LIFE OF PAINS
Episode 23
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Detective Boniface got a return call from
Lady Anita that evening. She informed
him that Omini Oil was pursuing a major
oil deal which they lost to a small
company based in Warri. It seems they
are trying to get the company to
subcontract them for the contract. She
said that was all she could get a short
notice but she will be able to get more
information as time goes. He thanked
and ended the call.
As soon as the call ended. Barr.
Odumodu’s call c@m£ in. he answered
and Barr. Odumodu informed him that
according to Felix who had carried Preye
to her father’s place but had stayed
outside to watch at her insistence, Chief
Bright had another stro-ke and was
pres£ntly in the hospital but not before
the police had come in to arrest him.
Detective Boniface: “where is him and
Preye now?”
Barr. Odumodu: “they are at the house.
Why?”
Detective Boniface: “good. Am on my
way.” He ended the call then gr@bb£d a
squad of policemen and they headed to
Chief Bright’s family residence.
====
Detective Calixtus was at his desk at his
station in Lagos. He was on a case of a
robbery gang terrorizing Lekki area. He
had just returned from interviewing a
family that had just been robbe-d. He sat,
reviewing his notes. His phone rang. The
number was unknown. He picked it,
Detective Calixtus: “hello.”
Mr. Orilade: “am I on to detective Calixtus
of the Lagos State CID?”
Detective Calixtus: “yes you are sir. Who
am I speaking with?”
Mr. Orilade: “this is Mr. Orilade, Kelvin’s
course adviser. He dropped a package
for you with my lawyer with the
condition that if he disappears for a
week without him calling the lawyer, the
parcel should be given to me for onward
transmission to you. I would like to
know how to s£nd it.”
Detective Calixtus: “hold on, a parcel? You
know what, I will give you a detective
right there in delta state who will collect
the parcel on my behalf.”
Detective Calixtus ended the call then
placed a call to detective Boniface who
was alre-ady on his way to Chief Bright’s
residence. Detective Boniface
immediately directed one of his men to
head to Benin to get the said parcel.
====
Detective Boniface and his team storm
into the Chief Bright’s residence and
place Benson un-der arrest. Felix and
Preye where placed in the custody of the
police and taken to the police station. At
the station, they tried to interrogate
Preye but they could not get straight
answers from her until he c@m£ to st©p
them, informing them that she was
mentally ill and also experiencing
amnesia. Felix was allowed to go home
but Preye was immediately moved to
Uselu Psychiatrist hospital for further
treatment.
====
Bright had been placed on life support
and he rasped as he breathed. Mama
Benson sat with him, her hand on her
cheek as she stared at the man she
called her husband for over 41 years. She
sighed and thought back to the
revelations she had heard. Despite all the
girls, all the wives, the he goat went on
to sleep with his own daughter? What
will I not see? And my son knew and he
kept quiet! Benson! Ha! She sighed
sorrowfully.
She went out to stretch her legs, as she
pas-sed she saw the police seated by the
door pressing his phone. She greeted
him and went on.
When she c@m£ back the police was still
there, pla-ying cards. He looked up at her
Policeman: “your son c@m£ o. he waited
a little then he left.”
Mama Benson: “Benson?”
Policeman: “yes. Serious looking guy.”
She nodded her head abs£ntmindedly
and entered the room.
====
The policeman s£nt to Mr. Orilade at
UNIBEN, to receive the parcel from the
lawyer had returned by the time
detective Boniface got back to his office.
The man had been waiting for some
hours. He handed over the parcel to
detective Boniface, saluted and left.
Detective Boniface opened the parcel as
soon as he left. Inside the parcel, were
pictures of Preye with different
politicians, business men, directors of
companies… Pictures of her in h0tel
rooms with them, p@rties, conference
rooms, and so on. Detective Boniface
was confused. He opened the parcel
again and brou-ght out two envelopes.
The first one he opened was a message
from Kelvin.
‘I am getting myself into a rabbit hole, I
do not know if I would ever come out.
Preye was my friend. Yes she had her
faults but her father made her who she
was. During the r@p£, she told me, one of
her brothers caught her father. She
never told me who. Anyways, if you have
this it would mean that a diabolical man
has got to me. There is a bigger evil than
the one who R@p£d his daughter. There
is one who blackmailed father and used
sister. She kept these pictures as a
protec-tion, in case she nee-ded to defend
herself. She didn’t expect to die, I guess.
