Mr. James and I arrived at my residence and made towards Isadora’s car, we checked the exact spot described in the letter and found the envelope. Mr. James asked me to stay back as he opened the envelope and found the flash inside.
“I think I’ve found the flash”, Mr. James announced as I moved closer to take a closer look at the flash.
“This is unbelievable”, I remarked.
‘At least now you saw it, it’s believable”, Mr. James winked at me as we hurriedly left my residence.
“Where to now?”, I asked Mr. James who stood by the side of the road for some time before giving me an answer.
“To the investigation room”, He smiled evilly.
“I just don’t understand what’s up with you and your smiles these days”, I shook my head at Mr. James.
“That’s because I smell victory in the air”, Mr. James announced all smile.
“I hope everything end well”, I snickered as Mr. James waved a taxi to a halt.
We were getting closer to our destination when Mr. James brought out his wallet and handed over some notes to the driver, he asked the driver to stop. The taxi driver stopped some feet from Agnes’ eatery, and we alighted but the reason was obvious to me.
“Let’s cross over to the other side of the road to that bar”, Mr. James instructed making me curious the more.
I didn’t question him but did as he instructed, we crossed over to the opposite side of the road and i=entered the bar, located a far end with vacant seats and table, settled down while Mr. James exhaled loudly.
“What seem to be the issue?”, I asked Mr. James who rubbed his forehead gently.
“We were being followed”, Mr. James responded.
“By who?”, I asked more curiously.
“You didn’t notice but I did, the moment we stepped out of your residence…I felt eyes on me, you know that instinct”, Mr. James began.
“Just like that of Biggie?”, I teased with a smile while Mr. James gave me that rebuking stare which forced me to shut up at once.
“Funny enough, it was same Hilux with spy plate number that was seen on the footage of Isadora’s murder”, Mr. James dropped the bomb shell.
“You don’t mean it”, I almost panicked as Mr. James hurriedly gulped his bottle of beer, I followed suit after his lead.
“Let us find a way out of this place before it’s too late”, Mr. James tapped my shouldered prompting to nod without objection.
“Have you informed the rest?”, I asked Mr. James.
“Yeah, sure…it was Biggie that sold me the idea of diverting”, Mr. James answered as he signaled to the bar attendant who hurriedly came over to our table.
“Is there any back exit from here?”, Mr. James asked the young man who nodded in the positive.
“The emergency exit is over there, but its only used by staff”, The man explained.
“Please can we make use of it? It’s very important and it’s also an emergency”, Mr. James pleaded with the young man who after due consideration nodded.
Mr. James brought out his wallet and paid the young man for the drinks alongside some tips.
“Keep the change, and please if anyone ask of us…tell them we left since through the front door to the other side of the road and boarded a taxi”, We James instructed the attendant who nodded as we exit the bar through the back exit.
“We were fortunate to leave the bar without being seen or detected by those in the hilux van. We hurried into Agnes’ eatery after making sure no one saw us and we weren’t being followed. We went into our investigation room carefully to avoid calling attention on ourselves. Once in, Mr. James shut the door and went straight to the CCTV footage to check the perimeters. All appeared fine, not till Mr. James called my attention as the van drove into the eatery vicinity. We sat and watched as the occupants alighted and walked into the eatery. Each man taking his seat. They placed their orders and soon it was brought to them. I watched keenly as they discussed among themselves, the one who appeared to be their leader was on a phone call. The rest were busy eating and arguing among themselves. We were still watching them when the outside CCTV footage caught Biggie driving into the premises, Agnes was with him. I immediately signaled Mr. James who gave them a phone to warn them of the impending danger they were walking into. Biggie reversed and drove to the side of the road, while Agnes alighted and came in through the back door which also serves as the emergency door only for staff without being noticed and sneaked toward the investigation room.
“She is at the door”, Mr. James announced as he walked toward the door, yanking it opened for her to come in. the both embraced as I stood still looking at them.
“How was it?”, I asked Agnes who walked toward me with a smile.
