A Rust on the Box

PRESENT DAY

  Panic hit me! I've waited for this moment for 9months, and now it is here, but I'm at a loss as to what to do. I grab my keys and head to the car, open the back door so they can carry her in.

I arrive at the hospital, i can hear her crying, holding my hands asking me to be there for her. Of course I've been with you all these 9months, washing, bathing cooking and doing all possible chores, treating you like the queen you are. I admit I’m the one who has put you in this condition.

She has been taken into the delivery room, I begin pacing up and down the waiting room, and I know it’s of no use, but what do I care? No joke would be funny to me, i think of possible people I'd need to inform, but i decide against that, they are not doctors so they won't be of use right now.

What's happening in there, the doctors should have come out by now, how long has it been, I check my watch it says 15 minutes have passed, I think my watch must have stopped because it feels like 2 hours have passed.

The doctors comes out the delivery room with a smile on his face, I knew she had delivered and it was successful, I began blushing from end-end I’ve become a father. What a proud moment for me, i pray in my heart that it should be a girl. When the doctor broke the news to me, it wasn’t a girl, my prayers were not answered, it was a Boy. I was happy all the same, i wasn’t allowed to go in just yet to see my wife, some cleaning need to be done.

I began calling family members and friends to inform them about the good news. After several calls I checked my time and saw that its been over an hour since the delivery had taken place, my folks already confirmed they were on their way. I saw the doctors and nurses pacing up and down, I began wondering what’s going on? why the sudden panic amongst them? I kept hearing the doctor instructing the nurse to check the different wards, they needed to do a roll call and make sure everyone is intact, the doctor came up to me with some bad news,

 ‘YOUR BABY HAS GONE MISSING’ the word sounded like a loud alarm, 

I went ballistic, said that can’t be possible, how could such a thing happen? I immediately ran to a near-by police station to report the case.

The officer walked in, he asked that i write a statement, like I could do anything, my entire body had gone limp, my wife had not been informed yet, she was put on bed rest and induced sleep. Our first child, our son is missing. I did not even get to see him, to hold him, what monster could have done this? What did the child ever do to anyone? The officer is asking the doctors and nurses who handled the delivery to come over to the station and write a statement, instead of him to arrest all of them in the hospital. In the midst of this chaos, my parents came in with smiles on their faces expecting to see their 1st grand child, hard it was for me to break the news to them, with tears in my eyes I informed them that someone stole that away from us, my mom went hysterical, she wanted to kill the doctors, my dad was asking for security footage of the hospital if they had CCTV cameras. All that was running through my mind was I have been lied to, monsters really do exist..

 The search continued, no woman who had taken delivery had gone missing and their babies too. So how did this happen what went wrong, a search and interrogation of the nurses began, that was when they noticed that one of the nurses who joined them in the delivery wasn't a staff of the hospital.

The chief medical director was arrested for further questioning, what do I do next? Where does my search start from? I saw the roof above me spinning, and I was out....

  ******************************************************************************

YEARS BACK

'"Are you sure you are not hungry?" This was the 4th time in the last 30 minutes that she had asked. "Tesefe or whatever your name is, I am not hungry, when I am I'll go to the kitchen". I know I snapped but she was getting on my nerves, this new addition to the family, my dad said it was his way of bringing up the youths of this country but I don't see what difference he could make by sending just one person to school. Oh well I had better go apologise to her, I hate hurting women. As I entered the kitchen to say I'm sorry I notice that she's bent over writing a note, probably an assignment from her school, she was in her 1^st year at a federal university. I don't want to disturb her but I can't help but notice her figure, she's smallish with Moderately big C-Cups and a nice round but firm butt, from all the squatting to grind pepper in the village, the only thing is her arms are quite long but I don't seem to mind, infact I think it gives her a sort of graceful fineness. I'm staring from her legs up to her face when our eyes meet. For a second I couldn't breathe, her eyes are like a black river, I have to swim to shore before I drown in their depths so I break the gaze and look at the wall tiles instead, "Are you hungry now?" She asks. No I'm not, I just wanted to say I'm sorry for snapping earlier, I shouldn't have", "Oh no problem, you did not offend me at all" she replied "why are you so concerned about me eating now?" I ask "nothing oh, I just want to wait till you are eating so we can eat together, after all you are the boss around here, Master Bruce" The laughter erupted from my belly, I liked her immediately.

