She plans to kill me

48 hours

Denny hesitated as he stood before the big bronze gate. Getting this girl out of here was going to be a Gordian knot. He did not know what Jib may have told her, or if he wanted for crushing those murderers.

Should he walk away? But Mina was still in there, in midst of those devils. What would happen if he left her there? He had stayed there basically because of her. He would have a rest of mind if he left here. He had to take the risk.

He went in. God! How this house disgusted him. He ignored the girls and climbed upstairs.

“Mtwwwss! Lubabatu hissed, “ This guy feels too big. I don’t blame him. Hin don dey arrange that small girl.”

“ When did you start hating him?” Saratu asked with a smirk.

“ Have you not been told that there is a thin membrane between love and hate. Now , I hate him and the girl will suffer. Let Queen go back to Abuja.”

“ When are we leaving ?”

“Next month.”

“ O’boy! Those oyibos go hear whin!”

They laughed.

Denny met Jezebel sitting on a rocking chair, a cigar between her fingers. With her were two men. Jib and a very dark looking man. Was this the man she called black?

“I have been waiting for you.” She said calmly. “Sit down.”

She wore a white skinny pant and singlet. She kept rocking the chair, looking up and puffing smoke.

Jib did not act as if he saw Denny. He just sat, his big face set in grimace. The second man was sipping a bottle of dry gin. Denny had never seen any of them perform ablution or pray. What kind of life were they living?

“ Where have you been?” she asked, still looking upwards.

“ I went to school.”

“But you were asked to go for a meeting. You climbed up and never came back. You left them waiting.”

“I never knew I was part of the quorum.” Denny said.

“ Are you trying to be sarcastic? Do you know what I can do to you right now? Kasanni kuwa?” She retorted.

“ I climbed up and saw some people up there. They were trying to push a rock. They saw me and chased me.”

“ Go on….”she said, “ A nice start.”

“I ran down the hills and left the hummocks.”

“ Who were the people you saw?”

“ I don’t know them. They were guys though. Six of them.”

“ Did you know that seven people were killed there?”

“ No.”

Jib chuckled.

“ He killed them and he was not alone.” He said.

“What are you talking about?” Denny made a face.

“ You know what we are talking about. Who are you? Which cabal do you role with? You are a humint!”

“Relax Jib.” Jezebel said. “ Don’t let Pu*** block your head. There are girls all around here so what is the Mina stuff all about. Okay, you want a virgin ko?”

“It’s not about that!”

“Than let me be in control. He would talk to us.” She now faced Denny. “ You belong to a secret gang. You have been tailing and marking Smalls and Murphy because they obtained your brother. You now organized their demise. You could not have done that alone. You belong, babane. Talk to me.Into which setting? This is Queen Jezebel, ruler of the coast, from beyond to the front, no shege for jungle! God punish awon ota! Who dem be? I paint my house in blood and cross it with skulls and bones.

Lucifer is freedom, banging is no fornication but emancipation of body and soul, so mallam and pastor park aside. The brain is not made to be light to upload into kaya, ganja.gbana,coki-coki and feel the breeze and sharpen your mind. No dulling, omoooh!

Gboom! Fire the bastard in the groin and bgim! Any obstacle is a goner. Oyyyoh! Bagudu baja dabaya. Qaryan karamin nyan-nyan .

Any jagbajantis is a  barger. Tell me , which confra you dey represent? The mazaje you were in cahoots with that arranged the seven into crushing mode”

This lady was a devil .Denny could not understand most of the occult incarnations which she just chanted. It seemed she was more dangerous than he thought.   

“ I do not belong….”

But his words were cut short by a sudden slam of fist on his jaw. He dropped like a log of wood dropped for a truck.

Jib went after him again, his face as grim as a lion’s, the eyes now radiating grudge, he kicked him on the ribs.

“ Do you know who you are dealing with?” Jib  said. “ Tell us who helped you tear those blankets.”

“ I did not do it!” Denny said amid pains.

“ Stop !” Jezebel said. “ Let me talk to him.”

Denny was still on the floor, feeling pains.

“ Where is Mina?”

“Why are you asking me….?”

