87. Richard went to the study and looked at the pile of DVDs his butler had placed there.
These were all from that hospital where Macy had been told that she had lost her child and Richard wanted to look at all of them.
He wanted to see if Angela ever visited that hospital and if she did, who she talked to.
He wanted to start as Macy slept and the when she woke up, they would do it together to expedite the process.
He took his laptop and fired it up.
He then placed a call to his butler and said just one word, “coffee,” and hang up.
The old man knew that whenever Richard asked for coffee, he meant lots of it because he was going to be working for a while.
He then inserted the first DVD to the player and clicked play.
He fast forwarded it to a speed of four because he did not want to miss anything.
There was nothing on the first tape and he did the same with the second as she sipped the coffee that had already been brought in a big flask that would keep it hot.
In the other room, Macy woke up naturally and she felt as if she had rested for a very long time.
She felt relaxed and smiled at the feeling of no pain anywhere in her body.
“I already told him that I will help him with anything and I have to do this before I leave. That is the least I can do,” Macy talked to herself as she walked into the bathroom.
She was knocking on the door to Richard’s study thirty minutes later.
She had taken a bath and freshened up and changed her clothes.
She was invited in and she opened the door slowly.
“How is you head?” Was the first question Richard asked when he lifted his eyes and met with hers.
“Much much better,” she said as she walked towards where he was seated on the couch.
“So, what can I do for you?” She asked wondering what all the CDs and DVDs were for.
“Here,” Richard said as he handed her another laptop.
“I want you to help me go through these,” he pointed at all the DVDs on the table and Macy was flabbergasted.
“All these?” she asked not believing it.
“Yes. All of them,” he said seriously and she realized that he wasn’t joking.
“Okay, what are we looking for?” she asked as she sat down and switched on the small computer.
“You or Angela,” he said simply and she froze on the spot.
“Me or… why?” She asked as she found her voice again.
“These are all for the surveillance footage from that hospital where you lost your child that year.
I want us to go through then so that we can see who Angela talked to so that we can have a lead of where the child is,” he said with his eyes on the screen not looking at her.
It was like whatever he was saying was the most normal thing and nothing was strange with it.
“Why? Why are you doing all this for me? I can never repay you,” Macy asked for the first time getting emotional.
She really wanted to get out of here because she didn’t know for how long she was going to keep lying to herself that’s he wasn’t falling for this man every day.
“Because that child is…,” he hesitated and then continues, “Because it is you. It is you Macy and I want to do things for you.
I am happy when yu are happy and I know finding this child will make you very happy and I, in turn, will be very happy.
So, you can say that I am doing this for myself and you are just helping me,” he said seriously and Macy did not have a comeback for that.
She took the DVD her fingers touched and inserted it into the laptop’s player without another word.
She couldn’t pretend anymore that Richard had won her over. He had won her to his side with his love.
She loved this man and she would be very sad if she let go of this feeling but she had to do it for him.
They played the DVDs in silence and did not talk.
Richard had put coffee in a cup and handed it to her and as if the butler had done it a million times, he replenished the coffee after very hour or so.
The two did not talk and all they did was watch the footage in silence.
Night came and none of them said anything and the only sound that was made in the room was the occasional opening of the player and the movement to the toilet to pee and these breaks weren’t many.
“I think I got something,” Macy was the first one to talk after a long day’s watching.
“What?” Richard asked as he took her laptop.
“Here, look at this. This was a week before the accident that took my baby… that I thought took my baby.
Angela walks into the hospital and she is in disguise.
Look, she looks as if she is hiding from someone and she walks towards that hall…” Macy explained and they continued watching.
What Richard loved about these footages was that those form a particular day had all been put into one DVD and there was hence no need to look for others for the same day and different corners of the hospital.
They thus fast forwarded until they saw Angela enter into a doctor’s office as if she was sneaking in.
Richard used a certain app to expand the video until he saw the name on the door: Dr. Maxwell Hassan, Obstetrician.
“That … that was my doctor. He was the one who used to do my check ups and also the man who told me that my baby had… oh my God!
Did he…? Did they…? Fuuuck! And to think that I believed him!” Macy said as she paced all over the room with her thoughts everywhere.
She remember how she trusted that man and told him everything.
“I told him everything. He had promised me that he would be my friend because he had realized that I didn’t have any friends.
And to think that he was the one who betrayed me!
Can I kill him?” Macy sat down beside Richard and asked.
“Let us watch a bit more and maybe we will learn something more before we decide whether he deserves to be killed or not,” Richard said and Macy nodded her head.
“Now that we have that, let us go to the day you gave birth,” Richard said and without speaking, Macy started looking through the ones they hadn’t played and after a while, she came up with one.
She ejected the one that was in the player and inserted that one.
They saw Angela come into the hospital and visit the same doctor and then fast forwarded it until they saw Macy.
She was heavily pregnant and she visited the same doctor.
Macy walked out and after they didn’t even fast forwards for thirty minutes before Macy came back but this time, she was in a stretcher and she was bleeding heavily.
She was wheeled inside and they saw Angela come back after a while and waited outside the door to the emergency room.
It was like she knew what was happening and was sure of the outcome.
She was just on her phone which rang and she stood up from the seat she was occupying as she connected the call.
“Does it have audio?” Macy asked and Richard fiddled with it for a while and there was sound.
“Rewind it from where she picks the call,” Macy said and Richard did and then they listened.
“Yes Hun…. Mmm… no. I am in the spa with the girls like I had told you…. Yes…. Okay…. Yes… okay, love you too,” she finished and then hang up and returned to wait on the chair.
“That must have been Andy,” Macy said and they watched and she was just sitting playing on her phone again.
“Fast forward for a bit,” Macy said and Richard did.
After playing it at X4 speed for about two minute, they saw the door open and out came the doctor holding a baby.
Richard paused it and then played it at X1 speed and with audio.
“Is it alive?’ Angela sked and the doctor smiled.
“Yes. A baby boy. He’s so beautiful,” the man said.
“Stop it! You said you know a couple who can adopt him? I don’t want her to ever know that she gave birth to a boy or that he was alive.
I gave you enough and you can take care of the rest,” Angela said and then walked away.
She did not even look at the baby and they did not play it again.
Macy sat there as quiet tears fell from her eyes and Richard pulled her towards himself and embraced her.
“We at least have a lead now. We will definitely find our baby.”