Chapter 6: The Evidence

Chapter 6: The Evidence

Arthur’s P.O.V

"Are you sure you remember everything correctly?" I wanted to be sure. "I want to know if you remember who Jenny is. Jenny is not the name of the delivery lady…she is the babysitter I hired to take care of you.”

How could this be happening? Jenny was the kind babysitter who has many awards to her name. She had worked for celebrities and top people in the society. Then how could that woman have tried to kidnap my daughter?

Was I deceived by a fake profile? Or did the woman I hire never make it to my house? Everything was getting so confusing…

"Of course, I know who Jenny is. She is the ugly little lady that you forced me to stay with. I remember her!" Hayley snapped at me, clearly angry at this woman. "Why don’t you believe me, daddy? I’m telling the truth!"

"I trust you, baby…I’m just trying to understand correctly…” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose. “And you also claim that the other lady…was the one who saved you?" I was finally piecing the puzzle together, but it was still difficult to believe it. "The delivery lady, I mean."

"Yes!!!" She impatiently yelled. "Jenny tried to hurt me, with two other men. This other lady saved me from her."

My face froze in an expression of horror and disbelief. "Fuck!" I whispered. It dawned on me that I did in fact, put an innocent woman in prison, and her only offense was saving my daughter.

How could I have been such a poor judge of character?

"Language!" Hayley said with a faint smile when she heard me curse. "You’re not supposed to say bad words. Bad daddy."

"I'm sorry about that, sweetheart." I said to her, standing from the bed. I could feel a headache coming already and all this new information was making me incredibly uneasy.

"Are you okay, dad?" Hayley noticed that I was uneasy.

I nodded, standing stock-still as if my feet were nailed to the floor. I was unable to move. It was as if time stopped for a few minutes, and I was trapped in a moment of utter devastation. 

Dear lord! What had I done? I let the kidnappers get away and put an innocent woman in jail! Fuck!

"Dad?" I heard Hayley call me the second time.

"Yes, baby?" I jolted back to the present, realizing that she was staring at me the whole time.

"What did you do, dad?" Hayley asked curiously. "Why do you look like that?" She leaned closer to me, sitting straight up and peering at me with her large blue eyes wide in surprise. "You look like you made a boo-boo."

I looked down at her, wearing a comforting smile so that she won’t be scared. "I'll make everything okay, baby. I have to leave you for a little while so that I can check on the woman who saved you. I need to make sure she is fine." I had to rush to the station and fix my mess.

"You want to leave me here alone, daddy?" She sounded somber and scared.

"I'll be back in a few minutes, I promise." I rubbed her hair, crossed my heart to prove that I meant what I said, and gave her a reassuring smile.

"Can I come with you, Daddy?" Seeing my daughter scared and alone made me feel emotional, but I couldn't let her leave the hospital yet. She hadn't been discharged and I hadn't gotten her test reports. Nor did I want her to find out that I threw the woman who saved her into jail without carrying out a proper investigation.

"No, baby. You'll have to wait until you get the tests done, remember? You promised me you'd get the tests done, didn't you?" I asked her, trying to get out of this agreement. I knew she hated hospitals just as much as I did. 

But when she continued to give me her big, sad, puppy-eyes, I bent down to give her a hug and then planted many kisses on her hair and forehead. "I’ll be back before you’ll notice, I promise." I told her. “And when I do, I’ll take you home right away.”

"But…but…what if someone comes here again and tries to take me away?” She sniffled. “Would you leave me all alone, Daddy?”

"Of course not!" I said right away. There was no way that I was going to leave my girl alone after what she just went through. "I don't plan on leaving you alone." I told her. "Alvin will stay with you.”

"Alvin?" Hayley frowned. She didn't like Alvin all that much, nor did she like anyone else for that matter. But I trusted Alvin with my life and I knew that he’s the only one who would rather die than let anything happen to my baby girl.

