Before she realised it, he had torn her clothes off her body putting a hand over her mouth and the weight of his knee on her thigh essentially paralyzing her. It was Bishop Chukwu all over again. Rebecca in figuring out Onu’s plan started to fight with the remaining power that she had; she scratched and bit and scratched him again just to get him off her but unfortunately for her she was not fighting Inspector Onu, she was fighting Onu on drugs.
The thought of history repeating itself was going to kill her before the actual rape would. Onu pulled her legs apart and just as he was about to seal his intention to violate her, a gun shot went off and everything was still for a few seconds.
Rebecca was also still, wondering what was going on and before she came to any conclusion Onu fell face down on top of her. She screamed and struggle out from under him before she could see the blood dripping from the open wound in his back. “Are you okay?” the voice came from a man who stood over her, at that moment the only description she had for that man was ‘Angel’.
“Yes I am” she replied. The man pulled her on her feet but she couldn’t stand on her legs yet; they were still weak from the assault they recently endured, so he carried her and placed her on the couch. It was then she saw the face of the man clearly.
“Sir! Sir, is it really you?” she forced her voice out of her throat, she was losing it. “Yes it is me” Inspector Dele replied placing his gun on the table and glancing over at Onu’s body. “Timing is everything right?” he uttered and she nodded holding her torn clothes together to cover her chest.
Inspector Dele went into her bedroom without asking and got something else for her to cover herself. He opened a bottle of whiskey and poured her a glass which she finished in one gulp then he poured her another glass. He moved around her house like he had been there before; he moved around with the confidence of a landlord inspecting Onu’s body and the area of the living room that his blood had stained.
He looked over at Rebecca who sipped her whiskey and watched him quietly “bleach will get this right off. You will quickly forget that it was ever there” he said referring to the blood stain on her living room floor. She said nothing, watching him was good enough for her at that moment. Not that she didn’t have questions; she had a million and one questions but settling into the situation and wrapping her head around the past thirty minutes was a priority.
“Hello” Inspector Dele was on the phone “House 114, shanku street, off Rivers crescent. Come” he commanded. To Rebecca, watching him was like watching a 1970’s western movie with a black man in the lead role. All the years she had worked for Inspector Dele, she had never seen him in his element like this.
He went back to the sitting area of the living room and sat opposite her “Who are you?” she finally brought herself to ask her first question. “You know who I am. Inspector Dele” “No, I mean … who are you? How did you know Onu will be here? How did you get into my house? And who was that on the phone?” the questions were finally flooding in.
Inspector Dele leaned back on the chair, brought out a cigarette from his breast pocket “do you mind?” “you also smoke? Who are you?” she was now realizing that the Inspector Dele she knew at work was not the same person sitting before her. He lit his cigarette and blew a few puffs of smoke before uttering another word “I will tell you everything you need to know but first things first… we need to take care of that first” pointing his eyes at Onu’s body “Just relax”
It didn’t take long for two men to appear in her house and within thirty minutes; the area where Onu’s lifeless body laid was empty and wiped clean. No trace of blood, no trace of a screaming woman fighting for her life, nothing. And the men who did the sanitation were gone as fast as they came, leaving only their well appreciated work behind. It was already 5 am.
“Take the day off. Take a pain killer, rest and sleep; then you can resume tomorrow and I will give you everything you need to close this case” Inspector Dele ordered and without giving her a chance to say anything, he was gone with the wind; leaving only the scent of his cigarette.
Rebecca wanted to follow instructions as ordered by her amazing boss but her feet wouldn’t move from the spot she stood. The spot where Onu tried to violate her and lost his life in the process; so she stood there like a porcelain hoping an angel like Inspector Dele will come and carry her in their arms to bed.
