Working Cases - Episode 6

 

“I have made many enemies in my life, Nicodemus. Sadly, they’re all yours now.”—Senator Abdulraheem Akande, Journal Entry #371.
My father’s journals provided many answers, but they brought twice as many questions along with them. Several successful men and women were connected with the criminal underground. The late Duncan Ajayi and Lanre Abidemi were held in very high regard in the organization . So were the Adegboyegas, a highly regarded crime family led by Madame Olivia Adegboyega. The Comptons, the Nwachukwus, the Haflidarsons, had all been in my father’s journals. But the man who ran it all was not. Who was the man in the shadows?
I had also come across a few names I did not recognize. Who was Joseph Thomas? The journal had his name on the very last page, circled in red ink by a question mark. 
Amelia had been very helpful. The quirky, socially awkward young lady was an encyclopedia. There was nothing about my father’s work she didn’t know and she was there with me through the long hours and sleepless nights, remembering to order food and arrange files, enforcing mandatory break periods where she threatened to throw me out if I didn’t go take a shower or change my clothes. Knowing my father, he’d probably written some legal clause that allowed her to do just that

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. He had said in his first message to me to trust her. And so I did. It was a lot easier to.
It was noon, three days after I first stepped into my father’s office, when I finished familiarizing myself with the majority of my father’s personal journals and trusted Amelia to be on hand with knowledge of the rest. I called in the rest of the Nicodemus Squad.
There were four of us now, the only people I could trust and from whom I could get trusted information. 
I was the first.
Natalie, whose relationship with me was a bit strange. I would say we were romantically involved, but we’d barely been in contact outside work. I hadn’t had the time to move us forward. We would have to talk about that sometime.
Gabe, whose knowledge of basically everything and everyone in town was a useful resource. The only person I knew who might possibly know more than Gabe was Amelia and that was only because the information she had was readily accessible. Gabe was a hard nut to crack. He knew if you were being honest, if it would be okay to tell you something, and he also only answered the right questions. Anything he didn’t understand would elicit a neutral response. But he was trustworthy. Gabe loved my father. He slept in his house on most days. I would ask him if he would want to live with me. He usually said no. no one could force him into anything.
And Amelia, the living repository of all my father’s life and research, I trusted her because my father trusted her, and because she was nice.
“Uncle Nick?” Gabe’s voice had a smile in it as he walked in the door with Natalie in tow.
“Hello, Gabe.” I nodded, giving him a small smile. I turned my gaze to Natalie, “How are you, Natalie?”
She shook her head. “Three days without a single message and a ‘How are you, Natalie?’ is all I get?”
I winced. “Sorry. I didn’t feel time pass.”
She shook her head again. “At least you had company,” she turned her gaze to Amelia, “who’s your friend, Nico?”
Amelia, who had been waiting for a chance to be introduced, jumped at the opportunity. “Hi,” she shook Natalie’s hand and patted Gabe’s arm, “I'm Amelia. I was the senator’s secretary. I work for Nicodemus now.”
Natalie smiled at her. “Nice to meet you, Amelia.”
I cut in. “Now that we’re done with the niceties, please have a seat, Gabe, have a seat.”
“Yeah, what was so important that you left your little bubble to call your friends?” Natalie asked, taking the seat next to Gabe and across from Amelia.
“What I was doing in that bubble,” I gave her an amused look, “was looking at what my father left behind.” I threw her a small notebook. “In there is a summary of everything you need to know. If you have any questions, Amelia would be happy to answer them.”
She browsed the notebook. “This is a lot of stuff. I’ll have to go through it later. Anything you want us to do now?”
“As a matter of fact, yes. The last trail my father was following up involved a Joseph Thomas. Does the name ring any bells?”
I needn’t have asked because Gabe immediately lit up. “Brother Joseph is the carpenter. Everybody calls him Carpenter. Only a few people know his real name.” He said.
“That’s good, Gabe, thank you.” Like I said, he was a useful resource.
Natalie asked, “So what connection does Carpenter have with all of this?”
Amelia answered. “We’re not sure. The senator said he wanted to find Joseph because he would have information about the leader of the criminal organization. He wanted to question him, but we never really figured out who Joseph was, that is, until now.”
I turned it over in my head. “So, we have to talk to the Carpenter.”
Gabe cut in. “Carpenter went out of town for business. He should be back by five.”
“So, what do we do till then?” Natalie asked.
“The crime families. We have their names now. Let’s do some digging.” I turned to Amelia, “Amelia, try to ask Gabe whatever questions we have you can think of. He knows a lot but unless he understands what you're asking, he won’t answer.”
“Natalie, gather your sources. Find out any criminal activities these guys are involved in. now that we have names, we can nail them.”
Amelia asked. “What are you going to do?”
“I'm going to have a chat with Madame Olivia.”
“You're crazy,” Natalie blurted out, “I mean, she runs the Adegboyegas. Even look at her wrongly and you'll be dead before you look away.”
“Didn’t you hear?” I smiled at her. “I'm un-killable.”