MY WEDDING NIGHT
EPISODE 8
“You have to hold on ti-ght 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 c@m£ to see me as if they cared. I alre-ady knew they simply c@m£ 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 c@m£ 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 de-eply. The shock in her very apparent.
“I heard Rumours, I never believed till this very moment” she said quietly. I swallowed ha-rd 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 c@m£ 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 relationsh!pwith Damian simply because i dropped my young b©yfri£ndwhom 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 b©yfri£nds to get married in final year.
“Damian brou-ght only trouble just like i feared. My God this is a terrible Nightmare” Nancy sobbe-d. 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 c@m£ forward while i almost fainted with fear…. I couldn’t bear taking another bad news.
“Officer i’m all ears, tell me the news you bear” i asked with fear. The detective threw a swift look at Nancy who shifted uneasily.
“Well i don’t think now it’s a good time. It’s something pri-vate” he replied, forcing me to smile quic-kly.
“Nancy is like a sister to me. She knows almost everything about me. You can say anything in her pres£nce” i urged him nervously.
“Esther ha-rd ey” he instantly called out, searching my face for any reaction. But the name he mentioned only drew me into another pit of confusion. The name sounded so strange and unfamiliar.
“I don’t un-derstand, i haven’t heard such name anywhere” i breathed with confusion.
“That’s the name of your husband’s fiancee. A white lady he was supposed to Marry. The lady he left to marry you in order to fulfill the promise he made to you” he explained. A cold shiver instantly ran down my spine.
“So are you insinuating that Damian married me just to fulfill a promise?” i asked sadly,
“well I never knew he was engaged to any woman, seriously i thought all the ladies he pla-yed were just flings” I murmured.
“That’s not the problem” he continued, breathing de-eply.
“the lady in question is currently in Nigeria and was among the people that c@m£ into the country with your husband’s family and equally was pres£nt at the house when the crime was committed” he explained, while i stared at him with a little hope.
“That isn’t bad news, is it?. The lady definitely killed him. She had the motive and opportunity. Unbelievable” i poured out desperately but the detective simply shrugged.
“Yes she has the motive and opportunity, but we can’t just arrest her without strong reason. All i can do is to invite her for a little questioning and equally pray she doesn’t lawyer up” he answered, breaking my worn out spirit.
“However we are still matching the DNA stuff we got from the scene and your husband’s b©dy. I believe something positive will come out of it, but my only problem is that my superiors are putting much weight and interest in this case. They are pushing for closure and speedy trial which really will put you up as the scapegoat, if you are to be dragged to court without me finishing my investigations. You really nee-d to pray my dear. You know how bad our Judicial system can be, moreover the Americans wants you to hang” he concluded, while my heart froze.
I instantly fell, coll@psing on the floor within seconds…. I fainted.
MY WEDDING NIGHT
EPISODE 9
I soon regained myself to see two female police
officers and Nancy by my side. Detective
Jeremiah stood a distance away, watching me
with great interest.
“Hope you have eaten today?” one of the female
officers asked me.
“Yea” i nodded, breathing heavily.
“You have to get a grip of yourself if you ever
want to win this case. You got to be strong.
Esther ha-rd ey will be here in few minutes for
questioning” the Detective said to me.
“plea-se i want to be pres£nt when she’s being
questioned. I want to see her face” i begged
weakly.
“No i can’t do that, i have alre-ady broken a lot of
protocols for you” he answered quic-kly.
“I beg of you. Remember we are talking about
my husband’s murder. Help a widow” i pushed
pas-sionately. He breathed de-eply and shrugged.
“I hope i don’t get fired for all i’m doing for you.
Well you have to freshen up first, secondly you
must promise not to say a word to the lady when
you meet her” he said seriously.
“Oh yes, i promise not to say a word” i answered,
while he smiled and left.
“The detective is a wonderful man. He will help
you out” the second female cop said to me,
nodding with a smile.
_______
After freshening up in one of the bathrooms, i
was led to the detective’s office, where i sat and
waited for the so called Esther ha-rd ey to show
up.
She showed up precisely ten minutes later with
the same annoying white lawyer who threatened
my brother. They all stared at me with surprise
as they walked into the detective’s office.
“What is this murderer doing here?” the lawyer
asked with anger. Detective Jeremiah smiled and
shook his head.
“As a lawyer, you should know that no suspect is
guilty until a court of law gives verdict. She’s a
suspect just like the lady that brou-ght you along”
he answered the Lawyer who bit hisl-ips angrily.
“I’m taking none of this $h!t any longer. If you
can’t do your job, better resign. My clients are
tired of being detained in this country for no
justifiable reason. They all want to go home and
I give you two days to make it happen, else the
fury of the American government will be on the
whole Nigerian police f0rç£. You can’t just keep
everyone hostage” he threatened.
