GUILTY 18

Detective Gerald Sullivan Saturday May 20,2016 I rush into the house, down the hallway, straight for the bedroom. I swing open the door to see Danny and Savannah sitting adjacent from each other, mid - conversation. Their heads turn to me, startled. ‘You were here on Thursday morning,’ I say quickly, out of breath. ‘Why did you lie?’ They both stare at me for a moment. Savannah doesn’t take her eyes off of me. Danny turns to her friend, then to me. ‘What are you talking about? Danny says. ‘Savannah was here, twelve o’clock, right before our approximated time of abduction. So why were you here, and why did you lie about being in Jhburg?’ ‘Jhburg?’ Danny turns to Savannah, ‘What is he talking about?’ Savannah stands, keeping her eyes locked on mine. ‘Can we speak in private, detective?’ ‘Great idea. Why don’t we head on down to the precinct and I can question you there.’ ‘What is happening?’ Danny echoes in the background. Savannah turns to her. ‘I’ll be back, okay? Don’t worry. Just stay here.’ She smiles at her friend, and Danny, worry consuming her face, sits back down on the bed. I leave the room with Savannah, escaping to the sovereignty of the hallway. ‘Anything you want to say?’ She turns to me. ‘I’ll wait.’ And she does. All the way to the station. Back at the station, Savannah sits quietly in the interrogation room, hands clasped in front of her. After setting up the recorder, stating the date, time, as well as her name, I begin. ‘You lied,’ I state, matter - of - fact. She doesn’t answer straight away, chewing the inside of her cheek, carefully crafting the next words that will come out of her mouth. ‘Why do you say that?’ ‘We have an eyewitness who can place your vehicle at the Waters’ home at twelve noon on Thursday. So would you like to stick with your story that you were in Jhburg?’ It’s quiet for a moment. ‘You’re right,’ she finally speaks. ‘I lied. But I did not take Emerald and I have nothing to do with her disappearance. That is the truth.’ ‘So why don’t you start off by explaining what exactly you were doing with Danny at noon on Thursday?’ She picks at her finger nails. ‘It’s stupid, really. You’re going to think I’m an idiot for even lying about something so trivial.’ She says. I stare at her, waiting for her to continue. She breathes again. ‘We had a fight, okay? A stupid fight.’ ‘When, Thursday?’ ‘No, Wednesday night. She called me and we were talking about work and stuff. She brought up her new position. I was jealous - I am jealous - I admit that. But I took it out on her, in the wrong way I guess. We had an argument and left things on bad terms. I knew she wouldn’t be in the office on Thursday, so I went over the next morning on my lunch break to clear the air and apologize.’ ‘And you couldn’t have just called?’ ‘I wanted to see her.’ ‘Why is that?’ ‘Are you honestly questioning me for going to my friend’s house? How was I supposed to know that her daughter was going to be abducted only a few hours after that?’ She brings her hands to her forehead and closes her eyes. ‘This is why I didn’t say anything earlier. Because now you’re accusing me of something I didn’t do.’ ‘Can anyone verify your whereabouts during the time of the abduction? A reliable alibi, say, your boss?’ ‘Yes, Yes, he can. After I left Danny’s I went back to the office. You can check the log - in. And my boss was there. He saw me. We have security cameras. Go look.’ ‘I will.’ I stare at her and she stares back. ‘Until I can confirm your alibi, we’ll need to keep you here, do you understand?’ ‘Do what you must. I have nothing to do with Emerald’s abduction. You’ll see soon enough.’ My mind is racing. Just when I thought that we might be getting somewhere, I’m thrown another curve - ball. Is Savannah telling the truth? Why lie about something so trivial? In Danny’s initial statement, she never mentioned Savannah coming over that morning. In fact, she never even mentioned that they had a fight. Could she have been covering for her friend? Or could Savannah be in cohorts with Danny? Perhaps they planned the abduction together. And in that case, our approximated time of abduction has now been extended to twelve noon. Either way, both of them are hiding something. Before heading to District Systems to check out Savannah’s alibi, I return to Waters’ place to speak with Danny once again. ‘Mrs Waters,’ I say. She looks alarmed. Out of her element. ‘What is happening? Where’s Savannah?’ ‘Why did you fail to mention your fight with Ms Visagie on Wednesday evening?’ She blinks, wide eyed. ‘Fight? What Fight?’ ‘Ms Visagie claims that the two of you spoke on the phone Wednesday evening and had an argument. She said she came over here the next morning to sort things out.’ ‘What are you talking about? Savannah was never here.’ ‘Do you honestly expect me to believe that?’ What were the two of you planning?’ Her mouth falls open. ‘Gerald,’ she uses my first name. ‘I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about. If that’s what Savannah told you, then she’s lying. We never had a fight and she was never here. I swear to you.’ I leave Danny under the supervision of Robbins with strict instructions not to let her out of sight. This is a mess. Women. Lies. A missing baby. None of this is making sense. One of them is lying, and I need to figure out which one that is. I drive far above the speed limit, feeling slightly guilty for using my official status to get where I need to be. Then again, this is an emergency, of sorts. The baby is still missing and we’re getting nowhere. I walk through the doors of District Systems, directly approaching the front desk. I ask for the man in charge, Terrence Kissinger and wait as the receptionist call him. By her wary eyes. I can tell that he’s busy. But after flashing my badge, she ensures that he knows it’s urgent. A few moments later, he arrives in the lobby, a tall man, a bit thicker around the waist. He has jet black hair and a rigid jaw. He walks to the desk and stands in front of me. ‘What’s going on?’ he asks. ‘Mr Kissinger, I’m Detective Sullivan from the Davenmore Police Station. You’re aware of the disappearance of Emerald Waters, the daughter of your employee Danniella Waters?’ ‘Yes, I spoke to the police yesterday. Have they found her?’ ‘No. We haven’t. I’d like to ask you some questions regarding another employee of yours, Savannah Visagie.’ ‘What about her?’ ‘She may be a person of interest in the investigation, so I need you to be very honest with me.’ ‘Savannah? What happened?’ ‘Can you verify that she was here on Thursday from noon to five?’ ‘I can get the log - in files. If you’d like to come up to my office?’ ‘That would be great.’ We take the elevator up to the eighteenth floor, then step out into a long hallway, lined with dark green carpet. I follow him straight to the end of the hall where we finally reach his office. He leans over the desk, typing a password into the computer. As he looks for the files, I examine the office. Certificates hang from the walls, a filing cabinet sits against the far corner. The desk holds two picture frames. One of his family, I’m assuming and one of a young girl, a graduation photo. ‘You have kids?’ I ask. ‘Yeah,’ he follows my gaze down to the picture frame. “That’s Lucy. She’ in university now.’ ‘What school?’ ‘St Ambrose, for nursing.’ He says. I nod my head and he returns his gaze to the screen. ‘Here it is,’ he stands back to allow me to see. ‘Savannah logged out for her lunch break at eleven - fifty. She didn’t log back in until one - thirteen, then logged out at the end of the day at exactly at five o’clock.’ ‘Does she normally come back from lunch late?’ ‘Not usually. But sometimes she meets a friend or someone for lunch. I let it slide as long as it doesn’t become a common occurrence.’ ‘So you didn’t ask where she was during that time?’ ‘I think she mentioned that she was out with a friend. I wasn’t really focused on her whereabouts.’ ‘Do you have security footage?’ ‘We do, You need to see it?’ ‘That would help me, yes.’ ‘OF course. Anything I can do. I just don’t understand what this is about. Do you think Savannah had something to do with the baby’s disappearance?’ ‘It’s unclear as of this moment. But seeing the security footage will help me a great deal.’ He pulls up the security footage from Thursday and show me Savannah entering the building just minutes before her log in, and exiting the building just shortly after she logged out. Everything seems fine, there. But with Savannah being at Danny’s place at noon, and not returning to work until after one, perhaps the baby could have been taken between then? But that still begs the question. Why is Danny Lying? She claims to have put Emerald down for her nap at two - thirty? Could she have been mistaken? Is she covering for Savannah, who took her baby somewhere? But if they’re working together, why lie and say she was never there? None of this makes sense…..

TO BE CONTINUED…