21| He won again!
1009 Words
Owen picked up my bunch of keys from the bedside table.
“Have it, I have already fixed the new key in here.” He said, as he handed the keys to me.
I collected it and navigated through the keys, when I found the one that didn’t look familiar, I picked it up and said, “this right?”
“Yes.” He confirmed and smiled.
“You are the best baby. And I am so lucky to have you by my side, thank you.”
“Stop flattering me Ma’am.”
“I’m not flattering you. I mean every word.” I assured him.
“Ok I believe you, but you have to get going now. If not, you’ll be late for work.” He reminded me, then I quickly jerked up and ran out.
“Bye.” I yelled, just before I left the house.
When I got to work, Tunde was not in the station yet, which was very unusual because he was always the first to be at the office.
I started working on the case on my own, hoping he’ll come soon so that we’ll continue working on it together. But still, I couldn’t come up with anything.
After one hour, I decided to go back to the crime scene and check again, hoping I’ll be able to connect some dots when I get there.
To my surprise, I saw Tunde when I got there.
“Good morning, Hazel.” He greeted when he saw me.
“How long have you been out?” I asked. He looked very tired, as if he hasn’t had any rest.
“Long enough. I have been to the gym, her work place, her house and now I am here.” He said, then glanced up to the ceiling.
‘I knew it! so he has been out trying to look for clues. Tunde was never the type to go to work late.” I thought.
“So, anything?” I asked.
I knew what the answer would be because it was obvious, but I still decided to ask anyway.
“No.” he said and shook his head disappointedly.
“What next?” I asked him.
“let’s go back to the station for now.” He said and started moving fast towards the exit.
I stood there and watched him for some seconds. I could tell how unhappy he was by his tone and walking step.
I followed him outside and before I could reach where he was, he clenched his fist and threw a punch into the wall, as hard as he possibly could.
I stopped in my track and my jaw dropped to the floor. Tunde had never been like that over a case.
I was still trying to process what was happening when he threw another punch into the wall.
“Tunde, stop!” I yelled and ran towards him, as fast as my legs could carry me.
He kept punching the wall repeatedly before I could get to him.
He was about to throw another punch when I grabbed his hand with force. I looked at his hand and his knuckles were already bleeding.
“What the f**k is wrong with you?” I yelled.
He released his hand from my grip and started walking towards his car.
“Tunde!” I called, as I trailed behind him. But he didn’t respond.
“Tunde!” I called again, then I walked fast and grabbed his hand.
“I think it’s him.” He said.
“Who?” I asked.
“The bastard from before. I have been assigned to a similar case before and I tried all my best but couldn’t come up with a single clue. That was long time ago.” He paused, then drew in a long breath, before he continued. “All my instinct is telling me that it’s the same murderer that we couldn’t get hold of. And it is making me go crazy.”
Things started making sense to me after he had finished explaining, because I could understand how he felt. But that didn’t warrant him to hurt himself.
“Tunde.” I said, then held his hands to comfort him “I understand how you feel. We are on this case together, and I desperately want to catch the perpetrator too. But harming your self is not the way to go about it.”
“I lost my mind when I came to the realization that it was over. He won again.” He said and his words got to me. I couldn’t correct him because he was right.
“The motherfucker won again!” he yelled and placed his hands on his head.
I was also devastated at the realization that we might never catch the culprit but I had to brace myself up and comfort him. He was in so much pain and that’s because he has been through this before. I placed my hand on his shoulder and gave him a gentle squeeze.
I wanted to say “it’s okay.” But I couldn’t, because I knew that was a big lie. It was not okay.
“Let us go back to the station and report to chief.” He said and started walking to the driver’s side of the car.
“Give me the key, I will drive.” I said and stretched my hands out for the key.
He shook his head and said “do you think I can’t drive? For goodness’ sake Hazel I am not drunk. Now get in the car and let’s go.”
Tunde had never spoken to me like that. He had always been calm and gentle with me, probably because he liked me. He must have been really hurt for him to talk to me that way. It’s not like he was rude, but the Tunde I know would have been like “It’s okay, I can drive. Let’s go.” Or, it may be that I was just overexaggerating things.
- Writer
