When Nora was done, she went to inform Ivy that she was leaving and Ivy asked why she refused to eat.
"I now have a child and I will have to cook and eat with her when I get home." She replied cautiously.
Ivy did not argue or try to persuade her to eat.
"Your mum has been transferred to another hospital." she informed.
Nora was surprised, it happened faster than she expected.
"Your dad gave his approval" Ivy added seeing her puzzled look.
Nora felt as though a huge burden has been taken off her shoulders.
"Thanks so much Ivy. I don't know how I am going to repay you for this" she said and teared up.
"Just leave. I'm heartbroken" Ivy said and Nora was sad.
"I'm sorry."
"Just leave "
When Nora got home, she perceived the aroma of minestrone from the passage. She went inside the kitchen and met someone cooking in her kitchen.
The small figure did not seem to notice her.
"Hmn, what are you cooking?" Nora asked, thought of something and said nothing about the food.
Annabel felt she had done something wrong and stared at her fingers.
"I'm sorry, I was hungry so I saw some...
Nora was amused because of her expression and couldn't help but laugh out.
"The food smells nice, who taught you how to cook?" she asked and Annabel blushed and replied "My mum did. I used to cook with her when we were together and sometimes when she became so tired after a long day and can't do it, I'd do the cooking" she said
"Wow" Nora was wowed.
The people at the base were troubled.
One of them was reporting the situation to another.
"This... Ivy Jones' address is far from here and it has been confirmed that she did not lodge in any hotel around here before now. The address doesn't look authentic at all.
The other person tapped a few times on his computer.
"Call our informants in that city and have them confirm if she really stays there. The report I have here states that she came to the beach very early in the morning and she did not use any of the transports around neither did she come in a private car which is very suspicious. I don't think we should send our men over there immediately because this report looks like one that was intentionally created to deceive us.
"Okay sir" he replied and went ahead to do as he was told.
Few minutes later, he came back to give the results of his findings.
"Sir you were right, that address was really misleading.
We confirmed that she originally lived there but hasn't been there for about half a year now, what should we do?"
After an even more thorough investigation, they found her address and when they checked the footage of the nearest bustop, they saw that she came back home on that day with a child and they checked and found out that she was not living with any child.
They could not clearly see the face of the child because of the storm.
Even though the child was carried by Nora and they didn't see her physique clearly, they were very sure this child in Nora's arms was Annabel.
They immediately got their men into action.
They raced like mad men to Nora's residence
By the time they arrived, it was late afternoon.
Nora lived in a rural area and the place didn't have much surveillance.
Only very few persons who had money were able to get cameras in their stores to regulate the people that worked for them.
The people from the base were very careful and divided into groups.
They had invisible gadgets which they used to communicate with themselves. One group went to Nora's apartment. The door was locked but that was not an issue as they came prepared, they opened the door and got in. They were sneaky at first but when they saw that no one was home, they stopped being sneaky.
They began to search, taking note of anything indicating that a child lived there recently. One person searched the living room, he didn't find anything related to a child.
Two went for the room Nora lived in and their eyes caught a figure wrapped in the blanket laying on the bed just immediately they stepped in. They were so happy, their work seemed to have been made easier. They rushed to the bed with much enthusiasm, uncovered the blanket and to their utmost disappointment, it was a big doll.
They were supposed to lose hope when they saw the doll but they were even more convinced that Annabel has been here, since Nora has no record of living with any child and an adult with her kind of personality as they investigated would not be fond of dolls as to leave it on the bed and also cover it with a blanket before going out. They reasoned that Annabel was here and must have seen them before now and kept that thing there to confuse them.
That child was too smart for her age. They became even more alert and continued their search.
The persons who have gone to Rose's room to search saw everything neatly arranged like an adult would keep it. They were still not deceived and searched very keenly for any clues.
When they saw that they were no clues, they communicated with the people in the other room and when they confirmed that neither the girl nor anything related to her was found here. They asked the person that checked other parts of the house who confirmed that there were no clues. They spoke with the ones that checked the surrounding and other apartments around Nora's apartment, got negative reports and finally reported to the group of persons who were downstairs not forgetting to give detailed explanations of their activities.
They proceeded to take DNA reports and fingerprint from the house which would be checked with the ones they had to see if they matched. They took all the cutleries in her kitchen and replaced them with identical ones. Everything they took were replaced with identical stuff such that one would hardly differentiate between the original ones.
They were so sure that they checked the neighbouring places and finally concluded that even though the possibility of her living here still existed, she was not here at the moment.
A shout was heard from the streets and almost immediately, gunshots were heard. Everyone ran helter skelter for their lives.
Soon, the police arrived and they were doing their best to calm the situation.
The group that went to meet the landlord were already at his doorstep.
They introduced themselves as police officers presenting their identity cards to prove it, they told him that they were investigating the cause of the incident that just occured at his doorstep.
He complied answering every question that was asked.
When he told them that he was the landlord, they began to ask about the tenants that he rented apartments to.
He answered carefully.
"Is there not a Nora Jones living here?" they asked feigning ignorance.
"There is, but I did not rent the apartment to her, she is being housed by her friend.
"They asked how long Nora had stayed there."
When he said it, they began to scold him for allowing a total stranger to leave here without checking anything about her and not minding whether or not, she had any criminal records.