The Chief Constable, Careen and Wisdom, both still under cover and the criminal were in the interrogation room. "So you sell fake ornaments to people", Mr Babatunde glared at him.
     "It was the quickest way to earn money I could do", Mr James replied non-chalantly.
    "And that's how we'll quickly throw you into the nick", Wisdom joked.
     "No slangs here please", the Chief Constable told him calmly.
     "Don't you feel a bit of guilt in you for all the people you've cheated?", Careen catechised Mr James.
     "I have a dead conscience", he laughed loudly and weirdly.
     Mr Eddie sighed in disappointment. "Can both of you guys leave while I interrogate him?", he glimpsed at the two of them.
     "Okay Sir", Careen got up, before Wisdom did.
     "If the police would let me beat you up, you'd be dead meat", Wisdom playfully growled at the criminal. He and Careen began walking out of the interrogation room. Careen opened the door and went out but while Wisdom was about to step out, he stepped on his shoelace and lost his balance, falling flat on the floor.
     "He got up immediately as though nothing happened. "That was intentional", he said to Mr Eddie, pointing at the floor. Careen dragged him out and she closed the door.
     "Follow me and let's go meet some colleagues", she led the way and he followed. They went to the police laboratory. Careen opened the glass soundproof door and gestured for Wisdom to go in first. He went in and she followed, both welcomed by the nuisance of loud music from a speaker. It was so loud that they blocked their ears firmly with their hands.
     The two workers there were dancing weirdly to the music. One of them was a guy, the other a lady. The music did not seem to affect their ears. Careen switched off the MP3 player and they groaned in complaint.
     "Why did you turn that off?", the lady kept a moody face.
     "Careen has always been a vibe killer", the guy sighed, feeling bored already. He sat down on a stool with a leather covering on top.
     "Who's the new feller?", the lady smiled at Wisdom.
     "Oh! My manners!", Careen smacked her forehead lightly, "Wisdom meet Sarah...Sarah meet Wisdom. Wisdom's my new partner, Sarah's a lab scientist", she gestured for both of them to shake hands and they did.
     She went to the guy and patted on his shoulder. "Wisdom! This is Nicholas. He's also a lab scientist", she said.
     "Hey Nicholas!", Wisdom greeted, bringing out his hand for a handshake.
     "Welcome to the team bro", Nicholas shook hands with him and they had a brief hug.
     "You're 20 right?", Sarah asked Wisdom.
     "Yeah! I'm 20. What's up?", he wonder why she asked for his age.
     "Nothing important. Just that we're all 20", she replied.
     "I'm 21 actually", Nicholas corrected her, keeping a straight face.
     "Oh! Sorry senior", Careen teased him.
     "You guys are done with school?", Wisdom questioned.
     "No! We haven't begun tertiary education", Sarah replied, sitting on her stool.
     "Oh! Me too", Wisdom felt a little bit relieved and better.
     "The police haven't found a perfect replacement for each of us", Careen replied as she played games on her phone.
     "They promised this would be our last year. They're intent on finding replacements", Nicholas added with a doubtful look.
     "Don't you guys like the job?", Wisdom sat on a stool, close to a very large glass table that contained chemicals.
     "The job is nice but we got dreams in life", Sarah scorned.
     Nicholas groaned with boredom. "I'm so bored because of you", he said to Careen, "I'm turning that back on", he walked to the MP3 player.
     "Don't try that Nicho! Chief Constable would go off his rocker if he found out you guys are...", Careen warned but got interrupted by the sound of an explosion. She, Sarah and Nicholas turned to see what had happened. Wisdom's face was black like charcoal, holding two test tubes.
     "I tried mixing the chemicals in the tubes", he said sheepishly. Careen covered her face in shame at what he did. Nicholas and Sarah looked at each other, before they gaped at Wisdom.
     "I'm sorry for the mess guys", he apologized.
     "I think you should apologize to yourself actually", Sarah replied, looking worried.
     "Oh yeah!", he calmly kept the test tubes back to their stand.
     *                     *                     *
     Wisdom opened the door and saw his parents having lunch on the dining table. "Good afternoon Dad! Good afternoon Mum", he greeted happily.