“Oh i see you are repres£nting all the Americans
involved in this case, but i feel that will change
soon” the detective added quietly.
“What if i tell you, i have enough evidence to
throw one of your clients in the cell right now?”
he pushed on.
“Esther ha-rd ey, she was at the house when the
crime was committed. She was Damian’s
fiancee, am i wrong?” he asked the lawyer who
kept quiet.
“Esther had the motive and mindset to commit
such murder and according to test results we
have so far, she was physically pres£nt in one of
the crime scenes which invariably places her in a
bad position. I pin the murder charge on her.
Phewwww case closed. I get promoted” The
detective concluded with a smile, while the
lawyer instantly grew tense and stared at Esther
with a coloured face.
Of course the detective had nothing strong to pin
down the lady, but as a good officer he pu-ll-ed a
fast one on the white lawyer who for the first
time looked beaten. It was time to prove how
good a lawyer he was….
I prayed silently. I prayed for the detective’s
stunt to work.
“Your client should use this opportunity to come
out clean or Damian’s mother won’t like what i
plan telling her” the detective pushed on, while
Esther coloured up. It was obvious she was
hiding something
“oh Lord, make her to confess” I prayed
MY WEDDING NIGHT
EPISODE 10
Esther tried opening her mouth to say something,
but the lawyer quic-kly held her hand, st©pping
her.
“Don’t say anything. The officer is bluffing. He’s
trying to make you say something that could
incriminate you” he said to her before facing
detective Jeremiah.
“If you really have the evidence to arrest my
client, then go ahead, arrest her. But if you don’t,
then shut the fv¢k up and do your goddamn
work. Mind you, time is running out and you have
only two days. The next time you will see me will
be in court” he threatened, shocking the
detective with his words.
Of course not only the detective was shocked, I
equally was very shocked because Esther was
probably seconds away from confessing or
ma-king an unguided comment before the lawyer
recovered himself and st©pped her.
“Two days officer. You have just two days, else I
will tear you ap@rt in court” the lawyer
threatened and dragged Esther out of the office.
“We were just close to ma-king a breakthrou-gh
damn” the detective hissed with despair after
they left.
“So what next?” I asked with fear. He breathed
de-eply, opened the case file on his table, went
throu-gh it and shook his head.
“things are slowly adding up in your favour but
we don’t have time on our side. We surely nee-d
a miracle” he replied, looked up at me and smiled
to make me feel relaxed but I surely wasn’t.
“Remember we talked about the possibility of
your husband going out to the garden the night
he was killed to either smoke or see someone?”
he said while i nodded.
“According to the report in this file, there wasn’t
any cigarette stick, ashes nor even anything
similar found at the garden which then leaves us
with one theory. He went out there to see
someone, probably Esther, before a stronger
person gr@bb£d him from behind and stabbe-d
him” he concluded.
“How then do we find the mystery man that
struck the fatal b!ow which killed my husband?” I
asked desperately. The detective shrugged.
“That’s what i’m saying, we nee-d more time, as it
stands, Esther alone probably holds all the
answers but we can’t t©uçh her” he replied with
resignation.
Tears instantly dropped from my
eyes.
The police had every reason to detain Esther but
couldn’t because she was a foreigner. Instead I
was the person being detained without due
process. How bad can things get??
“I know you are helping me officer but you got to
do more, you have to try every necessary means
to free me. plea-se i beg of you” I cried, kneeling
before Detective Jeremiah who quic-kly looked
away with embarras-sment”
“plea-se madam stand up, don’t kneel for me, I’m
not God” he begged but I still knelt, shedding
more tears. A junior officer c@m£ into the
detective’s office that moment bearing a file.
“Here are the rest of the results sir” he said to
the detective who quic-kly snatched the file from
him while I looked on hopefully.
“You can leave now” he dismissed the officer
before going throu-gh the file.
“Nothing new jeez, this case is really something
else” he said to himself as he went throu-gh the
file while I swallowed ha-rd , confused on what
next to do.
“Does it mean i’m going to hang for a crime i
didn’t commit?. Can’t you run more tests” I
asked curiously.
“My dear our police dep@rtment is one of the
best in Africa. I have conducted all the
necessary tests including f!ngerprint and DNA
matching. The people that killed your husband
had it well planned out and left no trace of
anything. The only clear prints found on your
husband’s b©dy belongs to you, the rest are
blurred. The murder weapon had only your
mother in law’s prints on it. So you see there is
nothing we can use from the test results, we
have nothing. The person that killed your
husband probably wore gloves, only if we can
get those gloves” he concluded, while i cried out
with the last strength in me.
“Hey shut up, you are in the police station, don’t
you know?” the detective frowned and stood up.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Question: What could be the way out of this dilemma now?