to junior staffs just to take her mind off all that happened to her in the last twenty four hours.
Her faked composure only lasted till the company's chairman came into her office to present a birthday gift to her.
"Hope you enjoyed yourself yesterday?" The man asked.
"Yes, I did" she tried to conceal the pain in her eyes as he reminded her of the worst day in her life.
"Was there a party?" The man continued, not realizing that she wasn't interested in the discussion.
"No" her voice sounded a little bit harsh this time.
"Alright, here's a little gift from the office to you, thanks for your service to us" he said and placed a wrapped box on the table.
"Thank you sir" she replied, managing to put on a smile.
"You're welcome Miss. Well, enjoy yourself. I'll leave you now" he stood up to take his leave
"Thank you sir" she said, standing up to shake his hands.
She heaved a sigh of relief as she watched him head for the door. He just opened the door when he remembered something. He paused and turned back.
"Ermm, Miss. I heard you stay together with Miss Amarachi, she needs to do something urgently this morning but she has not resumed yet and all efforts to reach her has been futile"
This was all that a was needed for her to t mad at the chairman.
"Don't ask me silly questions, I'm not Amarachi's keeper and I don't want to hear that name again" she suddenly stood up and blasted the Chairman.
The man was shocked beyond words, he closed the door slowly and stared at her in shock. Nobody in the history of the organization had ever spoken to him like that.
He moved closer to Ini who was standing as if she was ready to fight someone, he wanted to speak but a look at her face made him change his mind. He turned back and walked slowly outside.
++++++++++++++++++++++
"Okay sir, I'll be there soon" Bola ended the surprise call from her father, he demanded to see her immediately concerning her marriage plans.
Immediately she dropped the call, her phone rang again.
"Bola, are you home?" Sandra's voice came through, sounding distressed.
"Yes, but I'll leave home soon. My Dad just called me to come meet him"
"Please wait for me, I'll meet you at home"
"By this time?", Bola questioned, checking the time on her wristwatch. "It's just 11am, you want to leave work"
"Yes, it's important. Please wait"
"No, I can't wait. My Dad is waiting for me. I won't stay long, maybe you should wait for me at home. I won't lock the door"
"Okay, please don't stay long".
"Alright" Bola ended the call, surprised at the emergency tone in Sandra's voice.
She picked up her car keys and left the house. She was eager to return quickly and discover the reason for the urgent tone behind Sandra's voice.
**
It didn't take long before she got to her Dad's house, that was due to the traffic free road. She called Frank's phone as she drove into the compound, the call was answered but the bad signal didn't allow her pass her message not hear from the other side.
"Good morning Dad" she greeted and placed a kiss on his left cheek
"Good morning dear, how have you been?"
"Fine sir, I was surprised when I got your call this morning"
"Yes my dear, I've been waiting for you to tell me your plans since your wedding is not holding anymore"
"Not holding anymore? Off course it's holding, I'm getting married to Frank"
"What Frank?"
"The same Frank Dad, the one that runs a salon"
"The same that came here to tell me your wedding wasn't holding anymore?"
"What?? He can't do that"
"What can't he do? He came here on Saturday to see me. Hasn't he discussed with you already?" The man asked
"No Dad, he can't do that" She stood up and started pacing the floor.
"Come on, sit down" he commanded. "He was here on Saturday afternoon, he said he couldn't get married to you because he doesn't love you. Why were you forcing yourself on him before?"
"No Dad. Nooo, it's not possible. I'm getting married to Frank"
"Hahahaha" he gave a short wicked laugh.
"Dad, don't try to stop us, he loves me and we will get married to each other
"You can't get married to that riff raff. That day he came here, I was mad at him but I promised not to kill him here and I fulfilled my promise. Now, you need to listen and do whatever I say now"
"Ahh! Dad, you wanted to kill him?"