"I guess he's okay.” Hayley finally sighed in defeat. “You’ll be back soon, right Daddy?"

"Yes! Very soon." I told her finally and called Alvin over to look after my girl, who stood beside her bed like a silent sentinel. "Don't leave her room until I'm back," I ordered him. “If the doctors arrive for the test, go with her.”

“Yes, sir!” Alvin put his feet together in attention. “I won’t let her leave my sight.”

Nodded, I strode out of the hospital room and told my driver to get to the police station as soon as I got into my car.

Gerald set off almost immediately, at top speed as instructed.

The surroundings were a blur as the car sped down the road. I saw the snow on the ground outside the window, but the car sped past them regardless. We were at the station in a few minutes, and I alighted. Gerald walked closely behind me as I approached the doorman.

"Welcome sir." He said, aware that I was a reputable personality in the society.

 I walked past him, and through the door, it felt like I was stepping into another world. The fluorescent lights overhead were harsh and glaring, and the walls were painted a cold, institutional gray. 

The air was stale and heavy,  it smelled of sweat and fear. The room was bustling with activity, and the sound of phones ringing and people shouting filled the air. Amidst the chaos, I didn't struggle to find my way to the policeman who arrested the lady. He was a friend of mine and didn't hesitate to carry out my instructions.

"Hello, Jeremy." I said to him when I got to his office, taking the seat opposite to him. 

"Welcome, sir." He immediately shut his computer down and focused on me. "You drove down here from the hospital, is everything okay? How is your daughter's health?"

"Hayley is fine." I waved my hand dismissively. “Tell me about the woman from this morning.”

"Sir," He began. "The family of the supposed kidnapper who I arrested came here not so long ago. They want us to look at the security footage of the cameras at the location so that we can determine if she is the culprit or not. I was going to call you sooner, but I figured you'd be very busy tending to your daughter, so I decided to hold on for a little while."

"Good.” I appreciated the thoughtfulness. “I came here because I realized that what I did was not fair on her or her family. I acted on impulse. Even though I…supposedly, caught her red-handed, we should have been sure before arresting her. Hayley tells me she isn't the culprit."

"I see," he nodded. "What do we do, then?" He asked me.

"Do as the woman’s mother and friend suggested. Let's check the cameras."

He affirmed with a nod, and picked his phone up from his table to call the front desk. "The man whose daughter was abducted is here now. Please come inside my office." He said on the phone.

Minutes later, a handsome man with brunette hair walked into the room, followed closely by a middle-aged woman. The man fixed me with piercing blue eyes. He was dressed in a crisp, white shirt and rumpled jeans. He looked to be in his late twenties to early thirties, and he looked at me with so much scorn that it took me by surprise.

"Mr. Dalton." The policeman called my attention.

"Yes?"

"This is Cole, he is friends with the culprit. And this is her mother."

"My daughter is not a culprit!" The woman snapped angrily.

"Sorry about that," The policeman said nervously. "Let's go to the CCTV monitoring room to check the footage. That's the only way we can tell if she's a culprit or not."

Cole and the older woman followed the policeman closely, and Gerald and I did the same from a distance. We all got into the little room with several monitors on display and watched as the policeman replayed the scenes on one of the monitors that overlooked the road from where we had retrieved Hayley.

The room was dead silent as we all watched the monitor. And it was just like Hayley had described…

The woman ran after the kidnappers, throwing her sneakers at him to get him to let go of Hayley. She risked so much; she made sure that she kept my girl away from the claws of the men who wanted to abduct her. And just like Hayley had warned me, I saw Jenny peeping out of the open car door as the abductor ditched Hayley and ran towards the car before making a getaway.

 "Fuck!" I was so enraged by the sight…at my own foolishness for trusting that woman!

“Do you see it now?” Cole asked me, his voice hard. “That my friend isn't the culprit.”

He was right. That woman wasn’t the culprit…and now, it was time for me to fix this mess and restitute her honor.