Tarasha - Season 5 - Episode 66

4 years ago

Tarasha - Season 5 - Episode 66

Tarasha returned the phone into her pocket. She placed her left foot at the edge of the bed close to Madam Henrietta and placed her left elbow on it, resting her jaw in her palm. She squinted at Madam Henrietta’s face, ‘What about you? What are the past sins and secrets that you know from your association with him?’
‘I’ve not discovered any of his secrets yet, he keeps them carefully,’ she replied in shaky voice.
A knock sounded at the door and it startled Madam Henrietta. Tarasha took a quick glance at the door and spoke, ‘Come in.’ She turned back to Madam Henrietta, ‘Which of his secrets are you covering for him?’
Madam Henrietta’s eyes met with Stephanie’s as the latter moved closer to them. She looked again at Tarasha’s face. The fear in her mind increased, her heart began to pump faster.
‘I’m not covering any secret for him,’ she answered, this time sincerely.
‘Then why did you burn up the documents that prove his guilt?’ Tarasha asked in a loud threatening voice. She glanced at Stephanie who had just entered and didn’t know what was going on. Tarasha had come into her own room earlier to discuss with her but never told her that she was going to discuss with Madam Henrietta too. What Tarasha had told her was that when she saw her call, she should go into Madam Henrietta’s room and try to convince the older lady to travel with them.

Flashback—12.30AM
Stephanie was already asleep and didn’t know when the door to her room was opened. She only she felt the reflection of light from the bulb on her eyes when the light was turned on.
‘Stephanie,’ she heard her name called softly as she opened her eyes and she saw Samantha Osman walking towards her.
She stretched and managed to sit up. ‘Good morning,’ she greeted as she yawned and rubbed her eyes.
‘Good morning,’ Tarasha replied. She sat at the edge of the bed close to Stephanie. ‘I’m sorry to disturb your sleep again. We’d be leaving here in few hours time, but I need to ask you some important questions before we move.’
Stephanie readjusted her seating position to pay more attention.
‘You said you had information concerning the murder of Lewis Andrew George,’ Tarasha said and waited for her to confirm. Stephanie nodded. ‘What information do you have?’
‘The Vice President ordered his death,’ Stephanie replied.
Tarasha frowned, ‘That’s a serious allegation girl. How sure are you?’
‘I’m very sure, my mother told me.’
‘Your mother? What does she know about the murder of Lewis George?’
‘Andrew Lewis George was my father,’ Stephanie declared.

The last statement came to Tarasha as a surprise but she made sure it wasn’t expressed. ‘Madam Henrietta was Mr. George’s wife?’
‘No,’ Stephanie replied, shaking her head. ‘Madam Henrietta is not my biological mother, she only took charge of me after the arranged accident.’
‘And who is your biological mother?’ Tarasha asked.
‘Mrs. Atinuke George.’
‘Atinuke George,’ Tarasha repeated under her breath. She remembered vividly that Atinuke George was the same person listed as the spouse for Lewis Andrew. She also had no cause to doubt Stephanie, her surname being George added more credence to her words.
‘She told me how my Dad was poisoned before the accident, they knew the poison was already going to kill him but still went ahead to arrange an accident to make the accident sound as the sole cause of the death.’ Stephanie.
‘When did your mum tell you this?’
‘Some few weeks ago,’ Stephanie replied.
Tarasha raised her brows. ‘Few weeks ago? Is your mother alive?’
‘Yes, she’s alive.’
Tarasha’s eyes widened in shock. She tried to do a quick flashback and remember what she saw on the citizen’s profile, she remembered clearly that it was stated that the woman was dead. ‘Your mum is alive? Where is she?’
‘She got terminally ill from the accident and she’s in a care center in Lagos,’ Stephanie replied.

‘The records shows that she died in the accident,’ Tarasha said.
‘Yes, the records say so but my mother is alive.’

Tarasha drew in a deep breath. She looked away and took some time to think. ‘But how do we prove your mother’s claim? Are there documents that show that your Dad was poisoned?’
‘Yes, Mum says he was supposed to survive the accident. He didn’t suffer enough injuries from the accident to kill him, the doctors knew this, so they were surprised when he gave up the ghost, they carried out postmortem and discovered that he was given a death poison.’
‘Do you have the post mortem’s documents?’
‘Yes, I do.’
‘But how did your mother know that the poisoning was carried out by Chief Elvis Richards?’
‘My Dad was supposed to have a peace talk with Chief Elvis and the lawyers that day but it did not end well, he was poisoned at the place.’

