One Wild Night

"What do you think is in the package Jero left you? Did you ask him about it when you were alone with him?" Jade asked curiously after Candace was done with the phone call with Bill, but Candace shook her head.

"I don't know what he left. It didn't occur to me to ask him about that. I'm not sure I care about it either," Candace said with a dismissive shrug.

"Perhaps he left you and Jamal some money," Jade said as she turned her gaze away from the road to look at Candace who was staring at her with curious eyes.

"I don't think so. And even if that were the case, I wouldn't touch a dime from it. I'm not interested in his ill-gotten wealth," Candace said dismissively.

However, she was more interested in something else; the discussion they had been having before Bill's phone call came in, "By the way, you were talking about the orphanage home at Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Did something happen? Is there a problem there?" Candace asked with concern.

It had been two years since she last visited the orphanage home, even though she and Andy tried their best to send money to them whenever they could. That was their home, and she intended to visit there before returning to Ludus to get Jamal.

"Oh, that!" Jade said, making a mental note to inform Tom about the name of the orphanage home where Candace was raised so he could look into her past as planned.

"There is no problem. It's just a case I'm working on. I'm trying to help someone find her missing daughter. I was going to drive down to the orphanage home before I received the news of Jero's death," Jade explained, and although, Candace was relieved that everything was fine at the orphanage, she pursed her lips thoughtfully when she heard that Jade was trying to help someone find their missing child.

"And you were told the child is at the orphanage home?" Candace asked, wondering which of the kids at the orphanage home could be the missing child since she was familiar with most of them and often visited them with Andy before they had to run away and go into hiding after Jero's arrest.

"Most likely was. Not is. That is what I'm trying to find out. That was the last known location they have of the child," Jade said, and Candace's brows pulled together.

"Why would she be trying to find her missing daughter in an orphanage home? Did she abandon her daughter there?" Candace asked in confusion, and Jade sighed as she stopped at the traffic light and turned to Candace.

"Honestly, I don't know. I don't have the exact details of the story. I'm looking into it as a favor to my boss," Jade said, and Candace gave her a nod.

"How old is the child by the way? And how long has this been? I know most of the kids at the orphanage home. Perhaps I could accompany you there and help you speak with the sisters. I'm sure they would be more receptive if I'm there with you," Candace offered.

"That would be cool. I'm not sure how long the child stayed at the orphanage home, but this happened a long time ago and by my calculations, the missing daughter should be around twenty-eight years old by now," Jade said, and Candace frowned.

"If she is that old that means she is no longer at the orphanage home. Wait, twenty-eight years? That means we are age mates. If she is the same age as me, I must have met her at some point since we would have been at the orphanage home around the same time, unless she was there before me, and was adopted before I got there," Candace said thoughtfully, and Jade nodded as she resumed driving.

"You said you were taken there when you were three years old, right?" Jade asked when she remembered what Candace had told her about being abandoned by her supposed uncle.

"Yes. If you don't mind me asking, how did the child end up at the orphanage home? And why are they suddenly looking for her now when there is every likelihood that she must have settled down and has a family of her own?" Candace asked curiously, and Jade pursed her lips for a moment wondering whether or not she should disregard Amos' confidentiality plea and just tell Candace all about it.

Fuck it! She didn't sign any confidentiality agreement and Candace was most likely going to be able to help her so there was no reason she couldn't confide in Candace. It wasn't like Candace was ever going to cross paths with Amos or Sara after all. She was just going to tell Candace about the case without mentioning Sara's name.

Candace listened patiently as Jade told her everything Amos had said about the case and when Jade finished, Candace frowned, "Your boss bought that shitty story? Or did he cook it up himself?" Candace asked, and Jade giggled.

"It doesn't make sense, right?" Jade asked, and Candace snorted.

"Calling it nonsense would be a compliment. There is no iota of sense in this," Candace said, and Jade nodded in agreement.

"It doesn't make sense to me either. I'm trying to find out what the lady is hiding, and why my boss is the one helping her find her missing child instead of the police or a private investigator," Jade said with a sigh.

"She has to be hiding something. No sane mother would abandon her newborn baby because she lost the twin. She abandoned her husband and newborn son and despite her grief, she moved on and became a model? And now she claims she heard from someone that her daughter is alive when she claimed she was shown the corpse of her dead baby? It doesn't make sense either that someone would go to that length to steal a newborn baby only to drop the baby off at an orphanage home. No. Take it from me, it's bullshit," Candace said with a shake of her head.

"I agree. Still, there is no harm in going to the orphanage home to see if we can find out where the girl is now. After we pick up Jero's package, we can go there if you don't mind," Jade said as she drove into the hotel premise, and Candace scoffed.

"What exactly are we going to ask the sisters? It's not like you know the name of the child or what she looks like," Candace said, and Jade smiled.

"I may not know her name, but my boss gave me a picture of the kid when she was four years old or thereabout. Check the envelope in the backseat, you will see her picture. Who knows? You just might know who she is," Jade said hoping that Candace would know who the little girl is.

Candace reached into the backseat, and took the envelope, as Jade pulled the car into the parking lot and turned off the ignition.

Once Candace took out the kid's picture, her heart skipped a beat when she recognized the face of the child in the picture, and she looked at Jade with a slight frown.

Was this some sort of prank? What was Jade up to? Candace mused.

"Please tell me you are looking at me that way because you know who the kid is," Jade said as she looked at Candace hopefully.

"Are you asking because you don't know?" Candace asked, and Jade raised a brow.

"Because I don't know what?" Jade asked in confusion.

"Are you saying you don't see the resemblance? You don't know that I'm the kid in this photo?" Candace asked, and Jade's heart skipped a beat as she snatched the photograph from Candace and looked from the kid's face to Candace and then back again.

She remembered that it had crossed her mind the previous night that the kid in the picture sort of reminded her of Candace but she had dismissed the thought thinking that it did not make sense that she was seeing Candace in everyone. But thinking about it now it all made sense.

The similarity in age, the dimpled smile and brown eyes, the issue of a man stealing a baby from the hospital, and Candace's own case of being abandoned at the orphanage by a man. It all made sense that the little girl in the picture was Candace so why hadn't she given it much thought?

Did that mean that her boss and Sara had not been lying, and Candace had been stolen from her at birth and abandoned at an orphanage home? Who was the man? Why did he kidnap Candace? And why did he choose to abandon her at an orphanage home? Jade mused as she continued to look at the picture with a frown.

"How did you get that picture? Did you make up this story of someone looking for her missing child? Or did you really not know it was me?" Candace asked with a confused frown as she looked at Jade who seemed genuinely surprised by this revelation.

The whole thing seemed too organized to be coincident. How could it be that of all the persons in the world who could have been searching for the missing child, it was Jade who had been given the task? And she just happened to be right next to her.

"Why would I make up such a story? Do you want me to give my boss a call right now and inform him that I've found you?"