“Alhaji Danladi might be a bad guy, but still; He is a reasonable man, it’s his wife that proved to be he obstacle”, Agnes answered before the door flew open.
Biggie stood at the door with an evil smile, walked toward the water dispenser to get a drink.
“You guys did well”, Mr. James gave Biggie a thumb up.
“But I have this feeling that his wife will put up a tough fight”, Biggie responded as Agnes walked toward a seat.
“That is not the main problem, the main problem is…where would she be attacking from?”, Agnes asked no one in particular as she sat down.
“First, she might try to destroy some medical records, next, is to try forging another one” ,Mr. James cut in.
“All evidences pertaining to the body samples are in our possession, so if she goes that way, we already outsmart her”, I spoke from where I was standing.
“Alhaji Danladi demanded for a DNA examination but his wife was against it”, Agnes announced.
“Then if she is against a DNA examination, the more our chances against her…because she will be implicating herself the more”, Mr. James noted.
“The only option available most to her now is….violence, I pray she does not hurt the innocent girl before we get her”, Biggie cut in urgently.
“And involving DNA would mean involving my ex husband and making him know he has a daughter by me…what I would never want him to know”, Agnes spoke angrily and bitterly.
“We have no choice Agnes, the thing we should do once the time comes”, Mr. James cajoled Agnes.
“I can’t, I cannot let him get access or know about my daughter”, Agnes protested.
“Seriously?”, Mr. James questions her, apparently losing his cool.
“I rather die than watch him near her”, Agnes swore.
“Na wa o”, Biggie echoed from where he was sitting.
“This matter really serious”, Mr. James joined Biggie.
“E go tie etibo with gelle”, I cut in, forcing everyone except Agnes laughing.
“Does that sound funny to you guys?”, Agnes asked the three of us with her face getting red.
“No, not at all…just that the way you made It sound was hilarious”, Biggie answered her.
“No, it is not funny to me. What I passed through is still fresh in my memory”, Agnes sobbed as the three of us faced the opposite direction embarrassed, and also to avoid looking at her.
“So what did you guys find?”, Biggie broke the silence.
“We found the envelope and drive, as contained in the letter”, Mr. James answered.
“Have you guys checked it out?”, Biggie pushed further.
“No, we have not had the chance as a result of those hags tailing us”, I pointed at the CCTV footage of the guys in the eatery.
“”That’s impressive, they tailed you guys with an hilux van with a police spy number”, Biggie chuckled.
“Yeah…”, Mr. James cut in impatiently.
“Which do we take down first? Mr. Lekan and his goons or Agnes’ girl?”, I asked Biggie who stared at the wall for a while.
“Currently, we have a an ongoing war on our hands involving Mr. Lekan and company, and I am very convinced that Alhaji Danladi’s wife won’t go down without a fight. I believe, taking her down might not be as easy as we thought, let us not underestimate her. So in my opinion, Mr. Lekan comes first, after which we face her”, Biggie educated us as we all stood staring at him with undivided attention.
“You made sense”, Mr. James tapped Biggie’s shoulders.
“So our first line of action is to contact the police officer that promised to help, second line is getting in touch with the president, send out all the evidence they’ll need and finally send some of the evidence to the press and media houses. By so doing, there’ll be no escaping for everyone involved in it. All of them would face the wrath of the law, after which we then face Alhaji Danladi’s wife, but with triple caution. She might be very dangerous than we think”, Biggie stood up as h paced for some time, before returning back to his seat.
“How did you know her supposed move”, Mr. James asked Biggie.
“Because I once worked for her, before joining Mr. Lekan’s crew. She have a soft face but don’t be deceived by it, her heart is stronger and colder than steel…Alhajia Fatima does not have a soul, even the devil is afraid of her”, Biggie hit the table with his right fist to mark the end of his speech.
We all sat down in complete silence thinking thoroughly individually what we were about to embark on, if we were really ready for it. The die has been cast, it’s now rolling and the outcome would determine who goes down.