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Lilian’s husband

He had a meeting in 5 minutes at his office and couldn’t believe he was still at home. He had searched the entire house for his car keys and couldn’t find them. Of course, he probably lost them somewhere in the house since he had come home quite late yesterday night only to find his wife, Lilian crying and tearing up the throw pillows in the sitting room.

Since Joy’s death almost five days ago and the subsequent arrest of Tunmise Haastrup for the murder of his wife, father and 3 of the four men that worked in his father’s office, Lilian seemed to have lost it. He felt terrible, knowing how close Lilian had been to Joy and how much she had leaned on her. All through the time he had known them, Lilian had done everything exactly how Joy had done it, work, boyfriends and marriage, everything except childbearing.

He didn’t bother calling her from the bed he had finally coerced her into around 3am because he didn’t want her awake and crying again. He would talk to her father, his boss when he got to the office today, hopefully they would get her a grief counselor. He felt sad and guilty at Joy’s death but he genuinely loved his wife and would make sure she got over her best friend’s death.

Having made up his mind, he renewed the search for his car keys and when he couldn’t find it two minutes later, he took his wife’s car keys which were on the dining table on his way out. He planned to return the car before she woke up as she was very touchy about her baby. He quickly dashed into the beautiful, clean Mercedes Benz and drove to his office at Apapa for the meeting.

His father in law, a wealthy man had a son and 3 daughters of which Lilian was the second and he cherished and spoilt all his girls. As a result of this, his first daughter, Nnamaka found it extremely hard to keep a husband and had been married twice already, the youngest, Ndidi, at 30 was still unmarried and didn’t seem to be bothered, she was a very ambitious and career minded banker. Lilian Nneka, his wife was the calmest and nicest of the three although she had also had her wild days when she was younger, she was very settled now.

As the only consistent son in law he had, Chief Azubuike relied heavily on him and trusted him with everything relating to his importing and exporting business. He was touted amongst the staff to be the heir apparent as Chief’s only son was a rude, uncouth and spoilt child. Of course, that was the job of their mother who had left her husband to spoil her daughters while she concentrated exclusively on pampering her baby, as she called Nnemeka.

Consequently, Nnemeka was a useless ball of fluff that spent his time womanizing and spending money carelessly. This was a great disappointment to his father who didn’t intend to allow any of his daughters inherit his company. Hence, he being the more ambitious and smart son representative was the perfect choice and he didn’t intend for anything to ruin that.

After his meeting with the board, he returned to find his phone full of missed calls from his wife, he got scared something bad had happened and quickly dialed her, she picked up at the first ring,

“Hey dear, what’s up?” He asked.

“Where are you?” She shouted, he could tell she was very angry and was pacing “Where’s my car?” She asked enraged.

“Lily, calm down, I just borrowed it to……. “ he started, trying to explain

“Don’t you dare start, you bastard, bring my car back now!” she shouted back. “I repeat now! Or you’ll regret your entire existence!” She cut the call and he stood there staring, shocked. In all their years of marriage, she had never spoken to him like that.

He looked around, unseeing and walked out of the office to the car park before realizing he wasn’t with the key and returned to get it from his office. He was just making his way towards the estate where they lived when she called him again, he figured she was calling to apologize and picked up. He was wrong.

“You bastard, you wretched ingrate!” she screamed across the phone, shouting a hundred other insults to him and his mother and lineage. He was so shocked at this, he dropped his phone on the floor of the car, he looked out the window to see her driving out of the estate in her second car, a white Toyota sequoia, he bent to pick his phone under his feet when his hands connected with something sharp.

He entered the estate and parked the car quickly and pulled out what his fingers had connected with. It was a black polythene bag, he opened it and brought out a knife that looked vaguely familiar wrapped in brown paper with traces of blood on it, inside was also a wallet, he opened it and pulled out an Id card, a voter’s card, a wad of 500 naira notes, a few passport photographs and 3 ATM cards, all belonging to Joy Haastrup. For a minute, he wondered what they were doing under the driver’s seat of his wife’s car. Then it clicked.

"O, my God, oh, God, Lilian, why, why?" He asked no one in particular, anguished. He sat in the car for a few minutes undecided as to what to do. Should he call Lilian and tell her he knew? Should he call the police? What if it was all a terrible misunderstanding? He called Lilian, who was still raving and told her to meet him at home.

Ten minutes later, he heard her drive in from the dining area where he was. She entered the house, looking very angry, about to blast him when she saw everything he had laid out on the dining table, everything she had hidden under the seat in her car. The very same things that had been giving her sleepless nights and were nearly turning her stark raving mad. She suddenly felt very tired and couldn’t even cry.

She just quietly pulled up a chair on the table and sat down, unnerving her husband even more. In a weird way, she was relieved he had found out.

“I see you found my stuff,” she commented, smiling.

“Erm……yes…… I did, I lost my phone…….. I kind of….. I” he started explaining

“It’s okay Richard, its fine, really.” She said quietly, looking composed.

“Why?” he asked, “you loved Joy, why did you do this?” He asked, wanting to understand.

“I found out about your affair”

“I? What?..... No, I, see, wait……”

“Richard, forget lying to me now. You were worried weeks ago, scared, I knew something was wrong so I started going through your phone. Then I saw that message that said if you don’t give me the money, I will tell your wife about us, i didn’t recognize the number at first but I was determined that no bitch would blackmail my husband, I was determined to stand with you no matter what, I was soooo stupid,” she said mockingly.

“That night when you left the house looking worried, I decided it was time, I picked a knife intending to threaten whoever that girl was and followed you. I nearly turned back several times, the journey was so far at that time of the night and you were speeding, you know how much I hate speeding, right?” She asked, laughing.

“I had given up, when you got to Ikeja, I gave up, you know, then I saw Joy’s car with that sticker, baby on board at the back and the plate number and I wondered what the chances were that all three of us will be on the same road at the same time of the night. I followed her intending to discuss you with her until I realized she was the one you were meeting.”

“I saw you guys enter the restaurant at Omole together and I spent the time in my car crying. You came out before her and I came out of the car intending to confront you but you didn’t even look up and you weren’t the issue anyway. You drove off and I waited until Joy came out and entered her car,i knocked her window ,she opened the door for me and I got in.”

“I asked her what she was doing with you and she just laughed and said her issues were more than my tantrums, she said I should get over my follow follow habit. Me oh, Joy told me that. I brought out my knife, then she got scared. I held the knife to her neck and threatened to kill her if she did not tell me what she was doing with you.” She laughed now, remembering.

“Of course she knew me and told me I didn’t have the guts to kill anything so I should take the knife away, I did, I put it back in my bag. She then told me that she was asking you for money to help her in case Tunmise threw her out since he had threatened to do so when he realized the children weren’t his, she told me, me oh that Toluwanimi was actually your child,” she was crying now, “she said you had an affair a couple of years ago and she bragged about how you couldn’t get enough of her, she called me a small fry, an idiot, me!”

She looked at her husband, “You know what? I love you, yet what you did doesn’t seem to even hurt me. If it were any random girl, I would have told her to leave us alone but it was joy. Joy was my friend, my partner, she led me into a life of runs and shame, she encouraged me to explore and took me to the hospitals where I contracted my abortions. Do you know I can’t have children?” She asked to her husband’s shock.

“Well, I can’t because my womb has been destroyed. Joy was helping me look for options, she held me when I was worried and encouraged me to keep trying and not to get tired and this same person slept with my husband, of all the men in the world, of all the men she had, she slept with my husband and had the guts to do the one thing I couldn’t do for him, give him a child.”

"Joy had always had her way with men, always and i didn't envy her that, in fact, i was proud to have such a beautiful friend. I never begrudged her all the rich men she had or the boyfriends she stole from me when we were younger. When she messed up with her sisters' men, guess who supported her? Me!! I was always there and she betrayed me, for what? You?

“I was livid, I brought out the knife and slashed her mercilessly, angrily and I made her look in my face as I did it and then I took savage pleasure in tearing up her face. Joy always prided herself in her beauty, that’s why she thought there were no boundaries, no man she couldn’t have, nothing she couldn’t touch, well she was wrong. I am not her sister or competitor, I helped her, loved her, supported her through everything, I took care of that baby and loved him like my own, I was her friend. Friends don’t do what she did, they don’t!” She finished vehemently.

“I realized what I had done and I figured they would arrest me the next day but I took her wallet anyway to make it look like a robbery, I entered my car, drove off, came home, I realized you weren’t home yet, I had my bath and spent the entire night not sleeping from the fear I felt. They never came to arrest me though, they didn’t know it was me and now that Tunmise has been arrested for killing his father, his wife and all those men in his father's office, they never will.”

When she finished, Richard just sat quietly in the chair, his head in his hands with his elbows on the table. "I’m sorry, I caused all this, it’s my fault" he said as he started crying. She stood up and came to hug him from behind.

“It’s okay, I’ll throw everything away, and Tunmise is going to jail anyway.” She kissed his forehead. “We are going to be fine, you’ll see.”

