COLDER

= FOUR =

The door bust open. 

The secretary, Julia Benson, jerked back in total shock. 

Nina Gilbert stormed towards her and banged the envelope on her desk. That drew attention of the other staff, who got a glimpse of the free drama from their glass-walled offices. 

Julia had never seen her boss this infuriated in the few weeks that she had worked for her. Rage flowed through her like lava. 

"Who sent this!" Nina hissed, swallowing down her anger to avoid causing commotion. 

"I… I… I don't know…" Julia stuttered. 

She gritted her teeth. "What do you mean you don't know?" 

"It was some guy! I bumped into him at the parking lot this morning! He gave me the envelope and said he'd received it from a stranger! The stranger said to give it to my boss!" 

"Do you know the guy who gave it to you?" 

"No!" 

"A stranger was sent by a stranger to deliver the envelope?" 

Julia nodded.

Nina gritted her teeth. She stared at her secretary intently and let out an exasperated sigh. 

"Now listen," she paused. "The next time someone gives you an envelope… Any envelope… Take their name, phone number and address. Are we clear?" 

Julia nodded, shaken like leaves on a windy day. 

"Good," she spun around to walk to her office. 

Eyes were still glued on her as she resumed her office. This was not a good picture considering that she was still new here. She didn't want to be branded "mean boss". 

I should have handled it better, she thought in despair. 

Back in her office, she drew close the curtains angrily. She tore the envelope in pieces and threw the pieces in the bin next to her office desk. 

She fell on the swivel chair and buried her face in the palm of her hands. 

That letter brought back all the horrors of the past. Maybe it was not a good idea to come back to Kingsville. It terrified her to think that someone sick like Tyler was still out there… Playing these kind of sick games on her… 

A SON FOR A SON?. 

What the hell did that mean? 

Oh my God! Derek and Daryl!!! 

She immediately called their teacher, Ms.Candice, who picked after a few minutes. 

"Hallo?" 

"Hi Ms. Candice?" 

"Hi Mrs. Gilbert," she replied politely. 

"Sorry for the sudden call. Are you in class?" 

"Yes. Why?" 

"Sorry for interrupting your class. But are Derek and Daryl in class right now?" 

She hesitated. 

"I can only see Daryl…" 

Her heart stopped. "God! Where is Derek!" 

Ms. Candice hesitated, not saying a single word. 

"Class… Where is Derek?" The teacher asked. 

Terror coiled like a serpent in Nina's stomach. Where was her son? 

"Where is my son!!!" she asked in sheer fear. 

"Oh," Ms. Candice chuckled on the other end. "The naughty little man was hiding under a desk." 

She let out a loud, relieved sigh.

"Why? Is everything okay Mrs. Gilbert?" 

"Yeah!" she lied. "Just wanna talk to them. Is that okay?" 

Ms. Candice let Nina talk to her sons, though it was against the school rules to let a student talk on the phone in the middle of a class. After she was convinced her sons were safe and secure in school, she told them to give back the phone to their teacher. 

She asked in concern. "Mrs. Gilbert, is everything okay?" 

"Yes!" she lied. "Everything's fine. Can I ask a favor?" 

"Yes?" 

"Please look after my babies Ms. Candice." 

"I will." 

"Thanks," Nina hung up. 

The secretary, Julia, rang the doorbell and Nina let her in. 

"The meeting starts in five minutes, ma'am." 

===

Det. Darren and Det. Megan sailed past the hallway, waving their fellow colleagues. 

They had to sit down one on one in Darren's office and discuss Ray's disappearance. 

Megan wished the ground could just open up and swallow her once and for all. Here she was, paired up on a case with a man she was trying so hard to stay away from. But it proved to be a task. They worked in the same building. How would she be able to stay away from him? 

And now they were paired up on a case. Ofcourse staying away from him would be an impossible mission. 

They were both met by surprise when they entered his office. 

Valerie sat at his swivel chair, smiling brilliantly at him. The smile faded at the sight of Megan. 

"What's she doing here?" 

Darren quickly shut the door, scowling at her. 

"No. What are you doing here!" 

"And I asked what is she doing here!" 

Darren was about to respond but Megan pushed him aside gently and glared at her. 

"Listen, Detective Valerie, I am doing what brought me here; Work. Clearly the same can't be said about you. Your fiancé here is my partner on a case. So, can you give us some space to do what is required of us? I'm sure you have plenty of free time at night to just sit around and cuddle! "

Valerie glared at her, spite vivid in her eyes. She turned to Darren and smiled. 

" I just came to bring you some chocolate cupcakes that I just ordered. Thought you might like them… "

Darren forced a smile, looking at the box of cupcakes. " Thanks Valerie." 

"Is she saying the truth? Have you two been paired up on a case?" 

He nodded. 

She smirked at him. "You must be happy now, Meggy."

"Det. Megan," she corrected. 

"Can you please leave my office?" he tried to ask her in the politest way possible. 

Feeling humiliated, she stood up, stretched down her skirt and straightened her coat. 

"See you at night," she winked at Darren as she left the office and slammed the door. 

Darren heaved an exasperated sigh and went over to pull the chair for Megan to sit. 

"Sorry for that," said Darren after they had both settled. 

"It's fine… I guess it's the mood swings that come with pregnancy," she scoffed. 

"She told you!" 

"Congratulations! You are finally a father!" 

"Megan, I didn't -" 

She cut him off. 

