More Shots Fired (08)



Ife sat quietly at the side of the bed her father’s head laid. Most of her mental energy were sucked by her consciousness trying to process the activities of the last few hours than listening to the speech of the person before her.

“Ife!” The man called.

She still wasn’t paying him attention, until his bodyguard snapped his fingers, bringing her back to reality.

“Yes.”

“Did you hear all I said?”

Ife turned to her right, and stared intently at her father’s shut eyes. She quickly turned them to the senator awaiting her reply. “Not really.” Her voice sunk further. The encounter with the detectives who left about three hours ago still weighed heavily on her mind. The police were out searching for Naomi for her worried family; especially for a mother worried that something terrible had happened to her daughter. What troubled Ife the most was her inability to help the family find an answer even when she had the only answer they’ll ever need –

Naomi’s dead. And she wasn’t coming back. The faster the family knew this, the faster they’ll be able to grief and recover.

“Hey!” Senator Morris snapped his fingers at Ife himself. “Stay with me, child.”

Ife’s eyes opened wider than they’ve tried to for the past ten minutes this dreamy conversation had dragged on. She saw the body-guard pass an envelope to the Senator – who she hated the instant he walked through the door.

“Accept my condolence with this.” He said, and stretched forth his hand holding the envelope to Ife. “Two hundred thousand dollars should be enough to make you happy again.”

The mention of the envelope’s content caused Ife to withdraw her hand before it caught up with the Senator’s. ‘Who was he to put a price tag on her pain?’

“Who are you to put a price on my pain?” Ife wasted no time asking. Her voice bore pain and anger, and frustration.

Senator Morris remained calm. The smile at the closed corners of his mouth refused to depart amidst the brewing commotion.

“I’m Senator Morris… Chairman, Board of Directors, The Ethereal Foundation, dear child,” he calmly answered her question.

“Get out!”

The bodyguard wanted to come forward, possibly to quiet the annoyingly loud and obnoxious Ife-Mathews, but was halted by the command of Senator Morris’ hand gesture. This show of power and control only angered Ife the more; her voice grew fiercer – it properly conveyed her anger.

The Hospital’s Nurses soon gathered, but on seeing that the person at the receiving end of the insults was no other person than Highest Patron and Benefactor, Senator Morris, no one dared raise a voice or finger to assist the distressed Ife.

Ife took matters into her own hands and physically pushed both men out of her father’s room. Her back rested against the door. She lowered herself down gently, letting her hands momentarily covered her face in the process.

Barr. Mathews Daniels left hand twitched. Ife caught it… or she thought she did. Probably it was her mind playing tricks on her.

“Ms. Daniels!” An unexpected voice called from behind. Ife turned to see one of the Police detective duo that came earlier to interrogate her concerning Naomi.

“Not now!” Ife snapped, and turned back to stare at her father.

“I’m afraid you need to come with me… we’ve found your friend, Naomi.”

Ife’s mouth came agape for many reasons. She slowly turned to the Detective. “Let’s go.”

***

“Hey!”

“Hey!”

Chris expressed his facial surprise that Ife would greet him, but not his twin she had more than once explicitly implied she was more comfortable with. Her skill at almost completely differentiating between them at all times through facial expressions and countenances helped her maintain character, especially with her ongoing-grudge against Eddy for depriving her the satisfaction and closure killing Six-Six was supposed to give her.

“Don’t read meaning into it.” She said; implying that her greeting him was to make Eddy more pained. “Anything to cause him more pain and distress.”

Chris liked the idea. He wasted no time in telling her the fastest way to break Eddy’s heart totally was by having sex with him. The idea still grossed Ife, but she leisurely played it down. Her eyes caught Eddy’s in the distance, and she quickly broke contact.

“The Police found Naomi’s body… I suspect they’re unto us,” Ife said of her second summon to the station.

“Unto my brother and I. Not us,” Chris corrected.

Eddy rushed in. “What did you just say happened?”

Ife stopped talking. She wanted to walk away, but Chris held her back by the arm.

“They know I hang out a lot in this house now, thanks to the street camera… but I took care of the rest,” Ife said as she forced Chris to let go of her arm.

Eddy had his reservation, but thought it best to keep his comments to himself at this time.

Ife walked to the refrigerator and returned with a bottle of iced-tea. The tasty feel caused her to munch her lips more than required. “I have someone I need you guys to help me take care of.”

Her statement shocked the twins.

“I think we made a fast-killer out of this one,” Chris said to his brother, and laughed.

Ife joined him to laugh a little, and continued. “His name is Senator Morris. He is the leader of The Ethereal Foundation, and I want him dead.”

“Does he have anything to do with your biological father’s death?” Eddy interrupted.

