The Moment of Truth

Chapter 18

The first semester exams finally came to an end. Samuel had to admit it was not easy, given the fact that he had very little time to prepare for it. However, he hoped to get a pass GPA when his Continuous Assessment and exam results would be put together and evaluated. He frequently prayed to God for a pass, so he would not disappoint his family.
     On the Sunday after they finished writing the exams, he invited Sylvia over to his house after mass at the Molyko Parish.
     Sylvia had met him and Beltus in front of the church building just before the mass was to begin.
     ‘I’m glad you could make it, Sylvia,’ Samuel said as he hugged her tight.
     ‘I couldn’t miss it for the world,’ she said with a grin as they disengaged.
     Samuel then cleared his throat and said, ‘I doubt you two have ever met before. Sylvia, meet Beltus, my roommate. Beltus, Sylvia.’
     ‘Beltus,’ Sylvia said with a smile as she shook Beltus’ hand, ‘it’s a pleasure to meet you. Sam has been telling me so much about you. Thanks for helping him accept the Catholic faith.’
     ‘The pleasure’s all mine,’ Beltus said with a smile. ‘I never thought I’d ever get to meet you.’
     They all burst into peals of laughter.
     So after the mass, all three of them boarded a taxi that took them to untarred Malingo Street. When they alighted from the taxi, they went to the compound where they lived.
     ‘This is where we live,’ Samuel said when they made it through the wrought iron gate.
      ‘Hmm,’ Sylvia murmured and looked round as they made it through the corridor to the back where their room was.
     ‘Mind you: it’s very hot inside,’ Beltus said as he unlocked the door. He got in and opened the louvers as Samuel and Sylvia walked in.
   Sylvia looked round the room and said, ‘Wow, you two have a nice place here.’
     ‘Thank you,’ they said in unison.
     Samuel pulled back one of the chairs at the study table and set it against the wall facing the bed. ‘Please sit,’ he implored her.
     ‘Thank you,’ she whispered as she sat on it. Samuel sat on the other chair at the table.
     ‘O my God!’ Beltus gasped, startling them both. ‘I just remembered that I had promised to visit my uncle at Muea today. Excuse me, Sylvia, but I must get going now. Just make yourself at home.’
     ‘Of course,’ she said with a smile as he went out.
     ‘I guess you are hungry,’ Samuel said and went to the plate rack to get a plate, without waiting for a reply.
     He got a ceramic plate and dished some rice and stew with fried fish for her before setting the food on the table.
     ‘Please come over to the table. Lunch is ready.’
     She did.    
     ‘Hmm,’ she murmured as she inhaled the aroma from the food. ‘You cooked it?’
     ‘Yes,’ he said as he set a glass of water next to her plate before going to dish his own food.
     ‘Hmm, the food is tasty,’ she said as he sat on the chair next to the wall. ‘I didn’t know you are such a good cook.’
     ‘Well, I had to be. My parents had no daughters, just the three of us boys; so each of us had to know how to cook. In fact, my brothers say I took after my mother when it comes to cooking.’ 
     ‘Are you serious?’
     ‘Yes, I am.’
     ‘Wow; that’s great. Most men detest cooking, saying it’s a chore for the women.’
     They both laughed and ate on in silence.
     Then Samuel said, ‘I guess I am not the first person you have converted to the Catholic faith. So tell me: have there been others?’
     She sipped from her glass and leaned back on her seat. ‘Very few of them, really. And I think I should be proud of that because I have come to realize that the Pentecostals get a very sound teaching to not change their churches, even to other Pentecostal churches.’
     ‘I agree with you there. So outside the Pentecostal churches, have you made any coverts? I’m talking about the unbelievers.’
     ‘Yes, a lot of them. I was a member of the Cadets of Mary Immaculate back in my secondary school days. We usually went out for evangelism, and won many souls for Christ. I am presently a member of the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, and we also engage extensively in evangelism. I would advise you to join the group. It would enrich your spiritual life greatly.’