Jib made a move to hit him but Jezebel stopped him.

“ She ran away and she could not have done this without help. Who is the most suitable person to do this? You. You think we don’t know that you have a soft spot for her?”

“ Shege ba!” Jib said, “ Paedophile!”

“ Jib kenen!” Jezebel laughed, “but when I asked you to baptize her ,you were shaking like a moron. Now that you did not get it, it has become paedophilia.”

“No, Queen.  That was an order. In the line of duty.”

“Na ji. Now, Denny, tell me where the girl is…..if you want to leave here alive.”

“ You can do whatever you wish but…..I don’t know where she is.”

“ If I leave you to Jib, it won’t be nice . Tell me now.”

“I don’t know.”

“ I give you forty hour hours to find her.” She said, “if you fail to produce her, then…..Teks’  ghost will hunt you. Remember, I was told to report your behaviour. I will make sure you go back and tried for murder. Try me.”

She nodded.

“ Now get out my house and make sure you get her back within forty eight hours.”

Denny stood up and gave Jib a glare. He would not forget what just happened. The smack and kick…a debt.

As he walked out of the house, he wondered where on earth he was going to find the girl. Mina, why did you leave without telling me? He lamented.

2008

“ My name is Danny. Danny Ahmadu.” He said confidently. “ I work with Assurance  Bank, Kano branch.”

“Thank you, Mr Danny.” Maryam went on, “what was your relationship with the deceased?”

“ He was my uncle. My father’s younger  brother.”

“My lord, the text message which was sent to my client was incomplete. But the complete message is with this gentleman. Late Mr. Uthman had mentioned that my client did not kill them intentionally. Uthman stated that it was not his fault. He got to realise it late. This was the doing of his late boss, Mallam Hamisu Barau and Hajiya Binta who was popularly known as Jezebel. My client did not know the beverage was poisoned. It was a set-up.”

When Okorie got up to cross examine Danny Ahmadu, he wore that intimidating smile of his. 

“ I appreciate your coming, Mr Danny Ahmadu. you  claim to have the full text of your late uncle. Did you get it from his phone via Bluetooth? I mean, how is it possible when the phone was found in his hand and taken as exhibit?”

“ He sent it to me.”

“ How? I mean why? Are you the real Danny who allegedly killed him?”

“Objection my lord!” Maryam remonstrated.

“Objection overruled.” Said the judge.

“Thank you my lord. Yes, Mr Danny Ahmadu. Tell us more about the so-called SMS.”

“I was in my room around after ten when I got a message alert from my uncle. When I opened the message, I saw what he wrote. I quote: The beverage you sent to us just killed us but it is not your fault. They used you. It is a set-up and I fell for it. It is Jezebel and my boss.  I suspected him. Now I am dying. We are all dying. TeeTee XOB.”

“ Hmmm..”Okorie gave Danny a searching glance, “ do you still have this message?”

“ I do and the lawyer has it as presented as evidence.”

“ How come the police did not find this complete version on his phone? The only version was the one sent to Danny Adam. How do we believe that this is not an attempted perjury?”

“ I don’t know anything about that, my lord. This is all I know.”

“ Who did you report this to?”

Damn! Danny was now feeling jittery. She assured him that he would not be in trouble. This lawyer was confusing him. Were lawyers thought how to distort a witness' sense of balance, make him confused and mix words?

“ I did not report to anyone.”

There was a little murmurings in the courtroom and this got  Danny Ahmadu regretting why he came.

“ You saw a text message from your uncle, saying you killed them with a beverage and you did not find it strange to report this bizarre message. It is two years now and this is the first time you are saying it this out. My Lord, “ He turned away from Danny Ahmadu, “ it obvious that this man is not telling the truth. Whatever he claims to have in his phone, which was not found on the phone of the deceased, does not prove that the accused is not guilty of the offences neither does it prove that there is a certain Jewel….oh, Jezebel sorry who is behind all of these. Thank you ,my lord.”

Maryam came up and looked a bit shaken. This expression she wore made her mother felt cold. But who felt more cold than Danny Adam’s mother who could see her son getting hanged if she lost the case?

