A WOMAN OF STEEL

chapter 16

Oyinda's POV

I took the chance of him covering his face and quickly hid.

When the train passed completely, he looked like he had seen a ghost. I almost blew my cover by laughing.

"What have I done?" he placed his hands on his head and kept turning around.

He was hysterical. Which didn't make it funny anymore.

"Guy...chill it" coming out from my hiding place. My voice made him turn abruptly towards me and for a second I thought his neck would be dislocated. One moment he was there, the other he was hugging me.

"Damn... Y-o-u are so fa-st" still in shock at his speed.

"I get that he is scared, but why would a stranger be hugging me? This is strange but why don't I feel that strangeness. But rather it seems so familiar, why?"

"H-e-yyy... I was just messing with you" He slowly let me go

"Let's go " he walked ahead.

"Emm... That was not what I expected though"

"Wait up" I called out to him and met up with him.

"I've been waiting for the both of you" Mr Timothy said before letting us in

"Please sit down" showing us the three sitters in his living room. "Ask any questions please. I will answer everything correctly"

We both brought out our books and pen to jot down any information we might be needing.

"What happened?"  Anthony asked right away

Mr Timothy signed heavily

"I can see that both of you are unmarried. You would have heard of it but still won't understand until you experience that marriage is not a bed of roses. I loved my wife so much but we always quarreled about something." He smiled "she wanted to have kids. I also did but I wanted to get a promotion first so that I can provide well for them but she wasn't the patient type. My mother would also come to her and humiliate her anytime I wasn't around.

"Your wife's name please?"

"Tinuade Smith" smiling, he continued "she was very independent when we met. She wanted to become a Nurse but it wasn't necessary because I had enough money to take care of her. I told her I would take care of her. So she didn't have to work. She hated it and also was another reason for us to quarrel. At one point in time, I allowed her to do it but she-" stopping Midway

"Have you seen my wife?"

"Emm..."I turned to Anthony. He shook his head "no sir?"

He laughed. "Was that an answer or a question. Funny enough, you remind me of her. She was very beautiful. And that was the reason I told her to stop the second and last time."

I smiled outwardly but inside, I was furious.

"So she stayed home most of the time. Like I said we argued about a lot of things. The last time I heard her voice, we just had an argument again. I quickly left to lose some steam like I usually did. I went to the bar just across the street. I drank a shot of tequila. It was when I heard a gunshot sound that I quickly paid the bartender and ran home. When I got there, s-he sh-e she was lying lifeless on the floor. She was shot. I held her close to me while I called for an ambulance and the police." He was in tears and was trembling.

" Please help my wife get the justice she needs" he begged

"Who do you think could do this to your wife?"

He shook his head

"Did she have any enemies? Anyone she complained about to you? Someone that didn't like her" Anthony asked

"No, she doesn't have that much friends and she stays home...so...nobody comes to mind "

"What about you? Do you have anyone that might want to hurt you and your wife? Anyone that hates you?" I asked him

He nodded "there are quite a few but I can't really point to someone"

" Can you tell us about the first person that comes to mind?"

"As you can see, I am a black man. I was really successful in my business, so I had a lot of people who were not happy about my success. When we moved here from Nigeria because of my work, the people here looked down on me and hated my success. It was like they didn't expect a black man to be that successful"

"Do you want some water sir? " I stood up to get him some when he replied by telling me how to get it.

"Thank you my dear" he collected it and drank some.

"So the people I can think of are the ones that were jealous of me. He was the stumbling block to my promotion. We worked at the same bank. We were at the same level and we requested to be promoted but he was against it saying he had worked there more than I did" shaking his head "he found every means to prevent the promotion. Tinu would tell me not to fight back but sometimes it's not that easy because I worked my ass off, permit my language, but it was hard."

" I understand sir" Anthony said

"Thank you my son."

" What is the name of this man we are talking about?" I asked

"Steven Holmes"

" Noted. We will do a background check on him. Who else?"

"Tom Geoffrey. He was very nice to me when I first moved here but like everyone, he turned against me and supported Holmes."

"Is that the only  people?"

He nodded

"Apart from work, don't you have neighbors that don't like you?"

"Well... Mr Daniel is a very creepy man and he made my wife scared. She didn't like him. She said he keeps looking at her seductively so I confronted him and warned him. If he wanted to kill anyone, it would have been me not my wife"

" I understand but I will still do a background check on him. Any other information you think would be useful for us?"

" I can't remember any at the moment"

" Here's my card. Please call me anytime you do. I would be in touch." I gave him my card.

"Can I ask a question?"

" Sure"

"Why did you pick two different law firms?"

" Because my wife picked yours and I picked his. Those were the decisions we made when we were choosing the law firm we wanted if any case should arise. And I think it's for the best since two heads are better than one"

" That depends on the two heads in question...looking at him, I think it's only my head that would be working" trying to lighten the mood.

"I'm glad that it's just your thoughts." His comeback was not that strong, making me speechless.

"Both of you are funny" he laughed and stood up

We both stood up and walked towards the door.

" Please let me know anything else that comes up" Anthony told him

"We will make sure to find the killer." I assured him.