But now, Pere says something is going
on at an estate. I am worried that the
monster, Preye feared more than her
father is on the loose. plea-se contact a
Barr. Balogun. She is Preye’s lawyer.
Preye won a contract from one of lovers.
She gave this contract to Omini Oil. The
contract would have made her a
millionaire. It makes me wonder if her
death was accidental. Preye also claimed
that there is a c@m£ra containing a video
of her and her father in a h0tel. i s£nd
you this as what I know about Preye and
her family. I hope it helps.’
Detective Boniface got up and rushed to
the interrogation room and asked for
Benson. He gave her kelvin’s note to
re-ad. Benson re-ad this with a surprised
look on his face.
Benson: “I don’t know about this. I only
know that Preye was R@p£d because
Papa told me when Preye had the
accident. He nee-ded someb©dy to
confide in I guess. I didn’t know that
they were still slee-ping with each other
until I saw the video on the c@m£ra…”
Benson then went on to tell detective
Boniface all he knew. He denied
knowledge of Kelvin’s whereabouts. He
also claimed that the contract was
Preye’s but she had subcontracted to
Omini Oil. He knew that Preye killed
Bimbo, because his father told him
before telling him to go to the airport to
hand over some cash, a credit and help
Preye and Janet board a flight out of the
country.
After Benson’s confessions, he was
re-leased and s£nt home as he had not
been seen to commit any crime. There
was no evidence to hold him with.
Detective Boniface working on a hunch,
made a call to Felix. After the call. He
called Maria and informed her of the
progress they had made. She was
excited and agreed to meet him at the
station the next day.
====
NEXT DAY
Mama Benson entered the pri-vate ward
that they had placed her husband. Along
with her was Alero. They entered the
room and met Bright slee-ping. They
settled down and started getting Bright
re-ady for the day. While they were
cleaning his b©dy, he started coughing.
They ru-bbe-d his back then called the
doctor. The doctor checked him, his face
expressing confusion. Bright started
coughing blood then he started
stretching and j£rking, blood bubbling
out of hisl-ips. His wives watched,
screaming helplessly as he died.
The doctor stared at the dead man in
confusion. It made no snese. This was
not a heart attack. He called the nurse
and asked the b©dy be taken in for
aut©psy. Mama Benson and Alero were
in each other’s arms crying. They
remembered a time in the distant past
and they wept for what was lost.
====
Benson sat in his ap@rtment, staring at
the revolving ceiling fan. He could not
believe that his father was gone. God
this family had kept a bad secret for too
long, now it’s destroying everything. I
am not re-ady to be head of this house,
God… I have not seen Kennedy today sef.
I guess he is aware too. Mama will have
called him. He silently said his goodbye to
his father.
Suddenly, his door bur-st open. It was the
police. They handcuffed him saying he
was un-der arrest for the murder of his
father. He stared at them in shock as he
was led away in a Hilux truck.
LIFE OF PAINS
Episode 24
.
At the police station, Benson was quic-kly
moved to the interrogation room.
Detective Boniface c@m£ in with another
young police man.
Detective Boniface: “Officer Romeo, is
this the man that c@m£ in that
morning?”
Officer Romeo: “No sir. No be him be dis
o. dat one small pas-s am.”
Detective Boniface nodded his head,
then s£nt the officer away. He took a
seat and sat down facing Benson.
Benson looked at him strangely.
Benson: “I don’t un-derstand. What is
going on?”
Detective Benson: “just relax. Wait for it.”
He brou-ght out his phone and placed it
on the table. He and Benson stared at it
quietly.
====
Maria went to see Abel in Prison. She
informed him of the news that they have
evidence now to prove that he was not
the killer. Collins’ confession, Kelvin’s
note, Benson’s confession put together
was enough to get the judge to make
the judgment null. Abel was excited. He
was also glad to hear that Preye was
receiving treatment at a reputable
psychiatrist hospital. Maria suggested
that Abel be prepared to go study
outside the country, get a degree. Abel
said, laughing, that he will have to think
about it.
====
Suddenly, Detective Boniface’s phone
rang in the silence. It startled the two of
them from their thoughts. It was
detective Calixtus, getting an upd@t£ on
how far the case had gone. They spoke
for some minutes then detective
Boniface ended the call. Immediately, his
phone started ringing. He picked it. He
spoke quietly with the person on the line
then ended the call. He looked at Benson,
Detective Boniface: “Let’s go.”
