Palm lines - Episode 33

 

Feso's POV

Erika called me in the day, "I'm back with David she announced and i faked a smile as though she could see me "Sharon called me mom" she added.
I shrugged on hearing the news, I didn't want to sound unhappy. She on the other hand sounded happy and I had to be happy for her.
"I hope he makes you happy" 

***
I drove over to Savage realtor. I needed to see David.  "I'd like to see your boss" I said to the secretary and she put a call through to him.
I walked into the office and I saw David smile.
"When Imaobong told me Feso Odogwu was waiting to see me, the first thing I thought of was, rapture . The world definitely has to be ending"
"Not today" I answered.
"Are you sure? Give me a minute to ask God for forgiveness in case He decides to take everyone away while we're discussing"
"it's definitely not rapture"
"Are you sure?" He asked and I nodded.
 "I'm surprised you're here" 
"I came to see you, Erika called" he answered. "She sounded happy" I added. 
"She deserves to be happy, Erika deserves all the happiness. Let the best man win and you won"
"Don't say that, you make her look like a trophy

All episodes of this story can be found here >> https://www.ebonystory.com/story/palm-lines

. She's more than that"
"Erika's every man's dream"
"Hey, hey, hey, I don't feel comfortable with you talking about her that way" he chipped in and I laughed.
"You're one crazy person, remind me again, how did she end up with you and not with me?" I asked and he chuckled.
"Because of my good looks"
"If it's by good looks, I would have won" 
"See who's talking, I have a good sense of humor, you don't"
"You probably think you're funny now abi?"
"I didn't say I was funny, you just admitted it to yourself and it feels nice hearing it from you. Thank you Feso, I really appreciate the comment"  he answered and I gazed at him for a while. I was speechless, then I busted into laughter. 
"You're crazy. Just make her happy"
"I'll make her happy, I want to propose to her and I don't know what ring she'll like"
"Are you seriously asking for my opinion? You've had two years experience on this and I have none, except one time i proposed to Erika" 
"Ha," he chuckled. 
"Someone just tried to be funny" he added. 
"I meant venue, the last time I proposed, it was on a mountain top"
"You took someone's daughter to a mountain top to propose to her, why are you this heartless?"
"Mountain tops are romantic" "So you're planning to take a pregnant woman to a mountain top"
"I wasn't...now you're annoying the hell out of me. I need a venue, a good venue"
"Something really romantic"
"You're the king of venues," 
"She's special, I want it to be special. PS I didn't propose to Cynthia, i have just a year experience and maybe some day you're going to get the experience"
"Maybe... When I find the one"
"You will, just be open-minded." He advised and I smiled.
"I have to go, most of us have our father's company to run"
"I'd like to have your number to give you a call"
"Why does it suddenly look like you're making advances at me?" I asked and he laughed. 
"You should roll with me once in a while, you're starting to feed off my humour" I added and we both exchanged numbers.
On my way to work, I took a different turn over to Ify' house. I knocked and she opened up.
She seemed stressed out. "Hey" she smiled, "Hey Ify, can I come in?"
"I won't be staying for long, I came so I could cook"
"Where are you going to and why do you look so lean?" I asked and she laughed nervously, I noticed.
Then she entered into the house, I had no choice but to follow her.
"Where's Feso?" I asked about her baby. 
"He's with Mom" 
"What do you mean he's with Mom? Your mom is in the village"
"Exactly" she answered and I became even more curious.
"Ify, what's going on?"
"What's going on is that you should mind your business Feso," she turned towards me, "This doesn't concern you"
"I came to let you know I left Lucy" 
"Good for you"
"I left Erika too, I realized we're not meant to be and she's a whole lot more compatible with David Savage," I chuckled on mentioning his name.
"The guy is not entirely bad" i added.
"We spoke and.... Erika and I are friends by the way but it hurts, it hurts so much that I want to punch my hands through a wall. Ify, I'm so angry right now and I just need to talk to my best friend in the world. Ify, I'm sorry for what I did and what I said to you. I could have come earlier but I was still processing. I need you to talk to me, I need you to slap me silly, I need you to" I paused in tears and she hugged me. 
"I'm also sorry for putting my frustration out on you too" she answered and I wondered why she said that. I was kind of grateful she hugged me.
"Thanks" I muttered.
"You're welcome but I'm kinda busy right now. I was slicing yam before you came"
"Ify you're not the kind of woman to leave your kid to anyone's care. Where's Kasi?" I asked and I notice her hesitate.
"Kasi and Somto has been staying with my sister for a while now because of school" she went into the kitchen then resumed peeling yam.
"What's going on?"
"Nothing to worry your head about Feso"
"Ify!" I yelled and she busted in tears.
"Feso junior dipped his hands In hot water" she answered and I opened my mouth In shock. "How did that happen?"
"I was distracted, I was on a call with my husband's mother...it happened so fast"
"Is he okay?"
"Yes.. he is" she cried.
"Ify what's going on? I'm worried"
"My husband is sick" she announced and I shrugged.
"His organization in Port Harcourt brought him back in an ambulance, they said it's cancer, apparently he's been keeping it away from me. The company have helped in their own way but I'm doing everything in my power but it's not enough . I'm running out of savings and the kids have to pay their school fees and it's all on me and I'm breaking down. I can't keep on pretending like it's fine Feso, it's not. " She busted into tears. It's not fine and after the incidence with my son I had to send him to Mama."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I asked in tears and she shook her head. 
"You know how I hate bothering people with my problems" 
"You're my best friend Ify,  I'm not just anyone! I can help!" "I'm..." She covered her mouth from crying and I hugged her. She suddenly started to sobs uncontrollably. 