As I dished the steaming rice and okro for myself I asked, "So what is your name again?”She replied "why ask if you will just forget?" "I don't think anything you say to me from today will ever be forgotten" I replied. "My name is Tesefe" she said with a shy grin.

 Things changed for me eventually, one day My friends, Nihil a sad Buddhist that was my neighbour and Erat my course mate from my university days came over to my place for a Call of Duty marathon. Whenever Tesefe passed by, I seemed to go on a long kill streak, finished a round at 75 kills to 10. When she wasn’t present I lost my form. Erat then said out of nowhere, "Are you given her the good D, because I think she was checking me out?" Nihil laughed, "Checking you out, forget it man, she was giving Me the 'I-want-to-fuck-you-because-you-are-a-hotcake-eyes' but I'm a monk so I didn't give her the answer she wants". "Shut up!!!" I didn't know why their words made me so angry, I just knew I had to keep her away from these monsters, especially Erat, in school they said he was using jazz because no sane girl would fuck a Yoruba jagaban like him, known for breaking hearts."Ahh, my guy done fall in love" Erat screamed.

Slowly I began making efforts to get her attention, I wanted more, and this was not the usual housemaid oga of the house relationship, and we treated her like she was a member of the family, had her own room equipped to her comfort and taste. My mum calls her the daughter she never had, but she fondly called me ‘Master Bruce’, ever since she saw Batman she won’t stop. I couldn’t think of a better way to express my feelings and letting her know other than writing a short note to her, I'm not the most expressive guy but that did not stop me. 

                                                                                   

‘I was a lifeless planet,

Wandering through the dark,

And like a broken arrow,        

Could never hit the mark.

Until I chanced upon your fire,

And was captured by its might,

And although I may still wander,

You are never out of sight.

This you need not ponder,

For as I turn upon my pole,

I know my other side,

Is heated by your soul.

 I eventually sent it to her but I didn't write my name. I slid it under her door and I'm sure she read it and she must have suspected me because she changed her attitude towards me, it was like she was avoiding me.

 I got back from nysc camp, i had been away for 3 weeks. I was eager to see Tesefe, i got home, and it wasn't Tesefe who served me food and took my bags in. I had to do that myself. somehow i found myself fighting the urge to go to her room and check on her but i had to resist the urge. I just had to sound as casual as possible when asking about her, she's fine was the information i got.

 I started making conscious effort to come across her, only once was i able to get a glimpse of her, she was cooking with my mum in the kitchen, i smiled in her direction, but she turned her face the other way. The next morning i tried to sneak to her room before everyone gets up. I got to her door, it was locked i tried knocking gently but no response. I went back to my room, scribble down some more words, ran and slid it under her door.

 I’m thinking about you like

A thinks about being with C

And B thinks about seeing D

And E effing G

And H eyeing J

Like rain clouds think about pouring

Like thugs think about grass

And when I think about you the world makes cents

I noticed things had changed, all this notes and not a single response from her, instead shes keeping her distance. I felt maybe she needed time, even when my friends came around they noticed the change in her attitude.
 We were the only ones at home, I did not see her coming but we bumped into each other, first instinct was to keep moving and ignore her, I lost control of my six senses. I did not know when I grabbed her and began kissing her I searched her mouth with my tongue, slowly and thoroughly and she tasted fucking amazing, my skin got tight it was so hard I ached with it, she pushed me away and exclaimed “master Bruce what are you doing?” she immediately slipped from my arms and ran off to her room shutting the door behind her, I wanted to chase after her, but I could hear my parents driving in, I left and went back into my room.

