The Thirst For Revenge – Episode 15

THE THIRST FOR REVENGE EPISODE 15

© 2018 | Alabede Jude Oluwabamise | All rights reserved.

 

SAME DAY @ 5pm
Amidu knocked on the door twice before it was opened to reveal a young man of about twenty years of age; he was wearing a white singlet over a black short.
“I’m agent Amidu and he’s agent Cole”, Amidu showed him his ID.

“Can we come in?”, Amidu asked after the young man has skimmed through the ID to verify.
“Oh! My bad. Please, do come in”, the young man stepped aside to allow Amidu and Cole in.

“You’re Adewale Adekunle right?”, Amidu asked as he stepped into the one room apartment which had a bed and two plastic chairs with a television set.
“Have your seat sirs”, the young man motioned them to the chairs.

Cole sat on a chair while Amidu remained standing, briefly taking a glance around before he sat on the other chair.
“You haven’t answered my question”, Amidu said as soon as he was seated on the plastic chair.
“Yes, I am Adewale Adekunle, preferably called Kunle”, the young man said as he sat on the bed, facing his visitors.
“Are you living alone?”, Amidu asked.
“No sir, I have a room mate”, Kunle replied.
“Why are you both living together?”, Cole suddenly asked when he noticed the young man was acting all cool and comfortable with them.
Kunle smiled. “We are both course mate so, we chose to live off campus and since I couldn’t pay the rent alone, he pays the other half.”
“You’re both course mate in which university?”, Amidu asked.

“University of Port Harcourt sir.”
Amidu nodded.
“Is she a student there too?”
Kunle looked confused. “She?, I don’t know who you are talking about.”
“I mean Eshema Kate.”
“Yes”, Kunle nodded. “Is she in trouble?”
Amidu flashed Cole a surprised look.
“Is it possible for someone who is dead to be in trouble?”, Cole asked watching Kunle’s reaction.
“Dead?”, Kunle muttered obviously stunned.

“Please, if this is an act you better put it off”, Amidu warned sternly.
“Sir, I swear I don’t know anything about her death”, Kunle stood up, fluttering his hands in the air. “I don’t even know she is dead.”
“So, you are saying you don’t know?”, Amidu asked with a raised eyebrow.

He nodded. “I swear”, he said.
“If truly you didn’t know, you would have pulled a call across to her or better still, you visit her”
“Sir, I called her but she was unreachable.”
“Why don’t you visit her then?”
“She doesn’t want me to meet her parents yet, she told me I would meet them when the time comes.”
Amidu glanced at Cole again, he was equally surprised. Amidu had figured it out that he probably warned her not to tell her mother about them but the reverse was the case. Amidu doesn’t know what to make of it.

“Then, how did her mother know about you?”

“She doesn’t know much about me, she only knows me as friend to her”, he explained.

“Did she know your name too?”

“Kind of.”

“Kind of?”

“She probably knows my name.”

“Where were you last night?”, Amidu asked, studying him. The sympathetic look on his face couldn’t hide the doubt in his eyes.

“I was at home . . .”, he stopped when he realized where the question was driving at.

“At home with who?”, Amidu asked, his voice edgier.

“Sir, I didn’t ki*ll her”, Kunle begged, kneeling down.

“I didn’t say you killed her, just answer the question, please. Where were you last night?”, Amidu repeated patiently.

“I was at home with Kate”, he said, a tear slid down his face.

“Then?”

“Then, I escorted her to the main road where she boarded a cab.”

“What happened before you escorted her out?”, Cole asked, raising an eyebrow.

“We. . . we. . .”, he stuttered.

“You both did what?”, Cole asked, his voice up a notch.

“had a fight?”, Amidu suggested.

He shook his head. “No, we had a fling.”

Cole chuckled while Amidu maintained his stern look, the ‘fling’ brought back a memory. He could remember Cynthia, when they were in college playing a lovey dovey couple back then but now… Amidu’s eyebrows gathered in a heap, a frown appeared on his face and it deepened but then, he quickly changed his facial expression as he remembered he was in front of a suspect. The least thing he wished was to create a scene in the presence of a suspect.

Amidu cleared his throat and motioned him to stand up and sit back on the bed which he did reluctantly.
“What time was it when you escorted her to board a cab?”
“It was just nine probably, some minutes after.”
“Did you ensure she got into the cab before you left for home?”
He nodded. “Yes, the car zoomed away before I started coming back here.”
“Did you notice anything probably around or the driver?”
“No, not really but the cab driver didn’t talk or reply when I joked about taking care of her for me”, Kunle said thoughtfully.
“How did he react when you joked about it?”
“He only nodded.”
“Nodded?”, Amidu muttered.
“How does the cab driver looks like?”, Cole chipped in, amidst his jotting.
“He looks like a normal cab driver but I couldn’t see his face well because of the face cap he had on that covered his face.”

