A raid

The police officer unfolded a piece of paper and raised it to my face. “We have a search warrant.”

I was doing my best to maintain composure, so I could think of a way to buy time and get out of this, but my brain would not cooperate. 

All I could feel was panic, blind panic at my son being discovered.

Why did I not plan ahead of this? 

Why had I been so relaxed even after my father told me about his observations while I was still at the hospital?

I glanced back immediately, my father! Could he help? 

But I did not see him in the car, he was not there in the backseat where I left him.

I turned back to the gate. I possibly did not see that right since it was dark out now. 

He had to be there.

He could not have gone past these gates without me or these police officers seeing him.

“What child, whose child? None of this makes sense,” I said, turning to stare the police officer in the eye. 

“One of your maids had a fight with her husband, went to Osaka, kidnapped her son and returned here with him yesterday.”

I frowned in confusion, “How can someone kidnap their own son?”

“When your maid abandoned the plaintiff with their son, he got full custody. Taking him away without the plaintiff’s express approval and then hiding him is kidnap.”

“And you have proof of her doing this?” I fired.

“It would be impossible to get this without proof.” He raised the search warrant again. 

I glanced round and far into the mansion where our maids were lined up in the near darkness, and were looking at us.

I knew this was all a bloody set-up, but who was this maid that would bring such trouble to my doorstep?

“We’ll go in now?” The police officer bowed for the first time, and before I could even open my mouth he waved his hand and all his men jumped down with their guns out and began to run up towards the mansion like ants in a neat formation.

I stared, frozen. 

Our head-guard caught my eye, and I saw the question. He wanted my permission to resist. 

I shook my head immediately.

That would be the most foolish thing to do. For one, the cops that were here outnumbered all our guards.

And such a fight would draw public attention to us, and what if something went wrong and a police officer got killed?

I shivered all the way to my heel, and then I began to run. 

This was Ophelia. 

I had no proof, but I knew it as surely as I knew my own name.

She was the only one that would go to this length and use the police like they were her personal bodyguards. She was the only one who had such power.

I got to the front door and ran in with my heels, unable to stop to change to house slippers. 

If this was how Oliver finally got exposed to the world, then I had to make sure I was protecting him.

Where the hell was Kan when I needed him.

I ran up the stairs even as police officers crawled in and out of rooms in the mansion. 

I opened the nursery door just in time to see the leader of the police team running his hand on the cool wood of Oliver’s crib.

“You have a child?” He turned to me, and I immediately saw Oliver was not in the crib, or anywhere in the room.

“Your family does not have any children registered, so why do you have a crib?” he stopped, looking around at the decorated walls of the nursery. “Does your maid use this room then?”

“Why are you badgering my wife, officer?” I heard Kan’s voice behind me, and I sighed in relief as all the people in the room bowed deeply.

“What is this? Does your superior know you are here? Why would our staff have a nursery in our home?”

I stood still, watching the man nod apologetically again and again, waiting for a chance to explain. 

But Kan would not give him any as he went on peppering him with questions.

My heart was pounding as I thought about where Oliver might be at that moment. He had to be with my father. 

If my father was truly not in the car, and Oliver was suddenly missing and had not been found yet, they had to be together.

No maid would dare to move my son without my permission, no matter how much they meant well. 

But I just had to know for sure.

Someone knocked at the door at that moment, and we all turned to a police officer who bowed to his superior, then looked up and shook his head.

The police officer turned to Kan and me, as Kan threw his hand around my shoulder. 

“I really apologize.”

“Save it,” Kan fired. “I am taking this up first thing in the morning. What do you want our neighbors to think seeing your trucks parked outside like that? Will you take responsibility for this if the press gets wind of it, and it affects my company shares?”

Kan looked livid and everyone was shrinking away from him.

“My love,” I squeezed his side. “They were only doing their job.” I made an effort to put on the signature sad-eyed-housewife-face.

“No honey,” Kan said strongly. “They distressed you. Reminded you about something we prefer to forget.” 

He turned back to the police officer. 

“This room has not been used since we lost our son, and you barge in like this, disrespecting his memory?”

The man bowed deeply.

“Honey, let it go.” I shook him and then stared into his eyes. 

He must have seen the urgency there, seen that the faster he let them go, the faster we could get to finding Oliver.

He sighed heavily, dramatically.

“I will see you all at your office tomorrow,” he said, and they all hurriedly filed out of the nursery.