"Damn! I knew the condom was going to come in handy!" Bisola snapped her fingers.
We were somewhere in the compound sipping chilled drinks on a cool day at 5:30 pm.
"Wow, so you had sex!" Toyin was still shocked.
"Yeah," I smiled. After we had made love, Jeremy cuddled me, whispering how much he adored me as well as encouraging me to let go of feelings that were emotionally draining me. This had been two days ago but I couldn't tell because we were busy yesterday.
"But I'm sorry about your mum, how is she holding up?"
"Gideon said she is holding up gradually. Bayo has regained consciousness."
"I think your mum should give him a try. He's been there all these years," Toyin said.
"True, but what I can only do is to convince her to give him a chance, I can't force her to be with him. It's her decision to make."
"Yeah, sure. I also have something to tell you," Bisola winked with a smile. "I had sex with Emmanuel." She beamed.
"Oh... Well... That's nice," I said awkwardly.
"How was he?" Toyin asked eagerly.
"Good. Romantic. Tosin, is everything alright?"
"Yeah."
"I know you don't like him, but be happy for me."
"I like him. I am fine with everything as long as he treats you well."
"He said he had always liked me though," Bisola smiled.
"While you were dating Joe?" Toyin asked with a frown.
"Yeah. But he said he respected us together."
"And you don't think it was bad for him to have had such feelings?" Toyin pressed on.
"Of course, I don't. He liked me then. But he never ruined my relationship with Joe. He kept his feelings."
"Well, that's good. Why did he disappear all this while when he could have approached you later and told you his feelings?"
"Because I didn't like him other than being my friend. Besides, I was healing from Joe's death."
But you still haven't healed, Bisola.
Toyin and I shared glances and sighed. "Okay, that's good then. He wasn't selfish," I said.
"Exactly," Bisola cut in. "By the way, I want us to finish what we started yesterday afternoon. Henry didn't like the fact that I didn't give him anything that would serve as a clue last night. That is the only job assigned to me to help crack Joe's case. It's mysterious. So let's wrap it up today, please. I have to give him something like a lead." Bisola stood up and we did too.
When we got into his room, we started from where we took off. His shelf. Joe was known for being a bookworm. And to be honest with what we had seen so far, Bisola said he had a great taste in his choice of books. And now, all we had to do was flip through it all to see if something was going to slip down or anything else. Just anything to give us a lead.
I remember how Bisola had hesitated for some minutes, just standing at the door with the key in the lock. I had thought we were going to stand there for hours until Toyin encouraged her she could do it. Bisola had summoned courage with heavy breathing before she could turn the key and gradually opened the door. The first thing that greeted us was the heavy dust emanating from the room. We had to quickly pull up our nose covers before stepping in quietly.
I had opened the windows, disturbing the still dust that had been there for years and switched the light on. When there was finally enough light in the room to make us see clearly, we looked around, taking it all in.
Joe's room was painted white but now it was brown. There were cobwebs everywhere and dead dried cockroaches lying on the carpeted floor. On the walls were hanging pictures of him swimming, a picnic picture of him and Bisola in her uniform and a get-together party with the group members. Bella was looking young then.
On his reading table were motivational books placed on one another, along with other novels from bestselling authors. There were also two small frames of pictures on his reading table. One was of Bisola smiling with her eyes closed to the sun. She was immensely beautiful. And the other was just the two of them kissing. When Bisola came over to the table, she took it, gazing at it for a while before air escaped her mouth as tears filled her eyes. One thing I percepted at that moment was that Bisola still loved him. Joe was her first love.
Toyin saw what I saw too and placed her hand on her shoulder but she shrugged it off, silently sniffling back coming tears. "I'm fine," she had said and had the frames facing down the table instead of standing. "Let's get this over with on time."
And now today again, the bed was a no-go- area if we wanted to finish our search, because the great amount of dust on it was enough to send us away till the next day, so we just went through others. From his wardrobe to his reading table, his drawers, the full bathrooms, and under the bed but we just came up with nothing. Absolutely nothing. And now, the books on the shelf were our targets.
"I think it's time to renovate this room and give out some things. Like these books. Too precious to be stuck away on the shelf that no one is using."
"Yeah, sure," Bisola said.
"I found a picture, guys." Toyin showed us what she found.
"Oh, that is an old picture of us, " Bisola answered.
"Who are those?" I could see clearly through the smooth but old picture in Toyin's hand.
"That's me, Joe, Emmanuel and his sister."
"He has a sister? You didn't tell me that."
"I didn't think it was necessary. She doesn't like me though."
"She told you herself?" I collected the picture and looked at Emmanuel's sister. Fair, tall, slender, long-faced, black eyes and black hair. She resembled her brother.
"Nope. But I know it. We don't have the friendship bonds girls are meant to have when they hang out together. I only met them through Joe. They were his friends."
"Is it necessary that we give this to Henry?"
"I don't think so. That is just us in the picture. We need something suspicious to help."
"Alright."
After about minutes of going through the books, we found nothing and decided it was the bed's turn.
"Let's pull it away gently to avoid too much dust on our faces. I will have to tell someone to clean this place up," Bisola said.
We gathered around the bed and gently lifted the duvet down the floor. The white bedsheet was already becoming brown, including the pillows. There was nothing to see. Absolutely nothing except for dust and a pen.
"Dead end it is," Bisola lamented.
"There has to be a clue." I lifted the pillow and threw it on the floor. The second pillow was on the other side so Toyin lifted it. "Oh my God."
"What?"
"It's his phone!" She took it in her hand.