Amidu sighed, it was now making sense. The cab driver would be the link to the killer probably, the killer himself.
“Did you notice anyone lurking around probably watching you after you walked back home.”
He squeezed his face trying to remember his observations but there was none. He shook his head and said “No.”
“Do you know anyone who could have done this to her probably, threatening her?”
He shook his head sideways sharply. “No, she’s a carefree type and always stays out of trouble so, I don’t think anyone would be trying to harm or ki*ll her.”

“But sir”, he said, raising up his index finger and Amidu motioned him to talk.

“How did she die?”, he asked, beginning to sob.
“We don’t know yet”, Cole answered.
Amidu watched keenly as he wiped snot from his nose.
“When did it . . . when did it happen? Wh . . . where was she?”, he asked, more snots dripping off his nose.

Cole passed him a handkerchief and looked to Amidu for advice. He nodded silently.
“Her body was found outside the general hospital.”
“What happened?”, he asked.
“Her body was dumped outside the hospital after she had been severally stabbed”, Cole said while Amidu was lost in thoughts.
He was thinking of the lady who he ran into with his car and how he was saved probably by the lady or someone else but the big question is; where is the lady?
********

Time: 9pm

Location: Port Harcourt, Elekohia Town.
The taxi driver worked for a company called Christ Rides. He pulled to a full stop, shifted in park, turned around, and looked Alexandra up and down.
“You sure this is the place, ma’am?”, he asked with searching eyes.

Alexandra didn’t reply but only stare around.
“Ma’am?”

A baroque cross dangled from the taxi’s rearview mirror. Prayer cards wallpapered the glove compartment.
“Is this 53 Queens Lane Drive?”, she asked.
“It is.”
“Then this is the place.” Alexandra reached into her purse and handed him the money.
He handed her a pamphlet. “You don’t have to do this,” he said.
The pamphlet was church affiliated. John 3:16 was on the cover.
Alexandra faked a smile.
“Jesus loves you,” the driver said.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll take you anywhere else you want to go. Less charge.”

“It’s okay,” Alexandra said.
She stepped out of the taxi. The driver gave her a forlorn look. She waved at the driver as he departed.
Alexandra squinted to read an inscription on a signboard with the help of the taxi’s headlights before it went out of sight: EAGER BEAVER__ NUDE DANCERS. A PLACE TO MEET NEW CHICKS was written beneath it.
Her body began to quake. It was an old reaction, an old feeling. She had never been in this place but she knew it. She knew the dirty pickups that littered the lot. She knew the men trudging in mindlessly, the low lights, the sticky feel of the dance pole. She headed toward the door, knowing what she’d find inside.
Alexandra stopped at the door and sighed. She had been emotional deranged and erroneous. She couldn’t get the cries and agony of her mother off her head when she was in the hostage house. She tried suppressing it but couldn’t as it only rejuvenated her emotions and that is why she found herself there to ki*ll it and probably, have a quickie with a man of her interest.
The place was a secret secure club which looked deserted but very wild in there and with what she had gathered, women doesn’t\ come to the place alone. Every once in a while, a man might bring a girlfriend or probably use the strippers services but women never came in alone.
Heads turned when she entered but not as many as you would think. People reacted slowly at places like this. The air was heated, the lights were down. Jaws remained slack. Most people probably assumed that she was either a working girl in her downtime or a lesbian waiting for her lover’s shift to end.

Rihanna’s song ‘we found love’ played over the sound system with every harry and d**k either dancing or nodding to the groove of the music.
Alexandra took a seat at the extreme end. There were five dancers on stage, their nudity was glamorous as they were twerking, shaking their massive butts with the stage lights on them.

Alexandra scanned through the place, some men had the blank faces, some had the glazed smile watching the strippers dancing nude on a pole in front of them while others were aggressively drowned with their beers, staring at the girls with naked hostility.
“Get you something?”
A waitress stopped by when she saw Alexandra sitting idly by herself.
“Two bottles of Heineken please.”
The waitress left to get her order and in a minute, she was back with two bottles and a cup in a tray like crate.
*********

Time: 11pm

Location: Port Harcourt, Rainbow Town.
Amidu paced the room tiredly and fell flat on the bed. He had just closed for the day’s work but couldn’t get any sleep. Though, he was extremely fatigue from the day’s hectic work in office and places he went to but sleep never glanced at his eyes. Instead, the image of Cynthia kept taunting him every now and then, bringing back bad memories but he couldn’t shake it off. It was stuck there like a magnet. More worse, with the case giving counter problems with a mystery murder to solve. Nothing seemed alright.

