Hands in my pocket, I watched my mother and my siblings gazing around the new flat I got them. They were surprised. This morning, Jeremy had helped me talk with someone who was an agent. The agent found a new place immediately for us and also helped to contact someone who had the place set up. From the couches to the beds, dining table, curtains and the necessary things needed in a house. All I had to do was pay the bills.
"How did you do all these?" Bayo looked around.
"I didn't do all these myself. I just had to pay."
"She hired some workers that did it all. Fast and neat," Gideon said with a smile. He had been willing enough to bring them here from his house when I asked him.
"How much did all these cost?"
"Lots..."
"You paid..."
"Mum," I moved towards her, "don't worry too much. I don't mind using my savings to get you a new place. You deserve it."
"Thank you," she said and hugged me.
"Well, what are the police saying now?"
"Sarah said she wants him buried as soon as possible. Granny is aware now."
"Are they not going to investigate more?"
"I don't think they would. They already removed the bullet. Loveline also said she doesn't want her husband in the compartment for long and I don't want it either. They are burying him tomorrow."
"How are you feeling?" Gideon asked as he sat her down.
"I don't know. Not happy. I'm sad he's gone. Sad granny is not happy. But I'm happy the beating is all gone..."
"It would have stopped a long time if we had moved as Tosin had suggested," Bayo said mildly angry.
"You two should go pack your luggage inside," I said and my siblings obeyed.
"You have to be patient with them, okay? They are angry and hurt," Gideon said.
"Gideon," Mum turned to him, "thank you for everything. I appreciate it all."
"Yeah. But I just don't get why you didn't tell me. You lied every time I asked what happened. Why? Didn't I deserve to know?"
"I didn't want you to see me weak. And I didn't want you to pity me." She was near tears now.
"Regardless, you should have voiced out to anyone." He shifted to her and hugged her.
One thing was clear to me, Gideon had always loved my Mum. Right from when I was in high school. And I hoped Mum gave him the chance. Like he had always been there. And I knew her relationship with Gideon was nothing to worry about. She deserved happy years with him.
"Are you two going to start dating now or what?"
"Come on, Tosin, your dad just died."
"Adopted," I corrected.
"I will always be there any time," Gideon put in.
"What?" Mum widened her eyes.
"Yes." Gideon scratched his head.
"Gideon..."
"I'm in love with you. And I want you."
Okay, this is getting interesting. I carefully sat down, watching them confess like two high school teenagers.
"I just lost my husband!"
"I know. I will wait. I like you."
"I can't believe this."
"Mum, stop being dramatic and tell him you like him too."
"Shut up!" Mum snapped.
"Well, what do you say?" Gideon asked.
"Well... Hmm... I like you too. Will you give me time?"
"Sure, I'll. Thank you." Gideon smiled broadly with relief.
"Don't delay him, Mum. He's forty-eight. Time doesn't wait."
My mum glared at me and smiled at Gideon.
"No, Thank you for staying. For always helping me. Thanks a lot," she said and hugged him.
"So is he going to be our stepdad now?" Busola asked with no humour in her voice or her face as she stood at the entrance, carrying two bags in her hands.
"No," Mum snapped. Hoping her daughter wouldn't lash out at the two of them.
"They are taking things slow," I said.
"Better," she said and walked away. Busola was the type to say anything when she was angry.
"I don't mind having a stepdad as long as you are good to her. I will go talk to her," Bayo said and went after Busola.
"I will talk to them. They are..."
"It's fine, Rachel. I like them and they like me. I know it. They are only scared for you."
"Bisola..."
"She will get used to it. She is just annoyed at the moment."
"Don't worry, Mum. You will be fine. They will be too," I added and got a call from Toyin.
"Yo, where you at?" Toyin asked immediately when I picked up the phone.
"At my mother's house."
"Extend my greetings to her. Henry wants you here!" Toyin hung up without letting me say anything further.
"Mum, I have to go. Toyin said hello."
"I missed her. Tell Bisola I missed her too."
"Sure, bye Gideon, bye, Mum." I gave them a quick kiss and dashed out.
____________
On getting to the meeting room with my mask on_that I had hurriedly gone to fetch in my room_ I sat down behind Bisola who gave me a big smile.
"Now that we are here, I want y'all to know that Joe's phone has been repaired and nothing is wrong with it. We had the phone engineer come over to fix it and now we can't access it without a password. Does anyone know his password?"
We suddenly gazed at Bisola.
"What?"
"You were his girlfriend," Sukanmi said.
"Well, I'm not sure if he had changed it. Try my name. The b is capitalized."
Jasper did exactly what Bisola said and said, "Well, that's correct."
"Thank God," Bisola sighed.
"He truly loved you," Bisola said.
Jasper went through the phone, leaving us all in suspense, wondering what he was seeing.
"His messages here are... Wait, I can see something."
Henry leaned over and said, "Oh my..."
"What are you two seeing? Don't tell me it's true." Bisola's face tensed up immediately.
"The person that accused him was a friend. He raped his sister."
Bisola stood up immediately. "What are you saying?"
"Calm down B..." Jasper was saying.
"No, don't tell me to calm down! Who did he rape? Is it true? Whose sister?"
Henry cleared his throat. "I don't know if it's true, okay? The messages here show that the accuser was very furious and Joe kept saying he didn't do it."
"Who is the accuser?" Toyin asked.
"Emmanuel." Henry looked around for any expression.
"It can't be." Bisola slumped down on the chair. "It can't be."
