Mali Drive (Episode 15): Indeed Ene is the Problem
“You must tell me the truth John, unfortunately for you; I have very good instincts when it comes to everyone else but me. So you better start talking or you will go to jail for a very long time” Rebecca was in an interrogation room with John Bull and he was on the verge of breaking down but he didn’t say anything; after what was like a whole minute, he began to mumble.
“Excuse me, I didn’t hear you” she said leaning closer to him but his mumble remained the same until she banged the table with a fist, “I said my children, I don’t want them to get hurt! They are my only blessing” he yelled and began to weep
“Nobody is going to hurt your children John. Did I threaten your children?” John Bull shook his head, his face buried in his hands. “Then what is it?” she asked waiting patiently for him to talk
“My wife, I am afraid of what she would do if she finds out that I have secret children” Rebecca hid her shock and placed her hand on his “John Bull, I have a feeling that you did not kill Bishop but if you don’t tell me where you were that night; there is no way I can help you out of this mess. For your information, my boss has already concluded that you are the killer and I am the only one who can convince him otherwise”
John Bull looked at her, a little grateful that she felt he was innocent; so he decided to tell her the truth and so it began. He started by telling her how he snuck out of his house to go visit Andrea and his children who lived not too far from Mali drive. He also confessed to her that the injury on his palm was in fact a knife injury that an ex-lover inflicted on him that same night.
“This woman, who you had an affair with. What is her name?” Rebecca asked her ears very attentive to everything John was saying.
And just like that images of Blessing flooded her head, she remembered seeing her in church the first day she attended and seeing her every time she went to Bishop’s house to talk to Rita hiding in a corner eavesdropping. A thought about the answer to Bishop’s murder being in Bishop’s house flashed through her mind but she ignored it.
“If I can confirm everything you have told me, you will be out of here” she left and John was escorted back to his cell. His fingers trembled with the fear of his secret family being exposed.
He thought about confessing to Madam Lucy; this big secret that he had kept from her for so many years was weighing on him and then he remembered back in the day when Madam Lucy poured hot water on a girl she believed was flirting with him. Age was supposed to have made her more mature now that they were older but anger is the most immature bastard and only God knew what she was going to do if he told her the truth. So, he decided not to… at least for now.
“How do you like it?” Abel asked Rita “I like it very much” they were in Rita’s new office, the office of the G.O and he was presenting a congratulatory present to her; it was a gold necklace. She hugged him and he leaned in for a kiss but she pushed him away “Abel, please stop” she walked away from him.
Abel was genuinely confused, he gave up the position of the G.O for her so to him they were already in a relationship but Rita was about to surprise him.
“Are you saying that I am a cheap whore who will sit on your lap because you gave her an opportunity?” Rita retorted and he desperately tried to make her understand that he in no way wanted to disrespect her but Rita did not want to understand. She asked him about his wife and told him that as long as he was married she would feel disrespected every time he made a move on her.
“I gave up the G.O position for you” he said calmly, sadness appearing in his eyes “I know you did but how will it look if a spiritual leader like me is dating a married man. Bishop is dead and I am allowed to marry again but that man cannot be a married man” she explained. An explanation he took in peace and went home quietly. Rita knew that Abel was not happy but she was glad to finally rid of him to focus on her new position, and the first order of business was to fire all the elders who were against her from the church.
Rebecca entered her house from a long day of questioning people about Bishop Chukwu’s murder; two of which were Andrea and Blessing. Andrea confirmed that John was with her the night Bishop was killed and Blessing agreed that she was the one who injured him when they got into an argument but went home after the argument.
“Why did you randomly have a knife on you?” Rebecca asked
Blessing took a moment to answer “because I wanted to scare him into leaving me alone. I told him to leave me alone many times but he wouldn’t”
“Really” Rebecca didn’t know what to make of that revelation “so where is the knife now?” Blessing went into the kitchen and reappeared with a knife that Rebecca examined. She asked Blessing about the knife found in John Bull’s study “only two people know the answer to that question” Blessing said
“Who?” “John Bull and his wife Madam Lucy”
In the course of investigating this case, Rebecca had interviewed Madam Lucy at least twice and nothing was alarming about the answers she gave; everything she told her checked out and from what she just discovered about John, the only person she had a reason to kill was John Bull. Or did she want to frame him for a murder instead?
Her mind wavered between Blessing and Madam Lucy; both were honest with her from the beginning and were very confident while talking to her, no fear or whatsoever. A knock on the door brought Rebecca out of her thoughts. It was Ben.
She let him in and went back to her seat; their relationship was not over but things were not great. “I know that you don’t want to see me but I am here to tell you that this is the last time, I will come here to discuss our relationship. It is either you are in or out… I love you and I want to be with you for the rest of my life, if that isn’t enough then nothing will” he said his mind and stood up as if he was about to leave but Rebecca began to laugh.
She laughed so hard that she held her stomach out of pain “what is funny? Oh what I said is funny to you?” Rebecca’s laughter didn’t let her speak, so she leaned on hand gestures to tell him that she wasn’t laughing at him. “I love you too” she managed to say and stormed out with no explanation. She was heading back to Bishop Chukwu’s house.
Rebecca laughed that hard because three months of serious investigation and she had failed to look into one of the most crucial piece of evidence that would help this case. The CCTV cameras in Bishop Chukwu’s house. Indeed the answer to Bishop’s murder was in his house.