Rebecca opened the door to her room and closed it, keeping her bag on her bed she went to her pot to check for food, she had decided to go visit a sick sister in fellowship after church so had returned late, while eating her jollof rice she glanced at Emilia’s bed and wondered why she wasn’t back yet, she was always with Sean these days but should be back by 8:30pm she discovered, checking her watch, Sighing, she went to keep the empty plate, then decided to call her, her number wasn’t reachable, well she’ll just chill, maybe Sean took her somewhere.
She read a magazine on her bed as she wondered why Emilia couldn’t just date Sean, he was every girl’s dream and she obviously liked him, fine he wasn’t a Christian but God could change him, she didn’t think that was an important criteria.
It became 10pm, she got worried, and looked again at her bed. It was well laid with a dress on top of it, looking again she discovered there was something white on it, she went to the bed and took up the sheet of paper
“I’m spending the night with Sean, don’t wait up” Wow..that was fast, since when did she sleep in a man’s house?, She folded the note but wondered at it..Emilia would have called her instead. Thinking she was an adult, she shrugged and went to the bathroom, noticing it was wet, meaning she had returned earlier. She had her bath and dressed up in the room, being an early sleeper she was asleep in no time.
The next morning, Emilia wasn’t back, sighing she got ready and went to the hospital for her clinicals, hoping to talk to her about the night spending. It wasn’t wise for a young woman to do that, yeah Emilia was capable of making her own decisions but could become emotional sometimes…especially since she was in love.
Emilia wasn’t in class either…that was so unlike her, missing three classes, Serena was busy with her snobby friends so she decided not to approach, assuming she might still be with Sean, she decided to chill.
When she got back in the room, there was still no sign of Emilia, she hadn’t returned at all. She decided to call Serena, she picked on the third ring, guess she was busy, plus the place was noisy
“Hey b—h ‘sup” She decided to ignore the B part
“you have my number?”
“Of course, I have to, we have a common friend” she said bitterly
“Well the common friend is missing”
“What..Did you see her in class?”
“Umm.no..but she’s prob with my brother those two go everywhere together” Rebecca wasn’t settled, Emilia should have called her by now, or texted
“Can you ask him?”
“She’s fine, I ll call her now even” Serena cut but didn’t call back. Rebecca got worried again, but decided to go for night class. In the morning, Emilia wasn’t back, bed still as it was, she sat on her bed and began to dial her numbers, did she go home?. She thought of calling her father but didn’t want to scare anyone…yet, her sister was far away having gotten a job in Lagos, plus she didn’t want to worry anyone, seeing it was like reporting her friend.
She slept off, when she awoke, Emilia’s bed was still empty, there was a knock on the door, it came again more subtle
“Who’s there?”
“Me” She stood up and opened it. Sean stood there, eyebrows furrowed, Rebecca stared at him as he stared at her
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“where’s Emilia?”he asked She went back into the room
“Wish I knew, thought she was with you”she said sitting on her bed
“What do you mean, I haven’t seen her since Sunday ”
“When did she leave?”She asked
“Quite early..maybe 4pm”
“Did she say she was going anywhere else?” He thought about it then shook his head
“You mean you haven’t seen her? ” he sighed
“thought she wasn’t picking my call on purpose”
“yeah, one number is not going the other rings without being picked” she confirmed
“Where do you think she might be?”he asked
“I don’t know, I called Serena earlier and..”
” yeah, got me worried, I had to come”he said She got silent, moving back and forth on the bed. He walked to Emilia’s side of the room and touched her bed, he took up the dress
“This is what she was wearing”he said She stood up
“Really ”
“Yeah” he said feeling it
“She had her bath too, bathroom was wet” He squatted…looking around as he saw something, reaching under her bed he took out a purse
“This is her purse, why would she leave without it, does she have another?”he asked her She came and took it from him
“It is…wow, she can’t leave the house without her purse she has to take taxi’s and all”she opened it and there was money inside. He held his forehead and sighed
” This is so not happening”
“What do you think we should do?”she asked
” I don’t know, is there any place she might be?”
“Home..but I don’t wanna call her parents”
“I think we have to” Rebecca sighed then made the dreaded call
“What do you mean she’s not in school?”her father barked, after Rebecca explained the situation, her father said he was coming with the mother, as the duo sat and waited for them to arrive, Sean suddenly said
“I think we should call Martin, you have his number?” She nodded
”That’s true, I didn’t even think of him”she took out her phone and dialled, it rang and rang then went to voicemail
” He’s not picking, maybe he’s busy, he’s involved in Rachael’s case”
“Who’s Rachael?” as he asked that, there was a knock on the door, both sighed in relieve but then thought that Emilia would not knock.. getting up Rebecca went close to the door
“Who’s there?”
“It’s the police, open up” Rebecca looked back at Sean,what was the police doing at her room door, she opened anyway and a middle aged man walked in with a younger man on uniform He showed them his ID
“I’m Detective Charles Marshall, this is Sergeant John Binigie, we investigating Miss Rachael Okoro’s case” Rebecca and Sean looked at each other
“I want to speak with Miss Emilia Badmus” Sean stood up, glanced at Rebecca who was now scared
“She’s not around sir..we’ve been looking for her” she managed to say
“Possibly she has run away” he showed her a picture “Do you know this young man?”
“That’s Martin” Sean said surprised, Rebecca was almost in tears
“yes, he’s her boyfriend” she said
“We needed to ask her some questions but possibly she had run away with him”
“What is he talking about”, he asked Rebecca” what’s going on?”
“Emilia would not run away with Martin”Rebecca said fearing the worst Pastor Badmus came in through the open door
“What’s happening, where’s my daughter”
“What did you say happened to her?” her mother asked, Rebecca sat on the bed so she didn’t faint The detective looked at them and introduced himself
“The autopsy report of Miss Racheal Okoro came out today, she didn’t die of complicated abortion like was earlier speculated, she sustained severe head injury so we imagined she was pushed from a height, the doctor after rigorous questioning said she didn’t want to do it, so had left the hospital having opened up to him about the young man here in this photo, who had asked her to remove the pregnancy he was responsible for, we had him but he was bailed out by his father, he wasn’t supposed to leave town while the investigation was going on but we can’t find him anywhere. His parents are currently in custody till he is found, we got information about the girlfriend but now she is missing” Her parents got more confused
“ What are you talking about, can somebody tell me what is going on?” Her father exclaimed looking around, his eyes landing on sean who had gone to the window to stare out
“Rebecca..where is my daughter?” the mother asked
”oh god..” Rebecca was already in tears as the detective sighed then said
“yes sir…your daughter is involved with a murderer ”
TBC
