Tarasha - Season 5 - Episode 57

Episode 4 years ago

Tarasha - Season 5 - Episode 57

**General Hospital**
12:23PM
‘Sir, you’ve had four missed calls from a particular number. He asked to speak with you directly.’ the Vice President’s assistant said to him.
‘Who’s the person?’the Vice President asked, letting out a yawn.
‘He said his name was Rex.’
‘Rex?’ his eyebrows raised. The assistant and some of the Vice President’s close guards had met Rex but they didn’t know his name or the full details of what he did with the Vice President. He tried to sit up and was assisted by his assistant to rest his back against the headboard. ‘Dial the number and give the phone to me.’
The assistant carried out the instruction and gave the phone to the Vice President.
‘Hello Rex,’ the Vice President said into the phone.
‘Vice President, I just fixed a meeting with Tarasha for you, when would you be fit enough to meet with her.’
‘You did what? How could you do that without asking from me?’ the Vice President flared up.
‘Relax your Excellency, I have a plan.’ Rex said confidently from the other end.
‘This your plan shouldn’t involve me, I won’t have the time to meet her.’
‘You would man, I would fix it in a good way. All you need to do is tell me when you’re leaving the hospital.’
‘I’m not in support of this Rex,’ the Vice President said tiredly.
‘When are you getting out of there?’ Rex replied adamantly.
‘I’m leaving today,’ he replied reluctantly.
‘Good, I’ll fix the meeting for next tomorrow.’ Asked
‘No Rex…’ Chief Elvis tried to argue but Rex had already ended the call.
He heaved a sigh and shook his head. Then he passed the phone back to his assistant and closed his eyes to think.
___________________

——————————

4:30pm
Opic Estate, Ogun State
‘Who is there?’ a man’s voice sounded from behind the gate after the second time of pressing the bell.
Tarasha and the doctor kept mute and waited on hearing the footsteps of a man walking towards the gate.
‘Yes? Good evening, how may I help you?’ a young man said to them through a small space opened at the gate. They could only see his face partially.


‘Good evening sir,’ Tarasha replied. ‘Please, we would like to see those that stay here.’
‘Those that stay here?’ the young man’s brows gathered together. ‘What for please?’
‘I’m a journalist from Desert Reporters and I’m carrying out a survey. I would like to ask the owners of this house some questions.’ Tarasha answered, displaying her identity card for him to see.
The young man scanned through the identity card and stared at the two people for a while, scrutinizing their faces as if he could know if they were saying the truth or not by mere looking at them.


‘Please, wait for me, I’ll be back in few seconds.’ The young man said and walked back into the house. Two minutes later, he returned with an elderly man who opened the gate to see the guests.


‘Good evening sir,’ Tarasha greeted the elderly man first before he could talk.
‘Good evening young woman, how may I help you?’ the elderly man asked, standing in between the opened gate. He noticed the man standing behind her but couldn’t see the face as the man had his back turned to them and was looking at the road.
‘I’m Evelyn Alex sir, from Desert Reporters. I’m here on a survey and I’ll like to ask you some few questions about this apartment.’ Tarasha introduced herself. The gate was opened wider now, but still not wide enough for those outside to see the compound as both men were blocking the open space. Tarasha noticed the resemblance between the elderly man and the young man, she needed no one to make it known that the elderly man was the younger one’s father.
Dr Ekwueme finally turned back to join them in the conversation. He was about to greet the man when he noticed that he was someone he knew. The man also looked at his face at the same time and both stared at each other with their mouths agape in surprise as they tried to remember each other perfectly.
‘Dr Ekwueme,’ the other man was the first to speak out.


‘Dr Francis,’ Dr Ekwueme replied happily and both men moved closer to shake each other’s hands and hug briefly. ‘How have you been doc?’ Dr Ekwueme asked excitedly, patting the man on his back.
Tarasha sighed and shook her head. They had come for a different mission but the doctor seemed to have turned it to a reunion with his friend.
‘I’ve been fine, how about you and your family?’


‘We’ve been doing well too, thanks to God.’ Dr Ekwueme replied.
‘That’s nice to know, please come in.’ Dr Francis said and opened the gate wide enough for them to come in.
Tarasha allowed Dr Ekwueme walk in first and then followed after. She sighed again as she walked behind the doctors who continued chatting even as Dr Francis led them into the house. She wished she had not come to the place with Dr Ekwueme. But she still saw it as an advantage on the other hand because Dr Francis would be more willing to give them an answer to the question they had and even helped them where he could.
‘Your son has grown so big!’ Dr Ekwueme commented, staring at the man’s son who had stayed back to lock the gate and was just catching up with them.


The young man smiled and bowed slightly in respect, also mumbling some words in greeting.