     Samuel nodded. ‘I see. So have there been any major cases with the unbelievers? Say, maybe a chronic drunk or someone who had stopped going to church for years?’
     ‘Hmm…’ She cocked her head to one side and contemplated the question. ‘There have been no major cases; just the kind of people you meet around and notice they need Jesus in their lives. Then you talk to them and they start developing interest. But the Pentecostals seem to be making more converts out of the unbelievers than we Catholics do.’
     ‘I guess so,’ he said as he stood to clear the table.
     They chatted a little longer before she said she had to get going. He went to see her off at MalingoJunction. After ensuring she boarded a taxi, he went back home.
***
Fabrice was seated in his living room watching football on TV when he heard his phone ring in the breast pocket of his shirt. He checked and saw that it was Melanie calling. Hoping she called bearing good news, he answered it.
‘Hello, Melanie. Please tell me it worked.’
     ‘I can’t believe it, Fabrice,’ he heard her say and his heart began to sink, ‘but it actually worked!’
     ‘Are you serious?’ He clutched the phone hard, hoping his ears were not deceiving him.
     ‘Yes.’ He could hear she was half laughing now.
     ‘So how did it go?’
     ‘Well, I have been dialing her number persistently over the last few days, yet she would not pick the call. So last night I kept dialing until she finally answered and sounded like she was spitting fire. She asked why I had kept disturbing her.
   ‘I told her I had a peace offering for her. When she asked what it was, I told her what you asked me to say. She said she did not believe me. So I told her to see for herself. After a brief silence, she then asked me to give you her number so you can call her.’
     ‘Wow,’ Fabrice exclaimed, feeling entire body shudder with excitement. He never expected it could be that easy. ‘Thank you very much, Melanie. OK, now send the number to me through SMS so I can call her.’
     Her voice now carried a tinge of severity as she said, ‘Listen, Fabrice: this is my last chance to make things right with Jennifer. So if you screw this up, I am so going to deal with you.’
     ‘You have done a lot, Melanie. I promise I won’t let you down.’
     ‘And don’t make her even suspect that I am involved in this whole setup. Should it not go as planned, I would be dead meat by sundown tomorrow.’
     ‘I hear you.’
     ‘Very well then,’ she said, sounding calm now. ‘I’ll send you the number right away.’
     And then he heard the line go dead.
     Moments later, he received a text message from her. It was simply a phone number. Jennifer’s number. His last shot to getting at Pichichi.
     He dropped the phone on the chair and paced the room, trying to assuage his excitement. He had to sound like a White when he calls Jennifer. So he really needed to calm down and rehearse what he was going to say.
***
Around half past eight that evening, Fabrice was sipping rich wine at a posh table in the bar of the Parliamentarian Flats Hotel, constantly checking his watch. There were very few people there that night.
With a decent shave now and with his hair and goatee dyed brown, he looked completely different. He wore dark glasses, a skin-tight, pink, polo shirt over a pair of quality blue jeans and topped it all with a blue pair of trainers. He equally used the same perfume he had used the night he went to Las Vegas snack bar. A gold chain hung from his neck.
The sight of his reflection in the mirror after getting dressed left him breathless He might have gone to great lengths in the past to look good so he could attract a girl’s attention, but he had never before claimed to be - or act like – someone else, especially a rich man who was just from abroad. So when he saw his reflection in the mirror, he admitted to himself that even Timothy would not have recognized him if he saw him on the road that night.
     He summoned all his wits and called Jennifer; making sure to give off an American accent and sound authoritative. And she fell for it all. So he asked her to meet him at the bar of the Parliamentarian Flats Hotel by nine o’clock prompt. He equally stressed the fact that he was a man of punctuality, and she promised to be there on time just before he ended the call.
     That was when he leapt for joy and called Timothy and Gladys to inform them ofhis recent breakthrough. They could not believe it; they were so happy to hear that. He bet Timothy would have given him a peck on the cheek had he been standing next to him.
