A Father's Pain (Cont..)

Dr Miller turned to where his wife was seated and realized she had dozed off leaning her head on the wall. He knew she was going to end up having a pain in the neck if she remained in that position for too long. He looked at Dr Kirk and nodded his head in affirmation "I'll be right behind you, lemme get my wife" he walked back to where his wife was sleeping and tapped her gently.

"Hey... Honey... Wake up" She slowly opened her eyes and groaned in pain as she held her forehead while sitting up. He could tell she was having a headache "Sweetheart you know you shouldn't put so much strain on your neck right? I guess you're in pain already so this is what we will do. We will go in and see our daughter, after that I will ask the driver to take you home so you can take your meds and have good rest while I stay back and watch Melody. Okay?"

But she shook her head in objection "I'm not going anywhere honey, I will stay right here with her. Why do you get to stay with her while I'm made to go home? What would I be doing at home? No dear, don't worry about me, I'll be fine" She quickly got up as if to prove that she was indeed okay.

"You need some sleep, and you can't have that comfortably here at the hospital. Just go home and rest, I'll take care of Melody" but she shook her head again in objection. Looking at her, he knew her mind was made up and there was nothing he could do that would prevent her from staying.

"Alright then, if you insist, let's go in and see how she's faring" his wife could be really stubborn when her mind was made up and he decided not to push her any further.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The door to the private ward where Melody was, creaked loudly as He pushed it open. He could hardly breathe when he saw the plasters on his daughter's face. His wife rushed to the bedside holding her mouth with both hands as if trying not to scream. "Oh my baby, who did this to you?" she asked while stroking Melody's hair. He watched as she wept bitterly and decided to step forward

"You have to put yourself together or you might disturb Melody. Come, sit" he gently led her to the seat by the window and sat her down. "You have to be calm or the nurses might make you leave. I know you are in pain but she's my child too and I am in pain myself but I'm trying really hard to be strong. You have to be strong too my dear" He continued as he brushed the tears from her eyes with the back of his hand

"But who could have done this? The last time we talked, Melody told me she was going out to celebrate her birthday with her friend Melissa. How then did she end up like this? I think Melissa knows what happened and we need to inform the police immediately" She said admist sobs as she sniffed her nose to stop the fluid coming out.

"We don't know for sure if Melissa really does have a hand in this, don't you think it would be embarrassing when it eventually turns out that Melissa knows nothing about what happened to Melody? How do we just make such assumption that Melissa knows what happened to Melody? The Police is already on top of the matter and I'm sure they know the right way to get the perpetrators."

He was beginning to get worried that his wife was soon going to lose it so he requested that they go outside the room to discuss further so they wouldn't bother the sleeping girl. "Come with me... he said as he held her by the hand and led her out of the room. Just as they were stepping out of the room into the hospital hallway, he saw two men walking towards them. He got the hunch that they were coming to them so he paused.

"Hello Dr and Mrs Miller, I am Detective Pete and this is my partner Detective Tom... both men showed their ID and he continued

"...We are from the State's Police department and have been charged with the responsibility of investigating your daughter's case" Dr Miller stretched out his hands and had a handshake with both men.

"Thank you so much... it's a relief to know that you are already on this case. Please do all you can to help find the culprits behind the assault on my daughter" he said.

"I assure you sir, we will do our best. However we would like to ask a few questions if you don't mind. Are you okay with us asking you some questions now?" both husband and wife nodded in affirmation

"Sure go ahead, and you can also approach us anytime you need our assistance"

"Okay, good... It might interest you to know that your daughter Melody is the 12th young girl to have been sexually assaulted in a space of 2 months. And we would like to believe that whoever did this to her is the same guy who carried out the last eleven attacks on young women. But sir we'd like to ask, do you have any idea of her movements at least two hours before before you got informed of the incident?" Detective Pete looked at both parents with worry.

Mrs Miller gasped "12 girls? oh my God! what exactly is happening?"

"Errrm... according to my wife, our daughter had called her after closing from work that she would be going out with her friend Melissa." both detectives looked at each other and detective Tom said

"Mrs Miller how long did it take between the time she called you and when you received the call from our emergency response team?"

"I believe it was probably two hours interval... We had planned to have dinner to celebrate her twenty-second birthday as soon as my husband got home from work. I already ordered the cake and asked the chef to prepare dinner when she called to tell me that she always wanted to go clubbing when she clocked 20 but never had the chance. So today Melissa had promised to help make her dream come true and for that reason, she won't be coming home until tomorrow morning. And when I asked her where she planned on passing the night, she said Melissa's house was close by so she would be staying there for the night. I tried my best to make her change her mind but she insisted. That was the last conversation we had and I was shocked when I got a call that she had been hurt. I was thinking Melissa was hurt too but I got here and I couldn't find her"

Dr Miller was surprised when he heard this but he said nothing. How could she have allowed their daughter to make such a big mistake by going to the club? And he always had his reservations about that Melissa girl, to him she always seemed like a green snake in the green grass who was waiting to strike. He had warned Melody to be wary of a friend like Melissa but obviously she didn't understand what he had seen in her friend.

"So you haven't seen or heard from this Melissa?" detective Pete asked jotting something down on his notepad.

"No I haven't. Well at least not yet" Mrs Miller replied.

"Did Melody happen to give you the address of where she planned on passing the night?.... She nodded and he handed her his notepad

"Please kindly write down the address here so we can pay her a visit" Mrs Miller took the writing materials and jotted down the address before handing them back to Detective Pete.

"Thank you for your help. We will commence our investigation now and here is my card, please we will like you to inform us once she wakes up and is willing to talk. We will be reaching you from time to time to get information and also give feedback. Have a good night and please accept our deepest sympathy" Dr Miller nodded in acknowledgement and they shook hands one more time.

That was how it all began and several weeks later they were yet to get the culprit even after sending out the sketch the police had made and announcing a bounty. Melissa had ran away from town on the very night the incident occurred and that been a major setback. Thankfully, Melody had been such a wonder, although she had refused to go out, she had been really strong in handling her present state.

"Sir Miller, we are here" Dr Miller snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the driver announce their arrival at his clinic. He had been so engrossed in his journey to memory lane all through the forty minutes drive that he didn't realize they had arrived about five minutes ago.