+++++11. 08 am
Henry drove quietly, in a solemn manner, listening to
songs from the new alb.u.m of veteran artiste, Asa. Her
genre of music was the perfect one for his mood right
now.
He had not remained himself since the day of the event.
Several things had played down his memory in the last
two days; including the pictures of the a.s.sa.s.sin and how
he walked up to Jubril Lawal and murdered the man. But
the strongest of the pictures were of Evelyn"s face. He
kept seeing her in everything he did, even when he closed
his eyes.
He tried to figure out what really happened between
them, the pa.s.sion he felt when she placed her head
against his chest and when they kissed. Was it love or just
l.u.s.t was feeling? Maybe both. At the point they kissed, he
had the l.u.s.t for her whole body, he could already see her
wrapped around himself, both of them unclad, he
squeezing her b.o.o.bs in his hands. No, it had to stop if it
was l.u.s.t, he had determined in his heart, knowing that
nothing borne out of l.u.s.t would last. But he also felt
something more in his heart, in his spirit. The desire to
see her well even if he couldn"t have her body, the desire
to see her happy. There was something in her eyes when
he stared into it, something that showed him that she
wasn"t happy although she always performed well in her
bid to hide it.
Where she was now, he had no idea. Her line had been
switched off since the last time he tried it, so all his
attempts to track it were futile. He also tried again to get
the customer"s information of her sim by hacking into
the database of the network provider but there was still
no information there. It had either been deleted or the
information never existed. He couldn"t conclude yet.
Oh! And the Canadian number he was supposed to
investigate. He finally concluded the investigation, though
the client was no longer interested nor did was there any
call to ask for it. The Canadian number was cloned, it had
not even been issued out to any customer by the
network provider in Canada. Henry found out that the
user was in Africa because on tracking the last
conversations restored from the backup of the network
provider of his client"s line, he could deduce the
maximum possible distance of the Canadian number,
which was a distance within Africa.
All these discoveries were confirming Henry"s fear but he
still refused to admit it. Evelyn claimed to be from
Canada and was doing business with the late Jubril Lawal,
it must have definitely been her number the man was
investigating. Or how else could he explain that Evelyn
only began to insist that he followed her to the party
after she saw the number in his jotter? And what else was
the explanation for her unregistered and now
unreachable Nigerian line? It meant she must have
destroyed the line since her mission had ended.
But with all these proofs, Henry still choose to believe
that he was mistaken, he didn"t want to see her that way.
He couldn"t get himself to think of her as a criminal. To
him, she was someone who was in need of great help and
he believed he could give her that help.
He remembered her outburst the first time he called the
name "G.o.d" and attributed G.o.d to be a loving person
while conversing with her . The pain he saw in her eyes
that day was too much for a young woman like her to
bear. She needed someone to show her love; real love
and not one of s.e.xual attraction.
Then he recalled her sharing the story of her family"s
death with him. Going through such an horrible
experience would most definitely affect one"s future and
even control it if one finds no help.
She needed help, she needed love. That was all Henry
could think, regardless of every other thing he had found
out about her.
Henry finally got to his destination by twenty minutes
past eleven. The security men searched his car before
allowing him to pa.s.s in through the huge gates of Elymax
hotel.
++++
The cabman zoomed off immediately after the new
pa.s.senger entered. He cleared his throat and continued
his conversation with Dakolo. "So what kind of company
do you work in? What"s the name?" He asked, looking into
the top mirror.
"Hmm…" Dakolo paused and licked his lips as he thought
of the best answer to give the man. "I"m a contractor who
works per time for different companies, one of the firms
I partner with has this urgent big building project here.
That"s why I had to rush down"
"Oh! Building contractor?" The cab asked to affirm.
"Yes" Dakolo answered.
"Cool…" The man said with a short laugh. "When I was
young I wanted to be a civil engineer but there was no
money to further my studies after college, so I had to go
through vocational training"
"Oh! And what vocation were you trained for?" Dakolo
asked.
"Carpentry" the man answered with a smile. "I"m a
carpenter"
"Nice, but are you practising it?"
"I was, I had to stop for some reasons. But I"m planning
to go back to it once I raise enough money for capital"
"Better, carpentry is a lucrative job. Do you make
furnitures or you do roofing?"
"I do both and I"m very good at it"
"Wonderful, maybe I could even get you some jobs when
you start"
"Really?"
"Sure, I can. But you"ll have to prove first that you"re
really good at it"
"Oh! That"s not a problem. Thank you sir, I"ll make sure I
get your telephone number before I drop you off"
"Okay" Dakolo said. There was silence for some seconds.
"What did you say sir?" The cab man suddenly put in.
"I only said okay" Dakolo quickly answered.
"Oh! Not you sir" the cab man quickly corrected. He was
facing the new pa.s.senger seated with him at the front.
"Me?" Jefa asked with a surprised tone.
"Yes, I thought you were saying something to me" the cab
man replied.
"No no" Jefa denied strongly.
"Okay. But hope there"s no problem sir. I noticed your
mood since you entered" the cab man spoke in a low
voice.
"Nothing, I was just thinking about a small issue"
"Well, okay" the cabman shrugged.
++++
"Good morning miss" Henry greeted as he approached
the reception.
"Good morning, you"re welcome to Elymax hotels. What
can I do for you?"
"I"m Henry George, from the NSCC" Henry displayed his
ID card.
"Nigeria security cameras corporation" the lady read
aloud.
"Yes"
"Okay, what may I do for you?"
"We"re investigating a particular case and I need
information about one of your guests. I don"t know if
she"s still here"
"Humm… I think I have to refer you to someone else. I
can"t handle your request"
"Alright, please do that quickly" Henry replied and paused.
