But Matthew and Debbie didn't find the boys' story funny. Debbie, who felt sorry for what they had gone through, held Colman in her arms and asked Matthew, "Didn't you go to find Rika? Why is she not with you?"
"Give her some time." Matthew wanted Erica to come back to him willingly and never leave him again.
"Why do we have to wait?" Debbie gave him a confused look and added, "Didn't you coax her enough? Didn't she want to come back with you?"
Colman suddenly cut in, "No, Grandma. Mommy can't come back now, maybe because she hasn't finished her task yet."
"Task? What task?" Debbie got more confused.
Colman blinked and hesitated for a moment. "Grandma, I will tell you, but don't tell anyone."
"Okay, go ahead."
"Mom has promised the police to find evidence of the crimes made by Kirk Qin and his men. That's what we only know. Mom didn't tell us the details. And when she sent us back here, she hasn't gotten the most important evidence yet."
Matthew and Debbie looked at each other. Then Matthew turned to Adkins and asked with a frown, "Does your mom do this kind of task often?"
Adkins nodded first but then shook his head afterward. "We don't know. Sometimes Mom doesn't tell us."
"I understand. You can go and play now," he said.
"Okay." The four boys ran upstairs and went back to the games they were playing before Matthew arrived.
Debbie watched them running upstairs and sighed. "Although these children grew up in such a poor place, they don't have any bad habits. I admire Rika for raising them well. It must have been difficult and tiresome for her to take care of them even though Tessie is there to help her."
Matthew didn't say anything. But deep in his heart, he knew that Debbie was right. So he promised himself that he would never let Erica suffer again.
Before going upstairs, Debbie reminded him, "Get Rika back as soon as possible. Don't let her suffer more outside."
"I will." He would definitely take her back. It was only a matter of time.
As night fell, Matthew stayed in his study, looking at the photos taken by EM. Her first winning entry had photos shot three years ago.
It was a collection of five photos called "Different Childhood." In the first picture was a thin girl who was about six or seven years old. Dressed in patched clothes, she was pulling a rope on her back. The rope was connected to a wooden cart behind her that was full of dried wood. Since the cart looked so heavy, the struggle was visible on her face.
The second photo showed the same girl, but this time, her dark face was covered with tears. She was squatting beside the river and washing some clothes, while a fat woman beside her was holding a whip.
In the third picture, the little girl was climbing a steep mountain with her younger sister on her back, to collect some herbs and sell them for money.
In the fourth picture, she was kneeling under the rain and apologizing to her mother.
In the fifth picture, she was peering over the windowsill of a classroom in the village, quietly staring at the characters on the blackboard. The intense yearning for knowledge reflected in her eyes.
The second collection of photos revealed how a nursing home abused the elderly. She took six pictures from different angles, showing the sadness and despair in the elderly's eyes, the arrogance of the staff, and their complacent faces upon receiving some money.
The third collection showed how a group of criminals, on an old cruise ship, abused the women and children they had bought. Some of the pictures also showed their happy smiles and excited faces when police officers came to rescue them.
Aside from the three collections, there were also other photos with different elements that could surely touch anyone's heart. EM was good at capturing the most critical moment of the person's reaction that could make the onlookers feel different emotions.
There was a sudden knock on the door of the study. Looking at the door, Matthew immediately stubbed out his cigarette.
The door slowly opened, and a little head stuck out. It was Colman. He looked at Matthew and asked, "Dad, can I come in?"
"Wait." Matthew walked to the window and opened it to dissipate the smoke before letting Colman in.
Before he could say anything, the little boy pointed at the photos on his computer and asked innocently, "Dad, aren't those photos taken by Mom?"
He looked at him and nodded.
Pointing at the little girl in the first collection of photos, Colman said, "We all know Mom's works. Although we weren't born yet when she took pictures of this little girl, it was Aunt Tessie who told us. This little girl's name is Vera. When Mom found out that her mother was abusing her, she reported it to the police. And before she left, she even gave some money to this little girl."
'Money?' Matthew pondered. 'Rika might have given the money she got in Cass to this little girl.'
Colman turned to the second collection and explained while Matthew listened silently. "I know this too. Mom said that she took these photos from the nearby nursing home two months after we were born. Aunt Tessie said that when Mom exposed his wrongdoings, the director of the nursing home wanted to take revenge on Mom, so he sent some people to smash our home. They even tried to take us away, but Mom scared them with a knife."
'A Knife?' Matthew thought while clenching his right hand into a fist. But he continued to listen carefully to Colman's explanation.
"In this third collection, Mom called the police after she has gotten all the evidence to save those poor women and children. Look at this picture, Dad. Mom took a picture of a disabled mother carrying her dying son on her back while crawling out of the house for help."
When Colman finished explaining the story behind all the photos he saw, he added, "Mom still has a lot of photos that haven't been released. She was afraid that we would be implicated, so she secretly burned many of them."
Matthew touched the little boy's head and asked, "How did your mom raise you?"
"Mom took pictures for people in the village, and they paid her. She could also get money from winning in all kinds of competitions and tasks. But most of our living expenses were supported by Aunt Chantel. She regularly sent us money more than enough to aid us. However, Mom likes doing charity works. She always wants to help poor people. She also invested a lot in photography, so she always used up the money from Aunt Chantel quickly." Colman told Matthew everything he knew.
"Chantel?" Surprise was written all over his face when he asked the little boy for confirmation.
"Yes. Aunt Chantel is awesome!" As an innocent child, Colman didn't know the matters between adults. In his eyes, his father was a great man, so he told him everything he knew.
Matthew was rendered speechless. He didn't expect that Chantel knew where Erica was all these years.
It was all Gifford's fault. He and Chantel hadn't seen each other for years because they were both busy in their careers. Wesley and Blair were the ones who took care of Hugo. The couple would only go back and accompany their son whenever they were free.
If Gifford had paid even just a little attention to Chantel, he would definitely found out something about Erica.
When Matthew remained quiet, Colman couldn't help saying, "Dad, I have something to ask you."
His voice brought Matthew back to his senses, so he said, "Okay, go ahead."
"Uncle Sheffield said that you are good at network technology. I want to learn from you." Because of the kind of life they had in the village, Colman had never gotten the chance to use a computer. One day, when he saw Carlos playing on the computer, he immediately got fascinated by it.
Coincidentally, Sheffield also came to them at that time. Looking at how the little boy got himself immersed in playing with the computer, he knew that he was interested in network technology. So he told the little boy that Matthew was very good at it, and he could learn from him.
Matthew was amused. His four three-year-old sons were surely interested in learning many things.