Amaka pulled up at the side of the road in front of a shop with granite and marble headstones on display behind large floor-to-ceiling glass panes. Above the entrance, in the middle of the windows, a sign in gold script on black marble read: B. Adeniran & Sons. Solemn Undertakers.
Amaka looked around, checked the address in a text message and looked around again. She dialled a number and scanned the shops on the other side of the road.
Ibrahim knocked on Amaka’s window, making her jump in her seat. She ended the unanswered call to him and wound the window down. ‘You scared me,’ she said.
‘I’m sorry. How are you?’ Ibrahim said.
‘What are you doing here? Did someone die?’ she asked.
He looked at the shop. ‘I’ve always wanted to get a headstone for my father’s grave. I came to make enquiries.’
‘Oh, I’m sorry.’
‘Oh no, he died seven years ago. I just never got to it.’
‘I see. Where is your car?’
‘I sent my driver to go and fill the tank. Have you filled your tank?’
‘No. What for?’
‘We’re expecting riots. There’s been some sporadic outbursts that we have managed to contain, but once the politicians have had time to arm their thugs, we expect full-blown civil disorder. They might even declare a state of emergency.’
‘Over the plane crash?’
‘You’ve not heard? They tried to kill his replacement. The party already selected a new candidate. Chief Olabisi Ojo. There was an attempt on his life today.’
‘Really. He survived?’
‘Yes. You should not be driving about today. What was so urgent that it couldn’t wait for me to get back to the station?’
‘I want to report a crime.’
Shehu, a cigarette smouldering in his hand, watched a single dry leaf floating on the glistening swimming pool water. Ojo stood next to him by the empty pool house, in the shadow of the towering main house. Apart from toilets and private bedrooms, this was the only place in Peace Lodge where they could be alone. Politicians and their thugs had taken over the building.
‘I was afraid you would mention the memory card,’ Shehu said.
He had checked once, but Ojo looked back at the pool house to make sure there was nobody there who could hear them.
Almost whispering, he said, ‘Do you think I should have?’
‘Hell no. Nobody apart from you and I can know about that.’
‘What if she sends it to the press? Or hands it to the opposition?’
‘Well, that is why I must find her before your father-in-law or anyone else does.’
‘How will you find her?’
‘I know where you met her and I know what she looks like. I still have access to resources I can call upon – the kind of people who find people. I will find her.’
‘Then what?’
‘Then we find out what she wants, who else has seen the videos, and who she’s working for.’
‘You think she’s working for someone? Maybe the opposition?’
‘How can it be the opposition? Did they know Douglas’s plane was going to fly into his house and take him out?’
‘What if the opposition killed him?’
‘So they took Douglas out, and at the same time they sent some girl to steal a memory card from you because they knew Otunba was going to handpick you to be the replacement?’
‘You’re right. I’m not thinking straight. I’m stressed out, Shehu. Maybe I should tell Otunba.’
‘Look, ol’ boy, those videos in anyone’s hands are enough to make them your puppetmaster for life. Or even to send you to jail. Do you understand? Nobody, not even Otunba, can see those videos. Let me find the girl and neutralise the threat.’
‘Do you mean you will…?’ He waited for Shehu to complete his thought.
A man with a leaf skimmer walked out and approached the pool. He bowed at them, plunged his net into the shimmering water and dragged it across the surface.
‘I will do nothing more than your father-in-law would do,’ Shehu said. ‘Only, with me, no one else would get to know about the videos.’
‘Thank you, Shehu. Thank you so much.’
‘Get in,’ Amaka said. She reached over and opened the door for Ibrahim.
‘What crime?’ Ibrahim asked as he sat next to her. He searched for the lever to adjust the seat. ‘Are you talking about the lynching at Oshodi? The girl you said you saw?’
‘No. I found her by the way.’
‘Really? Is she alright?’
‘Yes. The boy they killed was her brother.’
‘Kai!’
‘She recognised one of the men who took part in the lynching.’
‘That is good. Bring her to the station to make a statement. Where is she now?’
‘She’s still in shock. I’ll bring her to the station when she’s stable. Listen, a few months ago some people brought a girl to The Street Samaritans. They found her naked and barely conscious on Lagos Ibadan expressway. She had been beaten up.’
‘A prostitute?’
‘No. She’s one of many girls kept as sex slaves in a building somewhere in the middle of the forest between Lagos and Ibadan.’
Ibrahim turned his body to face her.
‘She told you this?’
‘Yes.’
‘And you believe her?’
‘Yes. From the sounds of it, it might even be a baby factory. They continuously rape the girls to get them pregnant and sell their babies.’
‘The girl escaped from this place?’
‘Not so much escaped as she was dumped. They thought she was dead; that’s why they dumped her on the express.’
‘My God.’
‘I’ve been trying to find the place. She was blindfolded when she was taken there. She described it as a big building in a large compound surrounded by forest. I searched Google Maps. There are hundreds of such isolated buildings all over the place. I went to the Ministries of Lands and Housing in Lagos, Ogun, and Ibadan. She told me the name of the owner of the place. Malik. I was hoping to find the name on a certificate of occupancy or land title deeds.’
‘Malik, what?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘You should have come to me. Where is the girl now?’
‘That’s the problem. After she recovered, we helped her relocate out of Lagos. I’ve not been able to get through to her phone since yesterday. I tried her number several times and sent messages. Her phone was still off as of this morning and she hasn’t replied to any of my messages. She would have let me know if she changed her number.’
‘You think something happened to her?’
‘I hope not. Maybe she’s not responding because it’s not my number that she has. I’m worried, though. Malik called me on my phone. He knows I am looking for him. He threatened me. The only way he could have learnt about me and also gotten my number is from her. He might have found her.’
Ibrahim stared at the dashboard for a while. ‘There is really nothing I can do right now. You can’t contact the girl, you don’t know how to find the building, and you don’t even know who Malik is.’
‘If I find out who he is, will you be able to do something?’
‘I don’t know. I need the girl’s statement. Find her and we’ll take it from there. For now, all I can say is that you should be careful.’