King

My head was reeling. Everything made sense now. It was his father who secured his release. The higher powers Oz talked about was his father. I checked my phone as I drove into the restaurant we agreed to meet.

I would show him the grainy video Uti sent me, then what next? I tried not to think too much about it. The car slowed and I took some minutes to calm down. Uti was fine, not exactly fine but she was talking to me now. Having actual conversations. Our baby boy was on the way. He was a boy, right?

A mother's instinct could never be wrong and shit like that but a part of me still hoped Uti was wrong about this so Esther could have a younger sister before we tried again for a boy. Our son.

Another call to Oz assured me he would be here. I entered the restaurant and found a seat at the back. The place was near empty, maybe that was why Oz chose it. From time to time, I looked outside the window to catch a glimpse of his car or anything related to him. But all I got were passing vehicles that looked nothing like his black Audi.

It took ten minutes before his Audi drove in. I sat up straighter when the car door opened. His hat covered half of his face but I could recognise that signature thick, bushy beards anywhere. My eyes followed his frame as he walked in and searched for me. I raised a hand, his hat dipped in a mock bow and he started towards me.

We were here for Uti. She might not want justice but I did. It was important for Emma.

Oz settled into the opposite seat. His hat remained on.

"King."

"Oz."

"I've got news." I gulped, a little too audibly and he cocked his head. "Do you have something to say?" Another shaky nod from me made him say, "Okay. Let's hear it then."

"You first." I shook my head. "Me first." He removed his hat and set it on the table. I glimpsed his brown eyes, the scar on his nose and looked away. My phone was in my pocket but my hand trembled as I pulled it out. "Do you have your earpiece with you?"

"Yeah." I patted the spot on my left and he switched positions to sit beside me.

A minute after he retrieved his earpiece, I pushed the phone to him. He spared me a look, then hit play. I had seen it a number of times but it felt like the first time. The back and forth between the man and the officers was barely audible but I had more than one idea what it was about. The shot shocked everyone, including me and the man fell like a log of wood.

A thrill trickled through my body.

One man dead because of a father.

One boy dead because of a son.

"Wow," Oz breathed out when the video ended. "Wow. This is huge, King. It changes everything. Well, it could change everything."

Maybe. I braced my arms on the table. The cashier at the counter pinned us with a glare and I lifted my hand to call the waitress. She arrived and in some minutes, we had two bottles of soft drinks and a tray of snacks in front of us. I didn't touch mine, neither did Oz. There were more important things than food.

"What's the news you have?" I asked him.

"The name of the person who facilitated Umoh's release." Oz nodded towards my phone and I returned it to my pocket. "But I guess you already know that. His father is the commissioner of police." I took the first sip of my cold Fanta. I had no idea why I asked for Fanta. Oz wrapped his palms around the bottle but did nothing. "I don't know how he managed to escape that..."

"Yeah," I murmured. "This is Nigeria."

A sharp pain twisted my guts as the words settled inside me. With money, I could buy my way out of a lot of things. Never had I felt the impact of being Nigerian until now. Until Uti. I pulled on my beards.

"What will you do?"

"Don't know," I replied. There were too many things at stake and no witness. I hid my hands in my face. The witness abrupt withdrawal wasn't a coincidence. They must have gotten to him. "What would you have done, Oz?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" I pushed the bottle aside to look at him properly. His beards connected to his sideburns. His brows almost formed a unibrow. He was bald, like Uti. He shrugged and sipped on his coke for the first time. I nudged him with my foot. I might have paid him for this job but I needed his opinions. He should have an idea. "You would let him go? What if it was your son? Your own child?"

"I will kill him," Oz muttered solemnly. He flashed me a grin and I shuddered. "I'll make sure my boy gets justice even if it leads to my death." The tightness around my throat eased. I should do the same thing. No killing but pursuing justice no matter what it took. "If it was me, I'll go after the bastard even if it leads to my death." Sweat broke out on my forehead. "But I also know I won't be much use to my wife and daughter if I'm dead." A sigh left my lips. I nodded once till I was nodding nonstop. "It's why I am single."

Fuck. I swiped my palms over my knees. It wasn't about me alone. It was what Uti was trying to say. She didn't care about justice if it meant losing any other person. I couldn't afford it. I turned to Oz, he was done with his coke.

"Can we at least try?" I asked. "We have something against father and son."

"No witness against the son," he said. Fuck that witness. May misfortune befall the coward. Oz sighed. For the first time, his composure cracked. I tensed. "They might have something against you too. It's the other part of the news I wanted to tell you."

"What?"

My heart jumped to my throat. I balled my hands under the table while waiting for him to bring out whatever the fuck he was trying to get out of his pocket. He dropped his phone to the table.

"While I was making my investigations, I stumbled on this," Oz started. He tapped on the Instagram icon on his phone and it earned him a look from me. He didn't seem like the type to be on any social media. Oz placed his phone on the table, then tapped on a profile. My heart dipped. Amber Lee. He played her last video. "Do you know her?"

