Early the next morning, Osi locked his room door and removed his experiment from the wardrobe. The key had solidified and he carefully broke apart the soap and retrieved it.
He took his time to clean it until all the soap particles were off then he studied the outcome.
Honestly it looked ugly and was quite shapeless but he was optimistic. The most important part was the teeth of the key and he thought it had turned out pretty well.
Satisfied, he placed the key gently in one of his shirt pockets.

.·.·.·.·.·
"Pastor, I was hoping you'd like to accompany me to church today" pastor Batholomew mentioned over breakfast.
Breakfast in question was cereal. The pastor had more than enough cereal stashed in his cupboards.
Batholomew explained that someone always prepared lunch and dinner for him so he hardly cooked. She brought it home at times and sometimes to the church. So he really didn't cook much.
"Who is this person...I smell wedding bells" Osi joked.
"Ah...actually it's my sister in law. Sofiri's wife"
"I didn't know your brother was married" Osi was mildly surprised.
"Yes he is, almost two years now"
"Wow"
"So since Sofiri works in the church office with me he comes with a very large flask with enough food for the day"
"This past week must have been an inconvenience" Osi wondered if the couple had kids yet. But then he thought: maybe the house was very big and could contain them comfortably and besides they were family.
"So...would you follow me for the ministers meeting today?" Pastor Batholomew asked him again.
"Errrm...actually I have something to do this morning...I'd catch up. Before noon I should be done"

.·.·.·.·.·
Steve woke up very early that morning. He brushed his teeth and shaved his jaw. Whistling softly as he observed the mirror. He had always had an eye for Amara but then again who wouldn't? And to be fair he had always had a thing for dark skinned girls...
He bided his time a bit and then decided 8:35am wasn't too early.
He was already out the door when he stopped.
He thought hard. Two days ago, he had dodged a bullet and since then his mind hadn't really been at rest. Especially with the pastor still around.
He decided not to risk it. He entered his room and opened his wardrobe.
He dug inside and retrieved a slim case.
Stevenson opened the case, using a 4 digit combination code and stared at the contents. Satisfied, he locked the briefcase and carried it with him.
He didn't feel he should let it out of his sight today.

.·.·.·.·.·
Osi had it in mind to stroll by Amara's place and talk to her before taking up his new found 'hiding spot' just as he had done the day before.
However from a distance he could already see the European talking to Amara as they stood outside the gate.
He suddenly remembered the kissing statement and frowned. At least it was too early!
Amara must have been standing outside on purpose maybe for him to see them and know the 60 minutes countdown had begun. However he maintained his position until they entered the compound.
He hoped Dé Nwachukwu was indoors today.
Maybe he wasn't really observant or maybe it was his many thoughts but he didn't notice the slim case in the Europeans hands.
Although to be fair, Steve had both hands in his front and held the case up to his chest.

.·.·.·.·.·
Amara asked herself for the thousandth time what was in the case Steve held. The manner in which he griped the case, like his life depended on it, he did't even drop it on the floor but kept it in his lap, drumming his fingers softly on the hard leather exterior. When she couldn't take it anymore, she had to ask the man himself.

"Stevenson" she settled on the bench beside him. The lesson would be outside today. Dé Nwachukwu was around.
"What's in your suitcase, research materials?" She asked him innocently.
He smiled. "Ah...noooo, everything I need to tell you is right here" he touched his head.
"Oh..." Amara wouldn't relent "Are you going anywhere from here? You look like you're going to work" she said it jokingly but she was burning with suspicion.
"Aaahh, no...actually, it contains the manuscript for my books...I'm working on the final editing"
"Ohhh..." She didn't believe him one bit and she suddenly thought whatever Osi was supposed to find today wasn't in his house, it was in the case. She flashed him a charming smile "can I read it...you've been here for like a year now, I'm dying to see the output of all your research. Let me see what you plan to tell your people about my people"
"Ahhh..." That seemed to be his favourite word this morning. "Actually...I'm a very strict kind of writer...I don't normally allow people view my work until it's in print, especially at this final stage...it's a superstition of mine"
"Surely you can make an exception" she batted her lashes at him.

.·.·.·.·.·
The key required a little support, a little tug on the door handle, and a slight push while turning the lock simultaneously but it worked.
Osi was in. He removed the key and closed the door.
He checked his watch. He had roughly 48 minutes left.
The first thing he did was to bring out his phone and snap pictures of the apartment from every angle. He couldn't afford to miss anything. Stevenson was very specific in his arrangements and it would be a clear giveaway if he didn't leave everything the exact way it was.
The notepad was nowhere to be found. But there was no hurry, he was sure he would see it. He started from the drawer first. The top drawer didn't really contain anything of importance. A paperback novel, some coins that looked alien, a bunch of fountain pens with about 5 colours of ink and a piece of paper. There was nothing written on the paper.
The second drawer contained a deck of cards, a bunch of keys and a photograph. There was no sign of the letter!
Osi studied the photograph. A much younger Stevenson with his hair longer in a ponytail smiled at the camera. His chin rested on the shoulder of a young and beautiful smiling woman. It was apparent they were a couple.
They wore matching clothes and they looked happy and in love.
Osi studied the picture for minutes as he wondered where the woman was. The European apparently had no family to leave behind if he recalled correctly so who was this? And where was she? In fact when was this?
So many questions...
Finally Osi brought his phone and took a picture of the picture. He would study it later.
He replaced the picture carefully and when he was sure he had replaced everything the way he met it he closed the drawer.
Next he went under the bed, nothing. No box no bag, not a single thing! Not even a speck of dust!
He opened the wardrobe and smiled. The wardrobe held much promise.
He took a picture first freezing the arrangement in pixels before he dug in.
He brought out each clothe from its hanger.
He looked for any matching clothe with the torn pink material he had discovered at the scene of Chinaza's murder or the green material from the stream.
No such luck, but one thing was certain: Steve had a lot of second hand looking clothes.
Next he searched the pockets, the shirt pockets and the trouser pockets. He found some notes, a foreign currency he didn't have time to contemplate and a bunch of rubber bands.
He didn't see any important paper, no letter, nothing!
This was impossible! He looked round the room and scratched his head in puzzlement.

