EPISODE 20
Skyby flew back to Lagos for his
meeting with Tania as scheduled.
He chose a quiet bar tucked in the
coastal shores of Ikoyi, there was
no chance of running into
someone he knew here. He sat closest to the waterfront terrace
of Ember creek, and ordered a
glass of cocktail. It was not long
after he was settled, Tania
strutted in, wearing a fitted denim
trousers with an Ankara kimono over it. Skyby wondered how a
woman so beautiful as Tania,
could be so deadly. He imagined
that somewhere in the recesses of
her mind, she felt she was doing
the right thing because she was doing it for love and her
marriage. Skyby: “Leave the boy alone, he is
not going to hurt you because he
doesn’t plan to come back to
Lagos” he said the moment Tania
sat down. Tania: “What is this, did you
suddenly have an epiphany?” she
asked sarcastically. Skyby: “You have done enough
harm to the boy, Dayo is now a
member of a notorious gang
which we have known for a long
time, people think they are armed
robbers, but actually they are assassins. It is only a matter of
time before Dayo meets his death,
don’t make it faster” he said
emphatically. Tania: “Really, you thought you
could just call me and start telling
me what to do. Are you forgetting
I hold the chips?” Skyby: “No, I hold the chips
because I have the original copy
of the video where you confessed
to Bella and almost killed her. I
also know you have no record of
our debauchery, and even if you do, you cherish your marriage,
that is the reason you want Dayo
dead. So, yes Tania, I had an
epiphany” he said with a sly grin,
and brought out a disc plate.
Tania made to grab for it, but he took it out of her reach. Tania: “So what exactly is the deal
you want to make?” she asked,
with desperation in her eyes. Skyby: “I will give you this disc, in
exchange, you will leave Dayo
alone, and you will never call me
to do any of your dirty works. I
am a police officer, not your
henchman” he said emphatically. Tania looked at him for a short
while, then she nodded her head
and agreed to the deal. But when
Skyby handed the disc to her, she
smiled wickedly. Tania: “And now that I have this
in my hand, what would make me
keep to my end of the bargain?”
she asked, with a devious glint in
her eyes. Skyby: “You will keep to your end
of the bargain because, your
word is your bond, but most
importantly because, there is
more where that came from.” He
replied and walked away from the bar. Tania looked after him
with anger in her eyes. Unknown to Tania however, Bella
had turned into a private
investigator overnight, and had
decided to find evidence to nail
Tania. She felt that the only way
she could really be safe was with Tania behind bars. So, she
followed Tania everywhere. She
had seen Tania meet with Skyby
and had remembered Skyby from
the warehouse, he was the one
who had lied to her that he had secrets about Tania. “They are working together,
what are they planning now?”
she mused, as she watched them.
Then, she saw Skyby give a disc
to Tania, and she determined in
her heart to get the disc and find out if it was evidence to nail Tania.
She took another route out of
Ikoyi, straight to Lekki phase 1
where Tania resided with her
husband. The gate man allowed
her inside because she was a friend of the family. When she
was escorted into the large living
room, she was served juice by the
housekeeper. Not long after,
Tania came in, she was shocked
seeing Bella. When she saw the car outside, she thought it was
Gberan that had come to visit, it
never occurred to her that Bella
would have the guts to come to
her house. What did she have up
her sleeves, she wondered. Tania: “What the hell do you want
in my house?” she asked angrily. Bella: “I am really sorry, I agree I
used you, that Dayo was a thorn
in my flesh, and I wanted him out.
But I didn’t have the guts you
have, so I devised a means to get
you involved. Please, ore mi atata, forgive me” she said and knelt
down. Tania considered her eyes
and she saw tears shimmering in
it, she believed her and stretched
her hand out to raise her up. Tania: “I forgive you. I
understand, more than anyone,
what we do for the ones we love”
she said with a hint of regret in
her tone. Bella: “Thank you for
understanding me” she rushed
and hugged her. Tania: “It is alright, I am glad we
are friends again, even though
you still carry fake Hermes Birkin
bags” she teased and the two
women burst into laughter. Bella: “I miss your dodorishi , you
never got around to teaching me
how you make it” she quipped.
Tania had totally forgotten about
the disc, in her conversation with
Bella. She rushed to the kitchen to instruct the cook on making a
quick dodorishi. Immediately she
left, Bella’s smile wiped off her
face and she looked towards
Tania’s bag lying on the couch.
