Grand. - Episode 4

The Body In The Lake

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Present Day

Friday night

10/2/2017

I take the pot of steamed rice from stove and set it aside. I then proceed to the dining to prepare it. I hear voices aproaching. It is dad best pal James. He lives not far from here and he and dad have become fast friends. He is part of the police force.

I move to the living room . Their voices are getting closer. 

"Evana wants to come see Penelope." Dad says

My heartbeat speeds up. Evana is my mum.

"Do you want her to come?" Jame asks full of uncertainty.

I move away from there not wanting to get intimate details of their discussion and head for the kitchen. I scoop all the rice in a huge bowl and do the same with the meat stew. Pouring juice in a glass jar, i carry all this to the dining room. It takes a few minutes for them to join me at table.

As he makes for his seat by the table i rise up to get a slight peck on the cheek.

"Hey Penny..is everything okay?'

"Yea sure, why?"

"Your bus passed like three hours ago and you didn't alight from it. Was that a bag i saw you dragging into the house?"

My heart is lunching wildly against my chest

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. I look over to James. Am trying not to do anything that will let them know that am habouring a secret. A secret that would literally blow their minds away.

"Oo the bag? Its for a science project the class is working on. I drove up with Janey so we could go over logistics."

I pause and look at their faces. They seem to be buying my story.

"I decided to walk from her place."

I feel guilty for lying to my dad. I dont even know where Janey's house is situated..

"Next time give me a call and let me know you will be running late." I give him a reassuring smile.

My secret is safe.

 

******

Sartuday 

11/2/2017

Am glad its a weekend.

I keep pacing around my room. A form two chemistry text book lies on my bed. I can't concentrate. Besides i have gone over it two times. I pretty much know close to everything in that book. I just want to take my mind  of things.

My usual calm has not returned. My mind is racing wildly seiving through all the possibilities that sorrounds the mess i dived in less than twenty four hours ago. What crime could Lloyd parents have commited that they had to flee the country? 

Murder?

It sure would be all over the news. Are they laundering money? Is their businesses based on corrupt deals? Why isn't there anything in the media? Something this huge should have already been covered on the news unless of course they are ahead of the police. Hell is about to break loose in the small town of Grand. I can feel it in my bones. This is just the beginning. Its about to get hotter than a furnace. I hope and pray that Lloyd is not playing me. If that boy knows where his parent is ..well he will have to cotend with the expression

Hell has no fury like a woman scorned.

I fold the book then lay down on my bed. I can hear dad shuffling things. He must be late for where he is going. Minutes later, his head appears on the doorway.

"Goodmorning angel!"

"Morning daddy. Where to this early?"

"Going fishing." He says enthusiastically.

Fishing?!! That is unheard of in this part of the world. Men do not wake up to go fishing on weekends. In Grand fishing is a sport.

"Fishing..where?" I probe him.

"There is a lake about two kilometres from here . We will just be having man to man talk with James mostly."

Man to man talk..right.

I nod sheepishly. I have to wait to see what size of fish they will be coming back with. I lay back to my bed listening to the fading footsteps of my dad. He has changed alot. He is not the same man Evana had caught cheating with his assistant. It was devastating for her to discover the man he loved was cheating. I was eleven then. I know she still loves dad though she hasn't forgiven him despite dad's pleas that it was a one time incident and it would never happen again. Mum choose to stay seperated. The hole dad left in mum's chest is so huge, i don't think apologies is going to fix it up. I know dad loves mum too. After the incident i have never seen any woman hanging around him. Even at his work place he avoids them like plague. I pray they would get back together. Having to love them separately is not quite easy. Before moving in with dad i would come see him over the holidays. Homecoming were just great with mum asking me how dad was but pretending to be uninterested in my answers. I knew them too well. Adults. Thinking am too small to understand whats going on around me.

When i cannot solve a problem by thinking it through, i resolve to cleaning to drain the energy out. I start with the kitchen, washing all the dishes and arranging the kitchen neatly. I then put my first bunch of whites in the washing machine. Cleaning the floor follows, both our bedrooms, kitchen and the living room. I scrub the floor sparkling clean.

Satisfied with my work, i go to my room take a shower and falls asleep on my bed.

 

Few hours later am woken up by the voices of dad and James chatting excitedly. Another voice i don't recognise comes within my hearing range. They must have had quite a catch, I think to myself. Grudgingly, i roll of my bed grateful for the nap i just had. I walk into the living room. Dad is setting his fishing gear at one of the corners.

"Woow its sparkling in here Penny..were you trying to get us to eat from the floor and not the dining table?"

I chuckle at my father's attempt to make a joke. He always tries though he is pathetic at it. I manage a smile.

"So how was the catch?"

I notice my father eyeballs are dancing with some sort of exited expression. The other two are also looking at him waiting for him to give me the news. Instinctively i know he is not going to talk about fish, just as i know what is to follow will not exite me as much it exites them.

"Did you catch a fish big enough to feed the whole town?" I ask trying to calm my nerves down.

"No my dear. We may have stumble into something that is going to turn the town of Grand upside down."

"What is it dad?"

Its a suprise my heart has not jump out of my chest already. How am keeping my cool is a miracle.

"We were fishing, Philip, James and i when my fishing line broke."

He pauses making the depression in my stomach increase.

"We could not figure out what it was that made the line broke so James called for divers."

"So what did they find." I ask loud impatience choking my throat.

"They found a car and a woman's body in it." James volunteers that piece of information. 

My mind goes blank momentarily.

"Wooow...poor woman...so what happen next?" I ask trying to hide the shock my body is experiencing in every inch of it.

"They had to excavate it. Not sure if thats the right term.

We understand what he means.

"It took about three hours for the whole process to finish. He body looked decayed and eaten by fish. Must have stayed there a few days." Dad concludes.

My head is buzzing and i resist the urge to block my ears with my fingers. Relax Penny, no one has said the Ericksons name yet. This maybe totally unrelated.

I try to cormfort myself but i know this can't be a coincidence.

Read " Made " by the same author ( DORSILA ANYANGO )

. Ericksons flee the country and suddenly a body is found in L.Grand? I don't believe in coincidence most especially not in a town with powerful people as Grand. I can barely concentrate on what dad and James are saying. They are talking about L.Grand being shallow and the people who were trying to cover up the murder must have not known.

Maybe its just a coincidence. Could the Ericksons really kill someone? Why were they fleeing the country? They could have easily paid off the person who was nagging them. You never really know what people are capable of until they carry it out. I sink on the couch and let them talk on the possible scenarios sorrounding their gruesome discovery. I shut my eyes and can't help but blame myself for taking Lloyd's money and agreeing to help.

I should have drilled Lloyd harder to see if he was hiding anything. By taking the money i have commited a thousand crimes i do not know about. Should i tell dad  or better still James who is part of the police force?

Lloyd really needs you Penelope.

I sigh loudly opening my eyes wide on the process. Nobody seems to be concentrating on me. I get off the couch and carry my disturbing thoughts with me.

 

********

Author's note 

Hey guys.

I hope you enjoying this story.

Don't forget to like, rate and give honest opinions on the comment section.

Toda,

Lehitraot,

Dorsila.

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