MISSING PIECE (27)

“Hey baby. How are you?”, Armstrong greeted his wife. 

“I’m fine. Where have you been? Tony told you’ve been gone since morning.”

“Yep. Delvan and I went out.” 

“Really? Guys groove again, huh?”

“Not really, he took me elsewhere”, he said. 

“Where?”

“Well, having listened to all that happened to me, he took me to meet a man he did a contract for some years back. And guess what?”

“What?”, she asked.

“Without any C.V whatsoever, he asked me to resume on Monday as the company’s sales representative to Dubai.”

“I can’t believe this”, she said.

“You better believe it, honey. I am now the sales representative for Listrem Construction Company”, he said proudly.

She fell on her knees, tears running down her cheeks. “God, you are great. Only You have done this. Thank You for opening a greater door for us.”

“Stop crying. God has done it for us.”

“Let me cry”, Jacinta said, “They are tears of joy. Thank God for bringing Delvan our way.”

“Oh yes, it’s all the doing of God”, Armstrong concurred. They kept singing praises to God.

His phone rang. “Hello……..Police Station?”

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

“James, I’m so grateful. You have no idea the burden you’ve lifted from my shoulders. How was I supposed to explain to our parents? That would have killed our mother”, Mr Alao said in gratitude. 

Mr. James smiled wryly. “It’s okay, what are friends for? But you’d be shocked here today.”

“How do you mean?”, his friend asked, not sure where he was going.

“Constable, bring them in!”

“Yes sir!” 

Few moments later, they brought in some men in handcuffs, Olumide included.

“James, what is the meaning of this? Why is my brother in handcuffs? And my staffs?”, he asked bewildered.

“Calm down, Alao. I told you that you’d be shocked. When I got the information, I was shocked myself but I had to do a thorough investigation and it turned out to be true. We were not making headways with our investigation because your brother was here, along with other insiders, divulging information to these criminals”, the DPO explained.

“I don’t understand”

(Knock On The Door)

“Come in!” Armstrong and his wife entered. They greeted the DP0 and sat. Armstrong refused to acknowlege Mr Alao’s presence, except his wife.

“What is he doing here? How does this concern him?”, Mr Alao asked distastefully.

“It concerns him more than you know”, the DPO began. “This man is innocent of whatever crime was levelled against him. Your brother here, in desperate need of money to satisfy his mistress, who is still at large kept stealing money from you.”

………….

Dude, how far?”, Armstrong greeted, shaking hands with Chris. 

“Nothing much joor. Who’s this beautiful damsel with you?”

Armstrong laughed. “You and women ehnn! Anyway, this is my fiancée you’ve been dying to see. She just came to town and I told her she must see you before she go.”

“Wow! It’s so good to finally meet you, Jacinta”, Chris said taking her hand and kissing it.

“Okay, lover boy. That’s enough”, Armstrong said snatching her hand away from him.

She laughed. “Good to finally see you too, Chris. It seems you guys have discussed a lot about me.”

“Indeed, we have. But he never told me enough of your beauty”, Chris said dreamingly.

“…..I fell in love with her, but you took her. You always had all the good things to yourself. You even take the position I envied so much. Why couldn’t things move smoothly for me like that? I had to stop your next promotion because I knew they’d definitely give you. 

Your being in prison was my chance to get Jacinta but I couldn’t. I hate been sidelined”, Chris ended. Armstrong was too dazed to speak. Here was someone he had helped, given accomodation when he had done, introduced him to his boss for employment. This same person was standing before him, speaking to him with so much hate and unrepentance. 

His heart bled. Jacinta was right when she told him there was something about him that wasn’t right. He had dismissed it then. He knew better.

“Olumide. You are a disgrace. Look at what you’ve done to……”, Mr Alao began. 

“Ohh please! Spare me the lectures”, Olumide said angrily, interrupting his brother. “I don’t know why they brought me here to face you. Are you not everyone’s favourite? You are ‘always the best’. Everybody keeps telling me, ‘Be like Alao, he’s very promising’. Nobody asked what I wanted. Just small money you’ll give me and you’ll start preaching. Just keep your mouth shut”, Olumide blurted out. 

Mr. Alao opened his mouth, no words came out. Was this his younger brother?

“I told you, Alao. If you must know, the jewelries your wife talked about was stolen by him. He’s called ‘Kanga’ among his friends”, the DPO said much later.

“You mean it was not Labake?” 

“No, the girl is innocent as she claimed. They have also confessed the names of other top executives too. And we’re on the trail for Miss Tessy and her boyfriend, Mr Friday. We’ll get them soon, though.”

He couldn’t take the heart-wreching pains anymore. “Thank you sir. We’ll meet in court”, Armstrong said, standing up. “I beg to take my leave.”

(To Be Continued)

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