Paul sat down on the couch. He looked defeated. He carried the little girl and bounced her on his laps.
Osi sat down without waiting for an invitation.
"You need to promise me you'll never tell anybody what I'm about to tell you" Paul said.
"Honestly I can't promise you anything but I'd do my best"
Paul sighed. "Okay...when I left Amaife for Lagos three years ago, I spent just two months there before I ran into trouble"
He fell silent and Osi urged him on "what kind of trouble?"
"I got mixed up in the wrong crowd...I allowed a friend of mine talk me into what he called hustling"
"Hmm....what kind of hustling was this?" Osi asked. There were different grades of 'hustling' in a city like Lagos but he was already having a bad feeling about this one.
Paul dodged the question or perhaps he wasn't ready to answer yet and wanted to delay as long as possible.
"The thing is I was carried away by his lavish lifestyle..his cars and riches..he promised to link me up and I couldn't wait, but then he introduced me to his people and I found out they were kidnappers"
"What? Please tell me you didn't involve in such" Osi was surprised. That was the last thing he had expected to hear.
Paul was silent. His silence was all Osi needed to hear. It signified guilt.
"My God..so in your quest for riches you began kidnapping people?" Osi couldn't help his voice from rising a bit.
"Yes" Paul nodded solemnly "but the truth is I was never comfortable with it and I never accompanied them for their operations..my job was always to look after the victims in the safe house"
Osi looked at the young girl clapping excitedly as Paul bounced her on his knee.
"So what changed? What happened?"
Paul took a deep breadth and Osi knew what was coming would be difficult to swallow.
"After every pay out, the six of us..we're six in number by the way, two girls and four guys...anyway the six of us would always split up..move to different states or locations till the trail goes cold and we have another possible hit then we'll team up again"
Osi shook his head in dismay "you're a very horrible man..."
"I know...I know that" Paul sighed tiredly. He had told himself that many times it was no longer news. "I always came to this village because I wanted to be closer to Amaife...and I met Chinaza and we had a relationship. And I started having second thoughts about everything"
"Oh...so Chinaza is(was) the mother of the child then?"
"No....this is the hard part, this girl is not mine...she's the only daughter of a multimillionaire, one of the top men of oil and gas in our country..."
"What! You mean you kidnapped this young girl"
As if in reply the young girl smiled at Paul. "Dada...Dada...."
Osi smiled sadly at her.
She was Adorable.
Paul went on:
"The plan was to get 10 million naira and release the child immediately with no harm, but her stupid father set us up at the drop zone, we were almost caught and when the gang found out, they were furious and decided to kill the girl...this was about six weeks ago"
Osi didn't realize he was holding his breath "so...what happened?"
"I couldn't go through with it...in the dead of the night I took her from the safe house and ran away...I ran here straight...that was why I took an extra day to arrive at Amaife because I needed to set up someone to be taking care of her in my absence"
"So the woman that answeres the gate...who is she? A babysitter"
"Something like that, I pay her monthly and offered a roof over her head in return for her services and to be fair..she loves the girl"
A short silence followed but finally Osi cleared his throat. This was crazy. By far one of the craziest stories he had heard, and he had listened to a fair share. "So are you telling me that you plan to raise someone else's child as your own? A child that you kidnapped?"
"Pastor...it has been eating me alive but I can't step foot in Lagos because just as I'm sure the sun would rise tomorrow, i'? 100% sure they would definitely trace me!"
"Why's she calling you daddy?" Osi was suspicious "she's old enough to know you're not her father"
"I don't know..honestly, ever since I started looking out for her she's been calling me that"
"Hmmm..." Osi scratched his day old stubble "but I'm convinced you've not done enough..the least you could do is drop her at a police station at least they would locate her parents or the worst case scenario you get in touch with the father and instruct him the church you dropped his daughter"
"Pastor..all these possibilities would definitely end up with me being locked up..I've been asking Sofiri for help and his opinion hypothetically but I'm yet to tell him the full story"
"Mr. Paul...I'm grateful your conscience is not yet as seared ith a hot iron as the bible put it..you still have a heart, no matter how tiny it might be, but you know the law of seed time and harvest..the covenant with Noah...what you sow is what you shall reap..you have to pay for the consequences of your actions"
"You're going to rat me out aren't you...God my mother must not hear this..she'll just die...but I did all these to be able to provide financially for my family. You see right since my childhood my father was-"
Osi interrupted him. A thought had just occurred to him and he was not ready for a history class.
"wait...did Okudili know of your actions?"
"Okudili?"
"Yes...the one you people call the village drunkard"
"Well he knew I was in the nearby village all along, I recall seeing him on more than one occasion...wait are you thinking I killed Okudili?" His eyes were wide and white now. From either guilt or disbelief. Osi could wager it was the latter.
"Honestly you're a very big suspect..I'd need you to tell me where you were the night Chinaza was murdered and the day Ezinne was killed as well as mama Ozioma"
Paul thought hard. He was suddenly restless and stood up and began pacing. He carried the little girl who had already fallen asleep.
"Honestly I don't know...but I swear I had nothing to do with the murders...I'm innocent!"
"Be that as it may, if I were a cop I'd arrest you immediately" Osi replied and stood up. He was a good foot taller than the man and the result was quite intimidating even though his shoulder was not as broad.
"So what now...you're going to turn me in I suppose" Paul sounded resigned to his fate.
"Not yet...the most important thing is to reunite this girl
with her family and then if you can cooperate with the authorities I believe your judgement would be fairer...especially since you saved her life"
Paul wasn't convinced "I knew this day would come...I'm so screwed!" But deep down he was glad he had bared his soul. It had been eating him from inside.
Joy struggled but to no avail. She was fighter and very tough but the man was really strong. His hand muffled her screams as he held her mouth tightly and she couldn't see a thing every where was pitch dark.
She realized with horror that he was taking her farther from the gate and into the darkness.
She kicked madly, catching his sheen with the back of her heel, but it seemed the devil didn't feel anything.
With his left hand he tried to put a piece of clothe over her eyes and she lost whatever control she still had as thw fear intensified. She bit his palm hard and he swore in a voice that was faintly familiar.
He must have been extremely offended with her biting because he pushed her roughly to the trunk of a nearby mango tree. Slamming her face on the tree bark.
An impossible pain shot through her face and she almost lost consciousness as she slid to the floor.
Little bitch! Have a little fight in you eh?! Well good thing he had a sock over his face.. He might not blindfold her after all.
He unbuckled his belt hurriedly stopping her weak movements with his leg.
He was about to dive in...there was nothing as sweet as a Virgin and he hoped he would see blood...blood always threw him in a crazy frenzy.
But then the gate to the compound opened and Dé Nwachukwu stepped outside.
"What's that noise? Amara? Joy? Who's there?!"
He held a torchlight and the devil took off immediately before the beam fell on him.
He cursed and ranted as he ran. This was not over!
To be continued...
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