PREGNANT AND IN DANGER
THIRD PERSON POV (POINT OF VIEW)
Carl was so tired after the day's work;
Melanie was still in her office, and he did not want to leave her and go home, but he was having a bad headache and just wanted to have a hot bath and sleep.
Floral had nagged him all morning about not sleeping in the house since they got married, he ignored her and left for the office this morning, he was not interested in hearing what she had to say this evening, so as soon as he got to the house, he went into his room and locked the door.
He wanted to go to bed after he has had his bath, but he wanted to be sure that Melanie was home and safe.
He called her line but it went to voicemail. He tried it a second time, yet it went to voicemail again.
"Probably she is in the bathroom; I will call her back in 30 minutes" he concluded and slept off.
He woke up the next morning and realized he did not get back to Melanie the previous night.
"There is no need to call her, I'll see her in the office this morning" Carl said resisting the urge to call her.
Carl arrived at the office and Melanie was not yet in, he waited hoping she will come in soon with his coffee and hopefully a similar toast she served him the previous day.
He was tired of waiting for Melanie and decided to go check up on her in her office,
Just when he was about to get up from his desk, he heard a knock on his door, glad Melanie finally showed up, he asked her to come in.
"Good Morning Mr. Mason, here is your coffee," Andrea said
"Why are you the one bringing in my coffee?" he asked displeased with the change of coffee bearer
"Hmmm, Melanie asked me to bring it in for her; she is very busy at her desk"
He did not want to push the issues, so he nodded his head
"Thank you Andrea, tell Melanie to see me as soon as she can," Carl instructed
Andrea stepped out of his office.
He sipped from the coffee cup, and pushed it aside,
"No one knows how to make my coffee the way I liked it except mom and Melanie.
There was nothing special about making coffee, but mom and Melanie's coffee comes with a better taste."
Carl observed
"What was Melanie doing that she could not make my coffee and bring it to me this morning?"
Carl asked no one
He got tired of waiting for her to show up and decided to go to her office.
He got to her desk but she was not there
"Andrea, what is going on?"
He asked as he got into Andrea's office after leaving Melanie's office
"What are you talking about Mr. Mason?" Andrea asked
"Don't act innocent, where is Melanie?" Carl asked pissed
"In her office sir" Andrea replied trying hard to lie
"Andrea, she is not there" Carl raised his voice at her
"Maybe she is in the restroom sir" Andrea gave another excuse
"Andrea" Carl shouted throwing off some files from her desk
"I think she went to get something to eat, she said she was hungry earlier" Andrea covered up
"Andrea, the truth now" Carl scolded
"She has her doctor's appointment sir, she should be back shortly" Andrea finally said
:Why is that information a secret?" Carl asked confused
"I do not know why she did not want you to know about it sir"
"Is that why she is not taking her calls?"
"I don't think she is ignoring them on purpose sir"
"What hospital?"
"I have no idea sir"
Carl left Andrea's office angrily and went to his office.
He decided that after work, if she did not show up by the close of work, He will go to her apartment to see her.
He struggled hard to concentrate all day, deciding he could not concentrate any longer, he decided to go to Melanie's house.
He got to the house and knocked, After knocking for a while, he turned the doorknob, and it opened, He went inside the apartment, however, Melanie was not home, He looked around the house, "if she was not in, why was the door unlocked?" he thought
He found a pack of cigarette and an empty bottle of alcohol.
"This does not belong to Melanie." Carl affirmed
He dialed her line again, it went to voicemail. He found the bag Melanie had brought along to work the previous day; it was left close to the door.
"Melanie is tidy and would never leave her bag in such position." Carl defended
He was still trying to figure out what was wrong when Andrea arrived
"What are you doing here Andrea" Carl asked Andrea
'I came to check up on Melanie and ask how the visit to the doctor went" Andrea explained
"Oh, same here"
"Is she in?"
"I think there is a problem"
"What do you mean boss?"
"Look at that bag, is Melanie untidy?"
"No, she would never leave her bag in the living room"
"Look at this table, does Melanie smoke, and will she consume this kind of strong drink?" Carl asked
"No"
"Would she ignore everyone's call all day?"
"She would not"
"Then something is indeed wrong"
He pulled out my phone and called the chief of police who happens to be a close friend.
He came over as quickly as he could.
