Chapter 18

Belinda who had been sleeping on the couch was suddenly awakened by the loud thud,

"What was that?" Belinda asked.

"Mother I'm sorry for scaring you but you won't believe what I just found" Alma said

"What is it dear?" Belinda asked as she could see that it definitely wasn't something that was harmful. She sat

up on the coach while Alma browsed through her mobile .The laptop had been cracked and the screen was already dark.

"Here, see this for yourself, Alma said as she handed over the mobile to her mother, the balance was already shown on the screen.

"What! Where would you guys get such a huge amount of money?" Belinda asked, she could not believe that such an amount could be in the possession of her daughter.

"I'm surprised as you are mother, as far as I can remember we only had few thousand dollars saved up, the rest I have no idea how it got in here, Alma said, she still could not understand how her sister got that money.

"This is a really serious matter, this might have something to do with your sister's death, and maybe through this we could trace the footsteps of your sister and eventually find her killer. We have to tell the police about this," Belinda said as she got her up from the coach to retrieve her mobile phone. The investigation officer had given her his contact to call him whenever something came up. This definitely was something they could use to trace the whereabouts of her daughter the day she had disappeared.

"Wait mother, we can't do that. What if the police decided to confiscate the money linking it to a crime? What would happen to us, you know that I just lost my job since I had been absent from work, we also need the money to carry out investigation about this matter, Alma said.

Belinda took a while to digest what he daughter just said, it actually made sense since on many occasions such money would be held by the authorities as they carried out investigation.

"What do you suppose we do, now that we can't inform the investigators about this?" Inquired Belinda, on such matter it was better to listen to her daughter who had knowledge about this.

"Mother, with this money I'm sure we could get whatever

it is that we want, we can hire a private investigator to help us solve this mystery." Alma replied.

"That's a good idea, so do you have anyone in mind who we could trust with this." Belinda asked.

"I could ask around from my friends, I'm sure by the end of the day we could find someone we could trust with this." Alma replied. With the amount of money in her possession she was sure to get whatever she had wanted in life.

"Alright Alma, let's try that, but if we don't find anything conclusive we have to involve the police in this, justice has to be served for your sister. Whoever did this to her will not get away with it." Belinda said.

"Alright mother, I won't fail you in this, Salma was the only friend and sister I had, and it's my duty to bring her killers to justice. With that Alma made her way out of the apartment. On her way out she made a phone call and boarded a taxi.

Within twenty minutes Alma had arrived at a coffee shop in town, getting in through the door, she glanced around and spotted who she had been looking for, she immediately went over to join him. The guy stood up to meet her immediately he spotted his friend.

"I'm so sorry Alma for what had happened to your sister, "he said.

"It's okay Jude, what happened to her shocked all of us but we are coming to terms with it," replied Alma. Her eyes already becoming tearful as she remembered those inseparable moments they had spent with their friend Jude, even back in college it was just the three of them.

"I'm sorry I shouldn't have brought this up but if you need anything don't hesitate to tell me." Jude apologized the moment he noticed the tears already lingering on her eyes.

"But how are the investigation going," Jude couldn't help but inquire about this. Salma was his best friend and he hoped that she would get justice.

"Don't apologize for that, in fact that is what brought me over here, I hope you will be willing to assist us, Alma said as she wiped away the tears.

"Of course I will help you, whatever it is that you may need, you know that Salma was my friend." Jude said.

"About your uncle who is a private investigator, we want to hire him to help us with this," Alma said.

"Are you sure about this, you know how expensive he charges for this." Asked Jude, surely an average person would not afford him.

Alma decided to show him the bank statement, the two had been close friends and there wouldn't be any risk informing him about this. Jude who was sipping his coffee spilled it over and exclaimed.

"What? How in the world did you get that money?" Jude exclaimed.

"Now you see why we want to hire your uncle, this money I just discovered it today, I'm not sure what my sister was involved in but definitely it's something big. We don't want to report to the police about this since they can only confiscate the money yet we might end up with no results. My sister might have involved herself in something big that might have caused her death." Alma explained.

"I get it now, I’ll contact my uncle and see what he says about this," Jude said. So many questions ran over his head but he decided not to inquire more. The two enjoyed their coffee in silence, speaking up once in a while.

Back at Globe company Elise had really been pissed off, the photo-shoot was just about to begin but Lisa wasn't anywhere to be found. It was only twenty minutes to four in the evening when they had been scheduled for the photo shoot. Recently she had received enormous endorsement since appearing on the cover of the magazine.

Lisa who was her stylish was always on time and this was a little unusual, even her mobile phone was of. Elise and Lisa had become the best of friends ever since they started working together. Lisa who had been quite professional and respectful had found Elise being easy to work with as she took everything simply. The two immediately clicked and Lisa had promised Elise that she would always do her best to enable her push to higher limits.

The company had decided that the models have their own personal assistant to organize the schedule for them but Elise and Lisa made an agreement so that Lisa played all the roles, Lisa had been in the industry for so long and was capable for this effectively.

Since time was running out, Elise decided to head to her dressing room and get herself ready. Since the other group had already started their shooting Elise knew that her side would also call for her immediately.

Ella and Elise had different schedules as the two had got enormous deals, today was just a coincidence that the two found themselves at the s a m e venue.

Elise's theme of the shoot was wedding gowns which had to appear in that company's magazine on the summer edition while Ella had a shoot for summer dresses. The two had become almost at par with each other as their talents was really great but Elise outshined Ella on most occasions that was why she received huge endorsements.

Getting into her dressing room Elise decided to change into the dresses and prepare for the shoot, hoping that Lisa would catch up with her and assist her in the process. Elise was however shocked when she noticed that the gown she was supposed to wear had red stains on it, and mostly on the front part.

Elise began to panic about this, what would she do since that was the only pair sent by the company. She paced around the room trying to think about what she could do, trying Lisa's phone countless times it still would not go through. Elise decided that she would not lose her job just because of this and started to improvise.

Just few metres away from Elise's tent Ella had taken a break to have her makeup redone, looking at Elise's tent a sly smile formed on her face, knowing too well that Elise would not be able to get out of this. She just had to sit back relax and enjoy the scene that would unfold later on. She would have loved to see the look on Elise's face the moment she saw her spoilt gowns.

"Ella I'm sure Elise would lose her job because of this, being irresponsible when the company had handed over to her the most expensive gown from their collection." said Frida, she didn't like the fact that till now Elise outshined Ella even after the work she done in Ella to enable her standout.