CHAPTER 27
SWB: Akinsehinwa Oluwaseun
She looked at me from my head to toes like my sight was disgusting to her.
She has become so blazing that it appeared she couldn’t control herself properly. She clenched her teeth and her fist.
It appeared as if she wanted to strangle me.
How could someone be filled with so much bitterness?
“Damilola, were you that desperate? When you threatened me the other day, I thought they were mere threats, I didn’t take the threats seriously, Damilola why is your heart so evil? Why did you allow the devil ……”
“Shut up you bloody slut! If anyone should be blaming me here, it shouldn’t and must never be you.
Hypocrite pretending to be an angel. You are so lucky, when I planned the whole kidnap stuff, I had planned to kidnap you and Jude at the same time but fate played a smart one on me.
Trust me, if the boys had succeeded in kidnapping you and Jude, you would never have survived it. You would have died before him because I would have personally tortured you and trust me, you would have begged for death under my fingers”
“What!” I exclaimed in shock. She wanted to kidnap and kill me too?
“Silly girl you had better shut up, everything you are saying here will be used against you in the court of law” a police officer warned sternly.
“I don’t care!!!” She barked.
“I no longer care, let the judge do whatever he or she likes, I don’t care. This slut is the reason I was sacked from work. It wouldn’t have been that painful if Mr Jude had paid my salary for that month or if he had given me some money to take care of myself and my family till I find another job, but no, he didn’t, instead he sent me away empty handed. I only have little cash on me at that time which can only last us for few days.
It’s true my monthly payment was good but I have a sick child at home, I’m a single Mom, only few know about her. I hide her away from the public because of her condition, she was always going and coming out of the hospital but even in her condition she was gifted. She was precious in my sight. My monthly payment was what I was using to take care of her, the expensive drugs I bought monthly drained me but I didn’t care, she was my precious jewel. I kept hoping one day, the Lord will look upon my misery and heal her.
Unfortunately my prayers weren’t answered, instead Mr Jude acted the devil and fired me because of his girlfriend, a married harlot for that matter. I couldn’t buy the expensive drugs for that month. I ran to people to borrow some money from them but they turned their backs against me. I ran back to Mr Jude, he probably thought I wanted to beg him to give me back the job, so he ordered the gate keeper not to open the door to me. But all I wanted to ask was a loan to take care of my baby” she paused for a while as tears rolled down her cheeks.
“By the following month , Tinuke, my only baby lost the battle she has been fighting for six years, she died. She is gone, I’m all alone now” Damilola burst out into tears, there were mist of tears in my eyes too, I really pitied her. The police too were in sober reflection.
“So….out of anger, I said I would revenge. I sought for the help of some touts, who helped me to kidnap Jude, they were unable to kidnap Nifemi, I don’t know what really happened anyway.
My plans was not to kill Jude, I only wanted to teach him a lesson, infact it was the men who asked me to request for a ransom before releasing him. While he was in hostage, I didn’t make any appearance, I only gave instructions to my men over the phone. They informed me that he once tried to escape and they shot him in the leg……”
“But you went to the extreme, we understand your pains but still, you shouldn’t have taken laws into your hands. Now see what your hasty and irrational decision have caused. Jude is dead and you, you are about to be jailed if not given a death sentence” a police officer said, Damilola laid her head on the table before her. I gently walked out of the interrogatory room because I had lost my voice. There was nothing to say again. The whole thing was now complicated, what else can I say?.
So Damilola was responsible for the kidnap? I really pity her but I’m happy for myself, who knows if she wasn’t caught, my life may still be at risk. Moreover Richard would have gone to jail for the offence he didn’t commit.
I kept wondering how Damilola was caught, when I asked one of the police officers. He said it was during the investigation that the case was trailed to Damilola.
“How?” I asked.
“We went to Jude’s company and kept interrogating the staff one after the other. We asked them if Jude had any quarrel with any of his staff and one of them, I think her name is Amara or Amaka, I can’t remember, told us about the misunderstanding between you and Damilola. She told us how Mr Jude sacked Damilola because of you. At first we couldn’t find a connection between Damilola and Jude’s death. We also made enquiries to know if there was anyone he struggled with over a contract. Or perhaps there was money deal between him and another traitor but there was nothing of such, so we made an arrest of Damilola. She said she didn’t know anything about it and because there was no evidence to prove any point against her, we decided to release her. Thank God for one of us, who asked us not to release her yet. He is one of the witty police officers we have around here. He didn’t torture her, he only asked some leading questions and that was how she was caught”
“What kind of leading questions?” I asked
The police officer laughed.
