Wedding Night
Episode 6
As we got up to leave, i passionately pleaded to the detective to help me out.
“seriously i have no hand in my husband’s death. You have to help me. You have to do something” I pleaded desperately.
“as long as you are innocent, you have no problem with me. I’m a good cop. I promise to get to the bottom of this case” The middle aged officer promised while my brother smiled with relief.
“now you are talking officer. Don’t let them intimidate or stop you from doing the right thing” he advised as they shook hands.
On our way out of the force headquarters, my brother held me on the shoulder and whispered in my ear.
“you have to be strong my dear. Everything happens for a purpose. Please you have to be strong when facing our parents , they are very devastated” he begged quietly while more tears fell from my eyes. I really didn’t know how to face my old parents, especially mum who braved her sickness to witness my wedding ceremony.
Nevertheless, we first headed to Damian’s house after leaving the police headquarters in order to pick up my things, but on getting to the house, we were stopped by four policemen who told us that they had orders not to allow anyone pick up even a pin from the house.
“madam this place is now a crime scene. You can come back tomorrow to pick your things. As for now we have orders not to allow anybody pick up anything from the house” one of the officers said, leaving me speechless.
“i think it’s a good development. A piece of evidence might still by lying around who knows. The police are really correct with this decision” My brother’s lawyer said in agreement. And so we had no choice than to turn back and head to my brother’s house where every member of my family was waiting for me. It really was such a painful scene as every one of them cried on sighting me, especially my poor mother who sobbed uncontrollably.
“this marriage was just a huge mistake. oh no” she cried painfully.
However another big development occurred at exactly 5pm when detective Jeremiah showed up once again with a team of policemen and a white man who looked like a lawyer to arrest me.
“i’m sorry, the order came from the I.G’s office. It has nothing to do with me” he said as a handcuff was thrown round my wrists, putting my entire family into another wave of shock.
My brother as usual tried to defend me by creating a scene but had to shut up when the white lawyer threatened to arrest him as an accomplice in the murder charge I was facing.
“don’t worry, I will protect you” the detective whispered to my ear as he led me away.
This time, there wasn’t anything to save me from cooling off in a police cell.
Episode 7
On getting to the police headquarters, i was taken to the detective’s office where i stayed and nervously waited for him while he entered another office with the white lawyer.
He came in about fifteen minutes later, smiling calmly.
“i’m really sorry things got so bad as to bring you back here. Your husband’s family are trying everything possible to make you pay, but don’t worry, investigation has commenced. I’m already working on a theory. You should also know that i have seized the travelling passports of every one of them that spent the night in that house. You shouldn’t worry about anything, the culprit will be caught. I equally had a good cell prepared for you” he said seriously, while tears dropped from my eyes. I couldn’t imagine myself spending the night in a police cell no matter how comfortable it was made to look.
“one more thing. I need to hear the whole truth from you since you want me by your side. That’s all i ask” the officer added curiously, drawing out another shock from me.
“what do you mean by the whole truth?” i gasped, while he smiled.
“you see, that’s one problem with Nigerian women. You all like keepings secrets even in a terrible condition. You have a cop trying to help you, the least you can do is to come out clean with him. I spoke with some of your colleagues today and their answers were quite shocking. Most of them said that your relationship and marriage to late Damian wasn’t ordinary. So you got to tell me things i need to know since you want me by your side” he pushed on while i swallowed hard and fought with myself.
The officer wanted me to open up something well buried in my heart, a secret i told no one.
“How do i go about it?” i wondered.
“i know you didn’t commit the murder but you have to help me unravel many things. What made Damian marry you so quickly, you guys had just a short Romance and Mr Damian i was told messed up a lot of ladies in the company before getting to you. Something made him marry you??, don’t tell me it was love, i have reason to believe something else was involved, even after the threats and reports you got, never for a moment did you guys quarrel. Please don’t use the love bullshit on me. I need the truth?” he pushed on seriously.
There wasn’t any doubt the officer did a good background check on me but digging deep into my relationship with Damian was only going to deteriorate matters for me. Some things are better left buried and unsaid but looking at his eyes, i saw curiousity and eagerness to know all about the hidden truth..
EPISODE 8
“seriously i don’t think things that happened when we were dating has anything to do with his death, believe me” i said slowly. The officer simply folded his hands and breathed deeply.
“nothing is hidden under the sun for long. Sooner or later i still will find out, so i believe it’s in your best interest to tell me all i need to know” he pushed with a smile.
I battled with myself one more time before making up my mind to open up.
“Damian was stealing from the company. He was doing it with a colleague in the records department. I found out about the whole deal three weeks into our relationship but couldn’t do anything apart from confront him. He ended up convincing me to keep quiet, equally promising to marry and take me to his home country. His plan was to get me established over there. I was a woman in love with a whole lot to gain. Of course i kept quiet and helped him steal more. He kept his word and married me, only to die before fulfilling the last part of his promise. Now what has that got with his death??” i poured out with tears.
“and the colleague in question, do you think he has a hand in his death?” he asked curiously.
“of course not, they had seperate accounts and divided proceeds evenly. No he is much more valuable alive than dead to the man” i answered seriously.
“well in a murder case we don’t rule out any possibility until the crime is solved. I admire your honesty. You bravely confessed being an accomplice to another crime. I appreciate and will keep my promise by watching your back. It should interest you to know that your husband might have been murdered in his garden, we saw some drops of bl0*d down there, which now gives us two crime scenes” he said while i gasped with shock.
