Unlawfully Confined

14- Lies

Alexander took the fire exit and entered a restricted walkway that he only used for such occasions. The underground confession room was below the parking lot, and people working in his office were unaware of its existence. So he had to take the fire exit to avoid being seen going there.

His phone rang inside his pocket as he was walking to where Mehmood was. He took the phone in his hand and saw it was a video call from Martha. He picked up the call and was soon greeted by Sarah's loud cheering voice.

-"Aleeeex! Look, I draw this tree. Do you like it?"

Alexander beamed up, seeing Sarah calling him just to show a drawing. A low chuckle escaped his lips, and he said,

-"It's beautiful. I love it."

-"YES! I knew you would like my drawing. Martha was telling me that you are busy and I should not call you but you told me that I can call you anytime."

-"Yes, my princess, you can. How can I be busy when the most important person in my life needs something? And also, I didn't know before that you knew how to draw a beautiful tree like that. So, thank you for showing me."

-"You're welcomeee. But I didn't draw it alone, Alex. Suhana helped me. She told me how to draw and color it."

Alexander blinked a couple of times, hearing her name. He wanted to see her now, even a glimpse would do, but he didn't let the desire perk up in his face.

-"Sarah, love, I need to go and finish my work so that I can return home early and see your drawing in front of you. Sounds good?"

-"Yuuuup," Sarah bobbed her head and waved goodbye to Alexander with her tiny hands.

Alexander cut the call and entered the monitoring section of the confession room. There were two sections, parted with a one-way mirror window. Mehmood was lying on the floor on the reflective side of the mirror, beaten to a pulp by Billy as per Alexander's orders.

Alexander could see them both through the glass but didn't want to join them as Mehmood didn't know how Ivan looked. Seeing Mehmood in that condition satisfied him. He texted Billy to start questioning, and Billy started doing so immediately. 

Whatever Mehmood was saying was being recorded, and Alexander also heard everything from the other side of the window. They were about 20 minutes into talking when Billy's phone started ringing. 

He saw Martha video-calling him, which he found suspicious. Martha never calls him when he is in the office with Alexander, let alone a video call. The thought of something dangerous or emergency crossed his mind, and he was dwelling on whether to pick up the call. 

Billy flashed the screen at the window, and Alexander knew it was Sarah, not Martha. Before Alexander could send him a text not to pick up, Billy swiped the screen. Seeing Sarah instead of Martha made Billy more confused.

-"Hi B! Look I made this drawing. I showed it to everyone but forgot about you. I am sorry I didn't call you before. Please don't be mad."

Billy released a breath of relief, knowing it wasn't some emergency. 

-"It's really good. But sweety can I talk to you later? I am in the middle of a task. I promise I'll call you back."

-"We... We should have waited for you to come home. We're really sorry for disturbing you," came Suhana's voice who was sitting near Sarah but away from the camera.

-"No I'm sorry. I wanted to call you. Everyone else told me to wait but I didn't want to. I'm sorry B," Sarah apologized.

-"No sweetheart it's alright. Talk to you later. Bye."