A Bend in the Road

248

Copyright 2018 by Macaulay Olayinka

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

First Printing: August 2018

ISBN 978-0-359-19318-9

Lulu publisher

Ibadan Oyo state Nigeria

The road lies hidden beyond us

With no sight of what lies ahead

No knowledge of where this road leads

The storm cloud our only companion

Stuck with each other in the middle of now and yesterday

And a constant tug to turn back

Look! It’s just a bend

Be at peace

The road still goes on and it gets smoother

This is just a bend in the road….

Victor - Who inspire it and will not read it but whose love shines through the pages.

Pops - Because of your support and love throughout the writing of the book and also within my own life. You’ve helped me in more ways than anyone else.

A KILLER WHO WANTS TO GET EVEN

The first victim is pushed to her death

The second drowned in a pool

The third is burnt to death.

Three down, more to go.

These are people who deserve to die. And at the end, there will be no one left.

WILL DO WHATEVER IT TAKES FOR REVENGE

Jessica Arawole’s world is falling apart. One by one, her friends were dying.

Jessica’s certain she’s been watched. She turns to the authorities for help but they didn’t believe her.

Nobody believed her except for Detective Victor Ayeni

Together they must uncover the ultimate truth before it’s too late

~ONE~

January fifteen 2014

Click!

The soft noise was enough to wake Gladys Omojola. Surprised that she had dozed off, she called out to her boyfriend. "Baby, is that

you? Of course it was. Dele had called earlier and told her that he’d be around for his usual weekend visit, but the call had been hours ago. Dele promised to come around at seven, and now…it’s past ten.

Why was he late anyway? Baby, I’m up here, at the balcony she said loudly, and when there was no response, she felt the first tiny bit of fear, which she quickly dismissed. Yet she heard no footsteps. Standing up from her favorite chair, she looked around the room. Everywhere was quiet. Moving to the balcony, Gladys was able to see the road leading to the house. But sometimes this old house seemed so empty. Even though the building is at the back of the university medical center yet sometimes it felt isolated from the rest of the world.

Oh, it wasn’t as if she had nobody, she had friends, but they were miles away, the best one anyway. Immediately they all got out of college seven years ago, they all drifted apart, not when the world was waiting for them to conquer. She do talk to some of them once in a while, she just wish they weren’t that far away. She’s not much into making new friends, the ones she had now are just classmates and nothing else. If not for dele, she would had been alone. He should be up at any minute. Or had she imagined the click of a lock downstairs?

Staring into the night, Gladys was suddenly cold. What’s keeping him?

Creeeeaaaak!

Is that the sound of a door opening?

Her heartbeat skipped.

This last sound was not a figment of her imagination. Deedee? she called again baby, is that you?

Monday to Thursday nights she was usually alone, and she usually didn’t mind being alone, enjoyed the peace and quiet after the chaos of the school. Not tonight…

Deedee? she called out as she moved into the house. She has no reason to be scared but the cold finger of fear slid down her spine convincing her otherwise.

She looked around but nothing has changed; everything was as they always were, but no Dele.

Or is it a burglar? She’d heard stories of burglars; she just hasn’t encountered any before. Will they rape her and kill her afterwards?

Oh, for heaven’s sake, she was letting her imagination run wild. The kind you get from watching too many horror movies.

So where is dele?

She reached into her jeans for her phone, nothing there. The stupid thing was missing, probably in her room. Turning back to the balcony, she heard a gentle foot step. Close by.

Then the smell of a floral perfume reached her and the hairs on the back of neck stood up.

Her heart nearly stopped as she looked over her shoulder. There was movement in the shadows. Deedee? she said again but her voice was in whisper and fear caused her pulse to pound. Is that you, Deedee? This isn’t funny…

Her word died in her throat.

A woman half-hidden in the shadows, stepped forward.

Gladys froze.

You? She cried. Panic crept up her spine, and the woman before her smiled, it was as cold as ice.

What do you want? Gladys cried as she tried to move back. But before she could take a step, the woman pounced on her, strong hands clutching and squeezing. It wasn’t as if she was weak, she struggled but it was too late. Athletic arms pulled her off her feet.

