The Case Of The Missing Child - 7

I took a while to soak in everyone’s expressions, smiling to myself.

Khadija was shocked and agitated.

Shola had a goofy smile on his face.

The couple was dumbfounded. It took a while before they shut their gaping mouths and rushed towards their emaciated child, both holding him up as Madam Aisha hugged him and cried, promising never to hit him again.

Story.

Babs quickly handcuffed Khadija, who wasn’t even putting up any resistance. She knew that the appearance of Usman discredited whatever defense she could bring up, but I knew she wondered how she was caught.

“But why is Khadija under arrest?” Madam Aisha asked

What the…

“I think it’s clear to everyone that she was the one behind the kidnapping,” Shola said, rolling his eyes.

It was only the couple who was shocked that Khadija was the culprit. Alhaji’s look quickly switched to one of fury. He lunged at her, screaming in anger. Shola had to restrain him while Madam Aisha faced her friend with a look of disbelief. “Khadija, what’s this? Tell me it’s not true,” she cried.

Khadija spat in her face and turned towards me with a venomous stare.

“Looks can’t kill, and save that face for when you see the inside of your cell,” I said, returning the gaze. She was the vilest creature I’d seen in a while.

“Now that everyone’s calm,” Shola said pointedly, staring at Alhaji whop was staring daggers at Khadija.

“You were never bright, Aisha! That’s why things could be happening right under your nose, you fool!” Khadija said, her voice laced with disgust and envy. I grimaced on hearing her tone, wanting to end this as soon as possible.

“Okay, so let’s reveal how we arrived at our conclusion,” I said, signaling Shola to begin as everyone sat down, Madam Aisha balancing Usman on her lap while looking at Khadija with disbelief. Shola stood.

“Well, from our first cross-examination… in fact, from the instant we first saw you all, we were aware of one fact. It has been a real debate as to whether we should reveal this – whether it was important as far as the case was concerned,” he said, looking at me questioningly.

I nodded.

“But we first observed and concluded that Alhaji and Khadija were having an affair behind your back, Madam Aisha,” Shola said flatly.

There was an unbearable awkward silence in the room. I became quite unsure whether we should have revealed that, but aside its importance to the investigation, we couldn’t just let that stay secret.

Madam Aisha turned towards her husband slowly, anger, disbelief, and the pain of betrayal quickly replacing the looks she had on her face before.

“What’s this, Usman?” she asked her husband, obviously furious.

“Madam…” I started.

“Shut up!” she said, staring daggers at me. At that moment, my heart skipped for a second. Looks couldn’t kill, but hers did a great job of trying.

“Usman, I said what are these boys talking about?” she shouted, setting Usman junior on the armrest as she stood up and marched towards him. Alhaji was sweating as though he’d just run a marathon, and I looked at the ceiling, not wanting to see what was going to happen next.

“I want a reply, and I want it now!” she said, flaring up and grabbing him by the neck.

This one was a violent lover.

Alhaji should have known his wife before getting in the sheets with Khadija.

“Y-yes, t-they’re right. But it was a mistake! I-I…”

“A mistake? What part, the having sex part or the not-telling-me-you-did-it part?”

For some reason, I couldn’t laugh at that point.

“When you can’t satisfy your husband with that your…” Khadija started, but something suddenly whizzed through the air, striking her on the mouth. Madam Aisha had thrown her phone at her, and her aim was impeccable. Khadija held her m=slightly-bleeding mouth, looking at Madam Aisha in shock.

“If you don’t shut your filthy trap, you whore, I’ll shut it up for you,” Madam Aisha hissed without looking at her. I made up my mind that I wouldn’t even interfere at this point.

“Consider this marriage on hold!” Madam said, moving back to her seat.

“On hold? What do you mean by…?” Alhaji started, but shut up as soon as he saw his wife’s look.

“I mean I’m moving with all the kids to my mother’s house. That is final. Detective, continue please!” She said, sitting down haughtily.