She packed everything away in the black polythene while her husband stared, frightened. Finally, she looked up after clearing the table, “Of course, you won’t go to the police, will you?”

He shook his head,” No…” he said quietly.

“Good, I’m so glad” she replied approvingly," We will get through this and be happy. We can even take Toluwanimi, i heard her sister is going to take the children, What do you think?

He just nodded.

“Don't worry,this will be our little secret.” She smiled




Maybe no one will ever know or maybe Morogga who didn’t die would figure it out, only time would tell.



The End

Hey guys, thank you so much for taking the time to read this story. More grace to your eyes.

I will finish the story today, if you dont mind, you can drop your corrections and criticisms. Thank you.

Morroga

He sat down in the large, air-conditioned space directly outside Chief’s office that was reserved for them alone. By them he was referring to himself, Prado, Hencho and Hazim. The guys were playing cards but he sat behind his desk incredibly worried about the entire issue of the Boss’ daughter- in- law. His findings suggested that the Boss’ son, Mr Tunmise most probably killed his wife but he couldn’t see any gain to the vicious murder for the guy, or was he missing something?

He watched Hazim, the handsome playboy, Hencho, the faithful dog, Prado, the big brute and he scratched his head again. Of all of them, he knew he was the smartest, hell, everyone knew that and the boss never hesitated to give him the most complex jobs. Not only because of his brains of course but also his looks. He looked so neat, tidy and non-threatening; hence he always got the job done as people usually didn’t suspect him.

He had a problem now and didn’t know who to tell. If he told Prado, who he was closest to, he would laugh out loud. If he told Hencho, the idiot will run to the boss. And Hazim was out, the fool couldn’t find his own shoes in the dark. So who would he discuss the possibility that the boss’ son murdered his wife with?

He just couldn’t piece it together, Tunmise had lots of reasons to kill his wife but he had no reason to do it before the elections. As far as the elections were concerned, without this messy case, he would have been a shoo-in for the position he sought as they had since helped him take care of his only real competition. Now, with suspicion strongly resting on him, he was going to have plenty of problems except if he could convince the electorate that he didn’t do it.

He couldn’t honestly say he liked Tunmise Haastrup as a person, the slowpoke had the depth of a puddle and was selfish, add that to the ridiculous pride he had and the fact that he relied on his father for everything, the result was an immature, incompetent buffoon. Yet, without the murder, people would probably have voted him based on the impressions they had about him, then again, people were very stupid.

He hadn’t foreseen this kind of life when he graduated from the University of Ilorin 5 years ago. There, he had only been an inconsequential member of a barely existent cult and hadn’t expected much out of it. However after searching for a job for over a year and with his depth and hunger piling, he had accepted the offer of Prado, his friend’s older brother to be the brains behind their robberies. He had felt he didn’t have a choice so he agreed; turned out he had a natural flair for it.

With his incredible thinking ability and smarts, he had been able to organize their team of seven to commit several high stakes robberies that went without hitches until they were caught two years ago and four of them killed. The boss had however gotten their portfolio from an high ranking police officer and offered to rescue Prado who was a known killer. It was Prado who helped him by encouraging Chief to secure his release.

He was so grateful, he had been willing to do anything. Well, it wasn’t long before he was organizing assassinations of opponents and enemies. In truth, he had never used a gun but he was such a vital part of the team that without him, the entire team would stumble. The boss valued him greatly and left him in the office behind a desk with his gadgets, Hencho served as personal security while Prado and Hazim did the brunt work. It was a comfortable arrangement. At least, it had been.

Now he was just tired but he didn’t know how to leave, he knew too much, had planned too much for the Boss or even the other guys to let him go so easily. He wanted to help Boss solve this case so his son could win so the guy would be in a good mood and he could tender his resignation.

So, back to the case, who wanted Joy dead? He had gone to the area where she had died and visited a few of the establishments there that ran between 11pm and 5am, only a few clubs and one 24 hrs. restaurant. There he had met a woman who recognized the picture he showed her and said she had come in with a man to eat at around 11:30. The woman had insisted the man wasn’t the one in the picture of Tunmise he had shown her, which didn’t surprise him as Tunmise had indeed been at the governors’ at that time.

But did Tunmise send someone else to do his work? He doubted that considering how much Tunmise relied on his father to do everything for him, mostly his dirty work, only to tout himself as a clean politician. So who was that man? Maybe the biological father of her children. The case was driving him crazy.

He was rubbing his aching head when Tunmise came in and headed into his father’s office without greeting them or answering the greeting that Hencho and Hazim shouted to him, Prado just sat, holding his cards and smirking. Morogga figured the guy was either angry or scared. What a surprise, he thought sarcastically. Barely 3 minutes later, he heard shouts from the boss’ office but he didn’t stand up, the boss hated being interrupted when he was talking to his son.

“You bastard….. you were sleeping with my wife, weren’t you?” He heard Tunmise shout at his father and smiled to himself, Ode, everybody knew that.

“Mise, what are you doing? Are you drunk? Is it your father you are talking to like that? Over what? Joy”

“Just answer my question, you bastard! Why did you lie to me? Why did you not tell me the truth about my infertility?” Tunmise asked, very angry.

“Tunmise, se oki nse omo ale? Have I ever lied to you!”

“Shut up, you bastard, shut up! I went to the doctor and he told me everything, he told me how you told him about my inability to have a child, how you planned, connived with Joy, how……” Tunmise lost steam.“Dad, how could you.... how could you do this to your own son??”

“You don’t understand, I did for your good, I wanted you to have your own children.”

“They are not my children! They would never have been my children!! How could you be sleeping with my wife?!!” Tunmise got angry again.

Morogga looked up to see that the other guys were now paying attention to the shouting match going on inside.

“I met Joy before you did and yes, I had a relationship with her and I had been seeing her off and on for years. When I heard you were dating her, I was angry at first and I warned her to stay away from you but then I suddenly had a plan and it was a good plan, I pitched my idea to her and she accepted and……..”

“To sleep with you while married to me?” He cut in

“It’s not a big deal, Mise, the only area I was wrong was to not tell you about it but the truth was you would not have taken it well. You know that”

“No dad, I don’t know that, I would rather have known the truth and gone to adopt than have my father and wife lie to me!”

“Adoption? How disgusting, you would be raising a stranger’s children” Chief said, his voice mirroring the disgust he felt.

“Hahahahahaha!” Tunmise laughed, “what have I been doing for the past five years? Would it not have been better if I had adopted the children?”

“Don’t you understand? After your mother had you, she couldn’t have any more children and I wanted more children”

“Does that make sense to you? Why didn’t you just marry another wife?!!”

“Your mother would never have allowed it, do you want me to die?” When Tunmise only stared, he decided to educate him.

“We were very poor, you know, we could not even afford to have you in an hospital, we had you at one alagbo's place in Agege there. Our poverty was the reason why we didnt treat you properly when you had mumps as a child, we... i caused your infertility, i wanted to rectify it. We were advised by your mother's cousin to acquire ritual money" he sighed, remembering, "....and what was needed was a woman’s womb, your mother agreed to use her womb for the ritual, only on the condition that I never marry another woman or have children with another woman. I was just killing a bird with two stones. You would have had a wife and children that looked like you and I will have gotten more children and grandchildren.”

“It didn’t work, did it? She scammed you? Is that why you killed her?”

“I didn’t kill her, I don’t know who did!”

“You are lying, the doctor told me the truth, you want me to take the fall for this, well i won't!” Morogga heard Tunmise say with deadly intent, which was quickly followed by the sound of a gun being cocked.

Tunmise, what do you...? Drop it!

Suddenly, there was a shot. The guys flew up from their abandoned card game and rushed to get their guns but they weren’t quick enough.

Tunmise opened the door of his father’s office and started firing; he got Prado in the cheek, Hencho in his neck and Hazim in his forehead.

Morogga froze, he realized he hadn’t shot a person before and now when his life depended on it, his instincts failed him. His last thought as Tunmise shot him in the chest was “Damn, I should have resigned yesterday!”

Pst Okusanya

“Praise the lord!” He shouted into the mike that Sunday morning, the day following the reports of Joy’s death in the papers.

“Hallelujah!” his congregation responded joyously. In the past few weeks, they had witnessed the depressed mood of their pastor and were really encouraged by his shining happy face that morning.

“I want to thank God for his mercies towards me, my family, you and your family members,” he said grinning “God has been so good,” he continued as the congregation clapped.

“You might have noticed in the past few weeks that I have not been acting like myself, well it was because the devil wanted to take away my happiness,” he paused to allow his congregation their horrified looks and curses at the devil ….”But the only spirit has taken care of it. Praise the lord,” he shouted again.

“Halleluyah!!” they responded. Although pastor did not give the congregants details but they knew what the devil and his cohorts were capable of. Weren’t they the ones who caused all the problems in the world?