In the coming weeks things did not seem to improving between us, oh how I craved for a kiss from her, her kisses shatter me completely making me feel raw and exposed leaving me vulnerable, but she avoided us being home alone. I had begun working at a my place of primary assignment, the little bucks I got on me, I went and got a rose and a card, dropped it in her room, this time I put my name on the card, I woke up the next day, I found the same rose and card by my bedside.

Things got so bad I found myself volunteering and eager to do domestic assignments she was assigned to do, I had to put myself in check from time to time.

I was exhausted from trying, I had given up on the outside, but on the inside, I was in search of a chance an opportunity something extra that I can do..

  Tweet to @Ned_Cruz

Bloody Matrimony

Monday 5th March 2012  

Esera

  I won’t be expecting my husband back, till about 4:00pm today. I wonder how he made it to work, last night we had a really good time. So good I called in sick at work, because I know my energy level is very low. Its 12:35pm already, I have been in bed all day, grudgingly i get up from the bed. I wearily move my feet and find myself in the kitchen, i don’t think it would hurt to prepare a nice meal for the husband; as a reward for a job well done. I open the freezer, everything is frozen from the beef to the tomato I barely blended. I’d need to also get spices, but first i need the ice pick to get these things out. What could that be?! where did that noise come from? I hold the ice pick more firmly with my two hands, i'm not going to be an easy prey for anybody. I check around the house; nothing. After the scare; i get busy in the kitchen.

Detective Cruz

  Its 3:20pm Monday afternoon. I am still at work, my buddy Frost won’t shut up and he keeps telling me all about his weekend. I don’t know how to tell him I need to leave. Suddenly he checks his watch and its 3:30pm already.
"wow!" he interjects.
 Then it dawns on him, that it’s time for us to leave work; we grab our jackets and head to the his car. While we drove home he kept on bringing up one topic after another. I was drifting away in my thoughts, before I heard a bang at the back of the car. We both step out of the vehicle to check the extent of the damage, apparently some random bus driver used our car to bring his bus to a halt. i gave out a rather quiet sigh! I'm having a rather long day, this is the least of my worries, the damage isn’t too serious. Frost is already tongue lashing the driver, his about to pull out his ID, before I ask him to calm down, that we let the man go. Frost drops me off at my place, all I need right now would be to shower and sleep. I may stroll to a bar nearby later on. i drop dead like a log of wood on my bed exhausted.

Esera

  3:35pm I am back home, my husband is around, why so early? I can see his car parked, I get to the door it is locked, I knock repeatedly no response, I get out my copy of the house key open the lock and rush inside.  

“WHAT?! Onel!!”

 I keep calling, but no response, he lays right there on the floor stiff like a log of wood covered in a pool of blood, he was stabbed several times in the neck and the abdominal region. I am confused what do I do? What could have happened? I look around for clues, I notice that his ring finger has been chopped off with the ring on it because he never took it off. We have been married for barely two months, we had our initials engraved on our wedding rings, and his own had my initials E.E, while mine has is O.E.  Where is Captain Fluff? Yes silly, I know, but i call my husband's driver ‘Captain Fluff’. I get my phone out, with my fingers shaking and tears rolling down my eyes I dial the emergency number and request urgent medical attention. I can’t believe my eyes.

“Onel” you can’t do this to me! You can’t leave me! No! No! No! I won’t be a widow. This can’t be happening it must be a dream, Onel can’t be gone, my hands are shaking and covered with blood, Onel's blood as i dial 911, i can barely recognize my own voice

"Hello, i need an ambulance"

 ..still in tears, a few minutes later, i can hear approaching sirens blaring, the medical team must be getting close, i'm sure they would be coming around with the police.