“Madam you can ask questions o, there are some things we police officers are not allowed to reveal, inorder not to leak our strategies to the public but let me just tell you little. The officer told Damilola that if anyone hurts you and you revenge out of anger, it has backings under the law. He convinced Damilola that her actions were justified and she can’t be blamed”
“But you said Damilola has not yet confessed”
“Yes, that’s strategy now, when you are trying to catch a child who stole and is denying it, just tell such a child that you understand he didn’t steal it. Convince him or her that you know he or she is not a thief, tell him or her that you understand he kept it and is waiting for the right time that the right owner will come for it. That’s wisdom madam.
Duty calls, but the summary of everything was that the officer made Damilola believed that her case was pitiable and her decision was understandable and justified. She became emotional and boom! She didn’t know when she said; I didn’t plan to kill him.
At that point we knew we had gotten the culprit.”
“Ah! Who could have ever thought that Damilola was the one behind the death of Jude?” I asked.
“Though I’m not supporting what the lady did but I think this will even serve as a lesson to people like Jude who sack their staff anyhow, some even treat people working under them like shit. See madam, just thank God for your head and for your husband jare”
“We are going to have a very big Thanksgiving in church, I can’t thank God enough. I’m sure my husband was saved only by divine intervention.” I said
“You go find something for your boys before we leave, make we celebrate o” the officer said smiling sheepishly and scratching his head.
“Don’t worry sir, I’ll do just that. You people have done a great job, I must appreciate you in my own little way, only God can pay you back in a big way no man can” I smiled happily at him.
I was really happy for my husband and I. I had a form of pity for the deceased and for Damilola but there was nothing I could do to help out. I prayed the judge who will preside on her case will be merciful.
Alas! My Richard was set free. My joy knew no bound, family, friends and church members came to celebrate with us. We did our Thanksgiving in church two days after my husband was set free, because he was released on a Friday.
I still haven’t told Richard about the pregnancy, but he was beginning to suspect. The early morning vomiting, the unusual tiredness and the unnecessary sleeps were almost giving me out.
Richard wasn’t happy with me, in fact he didn’t talk much with me after his release and I knew it was because I doubted him. I called him one night and told him that I noticed he has changed towards me since his arrest and release from the police station. My husband was sincere enough to tell me he wasn’t happy with me.
“Nifemi, we promised to allow the past be bygone, we promised to stand by each other and fight every battle together, fine you got me a good lawyer, you came to the station everyday but you still doubted me. How could you ever think your husband, me Richard would ever murder anyone? Fine I was angry but I couldn’t have killed anyone for any reason at all. If we continue doubting ourselves because of what happened in the past, I’m afraid a lot will be at stake. We need our trust back. We need to hold hands together and fight every battle. We need to let bygone be bygone. You must forgive me completely and I too must do the same. “
I stood up and knelt between my husband’s laps. I held his hands and wrapped it around my waist, putting my face on his, so that we breathed into each other’s nostrils.
“I am really sorry my love. If you can see my heart right now, you’ll see how sorry and repentant I am. Please forgive me. Oko mi, Ajani mi, omo woira, woira, ko ma ba reru keru, eru keru abi lala lenu, omo woira, woira ko ma ba ragba kigba, igba kigba……..”
I was eulogising my husband, his eyes had a mist of tears, I knew my husband was about to shed tears, he was getting emotional. Maybe it was the eulogy that worked I don’t know but what happened next was that my husband took my lips in his and the rest is history. That night was really really great! We didn’t wake up until six thirty am the following day.
“Men! Anyone who is not married to “a Richard” is missing o” I said jokingly as my husband placed my breakfast before me while I was still on bed.
“And any man who is not married to “a precious Nifemi, a Queen, a Royal priesthood” has lost”
I burst into laughter as I hit my husband slightly.
“That’s to the extreme Bobo yi”
“I love you so much Oluwanifemi”
“I love you more Richard”
There was a moment of silence as Richard stirred the tea. I felt this was the right time to tell my man the good news. I imagined what his reaction would look like. I stared at him with broad smiles on my face.
“When she smiles like that, she is about to do her wicked wicked thing. Don’t tinkle me o, you know that thing is wickedness, that thing that forces you to laugh and laugh until you begin to cry” my husband said and I laughed.
“Sweetie” I called gently.
“Yes Love”
“I’ve got good news for you”
“Okay, I’m all ears” he said.
“I’m pregnant” I said happily.
“What! Hold on, what did you just say?”
“I’m pregnant baby”
Richard jumped up with joy, he lifted me off from the bed and swirled me in his hands.
“Baby gently my eyes are turning” I said as we both landed on the bed, laughing like cartoons.
Marriage is really sweet joor!!!