Mali Drive (Episode 15): Indeed Ene is the Problem
“What do you want?” Rita sounded defeated. She melted into the chair and she could feel her throat collapse from fear. “I want the truth… nothing but the truth” Rebecca replied positioning her pen and paper to take notes. Rita was in a tight spot, she didn’t know how much Rebecca knew about what went down between her and Nkechi. There was a long pause and Rebecca was very patient. She was not going anywhere until Rita told her everything she needed to hear. Rita thought about calling Madam Lucy or Abel, the only people who supported her in the church but it was too late; she was already in a fix.
“I did not kill my husband”
“I know but you know more than you have let on”
There was another long pause before Rita brought herself to say anything; she decided to tell Rebecca everything. She told her how Bishop was a chronic Adulterer and had no self-control what so ever; she described the way Bishop beat her constantly at every chance he got, because her blood gave him pleasure and finally she told her everything that happened the night Bishop was killed.
“So, why did you lie if you had nothing to do with his death?” Rebecca was very curious
“Because I was going to be blamed for his death no matter what. With the kind of marriage that we had it would have been hard for anyone to think that I did not kill him” Rita was crying at this point and for the first time Rebecca felt sympathy for her.
Rebecca left the house thanking her stars that Joy called her the night Nkechi was found. She had just finished another fight with Ben, when she received a phone call from Joy to go to the hospital.
“I didn’t know who to call, she was pushed; I think somebody is trying to kill her” Joy was hysterical and scared for her friend at the same time. She didn’t want anyone to know that Nkechi was still alive but she wanted answers; she wanted the person who tried to kill her to be found out.
When Rebecca was officially on Bishop’s murder case, she went to Nkechi’s house to question her but met Joy instead. After meeting Joy, she didn’t feel the need to meet Nkechi anymore because Joy told her everything she needed to know about Nkechi including the affair with Bishop. “I have an idea. I think I know who did this” Rebecca muttered and disappeared from the hospital. With Rita’s confession, it seemed as if everything was coming together but there were still unanswered questions; questions that needed to be answered quickly, if not for anything for the sake of Isaac.
“How is she doing now?” Rebecca asked. “Nothing has changed since the last time you were here”. They were in Nkechi’s hospital room where she laid in a coma. The night Nkechi was pushed and left to die, she was found by a mechanic who had worked late and was receiving shelter from the rain in that building. He thought that she was dead but when he took her to the hospital; they discovered that she still had a fighting chance.
“Is the baby okay?” Rebecca stood by the door as if she was afraid to enter the room properly “What baby?” Joy was confused, another twist to her frend’s story.
“Your friend is supposed to be pregnant”
“I don’t understand. A day before Bishop died she discovered from the doctor that she will never be able to have children because of a birth defect that was never treated”
“What? What you are saying is that she is not carrying Bishop Chukwu’s baby?” Rebecca found herself taking a few steps closer to Nkechi’s bed.
“I don’t know about now but at the time of Bishop’s death, she was not pregnant with anybody’s baby”. Rebecca laughed out of shock. She laughed for a whole minute with no interruption then left.
Joy sat in the hospital room listening to the sound of the monitor and the breathing machine; she struggled to fight off the thought of abandoning Nkechi in that hospital. Why shouldn’t she? She warned Nkechi to stay clear of Bishop and when their relationship started, she warned her to stop but she didn’t listen; just for her to add the lie of an unborn baby and that lie has led them to the hospital. Joy had done and sacrificed a lot to cover up Bishop and Nkechi’s relationship but she wasn’t sure what she was doing in that hospital room anymore.
It was the day of election and the votes of the elders of the church was going to finally decide who was going to step into Bishop Chukwu’s shoes as the general overseer of the church. They were all in the board room including Rita, Abel Egwurube and Madam Lucy who chaired the meeting and collected the votes. Rita was more nervous about her encounter with Rebecca than the votes, frankly she was not interested in taking over anymore. All she wanted was her freedom but she didn’t know what Rebecca planned to do with the information that she had on her, it was a trail of hell lingering in her conscience.
The election was conducted peacefully and the winner was announced. It was Abel Egwurube; but Abel was not happy about it. How could he be happy to take something away from Rita, something that he knew she wanted so badly? In the almost twenty years that Abel has known Rita, all that he has felt for her was love. Yes, Abel was crazy in love with Rita and was ready to give her the world if she let him… the only thing that stood in his way all these years was the bastard, Bishop Chukwu.