Detective Cruz

    4:16pm, my phone is ringing, sigh! It’s the head of homicide division, my boss Mr Nhill. What could it be? Just when I get home and let go of all the Monday stress, he has brought stress back and is sending me to a crime scene. Grudgingly, I grab my police jacket, get my notepad and things I’d probably need, put a call through to my partner Frost, he picks on third ring, i can hear a female voice in the background, it sounds like queent the new rookie in the office, i tell him details of our assignment and hang up. bloody savage! i get a cab and zoom I’m on my way.

   4:35pm I arrive the crime scene, it's a big house, but there seems to be no staff around, just a woman in tears wailing loudly, there is blood all over clothes but no injuries on her, she could possibly be the wife. How do I even ask a woman in obvious pain questions, in between sobs she keeps saying "Onel", i assume she is the victims wife and his name is Onel, i take a deep breath oh well, I can go ahead and do a survey of the area before I start asking any questions, I bring my notepad and pen out, the house is in perfect order, asides the pool of blood left by the deceased. I take a deep breath, as I approach the wailing lady she becomes erratic, screaming;

“I DID NOT KILL MY HUSBAND!”

 “Hi, I’m Detective Cruz and i never said you did; but I need to ask you a few questions”, I try to keep a sober face.

“I’m Esera, and he is my husband; his name is Onel” with tears flowing freely down her eyes, she must be in real pain, or its just pure drama.

I can barely hear what she is saying in the midst of the wailing and tears, but what I make of it is; she found him lying in a pool of his own blood when she got home and some other stuffs that she added, alright that should be enough, when she is in a better frame of mind I’d come back for more questioning, relatives have started arriving, the mourning is about to enter the next level, i do a quick inspection of the body, trying my best not to tamper with anything forensics haven't handled; hmm stab wounds everywhere. i see a bulge within the side pocket, what could be in it? oh it's an ice pick and a pocket knife, whoosh the ice pick has blood stain all over, but the pocket knife is clean, still inspecting and checking the body parts, oh his ring finger has been chopped off, I put the ice pick and pocket knife in my evidence bag to drop it at the forensics.  I give the go ahead they can now take the body to the Cabina hospital mortuary. Frost is just getting here, as I am about leaving, he has a satisfied grin on his face. we both head for the bar, and there I’d update him on all that has happened.

leaving the crime scene, my thoughts plagued with the intricacy of this case, there is something i must be missing, my mind is made up on cracking the case. I could still see Esera through the window, she was all sweat and tears as we drove away.   

 Wednesday 7Th March 2012

Detective Cruz

  8:00am Wednesday morning, as soon as I arrive at work, I head for Mr Nhil’s office to give him full account of the crime, having spent the whole of Tuesday writing the report and filing the case, plus submission of evidences, a man standing at over 6’4 inches tall, can be intimidating for the rest of the team in the homicide division, except for me and Frost.

   9:20am me and Frost drive to Cabina hospital to see Dr Hephi she is the chief medical director, hot female, I could see Frost checking her out, we ask her and the pathologist Dr Klaws to perform an autopsy on the body of Mr Onel, and submit the report when done, or keep us posted. The result should be out within a week or two.

   We on our way back to the office, I inform Frost of my suspicion of the young widow and on that note I put two undercover cops Karim and Niyi on her tail,  I can wait to prove my suspicion,
  

“Frost let’s go ask Esera some more questions”

 “Why don’t you let her be done mourning?”

  I ignore Frost’s advice and insist that we still go.  We arrive at Onel’s compound at about 11:00am, the place is crowded with sympathizers, we make our way through until we have eyes on Esera, I yell to her,

“Can we see you for a brief moment?”

  Esera

    Its 11:00am and I can see Detective Cruz and his partner approaching, I just wish these two men would leave me to get myself together before they begin to bug me with questions I don’t have answers to, I was thinking of sneaking into my room to avoid them, when Detective Cruz called for my attention.