"Det. Darren, for the sake of this case, let's keep everything as professional as possible. Please." 

She grabbed the cupcakes and took a big bite. 

"Mh! Delicious!" 

He chortled watching her eating the cupcake. He took one himself and took a bite. 

She snapped her finger. 

"Where do we start!" 

===

Nina Gilbert sauntered to the table at the middle to eat her lunch. She had not made friends, though most of the staff here were really friendly people. She just didn't feel the need to socialize at work. 

The one she talked to the most was Julia, ofcourse, because she was her secretary. 

But they were what you could call acquaintances… 'Friends' was too big a word. 

Especially after the incident earlier in the day, she had lost any chances of a friendship with the young woman… 

But that didn't bother her. 

What really bothered her was her sons… 

The safety of her sons… 

Thinking about the letter in the envelope sent a cold chill down her spine. 

It was still troubling and disturbing that someone somewhere had sent her the letter. 

Could Tyler… 

No… No… 

He died… 

Then, who sent that letter? 

She couldn't think of anyone other than Tyler who would do that! He's the one that used to send such cryptic, creepy letters! 

Was he doing it from the grave? 

Ugh! That was just ridiculous! 

Or was this just someone who was playing stupid games and messing around with her head? 

"Can I sit with you?" 

A deep voice dragged her back to reality. 

She looked up at the source of the voice  to see Cole Reed, The CEO. 

Why would the boss want to sit with her? 

He was a handsome, middle-aged, filthy rich, divorced man. She wondered why he would be interested to sit next to a random married mother of three. 

"Yea sure!" 

"You must be wondering why I want to dine with you." 

Nina giggled. "You just read my mind, sir…" 

"Reading minds is a talent," he bragged. 

It was kind of awkward seeing this serious man trying to joke. But she forced a laugh either way. 

"Well," he cleared his throat. "I tried to read your mind today at the meeting in the morning. But then I could read nothing because your mind was absent. You couldn't wait for the meeting to end and you weren't the least bit attentive." 

So he noticed… 

This was bad news… 

"You're the general manager, Gilbert. That position is easily replaceable if you keep up that habit. Keep that in mind." 

Her heart stopped. 

"I don't do warnings," he stood up from the table. "Consider yourself lucky, Gilbert." 

===

The Factory Building was a twenty-minute drive from the station. The workers were pacing from one corner to the other in denim overalls and black gumboots.

Det. Darren and Det. Megan had barely exchanged a word through the entire drive. For both of them, the drive seemed to last ages, which was very awkward. 

"We are here!" he announced. 

But she didn't respond. 

Instead, she unbuckled her seat belt and jumped out of the jeep. 

She led the way as he lurked behind her. 

They caught the attention of some of the workers as they entered the building, and went straight to the reception area. 

Megan showed her badge to the young, skimpily dressed receptionist, who was chewing mannerlessly. 

"Det. Megan Wolf. This is my colleague, Det. Darren Todd. We are here to see one of the workers -" 

"Ten?" 

She was a bit surprised. "How did you know it's him we came to see?" 

"I saw you yesterday. You are that cop that came to see him, right?" 

"Yeah… Can you direct us to where he is?" 

She looked coyly at Darren. "I didn't see you with him yesterday…" 

"Miss, please direct us to where Mr. Tensen Truce is…" 

She glared at Megan and blurt out. "That fucker didn't report to work today." 

Darren asked abruptly, "Could you please give us his home address?" 

Megan shot him a glance. 

"I have it." 

===

"I'M RAY!!! PLEASE FIND ME!!!" 

The written posters along with a photo of Ray were stuck everywhere around the school. Both students and teachers padded around, distributing the posters. 

As Nina left the parking lot, she couldn't help but feel sad for Mr. Ripper. If that happened to her kid, she would go nuts… Her kids were everything to her. They were her life. 

She found her three little children waiting for her as they played with their friends outside the classroom. 

Tears of joy stung her eyes and she had to look up at the sky to keep the them at bay. 

Her babies were safe… 

"Mommyyyy!!!" Emilia was the first to see her mom. 

She scampered to her and she didn't hesitate to pick her daughter up and embrace her tightly. She showered the little girl with endless kisses as she giggled. 

"Emmy is such a baby!" The boys teased. 

Nina let go of her daughter and embraced the boys. But they pulled away, grumbling. 

"Mom… Stop it! You're creating a scene and people are watching!" 

He grabbed the twins and kissed them both. "Who cares?" 

"We do!" They sang in unison as they pulled away, detaching from her. 

It was always funny to her how the twins acted like grown up men yet they were just tiny little things that had lived not more than eight years. 

"Let's go home!" 

As she turned back to leave, a sweet feminine voice called. 

"Mrs. Gilbert?" 

She spun back. "Ms. Candice?" 

The teacher was holding a poster in her hand as she stretched out her hand. She handed over a poster to Nina. 

"This is really sad," said Nina. "He was your student?" 

She frowned. "Yeah…" 

"Seems like a great kid…" 

"He was… Rarely got in trouble…" 

Nina gave a sappy smile. "I'll share this poster. I hope they find the kid and bring him back home to his parents…" 

She turned to leave but Ms. Candice stopped her. 

"You didn't sound okay on the phone. Is everything okay?" she asked. 

Nina nodded. "I am now. Thanks." 

"Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!" The kids sang as their mother conversed with their teacher. 

Nina turned to look at who the kids were so excited to see. 

Jerome!!!

Jerome Mead? 

===