     Checking his time again on his Timex, he left a little uneasy. It was now ten minutes shy of nine o’clock. Now, he had never before met Jennifer and did not know what she looked like. He had, therefore, told her over the phone that his hair and goatee were dyed brown, so that when she got there, she would spot him instantly.
Just as he was taking another sip from his glass, the front doors swung open and in walked the sexiest girl he had ever seen.
Clad in a skin-tight red top tied into a knot just above her navel, revealing a silver ring which was etched there, she was tall, fair and graceful. Below the top was a revealing blue jean miniskirt. Her height was further increased by the white pair of high-heeled sandals she wore. Her outfit was completed by the small green shoulder bag she carried over her left shoulder. Her long curly dark hair bounced against her shoulders as she moved, covering a part of her face such that he could hardly see it well from where he sat.
     A spasm of adrenaline seized his body as she pulled back her hair to scan the room before walking up to his table.
     ‘Fabrice, I presume?’ she said as she stood before him. He could perceive the rich fragrance of her perfume.
     ‘None other,’ he said with a grin, ‘Jennifer?’
     ‘Yes.’
     ‘It’s a pleasure to meet you.’ He stood, shook her hand and asked her to sit.
     ‘The pleasure’s all mine,’ she said with a sweet smile as he got the overturned wine glass on the table and poured her some wine. He had still not taken off his glasses.
‘Thank you,’ she whispered as she took her first sip.
     It was then that he took off his glasses, so he could get a better look at her.
     As she returned her glass to the table, she pulled back her hair with her right hand on which she wore a gold bracelet.
     It was then that it happened.
The colour drained from his face and he felt his throat go dry when for the first time he had a good look at her face. His mind began spinning like a carrousel when he thought he recognized the face; but where…?
And, bam, he remembered! It was unmistakably the face of the girl he had seen in the photos with the pastor who committed suicide – the very same girl the Rev. Atteh Daniel Oben had said called herself Ruth!
A greater bout of adrenaline exploded through his bloodstream as he stared blankly at her in disbelief.
     ‘Fabrice?’ she said, jerking him back to reality. ‘Are you Ok?’
    ‘Well…,’ he laughed in embarrassment, trying to regain his composure. ‘You must forgive me if I lost my head there a moment. I was so carried away by your beauty. In all the six states of the United States of America I have been to, I have never seen a woman half as beautiful as you.’
‘Now, I have never heard that before,’ she said, laughing.
     Now he looked puzzled. ‘What! You mean none of the naggers in this country have ever told you how beautiful you are?’
     ‘No, I didn’t mean it that way,’ she retorted, unable to control her laughter. ‘I meant that no one had ever said I am more beautiful than the American women.’
     ‘Of course you are!’ He emptied his glass.‘Alright; drink up, baby, so we can go to the room. I just can’t control the stirring in my loins.’
     They both burst out laughing.
     Minutes later, they ascended the staircase and walked down an ornate corridor with him holding her just above the waist, flattering her all along the way.They stopped halfway down the corridor at a door to the left, and he fetched a single key with which he opened the door into the posh bedroom.
     ‘Wow,’ she gasped as they got in and he locked the door.
     ‘You like it?’ he said with a grin.
     ‘Are you kidding? This is luxury! I have never been to such a room as this.’
     ‘I am luxury, baby,’ he said, patting his chest just before he pulled her close to kiss her. It felt magical. He felt like never letting go of her as his tongue tore between her lips and ventured into her mouth to meet her own tongue and they both engaged into a dance of fire.
Wriggling her way out of his grip, she said, ‘My motto is “Business before pleasure,” Fabrice.’ She bit her lower lip and looked at him seductively before saying, ‘Cash in hand, and then we can play it rough all night.’
     ‘Cool,’ he said with a chuckle as he fetched his wallet from his pocket. ‘You want it in dollars or in Francs?’ he asked as he opened the wallet, making sure she saw the dollar bills inside.
     ‘Well,’ she said shyly. ‘I will take the Francs.’
     ‘Ok then.’ He pulled out the full amount they had agreed on and handed her the shiny bank notes.
