Consequences

Chapter 6

When I opened the bag the first thing that caught my attention was a white unsealed envelope placed on top of the money. I picked it up and looked at the money inside the bag. There was a lot of money and from the look of things, it was all in dollar bills.

I quickly opened the envelope I held in my hand, and brought out the written note that was in it. One look at the handwriting told me it was written by Ola. I read it,

" Tola it was a wonderful life I felt I could give you. But old scores had turned into new threats which I was secretly trying to handle without you knowing. I could not allow it to hurt the good woman you are.

When I told you to avoid your good friend Kemi, I knew why. The truth, is she was a threat to our relationship in ways you couldn't have imagined. Perhaps one day you will know the truth. " Ola.

What was Ola trying to tell me by writing this? And what was his connection to Kemi? It hadn't occurred to me to suspect him of foul play. As far as I can vividly remember, he never allowed Kemi to come to the house.

Kemi and I always met outside. It was either at her place or at the house of some other friend. I kept reading the letter over and over again, trying to get a sense of what he meant by Kemi being a threat to our relationship. I had to find out.

I closed the bag with the money in it, and kept it back under the bed. I wanted to find out what Chuks, the hotel manager, knew about them.

He had mentioned Kemi coming to the hotel with a man called Ola. What else did he know? I grabbed my hand bag and went down to the reception.

"Madame, how are you?" This was Nneka greeting me with a smile. I tried to smile back at her but  I couldn't. She saw the expression on my face and stopped smiling.
"Can I see the manager?" I asked her.
"I will call him right away." She quickly got on the phone and called him and then told me he was waiting for me at the usual place.

I imagined it to be his private area. Without waiting for the receptionist to take me there, I went there myself. I knocked on the door and without waiting for him to answer, I went in.

I found him seated, watching the TV. I walked right up to him and standing in front of him,  showed him the letter.

"Sunshine, what is this?" He asked looking at the letter.
"Read it." I told him. He took the letter from me and started reading it. I took the time to sit down opposite him so I could face him and look him in the eyes.

The fact that I was in this hotel meant there was something that he and the receptionist knew that they were not telling me.

"It can't be. This cannot be a coincidence," was all he could say while he handed me back the letter. I took it from him and put it back into my handbag.
"What do you know about these two people?" I asked with my heart beating fast. He frowned when I asked him that question. What was he thinking?