Chapter TWO

We both stood back and surveyed our handwork prudently few hours later inside my vast bedroom. A wide satisfactory grin finally appeared on my face, and I nodded at my accomplice who returned a sadistic grin with his eyes still admiring my large expensive bedroom and the king size bed that could take in five grown up people conveniently, but presently only accommodating a corpse. Crazy rich men and their crazy ideas, I thought silently.
While the man named Corner was use to different weird requests from various clients this one so far was the craziest and weirdest of them all. But who cares, he had told himself, as long as the pay was good and strangely I had told him that I needed the corpse just for a day, and for a hundred thousand naira he was ready to give out even the corpse of his father not just for a day but forever if the situation had warranted. I thought, stealing a glance at the greedy looking hospital morgue attendant who was still staring admiringly at the corpse on my family bed.
The whole crazy request had started last week when I walked up to him just when he was about to lock up the morgue for the night after admitting a new accident victim and had watched as he locked up the dead body inside one of the empty vaults in the stench filled morgue. He had stared surprisingly at my lone figure at first thinking I was a relative of the deceased. But I had smiled up to him and enquired if he was the morgue attendant.

“Yes - what do you want?” he demanded after staring suspiciously at me, and making sure I was not one of those lunatics he was used to seeing around or one of those organ dealers working for ritual merchants that sometimes try to break into the morgue for body parts without consulting him. Something he was always willing to do for them if they had the right money. But some of them were always so stupid and greedy to consult him first before attempting to steal a corpse from the partially secured mortuary, a job only few men like him have the nerve to do, and he has the guts and has been doing this job for almost six years, enduring all the daily scary happenings inside and around the morgue; creepy events that could send any sane man into insanity. He had told me after we got to know each other.

“I am happy to see you. I am here for a business discussion that could fetch you some good money.”

I told him and had gone ahead to explain why I was there and what I wanted. The man, whom everyone called Corner, had listened attentively to me with suspicion which increased further when I explained to him that I only needed a dead body for a day and gave him my description and also offered to pay one hundred thousand naira if he was ready to assist. Fifty thousand in cash as part payment and the other fifty thousand when the corpse is return safely to the morgue.

Corner, I noted was shock with disbelieve on the amount I was offering just to rent a dead body for one day, but when I counted out fifty thousand naira, in one thousand naira crispy notes and offered them to him as down payment, he hurriedly pushed the doubt out of his mind and snatched the irresistible notes quickly and pocketed the money without even bothering to count or look at the genuineness of the bank notes. Finally we agreed and he happily took me into the morgue to inspect the bodies and take a pick from the various abandoned and unclaimed corpses inside the stench filled morgue.

“I want a body that look like me in size and physique, ‘’

I specifically requested, and together we went through different bodies one after the other. I noticed I was initially scared, but later brazen up and continued with the inspection, and in the end accepted one of the fresh corpses; a middle-aged man who had died not quite long in his sleep and the family had deposited the body at the morgue while they go about organizing the usual expensive funeral that could take months. I promised coming back the next week for the body, and instructed him to keep the corpse fresh, assuring him that I only needed it for a day to complete a plan I had in mind. I refused to disclose my strange plan, but promised to tell him when I come for the body.

“Don’t worry; nothing will happen to the body. You will be around to see what I have in mind.”

I assured him, grinned up at his square face and then quietly fizzled away like a ghost, leaving him fifty thousand naira richer; it was a huge money he had never held in his life, this including the pay from all the illegal selling of body parts he had one way or the other been involved in, in the past.
Now at the moment, still inside my bedroom, Corner stared at me. I had still refused to tell him my real name, although, he now knew part of my plan. He nodded in agreement at my observation about the corpse on my bed and grinned sadistically at me his eyes still admiring the affluent quite room where both of us stood staring at the dead body; now perfectly dressed in a fake face that resembles me and decked in my favourite pyjamas.

“So this is it, I am going to drop you back at the hospital, just make sure you are around to monitor the corpse tomorrow.” I finally said and led him out of the room after making sure to switch off the lights. “My family should be back tomorrow, so the plan starts working tomorrow.” I continued as I led us down the rugged staircase and coming to pause before the main entrance to my expensive sitting room. I stared thoughtfully at Corner, and then frown.

“I must tell you that no one apart from both of us knows about this plan – so I assume you can keep it strictly in your mind. I demanded softly and then continued with a wry grin. ‘’ As you can see, I am a very rich influential man with lots of connection everywhere. So, if I hear it from a third party, I will not only deny it, but I will make sure you don’t enjoy the money and the rest of your days…” I told him, grinned, and then parted him on the shoulder before continuing in my low tone, “But – I assume you can be trusted, and I have my ways of rewarding trusted people, especially those who know how to guard their mouth. Hope you’re with me?”

“Yes – I keep to my words and hope you will keep to yours, especially about my balance?” Corner replied tartly, living beings no longer scares him, not after six years of scary nights as a guard in a morgue.

“No problem – your fifty thousand or more would be ready tomorrow,” With that, I led us outside into the large compound with various posh cars parked in a secluded carport. The house was large and far from the massive gate where Baba, my old security guard lies half awake in a guard room, and had not even noticed us when we had secretly carried the corpse into the house from my black Siena Bus.

We climbed into another of my posh car, a blue Range Rover jeep and drove to the gate as the sleepy looking old guard rushed out again and open the gate with a yawn. Corner glance at the dashboard and noticed the time was almost 2:13am, and he was suddenly eager to leave the affluent house and back to his post at the hospital. Although he was sure none of the other hospital staffs would dare towards his post at the morgue at this hour, but all the same other body thieves and ritualists might be lurking around and take advantage. He concluded as I address the guard.

“Baba – I won’t stay long, I just want to drop my friend at home and I will be back soon,” I lied to the sleepy looking guard who just yawn and nodded

“Okay – Chief ” He answered locking back the gate after us as we once again drove into the night with Corner sitting quietly in a thoughtful mood.

I returned home alone about an hour later, bade good night to my old guard, parked my car and then went into the large house. I tiptoed quietly out of the house one hour later, carrying with me a small travelling back containing all the important and necessary things I felt I needed and after assuring myself that the guard at the gate was fast asleep, I nodded with a grin. And moving quietly like a ghost I made my way to a secret door at the back yard. Then using a spare key in my hand, I unlocked the metal door quietly, sneaked out of the house and then vanished into the early morning leaving behind a strange corpse in my pyjamas with a perfect replica of my face inside my rich bedroom.