In no time, she took the money and stashed it into her handbag which she later got rid of.
As she approached him with a seductive look in her eyes, he pushed her violently onto the bed and quickly pounced on her. In no time, he was seated astride her in the bed with his left hand pinning both her hands down above her head and his right hand covering her mouth to keep her from screaming.
Raw fear got the better of her as she noticed the vicious look on his face, fearing he would kill her there and then. 
Her skin crawled when he barked, ‘I know what you have going on with Pichichi!’
All attempts to break free from his grip were futile. She could feel her entire body shuddering with apprehension.
‘I know he pays you along with the other strippers to sleep with the pastors and then send him the photos,’ he barked. ‘But what beats me is why you would keep working for someone who has been killing the other girls who were with you.Now I am going to take my hand from your mouth. But if you scream, I am going to put it back. I don’t want to hurt you. Is that clear?’
     She nodded spontaneously.
Slowly, he let go of her mouth and watched her inhale greedily, vigilant to shut her mouth again if she attempted to scream and draw attention to them.
     ‘Now,’ he said, ‘why do you keep working for him? Or have you not heard of how he killed the other strippers with you?’
     She regarded him like he was speaking a strange language. ‘What other strippers are you talking about?’
     ‘You’re kidding, right?’ But then he saw that she looked serious.
Has she suddenly lost her memory? He wondered.‘Itop Amanda?’he pushed on. ‘Mubah Blandine? None of that sounds familiar to you?’
When she just blinked back at him, he could not believe it. He expected the news of the dead strippers to trigger something in her, but that didn’t seem to be the case.
     True, she was shocked when he mentioned Pichichi; but the fact that the mention of the other now-dead strippers who had been in league with her – alongside the fact that her life was in danger – had no effect on her sent shivers down his spine.
Something must be wrong somewhere, he thought as he got off her.
     As she rose to her elbow, he went to the bedside table and got the yellow file he had kept there. The file contained the pictures taken of Amanda and Blandine in bed with the pastors alongside the ones taken of the girls in postmortem.
Handing her the file, he said, ‘See for yourself.’
Her jaws dropped and her eyes grew wide with shock as she opened the file and beheld the pictures. She quickly turned to sit on the edge of the bed, then looked up at him in confusion, saying, ‘What’s going on here? How come…?’ She looked again at the pictures and then back at him. ‘How come I am not aware of this?’
     Raw panic gripped him as he realized she was genuinely surprised – lost, even – as she stared blankly at him, demanding some explanation for what was really going on. ‘You mean you don’t know about any of this?’ he asked as he sat next to her.
     ‘No, I don’t.’ She shook her head furiously.
Feeling gooseflesh, all he could say was, ‘So how did you meet Pichichi?’
A sigh escaped her mouth as she shut her eyes for a painful moment before saying reluctantly, ‘I was in my room one evening around early August last year when I heard my phone ring. I checked and saw that it was an unknown caller. I was not surprised, since we usually gave our contacts to several people for appointments to perform at their clubs and personal rendezvous’.
     ‘When I answered the call, the caller said his name was Pichichi and he wanted to meet me that same night at Las Vegas. When I told him I was already in bed and that we could only meet the following day, he persisted, saying he was about to give me the best deal of my life!
     ‘I hurriedly got dressed and boarded a taxi for Las Vegas where he was waiting for me just outside the gate. When I met him, he took me inside through the double doors and asked me to order anything. Our orders came, and he told me again that he had a deal for me which I could never refuse, saying he would pay me whatever I asked for.
     ‘I was surprised, you, see, because no client ever gave you a blank cheque. So I asked him what the deal was. He then said he wanted me to seduce the Cameroon Baptist Church pastor and take snapshots of us making love. I thought either he was crazy or I did not get him well. So I asked him to repeat himself, and he said the same thing.
     ‘I told him I would never do such a thing. Even when he offered to pay me a hundred and fifty thousand francs (150,000 Frs) – which was a very huge amount for a single deal – I still turned him down.
