Tvd reference coming up. Somebody please spot it😖

Tamara Coker was wearing one of her irking smiles that I had gotten used to. She was obviously glad to be let out of her room, something she expressed by hugging Charles for thirty seconds. An action that was dramatic and unnecessary from my point of view.

What I didn't get was why he let her hold him for that long. He came up with a senseless excuse of isolation being frightening for some people but I think he just liked the admiration the teenager clearly had for him.

"So you do know him." We had been going back and forth about her cousin for a while and she was being a little more difficult than she usually was.

"I know he exists." I sighed and she smiled.

"You look exhausted. Why didn't you just let detective Banky ask me these unnecessary questions?" She taunted and I snapped because she was too grown to be acting like such a child.

"They are very necessary, Tamara. A woman, your mother was murdered, coldly in the room next to yours and you are more concerned about gaining the attention of a cute detective."

She was quiet for a few seconds before a grin broke out on her face.

"You are jealous." The ridiculousness of that statement annoyed me but not as much as her indifference.

"No. What I am is baffled, at the complete lack of empathy a girl has for a woman that gave birth to her."

She rolled her eyes like I was boring her but caved.

"He's uncle Kolade's son, that's all mommy ever told me. I know he helped her at the shop but he didn't come here often, except maybe if she forgot something and he came to get it for her. He's always very serious with his round cut and Sokoto face, we don't talk." She smiled.

"Anything else?" She inquired.

"No. You can leave."

She walked out with a sashay, leaving me to wonder if she had turned off her humanity. Charles walked in a few minutes later and smiled once he saw the look on my face.

"That bad, huh?"

"I think she's the one who needs counseling."
I had told him about my fruitless trip to the doctor's office earlier in the day.

"They all do."

"How did it go with Sade?"

He took a seat and released a breath.

"She said he's the first son of their only uncle who is a trader at Sokoto. Their dad sponsored his education and their mom brought him to help her out since none of the girls were interested in the business."

"Mrs. Coker brought him?"

"I know Kay, your Anthony Joshua theory might be it, it's why I sent a photo of him to the girl at the hotel. Hopefully it checks out and we can close that chapter."

"You still don't think he might have killed her."

He leaned on the table.

"The woman has been dead for over a week but her accounts are still intact. All transactions made from the business account were business related, they checked out. If he killed her, my best guess will be that it was for the money, so why isn't he making any moves? He has had over a week to transfer the funds and disappear but he hasn't."

I thought for a while.

"He doesn't have any reason to run. The girls have no knowledge in business administration so he remains in charge. All he has to do is lay low till everything blows over."

"You think someone like Tamara is just going to let him run their business?"

"I think she'll be cool as long as she keeps getting her monthly allowance."

"What about Funmi? She doesn't trust anyone."

"It's like I said, wait till the case is closed then, steal the money and jet. It'd be Grand theft, just him taking advantage of the situation, with concrete evidence against someone else, no one would think he killed his uncle's wife."

Charles sat back and looked at me with a curious smile.

"So, what about Sade's blade?"

"If he is Anthony Joshua, then chances are his lover might have mentioned it to him."

He laughed disbelievingly.

"And he just decided to go through the trouble of procuring it just for artistic purposes?"

"Don't try to understand a murderer's kink, Charlie."

He chuckled softly.

"Okay. Fingers crossed?"

"Fingers crossed. By the way, we've got a liar to gaslight."

He grinned.

*********************

Mfon Imeh was dressed in the same attire she had been earlier in the week but her skin was noticeably duller and the rash on her arms weren't attractive. She greeted Charles and I with a death glare.

"Miss Imeh. How have you been?" Charles asked her with a smile as we took our seats.

"If I contract HIV in that cell, I'm suing you people."
Her face was red in anger.

"You can't even post bail for yourself." He threw back at her.

"I'm surprised no one has knocked your front teeth out in that cell. Charlie, it's like calabar girls are really calming down."

He nodded thoughtfully.

"Get me out of here." She snarled.

"I promise you that I can do that. Just tell me what you were doing at the Coker house on the night of the 24th of last month."

"Visiting my sick sister." She stated.
Stubbornness was a common trait in the family.

"She told you Sade had taken care of it. Why did you feel the need to go there at that time of the night?"

"I was worried."

"Because your sister who was a businesswoman was fatigued? Come on." Charles chided.

"Yeah. Idara didn't have any terminal illness that could escalate. I think you were only in the compound because you knew the gates would be open, a rare opportunity."

For what, was what I couldn't figure out.

"To commit murder." Charles pushed on.

"I told you, I__"

"How did you know the front door was open too?" I cut her off.

"Ehm_Idara__"

"You didn't. You didn't plan on going in that way, you just noticed it was while you were sneaking in and decided to spare yourself the risk of getting caught breaking in."

Charles stared at me with scrunched brows.

"How were you going to get in then?"

"Like a normal person. By knocking." She flared.

"I thought you said Idara told you the door was unlocked." I lowered my voice.

"What? I mean she did but I was still__ I would have_"

I leaned back on my seat and watched her struggle to come up with a decent excuse. She breathed in deeply and calmed herself.

"Why were you there, Miss Imeh?"

She looked at me for a while, then smiled.

"I didn't kill Idara, you already know that, it's why you haven't attributed the murder to me since you got here. You keep asking why I was there and I've already told you, I was just visiting my sick sister."

She was a crook but not smart enough. She had confidence but she was sloppy.

"Then when you found out she was dead, you just left."

"She was asleep." She struggled to keep her voice leveled.

"If your sister really wasn't a corpse when you left, why didn't you mention being there that night?"

"Because of this. I knew I'd be labelled a suspect."

"So you did leave her dead." Charles smirked triumphantly and the woman sunk into her seat.

"I don't know what you two aim to get out of me but I'm not going to implicate myself further by saying another word to anyone in this hellhole."

"Fine. Enjoy that, hopefully none of your cellmates decides to beat the words out of you." Charles taunted.
She opened her mouth to speak.

"Ah. Oath of silence in progress." He held a finger up and she glared at him but stayed quiet.

The sun was letting up as we strolled out of the station. Charles talked to a few of our colleagues for a while and I waited outside by my bike. I watched him share a bro hug with Ayodeji Rotimi and held back a scoff. Ayo wasn't his friend, everyone knew that, he defamed Charles at every opportunity but never to his face so Charles still indulged him in his two timing-games.

To him, a man who couldn't confront another man face-to-face wasn't worth the hassle and while I agreed, I also didn't think it was wise to shake hands with the devil or one of his minions.

He crossed the compound to me, taking steady steps with a relaxed look that screamed stability.

"How are the fans doing?"
He smiled and stuffed his hands in his pants pockets.

"You know, just dying for an autograph and all."
We shared a small laugh.

"What do you think Mfon was doing at the house?"

I had still been wondering the same thing and now that she knew what we wanted, chances were she was never going to tell us the truth.

"I don't know. Steal some jewelry maybe."

"Or maybe she was going to kill Idara but someone beat her to it."

"I don't see how her sister's death benefits her."

"There is still a lot we aren't seeing, Kay."
I nodded.

"So, let's sort it all out."

******************************
Hi guys!
Happy new year guys!!
See you on Saturday!!!
Comment❕❕❕