Cracked Sources – B02E10

The Monday after the funeral was a weird one at the Firm. Mother
wasn’t smiling: It wasn’t because she loved or missed the late Sanni as most
did; after all she didn’t know the man well enough to; It was because the
private investigator she contracted to spy on Andrew brought back damning
reports from what transpired at the funeral ground.

“Who is she?” Mother seemed particular about this one face
amongst the many that littered the pictures the young man had presented to her;
she could tell by simple observation, that the lady and her son had chemistry,
hence, they had an ongoing relationship. The slow assimilation of her spy
pissed her further, he was reasoning far lower than a high school fresher. She
needed answers to why Imelda appeared cozy with her son in all the pictures
before her.

***

“Have you seen my wallet?” Andrew asked Agnes, through the
intercom. He had hope that he left it one way or the other in Agnes’s
possession. The sound of no from her lips crushed his soul: That wallet
contained lots of vital documents and tiny sized credentials. He let out a hiss
and another one in heightened frustration. Lately, life had been finding new
ways to frustrate him.

Beatrice approached Agnes, she looked weak and sad. They exchanged a
warm embrace; Agnes began to feel her own surge of emotions, she let her go in
to see Andrew.

Andrew stood up the moment he saw her; he had been thinking about her
all through the weekend; he worried over how she was handling Sanni’s demise.
She was the closest to him and seeing her look pale troubled him greatly.

“I’m leaving,” she said. Memories made with the late Sanni
littered the entire firm and she couldn’t remain here if she wanted to quickly
move on with her life. He was practically the only father she had known,
everything she ever did in this firm was directly and indirectly in service of
him. Andrew volunteered to grant her the transfer she had requested weeks ago
but she didn’t want it anymore, it couldn’t solve her problem. “Anywhere
is better than here for now,” she said. Her sob aided her plea. She was
here to say goodbye; the least he could do was make it easier for her.

Andrew embraced her again, he engulfed her firmly and more
passionately than he did the first time. He remembered those times when his
arms were all the comfort Beatrice ever needed. He found himself longing for
something as permanent as that again, maybe not with her but with someone in
the world meant for him.

***

Everyone kept staring. Their gazes were piercing as though they had
just seen a ghost. Akin hissed. How fast had they forgotten? Few months ago,
all he did was to make sure their employment conditions were favorable. Humans
would always be humans, selfish, ungrateful and unconcerned when whatever was
happening didn’t directly affect them. He held it in mind to be different this
time; should he achieve his aim and regain control of his company, he’d be a
different man, a different kind of CEO. More brutal.

He was so engrossed in his bitterness, he didn’t realize when he
bumped into Anna. “Excuse me!” She aggressively yelled before she realized
who it was before her. Although surprised to see the father of her lover, she
held her cool. A lot more eyes were on him, they wondered why the security
officers hadn’t thrown him out already. Their buzzing and noise attracted
Mother to the scene.

“I’m back!” He announced with a grim, and flashed her a
paper. Mother snatched the paper from him, her eyes breathing fire at the
possibility of truth in his announcement. Her eyes caught the authentic stamp
of the High Court Judge who presides over Akin’s criminal case. Her eyes were
now on fire, she wondered aloud what he did to get to the Judge to make him
back out of prosecuting him.

“This doesn’t mean anything,” Mother said. Her proclamation of
war was fearsome and direct. The court document flew from her hand in the
opposite direction of where she turned to, it landed on Anna’s feet. Anna took
the chance to greet him, she wore a smile this time, and handed over the piece
of paper to him.

Akin thanked her, he watched as she walked away. He had never really
liked her. He always thought her a good digger because of the way she hopped
from Andrew to Mark, he still thought her same, he was certain if she had the
chance she’d hop back to Andrew now he was the CEO, the same way she tried to
close up to him when her newly employed her.

***

Anna walked briskly to Andrew’s office. Time was against her, and she
needed to offset the matter of her resignation that brought her to the firm
today. Mark awaited her at home to celebrate the beginning of their new life.

“You have the right to an attorney …,” Anna heard from the
distance she stood. She looked up and saw Andrew cuffed and led away by two Officers
of the Nigerian Police while a third read him his rights. She rushed through
the path to the left to intercept then at the crossroad. “Where you taking
him to?” She asked. The one who read him his rights pushed Anna and the
others who gathered to watch. Anna watched helplessly as Andrew was politely
ushered out of the firm in cuffs like a high-profile criminal. Agnes caught up
to the frenzy, she panted out of worry and crying. Anna later learnt his wallet
was found at the scene of Imelda’s murder. Anna argued Andrew wasn’t a
murderer. He was a lot of things but a murderer wasn’t one of them, this she
tried to let everyone around understand, but no one seemed to care. Soon
everyone dispersed to their stations as though nothing had just happened, Agnes
sat at one corner drenched in her own tears.

***

Mother sat in her office without a care to the source of the loud
noise outside her office, her confrontation with Akin still pissed her off, his
perceived insolence angered her still, she hoped for a positive feedback from
her spy.

The extremely lanky guy sighed with relieve when he got the turn to
relate his findings to her. He’d been waiting for her for the past hour to
break the news of his finding to her; he was certain she’d love it hence his
resolve to wait for her amidst his increasing hunger for food. When mother
asked what he’d found his face lit in joy, the information he was about to
divulge was worth a million naira and he was certain she’d pay for it.

“Imelda is Akin’s illegitimate daughter?” Mother repeated
after him to be sure she heard him well the first time. That was a revelation
she never expected. She trusted Isa’s professionalism to leave no stone
unturned in his search for the truth, he was good at what he did, yet, she
didn’t want him to continue as he requested, the matter had taken a dynamic
turn that would be best left buried. This she made him understand, and promised
to pay his requested fee by midnight.

She always had her reservations about Dimeji, now she confirmed he was
up to no good bringing Imelda into the firm.