They both got up and stepped outside
the station. At the entrance they stood
waiting, some few minutes later, a Hilux
truck drove into the station premises, at
the back was Kennedy, handcuffed to
the seat. The policemen jumped down
and brou-ght him out. On seeing Benson,
he smiled.
Detective Boniface: “Hello Kennedy.”
Kennedy: “Hi detective, it’s a great day to
be alive, right?”
Benson looked at the two of them with a
confused look.
Detective Boniface: “Before we go any
further, where is Kelvin?”
Kennedy: “Oh…the poor child is in the
garage at the ap@rtment where Preye
was kept.”
Benson g@sped.
Kennedy: “what? I knew where Preye
was of course. Don’t worry he is still
alive.”
Some policemen quic-kly got into a Hilux
and drove out.
Detective Boniface called the officer that
he had called earlier to identify Benson.
He asked the policeman if he could
identify Kennedy.
Police man: “yes sah, na him be dis. Dis
na Benson wey come when Chief wife
comot go piss.”
Benson looked at them in confusion.
Detective Boniface: “the doctor, smart
man, was not too comfortable with the
way your father died. He instructed the
people at the mortuary to carry out an
aut©psy. Well they found out that he was
poisoned with methanol, a slow acting
poison. If not for the smartness of the
doctor we would not have noticed.”
Benson rushed Kennedy and started to
punch him to the ground. Policemen
c@m£ to separate him. Mama Benson
entered the police station at that
moment. She rushed forward, at seeing
them fighting on the ground. Some
policemen went in and separated the
two of them.
Detective Boniface: “leave him alone
Benson. He was caught trying to poison
Preye this morning at the psychiatrist
hospital.”
Benson: “why? Why?”
Mama Benson: “what!” she screamed.
Everyb©dy looked at Kennedy who just
chuckled.
Kennedy: “its all about the money, mama.
They nee-ded to be out of the way. Papa
had given me powers to control the
company. Preye was a shareholder and
owner of the contract subcontracted to
us. I was going to get her to sign it all to
me when I saw Pere and his friend. It
was an opportunity I could not miss.”
Benson looked at Kennedy in shock. His
mother was on the ground crying. Two
women entered the police station and
c@m£ straight to detective Boniface. They
greeted and detective Boniface turned
Detective Boniface: “you are free to go.
We will get the totality of his crimes from
him. take your mom home and take care
of her. Be a better man than your father
or your brother.” He turned and entered
inside the police station with the two
women.
Detective Boniface: “that was Preye’s
elder brothers and her stepmother. We
have finally found Kelvin and we now
know who killed Pere.”
Maria: “who?” she asked, curiously
looking back at the man on ground and
the man and woman standing to the
side. what a family! they knew killed my
boy with their drama. Thank God the
truth finally c@m£ out.
Detective Boniface then went on to tell
Maria and Madam Amina the sordid tale.
EPILOGUE
Kennedy was s£ntenced to death by
hanging. He was hung two months after
the judgment.
Abel was finally re-leased from Prison
after a year and some months in there.
He was s£nt out of the country by Maria.
He went on to study Psychology. When
Maria died, he inherited her considerable
wealth. He made it a policy to always visit
Preye. She still had episodes of
schizophrenia and she never got back
the memory of the night of Bimbo’s
death. They bec@m£ really good friends.
Preye was moved from Uselu Psychiatrist
Hospital to her own ap@rtment where
she had a competent live-in nurse. They
opened, together, an NGO that catered
for teenagers who were victims of child
abuse, S-xual abuse and those who lived
on the street. Preye and Abel shared with
these teens their experiences and tried
to encourage and empower them with
their story.
Benson took over the family business
and shut down his medical practice. he
tried to help Preye build her life back
together. his mother also helped with
watching over her.
Kelvin went back to school after
graduating, he wrote a book on his
experiences that bec@m£ a national
bestseller. He remained friends with
Preye. He usually c@m£ to visit her at
Uselu Psychiatrist hospital and later at
her ap@rtment. He is also a volunteer at
the NGO founded by Preye and Abel.
Abel built a restaurant for madam Amina
in appreciation for her love and care
when he was down. She soon had one
of the most popular restaurant in Warri.
Detective Boniface got a commendation
for his efforts in solving the case.
THE END
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What lessons did u learn frm this story?
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Did u enjoy it? If u do,
kindly leave a comment!
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Thanks for your patience. I love you all💓
#HAPPY_SUNDAY_IN_ADDY
#STAYBLESSED
Cee Nachi
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