"Shut up and listen to me" he shouted at her. "I've made your traveling arrangement already, you'll join your mum soon in the United States. Get prepared, you'll leave before the end of this week"
"No Dad, I'm not going anywhere" she argued
"You don't have a choice girl" he concluded and left the living room immediately.
Bode couldn't stop tears from rolling down his face profusely, he cried like a baby. He was unable to bring himself to believe that Frank was gone forever.
He had hurriedly followed the police to the salon after they had arrested Kelvin the day before. He was impatient as they drove in the police car to the scene. He didn't still believe the news until he got to the salon and saw his friend laying lifelessly on the floor in blood.
He couldn't take it, he screamed like a terrified child, he wanted to rush to the body but was held by the policemen around. They couldn't console him and had to lead him away from the scene as he couldn't keep calm watching them scrutinize the body of his dear friend.
He wondered why someone had just decided to put Frank's family in grief. He couldn't imagine how Frank's parent will take the news when it is broken to them. They will probably give up the ghosts too because he was their only son and their only source of survival. He stood up and paced the living room solemnly.
"Was Kelvin Frank's murderer? Could he have killed Frank during the fight?", several thoughts raced through his mind. He knew Frank was stubborn and wouldn't have listened to Kelvin. Maybe it was during the fight that Kelvin had mistakenly struck him dead.
Bode was still lost in thoughts when a knock sounded at the door. He walked slowly to the door and peeped through the hole. There was a uniformed police officer and a Lady in casual clothes with him. He opened the door and allowed them in.
"Good afternoon Mr Bode" the Lady greeted as she walked in with her colleague.
"Good afternoon"
"I'm inspector Helen, inspector in charge of the murder case of Mr Frank"
"Okay, you're welcome"he said and ushered them to the seats.
"First, I must really say I'm sorry for the loss of your friend. We are working on the case and we promise you that soon, the murderer would be brought to justice"
"Thank you" he said almost silently, tears forming in his eyes again.
"Okay, we've come to ask you some questions and we'll appreciate if you cooperate with us so that the investigations can go on smoothly"
"Okay, you can go ahead and ask your questions"
"Thank you" she cleared her throat and continued. "For how long have you been staying in this apartment with the deceased?"
"I've been here with Frank and Kelvin since we finished serving. That's about three years ago"
"Okay. That means you know his friends and enemies?"
"Yes, we barely hide things from each other"
"Alright, so when did the enmity between the deceased and Kelvin start?"
"They were never enemies, they started quarreling often since we met Amarachi and Ini"
"Who's this Ini and Amarachi?"
"Ini is Kelvin's girlfriend while Amarachi is her Friend whom Frank is in love with"
"So, what do you think would have caused Kelvin and Franks clash recently?"
"Frank caught Kelvin on bed with Amarachi whom he is in love with"
"Okay, so you think Kelvin killed him to have this Amarachi?"
"No, Kelvin cannot kill anyone talk more of his friend" Bode argued. "See, we all quarrel a lot but we don't hate each other"
"So what else do you think Kelvin killed Frank for?"
"Kelvin did not kill Frank. He cannot" Frank replied, this time raising his voice in anger.
"But Kelvin's wallet was found at the scene"
"They had a fight yesterday but Kelvin could not have killed him"
"Were you at the scene at the time they fought?"
"No"
"So don't you think the fight went rough and Kelvin..."
"Noooo" Bode slammed his hand on the intended table. "No"
"Alright Mr Bode. I think you are emotionally unstable now. We'll have to come back for this questioning"
"Yes, please"
"But before we go, we'll need to search this house for any evidence"
"You can go ahead and search"
"Okay"
Bode watched as they searched the living room, they couldn't find anything. They proceeded to the bedrooms and entered each bedroom, one after the other. Kelvin's bedroom was the last they searched. After almost one hour of searching, the junior inspector spoke up.
"I've found something here ma"
"What's that?" Inspector Helen asked
"It's a shirt stained with blood"
"Oh, good. That's an exhibit"
TBC.
