Yemisi
Bonn, Germany

"I know of someone from the countryside with a cockney accent. Her name is Miss. Rico. She's very smart and I think she can help a great deal with our investigation. If I can have her by my side then that would be perfect provided you're fine with it."

After the exhausting chase on the streets and the change in my mood due to the debilitating text message I received, Myron had started to think of ways to make my burden a lot less heavy to bear and she was doing well in helping me to manage the situation. I didn't even have to tell her about what happened with Christopher and me. All she knew was that I had to be by his side.

"So long as I wouldn't have to regret trusting my sister's case into the hands of someone else to handle. It's only you and my friend, Karen that I can rely on to an extent. Barrister Peret, the nincompoop who trusted me with this assignment has been ditching me for so many days now. I don't want any situation or occurrence that would stress me further."

"I believe you will be satisfied with Miss. Rico. If I can travel to the village between now and tomorrow, I should be able to get her to meet with you."

I heaved a small sigh of relief. Immediately after our discussion, I decided to go see him at his office and when I did, I saw him rushing out of the main entrance with his suit draped over his arm. The alacrity to know why he was in such a hurry increased telling from the way my head started to throb.

And it throbbed for a very negative reason.

Where was he rushing to at this very time of the evening? I wanted to think and feel as many things as I felt entitled and licensed to process in my mind but when I realized how troubled my husband looked, I knew I couldn't be selfish with my thoughts and emotions no matter how appealing it was. It was a luxury I could not afford.

It would be a betrayal on my part to think evil of the man who had always meant well for me and my children.

"Where are you going?" I asked him calmly. He stopped in his track just before bumping into me. The worry lines on his face vanished surprisingly enough but the new features on his face were the ones that had been softened by guilt and more guilt.

I stood where I was, calm but gravely devastated. We were a lethal combination, merged souls that had contained words and thoughts unsaid.

"Um..." a corner of his lips twitched. He was trying to process my reason for being here at this hour and he was preparing to hate himself after hearing the insults and accusations I had to hurl at him.

That made me feel so bad. I moved a little closer to him and placed both of my hands on his shoulders, tapping them with all the compassion I could provide. Vulnerability shimmered in his hazel eyes. It made my heart flutter watching him try to get himself together. His lips quivered some more. His hand clamped into a fist even. He had nothing to say and when he realized that, he gave up.

Just like a little boy who had been caught trying to tell a lie. Christopher was really like a little boy most times telling from the pureness of his soul but that was the type of man I had fallen in love with.

Right there and then as the cars sped by on the roads with the sunset peeking over the tall buildings, it seemingly felt like it was just the two of us and nothing else. Christopher was attempting to stay true to his feelings and It was the most beautiful thing. How could I ever be mean to this man? He deserved all the love.

"I'm not going to blame you or ask if you're headed to Irene's. Truthfully, I almost thought evil about you and I'm sorry about that. Remember I said it was us against the world? I won't say anything to hurt you anymore after making that promise to you."

He looked at me again with that 'you-mean-you-won't-hate-me look. I blinked. 'yes-I-won't.

"My informant is missing," he was finally able to answer my question. "I hired someone to do some findings of Irene's family and the validity of the contract that was brought into enforcement by her father.  I wanted to find out if Irene's father was alive or not. If he isn't, then the betrothal between us is void."

"Which means we can have the justification to prove the true paternity of her unborn child right?"

"Yes, but when Irene claimed to be pregnant with my child, she made mention of the fact that she knows what I'm up to."

"So...the only correct deduction from this problem is that Irene is hiding something and she's the only one who has custody of your informant."

"Yes. My informant should know the truth by now but she's trying to stop him from telling it to me."

"What areas does your informant stay in most times? Where do you go to meet with him often?"

"We use different locations; my office, fish farm, and the market even but right now, I plan on going to the fish farm to search for him."

"No, " I placed a restraining hand on his chest. "I'll go instead."

"Why?"

"Are you going to try to talk a woman like me out of venturing into something dangerous?"

"No. Why would I dare?" his eyes shone with suspicious innocence.

"Hm, " since when was Christopher a sarcastic person? "I want you to stay back because I have a plan and you would be the one to carry it out. You know, Irene is already aware that you're trying to discover her secret so wherever she has kept your informant, she surely has informants of her own who are ready to let her know if they spot you. They can recognize you but not me. Yes, Irene and I have met once but I don't think she will be expecting me to look for your informant.

She probably believes that I will be sulking over the discovery of you having a child outside of our marriage. She believes I will be mad at you and that's just the advantage we have over her right now. But whatever the case eventually turns out to be, I believe it's still better for me to go. I'll have Albert come in the next two days."

"Have I told you that I love you so much?"

I smiled. He was far too smitten by my intelligence because his eyes were lost into dreaminess now.

"Well...you can say it now so you can be sure."

"I love you so much."

Two days later.

Miss. Rico was beyond loveable. She had short golden locks and sharp green eyes. Eyes that seemed to see beyond the ordinary, like the natural build of a detective. Her cockney accent said a lot about where she came from. Myron was a woman of her word because I was beyond satisfied with the golden locks lady.

