The next morning, Isobelle texted El, 'put on the news and keep the volume High' her message was followed by wink emoticons.
'But why' Michelle asked.
'Just do it.'
El went downstairs, she saw Dwane talking to two other men, ignoring them she turned on the TV.
"Michelle Ford spotted in Abon city." The news headlines flashed which was followed by a clip in which few reporters were following a woman whose face was covered with a scarf which was similar to the scarf she wore the other day.
The news clip caught the attention of Dwane and his assistants, Tom and Bill. Their eyes were struck on the TV screen.
Alec, who had just reached downstairs, watched the clip too.
Dwane whispered something to Tom and he firmly nodded. "I guess you are leaving." Alec said.
"Not yet," Dwane smirked.
"I'm pretty sure it's fake." His husky voice caused shivers run down El's spine.
'So much for Isobelle's efforts' she thought and shook her head dejectedly.
Although Dwane said the clip might be fake, it still got him thinking. He instructed Tom to look into it.
That evening at Crossfire gym,
"Did you know what Isobelle was upto?" Michelle asked Mark.
"No, I wouldn't have let her do it, if I knew."
"What's your game plan?"
"He'll leave in few days, we only need to keep an eye on him and see that he doesn't land up on actual leads"
Michelle nodded.
Mark kept a close eye on Dwane, while Michelle continued with her regular life. As expected by him, Dwane didn't land up on any leads.
One evening, "What about her phone were you able to track it?" Dwane asked Bill on call.
"No boss, its untraceable, but we are still trying."
"Well Try harder" he said sternly and hung up keeping his phone in his suit pocket.
El was eyeing him from afar using her peripheral vision.
He suddenly picked his phone again and rushed to his room, dropping a paper from his pocket.
El took the paper and unfolded it.
She was taken aback when she saw the contents of the paper. She stood still staring at the paper, her face was drained of all colours as if she had seen a ghost.
Dwane stormed out of his room and saw El holding that paper. He snatched it from her hand,
"Don't ever touch my things again."
Although they rarely spoke with eachother, Dwane always had a chivalrous or sometimes an indifferent demeanor towards her.
It was the first time he talked to her in an enraged manner.
El had never seen him so furious before, not even when he was talking about struggling Michelle.
She flinched when he snatched the paper from her.
Dwane stormed back into his room. He carefully straightened the paper, gently folded it and placed it back in his pocket.
'Will I ever be able to find you?' thinking this he fisted his hand trying to not let his emotions overwhelm him.
'Dwane has found something or maybe he had it all along. I'll tell you more when we meet' Michelle texted Mark.
She saw another message on her phone from an unknown number, it read -
'I'll find you soon Michelle Ford'.
'How did he manage to find my number? I need to get rid of him soon,' she thought.
That evening,
"What did he find?" Mark asked.
"It's a sketch of mine, before the surgery. Before any of them."
"
Where do you think he got it from?" She asked Mark.
"It isn't tough to get a picture of yours four years ago, it's not like we kept it a secret."
Mark thought for a while and continued, "It's nothing major, you don't even look the same now don't worry about it."
"He also found my other number." Michelle showed him the text,
Mark smirked "Some progress on his side, but still nothing to be worried about. That number is untraceable, regardless I'll look into it."
"When will he leave?" Michelle was getting restless.
"Soon, he'll leave by himself if he doesn't find anything. We don't need to do anything."
"You sure?" Michelle was still skeptical.
She was finding it hard to live in peace staying in close proximity to the man who swore on strangling her to death.
She wanted to do something instead of only waiting for him to leave by himself.
Unable to contain her restlessness, she decided to text back to Dwane.
As she stepped out of the gym, she took her phone and texted him - 'You wish'.
Dwane saw the text, it was the first time he was able to establish some form of contact with her which caused him to have a plethora of emotions.
He felt like she was near. A feeling he was striving to have from four long years. He thought for a while and texted her back -
'Your end is near Michelle Ford'.