"I follow her," I answered tentatively. She had not posted any recent content. Not like I would know. I didn't even remember her until he mentioned it. I returned his phone to him. Her profile reminded me too much of my past and I was done with that life. "Why?"

"Because of what I'm about to tell you. It's about her." I looked on in perplexity. How the fuck was Amber Lee important to this case? Oz noticed I wasn't getting it and he wiped his hands on the tissue. "Amber Lee is Uti."

I wanted to laugh. I tried to laugh. The sound bubbled in my throat but never got out. This was a joke. I couldn't believe this man came to me highly recommended. Uti had grey eyes. Amber had blue or green. I couldn't remember now. Uti wouldn't be found dead at a strip club. Hold on. I met her at the club.

Serving drinks, not stripping.

"That's not her. She doesn't know the first thing about stripping," I tell him. I zoomed in on the picture, tapped on her hair. Uti would never dance like that in front of a bunch of horny men. For God's sake, she was shy at first when we had sex. She wouldn't even let me see her. "Uti is bald. She has grey eyes."

"Have you heard of wigs or contact lens, Mr King?"

This idiot. Did he think me dumb? I swiped right on his screen to find another picture that didn't represent Uti and I found one of Amber performing a half-split. I loved Uti but she wasn't that flexible. She was a fashion designer, not a stripper. I showed him a picture of my Uti in her element, bent over a table she was cutting dresses.

"My wife is not a stripper." I showed him another picture of her smiling at the camera. "Look at her face. They are not the same."

"I thought the same too until I spoke to her madam. Bose, I think, and a fellow dancer."

My ears were ringing. My heart pounded with fear for his next words. I stared at the other unoccupied booths without really seeing them. This guy was a liar.

"Did you ever wonder why she used a mask? Among all the dancers she was the only one with a mask. Wigs and contact lenses can alter a person's identity and if she didn't want to be associated to this personality, those things would have come in handy. The mask too."

"That's not her," I insisted.

Oz said nothing but reached into the inside of his coat to retrieve an envelope. I didn't touch it. I didn't care anymore for whatever he had to say. Uti was not a stripper. Oz did me the honours of emptying the contents of the brown envelope. Copies and more copies of Uti or was it Amber Lee? The prints were grainy but the images of her were clear.

"I got it from the club's CCTV. Some of them were from her friend's phone camera. Her friend is a stripper like her." Oz shuffled the pictures into the envelope but I couldn't forget the images of her. Images of Uti smiling at the mirror before putting on her mask. Uti was Amber. "I wanted you to know."

"Why?" I whisper-yelled. "How many people know about this?"

"Just me, I'm guessing but I can't say for sure," he replied. "The point is, if I could find this, anyone else can."

My nails dug into my knees. This could not be real. This could not be happening to me.

"How did you even find it?"

"Easy," he replied with a smug smile. "Most of the comments on Amber Lee's posts were from LL. Luscious Lips." I smothered a curse. Oz was too pleased with himself. I tapped a lid on my anger. It would do me no good right now. "You and this LL girl share a mutual friend. Uti. Now, why would Uti follow a stripper from her personal page?"

"I follow a stripper too," I said in defense.

"As a playboy, that's understandable." My lips thinned and he offered me a smug smile. I was a playboy, now I'm a baby daddy. "But Uti is different. Her follower list is small and personal. If she didn't know Luscious Lips, she wouldn't follow her. So I chatted her up."

"You should have minded your business," I snapped.

"I'm paid to not mind by business, King." He bit into his meatpie and nodded in approval. "I didn't come here to fight or judge you."

"Then why are you here? This doesn't matter in court. It won't affect the case."

"Yes, it does." Bile rose to my throat. I dug into my doughnuts to push it back. "They will try to discredit her story. Where were her kids when she was dancing at the strip club?"

"Probably at home," I answered.

"Right? What good mother leaves her kids at home to dance at the club?" A mother who had no choice, I wanted to say but Oz wasn't done talking. "They will capitalise on that. A negligent mother. You don't know what story Umoh will spin but they will find whatever narrative they can to discredit her story."

This fucker was saying a lot of things that I hated to agree with it. "They will change the narrative, King. It will be tough." Oz finished his meatpie and for a brief moment, I wished he would choke on it. How could he eat at a discussion like this? Without hesitation. "Once you decide to go against them, prepare yourself for the worse. Prepare for the scandals. Prepare to see this everywhere if it's the only way they can get to you guys."

"Fuck you," I told him.

The bastard dared to laugh. I wanted to hurt him but I hurt myself instead by biting the inside of my lips till it drew blood. "I've heard worse but it's part of the job." His fingers drummed on the table, the sound echoing in my head. "Umoh shouldn't go scot-free. But keep in mind that there's a lot at stake to lose." He stood up and dusted his jacket. "I'll let you know if I come up with anything. I still have someone following Umoh in case you need his location to..."

Was he... Was he suggesting...? My head snapped to his face. He clicked his tongue.

"Father and son deserve to die," was all Oz said.

But God forbid I would kill anyone. "Thank you," I told him. He picked up his hat and gave a mock salute. "I'll keep in touch, Oz."