“ Danny Ahmadu, You did not show the message to anyone because you were scared, am I right?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“Why were you scared?”

“ I know I did not give any beverage to them. I was not even in Abuja then because it was during holidays.. I was in Jigawa. But there was a little misunderstanding then, between me and his daughter who I hoped to marry before Danny came and …snatched her away..”

There was laughter as he said it with a grimace.

“ So I was scared if anyone saw the message, I may be misconceived. When I heard that they were all dead, I became more scared. Then We heard that Danny Adam was arrested for the murder. I now realized that the message was for him.

I then knew he did not kill them intentionally but I felt this message was not an evidence to prove his innocence.”

“Thank you. My lord,” she turned away from Danny Ahamadu and faced the judge, “ Mallam had realized they were poisoned after consuming the beverage. This beverage was introduced to him by his boss.”

“ Objection my lord. Danny Adam bought the beverage from a hawker.”

“ Objection overruled. Go on, Barrister Kankiya.”

“Thank you, my lord. Mr Uthman had his suspicions about his boss. He knew Jezebel had inside men, those who protect her at all cost. But he never knew the charade about wiping a family over an estate was a target to wipe out his family.

The perpetrators had it carefully planned. So when he discovered that they were dying, he sent a message. I saw the phone. And Danny Ahmadu’s name was stored as A-m-e-e-r. The only capital letter is A while Danny Adam was stored as A-M-E-E-R. All capital letters.

So after typing the message, he mistakenly sent it to Danny Ahmadu. He realized this then typed another message to  Danny Adam. This was a dying man, probably in pains and agitation of death. Forwarding the message may have not crossed his mind.

In Mr Uthman’s phone, there was a message sent to Danny Ahmadu but with no contents. It was sent a few minutes before the one sent to Danny Adam. This aroused my suspicion and I began to investigate until I found Danny Ahmadu.

It is worthy of note that all the evidence against my client look staged  and the coincidences are…surreal. Who was the photographer who took the shots of Denny climbing the hill? And why? Who was the photographer who took the shots of Danny Adam as he went into Safyan’s house and why?

It all shows that it is a set-up. We should also look into some of the witnesses that died. The man who hawked and sold the poisoned Beverage died that same day: accident. Mallam Hamisu Barau was also killed that day.It was obvious it would be traced to him that he gave an order for the mysterious file to be retrieved illegally claiming it was covert operation. He died the same day in his guest house. They claimed his gatekeeper tried to rob him. Hmm.

The mastermind mind behind this is Hajiya Binta Yahuza. Mr Uthman had a file that exposed her criminal activities which also involves some top men in this country. She tried to get this file but failed. Mr Uthman hid the file under a code which made it impossible for her agents to find.

So she befriended Hamisu, and used him to get the file. Hamisu never made Uthman’s report officially known. While my client thought he was working undercover, they were setting him up.”

“ Barrister, do you have evidence to support this?” Asked the judge.

The court went in silence. Her next words determined the fate of the poor guy in the dock.

Tension.

Prayers.

“ Yes, my lord.” She said, “ and I got it from the text message sent to  Danny Ahmadu.The last words were Teetee xob. It was a puzzle. Danny used to call his fiancée, Uthman’s daughter Teetee. Uthman sent a message to Danny. The x-o-b meant box. So, I deduced Teetee’s box.

With the help of the family members, I got to her box and searched. Uthman hid the documents there. I have as evidence the duplicates of all the documents in the file Hajiya Binta was looking for. Uthman was a hero to the last.

He had a duplicate. He also kept all the reports he made to Hamisu, and recorded their conversations ,including video footage that substantiated that Danny  Adam was acting undercover under the auspices of the DSS director.I present to the court these items.”

Boom!

Okorie bowed his head in defeat. He did not need to wait for the jury to know that the case has been lost.

Maryam’s mother bowed her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. She could not believe her daughter did it. I am proud of you, daughter!

Denny could feel his heart beating rapidly. So he would live to witness the day Jezebel was exposed.

The untouchable Jezebel. How could he forget what he made them go through? She had given him forty-eight hours to find Mina. That was a hell of a thing………