Deadly as trust

Eighteen: Jide

I was sitting in my desk when Dayo came in uninvited. I groaned inwardly.

"How come it was just yesterday that you searched the brothel?"

"And good afternoon to you too Dayo."

He rolled his eyes.

"Don't start with your nonsense, you need to take your job more seriously."

"Did you come to scold me Dayo? Because nobody takes my job more seriously than I do and that's a fact. Now if you're ready for us to discuss like real gentlemen have a seat and we'll talk."

You did well Jide, you did well, I mentally patted myself.

Dayo sat down grudgingly and welcomed a few-second silence with me.

"For a man who barged into my office ranting, you're slow to actually tell me the real problem here. How are the wife and kids by the way?"

He sent me a glare. I took it cockily, at least I had put him in his place.

"The problem is that you're taking the matter too slow. You have the witness to the crime scene so why are you slowing progress?"

"First of all Dayo, I'm not slowing progress, I'm calculating and if I want to close this case then it's very important that I do. Secondly, it's for reasons best known to me."

Actually, what I would not tell him was that the "reasons", I was talking about, were that Miriam was involved and I knew she would be affected if I took things too quickly, she was working with me now. Her wellbeing was important to me and I want her to be safe and not have a mental breakdown. If she did have a mental breakdown, it wouldn't make things better because she was the only one that witnessed the murder. But I knew deep inside that there was another reason, it was something I was scared to admit.

"I want to interrogate this witness personally. You have to be missing something for you not to have ended this case by now."

"Excuse me?"

"Or do you have a problem with that, Jide?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. I couldn't let him get close to Miriam, or at least let him know that she was living with me. I wasn't going to risk them taking Miriam to some place else. Then I sighed inwardly, there it was again — that protective feeling.

"Listen, Dayo. I have things under control and if I ever have problems—" I swallowed my pride and hated it— "I will meet you for assistance since you are more experienced than I am."

He blinked at me, obviously not expecting me to act that humble.

"Two weeks, Jide. Two weeks, or I'll take matters into my own hands."

You're forgetting one thing though, this is my case and you are not my boss, I had to refrain from saying it. He eventually left and I hissed as soon as he did. Nosy people.

Maybe giving him that file was wrong. He had returned it a few days ago. So far, I was making slow progress, but it was progress and Miriam didn't feel threatened, so I was satisfied with it. She was helping, I could go to her to ask questions where I wanted to be clear on something.

I took out one of the files I got from the brothel and opened it. It had a bunch of paperwork in it and a few passports of the same person, someone I didn't recognize at all. I had been going through the files for a few days now and they all had the same thing — paperwork and passports — but of different people.

I suspected that the files contained information on the occupants of the brothel, but then, why were they so formal about it? Funny enough I hadn't seen Miriam's own file.

Then something pushed me to search for it immediately, making me wonder why I hadn't done it since.

I spent some minutes checking and arranging the files, noticing that some had letters written on them like "S", "T" or "D". I finally found it. I took it out and opened it up. I found her file, like the other ones they had passports of her at different times in her life. Her birth certificate was there too and so were a bunch of other stuff. They had so much information on her but it was also the same with the others. It was like they took record of them regularly or something.

I kept going till I got to the records of this year. Like the other years, it had basic information about her, but unlike the others there was a boldly written "D" on it, with red ink. I narrowed my eyes at it.

What was D for?

Something was not right. I checked the others that I saw the same letter on, there had to be a connection.

My brows were scrunched up in thought when my phone vibrated and the screen lit up. Jamilah had sent a message and I took the phone and opened the message, allowing my brain a little rest.

After reading the message, I opened my inbox to read the message that had put me on edge since I got it. I remember how to reacted, how I was tense. I remember how scared and worried Miriam looked when she saw the look on my face. I was worried about her and hadn't allowed myself to sleep that night, I was still worried even if there was a little relief too.

The only sleeping pill I needed was knowing my house was safe. Then I thought about what Dayo said, I should let him interrogate her, he was definitely going to take her somewhere else. She wasn't safe with me, but a part of me didn't want that.

I read the message again and again. I looked at the papers laid all over my desk. Could it mean that D meant "Dead" or "Deceased"? I looked at the papers again and back at the message. Why didn't I think of this before?

I took one look at the message before locking my phone, with a little bit of paranoia;

She's supposed to be dead, like the others. She's not supposed to be living with you. Make sure you don't play hero this time or else things will get uglier than they already are. Remember I know something that not everyone else doesn't.

— Gabriel.

This was my ultimate blackmail.

~~~

Author's note: Hehehehehe 😏, now that you know what's in the letter let's talk about your support.

Pleeeeaaaasaaeee, I need it. It's like part of the fuel that keeps me typing. I need your votes and comments.

Anyways, let's move on.