Lagos, Nigeria.

‘I’ll be traveling back to the states tomorrow morning,’ Madam Henrietta said to Stephanie. She was arranging her clothes into the small traveling box she brought with her.


Stephanie was seated on the sofa in the room. She could hear her mother talking to her but she gave no visible response immediately. Even Madam Henrietta wasn’t looking at her for a response, she only announced it because she had to.
‘I’m sorry mum, I just have to…’ Stephanie spoke after a long moment of silence but Madam Henrietta cut her short with a raise of her hand. She had her mind made up already, Stephanie was only being ungrateful and there was no explanation to it.
Stephanie rose up and walked towards madam Henrietta, she stopped and stood in front of her, the woman ignored her completely and continued with what she was doing. The box was fully loaded, she zipped it up and turned it upright.


‘Mum, please don’t misunderstand my reasons for wanting to stay…’
‘Steph, I said I don’t want to hear any of that.’ the woman slammed, staring Stephanie straight in the face. ‘You’ve made your choice and I can’t force you to leave the country with me. It’s your life and not mine, so you’ll take responsibility for whatever happens to you.’ she said and rolled the bag away from the bedside.
Stephanie heaved a sigh and closed her eyes, she knew there was nothing she could say to appease madam Henrietta at that moment. And there was also no going back on her decision to stay, she couldn’t leave her real mum at that moment.


‘Here’s your phone,’ Madam Henrietta said, taking out something from a nylon bag.
Stephanie turned to her and saw her stretching forth the phone to her. She quickly moved closer and collected it from her. ‘Thank you.’

‘And I thought you could make use of a better one also,’ Madam Henrietta continued, searching for something else in the bag. ‘I don’t know if you’ll like this,’ she brought out a small carton containing a new phone.


Stephanie’s eyes widened and her mouth opened as she saw the carton of the new iPhone 22B, ‘Mum, this costs a lot.’ she exclaimed.

‘Yea, I got it for you.’ the woman stretched it to her, unsmiling.
‘Wow! Thank you mum,’ Stephanie collected the phone, her face was full of smiles and she was almost jumping. She wanted to begin unboxing the phone that moment but she stopped as her eyes met her mother’s unhappy face again, her smile diminished gradually.
____

Dave clicked on play again. It was the fifth time he was going to watch the video. It showed a lady who walked like she was wounded until she stopped a taxi and entered, then it faded in and another showed a masked man who rushed out of the gate looking left and right of the road as if he was searching for someone he was pursuing. Dave had confirmed from the previously unedited footages that the lady came out from the same gate the masked man came from. His guess was that the lady was Samantha Osman after she had allegedly killed Don Dan and Aisha Bello, she also had sustained an injury. He didn’t know where exactly but he believed it must have been at the back. Then the man was unknown but report had it that he was an NIS agent. That was what baffled Dave more. He was the NIS agent in charge of the case and he had no assistant helping him. So the man was definitely not an NIS Agent.


Dave’s mind wasn’t at rest, he reached for his phone and dialed the number of the NIS chairman.

‘Hello DJ,’ the chairman’s calm voice sounded at the pick of the call.
‘Good afternoon sir, I’ll like to correct a misinformation.’ Dave said.
‘What misinformation is that?’ the chairman replied.

‘It’s on this Samantha Osman’s case sir. I was going through the NSCC files and videos to match up somethings and I watched a particular video where a masked man came out from the gate after Samantha Osman,’ Dave said.

‘Ermm… Okay, so what’s wrong with that?’
‘Reports says it was an agent of our organization and I’ve been wondering why the false info has not been corrected.’
‘Who told you it’s a false information?’ the man asked, sounding evasive. Dave could sense that he was hiding something.
‘I wasn’t at the scene that day, so it’s a false information.’
‘Are you the only NIS agent we have?’
‘No sir, but I am the one in charge of the case.’ Dave argued.
‘Who told you that you’re the only one?’
‘Ermm… But I’m not aware of anyone else. No one…’

‘Just keep quiet Dave,’ the man cut in. ‘I’m the boss and I can assign as many agents as possible to a case, especially if the initially assigned one is underperforming.’
‘But sir… Am I underperforming? I don’t think so.’


