“So did she ask you if you pushed her off the building?” Madam Lucy was scared for her friend but Rita shook her head “so what did she want?”
Rita took a moment to reply “she wanted me to confess, she wanted me to tell her the truth about Chukwu” “and did you tell her anything” Madam Lucy inquired
“I told her everything” Rita confessed. There was a long moment of silence and inactivity then Rita brought herself to ask “are we in trouble?” “I don’t know” Madam Lucy answered exhaling as if she had been holding her breath.
“I thought Chukwu’s death was going to bring a lot of good but we are losing at this thing called life” Rita complained “I am so sorry that I didn’t tell you about Nkechi but I knew that you were going to try to stop me” “No I wasn’t” Madam Lucy’s reply was surprising “if I were you, Nkechi would have been dead a long time ago” she concluded casually
“So what are we going to do now? I have lost my position as General Overseer, Nkechi is still in a comma which she can come out of anytime and that Rebecca woman is unto me” the fact that Rita didn’t know what Rebecca knew about what transpired between her and Nkechi was driving her crazy; and as each day passed by she was slowly losing her senses to the fear of going to jail.
“Forget about Nkechi, I will take care of her and as for the General Overseer position; you haven’t lost it… no condition is permanent. Just promise me that from now on you will not make any major decision without telling me” “To God who made me… I will never do anything without your knowledge” Rita made a desperate promise.
In fulfilling her newest promise she went on to tell Madam Lucy about Bishop Abel and his declaration of love for her “we could use him” Madam Lucy interrupted her story “how?” Rita asked remembering the answer he gave her when she asked him to give up his seat as General Overseer for his love for her
“What was his answer?”
“His answer was no answer and from experience no answer means no” “Not necessarily” Madam Lucy was optimistic about using Bishop Abel to get the seat back for Rita but Rita was not ready for another messy scandal and they decided to leave him be.
It was the first day of Isaac’s trial and the prosecuting team were already losing in a day one mostly because the murder weapon was not available to be assessed and it could not be tied to Isaac. “Most of the evidence you have is circumstantial, your case is built around the words of two witnesses and nothing more” the preceding judge addressed the prosecuting team “words can change…” he continued “you have thirty days to come up with new evidence and more witnesses or this case will be dismissed” he pounded his gavel and the court was adjourned
Rebecca watched Inspector Dele fume in his office; she was calm because all along she knew Isaac was not guilty. “Everything I have worked for is on the line, I lose this case and the state will call me in for questioning… Rebecca I cannot lose this case”
“Do you want me to look into John Bull again?” she asked
“I want you to look into any and everybody you want to look into… we have thirty days to find the killer or better proof that Isaac is the killer” he commanded
“I’d need a search warrant for John Bull’s house” “you can have anything you want but you see this case, we are not losing it” his eyes were firmly on hers “yes sir” already feeling the pressure of finding the murderer of the man who mercilessly raped her.
It was 6:00 p.m. Madam Lucy and John Bull were at the dinner table when a knock, more of a banging on the door interrupted their meal. It was Rebecca and a team of five search experts; she showed them a search warrant stamped by the judge which gave them permission to search their house
“There is no need, my husband and I had nothing to do with the death of the Bishop” Madam Lucy protested as the people searching went about their business
“You people are wasting your time” John Bull added and just as he completed his sentence Rebecca walked back into the living room with a bloody cloth wrapped around a knife. “What is this?” the satisfaction on her face was priceless
The cloth was covered in dust and dried blood stain, the knife in it looked like it was cleaned but not completely because one could still see little bits of blood stains on it.
“Where did you find that?” Madam Lucy was confused “In his study” Rebecca replied. Before John Bull could say anything, Rebecca took his injured palm and placed the knife beside the injury “Gate injury… are you going to stick to that story?” she asked wrapping the knife back and giving it to a member on the search team.
John Bull denied knowing anything about Rebecca’s new find but she countered his proposed innocence by telling him how a neighbour of his saw him sneaking out of his house the night Bishop was murdered.
“Where did you sneak to?” Madam Lucy was struggling to keep her calm “This is not the time to lie because it will get you in more trouble, so choose your words carefully” Rebecca warned him.
John Bull had an explanation that could exonerate him from these accusations but it was something that would destroy him; so either ways convicted or not… his life was ruined.