I went back to the hotel office, there were police men in the building. I didn't understand what was going on. "Sir!" My secretary ran towards me, "What are policemen doing here?" 
"Well sir... they're looking for you" 
"Why?" I asked and I saw a man walk towards me, "Are you Mr Feso Odogwu"  "You damn right I am, what are you guys doing in my establishment?" I asked and he turned my arms backwards, he wanted to cuff me and I punched him on the face. 
Two other men held me down  cuffing me. "You're under arrested for the murder of Alhaji Danladi, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say would be used against you in the court of law" he said and I shut my eyes. 

***
When I was given the chance to call someone, I called my lawyer and thought deeply on who else to call, I didn't want to call Dad, I didn't want to call Mom either; she would certainly die of heart attack. 
Erika would be worried, I didn't want to inform Ify either so it was either Ajayi or David but I found myself calling David.
 "Hey" I muttered.
"See who called"
"Yeah ... Uh..." I paused, "Can you uh.... I'm kind of need your help right now." 
"Where are you?"
"In a police station; I've been arrested for murder. Can you come and please don't tell Erika" I added and he agreed. 

David walked into the interrogating room. "Hey" he said plunging his hands into his pocket.
"The short police man outside said they won't let anyone see me except my lawyer"
"I had a police friend pull some strings" he sat down.
"I'm sorry" he apologized and i scoffed.
"Why?"
"Alhaji was one of my organization patrons or client, his wife came to me weeks ago because she needed to find her husband. I made it a responsibility and, they found a body where he was last seen. You're Jude's suspect and for a while i've been keeping it to myself. I didn't want the Mrs Danladi to find out"
"You sound guilty, did you do this?"
"I didn't, i'm a lot more mature than that. Apparently, Lawrence told Ibrahim, the deceased's brother."
"Im not surprised, your brother has always hated me" i scoffed shutting my eyes.
"He was drunk, and I know there are no justification for what he did." He paused, "There are no other suspects but we can prove your innocence and find the murderer" he suggested and i scoffed again. "I heard you had issues with Alhaji, if you can think of this very well, you can provide names of persons that might want him dead. A diversion from .."
"There's no point David," I cut in, "They have the murderer already. I did it; i killed Alhaji Danladi and i threw his body away. It was all me."
David scoffed, "You're an a*shole, a big whinny baby and temperamental too but you don't look like a murderer."
"And how do murderers look like?" i asked and he shook his head. I could see he had doubts.
"You couldn't have.. I mean..." He stammered. 
"Why?" He then asked me, "Why would you do it?"
"We had a deal with Alhaji, we were build a home for one of his lovers. Being a close friend of Dad, we started work with less than half payment.
Along the way, she left him for one of our workers and when Alhaji found out, he refused to balance the payment. Clearly he was in love with her. I trailed him over to a hotel and we had a civilize discussion and he promised to pay up.  I never knew the real reason why he was at the hotel" i paused, "Our worker was found dead. I knew it had to be him. I got informed he was in a bar and we argued that was where things went bad. I mistakenly pushed him and he fell, his head fell against a stone and he died. I panicked, I took his body and I threw it in a bush close to the bar.

Read " Palm lines 2 " by the same author ( Essien Eno )

. I swear i didn't mean for it to turn that way. I didn't mean for him to end up dead."
"How are you gonna escape from this?"
"I don't know." I answered then I busted into tears. "It's over for me" "Don't say that"
"I was angry and.... " I leaned against the chair then covered my face with my palm. "How am I supposed to tell mom, she'll die of heart attack, how about Erika, Ify?" I asked.
"Don't cry, you're about to make me cry" David said and I laughed.
 "I'm serious" he added. 
"You're definitely an a*shole but you don't deserve this, it wasn't intentional" 
"How will I prove it? I'll spend my entire life in jail"
"Shut up!" He yelled. 
"Just shut up! You're not going to, I'll talk to the lawyer, I'll talk to the best lawyer, there has to be something... but if I know Mrs Danladi that much, she won't stop until you pay for her husband's death.
"I guess I'm screwed then" I answered. "Can you help me pull some strings and bring me my phone, there's something I would like to do" I requested and he nodded. 
I had a million naira transferred to Ifeoma's account. She called me almost immediately, "I just saw an alert"
"Yeah... I sent it"
"Firstly, I don't recall asking for it and two, I think you made a mistake with the zero digits" she added and I chuckled. "There are too many zeros and it's scary
 "No, just use it to take care of yourself. Take care of your family, take care of your husband, I haven't been the most thoughtful person, I've been.." I paused blinking back my tears. 
"Feso are you okay?" She asked.
"Yes"
"Feso" she called out again and I hung up, switched off the phone, then I passed it to David then I cried.