“So anyway, we also discovered a few things. Khadija was always eager to mention how she hadn’t gone to her stall since Usman was declared missing, and she was also far more interested in Alhaji than he was in her,” Shola said. "In fact, he was noticeably relieved when my partner mentioned that he had an interest in Khadija."

Khadija flared up and tried to speak, but Madam Aisha was quickly picking up her hard leather slippers from the ground, and no one needed to tell her to shut up.

“Also, we were convinced that Khadija was trying to make Madam look bad in front of her husband by using her... er... harsh treatment of the kids as an excuse," Shola said, seeing that there was no diplomatic way to say it.

"Hmmm," Madam Aisha mused, still fuming.

"And that's why Ifeanyi was quick to ask for the children's' names and ages. Because he knew that one way or the other, they would be useful in pinning this on Khadija, whom we suspected was the culprit."

"So what was the point of coming here in the morning?" Khadija asked.

"Simple: we needed to ask ten-year-old Hanifa some questions,"

"My daughter? Why her?" Madam Aisha asked, a question echoed by Khadija and Alhaji.

"That was my partner's idea. He knew Hanifa was old enough to have seen and remembered a few things, but young enough to still be bribed with sweets so she would reveal any info that Khadija had told her not to tell anyone," Shola said.

Khadija's eyes bulged and Shola nodded. It took a lot not to smile out of pride.

"And today, while Khadija followed a car she thought we both boarded, IO stayed back while Ifeanyi took her on a wild goose chase. I bribed Hanifa, and she did reveal that Khadija did come back here briefly, and she was also consoling the crying Usman at about the time he went missing," Shola said, now looking directly at Khadija.

"And that renders your alibi that you weren't back at home until evening invalid. That piece of information was quite influential, but not nearly as important as what my partner found out in the course of his 'wild goose chase'," Shola finished, nodding for me to begin.

I quickly stood while he sat.

"I decided to go to your market stall, Khadija. I didn't have much in mind, but I hoped to find out anything that would contribute to the case. One thing I found out from the woman selling bananas was that Usman was at that market, and was most likely following you. He was seen there around 4 pm in the evening, " I said.

Khadija marveled, "So you were asking her a few questions,"

"Yes, based on the picture Madam Aisha sent me via Whatsapp," I answered her.

"That was when I saw the connection I needed and asked Madam Aisha for Usman's favorite restaurants. One of them eas Tantalizers, which was less than 2 kilometers away from the market,"

Khadija shrugged her shoulders and slumped into her chair, knowing what direction I was headed.

"I suspected that you'd take him there, to establish trust and calm. I asked the staff who were on duty that day, and I confirmed he was there with a woman that matched your description around 1:30 pm."

Everyone's attention was fixed upon me.

"That said, I asked Babs to go and recover Usman who you'd kept in your closed market stall being fed via drip," I finished.

"But..but how did you know he was there?" Khadija asked,

"Propofol," Shola chipped in while Khadija looked at him stunned.

"This morning, the receipt you got from the pharmacy dropped off your body when you weren't aware. Shola picked it up and discovered that you purchased the prescription anesthetic Propofol from the pharmacy. Perhaps it was for your friend in the hospital and you had a doctor's prescription," I said.

"But it was clear that you, having studied Nursing, would know exactly what Propofol, which is why you bought double what was required," I said while Shola walked over to her and showed her the recommended amount from an online pharmacy.

"That was because you were buying for two people, and that was also why you bought extra supplements as well," I said.

"You smart ass bast..."

"That's enough," Babs said, dragging Khadija out and into the squad car. Soon after they left, I and Shola followed after collecting our wages from Madam Aisha.

"You think we should pay attention to what's going to happen to their marriage?" Shola asked as we boarded a taxi.

"I already have paperwork to fill and a testimony to give when this case gets to court. Let's leave the... er, lovebirds to settle this on their own," I replied tiredly.

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

I guess it's done!

Thoughts?