   “Sorry for coming back so soon to disturb you” with a rather feigned sympathetic face.

The last two nights I have barely had any sleep, can’t believe my husband is gone just like that, my eyes are sore and swollen from all the tears;

  

 “It’s no problem, I’m here to help in any way I can” I say that with sarcasm, but obviously the detective is so unemotional, he won’t notice that.

  “Exactly what happened on Monday? In full details please”

 Slowly I begin to narrate, the events of the faithful day, my voice still shaking from the shock, I can see he is taking notes,

"I went to the market to get a few items, then also checked on the carpenter making a new furniture for us, his name is Ricky. I get back home, see my husband’s car parked, I’m surprised why he is home so early, so I assumed he was probably too tired and took the day off, I expected to see him and the driver inside the house…."

Then the detective cuts me short, he has drawn conclusions already i guess

  “This Ricky fellow, can you tell us exactly where we can find him? And where is your husband’s driver right now?”

I write down Ricky’s address and phone number and also that of Captain Fluff and hand it over to Detective Cruz

  “I have not heard from him or seen him, since yesterday, I tried to contact him but no response”, all these questions, I wish he would come back and ask at a better time.

  “That would be all for now, thanks for your cooperation”, 

i walk them out, he and his partner get into their patrol car, they pull out of the driveway and zoom off.

Detective Cruz

  As we zoom off from Onel's compound, I ponder on how we must find a way to locate ‘Captain Fluff’, could he have something to do with it? But first let me get to Ricky.

“Frost, we are making progress I believe” I said as he drove to the address Esera wrote down.

“No! Cruz I see no progress in what we have done so far, but the lady sounded innocent”

“Innocent until proven guilty” I reply with sarcasm.

We are arrive at the Carpentry workshop belonging to Ricky.

“You must be Ricky, I’m Detective Cruz”

 “Sir, I no do anything, I just dey try to survive”*in Nigerian Pidgin*

“Do you know Esera?”

“Yes! In fact she come my side on Monday, but no too tey before she commot, she bin dey rush” *Nigerian Pidgin*

“Ok, that should be enough for now, we may come back if we need anything”

 “Anytime, I dey” *Nigerian Pidgin*.

we have done enough inquiry into the Onel's murder case for today, about time we head back to the office. i get into the patrol vehicle, off we go.

Friday 9^th March 2012

Esera

 My in-laws are already talking about burial preparations, while there is an ongoing investigation, and my husband’s body is being used, so all burial plans has to be on hold I explain to them, my mother inlaw has begun to throw tantrums at me, every passing minute I spend with this lady makes the pain I feel worse. Somewhere in my head, I believe Detective Cruz is looking for what to hold on to, but I am confident he won’t find anything linking me to the murder.

My phone is ringing, who could it be? Ricky? He calls to inform me on Detective Cruz visit to his workshop, I knew the Detective would do that. what next? has Captain Fluff been seen already? how come he hasn't even tired to contact me.

Detective Cruz

  Word has been put out there on the street, that captain Fluff’s attention is needed by the police in connection with the death of Mr Onel, hopefully he turns up before we declare him most wanted.

There is a knock on my door, I don’t need any interruption now.

“Come in, how can I help you?”

“I have information on the whereabouts of Captain Fluff; but I am not snitching for free”

Erat the street thug, has always been useful to us in the police department giving us vital information, I consider him an undercover cop without a badge, that’s why we haven’t locked him up yet, and he keeps coming to ask for favor for favor.

“What do you want in exchange for the information?”

“My gran pa Ema OD, is locked up for possession of cannabis, you know what to do”

“Consider it done.”

Finally we have a lead on the whereabouts of captain Fluff.

