The next day which was a Sunday, Fola and her father went back to Mrs. Balogun's residence.
Fola was with a backpack containing her mother's change of clothes and her body lotion.
Mr. Obed insisted on going with her to where his wife stayed the night.
They got to the house on time to see Femi and some of his colleagues entering the house too.
Fola and her father got in and greeted everyone including Mrs. Balogun who was still sitted on the couch she was the day before.
Mr. Obed signalled to his wife to follow him out after the exchange of pleasantries between them and she did.
"Okomi, hope you slept well?", she asked him.
"No I didn't", he answered bluntly.
"Kilode oko mi (What happened my husband?)", Mrs. Obed questioned.
"How do you expect me to sleep well when you were nowhere to be found", he replied her.
"Ha.. ha but I told Fola to inform you of my whereabouts yesterday noon."
"Even with that, how can you just disappear without my permission. It's not as if these people are your relatives", Mr. Obed complained.
"The victim is our daughter's friend", Mrs Obed remarked with arms akimbo and a tired look on her face.
"You want to start encouraging your daughter into waywardness abi. You know so well that she is betrothed to Olamide yet you are doing this. What if she starts developing feelings for the boy?", he asked his wife.
"Fola doesn't even like Olamide despite all these years so we shouldn't force him on her. It's high time we allowed her make a choice. It's her life not ours and if there are consequences attached to any action we take, she will be the one to suffer for it not us."
"Bimbo, what are you saying?", he questioned.
"That is the truth Wole", she responded stubbornly.
"You must be joking."
Mrs. Obed sighed with tiredness and said: "We shouldn't be having this kind of conversation here. Put yourself in that woman's shoe. Her son is missing and you aren't even showing any concern."
"That is the least of my problems. I had a conversation with Mr Garba before he went to Germany about their marriage and he said he will do something about it."
"What conversation? You have started again abi, have you forgotten we told them they would get married after she must have graduated? When did you become this desperate."
"Fola is beginning to show interest in someone else that was why I informed him so we can do the marriage on time before things get out of hand", he informed her.
"You did what?!", his wife exclaimed with agitation.
"Don't you know your daughter has started developing feelings for that boy? What did she even call his name. I had to inform Mr. Garba about it before it gets out of hand."
Mrs. Obed uttered sadly: "Wole, ofe ta omo re abi (you want to sell your daughter abi), you have succeeded."
"What are you saying?"
"Did you tell Mr. Garba about Ire?", she demanded from him.
"Yes Ire, that is his name", her husband said to himself ignoring her question.
"Did you tell Mr. Garba about Ire", Mrs. Obed repeated yelling.
"No I didn't", Mr Garba answered. "I only told him his son now has a rival."
"Haa Wole oti ko bami", she lamented putting her hands on her head. "Wole, let's go inside", she said dropping her hands.
"I will soon be on my way", he said following her back inside.
"Femi", Mrs. Obed called when they got into the sitting room. "I think Mr. Garba is the one behind the kidnap", she announced with confidence.
"We need evidence Mrs. Obed", Femi told her.
"He told Mr. Garba that his son now has a rival", she answered back pointing at her husband.
"What has that got to do with this?", Femi's second colleague asked.
"Don't you get? He wants Fola to marry his son, if Fola likes someone else then it means Fola won't marry his son anymore. The only thing to do is to get rid of whatever is distracting or would stop Fola from marrying his son", she explained.
"I get it now", Femi said with a nod. Then, he asked: "But why would he do such a thing? For what reason?"
Mrs Obed responded: "I told you there is something more to this betrothal, remember?"
"Ma'am we can't just jump into conclusions here. We need concrete evidence", Femi's colleague commented.
"Isn't this enough evidence, she shouted.
"Bimbo, what are you talking about? Are you saying my friend is responsible for the kidnap of her son?", Mr Obed asked pointing at Mrs. Balogun who was staring at them all in silence.
"Yes."
"What? Are you crazy?"
"No I am not....."
"It is okay please. If Mr Garba is really responsible, then it means this is not a case of kidnapping. Another problem now is about Rachel's disappearance. Two things are involved in this, it's either she is responsible for this or she was also kidnapped."
"What if her mother is lying or if her mother just wants you to believe she was kidnapped?" Fola asked Femi who gazed at her in thoughts.
*************************
"Bosslady when are we getting rid of this boy", T-boy asked with a cigarette in his big mouth.
She smilled and answered: "The boss instructed us to kill him before he comes back. He is due to be back tomorrow or next."
"What then are we waiting for? Let's kill him already and get out of here. I have other deals."