‘Yes, he recently finished studying from the U.K while his younger sister is still in the U.K trying to obtain her masters.’
‘That’s good, I’m sure they are giving you the happiness you used to long for.’
‘Yes, of course.’ Dr Francis replied with a bright smile, remembering several years ago when he and his wife did not get their first child until after ten years of marriage. They got to the front of the big house and climbed up the short steps to the large balcony. ‘Can we sit here and talk?’ the man said, ushering Dr Ekwueme forward.



There were about three sets of tables and chairs arranged at spaced interval in the balcony. They settled at the closest one and Dr Francis asked his son to get refreshments for his guests.


‘So who is this pretty lady we have here? Your daughter I guess,’ Dr Francis said smiling, staring at Dr Ekwueme’s face.
‘Oh! Yea, you can call her my daughter. She’s like one to me,’ Dr Ekwueme replied, flashing a look at Tarasha who was seated beside him. Dr Ekwueme was sitting opposite them at the other side of the table.
Tarasha glanced back at Dr Ekwueme and chuckled at his words but tried her best to conceal it.


‘What have you been up to lately?’ Dr Ekwueme asked his friend.

‘Nothing really since I retired, you know I had interests in some business, so I invested in them after the retirement.’ Dr Francis replied cheerfully. ‘But the investments have been yielding slowly and there’s been nothing really big,’ he paused again and smiled. ‘I know it’s different for you, your hospital is one of the bests in the east.’
‘Come on, that’s what people say.’
‘They say it because it’s true.’
Dr Francis’ son soon returned with a maid and served them fruit juice.


‘Now, let’s get to the reason you are here. We can continue catching up with old times later on.’ Dr Francis said after giving his guests some minutes to have a taste of the juice. He kept changing his look from Tarasha to Dr Ekwueme’s face, wondering who would continue the talking.

Dr Ekwueme flashed a look at Tarasha’s face, expecting her to proceed with the discussion but he met her already staring at him and it was obvious she was expecting him to do the talking. He cleared his throat and fixed his gaze on Dr Francis face.

‘Dr Francis, my daughter here is a journalist who’s on a research. I actually brought her here because this estate is one which I know very well. She selected some few houses with unique designs and your house was selected among them. Incidentally, yours is the first we are visiting. What she actually needs it to know the builders or the civil engineers that constructed the house. They are the ones that would have more answers to give us.’
‘Hmmm,’ Dr Francis tightened his face. ‘Well, I don’t really know the builders of this house, I bought it after it was built.’
‘Oh!’ Dr Ekwueme exclaimed and rested his back like someone that felt disappointed.
‘Sir, isn’t there a way of finding out who did?’ Tarasha put in.


‘Well, there should be a way, but I don’t know that way.’

‘What about those that sold the house to you? Do you still have their contacts?’
‘Hmm,’ Dr Francis sq££zed his face more. He closed his eyes briefly, trying to recall. ‘Well, I think I still have the agent’s contacts saved somewhere.’
‘Oh! The agent’s contact information would be nice too.’ Dr Ekwueme said.

‘But I have it written in a contact book somewhere not close by,’ Dr Francis said.
‘Somewhere not close by? How far is this place?’ Dr Ekwueme asked.

Dr Francis smiled. ‘Not far sir, it’s actually in this house but I kept them somewhere very uneasy to reach.’

‘Wow! So, what do we do now?’
‘I’ll just help you search for it,’ Dr Francis offered.

‘Oh! That’ll be nice of you, I appreciate.’ Dr Ekwueme thanked him.
‘Thank you sir,’ Tarasha joined with a smile. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket at that moment and she took it out.
‘It’s Okay,’ Dr Francis replied. He took out his phone to check the time before rising up to his feet. ‘I think you should come in now and wait while I search for it.’
Dr Ekwueme flashed a quick look at Tarasha, as if to ask for her permission on what to do. From the look on her eyes, he was able to tell that she preferred to remain outside. ‘Well, we wouldn’t mind staying here except you’ll stay in for long.’
‘I don’t think I’ll spend much time, it’s only that you may feel alone.’
‘No, we’d be okay Dr Francis, please go in and check for us.’



Tarasha watched until the man walked into the house before she dialed back the number calling her phone.

‘Cole,’ she said into the mouthpiece as the call was answered.
‘Boss, we have another message from Rex.’

‘What is the message all about?’
‘He has already fixed a time for us to meet with the Vice President.’

Tarasha’s mouth was left agape in surprise, but only for a short moment. ‘What day and time did he fix?’

‘Next tomorrow, 2pm. But he says he would send us the venue and time later.’
‘Okay then,’ Tarasha said, letting out a deep breath. ‘We would have to start preparing for the meeting. How many of your assassin agents have arrived?’
‘Four of them are in Lagos already, I’m expecting three more today.’

‘Okay, tell me once the remaining three arrives. I believe the seven of them would be okay for now.’
‘Okay boss.’