to his right and saw Detective Kannemeyer, Johanie and Martin all panic stricken. He opened his window and unlocked the car.
Johanie and Martin got into the car, but Kannemeyer stayed outside.

"Thank God, you stopped next to the road," Johanie let out with a sigh.
"We thought we were gonna lose you." Martin said.

"I'm sorry that I scared everyone. I stopped because I did not want to put innocent lives in danger. If I had waited a couple minutes longer, I probably would have been in an accident. What would Aïda do if I was no more."

There was pindrop silence in the car. Kannemeyer was speechless too. He was grateful when his phone rang.

Aden turned to Martin, who was seated next to him in the passenger's seat.

"I don't care what anyone says, I don't believe Aïda is..is no more."
"Kannemeyer told us that the police have proof to the contrary," Johanie whispered.

Aden turned to look at Johanie where she was seated in the back. He could not believe she was so negative, but he could not really blame her. Afterall, the evidence was not looking good.

"As long as there's not a body, I won't give up hope," Martin uttered.
"I want to do something and not just wait on the police, so I've decided to take matters into my own hands."

Martin and Johanie looked at each other swiftly. Martin wanted to be positive, but the negative circumstances were threatening to drown out his hope. The staff of Tuis Kombuis were still hopefull earlier on, but when they hear of the new developments the place will be somber.

"Aden, I hope you don't do anything dangerous," Johanie warned.
"I can take care of myself and anyway, life feels meaningless without my Angel," Aden responded.

"I'm with you, Aden, do whatever is necessary to bring her back," Martin said.
"I can't believe you, Martin. You should be helping him come to grips with his loss and not encouraging him," Johanie was on the brink of tears.
"Johanie, I think you should be silent. I'll drop you of first."
"I'm not a Gillian, Aden, I just don't want to see you suffer even more, but that is what will happen if you don't accept reality now."

Aden's silence was the only answer he gave for the rest of the drive.

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"What are you doing, Aden?" Collin Kannemeyer asked as he watched the press conference on the big screen in his office, the next morning.

"They say romance is dead, but he is proving otherwise," Najwa said with eyes full of dreams, "I hope that Aïda is alive and well otherwise, this will tear him apart."

"I want her to be alive too, but Najwa you and I both know the truth." Kannemeyer said.
"Concerning that, no body has been found on the beach or in the ocean as yet, but I'm sure the R500 000 reward, that Aden is offering, will help to open the eyes and ears of the silent witnesses."

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A week later Aden and Evelynn were waiting for Kannemeyer in his office, the suspense was almost too much for Aden.

Kannemeyer finally entered his office and say down, after closing the door.

"You better have good news," Evelynn said.
"I'll tell you if you allow me to," Collin retorted.

"You may continue, Detective," Aden said.
"The results have returned from the lab," Kannemeyer paused, " we have a positive match on both the hair and the blood found in the booth of the car."

The blood was rushing to Aden's head and he felt light headed. Was he saying...

"The blood and hair belongs to Aïda Völlenhoven. I'm sorry, but I don't think she is with us anymore," Kannemeyer concluded.

Aden wanted to tell Kannemeyer to keep his opinion to himself, but was interrupted by Evelynn's loud screams. It felt like his eardrums were about to explode.  Worse still, the more he and Kannemeyer tried to calm her down, the more she screamed.

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Later Aden, Johanie and Martin were sitting in Aïda's office at Tuis Kombuis, Johanie was crying, Martin was trying not to cry, whilst Aden stared off into space.

Someone knocked on the door, but none of them were in the mood to answer.

The door opened and in walked  Zoë.

"Are the media telling the truth, huh?"

"Zoë?" Martin said.

"Aden! Aden! They're lying, right?"

Martin walked to her, Johanie cried even louder, but Aden continued to wordlessly stare into space.

"Let's go outside," Martin said.
"No, Martin, I won't. How can they declare her dead without a body? Tell me, how? " Zoë insisted.

"All the evidence suggests..." Johanie trailed off.
"So what? That does not mean that she is..."  even Zoë could not complete the sentence.
"The evidence is overwhelming, Zoë," Johanie whispered, " It would be a miracle if she's found alive."

"Miracles still happen," Aden finally spoke.
"Aden, Zoë please just make peace with the truth." Johanie begged.

"Why should they? Nothing is concrete as yet."

Everyone looked at the person that spoke, standing behind Zoë and Martin.