"Patience", she commented. "I want us to use one stone to kill two birds." She turned back to T-boy and said: "Let's make an additional money."
"How do you mean?", he asked curiously and removed the cigarette from his mouth.
Bosslady commented: "Let's call his family members for a ransom."
"But if the boss gets to know about this, he will get us killed."
"He won't or will you tell him?", She asked him.
"After getting the money, are we still going to kill him?"
"Of course we will. The boss paid us for that."
"What do we tell our other colleagues then?"
"We will let them in on our plan but as soon as it is executed, we will eliminate them and go away with our millions", she replied licking her lips.
"You are a brainac. That is what I love about you the most", he said moving close to her.
He hugged her from behind, "Let go of me you pervert", she told him with a frown.
He laughed, "Let's have fun."
"Not anymore. I'm pregnant", she announced.
"What?", T-boy shouted.
************************
"The kidnappers haven't called yet and it's making his mother restless", Femi said into the phone.
"I think we should contact the police station in Jaji for support. This case is proving very hard to solve, I really don't know how to go about it because no evidences or clues are forthcoming. Also I am beginning to view this as an abduction. The suspects we have now won't do this for money but rather to get him killed."
"Don't worry, I will talk to the D.P.O and get back to you", the man from the other end said.
"Alright, thank you", he said and hunged up.
Femi was in the verandah of Mrs. Balogun's house. He sighed in frustration as he stretched while yawning. He was unable to sleep throughout the night. He was about to go back into the house when his phone rang.
"Who is it again?", he uttered with a frown but the frown was replaced with a smile when he saw the international number that was displayed on his screen.
"My darling, you called when I needed you the most", he said acting all romantic.
"Shut up. You refused to call me all these while. What kind of a boyfriend are you?", Boluwatife retorted with annoyance.
"Come on, you know the nature of my job."
"Of course I do", she retorted in sarcasm.
"Anyways, I called to inform you that I will be back tomorrow", she announced.
"Wao really? You won't believe what happened that has kept me busy for the past 2 days now", he told her.
"What is it?", Bolu demanded.
He asked: "Do you know Iremide?"
"Iremide?", she repeated "The name rings a bell."
"Folake's friend or boyfriend, I don't know what to call him."
"Oh yes! What happened to him?", she inquired.
"He was kidnapped."
"What?! How?", Bolu muttered in fear.
"We are still carrying out our investigations. The kidnappers haven't called for a ransom yet though."
"How is Folake?", she asked with concern.
"Your friend is a strong woman but his mother is in a bad shape. She refused to eat ever since he was kidnapped."
"So you are out of Kaduna?", she requested.
"No I am in Kaduna. Ire's family relocated a year ago", he explained.
"Oh!"
"Can't wait to see you back home", he uttered sweetly.
"Yeah", she replied with a sad tone.
"I hope I will be available to come pick you up from the airport tomorrow."
"Never mind. See you tomorrow. Love you."
"Love you too", he replied and hunged up.
He smilled and ventured into the sitting room. An idea popped into his head immediately he saw Mrs. Obed serving Ire's mother some food to eat.
"Mrs. Balogun I have some questions to ask you if you don't mind", Femi stated.
"I'm all ears", she said with a low tone.
"I will only do that after you have eaten. You need to be strong for your son."
"I just want my son back home", she replied.
"He will be back I promised."
"Ok."
"So eat", Femi ordered softly.
Mrs. Obed pushed the food to her and she ate slowly.
When she was done eating, Femi started: "Why did you move down here to Kaduna?"
"When my husband died, his people took all of our properties and we were left with nothing. This house was supposed to be a joint business myself and my husband. We were building it for the purpose of renting it out. We were almost done with the house when he died. His people doesn't know about the house so I had to sell our house there in Kano and move down here because of the work my friend was able to secure for me."
"Why are you not on good terms with your husband's relatives?", he questioned again.
"They don't like me because they were not in support of inter-tribal marriage."
"What tribe are you?"
"I am a Christian Nupe", she answered.
"Do you suspect any of them to have a hand in this kidnap?"
"I really don't know."
"What about the friend that helped you secure your new job? Why isn't she here with you?"
She has travelled to the village with her husband. Her husband's townsmen wants to crown her husband with a chieftaincy title."
"What tribe is she?"
"She is an Igbo", she replied.
Just then, Fola and Ife, Ire's sister rushed into the sitting room with Mrs. Balogun's phone.
"Mummy the kidnappers just called", Ife screamed with tears rolling down her eyes.
"What?!", they all chorused as Mrs. Balogun rushed to them to get a hold of the phone. She grabbed the phone from Ife and looked at the screen but the call had already been disconnected.