.·.·.·.·.·
By now, Amara had decided that something extremely important was in the case. In fact she was sure that Osi wouldn't find anything in the house.
Just from his body language she could tell he didn't want the case out of his sight.
Even now he held it in his laps, drumming his fingers on it softly as he rambled on.
"....So you see, that's the best format I feel you should use in this case"
"When is your birthday?" Amara asked him suddenly.
He blinked "what?"
"Your age, how old are you?"
He shook his head "you mean you were not paying attention to me"
"Actually" She smiled "I was just listening to you speak and I couldn't help thinking...you've taken up a lot of my thoughts lately and I hardly know anything about you" God she must be possessed with some kind of seducing spirit but it seemed to be working.
"Errm...I'd be 45 later this year" Stevenson licked his lips.
She smiled at him and spared a quick glance at his briefcase. She did the maths and hoped that somehow on some stroke of luck the combination of the case would be 1-9-7-2 even though she didn't have any idea how she was going to get the chance to try it.
They spent almost an hour under the tree. Steve spent too much time talking about 'rules' it seemed there were too many rules in writing, at least according to him and she was actually fed up.
He wrote a draft and she studied his writing, trying to recall the pattern from the letter.
She could see the similarity in both writing style and she was getting fully convinced that this man might be the killer after all.

.·.·.·.·.·
Locking the door was harder than opening it but the key did the job.
Osi left the house feeling disappointed. Steve must have transferred whatever it was he didn't want him to find somewhere else.
He was angry. All that stress for nothing! Well it wasn't for nothing, at least now he knew whatever it was, Steve was determined that no one find out his secret. And Osi had the picture to think about. He felt it was very important.
He considered going to Amara's house but decided against it. He was sure he had put everything in order back at the house but just in case, it was important that Steve not see him that morning.
Instead he headed for the church.

.·.·.·.·.·
Amara received help from an unlikely source: Dé Nwachukwu. She had forgotten her father was around till he called her. His deep voice rang out from the parlour "Amara!"
"Yes papa" she replied hurrying into the house.
Her father was seated on the couch. He had an arrangement with someone from the town and received a copy of the newspaper twice a week. He liked to stay home on those days and enjoy every bit of the news. Dé Nwachukwu prided himself on knowledge and he was greatly interested in other events happening outside Amaife.
"Yes Dé" Amara entered the parlour and greeted him.
"Who has that male voice...is it Paul?"
"No papa, its Steve"
Her father frowned "Again? What's he doing here this time?"
At first Amara was about to tell her father the writing excuse but then she was struck with a wicked plan.
She sat down beside her father.
"Actually papa...the man is disturbing me for my hand, I told him he'd need to see you but he kept on telling me that in his culture, the man courts the woman straight without seeing the parent"
Her father sat up immediately "but that's impossible...that's a very bad behavior...that's a taboo...how old is he?"
She shrugged "papa I don't know ooo...but I think you should talk to him"
Her father nodded "you're right...call him for me"

"My father would like to see you"
"Is there any problem?" Steve asked in a surprised voice.
"I think he wants to know your intentions...please be free with him, go in"
The European looked at her in confusion as if to say 'what intentions?' then he stood up and walked rather stiffly to the house.
Amara sighed when she realized he had carried his briefcase.
She counted up to ten then entered the parlour.
Her father broke off in mid sentence as he saw her.
"Amara, we're having an important discussion." He signaled with his head that she excuse them.
The irony was not lost on her. They were supposedly having an important discussion about her but she was not supposed to be there.
However when she turned to leave her father said: "you know what, these walls have ears. Let's take a walk, come with me"
Stevenson made to pick up his briefcase from the table but her father stopped him.
"Don't worry leave it son, I won't take much of your time"
The man didn't seem pleased and Amara thought he was going to insist. But finally he shrugged in acceptance and followed Dé Nwachukwu outside.

Immediately the door was locked, Amara attacked the case. She rolled the combination, fixing the digits that stood for his date of birth. She knew the first thing that would come to her own mind when thinking of a code or password was her own date of birth, she hoped it was the same case with Steve.
She set the date 1972: 1-9-7-2 and couldn't believe her luck when it clicked open.