2:00 pm
Olinlin ate happily without shame, it had been ages since he tasted food this good and expensive; but Tony on the other hand, sat quietly watching his food as if there were little people in it. “Oga, you no go chop? No allow this accident no allow you chop o” Olinlin asked filling his mouth with a spoon of rice.
How could he eat? When he knew now, how dangerous Mr. Henry truly was; he was paralyzed by fear, more paralyzed than his injured arm; he wondered what he was going to do next and going home was definitely not an option.
“Oga, the food sweet well well o. abeg chop am, abi you wan wait until you go house first?” Olinlin was finally done with his meal and could allow himself be curious about why Tony was not eating. “I go chop am later” Tony covered his plate, he had given up on eating “put am inside fridge” he gave the plate to Olinlin who put the plate of food inside the fridge.
“The doctor talk say your test results go soon commot so that you go go your house go rest. I know say this hospital don tire you” Olinlin tried to bring Tony out of his funky mood “I am not going back home” Tony heard himself say without his permission.
“You wan stay for hospital?” Olinlin asked “I don’t want to stay in the hospital and I cannot go home, Olinlin, I no fit go my house” Tony brought it down to his level. “Why you no fit go your house? Wetin happen?” “you no see the accident wey happen? You think say na accident? Na person wan kee me and if I go my house, dem go complete the work” Tony explained impatiently.
“I talk am, I talk am say this your accident no be for ordinary eye accident” Olinlin was more sympathetic than he even was when he found Tony on the floor after the accident “you know the person wey wan kee you?” Olinlin asked gently, afraid that Tony was not going to tell him anything further but to his surprise Tony told him everything. Everything except the part about his dead sister Janet.
“Na wa for you o. how you go think say the person wey you strangle and almost kee, no go wan kee you? You lucky say na by accident en be wan kee you and no be gun” Olinlin had a serious expression on his face that Tony had never seen before “If na you dem strangle, na so you go leave the person?” Olinlin’s question made Tony see another perspective of the incident. He put himself in Mr. Henry’s shoes and realized that if he was the one who Mr. Henry almost strangled to death in the conference room of the Abuja private clinic; he would have probably tried to retaliate.
“Where the man dey now?” Olinlin asked of Mr. Henry “I don’t know, he is supposed to still be at that hospital” Tony was glad that he had someone to talk to about his day from hell and he didn’t even give a damn that it was the community gardener.
“Wetin you wan do now because you no fit stay for this hospital until Jesus come” “Olinlin, I really don’t know what to do” Tony replied leaning back on the headboard for the first time in that hour. “If you send person to kee for you and the person wey you send make dem kee no die, wetin you go do?” Olinlin knew the answer, he only wanted Tony to say it “I have to kill him myself? Shit!”
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, each brainstorming on what to do next when a knock on the opened door brought them out of their thoughts. Tony’s gaze faced the door abruptly and to his surprise it was the M.D of the company he worked for.
“Good afternoon sir” he greeted and sat up as much as he could. The M.D walked into the room and the serious look on his face made Olinlin vacate his seat which he automatically sat on. Olinlin looked at Tony for permission to leave the room and Tony gave him permission with a nod.
“I just discovered that a man from the EFCC came to you this morning” the M.D went straight to the point and in order to avoid more trouble from another dangerous person, Tony began to beg for his life “I didn’t tell him anything about Mr. Henry… I swear”
“Calm down” The M.D leaned forward “I am not here to reprimand you, I am here to tell you that if the EFCC man comes to you again… I want you to tell him everything you know about Mr. Henry including this” he put a big brown envelope beside Tony.
Tony opened the envelope and in it were several incriminating things on Mr. Henry; things that would send him to jail for the rest of his life. Finally, Tony had found an answer to his problem.
