Tamilore's eyes slowly opened as she woke up. She hoisted herself up and looked inside Tunmise's cot for her baby, but he wasn't there.

Alhaja must have carried him, she thought. But then she remembered that her mother left last night, and thought it was one of her sisters that carried her baby instead. She was happy all of them stayed with her, only her mother left last night.

She smiled at how the first thing on her mind was her baby. That was what being a mother---especially a first time one---did to women.

She sat up and felt for her phone on the bedside drawer. The time read 10:12.

How did she wake up so late? She remembered that she had to feed her newborn eight times daily. She usually fed him by eight and now it was past ten. She was late. She wondered why nobody came to wake her up to feed her baby.

Quickly she went into the bathroom and washed her face. She brushed her teeth and also washed the skin around her breasts and areolas, preparing herself for breast feeding her boy.

She left her room and made for the living room. She wondered if she should go and eat something first, but decided against it.

In the living room, her nieces Itunu and Dami were playing with each other. Itunu was trying out Snapchat filters on her cousin.

Itunu looked up, "Good morning Ma."

"Good morning Itunu," Tamilore replied. "How are you?"

"I'm fine Ma."

Tamilore smiled at Dami and started walking to the dining room. She could hear the clinking of cutlery against plates and knew her family members were eating.

"Have you eaten?" She called at Itunu.

"Yes Ma."

"I hope there's food for me oh..." she said hungrily.

In the dining room, her sisters Bisola, Modupe and Tiwa and her sister-in-law were sat on the table, eating white rice and ofada stew.

"Good morning Ma," she greeted aunty Ariyo.

"Kaaro," her sister-in-law dropped her cutlery and said, without looking at her.

"You people are enjoying oh..." Tamilore commented, looking at each person's plate.

"Abi now," Bisola answered.

"Okay oh. Sha be enjoying without me. Hasn't Dipo gone to work?"

"He has," Tiwa answered.

"Refer to him as Daddy Hameed now," Bisola advised.

"Abi oh," aunty Ariyo chimed in, lifting a glass of water to her lips.

Tamilore let out a fake laugh. "Okay, okay. Ehn if he has gone out...who is with my baby?"

"Your baby?" Bisola looked up at Tamilore.

"Yes..." Tamilore said.

"Nobody took your baby oh. Shebi he slept beside you last night?"

"I did not..." Tamilore began, then she yelled, "Titi!" And began walking to the living room.

Just before she left, aunty Ariyo called out, "Eh Iya Hameed?"

"Ma?" Tamilore answered, somewhat irritatedly.

"I will be going today. I have to go for Asalatu tomorrow."

"Okay Ma," she answered.

"Itunu, did you carry Tunmise?" Tamilore walked into the living room, her rubber slippers slapping away at the marbled floor.

"No...ma."

Tamilore didn't wait for Itunu to finish speaking before she bounced off.

Titi, her house help struggled to keep up with her as she trailed behind her. Finally, she said, "Ma? I'm here."

"Do you know who has taken my baby?"

Titi looked confused, "No Ma. At all."

"Hehehe!" She scrambled around, then went back into the dining room. "Ewo, I can't find my child oh!"

Everybody looked perplexed. They all stood up abruptly from their chairs. "Ahan?" Aunty Ariyo spoke.

"Let's go and check everywhere," Bisola suggested. They all dispersed themselves, going into different parts of the house.

Tamilore burst into the room Bode was staying in.

"Who is---" he began to say irritatedly, until he saw who it was. He had been sleeping. "---Ma?" He immediately got up.

"Is Tunmise here?"

"No...Ma."

"Haaaaa." She ran out.

Fifteen minutes later, everybody, including Bisola's husband, Kola and Bode were assembled in the living room after searching every nook and corner of the house.

No one had seen the baby.

Even the gate man and the driver had been summoned.

Tamilore was swallowing roughly every second, running her hands over her face and hair.

"What should I do? I don't know what to do!"

"Itunu, go and get my phone," she ordered.

Her niece ran off into her room. She returned with her iPhone 6s.

Tamilore immediately put a call through to her husband. "Dipo," she said when he picked up, "Is Tunmise with you?"

"What---no! What kind of question is that?" He asked furiously.

The realisations dawned upon her as tears cascaded down her face and she bit her lower lip. "Dipo...our baby is missing."

* * *

Forty five minutes later, Tamilore was sitting on a couch, her knees shaking and tears poured down her face in torrents.

Bisola and Modupe were trying to pacify her all to no avail when the main door flew open.

Tamilore jumped up when she saw him. "Dipo," she whispered.

"There was traffic on the Third Mainland Bridge. What's all this I'm hearing?"

"I don't know." She let her hands drop on her thighs defeatedly. "I c-can't find our baby!" She stuttered.

"What?"

When nobody answered him, Dipo said again, "What are you saying? Hameed? M-my son? How? Who?"

"I don't know, Dipo!"

Dipo placed his hands on his waist, "This can't be real. It can't be. Or is this a prank?" He looked skeptically at his wife.

"Daddy Hameed, nobody is playing a prank on you," Bisola said.

"Ehn? Wait..." He puffed, "I saw my son last night. So how can what you're saying be true?"

"Dipo," Tamilore fell to her knees. "I- our b-b-baby," the rest came out as tears.