     It was the Italian suit he was wearing that got their attention the most. "Where did you get that from?", they asked in sync.
     "Careen bought me this suit", he replied smiling cheerfully. He then danced with his feet chanting;"I love this job!" His Dad wanted saying something but he saw the bag he was holding and stayed calm and quiet.
     "Check out the other things she bought", he brought out the outfits from the bag and threw it away briskly to the floor.
     "Aren't they beautiful?", he raised them up, the white shirt in one hand and the black trousers in another.
     Mr Okechukwu swallowed his food in shock. He got up slowly with his mouth agape and walked to where the shopping bag was on the floor.
     "What's going on honey?", his wife asked curiously. Wisdom could not fathom why he was approaching the shopping bag.
      Because of food on his right hand, he used the left hand to pick up the bag. He did not see his suit in the bag and wanted to throw it away but felt he should check out the bag the second time. Not still seeing anything, he angrily threw it away. "Where's my suit Ifeanyi?", he muttered. Wisdom then remembered he did not bring back his Dad's suit home. He left his mouth open and kept his hand on his head, knowing danger was coming up.
     "I'll ask again. Where's my suit?", he muttered the question to his son.
     "I think I mistakenly left it somewhere", Wisdom stammered, shivering in fear.
     "You said what?!", his Dad yelled at the top of his voice. He wanted rushing Wisdom but his wife hugged him across tightly. "Leave me alone! I need to best home up to a stupor", he struggled to get free.
     "The person I left it with knows Careen so I'll bring it back tomorrow unfailingly", Wisdom promised, taking some steps backwards for the sake of precautions.
     "Let go of me", Mr Okechukwu freed himself from his wife and chased after Wisdom. They both ran out of the house. "I must kill you today!", he yelled, pursuing his son with food in his hand.
     "Don't disgrace yourself in public", Mrs Okechukwu went after them, forgetting to close the door.
     *                      *                      *
     "Ouch!", Mr Okechukwu yelled. His wife was giving him a massage in the left arm.
     "You caused this to yourself to endure it", she replied, adding extra effort.
     "It was your son that allowed this thing to happen to me", he spoke in difficulty because of the pain he was feeling.
     His wife stopped and looked at him with a straight face. "First of all, he's our son, not my son. Secondly, you shouldn't have chased after him to the streets. You fell into the gutter and broke your hand, he didn't push you into it."
     "That was the suit I wore on the day I got my PhD", he complained.
     "But he's promised to bring it back tomorrow", she rubbed his back with her palm for comfort.
     "Are you sure? Don't you know Ifeanyi?", he argued.
     "Let's wait and see if he won't bring it tomorrow first", she replied calmly.
     Seconds later, they both began to sense a smell. It was something burning. "What's that smell? Smells like something burning", Mr Okechukwu sniffed his nose.
     "Could it be from the kitchen?", his wife asked, turning to him. He looked back at her.
     "Food's on fire!", they both exclaimed and swiftly headed for the kitchen.
     They got to the kitchen and smoke was everywhere. Mr Okechukwu began coughing non-stop while his wife immediately switched off the gas cooker. Within a short while, the smoke cleared from the kitchen. Mum opened the pot and saw the beans badly burnt, black in colour.
     "Did you leave this on fire?", Mr Okechukwu asked, completely taken aback.
     "It's not me. Wisdom said he wanted to eat beans so I told him to warm this up", she referred to the pot, "before he eats it", she replied.
     "Wisdom? Where's he?", Dad looked round in confusion.
     Wisdom was in his room, fast asleep on the floor with his head on the book he was reading. He was snoring loudly. His parents stood by his door, totally dumbfounded. Mr Okechukwu turned to his wife with a questioning look but she slowly turned his face away from her without looking at him. She was very disappointed with what she saw.
____________________________________
Wisdom left food on fire and went to read, falling asleep in the process...that's really bad...
Question for the chapter: Do you justify the fact Wisdom's Dad always sees him as irresponsible or you feel Wisdom is trying his best but his Dad does not just see it?