Hastily, Bisola went to her and collected the phone. A smile plastered on her face immediately.
"Press it."
Bisola did but it didn't turn on. "Dead. What if it is damaged? What if the evidence is all gone if there is any? What if the battery is rotten? This is my fault for not coming here all these years." She panicked.
"Calm down. It might turn on or not. We just hope it should and we have to charge it. Besides, the phone wasn't kept in a bad condition, was it? No. Now, let's get out of this dusting room..."
"There is an impromptu meeting right now," Nafisat announced at the door. "Hurry. Mask on."
We looked at each other the instant Nafisat left.
________________
The meeting room was filled up when we got there and in front of us was a fat short man on his knees. He was in black pants and a loose white shirt that showed his singlet. His hands were tied to the back...
"Well, I'm glad to announce to you guys that this man right here was a member of We Roar Group. He was among the guys that lodged in the hotel.
"I don't know wetin you dey talk about niggar! How many times you wan make I tell you?" the man shouted in pidgin English.
"Abbey, Jasper and Charles went in search of him and found him in his luxurious building with bodyguards."
"We had to fight through them to get to his man here," Charles said, his eyes dancing in the light as he smoked. He then patted the man he was next to. "To be frank, you've got tough bodyguards."
"I nearly broke my wrist," Abbey smiled at him.
"Thank you for your work. So, his name is Mustapha Tafida. The same name he went by in the group. Married to Zainab with six children who are abroad. He left the group after their boss was shot."
Seun scoffed.
"I'm impressed by your research," Mustapha said with a scornful face at Henry.
"Mustafa, all you have to do is cooperate with me and you will be free. You will be a free man."
"Wetin you want?"
"You remember the death at the Classy Hotel? Suicide in room 302?"
"No!" he snapped.
"Judging by the quick answer, I will take that as a yes. Everyone thought it was suicide, but you and I know it was murder. Now tell me, who poisoned him?"
"How I go take know? Wetin be my concern for another pesin trouble?"
"Charles?" Henry signalled to him.
Having understood what Henry meant, Charles went behind Mustafa and placed a knife on his neck, slicing it slowly and steadily.
"Do you want to talk or what?"
"Damn you all!" Mustapha said, fear obviously creeping into him.
"Alright then, Charles will just slit your throat and feed you to the dogs."
Charles went steadily deeper, and blood began sliding down his neck as Mustapha screwed his eyes shut.
"Any last word?"
"Jesus Christ! Let go of me and I will talk." Charles smiled and stopped immediately.
"Now, tell me, good boy, do you know him?" Henry showed him a picture of Joe.
"Yeah, no be hin rape that girl? Na hin."
"He didn't."
"He did! Na the sister of one of our members he raped. He deserved to die!"
"Like you idiot!" Bisola said.
"So it was a girl Joe that he was accused of raping. And the sister of one of the members of We Roar Group. He avenged his sister then."
"Na everything I go talk be that. I know nothing again."
"I want the guy's name and the sister."
"We no dey betray one another for our group, even as we don part. Kill me if you like."
"Take him to the torturing room. It had to be the other guy. No doubt. Rasheed the delivery boy said he saw someone tall and this guy here is short. Definitely not our guy."
"He was part by the way," Bella said.
"Sure. Torture him till he is ready to speak."
Henry's order was carried out with no further delay.
"Did you find anything, Bisola?"
"Yes, boss. His phone." Bisola handed him the phone.
"Oh my God!" Nafisat said.
"Thank God. This will be over soon," Bella added.
"It's dead though. Maybe if we charge it, it will come back to life."
"Femi, get this charged ASAP." Henry threw the phone to Femi who caught it and left the room.
"We will know the truth soon," Henry placed a hand on Bisola. "I wish it had been done years back."
"Me too."
"By the way," Henry pointed at me, "you have a new assignment to work on. To kill."
"Kill? What happened?" Why me?
"A woman claimed her husband is mistreating her and abusing her..."
"Maltreating and abusing her? She should go to the police..."
Henry gave me a cold look that suddenly made me uncomfortable.
"It's not like the cops will do anything much, especially when they are bribed. Maybe she's scared of going there. Maybe she went there but nothing happened," Rotimi mumbled with a sigh beside me.
"Okay, just place a warning on him and shoot his ankle or any place that will injure him but not kill him. She sounded distressed and she desperately wanted me to take action."
"Isn't he going to attack his wife when he gets back on his feet?"
"Don't be dumb, Tosin. Are you going to tell the man his wife gave us the order?"
"Okay, good then."
"His wife wants us to kill him. He must have gotten on her nerves. She only called and sent the money over in cash. The best thing now is that, do what I ask you to and if we get a call that he is still hitting her again, we'll kill him then, alright?"
I only nodded.
"You go with Bisola and Toyin. Make it snappy. Oh and with Seun."
"Tonight?"
"Of course. The woman keeps bugging me. She already sent the money, so you have work to do."
"Alright."
"By tomorrow, Joe's case should be solved. And that is if Mustapha tells us the truth. He's the only one we managed to get our hands on, the other guy is nowhere to be found."
Charles peeped in and said, "Henry, you've got a visitor. The same lady. Your girlfriend, I presume."
Henry waved Charles away, smiling as he left without a word. The rest of us looked at each other, wondering with a smile on our faces.
"Henry got a girlfriend?" I laughed amidst my question, wondering who the mysterious lady was. Was she some lady from a group who had agreed to be with Henry without seeing his face? 'Cause I didn't know how that was going to work.
"Who is the girl?"