‘Does the autopsy report carry the time of the poisoning?’
‘Yes, it does carry every detail that we need to prove the poisoning,’ she replied.
Tarasha pondered on the matter for some more seconds. She looked at Stephanie again, ‘How would you prove that there was a peace talk between them that day?’
Stephanie frowned and a sorrowful look covered her face, ‘There were pictures but that’s where the problem lies. My foster mum, Madam Henrietta burned all the pictures and documents few days ago.’
‘Why did she burn them up?’
‘I don’t know, she keeps telling me she is trying to protect me…’

PRESENT
‘Those documents do not prove his guilt, Mr. Lewis was losing case before he died and even his lawyer encouraged me to do away with the documents.’ Madam Henrietta defended herself shakily.
‘That isn’t the answer to the question I asked you,’ Tarasha said with a thin stare. She put her feet down and took out a knife from her back pocket. She took off the blade case from the knife and proceeded towards Madam Henrietta. ‘Now, I ask again. Why did you burn the documents and the pictures?’
Madam Henrietta shook in fear, trembling at the sight of the sharp blade of the knife. Her eyes met with Stephanie who was also looking very terrified.
‘There was no need to keep the documents anymore, I had to take them away somehow.’ She answered shakily.
‘You’re still not giving me the right answer,’ Tarasha said, she climbed with her two legs unto the bed and squatted before the woman, she put the knife close to her neck.
‘Please don’t hurt her,’ Stephanie said with a trembling voice from behind.
Tarasha gave her a brief side look but did not take the knife away from the woman’s neck. She stared back into the woman’s eyes. ‘Now, tell me why you burnt the documents and pictures.’
‘I wanted to keep Stephanie safe from trouble,’ she replied.
‘How do the documents make her unsafe?’
‘I remembered Stephanie called me few days before I arrived in Nigeria to ask about the same documents, I knew she must have la!d her hands on them. When Chief Elvis asked about the whereabouts of the documents, I didn’t want to tell him that Stephanie asked about them and may have taken them, so I told him I had burnt them already. He threatened to punish me severely if the documents were found to still exist. That’s why I had to burn them when I returned to Abuja.’
Tarasha withdrew the knife slowly and placed a knee on the bed. ‘What does he need the documents for?’
‘I don’t have an idea what he needs them for.’
‘How did he know they were with you?’
‘He said he already sent men to check the late Lawyer’s files and they saw it recorded in the files that the documents have been handed over to me.’
‘I see.’ Tarasha stepped down slowly from the bed and cased the knife blade before returning it into her back pocket. ‘If Chief Elvis wants the documents, it means that they really prove his guilt. And he also sent men to kill you yesterday, that means he’s trying to make sure all his tracks are covered.’
She paced around the room for some minutes before stopping at the previous position in between the two ladies. ‘Elvis Richards is up to something and he needs to move you out of the way before he proceeds, we need to find out what that is today.’ She paused to check the time. ‘The vehicle taking us to Abuja would be here to pick us in one hour time, be ready,’ she said and proceeded straight to the door.

She stopped and turned again as her fingers touched the knob of the door. ‘You may want to know why we aren’t travelling by air; the flights can be easily monitored, the Vice President would get to know about your entrance into the state not later thirty minutes after the flight gets there.’
She turned the knob and proceeded out of the room.

There was an awkward silence for the first few minutes after Tarasha left the room. Madam Henrietta was the first to break the silence.
‘Who is she?’
Stephanie held her breath for a moment. She glanced at the woman and turned to stare at the wall. ‘She saved you from the Vice President’s attempt on your life. Her name is Samantha Osman.’

________

7AM

Location: Rael University Area, Lagos.
Cole and three other men were seated at a table in a restaurant. The other men were part of the newly employed assassins. There were drinks on the table before them but none of the bottles were touched. The men seemed to be more concerned with their discussion.

After some minutes, Cole handed a phone to one of the men named Nicholas after dialing a number. Nicholas put the phone close to his ears and waited for the call to be answered as the other men watched him in silence patiently.

‘Hey Stain, what’s up man?’ Nicholas said into the phone, putting on a smile and hoping it would be felt at the other end.
‘Cool Nigga! Who are you?’ Stainless replied coldly from the other end.
‘Nicholas man, remember me?’
‘Which f****** Nicholas are you? The last Nicholas I saw died in a septic tank,’ Stainless replied more coldly, he seemed to be having a bad day.
‘Nicholas of the X-Gang, the one you met in Markurdi six years ago.’

‘You? You’re a crazy nigga, what do you want from me?’
‘I need to see you man, I heard you are in Lagos. I’m around your base in Rael University Area, can I come over?’
‘Who the hell told you I’m in Lagos? And what the f*** you wanna see me about?’
‘It’s complicated man, I tell you, but it involves a lot of money. Are you in your base?’
‘No, the f***** base was raided months ago when your stupid friend Don Dan met with Samantha Osman.’
‘So where can I meet you?’

‘I’m in Rael Area, meet me at BT Close. I hope what you bring really involves a lot of money.’
‘Okay, I’ll be there in few minutes and I’ll give you a call.’
Nicholas ended the call and stretched his hand to return the phone.
‘Hold the phone,’ Cole said to him. He looked at the other men’s faces, ‘It’s time, we’ll watch where he comes out from. Take him as a hostage first and then attack the base if we still find it necessary.’