It was a very satisfied Pastor Okusanya who entered his office after service ended. All was well with the world again. Thank you Lord, he thought to himself, only to encounter his 19 years old son sitting in the visitor’s seat across his huge marble table.

“Denrele, what happened?”, he asked when he saw his son’s eyes, he hadn’t seen the boy in three days as he had organized a personal vigil for himself and at been in church praying for those days.

“I know daddy…. I know”, his son replied, his eyes red. “I heard your fake testimony on the altar…”

“What do you know?” He asked gently, coming closer so his son would reduce his voice.

“I know about Aunty Joy!!” the boy shouted anyway

Fear darkened Pastor’s eye, “What do you know?” he asked as sweat pooled under his 57,000 naira suit

“I know everything”, his son answered “you, you that you always preach to us about lusts of the flesh, about giving in to satan, so you slept with her?”

“No, no no, whatever you heard, walahi, I did not touch that girl!” he denied hotly.

“Stop lying jare! I saw your message, I saw that she was going to blackmail you, I read your email”

“Why did you read my mail?” He latched onto the one thing he could control.

“Don’t even try to change the subject or I will call Mummy, Teni and Juwon here, I used your mail to apply for that visa, I couldn’t access my own and I remembered I was the one who opened your own for you so I went to use it only for me to read her message.”

“Daddy…,” he cried, disillusioned by the father he had trusted his entire life “…… are you the father of her daughter? Was she telling the truth?”

“Yes…” Pastor Okusanya answered, looking at the ground, ashamed.

“Ha, daddy!” he shouted, tears streaming down his face, “Why?”

“It was the devil, I swear….”

“Stop swearing!” his son shouted angrily, very much the one in control.

“I couldn’t help myself……., she came to me for prayers so she could get pregnant and before I knew what was happening, we did it…..”

“Did what, where?”

“Here, in the office but just like 3 or four times, later she told me she was pregnant but when I insisted she abort it, she refused, said her husband had just bought her a house that I shouldn’t worry. I repented of my sin, Denrele……. I never touched her again, God has forgiven me, please understand. That girl is devilish, a couple of weeks ago, she started disturbing me that her husband was suspicious, that I must help her”
“I didn’t want to involve myself in it but then she started blackmailing me that I must pay 15 million naira or she will tell everybody, I didn’t want to lose everything I had worked hard for so I planned to raise the money and give her but I wasn’t sure she wouldn’t blackmail me again so I started praying for God to take control and he did……….. God has forgiven me”

“Daddy, did you kill her?” His son asked quietly.

“No, no, I didn’t! You have to believe me!!” He begged, “See, it was her husband, I am telling you….. she told me he used to beat her all the time and he threatened to kill her too.” Yes, Joy had told him her husband threatened to kill her but she had never said anything about him beating her. His son did not have to know the truth.

“Please don’t tell your mother or your brother or your sister….” He cried desperately.

“Then better tell mummy yourself or i will and stop giving untrue testimonies up and down on God’s holy place………., and daddy……” he said as he stood up, “I will never trust you again, never!”

He left the office to the sound of his father weeping.




Dr Oliver Sunmola

He walked into his big office on Tuesday afternoon and went straight to his seat. He couldn’t believe the events that happened during the weekend. He had seen Joy about a week ago when she came to ask for help about what to do concerning the ultimatum her husband had given her, he had told her to tell him the truth but she had refused and now she was dead. Who else would have killed her except her husband?
He put his elbows on his desk and rested his head in the palm of his hands, feeling confused and scared. How did I get myself into this mess, how, God, I look to you, deliver me.

He knew how his mates and clients had envied him when he started his fertility clinic and got the support of a man like Alade Haastrup over 20 years ago. Little did he know that he was only laying his bed down with the devil. He had done something terrible and he didn’t know how to correct it. What was he supposed to have said? No? Chief would have had one of his men kill him and bury his body in the canal.

”Dear lord, what have I gotten myself into?”

Just then, the landline on his table rang

“Yes?” he inquired after he picked.

“Sir, Mr Haastrup…. Sir, he’s…” His secretary mumbled into the phone. He understood though.

He dropped the phone and ran to the door, he didn’t get there before Tunmise came in, furious and holding a gun, locking the door behind him.

“You have a lot of explaining to do, doctor” he said as the good doctor started sweating.

“I just returned from a visit to another fertility doctor to inquire about my health because I could not trust you anymore….”, he said gritting his teeth. “You said my wife and I were fine years ago but my wife, my own wife had 2 children for me that weren’t mine. Do you know how that makes me feel?”

Dr Sunmola shook his head, “Let me explain….”

“I am not done. When we found out Toluwanimi was AS, which was strange considering my wife and I were both AA genotype, who did I come to for a confirmation and a DNA test? Who?” He shouted waving the gun in Dr Sunmola’s face.

“Me, sir, me.”

“What did you tell me?” he asked as he cocked the gun.

“I told you… I told you…….” Dr Sunmola tried to talk as spittle gathered in his mouth.

“You said he was my child, you said they were both mine but I didn’t trust you so I went out to do another test a month ago and I was right, I had been cuckolded!”

“But I started thinking, why will I be married and my 2 children won’t be mine? None of my girlfriends has ever had a child for me so I went for a test at yet another centre, to check myself and I got the results this morning!”

“Dr Sunmola….,” he asked with tears gathering in his eyes, “did you know I couldn’t father a child? Did your tests, which you carried out on me not show that as a result of the infection I had as a teenager, I would never have children?”

“They did, they did!” Doctor Sunmola admitted crying.

“So that means you knowingly allowed my wife cheat me!”

“No, no it’s not like that…..” he denied hotly.

“Then what is it?!!” Tunmise shouted.

“It was your father!” Dr Sunmola said as he could see his death in Tunmise’s eyes.

“My father did what?” He shouted, pointing the gun at him.

“Your father……..” there were knocks at the door.

“Dr Sunmola, are you okay?” The head of security asked through the door.

“Yes!” he replied, not willing to take the chance they would not open the door in time. “If you promise not to kill me, I will tell you the truth” He negotiated.

“Okay”, Tunmise conceded, tucking the gun into his pockets, “what happened?”

“Your father came to me before you married, he told me you couldn’t have children, you had been diagnosed years ago but he didn’t want you to know. He told me he had recommended me to you where you would do your tests with your wife to be and that I was to tell you that you were both okay” “I couldn’t say no so I did what he asked. When you and Joy came, I told you you were both fine”

“Are you saying both Joy and my father knew this and they didn’t tell me?”

“Yes, sir. Yes. But your father had a solution; he was supposed to get Joy pregnant himself!”

“What?!!!” Tunmise screamed “He was going to implant my wife?”

“I don’t know the plan, I assumed they would bring me semen from your father but they never did. Last month, your father also called about the results and he was shocked when I told him the children were not his either so I’m assuming…”

“Oh God….” Tunmise said as he fell into a chair, “my father was sleeping with my wife… O my God, and he’s not their father either?”

Abruptly he stood up and slammed out of the office. Dr Sunmola picked himself together, packed his little belongings and ran out, intending to leave the state with his family members.

Hello everyone, thanks for reading.

Her younger sister- Jennifer

Jennifer was surprised at the grief and guilt she felt at the news of her sister’s passing. She and Joy had never been close, hardly ever gotten along and at some point had virtually been enemies but she could not have wished death on someone else, least of all, her sister.

She had barely been two years old when their mother had dropped them with their grandmother and she couldn’t honestly say she still remembered what her mother looked like. From the beginning, maybe due to her age, she had clicked with her elder sister Adaora in a big way. Ada had loved to carry her, play with her, take care of her and wouldn’t hesitate to tell the story of how her life had brightened by Jennifer’s coming.

In retrospect, Joy had probably felt neglected because at 5, she was capable of doing so many things by herself already hence wasn’t considered a priority. Adaora was a priority after all her father had owned everything. Everyone had to go with whatever Adaora wanted especially their grandmother who did not want her late son-in-law’s family to have issues with the way Ada was being raised.

Ada’s love for Jennifer ensured that her needs came first while her fights with Joy made sure Joy was considered last. Those must have evoked feelings of worthlessness and resentment in Joy but she made things worse with her greed, vanity and self-centeredness and she also made sure she dealt with Jennifer who she thought had taken everything that should have belonged to her.

Adaora didn’t make her papers quickly when she finished secondary school at 17 and her aunt who was based in Lagos with her German husband had asked her to come. Reluctant to leave Jennifer, Ada had gone to Lagos for her A’ levels and subsequently gained admission to the University of Lagos where she studied chemistry. At 20, in her 3rd year and living in the apartment her aunt had secured for her outside the school, Ada had come back home to pick her up, leaving Joy to tend to their grandmother.

A few months later, they went back home when they heard that Joy had run away. On questioning their grandmother, she was very insistent that it was their mother who had taken Joy as neighbors and even street vendors had seen them together the day Joy disappeared. Mama had been in pain, she was angry with her daughter for constantly shaming her and with her granddaughter for leaving in such a cruel manner. She probably also felt rejected by people she reasoned she had made sacrifices for.