He looked at his wife and sat on the floor too. "If I saw my son last night...he should be here. There's no how. This doesn't make sense. Are you sure you've searched everywhere? This isn't logical. Are you sure it's not that...maybe Dami has carried her somewhere or something?"

"We've searched everywhere oh, Dipo," Bisola's husband said.

Dipo's eyes looked faraway, "If my son isn't in this house, then," he pointed his finger at them, "One of you is the culprit. Who took my son?" He sounded lethal.

The whole house was dead silent. If a pin had dropped, it would have been heard.

Someone entered the room. It was Tiwa. She was dressed up and carrying a bag.

"Where to?" Dipo asked sharply.

"I-I have a test today," she answered fearfully.

"Which test? What is a test? Are you mad?"

Tiwa was practically trembling.

"Until I find my baby, no one leaves this house."

"Let's call the police," Bisola's husband suggested.

Tamilore jumped up from her seat. She suddenly rushed towards Titi, Bode, the gatekeeper and the driver, who were standing behind them, resting on the wall.

She grabbed Titi's shirt, "If it was one of you...if it was one of you...I promise, I will kill you."

Bisola stepped forward, "Tamilore, Tamilore...please calm down. This will be resolved. We will call the police and they will find out who did this. Fighting will not solve anything. And you know this boy," she pointed at Bode, "Is not feeling fine."

"What does that have to do with me?"

Dipo stepped forward. He brought out his phone from his pocket.

"Hello, Officer?"

* * *

The Officers sent from Lekki police station, the main police station in Lekki were sitting together on the double seater couch after Dipo insisted that they sat.

The female one spoke first, "I am Detective Chioma and this is Detective Chris. Those are our junior officers. Please can you tell your story all over again? I have a recorder," she notified them.

Amidst tears, Tamilore tried to talk but she kept hiccupping.

"Please go and get her a cup of water. She sounds parched," Detective Chioma looked towards the helps.

Titi walked towards the kitchen, noticing the plates of half eaten food on the dining table. Her stomach grumbled. She was hungry yet she knew she couldn't eat. At least the rest had eaten, even if just a bit.

I'm just a housemaid, of course I have to eat after everybody has eaten, Titi thought sadly.

Then she chastised herself when she remembered that her boss' first child was missing. That was more important than anything. Quickly, she got the water and went into the living room, wondering what kind of family this was.

Back in the living room, Tamilore collected the glass of water from her house help and downed it.

Now feeling refreshed, she began to speak. "Yesterday was my baby's naming ceremony. He slept beside me, in his cot. Only for me to wake up today and...and...my...my son is missing."

"And are you sure you've checked everywhere?" Detective Chris asked.

"Yes Sir, we have," Bisola said.

"We have to send our junior officers to search everywhere in this house. Are you fine with that?" Detective Chioma asked.

"We are," Dipo answered.

Detective Chioma nodded. She talked to the sergeants for a while and they dispered themselves, while Modupe, Bisola's husband, and Itunu stood up and followed them. She turned to Dipo, "Sir, you're dressed in a suit. Are you about to leave for somewhere?"

Dipo shook his head, "I ran back here after she," he pointed at his wife, "Called me. I was in the office before. Please, how can we find our baby as soon as possible?"

Detective Chris already knew where his partner was going with this. "So, how didn't you notice that your baby was gone? Or did you wake up after your wife?"

"Ever since she gave birth, we sleep in different rooms," Dipo admitted.

"Why is that?" Detective Chris pressed.

"Because..." Dipo started, "The noise of the baby crying disturbs me."

"But you both had this baby," Detective Chioma added.

Dipo frowned, "I know that. It's just...I'm not on a paternity leave like she is, I still have to go to work every day. How can I get a few hours of sleep if a baby's cries disturbs me every night?"

The air in the room had changed after that.

"I understand," Detective Chioma said. Changing the subject she added, "Are you sure nobody left this house since yesterday? Not even the domestic help?"

"I'm sure," Tamilore whimpered. "Please help us."

"Alright," Chioma said to Tamilore. Then she turned to her partner, "Detective Chris."

From a bag, Detective Chris brought out a huge iron chain and a padlock.

"Wh-what are you going to do with that?" Dipo asked.

"Nobody leaves until your baby is found."

Tiwa made a sound. She was glad that her sister's husband knew how it felt when he made her miss her test.

"Not even me?"

"Sorry, no Sir," Detective Chioma said.

"We will be taking pictures and interrogating your family members. After that, we will lock the gates from outside and be on our way. Is that okay with you Sir?" Detective Chris asked, even though he knew the man's consent was irrelevant.

"Y-yes Officer." What was going through Dipo's mind was the amount of contracts he was going to miss. But then again...if this meant his baby would come back home, he would do anything.

"One more thing," Detective Chris raised his index finger, "Watch your backs. If the baby's kidnapper is among us here, who knows what other crime they could commit? Look, I'm not trying to scare anybody, but I would advise that you should trust nobody but yourselves."

Everybody nodded.

About one hour later, Dipo followed them outside as the officers were set to leave. He heard them chain the gates. There was no way anybody could go out now...the gates were so high, and they were chained.

"Pfft," Modupe said, after the officers left. "We're all family. We can't harm each other, right?"

She didn't receive an answer.