Sinners and Saints II

Chapter 34

"Helloooooooooo" !

Olivia's soul almost left her in fright the moment she heard Amy's loud voice followed by the knocking sound of her flats as it came in contact with the ground. She turned quickly. Why didn't Amy bother to knock anyway?

"God, Amarachi you scared me." Olivia had her hand gripping her top as she tried to regulate her breathing while she watched Amy walk into the room.

"Did I?" Amy walked straight to the king sized bed and then threw her bag on it, a huge frown covering her face the moment she turned to see Olivia standing the way she did, placing shots of her cologne behind her ears one after the other.

"Are you going somewhere?"

Olivia nodded, closing her cologne and then dropping it on her dressing table right into the section where her other perfumes sat.

"W-where? I thought you were supposed to stay home today? Isn't that why you called me? To keep you company and watch Korean movies with you?"

Olivia slowly turned to her. She shrugged her shoulders. She wasn't exactly filled with words to say to Amy. She wasn't sure she should say anything at all. Amy noticed. It was like she could read through her, through the anxiety in Olivia's eyes. It didn't look good.

Amy exhaled and then folded her arms beneath her breasts, shutting her eyes for a quick second.

"Where are you going Olivia?"

"To Kubwa."

"What?" Amy said in a whisper like she was scared someone else would hear, hurrying as fast as she could to where Olivia was standing till she was really close. "Olivia what are you talking about? Don't tell me you're still going to try to find that woman?"

"I have to find her Amy. I have to find answers."

"Does this have something to do with your nightmares? With last night's?"

"It has everything to do with it." Olivia glared at her. "I've not had a good night's rest in weeks Amy. I keep having these dreams, dreams about my family, about the accident, about the truck."

"The blue truck?"

Olivia nodded.

"Yes, the blue truck."
Amy exhaled.

"I need answers Amy. I need to at least find some before I completely loose my mind. I need to know what happened to my parents, who that driver was. I need to know if my parents were murdered, why and by whom. I close my eyes every night and all I see is their faces, I'm drowning in that river over and over again. It's like my mind is trying to tell me something but I don't know what. If I can find that woman-"

"You mean the woman with the brain disorder? Olivia listen to yourself."

"What am I supposed to do? Amy, she knew who I was. She came to the office to see me. She knew my mum. There's a high chance she knows what happened to her."

Amy exhaled. She wasn't really sure about it.

"You can stay back if you like Amy, but I can't. I need answers. I have to at least try to find some answers, to find the people that killed my parents, the people that ruined my life and why. I owe it to myself that much at least, and if you won't come with me, then I'd just go find her myself."

"Olivia, this is insane. Kubwa is a large place. You can't just go knocking at everyone's door. Finding that lady is almost impossible-"

"I honestly don't care."

"There should be another way. I'm sure if we think hard, we can find another way to find her. You said she found you on the news isn't it?"

Olivia narrowed her gaze to her.

"Why don't you reach out to her on TV. Like a broadcast or an ad on the papers. I'm sure if she sees it, she'd find you again. We can also hire a private investigator to help out."

Olivia exhaled. No matter how she wanted to see it, Amy's option was making a lot of sense. It was way better, way faster. She knew there was no way she could find her without a photo or a number anyway.

"Hey," Olivia slowly turned to Amy as she slowly reached for her hands. She could see the look of sincerity and concern in Amy's eyes. "I know you want to find out the truth about what happened. I do too. After all, they were my family. I just want us to do this carefully, with our heads and not just our heart. If your haunch is right and your parents were killed, then the murderers are probably still alive and on the look out. If we're caught searching for answers like this, carelessly, they might come for us. Think about Grace. What do you think would happen to her if anything happens to you? Rafael too."

Olivia exhaled.

"Let's just be patient sister. Let's try it my way and see how it plays out first."

Olivia nodded. She wanted that too. She wanted to use her head too. Amy was right. She knew she had to be careful with everything.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

She nodded. "Okay."

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

"I've told you everything." Rafael rose his head to the man in handcuffs sitting in front of him with his eyes buried into his. He watched Musa let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm not making things up. A man took me to a warehouse and showed me a truck. A blue truck. He asked me to bury the items in the truck at the location he gave to me. I am being as honest as I can be. It was a blue truck. Probably unregistered but it had the name "Rand oil" written on it."

Musa exhaled.

"Dan allah." He rose his hands to his head to stop his migraine.

Rafael took a deep breath.

"Sir," his secretary's voice echoed from the phone just as Rafael hurried into his car that morning. "The private investigator just called. There has been no progress in finding the bus our client described. It's like it doesn't exist. I just sent a rough sketch of what the bus looks like from Mr Musa's description."

Rafael opened his eyes slowly, taking another deep breath, slouching into his chair. He rubbed his temples gently like he was trying to control his migraine.

Think Rafael think.

What was he missing? Obviously, whoever that was responsible for what had happened wouldn't want to leave traces behind. He'd have tried to bury evidence. To get rid of the bus. Rafael couldn't shake off the feeling that he might be running around in circles but there was a feeling he couldn't shake off more. A tiny detail from his childhood. A detail that had been crossing through his mind bit by bit. A detail he was forcing himself not to let into the equation. The old underground basement at the mansion. The place that was almost impossible to find even if you had lived in the building for twenty two years. Rafael had only found that place out shortly after they had moved from Lagos. He could remember how his mother had scolded him the night he had followed a truck in to it. A blue truck.

Rafael let out an exasperated sigh.

He didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think of the possibility that everything wasn't just a coincidence. He shook his head trying to shut the voice that asked him to get up from his chair, hop into his car and hurry to the mansion.

It couldn't be. They could not have possibly been the same truck. Rafael threw his pen on his fancy wooden table. God he hated his anxiety. He hated how his mind was in conflict. He knew in the end he was going to have to give in. He was going to have to want to prove to his conscience that there was nothing to be worried about.

Why was the basement hidden? Why didn't his parents ever let him get in? Why had he tried to convince himself all those years that it was nothing to worry about until he had eventually forgotten about it? Why were these questions crowding his memory?

He was scared. Really scared to find out. He knew he shouldn't but then another voice in his mind convinced him to check it out if he had nothing to really worry about.

Rafael got up from his chair quickly and hurried to the door.