Growing up with their grandmother had not really been fun. Most of her love was given to Ada who she considered legal and she only had a little left over for Jennifer and Joy but Jennifer had Ada’s love to compensate, Joy did not. Mama was also forever prophesying that Joy would end up like their mother because she was just as remarkably beautiful as their mother had been. Jennifer was relieved to leave with Adaora and even at 12, she understood why Joy would have run away.

She had always been brilliant at school and her academic excellence made her sister’s aunt’s husband take interest in her education and when she was 17, they sent her abroad to school in Germany to Adaora’s immense gratitude. She graduated from Engineering at 22 and returned home to stay with her sister who was by that time married to a well- to- do man and pregnant with her second child.

She got a job quickly in an oil firm and shuttled from her sister’s house on the Island to her office. That was how she met Dennis, the handsome, suave young man who stole her heart and virginity. She considered herself very spiritual and followed the 10 commandments as best she could but loved Dennis so much she gave him everything. Her sister, who had always encouraged her sexual purity was a little disappointed about the Dennis affair but was encouraged when she saw how serious he was about her.

That was until Joy came. She had just opened a profile on the new Facebook site where she could chat with her old German schoolmates when by some stroke of luck, she saw a picture of Joy with her old male German schoolmate who was in Nigeria at the time. Confirming it was indeed her sister, she got her phone number and they chatted excitedly. She was shocked when she realized that her sister was having a sexual relationship with the German who was only visiting for a few weeks but didn’t have any grounds to judge her.

On getting home, she told Ada about locating Joy and they organized an outing where the three of them met over drinks. In honesty, they were shocked at Joy’s brazenness and seductiveness, blown away by her beauty and awed at the control she seemed to have over the men around. They nonetheless had a good time. Joy was at that time, staying with her friend Lilian and she filled them up on details of her life and their mother’s.

It was gradual but eventually Joy was living in Ada’s house with them. Ada did not really mind the imposition, there was enough space but she minded how Joy came across as grasping and self-centered. Joy was very jealous of Jennifer, her breeding, foreign education, job and her boyfriend and never failed to point out Jennifer’s k legs, something Jennifer was sensitive about.

Ada did not want to close Joy off, feeling guilty for leaving her behind years ago and grateful for the second chance but she didn’t like how Joy went out of her way to hurt Jennifer so she always tried to broker peace between them. She was also concerned about what Joy did for a living as she always seemed to have money but did not have a job. However, Joy made up for it by being a giver and she always got something for everyone at home including the household help and even Jennifer who had enough money to get things for herself.

By this time, Jennifer was planning her wedding to Dennis and was shocked when 2 months to the traditional wedding he called everything off. She was devastated and went to his family members to help her beg him to no avail. A few weeks later just before the date of the wedding would elapse; she went to his house to beg him again when she met her sister there cooking in his shirt and a tiny skirt. Her eyes seeing red, she had attacked her sister but only got herself thrown out by Dennis for all her efforts.

Ada was shocked and angry but Joy insisted that Dennis had only approached her after he broke up with Jennifer. Ada pleaded with Joy to break up with him but she refused and went to stay at his house with him. The whole thing hurt Jennifer so much; she refused to forgive her sister. A few months later when Joy and Dennis broke up, Joy returned to the house after Ada’s husband convinced his wife to take her sister back so as to prevent bad blood between her sisters.

Jennifer couldn’t take it and she left the house to stay with a friend, renting her own apartment a few weeks later. This action made Ada very sad and caused friction in the house between Ada and Joy. All the while, Jennifer refused to communicate with Joy even when they met in public. She stayed up several nights to cry, curse her sister and wish evil upon her.

Before the year’s end, Joy had left Ada’s house but Jennifer did not know why. She had explicitly told her sister that she did not want to hear anything about Joy so Ada had not told her what happened. She figured it was pretty serious as even Ada’s peacemaker husband was strongly in support of her leaving and even seemed to have triggered the process.

A year later, she met Dennis at the wedding of a mutual friend and he was full of apologies and regrets. He told her he had been deceived by her sister who brought proof that Jennifer was cheating and confessed they had been sleeping together months before he called it off their wedding. The sincerity of the apology appeased Joy for a while and she even toyed with the idea of getting back together with him.

Until she saw the pictures of Joys wedding in the magazines. The sheer beauty and splendor of it nearly brought her to her knees with grief. She knew then that she didn’t want Dennis again, he wouldn’t do. She was half out of her mind with envy and didn’t think Joy deserved that kind of wedding, husband, wealth or happiness after all she had done. She even visited an herbalist to cause harm to Joy but she quickly regretted it and never went back there.

Over the years, as relationship after relationship crashed -mostly because she went after men who would put Joy’s Tunmise Haastrup to shame- and Joy seemed to be living a perfect life, her anger and jealousy increased and nearly choked her. A year ago, through the help of a good friend, she began to get healed and she realized that her bitterness at her sister contributed to the downfall of her many relationships.

She finally forgave her sister and let her go in her heart and now, she was in a great relationship with said good friend, a good guy who wasn’t as rich as Tunmise Haastrup or as handsome or as stylish but one who was good and true to her, who put her first and loved her. It took her a while but finally at 32, she had found her own.

She and Ekene, her fiancée had already concluded plans for their traditional marriage which was holding in September and were intending to do their white wedding in December. As a gesture of forgiveness, she had intended to send Joy an invitation. Now, Joy was dead and she would never be able to tell her she had forgiven her.

She wept for the opportunity lost.


Her elder sister- Adaora

She was still in shock after almost 4 hours of hearing the news. Her husband was watching TV, seemingly indifferent to the news and her two children were now in boarding school. Hmm, she thought, so this is how life just gets extinguished from a person. She saw Joy in the news regularly, bubbling with life and happiness and it was strange to think that she might never see her again. She felt regret for the waste of human life, anger at the killer and yet, a disgusting sense of vindication.

As a child, she had been taught that the evil that men do lives after them and was a little gratified that they had been proven right again. Joy had done a lot of wrong to a lot of people so she wasn’t surprised at what had befallen her. Joy’s biggest problem, as far as Ada was concerned, was that she had no loyalties to anyone and she would take anything from anybody. At least she would try.

She remembered that terrible time when Joy had been caught with Dennis and the devastation Jennifer had felt, she had been so angry, she had had every intention of throwing Joy out when she came back if not for the intervention of her husband, Charles.

As an only child, she had often felt alone without any other playmates of her own except her grandmother. She had never doubted the love and devotion she had felt from everyone, her aunt, her father’s siblings and even her mother’s relatives and she had grown up supremely self-confident.

She often felt envy though when she visited her cousins and saw how they all related with themselves and it was brought home to her again how alone she was. It was hardly any surprise that she received Joy and Jennifer happily when they were dumped with grandma by their mother.
As children, Jennifer had been extremely open and easy to please, Joy was not. She was forever whining and complaining and Ada soon focused all her attentions on the younger, open and less complaining Jennifer. God, she had loved that child, for all intents and purposes, she had raised Jennifer and that was why her sister’s life and happiness mattered so much to her.

When they had met up with Joy again, she had been wary of letting Joy come close especially when she became suspicious of what she did for a living but she had also felt guilty for leaving her behind in the first place so she made a lot of allowances for joy. Too much allowances, it turned out.

After what Joy did to Jennifer and Dennis, she had accepted Joy back on her husband’s insistence. A few months later however, he had started insisting that Joy leave their house, she had instantly become suspicious as her husband was not a vengeful or vindictive person. The worry had not allowed her sleep properly and she had watched them both every time, even tracking her husband to work several times in the week and checking his phone regularly.

She had learned from the experience with Jennifer that Joy was capable of anything and she also wanted her out too but she needed to know why her husband was the one initiating it.She tried but she didn’t catch them doing anything wrong and finally decided on more extreme measures.

She lied to everyone that she was travelling and encouraged all the domestic help to take a few days leave, which they did. She took the children to Jennifer’s house and quietly returned home, parking her car outside and entering the compound.

She sneaked to the garage where she heard her husband shouting, she moved towards the entrance and saw her husband standing in front of his Lexus jeep, the bonnet opened,

“What did you do with my car?” He demanded angrily, she couldn’t see who it was he was talking to but she didn’t need to, she heard the tinkling laughter and knew who it was.

“I just removed the battery now, I knew you will want to run out so I took it out yesterday night when sister said she was travelling” Joy laughed

“Then I will take the Camry”, he said as he made to move to the other car.

“Relax oh, I have removed that battery too, don’t stress yourself” She saw Joy then, wearing a tank top, braless so her nipples were visible under the material with a bum short..

Ada looked at her husband’s face, he looked shocked for a moment “Joy, leave me alone please, I don’t want you, don’t you understand?”

Now Joy wasn’t smiling anymore, “I’m the one who rejects men, men don’t reject me”, Joy said angrily, walking towards him.