"Hey, it might not be him, okay?" Toyin tried calming Bisola down.
"Who's Emmanuel?" Jasper asked.
"Joe's ex-best friend. He has a sister."
"What's his surname?" Henry asked. "It might be him or not. Let's not jump to conclusions."
"I'm so stupid! I don't even know his surname. Is there a surname there?"
"No, just Emmanuel with two buddies emojis."
"Damn! Don't tell me I messed up?"
"The only way to find that out is to confirm from Mustapha. Femi, Sukanmi, go fetch him."
When the two men left, Bisola began to shed tears.
I only hoped it wasn't the truth, I mean, she was just moving on.
"Joe told me Emma wasn't in any gang. He told me that."
"We just have to confirm from Mustapha."
When Mustapha was finally brought in, his face was swollen and his body was spotted with blood.
Femi dragged him to the front and Mustapha said, "Damn you all? Wetin you bring me here con do?" Mustapha sounded angry.
"I asked them to bring you here because I need you to confirm something," Henry said.
"I no go do anything for una! Make una let me go first!"
"Ah ah, funny!" Jasper chuckled.
"Do you have a picture of him?" Henry asked Bisola.
"Yes, I have some on my phone." Bisola went through her phone until she came up with one. "This is a recent one." She gave it to Henry who frowned at the picture.
"Why does he look familiar? Like I have seen him somewhere..."
"I invited him to one of the Saturday night parties. The one where you invited other gang members you are friends with. The masked party."
"How... He isn't a gang member, is he?"
"No. I invited him so we could catch up on things. I didn't tell him who I am."
"You invited an outsider?! I saw him outside when he took his mask off. What did you tell him we were doing?"
"A party. Concerning your success. I'm sorry."
Henry sighed and showed the picture to Mustapha. "You recognise him?"
Mustapha chuckled inwardly. "And why I go help you?"
"Because I will let you go."
"Why I go believe you?"
"If you tell me the truth, I will let you go, if you don't, I will kill you."
The response from Henry shocked Mustapha that he blinked and thought of what to say. "I'm sorry, man, but I have to save my life. That's Bobby."
"Bobby?" Bisola was on her feet again. "That's Emmanuel, is there a mix-up somewhere?"
"Na wetin we call am for the group be that before we depart. No other name."
"Exactly the name the manager emailed to me. He left his name as Bobby," Femi said.
"But this Joe guy did wrong too. Hin raped Bobby's baby sister! Bobby was mad at him. They were best friends? Who does that? Na hin betray his best friend na. We never know say Bobby get a best friend for another group sef, but anyway, na hin fault we kill am."
"You all killed him?" Jasper asked.
"No, Bobby said to poison hin go better. We just waka with him, say make we flex. Na for Classy lounge we dey always meet to flex."
"After killing Joe?"
"Before. The thing happened in the morning. You no see the news?"
"Okay let me get this straight, Bobby and you guys always chill at Classy lounge and decided to meet up with Joe there, right? And you also said you and your boss didn't know he had a best friend in another gang, right? And also Emmanuel suggested he poison him instead. And he's a gangster..."
"Was," Mustapha corrected Henry.
"Was. He killed Joe because he thought Joe raped his sister?"
"Oga, na hin come to us_to the group and say his sister was raped."
"So he avenged on behalf of his sister?"
"Yes."
"Is she a gangster too?"
"No. But we sabi her. Bobby dey always talk about hin sister but never about Joe or wetin you call am?"
"Joe," Toyin said.
"But then after a while, we con realise na because den dey another gang. Our group no like your group at all. You don't know our group, but my boss just didn't like you. He heard of you and said you were too young to own a group, and that if you were in his way, he would get rid of you.” Mustapha shrugged.
"That's why he didn't tell me the truth." Bisola sobbed. "Why didn't he tell me? Why didn't Emmanuel tell me?"
"Oh, yes! Like it would have been reasonable of Emmanuel to tell you as his 'girlfriend' that he killed your ex?" Bella asked sarcastically.
"So, he's using you after he killed your ex?" Nike asked. She was one of us too.
I rolled my eyes. What a nice choice of words, Nike.
"Where is he?" Jasper asked.
"Bobby? I no know, man. We parted a long time ago. Now, how about you set me free? I don tell you wetin I know."
"Emmanuel killed Joe and is dating you? What kind of courage is that?" Jasper said suddenly disgusted, clearly voicing out his thoughts without thinking.
"Femi, kill him."
Mustapha looked bewildered. "No, man, what about our agreement?" Mustapha looked scared.
Henry hitched his pants up and squatted at Mustapha's front. "You were part of the men that killed my man."
"He raped someone!" He yelled.
Henry slapped him slightly, "He's innocent. And Bobby or whatever his name is is greedy. Take him away." Henry commanded and stood up.
Mustapha struggled with Femi and Charles as he cursed along.
"We need to find Emmanuel and his sister." Henry looked at Bisola's teary eyes.
Bisola nodded, fingers in her mouth. "We can use his sister as bait."
"No. We capture her and capture him as well. They should meet here by surprise," Nike suggested.
"Whichever one that's best," Bisola said with no eagerness. It was as if she was suddenly tired. She turned to stare at Toyin and me with tears streaming down her face. The look she was giving us passed a message only we knew. She had had sex with Emmanuel already. The killer of her lover.
Toyin and I went to comfort her as everyone left one after the other, leaving us alone.
Although Bisola was crying now, I knew she would regain her strength and her sadness would be replaced by anger.