     ‘He later increased the offer to two hundred thousand francs (200,000 Frs). It was then that I realized he was a psycho. I told him I would never do such a thing, not even for a million francs! As I stood to leave, he held me by the wrist and warned me not to tell a living soul what he just told me; else, I would not like what would become of me.
     ‘I couldn’t explain it, but I just got angry at him there and then. First, he made me leave my house all the way from Mile 16 only for me to come and hear him make me a ridiculous offer. And after I turned him down, he dared threaten my life! I just told him I understood and stormed out of the place.
     ‘But it didn’t just end there. He kept calling me and increasing the offer each day by such enormous amounts that I feared he was either an occultist or a scammer. Yet each day I turned him down flat. I may have no qualms stripping my clothes for people to see and get excited, but I still had a conscience… though not for too long after.
     ‘A time then came when things got so rough for me that I could not even pay my rent for months, and there were so many bills to settle. I called my relatives in the village to send me some money but they said things were not easy for then either.
     ‘Coincidentally, Pichichi called me again around that time - he never takes no for an answer – and, in addition to his usual demands, he said something else that really got me thinking.’
     ‘What did he say?’
     ‘He said, and I quote, “You will come to find that under the veneer of righteousness, these pastors are nothing but greedy animals who would grab anything that comes their way.” It made me wonder whether he might be right. That – in addition to my being really broke at the time – was what made me accept the deal for five hundred thousand francs (500,000 Frs). That’s a huge amount of money, right.
     ‘When I told him that was what I wanted, I thought he might object, saying it was too much. But then, he agreed without any objection and even paid me two hundred thousand francs (200,000 Frs) upfront, promising to give me the rest as soon as I delivered the photos. I could not believe it. It was like a dream come true!
      ‘So I started making plans to go see the pastor at his house on the evening when I was sure he was the only one at home. His housekeeper was my inside person; she gave me the details of everyone’s movement in and out of the house for a small fare.
     ‘Then came the evening in late August when his wife travelled, and the housekeeper left for the day. I went to see him in the guise of a troubled Christian desperately seeking spiritual help. I told him one cock-and-bull story to make him not suspect my real reason for going to see him so late. I was decently dressed, but I just had to pull a string that would get him going, like unbuttoning the top of my blouse and pulling up my skirt ever so slightly; and when I saw the opening, I then engaged him into the act.
     ‘When I saw that he was getting turned on, I told him we should go to his bedroom. He objected at first, but then I finally got him to do it. That was when I took the photos. By the time he realized what was happening I hit him hard in the head and then run away.
     ‘It was then I realized that what Pichichi had told me was indeed true; and just then I sort of realized that it was my calling to expose the animals in these so-called men of God. When I printed the photos and gave them to him, he kept to his word and paid me the remainder of the money in full. I did not know when I asked him whether there was any other pastor he would like me to do likewise to.He was so glad to see that I was so interested, so he sent me next to the Apostolic Church pastor.’
     She then told him what the pastor himself had reported at the station.
     In the end, she said, ‘I can’t believe there were two other strippers doing the same thing as I, obviously employed by the same person!’
     Fabrice was fascinated by the story; he could not believe what kind of person Pichichi was. He asked her, ‘You mean you have not been following the news? Or reading the newspapers?’
     She frowned. ‘Listen, all I knew was that those pastors were killed after making shocking confessions, so I could not even begin to connect it to Pichichi. I guess the high pay does that to you – it impairs your judgment. Moreover, none of the press releases I listened to said these girls had lain with the pastors. Besides, none of the pastors I slept with tuned up dead; so as far as I was concerned, there was no cause for panic. So long as I did not tell anyone about Pichichi and me, there was no problem.’
     It was then that something occurred to Fabrice. He realized that Pichichi did not rally these strippers and offer them the deal en masse, as the police assumed he did. Rather, he recruited themindividually, making each stripper think she was alone on the deal.
Bu why so?Hewondered. Probably because if the strippers took the deal en masse, when the pastors started turning up dead, they would have freaked out and decided en masse to report the matter to the police. But with eachof them thinking she was all by herself, (and with a death threat looming if she ever told anyone), the risk becomes minimal!