“You know what, I will take a bike and go”, he said, moving towards the entrance.

Joy ran, blocked his way and tried to take off her top. He grabbed her hands and put them behind her back. “Hahahahahaha!”, she laughed, “are you not touching me now, Mr Saint?”

“No, I am not. I love my wife and I will not jeopardize my marriage for a prostitute. I have warned you I will report you but you haven’t listened. You think I’m bluffing abi? The only reason I have not told her is because I don’t want to destroy your relationship but this is the last straw!”

“Then I will tell her you have been begging for it, you’ll see, she already suspects us, you know?” She said sneeringly.

“No, I won’t believe you”, Ada said finally revealing herself, tears streaming down her face. They released each other quickly and Charles walked towards her.

“Baby, let me explain, its not want you think”, He said beseechingly.

“I know”, laughing through her tears, “I know”, she said as she hugged her husband.

Joy left her house that day without apologizing and never returned. Ada hadn’t told Jennifer, at first to avoid giving her bad memories, later because it was pointless.

Her husband had proven his faithfulness and love and she regretted ever doubting him. After that time, their love had grown and it felt like she had been holding something back before. In the end, she was grateful Joy happened between them so she could have the knowledge she now had.

She was glad when Joy got married although she didn’t go and wasn’t invited anyway. She hoped marriage would change Joy and make her understand loyalty. Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t, but that was between Joy and her God now. Life for her moved on.

Quietly, she went to the quiet kitchen and dialed Jennifer’s number, when she picked and was crying, Ada knew she had heard the news. They spoke for a while with Jennifer saying she was fine and she cut the call with the intention of going to Jennifer’s place. It was just like her softie sister to lose it over the death of someone she claimed she hated. Oh, well, big sister to the rescue.

When she got back from Jennifer’s place a few hours later, Charles opened the door for her, he could tell immediately that she was really sad. He opened his arms and hugged her, not asking any questions.

“Jennifer is so sad….” she said as they sat down, his arms still around her.

“Really?” he asked genuinely surprised, ”I thought she would be relieved”

“Me too”, she sighed. “I feel guilty for not feeling so bad”

“Don’t” he consoled her, “Joy did a lot of harm and she never said I am sorry”

“You know what I want to do?” She said brightening up, “I will look for our mother, Kene, my cousin told me how bad her condition was, I want to help her….”

“Is that a good idea?” he questioned doubtful “If you remember how Joy….”

“I know, I know, I’m not going to ask her to come here, I just want to help her so Jennifer and I will not spend the rest of our lives in regret. She doesn’t deserve it but I will do it because she’s still my mother and so I won’t feel this bad when she dies”

“Alright, I will be right here if you need me.”

“I know….” she replied as she rested her head against his chest, at peace with the decision she had made.

queenitee:
Ah ah, this is serious

LMAO, You are just everywhere enjoying yourself!

Torrotti- Her childhood friend

She heard the news from Lilian an hour ago and she couldn’t hide her grief at her friend’s passing. It broke her heart to think that Joy had died that way but she wasn’t really surprised.

She had known Joy when they were teenagers, they had lived next to each other and despite the fact that Joy was 3 years older, they had been best friends till Joy met Lilian at University. For a while from her late teens to her early twenties, she had allowed herself to be influenced and corrupted by Joy and Lilian.

Of the three of them, Lilian was the only one from a comfortable background. She and Joy had come from impoverished families that could barely afford the basics. Joy, with the encouragement of her mother started sleeping with older richer married men who paid her quite well especially because she was so beautiful. She, on the other hand wasn’t so fortunate, she was very dark, passably pretty, she had battled acne as a teenager and she had really small breasts. Her only redeeming quality was her large buttocks and extremely curvy hips. On top of that, her mother, a staunch Christian had kicked against such living and ended up fighting with Joy’s mother over it.

However, when Joy got admission to the University at 19 and even got a 2 bedroom flat off campus with Lilian from the proceeds of her business, her 16 years old self was seduced and she ran away from home to live with Joy for a while. The three of them spent time carousing with older men and rich young boys in parties, sex games, abortions and the high life. Lilian had almost 12 abortions in that time, she 3 and Joy, only 1.

Before she knew what was happening, four years had passed, the two older girls were set to graduate and she still hadn’t gotten admission. She had no skills except sex and on top of all that, she fell mysteriously sick after spending a weekend with an Indian client in Port Harcourt. She worsened progressively and she was rushed back home to her mother who had barely seen her in all that time. She sold everything, her car, clothes, everything she had to help in paying her bills. She saw death holding her hand but somehow, miraculously, she was healed at a Christian convention.

She gave her life to Christ and turned a new leaf entirely. Somehow, she never went back to school, she started a business and moved to Port Harcourt. In that time, Lilian and Joy kept disturbing her to join them again but she refused, by then, they were both in Lagos and seemed to be doing fine. She suffered a lot in Port Harcourt but she was determined to stick with God and pay her dues and she did.

It took her while but she earned her mother’s trust again, put the youngest two of her four siblings through school and expanded her business. She was 27 when she finally found a man to settle down with, she told him of her past and he took her for what she was. Eventually, she relocated to Canada where they had been staying for 3 years now and although life wasn’t perfect, for her, it was really good.

Despite everything, she had kept in touch with Joy and Lilian and had tried to convince them to change their ways especially after she heard what had transpired between Joy and her sisters but they wouldn’t listen to her. She had been relieved when they had gotten married and she had been at both their weddings. When she had her first child before relocating, Joy had come to see her and even visited her just last year when she had her second.

And now Joy was dead and she didn’t know if Joy had ever changed.

Oh God, she cried, please let her make heaven and let her killers be caught.





Former lover boy- Richard

He sat in his sitting room and kept staring at his phone with a mixture of fascination and disgust, the picture of Joy’s scarred face superimposing itself on the beautiful one he had known. His wife had gone out and the house was empty. He looked at the picture again and he didn’t know if he should feel relief or anger. A part of him had wanted her to disappear but he hadn’t meant for her to die. Oh God, please forgive me.

Thank God nobody suspected him because he would definitely be caught. He had no alibi for that time frame as he had indeed been with her just before her death but he had left her alive, nobody would believe him though, would they?

And it wouldn’t matter because his life and marriage would be destroyed. Yes, he had had an affair with Joy two years ago, a brief, hot, lustful affair and he had known it was wrong but Joy was beautiful and he had imagined what it would be like to take her to bed years before then. It had been wonderful but the affair burned out within 2 months and he got his senses back. He returned to his wife and she to her husband, neither partners any wiser.

So it came as a surprise when she called him a week ago to tell him that her husband had found out that their son wasn’t his but was a result of the affair she had with him over 2 years ago. He hadn’t known what to do, although he didn’t have a child with his own wife, he wanted his marriage to work and he could not afford to make an enemy of a man like Tunmise Haastrup.

Joy however was scared especially when her husband threatened to throw her out and had even resorted to blackmailing him that she would tell his wife the truth if he did not help her out. What was he supposed to do? In the end he had seen her yesterday around midnight so they could discuss over dinner secretly, a part of him wanted to see his son but on the other hand, he would lose his share of his father in law’s company if the truth came out. He loved his wife too; he wasn’t ready to jeopardize that.

Now, someone had killed her, most likely her husband since he threatened to do so, and he was now the only one who knew that Toluwani Haastrup was actually his biological son.




Her mother- Anwili Anuchebe

Anwili cut the call she had received on her cheap mobile phone and stared around her as she stood in her dilapidated living room. She took in her torn carpet, her old curtains, the worn out stools that stood in place of chairs and the door that couldn’t be locked anymore and started laughing.

She laughed and laughed until the tears came and when they came, they overwhelmed her. Joy was gone, Joy who was supposed to be her redemption was gone and now people would laugh at her. They would tell her how they had foreseen this future for and they would make jest of her like her cousins had just done.

Two of them, whom she hadn’t heard from called her earlier to tell her that Joy was dead. Her daughter, her life, her shame, her reproach and now the reason the world would mock her. Oh God, she thought to herself, why, why me. What had she done that was so bad that life refused to forgive her, what?

She had only been 12 when her father had died in the civil war in their town of Mgbidi in Imo state and they had lost a lot of their belongings and property. As the 3rd wife of her father’s 4 wives, her mother had not gotten much after her husband’s death. Her mother had been unfortunate in that despite several pregnancies and delivery, Anwili was her only child to survive out of infancy and it was to this daughter she pinned all of her hopes. After her father’s death, she and her mother had survived by selling ugu until an older man had taken an interest in them.

The man, Ikenna, had come at a much needed time in their lives offering food, shelter and comfort. Ikenna was already 50 at the time, a childless widower and a full 11 years older than a mother so everyone naturally assumed he wanted to marry her mother since he housed them. They were wrong. It was her he wanted.