"Andrea thank you, can go home now, Stephen might not like the idea of you been away from home at this time" Carl said when Kim arrived
"Please hold on, I'd like to ask you some questions before you leave" Chief Kim said
"Can it wait tomorrow? She must be tired" Carl tried to explain to him
"Don't worry boss, let me answer all I know, I'd be worried sick if I can't do what I can to help immediately" Andrea responded
"Thank you Andrea," Carl said
"What do you know about Melanie's whereabouts?" Kim asked Andrea
"Well, we went for lunch together yesterday and she asked me to cover up for her that she had a doctor's appointment today"
"What hospital?"
"I didn't ask her"
"Why was she seeing a doctor?"
"Hmmm" Andrea was stammering
"Infection" Carl answered for Andrea
Andrea coughed
"Andrea, what do you know about Melanie's illness?" Kim asked ignoring Carl's response
"I don't think she would want me to tell anyone" Andrea replied Kim
"Please, it is important to share, whatever you tell us stays here" Kim advised
"She is pregnant" Andrea opened up
"She is what?" Carl screamed
"She is pregnant" Andrea repeated
"Does she have a fiancé we could reach out to, maybe she is at his place?" Kim asked
"She is not at any fiancé's place, she does not have one' Andrea said
Carl kept quiet trying to process what he had just heard.
"Melanie is pregnant, how is that even possible, was I responsible? If I were responsible, she would have told me," he thought within him
"Carl, are you here?" Kim asked
"Sorry I missed that, what did you say?" Carl asked
"Do you know if Melanie has a fiancé?" Kim asked Carl
"No, I have no idea" Carl responded still absentminded
"Well, Andrea do you have any idea who Melanie has been seeing?"
"Please don't judge her, I'm only telling you this because we need to find her" Andrea pleaded
"No one is going to judge her, tell us all you know" Kim said
"Well the person responsible for her pregnancy is a married man, and he is not aware that she is pregnant, so I don't think she is with him," Andrea disclosed
"We can't be sure," Kim said
"Wait Andrea, you said the man is married and unaware?" Carl asked
"Yes" Andrea answered
"Carl I'm the one doing the questioning here" Kim said, Carl ignored him and continued.
"Andrea, do you by chance have an idea how long this pregnancy is?" Carl asked
"Yes, she said some four weeks" Andrea responded to Carl
"The only time Melanie and I had sex without a condom was the day Floral came to the office to tell me the wedding was going to take place in two weeks, that week, two weeks later, and this week, that's roughly some four weeks, oh my goodness," Carl did a quick calculation in his head
"Carl, what is the problem?' Kim asked
"Melanie was pregnant for me," Carl said trying to process it all
"I was so blind, it was so obvious that she was pregnant, come on the signs were there, she was sleeping so much unlike usual Melanie, she was throwing up every morning, started a new habit of hot chocolate tea.
I need to find Melanie, I need to find her, she is in danger, and so is my child." Carl said with a mix of emotion
"I really need to go home now, Stephen has been calling, and it is getting quite late," Andrea announced
"Thank you Andrea, let us know if you suspect anyone" Kim added
"Yes that's true, Sarah the office receptionist, Melanie mentioned that she threaten her to stay away from the boss' Andrea added
"Thank you Andrea, good night" Kim said dismissing her
"Carl it is quite late, I think we should wait till tomorrow morning to start proper investigation, and then we can question Sarah and call any of her relatives" Kim said
"I don't know how I can hold up till tomorrow morning considering the fact that I just discovered Melanie and my child are in danger, we shouldn't call her mom tonight since she is tending to her sick husband, but she might have some clue, but I will call her stepbrother Andrew Miller to inform him."
"Carl, we will find her, and please don't confront Sarah tonight, let the police do their job," Kim said
"Do your job and I will do mine, I'm speaking to a private investigator tonight, I might as well search the house tonight for any clue"
"Carl don't do that, you might disrupt investigation, allow the cops do that tomorrow morning" Kim pleaded
"Fine, but I need Melanie to be found without a scratch on her body tomorrow"
"We will do our best, good night Carl"
"There is nothing good about the night, Kim,"
Carl drove back to the office to search Melanie's office in case he found any clue, after all there was no point going home to sleep since he knew he was not going to find sleep.
"Melanie, why did you keep the news about the baby away from me? Melanie, I'm sorry you felt you needed to go through all this on your own" Carl was lamenting and questioning himself as if Melanie was listening to him.