MY WEDDING NIGHT
EPISODE 4
As we got up to leave, i pas-sionately 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 bo-ttomof this case” The middle aged officer promised while my brother smiled with relief. “now you are talking officer. Don’t let them intimid@t£ or st©p you from doing the right thing” he advised as they shook hands.
On our way out of the f0rç£ 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. plea-se 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 br@ved 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 st©pped 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 anyb©dy 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 be 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 sobbe-d uncontrollably. “this marriage was just a hvge 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 c@m£ 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.
MY WEDDING NIGHT
EPISODES 5
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 c@m£ 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 alre-ady working on a theory. You should also know that i have seized the travelling pas-sports 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 nee-d 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 g@sped, 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 relationsh!pand marriage to late Damian wasn’t ordinary. So you got to tell me things i nee-d to know since you want me by your side” he pushed on while i swallowed ha-rd 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 quic-kly, you guys had just a short r0m@nç£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. plea-se don’t use the love bull$h!t on me. I nee-d the truth?” he pushed on seriously. There wasn’t any doubt the officer did a good background check on me but digging de-ep into my relationsh!pwith 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…
MY WEDDING NIGHT
EPISODE 6
“seriously i don’t think things that
happened when we were
d@t!nghas anything to do with his
death, believe me” i said slowly. The
officer
simply folded his
hands and breathed
de-eply.
“nothing is hidden un-der 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 nee-d to know” he pushed with
a smile.
I battled with myself one more time
before ma-king up my
mind to open up. “Damian was stealing from the
company. He was doing it
with a colleague in the records
dep@rtment. I found out
about the whole deal three weeks into
our relationsh!pbut couldn’t do anything ap@rt
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
p@rt 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 separate
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 br@vely
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 blood down there, which
now gives us two crime
scenes” he said while i g@sped with
shock.
“yea Damian loved smoking and probably went to
the
garden to heat off while i sle-pt, but
how the hell did he get
back to the be-d, 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
latest 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 tiring night
ever.
I kept seeing my dead husband all throu-gh that
night. Oh it
was one nas-ty experience.
Dear friends, I spent the second night
after my wedding in a
police cell. What can be more horrible
than such fate??
MY WEDDING NIGHT
EPISODE 7
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 f0rç£d out a smile to
as-sure 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 plea-se 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
revea-ling 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 throu-gh the night
and i c@m£ 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 che-st was strong and de-ep. I
doubt if any lady can strike so ha-rd . A lady
equally can’t be able to drag your husband’s
b©dy from the garden to his be-droom
unless of course she was as-sisted. The
fracture on his noise equally brou-ght 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
che-st. Something a woman will find very
ha-rd 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 sp©tted 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 c@m£ 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 ba-rely managed to survive the night.
I must do something, i’m still the head and
protector of my family” he said strongly. I bit
myl-ips 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.
TO BE CONTINUED