No! Gladys cried. No, no please! she tried to wriggle herself free. In a heartbeat, she was flying over the railing. Screaming, and trying to break her fall, the concrete floor rushed up at her.

Terror nearly caused her heart to seize as she hit the floor. Crack! Pain exploded in her head. For half a second she stared upward at the woman.

The woman stood Victorious on the landing.

"Revenge is sweet, isn’t it? The woman whispered.

Why? After all these years, was her last thought…Then there was only darkness…

***** ***** *****

Jeez! He was running late again. Gladys will be so angry, and all for helping his idiot of a friend out. The guy got drunk again, he would have loved to lock him out but that would have disturbed his weekend with Gladys. He got to a stop sign and he stopped. There had been a time when he had run anything remotely yellow, but now with Gladys, he had suddenly become a model driver. Who would have believed that? But he was ready to make everything perfect with Gladys. Once he’s done with law school, and get call up to the bar, he will ask her to marry him.

His rumbling stomach and the clock on the dash reminded him that he was late. The light changed, and Dele Ogidan drove along the university gate until he reached the medical Centre road. He pulled into a spot in front of her house. Slinging the bag over his shoulder, and the box of pizza, he eased open the gate and went in. Once the gate were locked behind him; he tried to figure out how he was going to apologize, when he saw a figure on the ground. Moving closer, he saw it was Gladys.

oh God! he bit back a scream as he dropped everything and ran to where she was, lying on the concrete floor, blood pooling beneath her head. Oh God, oh God, oh God! he whispered. He dropped his keys and fished for his cell phone. He was trembling all over as he dialed 119.

One-one-nine dispatch.

Help, I need help dele yelled. It’s my girlfriend

Sir, please state your name and emergency

There’s been an accident, there’s blood everywhere. Oh God, I can’t find a pulse. Please just hurry.

I need the address and name of the victim.

It’s….it’s…...my girlfriend…. Her name is Gladys Omojola, please you need to hurry

Give me your address, sir.

Um… H4, medical road, Jaja.

Inside university of Ibadan?

Yes please hurry

I need you to calm down, help is on the way

You need to hurry dele said into the phone

Sir, what’s your name?

Dele Ogidan…I was coming over for the weekend and oh, sweet Jesus, I found…her…

You need to stay with the victim; a patrol car has been dispatched

Oh lord he whispered as he hung up

In the distance, sirens blared. Hurry please Dele said, his heart pounding, and his mind black with fear".

Don’t panic, she’s going to be okay, she has to. Calm down. She can’t die on you now, knowing how much you love her. She can’t just die on you now, not now.

~ TWO~

June twenty-six 2015

Victor walked along the beach. It was the weekend, three days after Daniela Osagie’s funeral. He was trying to follow everyone’s advice that he should take some time off to clear his head. But he wouldn’t. The case ate at him.

He took a deep breath and watched the water lap at the rocks.

He should go out more; beach, party, movies or just stay at home and try to find a game on TV, anything to just get his mind off this case.

A young girl killed at her prime, wasted life and dreams. She had everything planned out and suddenly, it was all gone. Who could have done that to her?

He eyed the sailboats cutting across the water but he was still sifting through the evidence. Phone records gave up no clue, there had been no evidence collected that pointed to a specific killer, and as the hours and days passed, Victor knew the case was getting colder and colder. He’d gone over the last days of Daniela’s life, talking to the people who saw her last, tracing the footsteps of her final hours, but no one had seen or heard anything that had offered a lead to the killer.

So what did he have to do to find her killer?

Very little he said to no one as he walked back to his car. He found his keys in his pocket and was about to unlock the door when he saw the scratch, a long one that went down the driver’s side. He looked around, hoping to spy the culprit who had scratch his car but he saw no one running or watching, anger pounded at his temples and his fists balled strongly.

He took another look around, saw a couple of kids walking and laughing and talking but they didn’t so much as glance over their shoulders as they walk on.

Whoever had scratched the car had gotten away with it, and it pissed him.

Take it easy, clear your head, and get a little exercise he mimicked his own advice as he backed out of the parking space.

He drove straight to the station; his mood was still the same. There was work to catch up with; a case of a scorned lover who bathed his partner in acid and also a case of domestic violence, the beaten wife still holding the kitchen knife in her shaking hands as the husband