Rebecca Amodu sat on the balcony of her apartment smoking the morning away. It was a Sunday morning and she had the day off. She was a policewoman in the investigation department. Inspector Rebecca Amodu as she was popularly known in her division.
She leaned into the couch, her thoughts taking her to faraway places as she blew smoke out of her mouth. She was turning thirty the next week and her greatest fear was coming to fruition.
One of her greatest fear in life was to turn thirty and still be unmarried or childless, of course she was in a relationship that she considered serious but every time she brought up the topic of marriage Ben always shut it down and even made her apologize for bringing it up “there is nothing wrong with me, I am a good person and I am beautiful” she thought to herself.
Tired of thinking, she decided to go to church instead of being sad all morning. She wasn’t a church person, in fact she considered herself a liberal spiritual but her soul was burdened that morning and going to church was all she could think of. The Assembly of Christian People Ministry was the only church she knew because it was very popular, so she decided to go there.
Read Also: Mali Drive (Episode 1)
After asking what felt like a thousand people for directions she finally arrived at church. Isaac Ortega led the praise and worship session as always and it was very energetic and engaging. Half the time, she was thinking how attractive he was “maybe I should date a church boy, they take marriage seriously… don’t they?” her thoughts drifted again.
Bishop Chukwu preached a sermon about never giving up and it touched Rebecca so much so that she went out when he made an altar call. He asked that those who wanted to give their life to Christ should come out and she did. After prayers at the altar, a lady in the ushering unit led her and other converts to a waiting area.
Rebecca sat down quietly observing and watching everything that was going on. She noticed the ushering lady go into the Bishop’s office and observed the Bishop go into the office. She was anxious about meeting him because she had never been too close to a man of God before; at least not one as popular as Bishop Chukwu.
About ten minutes later, Bishop and the lady were still in his office. Rebecca looked at her wristwatch, she was hungry but the way Rita rushed away from Bishop’s office caught her attention. “She is pretty,” Rebecca thought, her eyes fixated on Rita as she rushed away.
Minutes later the Ushering lady came out of the office “the Bishop will see each one of you privately and pray for you, whatever problem you have he will be willing to listen, so feel free to talk to him” Nkechi addressed them and left.
“What is your name?” Bishop Chukwu leaned back on his executive chair, a lustful look slowly appearing on his face
“Rebecca sir, my name is Rebecca”
“Rebecca” he leaned forward “you are very beautiful,” he said as he moved towards the door.
His words took her by surprise and before she could understand what was going on she felt his touch come down from her shoulder to her breasts.
“What the hell are you doing?” she retorted rushing toward the door but before she could get to the door his strong hands pulled her and pinned her to the wall.
“Be calm, you will enjoy it too” he whispered to her his hands already playing with her panties; she tried to get away from his grip but he was too strong for her.
Her eyes begged him for mercy but he had none to give, so her heart prayed hard to the God that she came there to find but there was no answer. She was left to fight a losing battle. A battle that left her violated and debased, feeling worthless and mortified because of the decision she made that morning to go to church.
“Did you kill him?” Madam Lucy asked Rita
“I did not” Rita answered
“Then what happened?”
“When we got back from dinner with the president, we started quarreling then he started beating me until I passed out. I woke up and saw him dead”
“What! What are we going to do now?” immediately Madam Lucy asked the question Rita burst into tears and hugged her friend
“I thought you were going to abandon me out of fear. I was so scared” Rita cried.
Madam Lucy was happy that Bishop Chukwu was gone and would never hurt her friend ever again but she had to hide the joy. The only thing that worried her was the way that he died, he was stabbed at the back of his head and she feared that people would accuse Rita of murdering her husband.
“Can I ask you a question?” Madam Lucy pulled herself away from the hug to look at her eyes “if you killed him, would you tell me the truth?”
“Yes I would but I swear on my daughter I did not kill him”.
There were many unanswered questions but Madam Lucy believed her friend anyway. She called the police and told her what to tell them when they arrived.
“Tell them it was an attack, gunmen attacked you until you passed out then killed your husband. You have the bruises to prove it” Madam Lucy told Rita and that was exactly what Rita told the police. Within minutes the news of Bishop Chukwu’s death had gone all over the country. People from all works of life mourned him.
Rita called Madam Lucy into her bedroom “I know this is a terrible thing to say but I just have to tell you because I don’t know how to deal with it. I cannot cry”
Rita was frustrated at the fact that she did not feel an ounce of grief for her dead husband and she did not want the church elders who came visiting to catch wind of it. She could not cry, although she forced herself to cry the tears were drying up quickly and giving her headache.
“Take this and rob around your eyes, you will cry all night” Madam Lucy picked a balm from Rita’s dressing table and handed it to her, Rita used it and it worked.
Rita had never been so grateful to have a friend like Madam Lucy; the day was filled with so many guests who came to console Rita, it was overwhelming. As she watched all the guests say great and wonderful things about her husband, she burst into laughter sometimes but people thought she was laughing out of grief. Some people started carrying the news that she was losing her mind.
Nighttime arrived and everyone went home. Elizabeth was asleep, so Madam Lucy poured them two glasses of wine. As they sipped in silence detoxing from the day’s intensity and preparing to do it all over again the next day, a knock brought them back to the present. Rita opened the door. It was a very beautiful female police officer.
“Good evening madam, I am inspector Rebecca Amodu. I have been assigned to your husband’s case” She said showing Rita her badge
“Nice to meet you” Rita replied
“I’d like to ask you a few questions regarding your husband’s murder”
“Oh sure. Please come in” Rita let her in
It was new territory for both women, a phase that will change their lives forever. Rita, the woman whose prayer God had finally answered. Rebecca, the woman whose prayer was never answered and was now facing the test of forgiveness.