Tarasha – Chap 12 pt 2

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11. 08 am

Henry drove quietly, in a solemn manner, listening to songs from the new album of veteran artiste, Asa. Her genre of music was the perfect one for his mood right now.

He had not remained himself since the day of the event. Several things had played down his memory in the last two days; including the pictures of the assassin and how he walked up to Jubril Lawal and murdered the man. But the strongest of the pictures were of Evelyn’s face. He kept seeing her in everything he did, even when he closed his eyes.

He tried to figure out what really happened between them, the passion he felt when she placed her head against his chest and when they kissed. Was it love or just lust was feeling? Maybe both. At the point they kissed, he had the lust for her whole body, he could already see her wrapped around himself, both of them unclad, he squeezing her b**bs in his hands. No, it had to stop if it was lust, he had determined in his heart, knowing that nothing borne out of lust would last. But he also felt something more in his heart, in his spirit. The desire to see her well even if he couldn’t have her body, the desire to see her happy. There was something in her eyes when he stared into it, something that showed him that she wasn’t happy  although she always performed well in her bid to hide it.

Where she was now, he had no idea. Her line had been switched off since the last time he tried it, so all his attempts to track it were futile. He also tried again to get the customer’s information of her sim by hacking into the database of the network provider but there was still no information there. It had either been deleted or the information never existed. He couldn’t conclude yet.

Oh! And the Canadian number he was supposed to investigate. He finally concluded the investigation, though the client was no longer interested nor did  was there any call to ask for it. The Canadian number was cloned, it had not even been issued out to any customer by the network provider in Canada. Henry found out that the user was in Africa because on tracking the last conversations restored from the backup of the network provider of his client’s line, he could deduce the maximum possible distance of the Canadian number, which was a distance within Africa. 

All these discoveries were confirming Henry’s fear but he still refused to admit it. Evelyn claimed to be from Canada and was doing business with the late Jubril Lawal, it must have definitely been her number the man was investigating. Or how else could he explain that Evelyn only began to insist that he followed her to the party after she saw the number in his jotter? And what else was the explanation for her  unregistered and now unreachable Nigerian line? It meant she must have destroyed the line since her mission had ended.

But with all these proofs, Henry still choose to believe that he was mistaken, he didn’t want to see her that way. He couldn’t get himself to think of her as a criminal. To him, she was someone who was in need of great help and he believed he could give her that help.

He remembered her outburst the first time he called the name “God” and attributed God to be a loving person while conversing with her . The pain he saw in her eyes that day was too much for a young woman like her to bear. She needed someone to show her love; real love and not one of sexual attraction.

Then he recalled her sharing the story of her family’s death with him. Going through such an horrible experience would most definitely affect one’s future and even control it if one finds no help.

She needed help, she needed love. That was all Henry could think, regardless of every other thing he had found out about her.

Henry finally got to his destination by twenty minutes past eleven. The security men searched his car before allowing him to pass in through the huge gates of Elymax hotel.

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The cabman zoomed off immediately after the new passenger entered. He cleared his throat and continued his conversation with Dakolo. ‘So what kind of company do you work in? What’s the name?’ He asked, looking into the top mirror.

‘Hmm…’ Dakolo paused and licked his lips as he thought of the best answer to give the man. ‘I’m a contractor who works per time for different companies, one of the firms I partner with has this urgent big building project here. That’s why I had to rush down’

‘Oh! Building contractor?’ The cab asked to affirm.

‘Yes’ Dakolo answered.

‘Cool…’ The man said with a short laugh. ‘When I was young I wanted to be a civil engineer but there was no money to further my studies after college, so I had to go through vocational training’

‘Oh! And what vocation were you trained for?’ Dakolo asked.

‘Carpentry’ the man answered with a smile. ‘I’m a carpenter’

‘Nice, but are you practising it?’

‘I was,  I had to stop for some reasons. But I’m planning to go back to it once I raise enough money for capital’

‘Better, carpentry is a lucrative job. Do you make furnitures or you do roofing?’

‘I do both and I’m very good at it’

‘Wonderful, maybe I could even get you some jobs when you start’

‘Really?’

‘Sure, I can. But you’ll have to prove first that you’re really good at it’

‘Oh! That’s not a problem. Thank you sir, I’ll make sure I get your telephone number before I drop you off’

‘Okay’ Dakolo said. There was silence for some seconds.

‘What did you say sir?’ The cab man suddenly put in.

‘I only said okay’ Dakolo quickly answered.

‘Oh! Not you sir’ the cab man quickly corrected. He was facing the new passenger seated with him at the front.

‘Me?’ Jefa asked with a surprised tone.

‘Yes, I thought you were saying something to me’ the cab man replied.

‘No no’ Jefa denied strongly.

‘Okay. But hope there’s no problem sir. I noticed your mood since you entered’ the cab man spoke in a low voice.

‘Nothing, I was just thinking about a small issue’

‘Well, okay’ the cabman shrugged.

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‘Good morning miss’ Henry greeted as he approached the reception.

‘Good morning, you’re welcome to Elymax hotels. What can I do for you?’

‘I’m Henry George, from the NSCC’ Henry displayed his ID card.

‘Nigeria security cameras corporation’ the lady read aloud.

‘Yes’

‘Okay, what may I do for you?’

‘We’re investigating a particular case and I need information about one of your guests. I don’t know if she’s still here’

‘Humm… I think I have to refer you to someone else. I can’t handle your request’

‘Alright, please do that quickly’ Henry replied and paused. He turned to stare around the place while the lady was making a call with the landline.