He turned to stare around the place while the lady was
making a call with the landline.
"Please come with me" the lady dropped the call and
walked out from behind the wall. She led him towards a
corridor in the right direction.
They got to an office after walking a few metres and
Henry was ushered in. A middle aged man on a black suit
was seated in the office. The receptionist introduced
Henry and left.
"May I see your ID card again?" The man asked after
offering Henry a seat.
"Here" Henry took it out to show him.
"So who"s this guest you"re investigating and what"s her
crime really?"
"No, she has not been accused or found guilty of any
crime yet" Henry corrected quickly. "We only need to get
some of her personal details"
"So you want to meet her and talk to her?" The man
raised a brow. "We do respect the privacy of our guests
here and we won"t like to give out any information
without proper verification of who needs it"
"I don"t understand"
"You"ve not showed us any licence yet or letter that
proves that the NSCC sent you to get this information"
the man explained further.
"Oh! I can get one now" Henry said, bringing out his
phone. "Via email" he added. He dialed Sylvester"s
number.
"Wait, we can help you meet with the person if you want
to"
Henry cut the call first. "I doubt if she"s still in your hotel"
"Let"s find out, what"s her name?"
"Evelyn… Evelyn Alexander"
"Okay" the man began to type into his computer system
while Henry continued with his call.
"h.e.l.lo sir, could you please forward a permit for Elymax
to my mailbox now? I need it in urgently" Henry said into
the phone. He inhaled lightly after getting a positive
response and ended the call.
"Evelyn Alexander was here truly, she paid for three
weeks" the man began. "But she has been gone for days
without any word to us, we tried contacting her through
our customer"s service but the number she dropped was
unreachable"
"Exactly… That"s why I need you to give me every
information she supplied to your hotel"
"Have you gotten the permit?"
++++
11.47am
The forty minutes journey finally came to an end as they
drove into Elymax hotels. The cab man, being someone
who knew his way around the hotel needed no security
man to direct him to the right place to park. He quickly
located the best available s.p.a.ce and drove his car there.
"Here is my card sir" The cab man handed over his card
to Dakolo after he turned off the car engine. "You can
reach me if you need to cab to take you around town"
"Sure" Dakolo collected it cheerfully. "And make sure you
do contact me with the number I gave you"
"I will" the cab man replied, counting the Naira notes
given to him by Jefa. "It"s complete" he said to dismiss
Jefa and stepped out of the car afterwards. He walked to
the back to open the boot. Jefa stepped out too and
stared around the big building, not knowing the next
place to go, he stood still.
Dakolo also stepped out and walked to the booth. The
cab man handed over his small luggage to Dakolo and
returned to his car after exchanging some few more
words with him.
Dakolo turned and stared at the big hotel building where
he was going to stay until the next day evening when he"s
officially welcomed. He took two steps away from the
cab as he heard the sound of the car"s ignition. He turned
around to look at his surroundings and then he saw a
familiar face.
"You…" He mumbled with a smile as he huried towards
the young man trying to enter his car. Henry looked up.
"Henry George" Dakolo finally remembered the name.
"Oh! Special agent…" Henry tapped his nose continuously
with a finger as he struggled to remember the name.
"Agent Dakolo" Dakolo quickly put in.
"Wow!" Henry closed back the car door and walked
towards Dakolo, full of smiles. "It"s nice to see you again"
Henry said as they shook hands warmly.
"Yeah, after so many years. How have you been?"
"Fine sir, how about you?"
"I"m fine." Dakolo said and stared warmly into his eyes.
"Thank you for making me proud of you. My joy knew no
bounds when I saw the news of your exploits on the TV
and in the newspapers"
"Thank you sir" Henry smiled.
"Thank G.o.d you didn"t allow that tragic occurrence affect
your life. See what you"ve made of yourself now"
"Thank you sir" Henry"s face continued to beam with
smiles. "Well, I had to let that go and focus on my future.
You see, bad people get their rewards, even if it comes
late"
"Yes, you"re right. Just look at the way he and his father
died, both on the same day. What a sorry life! "
"Yea, although I heard the father was a generous man
before his death and did many charity works " Henry put
in.
"No matter the quant.i.ty of pure water added to dirty
water, it can never make the dirty water pure. In his own
case, the quant.i.ty of dirty water far exceeds the pure. The
man already had so much blood in his hands. We
couldn"t just get him because he was clever enough to
eliminate all possible proofs"
"Hmm… Well, what brings you here?" Henry asked.
"My job" Dakolo smiled. "I was transferred here to handle
some cases." He glanced at his wrist.w.a.tch.
"But why did you have to take a cab? Was there no
provision to come pick you?"
"There should be" Dakolo said. "I was actually supposed to
arrive tomorrow but I had to come today for some
reasons"
"Okay, so what state were you transferred from?"
"Rivers state"
"Oh! Well…" Henry was cut short abruptly by the sight of
someone walking by, the person paused and faced
Henry. Dakolo turned to see the person at his back. It was
the same man who was in the cab with him.
"I gotta go now" Dakolo said, handing a card to Henry.
"Please give me a call tonight" Dakolo said before walking
away.
"Alright sir" Henry dipped the card into his pocket and
turned up to faced Jefa. He walked slowly towards Jefa
who stood still with a kind of timid look. "You again"
Henry said, recalling him as the man from the police
interrogation and the one Evelyn was facing in the
Catholic Church premises.
"I…" Jefa stuttered for a while. "I have come to see my
sister"
"Your sister?" Henry asked in uttermost disbelief.
"Yes, that lady is my sister" Jefa said shakily.