‘This conversation is over Dave, don’t talk to me about this anymore.’ the man said and the line went off immediately.
_

Jumoke adjusted her scarf and put her bag on the floor to take out her key. She tried to slip it into the keyhole but she discovered that a key was in from behind and removed it. She had thought Dave was not at home since she couldn’t see any of his shoes or sandals at the door but with the key in the keyhole from behind, she was sure he was in.
Her knuckles hit the door thrice and she waited to get a response.


‘It’s Jumoke,’ she replied in response of his question of who was at that door.
In few seconds, she heard the sound of the key turning in the hole and then the door was opened.

‘Welcome baby,’ Dave said and turned back immediately. Jumoke picked her bag and entered.

‘Phew!’ Jumoke stopped and exclaimed in surprise as she stared around the living room which was well tidied and arranged. ‘Good evening, you did all these?’
‘All what?’ Dave asked, returning to the laptop he dropped on the three seater. He sat on the close to the arm rest and carried the computer on his laps.

‘I mean you cleaned and rearranged the whole house?’
‘Oh! Yes, it wasn’t all that dirty though. I just thought it could be arranged better.’
‘Wow! Thanks,’ she let out a deep breath and proceeded towards him. She placed a kiss on his lips and sat beside him on the three seater, looking into the laptop he was holding.
Dave continued with his work with full concentration, even though he knew she was watching what he was doing.
‘You’re allowing me see you work today?’ Jumoke asked, staring at his face in surprise.
Dave took some seconds before answering, ‘I don’t get you,’ he glanced briefly at her with a raised eyebrow and returned his focus to the computer.
‘You allow me sit beside you while you’re working on your computer today, this has never happened, you don’t always want me to see what you’re doing.’ she accused.
‘Oh that!’ Dave smiled very briefly. ‘Well, I’m working and you’re not supposed to see the details of my job but since you know so much about me already, it doesn’t make sense hiding it from you anymore. And I’m a hundred percent sure that you don’t even understand what you are seeing right now.’
‘Hmm…’ Jumoke took some few seconds to look at what he was doing again. She could see the name of the software he was working on, ‘The profiler’. She could also see the notepad application opened by the side in which Dave was typing in some words and copying from time to time into the NSCC profiler. ‘True, I don’t understand what you’re doing but I’m sure it’s about your job,’ she said.



It took Dave some time to reply again, he was consumed with his work. ‘Yes, it’s about my job.’ he said without taking his eyes off the screen.
‘Well, let me go change inside.’ Jumoke said and rose up to her feet.
‘Ermm… I wanted to tell you something,’ Dave said, holding her by the hand as she was about to leave and looking up to her face.
‘What’s that?’ she asked as she returned back to the seat.
Dave adjusted the computer and bent the screen slightly as he turned to give her full attention. ‘I’ll be returning to work tomorrow. Very early in the morning, I’ll be leaving for Abuja.’
The words hit Jumoke like a huge blow. Not that she wasn’t expecting it to come but her expectation did not stop or lessen the impact.
She was silent for a brief moment. ‘So when do we see again?’ she finally spoke, letting out a breath exhaustively.
‘I’ll be coming to Lagos frequently and I’ll make sure I always stop by.’ Dave said slowly, mentioning every word with effects like he was making a promise.
‘Well, I hope it happens that way.’ Jumoke said and sighed. ‘Is that all you wanted to tell me?’
Dave let out a breath. ‘Jumoke, I need a favour from you.’ he said and let out another breath.
‘What’s that?’ She raised her eyebrows.
‘I’ll be glad if you provide me with any information you have about Samantha Osman or any new one you get about her after I leave.’



‘I already told you all I know now but I’ll make sure I tell you immediately I find out any new thing.’ she replied.
Dave knew she lied but he allowed it pass. ‘Thank you, that’s all I wanted to talk to you about.’
‘Alright,’ she said and heaved a heavy sigh. She then picked her bag and walked into the living room.
Dave returned the computer to his lap and switched back to the NSCC app.
_____