She saw the tip of the disc envelope peeking out of Tania’s
bag. She walked to it, looking left
and right, and quickly slipped the
disc into her bag. When Tania
came out again, she saw Bella
standing with her bag, ready to leave. Bella: “Sorry dear, ken just called,
he needs me. One would think
with Dayo gone, Ken would begin
to act like a boy, not a wimpy
child tied to his mother’s clothes”
she said trying to gain sympathy from Tania. Tania: “Oh dear, I understand
perfectly. But give him time, he
will come around” she said and
kissed the air behind Bella’s ears. Tania was too excited over
having Bella on her side and one
less person to get rid of, that she
did not notice the haste with
which Bella jumped into her car
and zoomed off. Even if she noticed, she probably thought it
was usual with having a needy
child such as Ken. Bella drove straight home, and
went to her bedroom; since Dayo
disappeared, she stopped
sharing a bedroom with Gberan
because all he did was complain
when they were together. He blamed Bella for everything that
happened even before she
confessed to him. Now that he
knew her part in it all, he stopped
eating her food and cooked his
food by himself. She locked the door and slotted the disc in her
DVD player. The scene where
Tania had confessed to her while
pointing a gun at her played on
the television screen. “So that man was videotaping it
all. Wonderful” she mused. She
had planned to find evidence to
put Tania in prison, but now that
she had the disc in her hand, she
was thinking of many ways to blackmail Tania, and gain power
over her. While she was locked in her
room, her husband Gberan had
called Damilola, who was faraway
in Oshogbo. Gberan: “Ore mi, there is fire on
the mountain. I have been
thinking of how best to tell you
this.” He said and paused. Damilola: “Tell me, what is going
on, is it about Dayo?” he
demanded. Gberan: “Yes, Bella told me that
your wife deliberately tried to
harm Dayo, and she even tried to
kill her. But she became dizzy and
fell. It was also Bella’s fault, she
made Tania believe that you knew about Dayo long ago, and
kept him secret from her. The
police vindicated for reasons best
known to them, but she really did
it” Damilola: “I don’t believe what
you are saying” he said. Where he
was, he was grabbing his head. It
was like his brain could not
process what his ears were
hearing. He had suspected but when the police didn’t have
evidence, Tania had convinced
him that there was nothing. Now,
finding out that there was
something, was throwing him
into a state of confusion. Gberan: “I wouldn’t lie to you,
and Bella wouldn’t lie because
she was implicated in it, I saw fear
in her eyes when she talked. I am
contemplating divorce, but I am
thinking of my son, we have only just begun to bond. I don’t know
what a divorce would do to him”
he was saying but Damilola was
no longer listening, the phone
had fallen from his hand. Gberan: “Are you there, Dami” he
called into the phone, but the call
had been disconnected. Back in Oshogbo, Damilola’s
mother was just coming back
from the market when she saw
the phone fall out of Damilola’s
hand, she dumped the sack bag
on the floor and rushed to her son. Damilola’s mother: “omo mi, what
is going on? I know Dayo will
come back to us, don’t give up
yet” Damilola: “My wife, Tania, was the
reason Dayo ran away. She tried
to kill him in that accident” he said
flatly, his eyes were deep, black
bulbs, that stared listlessly. He
didn’t mind the shock on his mother’s face, he picked up his
phone and dialled Tania. Tania had just remembered the
disc in her bag, so she hurried
from her bedroom upstairs to the
living room below. But before she
could go to her bag, her phone
began to read, she saw it was her husband and hurriedly picked it
up. Tania: “Hello, honey. How is
mother and Oshogbo?” she
asked with glee. Damilola: “You murderer, what
did that little boy ever do to you?”
he said in a guttural voice. Tania: “Hello, this must be a
wrong number” she said, not
believing that those words had
come from Damilola. Damilola: “Shut up you wicked
woman. I am giving you twenty-
four hours to surrender to the
police, this is my final gift to you
as a wife. I will have my lawyer
contact you to sign the divorce papers. Mind you, I am not giving
you a penny” he said, wishing he
could hurt her with his words
because what he really felt like
doing was squeezing the life out
of her, with his bare hands. Tania dropped the phone on the
glass table in the centre and sank
into a couch. She held her head in
her hands and cried. Tania: “I am finished. Mo ku oh”
she cried..
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