TEN

ANISHA'S POV

At mid-morning, we arrived in Yellowleaf. I went into a shop to buy some shades and a wig and a whole make up kit. I had to work on myself to look as different as I could, until Eden came through to help me. Soon after buying these, I went back to the car to wear them. I drove to a different parking spot and then walked into a baby shop with all the baby clothes that the lodge manager had bought for me.

"Excuse me ma'am," I said. "My friend had bought these for me from one of your Southrain branches. She stays in Southrain and she sent these as a gift to me. I don't know how she made a mistake, but she bought boy clothes. My child is a girl. Please, may I exchange them?" I pleaded with puppy eyes.

The lady stared at me for a while before she said, "you do have a Southrain accent, though. If that is where you stay, you may change them when you go back to Southrain"

Of course my accent would be the Southrain accent. I was born and grew up in Southrain. It was my first time ever, in my entire life, to leave Southrain. I blinked hard and breathed to try and stay calm, then I said "I have no plans of going to Southrain anytime soon. May I change them please?"

"Let me ask my senior", she said as she went to the back of the store.

I remained standing, not sure whether to remain there or to just run away. A few moments later she came back and asked me "do you have the receipt?"

"It must be in the bag", I answered.

She checked inside, pulled out the receipt and told me "Ok, you may choose the girl clothes that you want, the receipt amount is your limit."

Without wasting any time, I started picking nice little dresses and hair scrunches.

"You and your friend are not that close, are you?" the lady said

"Huh? Which friend?" I asked her.

"The one who bought you those clothes"

"The clothes? Huh?"….I almost sold myself out before I remembered that I had just told a lie. Then I quickly remembered and went on, "oh, that one. No, we are close."

"How then did she not know that your child was a girl? Why did she buy boy clothes?"

"When I was pregnant I had told her that I was expecting a boy", I could not believe how excellent at telling lies I was becoming.

"Ok; so the scan made an error?", the lady asked.

"The scan made an error, we all thought the child would be a boy." I smiled.

She seemed to be in a mood to chat a lot, but I really wanted to go. I had to rush back to the car because I had left Liam there alone.

After thanking her a lot, I hurried out of the shop and using the last of my money, I bought myself a cell phone.

Back in the car, Liam had just woken up and was about to start crying when I opened the door. He smiled at me. I made sure he was ok before I drove out of the busy city area.

Sitting in the back seat, I held Liam in my arms. "Hello little one", I said as I made him sit on my laps. I started to remove his clothes. I changed his diaper and I dressed him in a cute little pink dress. I went on to put colorful scrunches in his hair. Probably not used to his hair being tied, he shook his head in protest. "I'm sorry Liam, I'll make them lose. There we go, the last one please Liam? There we go! What a beautiful Princess", I smiled at him. He smiled back.

"And from now on, you will have to look like a little girl. Remember the police are busy looking for a lady with black hair, and a little boy. Now look what we've done; I now have shiny blond hair, and you're my cute little girl! No-one should suspect us" I summarised our plan to Liam. As if he understood it, he laughed loudly and jumped up and down happily. The little boy raised his hands up in air, waved a little before bringing them down on his head, trying to pull off the scrunches.

"No no no don't remove them," I smiled at him. "We need them. We need anything and everything to change your little face. You have to look like a little girl, Liam."

The little boy smiled even wider. I smiled back, but deep in my heart I was troubled, failing to know for how long I was going to keep up with the act.

I fed him "I'm sorry that you haven't had a hot meal in a while, dear Liam…", he looked at me and laughed. After feeding the child, I took my new phone and dialed Valentina's number, but it did not go through. I tried it three more times with the same result. I then dialed Eden's number.

"Hello? Who's this?" Eden's voice was muffled, it sounded like he was not in a good position to talk.

"Eden? Its Anisha. This is my new number."

"Anisha? Is the baby fine?" he answered immediately after I had spoken.

"Eden you promised to join me soon. I am stuck in Yellowleaf and I have been running since the time we parted. …" I immediately broke into tears.

"Don't cry, Anisha", he said. "I am coming for you. I will help you. In the mean time, go to number 17 Mayrick Drive. You will find a girl called Evangelista. Once you get there, ask her to call me. Don't leave until I come. Take good care of the baby, please."

"17 Mayrick Drive? Evangelista? OK let me head there now. Before I go, please can you get Val to get in touch with me. I feel so lost. She is the only family I have. Please. I need to hear her voice."

"I told you not to call anyone. Stick to our plan and everything will be fine." He said.

"What! Why can't I call my own closest friend?"

"You know that someone is after you, and here I am going all out to protect you. All you can do is to mess up the plan. Do not call her!" Eden sounded angry.

"Oh, I'm sorry about that. So what should I do now?"

"Wait for me. I will help you. 17 Mayrick Drive." he said.

"I feel like we must report to the police. We didn't do anything, Eden. We're both innocent." My eyes were swimming in the hot tears.

"No police, Anisha. You know that they're after you. There are moles among the cops. You won't know who to trust, even your boss Lucas told you that."

"How did you know so much about everything? Why do you care so much about my safety? How did you happen to be at the la Martina's house at the time of the murder?" I demanded, my suspicion on Eden starting to rise again.

"Too many questions. Wait for me and I will explain everything to you. And please take care of that child."

"Why do you…" I meant to ask Eden why he seemed to care that much about Liam, but he did not allow me to finish my sentence. Instead he spoke hurriedly,

"17 Mayrick Drive, Anisha. See Evangelista." And the line went dead.

My mind got busy as my thoughts ran in all directions. What was the best? Was it really safe to sit and trust Eden, or calling the police was a much better option? I knew that I was already a suspect in the kidnapping of Liam and in the murder of ma'am Larissa too.

"Why would they think I murdered her, hmm, Liam?" I asked the little boy. He stared at me and I fought hard to control my tears. "There is only one witness to this, and it's Eden. I am not sure if I trust him, but he knows that I did not do this!" I continued talking to Liam.

"Liam," he opened his eyes wide and stared at me. He could tell that I was sad, and he too began to become sad. "Don't be sad, Liam. I'm sure Eden will help us. If he doesn't get in touch with us in the next twenty-four hours, we go to the police and explain our issue. We will tell them the truth. Is that so, Liam?" I looked at him and he, searching my face, saw me smiling, and he smiled happily as well.

SOUTHRAIN CITY NEWS ONLINE

…the name of the murdered woman has been released. She is Mrs Larissa la Martina, wife to Mr Lewis la Martina. The two co-own Double L Waste Management Company. Larissa la Martina was brutally murdered in her home in Harvey Street. The suspect, who posed as a plumber, is still at large. Mr la Martina and their nine month old son are still missing.

Still on that investigation, police have apprehended a twenty-one year old babysitter, Valentina Meyerton. One of the suspects in the la Martina saga, Anisha Meyerton, is believed to have been hosted at Southrain City Lodge, and she asked for a phone whereby she called and spoke to Valentina Meyerton. The manager at Southrain City Lodge confirmed that Anisha was travelling with a baby, and he further confirmed that the child looked like the picture of the missing child, Liam la Martina. Valentina is currently in police custody and is refusing to cooperate as she claims to not know anything regarding Anisha's whereabouts.

The police is calling on anyone who has information that may lead to the arrest of the suspects to call detective Harris on 235885, or officer Fraser on 235886. Anonymous calls can also be made at 5565785. We will keep you updated.

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