‘Please come with me’ the lady dropped the call and walked out from behind the wall. She led him towards a corridor in the right direction.

They got to an office after walking a few metres and Henry was ushered in. A middle aged man on a black suit was seated in the office. The receptionist introduced Henry and left.

‘May I see your ID card again?’ The man asked after offering Henry a seat.

‘Here’ Henry took it out to show him.

‘So who’s this guest you’re investigating and what’s her crime really?’

‘No, she has not been accused or found guilty of any crime yet’ Henry corrected quickly. ‘We only need to get some of her personal details’

‘So you want to meet her and talk to her?’ The man raised a brow. ‘We do respect the privacy of our guests here and we won’t like to give out any information without proper verification of who needs it’

‘I don’t understand’

‘You’ve not showed us any licence yet or letter that proves that the NSCC sent you to get this information’ the man explained further.

‘Oh! I can get one now’ Henry said, bringing out his phone. ‘Via email’ he added. He dialed Sylvester’s number.

‘Wait, we can help you meet with the person if you want to’

Henry cut the call first. ‘I doubt if she’s still in your hotel’

‘Let’s find out, what’s her name?’

‘Evelyn… Evelyn Alexander’

‘Okay’ the man began to type into his computer system while Henry continued with his call.

‘Hello sir, could you please forward a permit for Elymax to my mailbox now? I need it in urgently’ Henry said into the phone. He inhaled lightly after getting a positive response and ended the call.

‘Evelyn Alexander was here truly, she paid for three weeks’ the man began. ‘But she has been gone for days without any word to us, we tried contacting her through our customer’s service but the number she dropped was unreachable’

‘Exactly… That’s why I need you to give me every information she supplied to your hotel’

‘Have you gotten the permit?’

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11.47am

The forty minutes journey finally came to an end as they drove into Elymax hotels. The cab man, being someone who knew his way around the hotel needed no security man to direct him to the right place to park. He quickly located the best available space and drove his car there.

‘Here is my card sir’ The cab man handed over his card to Dakolo after he turned off the car engine. ‘You can reach me if you need to cab to take you around town’

‘Sure’ Dakolo collected it cheerfully. ‘And make sure you do contact me with the number I gave you’

‘I will’ the cab man replied, counting the Naira notes given to him by Jefa. ‘It’s complete’ he said to dismiss Jefa and stepped out of the car afterwards. He walked to the back to open the boot. Jefa stepped out too and stared around the big building, not knowing the next place to go, he stood still.

Dakolo also stepped out and walked to the booth. The cab man handed over his small luggage to Dakolo and returned to his car after exchanging some few more words with him.

Dakolo turned and stared at the big hotel building where he was going to stay until the next day evening when he’s officially welcomed. He took two steps away from the cab as he heard the sound of the car’s ignition. He turned around to look at his surroundings and then he saw a familiar face.

‘You…’ He mumbled with a smile as he huried towards the young man trying to enter his car. Henry looked up. ‘Henry George’ Dakolo finally remembered the name.

‘Oh! Special agent…’ Henry tapped his nose continuously with a finger as he struggled to remember the name.

‘Agent Dakolo’ Dakolo quickly put in.

‘Wow!’ Henry closed back the car door and walked towards Dakolo, full of smiles. ‘It’s nice to see you again’ Henry said as they shook hands warmly.

‘Yeah, after so many years. How have you been?’

‘Fine sir, how about you?’

‘I’m fine.’ Dakolo said and stared warmly into his eyes. ‘Thank you for making me proud of you. My joy knew no bounds when I saw the news of your exploits on the TV and in the newspapers’

‘Thank you sir’ Henry smiled.

‘Thank God you didn’t allow that tragic occurrence affect your life. See what you’ve made of yourself now’

‘Thank you sir’ Henry’s face continued to beam with smiles. ‘Well, I had to let that go and focus on my future. You see, bad people get their rewards, even if it comes late’

‘Yes, you’re right. Just look at the way he and his father died, both on the same day. What a sorry life! ‘

‘Yea, although I heard the father was a generous man before his death and did many charity works ” Henry put in.

‘No matter the quantity of pure water added to dirty water, it can never make the dirty water pure. In his own case, the quantity of dirty water far exceeds the pure. The man already had so much blood in his hands. We couldn’t just get him because he was clever enough to eliminate all possible proofs’

‘Hmm… Well, what brings you here?’ Henry asked.

‘My job’ Dakolo smiled. ‘I was transferred here to handle some cases.’ He glanced at his wristwatch.

‘But why did you have to take a cab? Was there no provision to come pick you?’

‘There should be’ Dakolo said. ‘I was actually supposed to arrive tomorrow but I had to come today for some reasons’

‘Okay, so what state were you transferred from?’

‘Rivers state’

‘Oh! Well…’ Henry was cut short abruptly by the sight of someone walking by, the person paused and faced Henry. Dakolo turned to see the person at his back. It was the same man who was in the cab with him.

‘I gotta go now’ Dakolo said, handing a card to Henry. ‘Please give me a call tonight’ Dakolo said before walking away.

‘Alright sir’ Henry dipped the card into his pocket and turned up to faced Jefa. He walked slowly towards Jefa who stood still with a kind of timid look. ‘You again’ Henry said, recalling him as the man from the police interrogation and the one Evelyn was facing in the Catholic Church premises.

‘I…’ Jefa stuttered for a while. ‘I have come to see my sister’

‘Your sister?’ Henry asked in uttermost disbelief.

‘Yes, that lady is my sister’ Jefa said shakily.

… To be continued

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