Soon, his head began throbbing with headache. Nothing was good at all.
He stood up and changed his clothes from the DSS suit to a more casual wear. He could have wore his normal night pajamas but he wasn’t thinking of sleeping again. He was thinking of going somewhere.
He searched his mind for a place he could probably go to enjoy himself.

24/7 clubhouse was the first option that came to his mind but he shook it off on remembering what happened after he got drunk. Then, he remembered a secret club where he and Cynthia usually go but hissed when the thought of Cynthia came to his mind again. He wondered why the thought of Cynthia should still be taunting him after everything he went through. He dithered over where he should go and was only left with the option of the secret club. He took his phone and dialed a number.
“Hello, get a car ready for me now, I need it,” he said and hung up.
THIRTY MINUTES LATER,

Amidu pulled into a park and rushed out after putting off the engine but merely locking the doors.
He opened the door in haste, subconsciously forgetting that he needed to bring in a girl.
He smiled when he got in, squeezing himself through the frenzied people and sat on a chair. The waitress soon came by and he placed his orders.
In the course of his drinking, his eyes darted to a lady seated alone at the back adjacent to the table of some men who playing cards.

He looked her up and down, she was wearing a black crop top and a blue jean trouser but couldn’t see her face well in the dim lights so he stood up and moved to her table.
“May I sit with you please,”Amidu asked politely.
Alexandra nodded. Her head was bent down, sipping from the cup. She had seen him walk into the club some minutes ago but never knew someone would approach her table because everyone seemed to mind their businesses.
Amidu sat wondering why she refused to look up at him.

“Hello?”

She slowly raised her head up.
“Is everything alright?”
She nodded and managed to smile.
Amidu seized her up, a fair skinned lady, pink lips, nice perky nose and a beautiful flowing Brazilian hair fluttering in the air.
“Waiting for someone?,” Amidu asked. She doesn’t appear like a slut or a lesbian waiting for her partner.

Alexandra shook her head sideways.
Amidu looked bemused. “Don’t you talk?”
Alexandra smiled and casted him a full glance. He was wearing a casual polo over a trouser and doesn’t look influential or all cocky like those drug dealers.  He must be decent, she guessed.
“What’s your name?”
Amidu’s jaw dropped. Did she just ask him of his name?
“Adam,” Amidu said, smiling.

“Nice name,” Alexandra complimented.

“What about yours?”
“Cassandra,” She said with a toothy smile.
**********
Time: 12am

Location: Opobo, Obo Town.
Three black hilux van were parked by the roadside. The darkness covered everywhere like a plague making everything looked vague and obscured.
Figures were moving, stepping out of the three hilux. All were on black, gliding in the black night. They spread out running into formation, stealthily.
Two men stopped at the gate. One whispered to another and he drew out a gun from his waist hostler while the other brought out tools from the backpack strapped to his back and started working on the gate handle. Phew!, the gate gave way easily and a smile appeared on his face.

“We are moving in,” he said into the mouthpiece attached to the hood before stepping in, followed by the other.
“Stealth mode activated,” a voice sounded in his ears through the wireless earpiece.
There was a small house which looked like a cottage behind the gate and a huge house stood elegantly some few meters away. They ran, gliding through the wall fence, approaching the main entrance of the house. There was a quarter beside it which made them to part ways with one going to the right and the other to the left.
An alarm siren went off immediately, they placed their hands on the door.
“Alpha code. Retreat!”, a voice sounded through their earpiece but it was too late as lights flooded the whole building and its surrounding. The ground laser was activated and it started, showing red spikes moving diagonally. The two men fled for their lives, running towards the gate but the ground laser also started from the other end, meeting them in the middle and it grazed them into pieces.
Alexandra’s guards who were living at the quarters were immediately alerted of what was happening. They came out with their guns ready for a sh00t out, after they had put off the lasers but it was their greatest mistake as black hooded figure rappel down from no where and began shooting their guns at them.
***********

 

Alexandra laughed heartily to his jokes, they seemed to be friends already as they joked about the dancers on stage and the men watching, who held their scrotum as it was already hardened from the nudity of the girls.

 

Alexandra’s wristwatch beeped with red lights beaming on the surface which signified danger. A frown appeared on her face as she took a look at it.

 

“I’m sorry, i have to go,” she said to the hearing of Amidu who his jaws dropped disappointedly.

 

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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