Buoyed by her mother’s support, his wealth and his unending kindness, she agreed to the marriage. He was insistent that she be fully grown before he married her and she waited with bated breath for the wedding to take place. She married him when she turned 20 and enjoyed an enviable life of luxury and devotion from her wealthy husband and when she presented him with their daughter Adaora a year later, he was extremely pleased.

The problem though was their sex life. At 54, Ikenna was no longer at the peak of manhood and she couldn’t resist when his nephew Obinna came to stay with them. Obinna was a 24 year old beautiful brute who did not hesitate to take advantage of his uncle’s kindness by servicing his young wife as regularly as possible.

Despite her mother’s uninformed warnings about the changes she sensed in her daughter, she carried on the lustful affair until they were caught by Obinna’s father who had come to see his brother for something. A deeply honorable man, he refused to cover them and exposed them to the world to her mother’s shame.

Instead of apologizing, they decided to run away together. In retrospect, she had behaved like an abominably spoilt child but hindsight was usually better. They ran away to Aba where Obinna got work as an apprentice but the stress of having to fend for herself and the lack of luxury tired out the relationship, and in truth, they both quickly came to regret their actions, Obinna especially. They barely lasted a year together before they went their separate ways.

She moved to Port Harcourt and took up with another wealthy man for over a year, which ended when his wife found out and came to beat her out of the small apartment where she stayed. She later got a job at a restaurant where she met Joy’s father. A charming con-man and a dupe, she fell quickly in love with him although he was married abroad and only wanted a wife to have children for him in Nigeria.

She stayed with him for 3 years and had Joy for him when she 26. Usually he travelled home and came back for the holidays but the year Joy turned 2, he did not return. She went to meet his family but they refused to acknowledge her since she wasn’t married to him and he already had another wife and children from their village. This nearly broke her heart for she had had a special love for him and would have gladly stayed with him forever.

She was realistic however and did not let that disturb her overmuch and the following year, she married a man based in Asaba and had another daughter for him when she was 29, Jennifer. Although he wasn’t very rich, he took care of her and her daughters and did not make her work too hard. He died before he turned 40, she was just 31. The stress of taking care of 2 daughters alone was too much for her so she went back to her mother.

Naturally, her mother was angry and refused to have anything to do with her. Her husband, Ikenna had died but her mother was still living in his house and raising their daughter Adaora who was then 10 years old. After much pleading and intervention by family, her mother forgave her. She dropped Joy and Jennifer with her and ran off with another man the following year.

She returned to the village 10 years later with a new man although she did not go to see her mother who was sick at that time. While buying foodstuffs from the market, she saw a beautiful girl trailing after her and quickly got to know it was her daughter, Joy. Discussions between them revealed that her other two daughters were in Lagos. Adaora had gone there to school and immediately she settled, had invited her beloved 12 year old sister, Jennifer to stay with her living Joy to take care of their grandmother.

Joy had complained and moaned about the injustice and was bitter at being left behind, she insisted on following her mother from the village. Without giving it much thought and moved by sudden love for her beautiful child, Anwili asked Joy to pack her things and told her where they would meet, she was to tell her grandmother nothing. She did as she was bid and they left the village two days later for Enugu where her lover was based. She heard later that her mother had cursed her and Joy but wrote it off as the ranting of an old bitter woman who hadn’t done much with her life.

She returned to Asaba after she broke up with her lover. There she doted on her daughter and discovered her daughter’s predilection for men too. It gave them something in common and they usually shared notes. They rented a mini flat where they were neighbors with Torotti’s family. There, she had carried on a pleasurable affair with Torotti’s randy Yoruba father to the anger of his pious, church going wife.

They found it amusing that the woman would go to vigils with her children and she would sneak into their room to have fun with her husband. Joy’s unusual beauty quickly brought droves of men and they were able to survive on the rich clients that Joy had. Mama Torotti condemned her actions and bitterly opposed her when she found out about her affair with her husband. The poor woman had to hide her head in shame when her daughter Torotti ran away from home to live with Joy in the University. These days, they say mama Torotti is in Canada with her daughter, Papa Torotti having run away years ago. She, mother of Joy Haastrup, was still in the same mini flat almost 20 years later.

When Joy returned from youth service at 25, she told her she wanted to go and visit her friend Lilian, whose family had relocated to Lagos and insisted she would come back with goodies. She came back almost a year later with plenty of goodies and with news that she met her sisters and that her grandmother had died a year earlier and had been celebrated with a big burial.

She said she was living with her sister, Adaora who was married and living the life and wanted to go back to her house. Her mother extracted a promise that she would make Ada call her and see if she too could relocate to Lagos. That was the last time she heard from Joy.

When months passed with no news and she could not get in touch with her, she went to Lillian’s family house where she was given vague directions to their house in Lagos. It took her almost a year to raise the transport fare but when she hadn’t heard from her daughter, she went. There in Lagos, she couldn’t see her, everyone evaded her and she thought something bad had happened to her daughter.

She eventually located Adaora’s house but there she received a cold welcome and wasn’t even let into the big house. Ada refused to come out and told her maid to give a slip of paper with Joy’s address and 50,000 naira. She felt extremely small and useless that day but was grateful for the money. On getting to Joy’s house, a beautiful 2 bedroom, Joy denied her flatly and refused to acknowledge her. She returned to Asaba an extremely broken hearted woman.

She got back and started doing laundry, having lost her taste for men and prostitution. She washed everyday till her hands cracked, asking for forgiveness and praying that she would get a second chance with her daughters. Her cousin sent her magazine photos of Joy’s wedding that she wasn’t invited to a year later and that day she nearly committed suicide, she finally understood her mother’s pain and anger.

She never got that second chance with Joy and she didn’t know why. What had she really done wrong where Joy was concerned?

You guys, thank you so much, i feel wonderful today!

Please, i will not be posting during the weekend as i usually dont have data then.

@all reading, i will continue posting on monday. Thank you.

Her daughter- ADEOLA HAASTRUP

Her father had entered his room almost an hour ago and Aunty Blandinu had taken her brother inside the room to sleep, she was however still seating at the door, where she and her brother had been standing when daddy had gone into his room.

Something is wrong with mummy, she said to herself. Mummy did not come home yesterday and the policemen came today to talk to daddy. And she knows they are police people because she saw two of them carrying gun. But what could have happen to mummy, she wondered again as she rubbed her small hands against her chest.

Daddy has not been talking to them since plenty days now. Before he used to throw Tolu up and he use to call her princess but now, he don’t even talk to them again and mummy is always crying, shouting or hugging them and saying things will be better.

She stared at her father’s door down the hall, a door she used to enter at will before but one she could not go to again. What happened? Daddy don’t even like her again and before everybody used to call her Didi daddy’s pet, why don’t daddy like them again? Where is mummy?

She miss her mummy, even Tolu that is always thinking of food miss mummy, why don’t she come and hug them the way she use to do when daddy shout at them? And why did Blandinu say mummy have gone to heaven before aunty Kemi slap her mouth? The only person that travel to heaven is Daddy’s mummy and she did not come back oh.

Mummy should better come, she have to sing in church tomorrow and she have white gown with wings to wear, mummy should come fast fast oh, that heaven is not a good place to go even though God is there.

She moved towards the window in the hallway facing the gate to the compound “mummy, come back please, don’t leave us here with wicked daddy”


Her best friend- Lilian

“Oh my God, oh my God, its Joy!” Lilian screamed as she read the story online. She shook her head and couldn’t believe her eyes.

Her husband rushed in when he heard her scream, she stood in the center of the kitchen with tears running down her face. “What is it? What’s wrong?” he asked disturbed by her tears.

“Joy is…..is…… she’s dead!” she cried out as she folded into herself on the floor and started crying. He went to her and started rocking her gently

“Oh God, why? Why Joy, why, why?” She cried as her husband rocked her. She didn’t know how long she remained crying for her best friend and for the kind of death she got. She finally stood up, went to the kitchen sink and washed her eyes.

“What will you do now?” her husband asked from the floor where he still sat.

“I don’t know, I’ll probably call…..erm… somebody, maybe Tunmise, I don’t know…” She knew she sounded confused but she couldn’t help it, she was disturbed.

She had known Joy since they were in the Delta state University in Abraka. They had met in their first year as sociology students, lived as flat mates, came to Lagos together and remained best friends. They had been through thick and thin together and she wasn’t sure how she was going to cope with the loss of Joy.

Joy had been her friend, supporter and confidant. She had been married for 3 years and had been unable to have a child as a result of abortions she had done years earlier as a student. She had only found out after she got married and could not take in before she was told by the doctor that the lining of her uterus had been destroyed and she might never conceive. She hadn’t been able to tell her husband who had honestly been very patient with her and she and Joy had continued to look around for solutions.

Joy had insisted that she not give up, she had encouraged her to try other avenues and they had actively looked for solutions together and visited several fertility specialists within and outside the country.

And now, Joy was gone. What would she do?







The mistress- Daniella

Serves her right, Dani thought when she saw the news of the murder on a gossip site. Next time she comes to life, she will know who she can mess with and who not to play around with. Stupid bitch! She thought vindictively.

