Tomi
I looked up from the plate of food in front of me. My fork paused midway to my mouth.
” What?” I asked, in disbelief.
” They’ve all been locked up ” Kelvin repeated, Tosin, Victoria, Linda, the D.P.O said there was another guy with them. They all claimed to be the murderer”.
” This sound funny even though it doesn’t look it. What happened? Why would they do that?” I asked.
” I don’t know” He replied.” I’ m going to see if i can bail their assess ”
” Has Tosin’ s father been Arrested? ” I asked.
” He hasn’t been in the country for a long while now.” He replied, ” So far, Linda is the prime suspect and she’s going to court next week. Although the police are still investigating”.
” I want to go see Tosin’ s mother. God knows what the poor woman is going through now”. I said.
” Are you sure babe? You need to rest” He said.
” I am pregnant, I am not crippled.” I replied, shoving food into my mouth. ” I will be fine dear”
He laughed. ” Well becareful. My would_ be best man is locked up, I hope i will have some luck getting a bail for him and his ‘ criminal’ gang. Then we can have our wedding.” He leaned down and kissed me on my forehead.” Be safe, my lazy girl” he joked, walking out of the room.
I finished my meal, took my plate to the kitchen sink to rinse it out. I drove down to Tosin’ s house. His mother was on the couch when i entered. She smiled and welcomed me.
” Tomi how are you?” She asked kindly.
” I am fine ma” I replied, sitting down.
” I have not seen Tosin. Have you?” She asked, worriedly.
” He…..he…..um went to the police station with Kelvin” I stammered out the lie.
” I have this nagging feeling. I have been trying to put it out of my mind but i can’ t” She said.
” What is it ma?” I asked.
” Come with me” She stood up, picked up a set of keys.” My maternal instinct cannot fail me”.
I stood up and followed her out of the living room, she opened her car and we both entered. She drove out of the compound.We went on, in silence until i saw a car behind us, we took another turn, the car took the same turn. She curved into another street, the strange car did the same. An alarm bell went up in my head.
” We are being followed” I shouted .
” Are you sure?” She asked.
” Yes. What do we do?” I asked, panting in fear.
” I will take a wrong turn, let’s see if the person will follow ” She said, driving faster.” Are we still being followed? ” She asked after some few wrong turns.
I looked into the rear mirror and sighed in relieve. The car wasn’t in sight.
” No. We lost him. Where are we going?” I asked.
“I have a feeling that Kelly is with her great_grandma.The woman is so cunning, for years she and my ex_ husband has tried to get custody of her.”
” Why? Why would they want to take her from her biological father?” I cried.
She was silent for a second before speaking again.
” You are family now so there’s no harm in telling you. She is the daughter of my late son, Sola. Kelly’ s mother dumped the baby on Tosin’ s door step one morning with a note.”
” Awww. How could she do that?” I asked, placing my hand protectively on my tummy. ” Does she come to see her?”
” Rosa? She died of drug abuse some years ago, after almost milking Tosin dry. He adopted Kelly when she was a year old. Ever since then his father and grandmother has been fighting for custody of her” The older woman replied.
” Is she dangerous? I mean should we be going there alone? ” I asked.
” She’s only an old woman with arthritis and regrets.” She replied, she entered an estate gate and blared her horn in front of a house.
” Stingy woman. I am betting she has no gate man. Let’s walk in” She said, killing off the engine of the car. We got down and pushed in the little gate. We entered and closed it back. There was an old model car in the beautifully Flowered house. The compound was so silent, i doubted if anyone lived in it. We knocked on the door and it was opened by a little girl, she shrieked and threw herself into the arms of the older woman.
” Kelly!” She screamed holding the child close.” Where is great_grandma?”.
” She’s inside. I think she’s sick”. The cute little girl replied.” Hi” she said to me.
” Hi yourself, how are you?” I asked, happy to see that she was alright.
” I am fine. Thank you ” she replied politely.
We went into the living room. An old woman was laid up on the couch, she stirred and her eyes flew open. She sat up aggressively.
This is incredibly good.
To be continued..