“I don’t care… he pissed me off.”

The bottle slipped through her grasp, crashing to the floor.

Eddy didn’t like the idea; worse, he didn’t like that his brother was leading her on with false ideas of how taking enemies off the playing board was extremely fulfilling. He walked away, further into the house, in frustration.

Ife liked the idea that her actions were eating deep into Eddy’s psych; she wanted to hurt him more. She grabbed Chris the moment Eddy was out of the space but still within earshot. The sounds of their lips locking caught Eddy’s attention and causes him to freeze on his steps. Ife’s loud moans that followed causes his mind to flash him gruesome images of how much his action that night messed things up everything, and pushed Ife to a downward spiral, messing up her already perfect life.

***

Ife rushed away to the hospital the instant she received the message that her father was out of the coma and was asking for her. Chris didn’t really mind her hurriedly leaving, even though he was enjoying their blissful time cuddling from the after effect of their amorous disposition.

She hurried through the hospital’s aisle trying to get to her father’s room as soon as possible. She arrived the room but was taken aback by the empty bed. She looked around for any staff to offer her distorted mind a little piece of sanity, but saw none; she then recalled that this was the ICU unit: he was out of  coma so he wouldn’t be here anymore. She doubled back to the floor reception before she was able to find her way. A lot of thoughts flew through her mind while she stood before the door; the truth she had sort for a while and the once she had been avoiding lay at the other side, and for the first time in a long while, the truth of how overwhelming her situation was finally set in.

She finally pushed the door.

“Ife!… Ife mi!” Barr. Daniels called out; his eyes bore signs of one who had just finished crying. “They said I won’t be able to use my legs again.” He burst into another round of lamentation; pushing the Doctors and Nurses away as he did so.

“O my God!’ Ife covered her mouth with her palms.

“No!… that’s not it,” The Doctor with him spoke up. “I’m Doctor Azeez.” He stretched forth his hand to Ife.

Ife was too overwhelmed with shock to properly shake his hands.

“He was shot close to the spinal cord. I only said there was a chance he might not recover the ability to use his legs again… we only need to pray for a perfect miracle of healing,” Dr. Azeez said.

The explanation bore better bearing for Ife than the pronouncement her father had shocked her with. She ran over to the bed side to give the man a warm embrace.

“I love you, Dad… legs or no legs.”

Dr. Azeez walked out.

“I have a lot to tell you… you must listen,” Barr. Daniels began.

He sure did have a lot of confessions to make. He spoke about his actual involvement in Ife’s biological father’s death. It was Tiwa, Ife’s mother’s idea to sell Josiah out. This was because he had loved Tiwa for years, and when The Foundation provided a reason to take Josiah out of the playing field because of his stoic and un-budging principles that was getting in the way of The Foundation’s secret big plan. Tiwa promised that if Josiah died, she’d marry him and all three of them will live like a happy family. But that never happened, because Tiwa never returned after the events of that day. Her gain in the entire event still remained a mystery to him. He on the other hand, gained a lot of money from The Foundation; he pumped into his Firm, which was only a room apartment prior to all that. He mentioned Senator Morris as a key player in all of these.

“I am sorry, Ife,” he pleaded in tears. “I’ll understand if you don’t want to see me again, but I beg for your forgiveness.” His tears became more flooded. “It’s been difficult living with myself, and you these past years… my conscience has been my daily judge.”

“So… you actually killed him.”

Ife tried unsuccessfully to completely wipe her tears away. Her instincts were right from the beginning. The same way her instincts to ki*ll Senator Morris today was right. She had a job to see through.

***

“This is the Police, and we’re coming in.”

The front door fell with force. Men of the force trooped in, and circulated the entire house within seconds. Two surfaced later with Enoch – their reason for being here.

“You’re under arrest Mr. Enoch, as a suspect in the death of Ms. Naomi Hayjay.”

Enoch couldn’t believe it. He laughed. “You guys can’t be serious.”

“We are.” A young officer surfaced. “I almost forgot to read you the most interesting part… you’re also under arrest for your involvement in the robbery at Highlanders New Generation Bank few weeks back.”

Enoch squeezed his face hard.

“I got you right!” The officer laughed. “My name is Charles Obi, and I’m the lead Detective on your matter… I’m the one to make sure your suffer terribly for your crimes.”

As the Police left the house with Enoch in tow, Ife watched from a little distance. The moment they left, she ran to the house. Another of the Enoch twins followed shortly behind her.

“Hey!” He greeted first.

“Hey!” Ife responded without looking back. She cringed over fate and its excuse at making karma a pain in everyone’s business. “How do we get Chris back?” She asked.

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