She remembered when that evil woman came to her boutique to assault her last month over her husband. She and her evil friend had beaten her and broken her nose and teeth but nemesis had caught up with them, Lilian or whatever her name was, that her yeye friend would soon get hers.

On top, they lied to everyone and said she attacked them, as if she would bother with such when she already had the man.

She couldn’t even understand which husband they were fighting over, is it the one that hated her and was seeking a way to get rid of her so he could bring Daniella in.

She was only 25 but she had a lot going for her, she wasn’t going to allow a know-it-all bimbo like Joy Anuchebe Haastrup stand in her way, never!

She felt no guilt or shame at her actions. She had grown up dirt poor and the only thing she had were her brains and her looks and she was going to make it through those. She had waited for a man like Tunmise all her life and he finally came. She didn’t intend to waste any time on niceties.

She was born in Lagos to a brainless bird of a mother who had spent her whole life prostituting and could not even tell who the father of her baby was. She did not have food, clothes or money to buy the basic necessities and toys were a luxury her mother never thought of getting for her daughter. Her only saving grace was her beauty. When she turned 14, she went to work as a maid in Ibadan, she was 16 when she got disvirgined by her boss but she made him pay well for it.

She promised herself that she was never going to be a prostitute like her mother, age shamefully and then die. No way! She made her looks work for her, in school at the Polytechnic Ibadan, she had chased after big men and been able to afford the good things of life. She had met Tumtum last year and he had gradually dumped all his other girls for her, his wife had been the only stumbling block.

Now, all that was left was to get pregnant quickly for her Tumtum, she didn’t know why that hadn’t happened yet, she had tried very hard but when it happened, they would be married in record time. After all, he had confessed to her that he recently discovered that neither of the two children his wife gave him belonged to him, she didn’t know how true it was and she wasn’t going to ask, all she knew was that the coast was now clear for her.

Thank you karma.

almacherish:
Beautiful story piroux . Me im suspecting her husband

Thank you.

The maid from Badagry- Blandinu.

The police come and start asking questions about madam and everybody is saying she was very kind….. Bla, bla, bla, shioor. Madam was wicked ehn, always shouting on top her voice;“You are lazy, stupid, ode, village girl”….. and all those yamayama things she used to say to her as if she was stupid. She might be egun but she was not stupid.

But madam was not all that wicked sha, madam can be nice too especially when she do her agbere and come back, then madam would buy things for everybody. One time, madam go to America, madam buy her plenty cloth ehn, she still wearing them sef.

When they brought her to Lagos 4 years before, Madam say she will take her to school and she take her. Before she was in primary 2, now shes in primary 6 and she just do common entrance, result have not come out sha.

Whenever she go back to her village, they used to call her small Londoner and madam used to tell her school is good, education is best legacy so that she will not be fish seller like her mother and her grandmother.

Ha, madam try oh, madam is good but it is the way she used to shout that she hate ehn, kai. But madam never flog her oh, ra ra. Madam will just shout at her. And madam have help plenty people like Aunty Kemi, housekeeper, Mummy Oyin, the cook and Mr Nure, the gateman.

She know its oga that kill madam.It was only her they allow to sleep on the 2rd floor family living quarters because of the children and she used to hear Oga and Madam fighting. Infact, just a week ago, they had one fight ehn, Oga said madam will pack out or he will kill her. She heard them from the children’s room which is close to Oga’s room. Oga and madam have room of their own when all of her own family have only 2 room in Badagry. And now, he have killed her.

She did not tell the Police that one, what is her concern? She know is Oga that kill madam. She even know Oga has another girl, she hear madam shouting about his mistress abi what did she call it?

She will not tell anybody sha, madam has died. She did not want Oga to kobalise her and say she should go back to her village, her brothers and sisters will just laugh at her. She will not say peeem oh.







Aunty Kemi- Head of staff

The police came to the house to see Oga and question him, she had told Blandinu to go and call him. She stood by the door to hear his answers to the police and she knew he was lying, liar, liar, she thought even as she cried.

Madam was not perfect, nobody is but madam had been good to her. She used to shout a lot because she had a hot temper but madam was a giver and she was kind, why will Oga kill her like this? He could have done it at home where nobody will see it but he had to do it on the main road so she can be shamed.

At 45, she had been through a lot, her husband used to abuse her and her children, it was madam who had rescued her and her children through her NGO and even given her a job and room in the BQ to stay so she could do her job well, she even sent her children to good schools. She owed that woman her life.

She knew it was Oga that killed her after all he wasn’t at home at that time but nobody will say that one and in all honesty, since she started living with them, their marriage had never been happy and they had started fighting every day in the past few months. He even threatened to kill her just yesterday, that was after he threatened to throw her out of the house last week.

Madam had been so sad these last few weeks that her heart had broken for her, she had almost told her to go and leave the man sef but she couldn’t say it. Madam would not understand what she was saying.

On top of everything, Oga even had mistresses, one had even attacked madam at her office the a month ago and madam had threatened to commit suicide that day, Oga was just laughing and telling her to go ahead but that she should do it after the elections.

That man is wicked, ha Oluwa, where did madam meet this kind of man? As fine as she is.

The police came to her for questioning, they asked her about madam, who she was, how she behaved, her mood, who she went to see, what time she left and what she last ate and she told them the truth. They asked about the household staff, how many they were and those who personally served madam. She told them Madam didn’t have driver anymore as Oga had stopped him and that there were 4 housemaids, 3 security men, 1 gardener, 3 drivers, 1 cook and Blandinu, who saw to the children.

She did not however tell them madam had been panicking ever since Oga threatened to throw her out or that madam had left the house crying. She did not know who madam went to see, only that madam left in a hurry around 11pm and she did not tell them that since she came to work here, there was hardly a time Oga and madam were not fighting.

EvaJael:
Hmm Joy, I don't even know what to say.Well done piroux

Thank you.

Pls come and update now.

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Part 2 is here

Her father-in-law- Chief Alade Kuforiji Haastrup.

Chief was not having a good day at all. He put his hand on his forehead to try to wade off the headache that the news of Joy’s death had just brought. Who would have killed that girl like that on that road and what was she doing there at that time anyway? He asked himself for the umpteenth time. His headache was compounded by the fact that he could not get in touch with Prado, his chief slayer.

“Hencho!!” He shouted through the big space that was his office. “Where are you?”

“Sir”, Hencho answered, running in and slamming the door behind him, Hencho was big, muscular and bald, serving well the purpose for which he was contracted: to wipe out and to obey without questioning. He had worked with chief for 4 years now and he could tell the boss was angry and it was never a good day when boss was angry.

“Where is Prado, what has he done, what is this mess with my son’s wife? Did i send him? What has he done? I hope……”

“Boss….,I don’t know sir but this isn’t Prado’s mark.” he quickly cut him off before Boss would send him to go and take care of Prado. In his years of working for the Boss, he had had cause to take care of many enemies and former allies of the boss and he was fearless in his task, the one person he feared however was Prado, that mean, quiet, killing machine.

“Then who did this?! And why haven’t I been able to talk with him all day?” Boss asked, his anger simmering. “I just got off the phone with the commissioner of Police and I have told him to put all his resources into finding the culprit who murdered my daughter- in-law”, he paused for effect. Boss liked effects. “I must not find out I am throwing stones at my own glass house”.

“No sir, I don’t think so sir”.

Just then Prado strode into the office with his sidekick, Morogga. They were both dressed impeccably as usual, one big and black, the other small and light skinned. The contrast always struck Hencho as devil and angel but he knew they were both demonic and he never tangled with them.

“Prado!” The boss shouted, jumping out of his big CEO chair to shout at the big man approaching him across the length of his office. “Have you heard of my daughter in law? Who did it?”

Prado didn’t look worried, “I don’t know sir, you said I should wait till after the elections before I took care of her,” he said quietly as he sat down on the three seater in the office.

“Then who did this?!” He shouted, losing control.

“We don’t know sir”. Morogga said, “it won’t be any of us”.

“I am the only person that wanted her dead!” Boss, pointed out, fighting for cool.

“But the mark was personal sir, none of us would waste time there scratching her face now”. Morogga said, his analytical mind working.

Boss subsided into his chair, suddenly weary, “You are right…” That was why he only employed graduates on his team, he couldn’t stand thugs who couldn’t reason, every member of his team was intelligent, well trained and smart.

“Find out who did, I need to know who did this before the police!”

“Yes sir!” they said in unison as they left.

Who else would have wanted Joy dead? She betrayed him and he had planned to end her life but only after his son had won the elections. Whoever did this was definitely in trouble because now his son would be distracted and in politics, distractions could be deadly…..


Her husband- Tunmise Babatunde Haastrup
Tunmise was devastated. Or he wanted to feel devastation but all he really felt was nothing. He sat down on the big bed in his room staring out with unseeing eyes and he just felt empty. He had been in the office when they informed him of the death but he hadn’t needed to go and see her body or identify it, his father had done that already and he had seen the pictures online.