     He felt goose bumps form on his skin as he dreaded the terrible thoughts concocted in Pichichi’s mind. He was clever, Fabrice would give him that. Very clever; and know very well how to cover his tracks, making sure nothing went unattended to.
     Turning to Jennifer, he said, ‘I guess you should be grateful that that pastor took his own life; else, you would be dead by now.’
‘What do you mean?’ She looked surprised.
     ‘If Pichichi had killed him by himself and you found out about it, you would have become a liability. Pichichi would have feared you might sell him down the river. And so you would have ended up like the girls in these photos.’
     She felt the hair on the neck of her neck stand erect, and raw fear grip her as she slowly comprehended this.
     Taking advantage of this, he added, ‘In case you haven’t been following the news, Jennifer, Pichichi was using those photos as leverage to get the pastors to confess in their various churches the sole legitimacy of the Catholic Church!’
It hit her like a massive stone dropping to the bottom of her gut. She felt her stomach clench with dread as she looked at him wide-eyed in stone silence,
‘This isn’t about exposing the lustful instincts in these pastors, Jennifer,’ he proceeded; ‘it’s about setting chaos everywhere by igniting such a delicate issue as the age-old feud between the Catholic Church and the Pentecostal churches into a religious warfare!’  
     Judging by the dreadful look on her blanched face, he believed she fully understood his point, though she could not bring herself to utter a word.
     ‘Have you already given Pichichi the photos you took with the Apostolic Church pastor?’ he asked.
     ‘No,’ she said dryly.
‘Good,’ he said with a sigh of relief. ‘You are not going to give them to him.’
     It was then that she burst to life, looking at him like just passed the death sentence on her. ‘Are you nuts? What excuse do you expect me to give him for that? Listen, I have already called to tell him the photos would be ready soon, and he haspaid me two hundred thousand francs upfront like he did the first time. In fact, I have already printed them. If I do not deliver them, I would end up like the ladies in these pictures.’ She pointed at the photos in disgust.
     ‘Jesus, Jennifer! How do you think they ended up dead in the first place? It was after they delivered their own sets of pictures!’
‘Listen, Fabrice,’ she retorted,‘they were chickenhearted; I am not. Now I know I just have to keep my mouth shut even when the pastor wounds up dead. After all, he deserves it. Going against Pichichi’s orders is just as good as ending up dead.’
A sarcastic laugh wound its way across his lips. ‘And you think he killed then because they told anyone about it? Well guess what: they did not! But he killed them all the same! Why do you think he kept you all separate the whole time? Can you even imagine how many more strippers are out there doing his bidding? Think about it, Jennifer!’
     And thinkshe did, looking even more frightened this time around.
‘Any way you look at it, Jennifer,’he finalised, ‘you would still end up dead. Pichichi’s motives are far too complex for him to consider keeping you alive as a priority – especially when he already considers you as a liability.However, there is a way you get out of this alive – by helping us nail him down.’
     Her brows furrowed as she frowned hard at him. ‘And who would “we” be? By the way, how did you even come about knowing all this, including my affiliation with Pichichi?’
     With a sigh, he let the cat out of the bag: ‘I am a policeman, Jennifer. I have been charged with finding Pichichi and bringing him to justice.’  
     Now Jennifer felt like she had just been hit frontally by a sledge hammer. She could feel her blood pressure increase, and felt like she would collapse there and then. She could not believe she had just spilled her guts to the police. She knew she was going to end up in jail for the rest of her life.
     Sensing her fear, he said, ‘Calm down, Jennifer. I am not here to arrest you. I need…’
     Before he knew it, she leapt from the bed and dashed for the door. Luckily, he had shut the door and kept the key in his pocket. She struggled frantically with the doorknob like a crazy animal seeking escape from the bullet of the hunter’s gun. When she saw that it wouldn’t budge, she flopped down on the floor, leaning against the door, and cried bitterly.