"Where could I possibly find her?" Liam asked himself while looking at the information drafted for Janella. He knew her for over a year but it was at this moment that Liam realized he never really knew anything about her. "She's really good at keeping secrets." He said. Since Niko told him to handle this case personally, his colleagues didn't really know much of the case.
"Will, I brought you lunch. Are you still trying to catch that interesting woman of yours?"
"Stop making fun of me."
"Kidding aside, haven't you really heard anything from her? Like where she used to live or where she grew up?"
"She did. I still remember the things she said and the places that she frequented to. I have checked the places yesterday but she wasn't there. I don't even know if she told me the truth or if she was just fooling me."
"Women are scary." The police officer commented while taking out the food boxes. "That is why, I will never have a girlfriend."
"Don't say it now. You don't know what's in store for you in the future."
The two of them continued to work on their respective tasks. It was Saturday so, there wasn't that many people inside the office. Many of them have days off during weekend but that didn't mean they're not alert or at work. In truth, even if they're at home, if something huge happen, they would still get out of their bed to respond to the emergency call.
The sound of the fan was a bit loud than usual now that there were just few officers inside the station. The rustling sounds of papers, the deep sighs and the scratching of pens could be clearly heard. It was really quiet.
'Criiiinng! Criiiinng! Criiiinng!'
"Oh! F*ck!" The other officer was so startled from the sudden sound of the telephone that he clutched his chest, nearly had a heart attack. "Who's calling? You guys answer that. I am doing something."
Liam looked at the officer and found him playing a cross-word puzzle on a newspaper. "Do your job properly." Liam said and knocked the officer's head while walking to the telephone. "This is Officer Hughes from the City's Crime Division Office." He greeted as soon as he picked up the call. Ten seconds have passed but it was silent on the other end of the line. "Hello?" Liam pinched the space between his eyebrows and closed his eyes to calm himself. He tried to listen for any faint movement from the other end of the line but there was really nothing. He looked at the caller ID and jotted it down on a small piece of paper. Instead of ending the call, he turned it to a speaker mode and left the telephone area to start looking into the owner of the caller ID.
Not long after, he found out that the caller used a public telephone booth. While Liam was busy looking into the caller ID, he received a message from an unknown number. The first message was picture of a hotel. The second one was the room #. The third was a short sentence – 'you will find your answer here'.
Liam frowned and was still bothered with the phone call earlier but since it came from the public telephone booth, he finally decided to end the call. He didn't know that on the other end of the line, Ivan was just listening to his voice. It was their first silent encounter.
"I'm going somewhere. Do you want to come with me?" Liam asked to the officer who was still busy with the puzzle game.
"Give me a sec."
"Just stay here then."
"No! I'm coming with you." The officer threw the newspaper on the side and followed Liam to his car. He didn't know where they were going since Liam didn't say anything but when he found out where they stopped, the officer couldn't stop himself from gulping. "Will, I said that women are scary but I didn't mean to do it with a man either."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Let's just go back, okay? We don't have to rent a hotel room. I can't really help you this time."
"Are you and idiot or something?" Liam snorted and knocked the officer's head again. "Jason, we're here because I received a message about my answer being here. I want to know what that sender meant."
"You believed an unknown sender?"
"There's no harm in doing."
The two of them went inside the hotel and used the elevator to get to the specific room that the sender mentioned. They knocked on the door but no one answered it.
"Are you sure that this is the room?" Jason asked Liam again while looking at the number written on the door. "I'll go back and ask if someone's really using this room."
"There's no need to ask. Someone's inside." Liam replied. "I trust my instinct."
"O-okay. If we fail, it's not my fault."
They waited at the lobby, not bothering to knock the door anymore. They really had no idea who the person was inside that room and when Liam sent a reply to the unknown sender, asking him of the guest's identities, his message could no longer be sent. The number was no longer used.
Hours passed and no one came out of the room yet. Jason was already tired from walking back and forth on the corridor. Liam remained calm like always. He was just leaning on the wall and from time to time, he'd send messages with someone. Jason tried to peek on the other party's name but Liam pinched his chin and smiled threateningly at him. He had no idea who was texting his best partner.
"I can't take this anymore. I'll go and ask the receptionist." Jason left and went back to the ground floor. He knew that the receptionist won't give the guest's name who checked-in to their hotel so, he made up stories which sounded plausible. He walked to the reception desk and found the receptionist flipping through fashion magazine. He tapped his fingers on the desk to get his attention.
"Good day, sir. How can I help you?" The receptionist asked while putting down the magazine on the side.
"My friend told me to come because he wanted to show me something. He gave me the room #605. Are they still inside? I knocked on the door but no one opened it."
"Yes, sir. The guests in room #605 booked the room for a day and night. They'll have to check out tomorrow at 10AM or choose to extend their stay."
"I see. Thanks a lot. I'll just give him a call again." Jason left with a faint smile and went back to the 6th floor where Liam was waiting for him. "Man, you're very punctual. The guests might have just started making out and here we are disturbing them."
"What do you mean?"
"They just checked-in and they'll check-out tomorrow at 10:00 AM. Why don't we leave and come back tomorrow?"
Liam was just about to agree when they heard the soft clicking sound of the door lock being unlocked. The two of them turned their heads to the room #605 and what they saw really stunned the two of them. Not just them, the two guests were stunned as well.
"William." Janella whispered his name with a face paler than a ghost. Her make up couldn't cover her complexion at all.
"You know them?" The man asked while snaking his arm around Janella's waist. "You really are a slut baby." He whispered close to her ear and even gave her earlobe a soft bite.
"I'm a police officer. Please hand in the woman if you don't want to get involve with her crime." Liam showed his badge as he approached the two people. He looked indifferent and he didn't even look at her face for more than five seconds. He felt that his eyes will receive great damage if he kept looking at her.
"I didn't know that officers. Please don't involve me."
"It has nothing to do with you. Go back to your family or wherever you came from." He pulled Janella's hands and cuffed them without further delay. "Come with us if you don't want your case to be piled up. You better confess everything to lighten up your punishment." He yanked her arm and dragged her outside of the hotel without a doubt or hesitation.
The guest who checked-in with Janella was watching her go with that skimpy dress she was wearing. "I haven't fully used her yet. Tsk! What a waste of money."
Janella didn't say anything and didn't try looking at Liam once again. She felt so tired after running away for two days with nothing, hooking up with men, using her face and body just to get some money to get by. She felt ashamed. She felt angry. She felt so many emotions that she thought she'd erupt if she speaks a word to them.
In her hospital room, Sofia was watching the video of when Liam caught Janella at the hotel. She was eating the tangerine that Yusef peeled for her. "Happy?" She heard Yusef asked her.
"Of course. I don't really want to burden him with my case."
"Do you dare say to me that you are still playing with him? If I will be asked, I will certainly say you are in love with him. It's very obvious already. Why would you still deny it?"