" ye see, I grew up in da hood where bawdy houses, opium dens, and brothels operated in da broad daylight. If ye want to catch a criminal, ye've gotta swallow yer pride. No one wants to see a 'ero on a shiny white 'orse with a sword. I've been able to catch many criminals cause I made myself look like one. It doesn't matter if ye are lawyers or not. Only a dense person will appear in front of a criminal as who they truly are. 'specially when they are still trying to find out who is who."

Through our little discussion, I could tell that she had a lot of experience and that the criminals she was talking about were not just thieves or pickpockets. I was also able to realize what I had been doing wrong.

Some people didn't give a damn about authority. If they wanted to hide, they would hide well. Maybe that was the mistake I made when I went to the police station and even to the alehouse. If I acted like an idiot with the woman, she would have probably even granted me access to the room Christopher slept in that night but what did it matter now?

Henceforth, I would start to conduct myself in the discreetness of a detective and not the arrogance of a lawyer. However, it was sometimes still a subjective matter. There are some situations where I still believe an exercise of authority would do the trick.

Albert came within two days as estimated. After I discussed the plan with Christopher and what I needed him to do, he gave me the location for the fish farm. I was dressed in a white hoodie and black jeans. It was the most casual outfit I'd chosen to wear. One that anyone wouldn't suspect. 

A white hoodie would convey a different message to a passerby from a black hoodie. Only ten out of a thousand people can perhaps deem it possible that a lady or a guy dressed in a white hoodie would have a pistol kept at the back pocket of their trousers.

So I was satisfied with my choice. Miss. Rico would be proud of me if she saw me.

The drive to the fish farm didn't take us up to an hour. The avenue was silent because the rain was falling heavily, pelting on the rooftops and umbrellas of a few people who could still be found outside. Everyone was rushing to their prospective homes.

The seemingly straight, electrifying line of lightning illuminated the dark clouds. Dark clouds that did an immaculate job in making the afternoon look like the evening.

The rain of course washed over the screen of the car, the windshield wiper only doing its barest minimum.

"Let's wait till there's no one in sight. I can't even see the fish ponds from here." I said, trying to wipe off the water from the windshield with a used napkin.

"There's a bunch of palm leaves westwards. I can see them from where I'm seating, " Albert remarked. "If we walk through it, I believe we will find the fish ponds."

"Hmm. If we have to walk through a bunch of leaves to get to the fish farm, then I'm guessing the ponds are dug on the earth, not barricaded with cement like some of the ponds we see in Nigeria."

"Me too."

"Anyway, what did you find about Barrister Peret? What is he up to?" I asked a little above my voice as the sound of the rain pelted in torrents over the windshield.

"I've not been able to figure that out yet, " Albert answered, still gazing through the window. "But one thing I'm sure of is the fact that he's not looking after his wife. I stayed around the hospital she's been admitted in severally but I never saw a trace of him even."

"So he's up to something for sure and he doesn't want me to know about it, " my mind reeled in unbelief that a man of such a reputation could be so shady.

"Yes ma'am." he looked at me now. "There's no one on the road. It's safe to come out now."

"O...kay, " I turned off the ignition of Albert's car and stepped out of it gently, touching the part of my back pocket where I kept my gun to be sure it was still there.

Albert opened his umbrella and we walked together down the road. Thankfully, the roads were in good condition. If I was back in Nigeria, my shoes would have gotten stuck in the mud, or I would have perhaps, fallen into a ditch.

Farther down the road as we walked westwards, we saw a bunch of palm leaves and a few shrubs. There was a street lamp by the other side that helped us see ahead of us a little.

Albert walked ahead of me, paving the way as we walked through the leaves. There was a bungalow by the side, surrounded by the leaves. I had my fears but it looked very much abandoned, so I just kept walking. Soon the leaves were out of our way, and by the strike of lightning, we could for a second, see the ponds dug on the earth. The rain falling on the waters, making the fishes beneath move and the water splashing heavily.

Afar off, there was a small shack with empty bags of fish feed stored on the doorstep. It looked like a place where Irene would have kept my husband's informant and no one would be able to see him because truthfully, this fish farm didn't seem like one the owner cared about.

If the owner cared, he would have cast large-sized nets over the ponds to prevent the rain from falling directly on the fishes and from birds to snack on them.

"Albert, take the direction of the fish-feed store. I'll walk by the ponds, " I said.

"Yes ma'am, " he nodded and started to walk away, carefully by the small area of land till he vanished from my sight.

I could see another small house on the other side of the ponds so I walked slowly by the small piece of the land that demarcated the ponds. I moved like anyone would when walking on a rope. Any lackadaisical movement from me and I'll be sure to fall into the water and become one of the tilapias. I'd even risked not coming with a torch just so I wouldn't be seen.

I muttered a few curses beneath my breath as I continued to walk, covering my hair with my hand from the rain, temporarily hating Chris for choosing such a location but what I didn't know was that I would end up cursing out loud.

Now I fell into the pond, the scaly creatures hovering over me and the rain falling mercilessly on my face, making my hair a quick, frizzly mess. A torch shined bright, directly into my face even before I could pull out my gun in my defense. Darn it. I'd been quiet enough though. How did this old man notice me?

"Aye, brown-haired miss! What are ye trying to steal from my pond?!"