The Perfect Husband (#wattys 2015)

6

Elena went home with tears in her eyes, knowing that there was a possibility of never seeing her Malik again.

When she pulled up to the curb, she noticed a police car in her driveway, her heart raced, and she prepared for the worst.

She then remembered about that call, but now the cops had showed up at her place.

''Can I help you two?'' Elena asked.

"Mrs. Franco?" The female officer asked.

Elena nodded her head, "it's actually Perry," she replied.

The two officers exchanged a look, "we called you to come into the station from quarter to 11, why haven't you showed up?" The female officer grilled.

Elena sighed; she liked dealing with cops who didn't know who she was so she could school them.

"I thought it was a prank call." She told them, fishing around for her keys.

"A prank call?" The male officer spoke now.

"Yes, I'm a news reporter so I get a lot of those lately, and if you were making yourself clear over the phone then I would make it a point of duty to stop by." She told them, hands now on her hips.

''Well, this is a serious matter.'' The female officer frowned at her.

''Care to identify yourself,'' Elena said, ignoring her remark.

''Yes, I'm Officer Keith Jones and this is my partner. Officer Jennie Wilson.'' The male officer said.

A man who was cutting his edges now seemed interested in what was happening at Elena's front door.

"Look I don't want the neighbors involved so can we please go inside?" Elena said, motioning for them to enter the house.

"Now, is there something wrong?" Elena asked, getting straight to the point.

Officer Wilson looked around, then at her partner.

"I think you should take a seat ma'am." The chubby male officer said.

Elena raised a perfectly waxed eye brow but did as she was told, seating on the arm of the lazy boy chair with her arms crossed.

"I have some terribly news, sorry to tell you this but your husband Mr. Franco is missing." He told her.

Elena leant her head to the side, "what?"

She was still in denial about the whole thing, she kept telling herself that Malik would come through the door any minute now.

Officer Wilson leaned forward in her seat, "we were contacted by the San Francisco police station, they said that your husband was at a bar at around 9 pm, he got into a fight and hasn't been seen since."

Elena closed her eyes, "I know that he hasn't been home for a few days now but thi-"

Officer Wilson cut her off, "so you knew that your husband is missing?"

Elena fought back on rolling her eyes, "I never said I knew he was missing, I said he's just not home yet. He felt one week and a day ago on a business trip to San Francisco. I expected him home 2 days ago, but he hasn't showed up yet."

"And you never thought to report this to the police?" The female officer was reaching for her hand cuff now.

Elena rolled her eyes then, "let's be rational here, I said he went on a business trip and isn't back yet. That means he could be held up with more things, my husband is a very busy man. Traveling at least six times for a month. He could have easily been in another state, and I didn't want to raise an alarm only to have him appear."

Officer Wilson settled back in her seat, "where were you the morning that he left for his trip?"

"Are you accusing me of abducting my husband?" Elena jumped up.

"As for now you are the only suspect." Officer Jones made known.

Elena start sobbing then, "this is crazy, why are you accusing me of this and why didn't the San Fransisco police contact me instead?"

''Mrs. Franco-''

Elena shook her head. "This must be some mistake," Elena said all choked up, but she knew that it must be true because it would explain why he wouldn't answer her calls.