I will leave the rest to your imagination, but after I was done, I zipped up, abandoned her, and walked out of the place. As I left, I noticed that she had become a bit conscious and seemed to be beckoning on me to help her, but I had no time for her. Dawn was nearing. So, I had to hurry and leave before someone saw me.
I walked hurriedly into my compound, opened my door, and fell on the bed. Before I knew it, I had drifted off to sleep. In my sleep, I had a dream. In the dream, I had been caught because someone saw me taking the girl into the bush. There was an angry mob around me, and they were going to mete out jungle justice on me.
I tried to beg for my life, but no one would listen to me. I even advised the mob to take me to the police instead of taking the law in their own outraged hands, but they would not listen to me. Suddenly, someone appeared with a jerrycan of petrol and started pouring on me. I tried to run away, but I was pinned down by the mob. Then, a match was lit, and I was set alight.
I let out a loud scream and woke up from sleep, sweating. What a terrible nightmare, I thought. I hoped it was not a sign of things to come. I left the bed, got my phone, and almost screamed. It was past 8:00 PM. That meant I was already late for work by thirty minutes.
I ran to the bath and freshened up, hurriedly dressed up, and as I approached the living room, I heard a loud commotion just outside the gate of the compound. The neighbours were talking agitatedly. I opened the door cautiously and asked a neighbour what had happened that everyone was so excited.
"A girl was found last night in that bush beside the compound." He replied.
"So, what about it? What do you mean by that?" I asked, afraid of the answer.
"She was found with her clothes off. She was stark naked, and it appeared like she had been violated."
"Violated? How?" My temperature was beginning to rise.
"Are you a child? You should understand when I say she was violated."
"So, where is she now?" I asked.
"She has been taken away. The police were called, and her corpse was taken to the mortuary."
"What? Mortuary? That means she is de@d."
"Yes, Ben-Samuel. She is de@d."
I almost collapsed when I heard that. Oh no!! I had taken a human life. My desires had let me do the unthinkable. What was I thinking yesterday? Why did I allow myself to take advantage of an innocent and vulnerable woman. God, please, help me. Please, forgive me. I didn't mean to do what I did. It was the very hard work of the devil. I was so guilty, but I needed to get more information. I needed to know if someone knew who or what was the cause of her death.
Taking advantage of her alone could not just kpai her. Something was wrong somewhere. Who could have done it? Could it be that someone saw me and waited for me to go before going to finish her off? How was I ever going to know? She was no longer alive. Oh God! Poor girl, she even begged me to save her, but I refused and abandoned her there after ravaging her. Now, she was no more.
"Have they found her killers?" I asked the neighbour who was walking away. He turned and looked at me suspiciously.
"Mr. Ben-Samuel, why are you so interested in the matter. Do you know the girl?" He asked.
"How could I know someone I have never met?" I asked quickly.
"Alright, I was just wondering because you are showing too much interest in the case. Anyway, the police are still carrying on their investigations and they have promised to bring the culprit to book."
"Alright, I have to go to work now." I spoke.
"Have a nice day. I have to go to work too before the police come and start asking more questions. Someone said they saw a man dressed in jeans and a leather jacket carrying a woman in his arms late in the night. Maybe that was the man, but who knows?" The neighbour spoke, but I didn't even hear his last words. My head was spinning wildly.
Jeans and leather jacket. That fitted me properly. Oh no! Hope no one recognized me. If anyone did, I would be in serious trouble. Sweating profusely, and looking visibly scared, I managed to control my composure, went back into my house, took the leather jacket and those particular jeans, put them in a backpack and left the compound again. As I was walking hurriedly, another neighbour saw me and called.
"Mr. Ben." But I ignore him.
"Mr. Ben Samuel." He repeated.
"What?" I asked, turning around angrily.
"You have forgotten to zip your bag. Your leather jacket is almost falling off the bag."
"Oh! Thank you, Ryan." I spoke and hurriedly zipped up the bag.
I was very angry with myself. How could I make such a costly mistake. How could I have forgotten to zip up the bag properly when I was fully aware it contained clothing that matched what people were saying they saw the suspect wearing last night? But I couldn't blame myself much. My mind was unstable. I was guilty of the crime. I had never committed a crime before, not to talk of a crime of such magnitude. That was why I couldn't contain myself. Guilt was written all over me. A good psychologist would have seen through me immediately.
I got to work some thirty minutes later and noticed two police cars going towards my neighbourhood. I thanked God for taking me out of the compound before the police got there because with the way I looked, it would not take the police up to a minute to figure out that I was the cause of everything.
As I walked into the company premises, the security man saw me and started walking towards me, smiling.
"Good morning, Sir. Please, let me help you with the bag." He spoke.
"Oh! Never worry, Mr. Rodrigue. I will be fine."
"Ok, Sir. If you say so."
I walked past him, got into the building, and emptied the contents of the bag into trash can that was in the hallway of the building. I was hoping that it would be discarded later by the cleaner. The waste disposal company would come and carry it to their landfill, and no one would ever be able to trace it back to me. I felt a bit of relief, walked into my office, turned on the AC, and started working.
About an hour later, I turned on my data and went to Facebook. The news was all over. All the major bloggers in town and in the country had picked it up, and everyone was giving their own versions. Even some influencers like Tim's Stories, who did not normally blog, were also on it because it was trending.
I scanned through the writeups of many bloggers, but it was one that caught my attention. That one carried the part, which stated that the supposed culprit was dressed in jeans and a leather jacket. My heart skipped when I read that, and a small sweat immediately formed on my brow in spite of the air conditioner humming in my office. Thank God I had bought those clothes only recently and had only worn them once. Not many people had seen me in them. But wait a minute! Couldn't my colleagues recall that I was dressed that way that day? That was dangerous.
But I wasn't the only one dressed that way that day. I lived in a big city. So, there could have been many people dressed that way that day. Then, I remembered all the people who were talking about the jeans and leather jacket had not mentioned any colour. That made me feel better. If there was anyone who had indeed seen me, at least he hadn't taken note of the colours. I smiled to myself, but just at that instant, I heard knock on the door.
"Come in." I said calmly.
The door opened, and the cleaner walked in.
"Good morning, Mr. Ben."
"Good morning. What is the matter?"
"Sir, I was about disposing the thrash when I saw this black plastic bag carefully tied. Out of curiosity, I decided to untie it and take a look. I noticed that it contained a pair of blue jeans and a leather jacket. I wondered who would want to discard such new and expensive clothes. I have asked around, and no one has claimed to be the owner. That is why I came to you."
"So, according to you, I will be the owner?" I asked rudely. "My friend will take those things away from my office."
"I am sorry, Sir." She spoke and started retreating, but I called her back.
"Hey! Bring them to me, let me take a look. I have one poor beggar in my neighbourhood. I could give them to him." I lied.
"Alright, Sir." She spoke, walked to my desk, and handed them to me.
As soon as she left, I flung the dresses on the floor. I thought I was done with them. Why did they keep coming back to me? Anyway, I knew what to do with them. I will sneak to the company incinerator and burn them. That way, they would be lost forever. I smiled to myself and got up from my chair.
As I stepped out of the building in the hope of going to the back where the incinerator was, I saw a police car parked just outside the gate. With my instincts acting faster than my reasoning, I ran back inside in fear. Luckily, no one was around, or they would have seen me and wondered the reason for my strange behaviour.
I stood by the hallway window and saw about six policemen walking into the compound. But they were not alone.
With them, it was the waitress I had met at Double Dose and was supposed to take back home that fateful night.
TO BE CONTINUED…