“yea Damian loved smoking and probably went to the garden to heat off while i slept, but how the hell did he get back to the bed, if he was killed in there?” i asked with disbelief.
“it’s time to go to your cell my dear. I’ll permit you to keep your phone. Just pray something new never comes out to incriminate you further, as for now the lastest discovery works on your side” he added with a cold smile, got up and led me to a quiet cell where I had the most terrying night ever.
I kept seeing my dead husband all through that night. Oh it was one nasty experience.
Dear friends, I spent the second night after my wedding in a police cell. What can be more horrible than such fate??
Episode 9
By 8am the next day, my brother showed up with my old father and detective Jeremiah. They all look very serious and tired. My heart bled as i saw tears form in my old man’s eyes.
“my darling you shouldn’t be here” he breathed painfully. I forced out a smile to assure him that i was alright.
“don’t worry sir, we are coming close to solving this case. I’m working round the clock to make sure i solve the puzzles in the case. In no time your daughter will be out of here” the detective said to him.
“Officer please tell us what you have gotten so far. Tell us how far you have gotten” my brother asked anxiously.
“you know it isn’t in our conduct to be revealing our investigations to people but nevertheless i will tell you guys how far i have gotten” he answered, while my brother nodded desperately.
“i worked on this case all through the night and i came to a conclusion that two people were involved in the murder. Moreover one of the security men in the house admitted seeing a white lady head to the garden at the exact time the crime might have been committed” he revealed while i jumped up hopefully.
“you should arrest the lady right away, isn’t the testimony enough to vindicate me?” i asked breathlessly. The detective shook his head and looked down.
“i’m sorry but it isn’t enough. The security man admitted seeing a woman head to the garden. He never said he saw her kill your husband, moreover the knife cut in your husband’s chest was strong and deep. I doubt if any lady can strike so hard. A lady equally can’t be able to drag your husband’s body from the garden to his bedroom unless of course she was assisted. The fracture on his noise equally brought up another fact that the murderer might have sneaked from behind, strongly cut off his breathe by covering his nose and mouth with one hand while burying the knife in his chest. Something a woman will find very hard to do. Anyway we are still running DNA tests which will help us put more things together” he concluded, while i sighed with desperation.
“c’mon can’t you just drill the woman that was spotted at the scene instead of wasting the time we don’t have. Who is the woman, who is she?” i asked curiously. The officer shrugged.
“the security man unfortunately couldn’t identify her. According to him all the white women in the house that night looked the same to him” he answered, shook hands with my brother and left.
My father came forward and stared at me for some seconds, tears blinding his vision.
“i’m going to the village today. I’m going to visit the only living soothsayer in our clan. He can reveal the murderer for us” he informed me slowly. I couldn’t believe my ears.
“dad noooo, you can’t do that. You can’t abandon your Christian believe for my sake. You are a strong catholic dad. It hasn’t gotten to that” i pleaded.
“i can’t sit, watch and do nothing. Your mother barely managed to survive the night. I must do something, i’m still the head and protector of my family” he said strongly. I bit my lips and looked at my brother for support, but all he did was just shrug.
It was obvious they had all agreed on it before visiting me.
Episode 10
“You have to hold on tight dear, we are getting you out in no time. The detective promised to give you special treatment. So just hold on for a little longer” my brother begged before leaving with my dad.
However my day never had a dull moment because soon after they left, two of my colleagues came to see me as if they cared. I already knew they simply came to confirm things with their eyes, but that’s one of the things in life we have no control over.
No matter what we do, we must have haters, we must have people who pretend to care and we also must have people whose only motive is to bring you down.
Later in the afternoon, my friend Nancy also came to see me. It really was painful receiving such visits in a police cell.
Yea you guys should just for a moment reflect how it feels to be receiving your friends and colleagues, days after your wedding in a police cell. Horrible isn’t it??.
Nancy shed real tears on seeing me, her face coloured deeply. The shock in her very apparent.
“I heard Rumours, I never believed till this very moment” she said quietly. I swallowed hard and nodded.
Nancy was my old time pal. We attended the same university, stayed in the same hostel and did our Nysc the same time, though in different states. Her parents were a bit wealthy and lived in the capital city. She returned to live with them after Nysc while i came over to live with my brother. However i was fortunate to get a good job while she managed a little teaching job in her neighbourhood. We still remained very close even after we disagreed over Damian. She was of the opinion that i was being overly ambitious, insisting that i was throwing away my life for money. I guess she was right?, but she merely objected to my relationship with Damian simply because i dropped my young boyfriend whom she much preferred, in order to move on with Damian.
Yea Justice was the boy’s name, we were age mates and equally served {NYSC} the same time. He was a good kid but c’mon i couldn’t waste my future by waiting for him. He was even yet to get a job till the very moment i landed in the police cell.
Justice had a lot to do before thinking of settling down and i couldn’t take the risk of waiting for him. At least i was good enough to keep him till we rounded up with Nysc unlike some of my course mates who dumped their boyfriends to get married in final year.
“Damian brought only trouble just like i feared. My God this is a terrible Nightmare” Nancy sobbed. I simply stared at her, not knowing what to say. But just that exact second, detective Jeremiah showed up with a dark smile.
“you may not like the news i bear” he announced and came forward while i almost fainted with fear…. I couldn’t bear taking another bad news.
To be continued.
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