The Missing File – Chapter 3 Part 2

All Episodes Of The Missing File

“So you finally came?” Ibukun said with a kind smile.

“Yes,” Nazaretha smiled back and sat on the same seat he sat the previous day.

“No, come sit here.” Ibukun said, pointing him to a seat close to the master computer.

Nazaretha obliged and moved to the seat she pointed him.

“You don’t look happy today, what happened?” She asked as she gave him the ticket.

“Nothing,” Nazaretha replied with a sigh.

“Nothing? But your face looks like that of a person who is in big trouble.”

Nazaretha hissed briefly and sniffed in, “I just have a little trouble; it’s not that serious.”

“Okay,” Ibukun said and sat on the seat beside him. “You actually wanted to tell me something yesterday before your sister came, didn’t you?”

“‘Ermm… Yes,” Nazaretha answered thoughtfully, trying to remember if he mentioned anything like that.

“Okay, when are you going to tell me?”

“Ermm,” Nazaretha took a look at the other people sitting and browsing in the café. “I can’t tell you here now,” he said to her. He didn’t know how to begin anymore, he had forgotten all the steps he read the previous day.

She looked at her customers too and sighed, “Okay, should I give you my phone number?”

“Ermm… My phone is bad, it’s at the repairer’s shop.” Nazaretha said.

“When are you going to collect it?”

“On Monday, it should be ready.”

“Hmm… But do you come out at nights?” She asked, pouting her lips.

“Yes, sometimes.”

“Okay,” she smiled, “maybe we can see today, I close by 8pm.”

____

None of Nazaretha’s friends were at the uncompleted building when he returned, they had gone to their various houses. Nazaretha began to think of the best option to take, whether to go to his house or to Mighty Joe’s place. He didn’t want to face the constant nagging of his mother as he knew would be inevitable until their father is released, so he decided to sneak home and take some clothes before returning to Mighty Joe’s place.

It took him fifteen minutes to get home, he had not even gotten to the entrance at all when he started to hear shouting voices from his house, it seemed his mother was involved in an argument with someone, a man.

Lydia, his mum was the direct opposite of Ogbighe when it comes to gentility in character, she was a kind of person that would not take nonsense from anybody, even if it wasn’t nonsense and only looked like nonsense; she would not insult the person until the person begins to regret ever arguing with her.  It would be worst if the person was someone who had kept a dirty secret with her; that was the day the cat would be let out of the bag, like the Yorubas say “The wind will blow andthe fowl’s buttocks would be opened for all to see.”

Nazaretha moved closer to the entrance and paused, he could recognize the voice of the person arguing with his mum.

“…woman, you better listen to me and…” The man was trying to say before his mother cut in.

“Shut up! It is you and your whole family that would go to jail; all your children and your other brothers. St*pid man! It’s because of your wickedness that you have a hole in your head.”

“Okay, keep arguing; I don’t have your time.” The man said and walked out of the house. He almost collided into Nazaretha.

He and Nazaretha gave themselves a cold look and the man hurried away.

Nazaretha’s mum was still cursing when he entered into the house. He didn’t bother to greet her because she might just transfer the aggression to him. He began to walk straight towards the room; the room where his sisters slept, that was where he also kept his luggage but he and his elder brother used to sleep in the living room, until the elder brother left the house and left him all alone. Since then he had always felt lonely in the house, since he and his brother used to be best of friends. One could easily confuse them for each other as they looked very much alike just like identical twins; both of them took after their father.

Nazaretha discovered that Magdalene was the only one at home with his mother, his elder sisters were not in the house.

“Nazaretha!” His mother shouted before he got to the door to the children’s room, sending chills down his spine. “Nazaretha,” she called again before he turned back to answer.

“Mummy,” he called back and reluctantly went back to meet her.

“You see what you have caused,” she began in an aggressive tone. “Now your fatheaded uncle has refused to help us, he refused to help us get a lawyer or even follow us to the station, he said we should go and beg your father to confess. Can you see?”

“Ehn but it is not my fault that Uncle Uche has refused to help us na,” Nazaretha replied.

“Shut up! It’s your fault that the bag was not kept properly.” His mother said.

“See Mummy, we’re not supposed to be arguing about how the bag was kept, the question should be who took the file that was supposed to be in the bag?”

“You alone can answer…”

“See, we don’t have to argue over and over again.” Nazaretha said and left the house without taking his clothes again, when he saw that his mum wasn’t ready to speak amicably.

___

“Be at rest, there’s no way they can find out. We framed him up already and there’s no way the police can find out, the money is for us to enjoy,” the first man said.

“So how are we going to be sharing the money?” The second man asked, he looked sad and uncomfortable.

“I thought that was a done deal already, I will take two million, you two million,” the third man explained, pointing to the second man. “And you one million naira,” he said to the first man.

“Then I’ll return to Kaduna immediately by night,” the second man said.

“Yes, you have to return immediately, to reduce the risk of anyone seeing you in town; that could put us in trouble.”

“And then when is the money going to be shared?” The first man asked.

“Before Tuesday we should share it,” the third man replied.

“Please o, it should be before Tuesday o,” the first man said.

“But I’m still feeling bad about this whole thing,” the second man said in an unhappy tone.

“Don’t pity Ogbighe,” the third man said, patting the second on the shoulder.

“But he’s still my….” The second man tried to say.

“Shh…” The first man hushed him, “Don’t speak, you have to be wise. A person that considers all these you are doing will never make it in life.”

…to be continued