The meeting with Kemi was something I couldn't afford to miss. I wanted so much information into the cause of Ola's death that I kept aside the fact that she had gone with him to the hotel.
As I left the house, I got into my car and drove down to her house. Once I got there I parked the car outside. The gate man saw me and was startled.
"Ah, welcome madam, long time." He greeted. The startled look on his face got me a little worried. But I forced a smile and asked,
"Is your madam in the house?"
"Yes." He said, opening the gate for me to come in. When I entered he closed the gate and led me to the front door and knocked.
The door opened and to my surprise a man of average height, probably in his thirties, with a few muscles on his shoulders came out and closed the door.
He was dressed in a black suit and when our eyes met, he frowned. The next thing I knew he was going for my handbag.
" Excuse me where is Kemi?" I asked surprised. He ignored me but held my hand and took my bag. I tried to make some resistance, but with one hand, he pushed me against the wall by the side of the front door.
I was shocked by this approach and wondered what he wanted to do. He opened my bag.
"What are you carrying in your handbag?" He demanded. He had started searching my bag and this made me angry.
"Give me my bag. Give me my bag you idiot!" I shouted. Just then the front door opened and Kemi came out in time to see us struggling with each other.
" Jerry, no! Please leave her, she's my friend." She shouted at the man. The man immediately stopped his search and looked at me.
"She's clean, Kemi." He said as he gave me back my bag. I stared at the man terribly worried about my visit. The man left me and went inside leaving me and Kemi standing outside.
"Kemi what is the meaning of all this?"
"Sorry my dear for his behavior. I didn't tell him you were coming. "
"And who is he to handle me like that?"
"Let's go inside and I will explain. It's not something that I can tell you outside." Without saying a word I followed her in and looked around.
"Don't look around Tola, it's still the same house you used to come."
"Except as I see it, you now have a bulldog." Kemi frowned.
"A bulldog? What are you talking about?"
"You need to see how that man attacked me outside. Only bulldogs attack like that."
"Actually Tola it was my mistake like I told you the first time." She said, as she beckoned me to sit down. I sat down opposite her in the sitting room and the same man that grabbed my bag came over to her and whispered something in her ears. When he finished he gave me a menacing look and then left the sitting room.
"So who is he, Kemi? And why was he looking at me like that?" I asked.
"It's a long story but he's here for security reasons."
"Security?" She nodded.
"Well he's a sort of bodyguard if I can put it that way." I stared at her and gulped. I couldn't imagine why she needed a bodyguard. But it made me remember the words of Chuks the hotel manager who said a woman was carried out of the hotel by gunmen.
"A bodyguard?" I asked.
"Yes, Tola."
"And why do you need a bodyguard?" She stared at me and suddenly her face melted into sadness.
"Like I said it's a long story. And it's something I just have to get off my chest."
"Is that why you wanted to see me?" She nodded. I still had the pictures she took with Ola and brought them out and showed them to her.
"Look, while he was telling me you would spoil our marriage, he was having fun with you." I said. After she had seen the pictures, I put them back in my bag. To this she laughed.
"Aha Tola, so you think I would have the guts to go with your husband?"
"Look, at this point I have a right to believe anything. So I believe whatever went on between the two of you happened because you guys wanted it to happen..."
"Me, Kemi?!" She shouted
"So tell me something different. Tell me it never happened. Tell me you had nothing to do with what happened to him."
"Ah Tola? I thought I knew you after all these years. But you've changed." she said nodding her head, " you have really changed."
"And what about you?"
"Me? I've not changed o. I'm still the Kemi you know."
"Anyway why am I even bothered?" I asked.
" Tola I swear, I was not involved with your husband in the way you think."
"So how were you involved with him?" Kemi looked at me briefly before she started talking.
"Tola if there's a good reason why you married this guy, I am still thinking what that reason is."
"What do you mean?" I asked getting worried.
"I mean you shouldn't have rushed into the marriage."
"Why?"
"Because this is a guy I realized was into someone else." I looked at her. She was telling me Ola had another woman. This wasn't new.
"Our society is a polygamous one. So I wouldn't find that strange. I mean he would still go after other women, and perhaps even you."
"No Tola with me it didn't happen that way."
"So what are you saying, that he never tried? Or that you guys never went to some place, like a hotel room? " Kemi looked away for a brief moment and this made me believe she actually had a relationship with him.
"Tola, I was worried the first time you introduced him to me."
"Really?" She nodded.
And I think it's the main reason he wanted you to stay away from me." She said.
"He always told me you would spoil our marriage by introducing me to one of your rich Alhaji friends." Kemi shook her head.
"Not so. I think that was only a pretense he used." She replied.
"Why?" I asked.
" Okay it happened like this. I had met him earlier, even before that first day I came to your house."
"What?!" I shouted "Kemi? No wonder he told me to stay away from you. You are a poisonous snake!" Kemi kept quiet while I shouted at her. She seemed resigned to whatever would happen to her. I knew perhaps it was due to her being kidnapped and then released.
"Tola call me whatever you want to call me, but I saved your life."
"And how, by getting my husband killed?"
"Look, it wasn't my fault that it happened. Rather blame your husband for not being open to you."
"Whether he has any blame or not, what stopped you from telling me how things were?" I asked, pointing a finger at her.
" Did I know you were even married to him?" I opened my bag and brought out a picture of she, Nancy and Ola together.
"But you know this woman in the picture, right?"
"So, if I know her what does that mean?"
"Isn't it strange that as she is going out of the country you are coming in the same day?"
"Oh wait, so you believe we planned it all? I mean to get him killed is that what you are saying?" I had no time to waste. I searched my bag and brought out the letter Ola had written to me.
"Here, read this." I told her, as I gave her the letter. She took it and read it. A smile lit her face as she gave it back to me.
"Tola, I should warn you right now to forget whatever intentions you have of finding out what happened."
"But why? And why is everyone telling me not to look for answers?" She sighed her.
"As you can see, someone else has already told you what I have just told you."
"Yes, but why?"
"Well it is not quite clear what he meant by old scores, but I knew he had a lot of trouble trying to get the mother of his son to understand that him marrying you was something he had to do." I froze when she said that.
For a minute I bent my head, silently pondering over what Kemi had just told me. This made me think back at that moment Ola walked up to me and told me I would be his wife. Looking up again I had one question to ask her.
"Kemi how did you know he was trying so hard to convince that woman to accept the choice he made?"
"Like I told you, I met him before you invited me over to your house. And..., well we discussed the issue....," she paused as if it was hard for her to continue. This reminded me of how the mention of her name got Ola startled. I was beginning to understand something.
"Kemi, how long have you two known each other?" Kemi gulped and adjusted herself. I could see that she wasn't comfortable with the question.
"Kemi?" It was hard for her to even look at me and so I came to the conclusion that she must have been the woman he was trying hard to convince. I got up ready to leave.
"Where are you going, Tola?" She asked. I sighed, as I looked around the house again.
" You're the woman he tried hard to convince, right?" She didn't say a word. "Never mind, I was already told you had his son. But I didn't believe it." I started walking towards the front door when she called me back.
"Tola? you think you know everything don't you?" I turned and looked at her. She had a look of defiance that made me think, she was all out to make me pay for what I did to her. I knew she was angry with me. But why? I came back and sat down opposite her again and also stared defiantly at her. I was too also angry .