It was a friday morning and as expected, Clement was on his way to work. He didn’t bother checking on his wife and he had explained to her the reason behind the change in plan. He had an appointment with Mike who was still serving his suspension but in the undercover, all on Clement’s plan. He had been waiting at this point for almost ten minutes with no sign of Mike around. Just when he was about giving up, the passenger door opened and Mike hopped in.
“Good Morning Mike.” Clement said.
“Morning. Sorry for keeping you late.” He apologised.
“No problem. Straight to business.”
“Yeah, there are new development on the case and I believe they’ll go a long way in helping us stop the killing of the students and also nabb the perpetrators whom I know also indulge in other illegal acts.” Mike began.
“Cut it out Mike. Go straight to the point, I don’t have all day.” He cut him short.
“Okay. There is this model, Sandra Oselu. She was spotted with Deoye’s cousin yesterday. And we did an immediate follow up but we were denied entrance into her house by the gateman, with an excuse that she is in a bad mood.” Mike explained watching his boss reaction.
“Does that lead us anywhere?” Clement asked checking his time piece.
“Certainly it does, but it will only take time. We’ll have to keep tabs on Sandra, and she might not know much. Because from what I saw, she transacted a business with the gang and nothing more.” Mike replied.
“Okay. What other thing?” Clement asked.
“Doctor Raphael was spotted at the residence too.” Mike replied.
He knew so many Rapheals, he had a classmate called Rapheal back in highschool. He met another Rapheal during his university days, the Student Union government back then. Another Rapheal during his professional course in criminology at the CIA in the US, this time a whiteman. But none of these people were doctors.
“Doctor Rapheal?” He asked unsure.
“Yeah. St Battaihas private hospital. In charge of Ngozi’s treatment.” Mike enthused.
“Are you sure?” Clement asked. The two men discussed for a while and reached a conclusion. Mike and his men keep tabs on Deoye and his boys, then he follow up on Rapheal to know his connection with the gang.
“How about the girl I told you about?” Mike asked.
“I have one of Sylvester’s men from the FBI on it. He’ll get back to me before the end of the day.” Clement replied, then he remembered the address sent to him two nights ago. His mother’s residence.
“Please tell Rachel to forgive me. I’ll find time to come check on her.” He said to Clement as he unlocked the door and pushed it open. Clement picked an envelope that stood on the dashboard and gave it to Mike.
“For upkeep and miscellanous.” He said.
“Thanks.” Mike collected the envolpe and pocketed it. A minute after Mike had disappeared into the teeming crowd by the roadside, Clement swung the car unto the road towards the police station.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dolapo alighted from her temporary car and walked towards the ICT complex.
“Do you mind if we follow you into the exam hall?” One of the two policemen escourting her in the absence of Ngozi asked.
“No, don’t bother. I’ll be good.” She replied. She continued walking towards the complex, then her phone rang. She picked it after the third ring.
“Hello, please who is this?” She asked.
“Oh my God! Chidinma? Where are you?” She asked excitedly. She listened for a few seconds before speaking into the speaker. “In the hospital? So fast? Did you fly from Ibadan?” She asked laughing as she rested her back against one of the pillars that stood gallantly in front of the complex. “I’ll join you as soon as I finish my papers for today.” She said happily and hung up.
Her exam would be commencing in theirty minutes time and she hadn’t read a thing, yet she was confident she would leave the exam hall smiling. Just then a guy walked towards her seat covering himself with a hood. He bent down beside her chair and slipped an envelop on her laps, in between her purse and stomach. The guys rose up at once and walked hurriedly out of the hall taking another exit that connect with the Art department. Going after him would be herculean, the Arts department by the time is always overcrowded.
]”SAVE THE BEST FOR THE LAST. YOU ARE NEXT!”.
The content of the letter inside the evelope reads in red print. Blood-like in nature. Her heart flew into her mouth as sweats formed on her forehead. What could this mean? Who will she explain this to? Just as she stood up to go and talk to her police escourt outside, the lecturer handling the course walked into the hall flanked by three other young lecturers assisting him. She sank back unto her seat in disappointment.
*****
Sandra opened her eyes, how time flies, its morning already. She had slept immediately she returned home from her visit to Don’s place the previous day. Even though, she slept out of frustration and anger, she was surprised to be waking up fifteen hours later. She stood up and walked towards the window, undid the shutters and slid the window open to allow the morning sun penetrate. Then she headed to the bathroom.
“So, there is light? These people have repaired the light.” She said to herself as she spread the paste on the toothbrush. She did the cleaning of her mouth and twenty minutes later, she exited the bathroom dripping wet with her towel covering a little of her body. She walked towards the dressing table, she did her thing, put on a black designer sleeveless top and a black micro-mini jean skirt. She applied a light make-up on her face, then the worms in her tommy started protesting. Then she realised she hadn’t eaten anything for the past thirteen hours except her regular companion, her fruit juice. She headed for the kitchen with her phone in hand.
“Hello darling.” She said.
“I’ll call you back.” The person at the other end, addressed as ‘darling’ replied.
“Okay.” She replied and hung up.
She entered the kitchen and switched on the electric water heater, she left the water to boil, then she started making preparations by slicing onions and red pepper, she wanted to make toast bread and tea. Then she remembered she had an audition to do today. She was expected to take cover pictures for a clothing line for their newest designer which was released the previous month. But first she had to contact her lawyer. She punched in Barrister Benson’s number and he picked after the first ring.