Hopefully, with his father’s influence, he could turn the murder around to suit him, take advantage of the sympathy people will feel for him and get them to vote for him at the upcoming elections. He would give a press conference tomorrow and play the grieving husband to the hilt.

Then he heard the knock…

“Who is that?” he asked tiredly, feeling really low.

“It’s me, sir” a little voice replied. It was Blandinu, their 15 years old Badagry maid who saw to the children.

“What is it?” he asked again, he wasn’t in any kind of mood to deal with any of the children and hadn’t been for a few weeks now. “What’s the problem with the children?”

“Nothing o, nothing sir, it is police, they say they want Oga to come, Aunty kemi say I should come and call you” She replied quickly through the door.

“Okay…..” He sighed. He wished the police would go about their job and leave him alone. He wasn’t really in the mood to interview with them but he figured in cases like this, he didn’t have a choice..

He stood up, changed his shirt, unlocked the door and went downstairs to the living room. There were 2 men and a lady looking around his sitting room, impressed. They stood immediately he entered.

“Good afternoon, sirs, ma, how can I help you?” He said in his best sad politician voice.

“Good afternoon sir” the taller of the 2 men said, I am detective Eteh, with me are detectives Ogunbamowo and Quadri, we are from the State Criminal Investigations Department, Panti and we are here in respect to your wife’s murder”

“I know this has to be tough for you sir but we are hoping you will cooperate with us so we can find your wife’s killer and close our case. “The autopsy results have just come out this morning and we hope you can answer some questions for us.”

“What results?”

The detectives slowly explained what they found out to him trying to gauge his reaction to the news. He had a solid alibi since he was at a meeting with the State Governor at the supposed time of her death. They figured though that he could give them some answers they hadn’t factored in before.

Just as they were talking, a little boy ran into the sitting room with the girl Blandinu behind him.

“Will you get out?” Tunmise shouted aggressively, “Can’t you see I’m having a meeting?”

Blandinu carried the now crying boy and went out.

“Isn’t that your son?” Detective Quadri asked

“Yes, but he’s very naughty”, he replied, a little shamefaced.

The detectives thought he had looked and still looked very angry from the interruption of a two year old but they let it slide and continued with things pertinent to the investigations.

He answered questions about her health, state of mind, friends and people he had last seen her with and gave them permission to search their house and ask their employees questions. When they asked him about the state of their marriage, he became evasive and tried to paint a picture of marital bliss. From his comments, she had been a perfect wife and their marriage had been perfect.

The detectives didn’t buy it. He was hiding something.

When the police left, Tunmise stood and went upstairs wearily. On the second floor family living area, he saw the children Adeola and Toluwanimi peeking from their room looking at him, expectant. He hadn’t spoken a kind word to them in weeks since the discovery and he had no intention of doing so now. He opened his room door without a word and went inside.

There would be time enough to tell them that that bitch they had for a mother was dead and that neither of them were his children.

He had no intention of raising bastards.

Thank you guys for the support.

The rest of the story comes from the perspective of the people who are most important in Joy's life.

Tuham:
Well doing piroux

Please don't stop halfway ooh.. Keep pushing and Tuham wishes you all the best

Thank you very much.

Maryclaire1:
Lovely story I must say piroux I commend your effort you are good.bikonu keep it coming dear I'm curious already who killed joy ..your first write u say.... thumbs up darling

Thank you, welcome.

queenitee:
Please is the front seat available? We need to find that idiot who killed our lovely joy.
I have the feelings she was not really innocent but maybe it has to do with her past

Where's kimberlywest and kimkardashain, mhizgap nko and Ladysuperb? Eyinimofeoluwa oya come here

Thank you, welcome and yes, the front seat is available.

Missnande:
I yaff land O,ride on piroux!

Welcome.

JOY
Her name was Joy Haastrup and she was living the life. She was said to have it all, the looks, the brains, the character and the power. Joy was married to the son of one of the richest men in Nigeria, Tunmise Haastrup, the 39 years old candidate for the Lagos State House of Assembly in the forthcoming elections.

She was so beautiful that at 34, she could give 22 year old girls a run for their money. She was fair skinned, beautifully slender and tall enough to make you disregard a model. With lush full breasts, beautifully curved hips and long spotless legs, a flat tummy sans stretch marks, it was unbelievable that she was a mother of two children.

She supposedly had personal houses on the island, in Abuja, America, Dubai and even in Greece. She had about 6 cars and she, her husband and children lived in their own Mansion in the GRA area of Lagos. She ran an NGO that saw to the welfare of abused women and children. They rehabilitated them and helped them get jobs or sent children to school.

She relocated to Lagos at the age of 25 and stayed with her older sister for a while before moving to her own place and eventually met the Lagos born son of the wealthy oil mogul and industrialist, Chief Alade Kuforiji Haastrup whom she married at 28.

Their marriage was a fairy tale; they had gotten married on the Greek island of Skopelos, had proceeded to Italy for their honeymoon, after which they settled in the Victoria Island area of Lagos. When she had their first child after 2 years of marriage, they had moved to their massive house in GRA to enable Tunmise be closer to his offices in Maryland.

Joy was very much loved by all who knew her and there never was a bad word said about her. The media could not get enough of her and they constantly printed photos of her, her children, her husband and her charities in the papers. It didn’t hurt that she had the looks, wealth and style that was needed to be a media sensation.

She was well known for her generosity and she gave anything and everything to those in need. Joy was the perfect embodiment of feminine beauty and achievement. As wife to an ambitious politician like Tunmise, she was perfect. As mother to a beautiful 5 year old daughter and an energetic 2 year old boy, she was perfect. As an employer to her employees, she was perfect and as a friend, she was just perfect. Everyone loved Joy.

At least that’s what people said.

On Saturday the 8th of May 2017, around 8am, the police were called to a scene at Omole in Ikeja, there was a dead woman in the driver’s seat of a Lexus jeep parked on the road, her face badly damaged probably from an accident, the car however was in pristine shape. There were people everywhere taking pictures of the car and the woman. No one knew who it was and there was no means of identification.

They ran the plates; the car was registered to Mrs Joy Haastrup. On closer inspection, they confirmed it was indeed Mrs Haastrup in the front seat of the car wearing her expensive wedding and engagement rings and although her face, neck and the front of the blue gown she wore was bloodied, there was no blood anywhere else on the car. It wasn’t an accident, someone had attacked her, her face and neck had been slashed angrily by her assailant.

People were wrong; someone had hated the perfect Mrs Haastrup but who hated her enough to brutally tear and lacerate her face, condemning her beautiful face to eternal ugliness?



The Case
The police notified Joy’s husband and family, who were naturally devastated. Her husband was nearly incoherent with grief. By afternoon, the pictures were all over the internet, it was gruesome. People were naturally angry at the manner of death. The media which had loved her all throughout her life suffered no guilt at putting up her horribly massacred face as fodder for gossip. Joy was gone; she wouldn’t feel the pain anyway.

An autopsy was immediately conducted to ascertain the cause and manner of death. Joy had indeed been killed with a sharp object, more than likely a knife. Her assailant had sat in the passenger seat and slashed her face first, then her hands when she raised it up to defend herself, then followed that with two more slashes that cut her neck, killing her. But her attacker had obviously not been satisfied as whoever it was proceeded to slash at every available surface of her face, tearing off her nose and leaving one eye in her lap when they were done.

Time of death was put at between 2am and 5am that morning; it confounded the police as to what she was doing there at the time of the night when she wasn’t known to be a night crawler.

Her phone, I D Cards, and the murder weapon had been taken but there was over 32,000 naira left in her hand bag which her attacker had not taken, so also her laptop, IPAD and ATM cards which were untouched suggesting it wasn’t a robbery.

Police deduced that it was a crime of incredible passion and could only have been done by somebody who knew her. With the encouragement of her father-in-law, they were assigning several people to the case so her killer or killers could be found quickly and brought to book.

Okay, calling all my ogas at the top.

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Oyinda1242, xaviercasmier, Ellagold35, Eniolaewa, smomeydrinkey everyone on the literature section, on nairaland, visitors, everybody!

Please come and read oh. Thank you.

DEDICATION- This work is dedicated to every lover of literature and everyone who is encouraged me in one way or another. Thank you.

COPYRIGHT- © Piroux. No part of this work should be reproduced in any form, either electronic or manual without the approval of the author.

Okay, yey! I'm very excited to be doing this, that is sharing my first almost completed work with you guys. So, please just read with me and help out with constructive criticisms. I am still a baby writer, so all well meaning advice would be taken, thank you.

Disclaimer- This book is a pure work of fiction and any resemblance to anyone dead or living is co-incidental and should be taken in the best spirit.

Certified007:
Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now.

Nice story. Somewhat sad ending though.

Great story! Where are the updates oh? Please get to Tunga and Amenze's part fast fast. I can't wait...

Divepen1:
You must have shown your interest.

oh, okay. Thanks.