I put together a patrol team, together we follow the lead, we arrive at a shabby looking ghetto, something like a small town, the kids and everyone disperse as we drive through, we have the warehouse in sight,

“HALT!” I order the drivers of the patrol vehicles to stop

“We are going to round them all up, every one of them, nobody escapes, beware of friendly fire”, at my command the teams disperse, we have the warehouse fully covered. We break the door to the warehouse down, what a surprise there is only one person in here, and I brought the full team here, just for one man! Sigh! Erat definitely gave us “lamba” i thought I’d meet a group of thugs and hooligans.

As I squat in front of him, he calls out.

 “I am not running from the police! My sister was sick and I was only taking care of her”

I look around the place, can’t see no sick sister lying anywhere around, such a wimp.

“Oh, so how did you hear about the death of your boss? And your sister, she fell sick the same time your boss died?”

“Yes sir... No sir!”

He has lost his coordination, and was finding it difficult to make complete sentences.

I have had enough of the back and forth, time get to the actual matter at hand.  I have to find out why he ran and the last interaction or dealing he had with Mr Onel.

 Having asked all possible questions, apparently he was warned by his boss to stay off, until he heard from him, which he never will. Mr Onel had sent him to the bank to cash out a cheque and asked that he doesn’t return unless he hears from him, which implies Mr Onel drove himself home. Captain Fluff still has the cheque on him, clearly he could not cash the cheque, because he was not with his driver’s license, which was a perquisite to cash the cheque.

i guess i'd just take him to the station with us, to write down his official statement, we get him into the back of the van, no need for handcuffs, and drive with him to the station.

Tuesday 13th march 2012

Esera

 My phone won’t stop buzzing, right now I need peace and tranquility to mourn my husband. He did no wrong to anyone, who could be calling? Strange number, hmm I’m not the type to answer unknown numbers, but there is an itch to pick the call, I wait till the phone rings a second time then I pick and slowly I bring the phone close to my ear, to see if I’d recognize the voice,

“Hello”

“Hello, Esera”

A familiar voice, and he even calls my name with such familiarity,

“Who are you?”

 “OG”

 The words hit me like a knife, do I hang up? What does he want? No not now, he is going to rub it in my face. How come he has heard so soon?

“Sorry about the death of your husband, but he wasn’t the right man for you”

“Who made you a judge of what’s wrong or right? Please if that’s why you called, goodbye!”

CALL ENDED! I’m mourning and you are telling me what? So you happy he is gone? Argh! Such guts! after hanging up, i try to take a nap, now that i can.

Detective Cruz

  After the interrogation of Captain Fluff forensics have just gotten back to me with their report, alas, progress they just confirmed that the finger print on the ice pick matched that of Mr Onel, I spin on my chair, I need to contact Dr Hephi and hear what she has for me, I inform Frost and he grabs his keys and off we go to the hospital.

  If only Frost can put himself in check and stop starring at Dr Hephi’s cleavage, oh well his lust, his business.

  “Doctor, what do you have for me?”

  “Hi, Detective”

   “Can we skip the pleasantries?”

  She smiles in Frost’s direction before turning back to reply me.

   “Yes Sir, so from the autopsy done, I can confirm that there is nothing more to it, he died from the stab wounds, and the stab wounds damaged his wind pipe in the neck area, and also did damage to his pancreas and many other organs around the torso region.”

  “Thank you, I guess that would be all, I’d be taking the autopsy report with me”. I see Frost is still lost and not ready to leave yet, I have to tap him on the head for us to leave.

Friday, 16^th March 2012

Esera

   We are gathered for the funeral service of my late husband, seated among the crowd is no else but OG, well dressed for a funeral he wasn’t invited, tailored suit and bow tie, I feel like asking the guards to walk him out. He should not come an inch close to me, because I’d embarrass him.

Watching as they lay my husband’s body into the ground, to return to the dust from which it came from.

 “Esera”

A voice from behind me, I turnaround to see who it is,

 “Oh detective”

 “Sorry once again about your loss, I’d like to discuss with you at a later time” 

 “Thank you, I could come around two days from now”

 “Great, see you around”....

   ......................to be continued