“Hello Ben.” She greeted.
“Please, don’t call me again. My wife has threatened to release our pictures to the internet.” Benson replied.
“What rubbish, how did she see the pictures?” She asked.
“I don’t know o. I think she checked through my phone.”
“That’s careless of you. Can’t you delete them off your phone or don’t you know something is at stake? I have my name to protect, talk her out of releasing the pictures, find a way to get those pictures off her or I do it for you.” She said firmly.
“Trust me I will.” He replied.
“Hope you have not forgotten about our programme today?” She asked.
“I must not be spotted with you. She threatened to release them if I am found with you.”
“Are you with your senses at all? Did you know how much we pulled from this deal? Its a multimillion naira deal and it has to be signed today. I don’t care what happens after that, just make sure you are there with me and get rid of those pictures.” She said.
“I’ll do something.” He replied weakly. She hung up and paced around the kitchen, the hunger had since flew away, the aroma of the toast inside the machine smelt foul and she felt sick. Why on earth did she sleep with Benson in the first place? Sleeping with him was no really the issue, but Janet taking their picture is the cause of all this.
The thought of Janet and her deeps brought fresh hatred to her face and she felt like strangling her to death that moment.
“What will she do now? First, she needed to silence Rahmon, now Benson’s wife. Victoria should be able to that for her. She’ll call her later in the day. Just then the realisation hit her, she remembered Sabur saying something about two policemen the previous day. She stormed out of the kitchen.
“Sabur!!!.” She called as she marched towards the gate.
“Yes madam.” The young man came rushing out of his house and bumped into his madam. “Sorry madam.” He said going down on his knees.
“Who did you say wanted to see me yesterday?”
“Two men, they said they are police?” He replied trying to join english words together.
“Why can’t you let them in?” She asked.
“Madam, you told me not to.” He replied.
“Me? You should have at least let them come in.” She said.
“Madam, you said I should choose one between my job or letting them in.” He replied.
“You should know I was in a very bad mood. Those are just empty threats.”
“Madam, where I came from, we don’t take risks.” He replied. Sandra smiled for the first time that day.
“In case they come back, don’t hesitate to let them in, okay?” He nodded his head in affirmation.
******
Janet had just woken up, feeling hungry but she dared not mention it. She still slept in the store where she had been sleeping since she was brought into the house. She had on her , the cloth she had on when she was conered by Victoria and the odour emanating from the cloth has been giving her concern. She hadn’t taken her bath in two days and hadn’t changed her cloth, she hadn’t cleaned her mouth too. She knew its only in a matter of time before maggot begin to fall from her body. She would have asked Don or any of the guys for help but she knew it must come with a price, something she knew won’t be fair on her part. She could be asked to sleep with all the guys in the house and that will be too much on her part, considering the face that she had only had s.ex once. She could be punished brutally for asking for such favours from these merciless guys, but she was gonna ask anybody that comes calling at her temporary room.
How she wished she had said no to Rahmon’s advances, because she could remember he gave her the option to either agree or decline, but as an intelligent girl who was taught to pay kind people back in the way they had treated her. She wanted to say no, but she knew he could throw her out if she said no, or better still flare up and call her an ingrate, which was why she took the job and did it, but now, everything had bounced on her and Rahmon is somewhere enjoying the rest of the money made from the deal at peace.
She knew this victoria of a girl must be an expert at what she does, but she wasn’t convinced. She had a loving heart that isn’t devoid of emotion, she might loose against Rahmon.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ngozi was trying the clothes Kelvin got for her at the boutique accross the street, there was no point covering her unclothedness, she just let him have a view of his life as she busied herself with dressing up. There were so many strange things about Kelvin that she just couldn’t phatom. First, it was his gentleman nature, he looked gentlemanly from the outside but inside him was like a outside of a serpent. She never in her wildest dream thought Kelvin could use her to satisfy his sexual urge. Even if she felt something for him and wanted to have a fling with him, she believed every man should take the normal proceedure when it comes to sex, because it takes the feeling of the two parties involved to have a good sex.
Another strange thing she noticed in the two nights she spent with him was his underwear, most especially, his singlet. It was customized ‘D-K,’ even though she didn’t know what it meant, she still knew it was no brand or designer and therefore she came to the conclusion that it was made for him. Her conclusion was further buttressed by the fact that his name start with the letter ‘K’ but what the ‘D’ meant was unknown to her.
She also concluded he was hiding somethings from her, one, he doesn’t receive his calls in her presence and two, his phones are always locked up in the bedside drawer, and since he had all the keys with him, she couldn’t check the drawers, but from what she observed, he had been using this particular hotel room for quite a long time now.
Another thing she noticed was a tattoo she saw on his body, just above his tommy. While he was molesting her in late last night she dugged her fingernails into his chest out of the pain she was feeling and ripped the singlet into two, then, the tattoo became visible, but he was quick to stop his act and disappear into the bathroom where he returned with a new singlet on his body. She had the feeling she had seen the tattoo somewhere, not so long ago, but where she saw it, she couldn’t say. She knew the tattoo meant a lot to him, which was why he had been concealing it. She could see letters inscribed in the middle of the tattoo which was circular in shape, but he disappeared so fast that she couldn’t have read the words inscribed.
With no other word, she walked out of the room, thank God he had given her her transport fare. She had one place in mind, Tobi’s apartment where she would take her bath, change cloth and go to the office immediately to clear herself. Her clearing before her fiancee can wait.
–to be continued–
