The following happened between 5am and 6am.
“I want daddy” Angel cried “I want to see daddy”.
“Daddy is now in heaven, child. He’s with God” Fr. Mark consoling her.
“I want to see daddy!” she screamed as she tried breaking free from his hands but he held unto hers, watching her with his elderly forty-eight years old compassionate face. “God will take care of you and your mum” And that was when the tear glands of the seven years old burst.
And Kim rushed into the room. Angel sped into her arms.
Richard had not been stern or too loving with Angel, like dads often were. With Angel, he acted like a friend. Accepting her faults and indulgences. Not correcting her when she did something wrong.
“She’ll outgrow it” he would say and smile. What Kim would not take tolerate or buy for Angel, Richard bought it. “She’s not even up to ten, she shouldn’t have that” Kim would say. “Someday, she’ll be ten. She can keep it till then” Richard would say as he and Angel did high five with their hands and giggled like two teenagers.
“Don’t leave me too” Angel cried, hugging Kim fiercely with her small arms.
“Who loves you most in the whole wide world?” Kim asked.
“Mummy” Angel responded. “Mummy loves me most in the whole wide world”.
Kim nodded “So you see why I can never leave you? I love you” Kim said. “And I’ll always be here for you”. If…and only if… I don’t get caught.
****
“Her husband is dead” Felicity said as her robust cheeks moved with each word she said. “They’ve been announcing it all morning” she said.
“Whose husband?” Tony, Kim’s ex-husband whom she was married to for one month asked.
“Who else?” Felicity, Tony’s fiancée replied as Tony towel-dried his wet body from the shower.
“Kim” She said.
Tony stopped in his tracks and looked at the TV. Richard Harrison, Kim’s second husband was being reported as dead.
“I’m not surprised” Tony said and added, “She finally killed him”.
Felicity turned and looked at him, “or you did”.
****
“Have you sent the cards?” Kim asked.
“Yes ma” Jerry said.
She passed a list of names to him. “Call their numbers again and remind them” She said. “Richard would love us to be together and remember him” She said sadly.
Jerry looked through the list, checking the names on it. He stopped at one.
If only she knew. She wouldn’t invite this one.
****
“Are you better now?” Connor asked, giving Meryl Maina, Kim’s housekeeper a smile. He was standing beside her bed in the hospital room.
“I’m better” She replied.
“Still in shock?” Connor asked.
Meryl had been in an extreme state of shock when the police arrived at the murder scene of Richard.
She was the one who found the corpse and phoned the police but by the time they arrived, her teeth and body were shaking. Juddering intensely. And so, they couldn’t pry anything out of her. Minutes later, she was put in an ambulance and brought to the hospital.
Meryl shook her head in response to his question. She was nervous. And wasn’t good at cooking up lies. That was why she feigned shock, when the police started questioning her about Richard. But now, they were back again. Once more, her body started shaking right there on the bed. Her hands, trembling. Not out of shock, but as a result of her tense state.
Connor and Jasmine’s eyes moved to her shaking hands and eyes that were blinking incessantly. Could they tell that this her uncontrollable reaction was because she was scared? Was because she was hiding something that she knew they would soon be searching for?
“Are you going into shock ag…?”
The loose hold Jasmine had on her patience broke. She pushed Connor aside, interrupted his speech of concern and fired at Meryl, “No more time for your sick games”
She banged Meryl’s bedside table, “Now, tell us everything you saw!”