It was bothersome how comfortable I had gotten in the Coker house. Not comfortable enough to stay back in the kitchen and make pancakes but to shower like I would in my own bathroom and collapse on the bed in the guestroom like I had been doing it for years, months at least.

Charles sounded exhausted when I called him. With Damola Coker out of the picture, he had continued his search for Mrs. Coker's Anthony Joshua. For some reason, that part of the case had become a mission for him, like a small piece of a large puzzle he had to find.

"I am running out of options here." He sighed.

"Let it be for a while? There are a lot more angles you can fixate on."

"Yeah, since you keep coming up with ridiculous theories."

"I thought you liked that about me."
He laughed gently.

"Of course I do. Did you talk to Sade?"

"I did and she said Theodore knows about the cameras."
He hummed.

"You know some of his neighbors said they saw him leave late that night. Did he know about the blades?"

"Shit." I facepalmed. "I didn't think to ask."

"Go ask her now."

"I don't want to tick her off. You haven't seen her face when she talks about him. Forgiving his promiscuity seems like the least she'd do for him."

"You think she'd forgive him for killing her mother?"

"I think she won't even believe it and she won't let us if she can."

"We need to talk to him."
I scoffed.

"Theodore Enun won't speak to us unless he absolutely has to, unless he has something to lose otherwise."

Charles groaned.

"I've never worked a case with a more difficult set of people."

He was in his rare dramatic moods but I couldn't disagree.

"There is just too much lies and friction to work through."

He laughed humorlessly.

"Exactly what I told Martha."

I backed up a bit.

"Oh. I thought you guys broke up."

"We did but it's not like I relocated. Anytime her brain touch, she shows up."

"Okay, cool."

He sighed.

"It's not like that, Kay."

"Not like what?"

"There is nothing going on with us, I'm even surprised there ever was."

"Makes two of us."

I didn't want to talk to him about his relationship and I didn't understand why he made it a point to rope me into the workings of every one of them. Sometimes I was grateful there weren't many. He might not have had as many exes as kehinde but his relationships didn't last any longer.

He blamed it on the job most of the time and I could totally understand, sometimes you got so involved that your personal life becomes secondary.

"What do you suggest we do about Theo?" He swerved the conversation away from his relationship.

"So now you want to go after the guy."

"It's not that I didn't consider the possibility. It's just that at that time you were being ruled by your emotions but now it seems logical."

"Logical, right."

He was right though, letting emotions cloud my judgement was something I had paid for a few times already.

"I will talk to Sade, ease her into it."

"Alright. I'll check in with the ME."

"You really think that man works on Saturdays?"

"I swear." He laughed. "Why is he taking so long anyway? I mean the cuts are pretty obvious, how long does it take to write a measly report?"

"I don't know, Charlie. How long does it take you to write a report?" I was already smiling before he replied.

"Not that long." He said grudgingly.

"Is that so?"

"Whatever Kaima. Not all of us had an actual English, English teacher."

"Later."

I ended the call but didn't put the phone down.
Today I was feeling quite weightless, not because all my worries had suddenly disappeared but after my interaction with Tamara, I realized how fortunate I was to be the person that I was and have the people in my life.

        My mom picked up almost immediately and I bit back a chuckle.

"Nine days, Kaima." She stated.

"What?"

"Nine full days without phoning your mother." She explained in a clipped tone that broadened my smile.

"Wow mom. Do you have a calendar with my name on it that you cross whenever I don't call you?"

"Of course I do. What sort of mother do you take me for?"

I didn't hold back the laughter.

"The best one ever."

"Don't you forget. Now, why haven't you called?"

"Why haven't you?"

It was unlike her to go over a week without reaching out, three days at most.

"Kehinde said you were busy."

I shot up from the bed for the first time in over half an hour.

"Kehinde called you?"

"What? No, silly. We chat on WhatsApp."

I groaned, that was even worse. Kehinde was a text parrot with no emoji control. Only God knew the sort of content she was sending my mom and what she was teaching her.

"About what?"

"Now, that is private information." She got coy.

"Seriously?"

"Please, Kaima. I am not in a very good mood."
I rolled my eyes because she sounded just fine to me which meant she was being her extra self.

"What happened?"

It almost came out as a yawn but it didn't matter to her, she'd take any opportunity to give a performance.

"You remember the set of ceramic kitchen wares your father got on his first and only work trip to Japan ten years ago?"

"Yeah."

Of course I didn't remember them, she had cupboards filled with bowls and cups that only served the purpose of collecting dust.

"It had the cutest pair of tiny spoons with butterfly prints on them. Last Sunday Sean came over with his family, you know, for one last dinner before they travel nine hours away."

She always like to emphasize on how far away her children lived from her, accusing us of not wanting to take care of her in her old age. She wasn't even old at fifty-one. My mom started having kids early at twenty-one, Sean was thirty.

"I served Carson my mashed fruit pudding." Gross. No one ever looked forward to those.

"And he broke the spoon! Split it in half." Couldn't blame the poor kid.

"Are you laughing, Chikaima?" I straightened my features even as she couldn't see me.

"Me? No mom, I'm so sorry about your precious spoon."
She huffed.

"I talk to my only daughter about my problems and she laughs at me."

"Mommy naw. Oya I'll comment on all your facebook posts from now on."

"You will say that I'm the best mom in the world."

"I'll even recruit George to join the cause."
She paused for a while.

"Have you heard from him recently?" She asked, sounding serious all of a sudden.

"Not since I started working on my new case. Is this about the Will thing? Mom__"

"It is not that Kaima." She argued. "I know he has communication issues but I feel like it has been too long. I've called a few times but it keeps getting sent to voicemail."

"He is probably just busy." I tried to reassure her.

"If I knew that'd become a mantra for you kids, I'd have never sent you people to school."

I forced down the laughter so as not to upset her further.

"You know how he gets with work."

"I know, it's what I'm worried about." Hearing her worry made me worried too.

George had a tendency of getting lost in his head and when we were younger, it wasn't always harmless introversion, it got dark a few times and my parents never believed it was gone for good but I did, I had to.

"It's going to__"

My words caught in my throat as loud music suddenly shook through the house.

"Mom, I've got to go. Love you." She sighed.

"Love you. T.t.y.l"

"What?" I paused from ending the call.

"T.t.y.l. Talk to you later. Kehinde taught me." She said with an air of pride.

"Okay. Me and her are gonna have to chat."

I rose from the bed and stuffed the phone in my jeans pocket before moving out of the room.

The music was louder when I stepped into the hallway and I could tell it was coming from downstairs as I marched past each bedroom. I hurried down the stairs but stopped halfway and stared into the living room where Tamara Coker was giving the performance of her life.

The girl could take up a career in dance but with the obscene way in which she juggled her butt cheeks, she'd probably flourish more as a stripper.

I watched for a while without her taking notice, I doubt she'd have cared, she didn't care about much anymore.