THE STORY 2 EP. 22

 EPISODE TWENTY TWO

THE STORY 2

BY PRAISE UMORU

“What!” Malia exclaimed stunned “that is a strong accusation Jeremy and I do not like it”

“Don’t talk about strong accusation to a guy that was kept in jail for over three weeks because the so called family of barrister of the dead victim didn’t want to accept the fact that I was put in jail by a false accusation with an absurd evidence!”

All eyes turned towards Irene whose eyes where fixated on Jeremy

Jeremy didn’t appreciate Irene’s grievous stare at him so he lashed out “don’t look at me like that, you knew I was innocent the very first day you visited me in jail, you knew about the fight I had with Frank but you knew I didn’t have a hand in his death because there was no evidence that I did it since that was the last day I set my eyes on him”

Irene felt insulted “Don’t try to play innocent with me you little thing, because I can still return you back to that cell for you to rot for even laying a finger on my brother, and no one can do anything about it!”

The tension in the room drew everyone to a thick silence that made the swirling of the fan so loud in the ears of everyone leaving only the stares to do the talking.

Jeremy drew a side smile “pardon me, I forgot we are in a capitalist country” Jeremy made his move for an exit but Irene cautioned him

“Get back here! I don’t care what you think or how you feel. All I want is to get my brother’s killer or else I am taking you all in as suspect or probably lock you all up.”

Each eyes of the crew members lit up

“What! You can’t do that” Eli’s voice accommodated fear

“You have no idea what I can do if I don’t get my brother’s killer in seven days”

“What!” – Quinn

You can’t do that to us!” – Malia

We don’t even know him!” – Eli

“You have got to be kidding me!” – Jeremy

Most of us haven’t even seen him before!” – Alex

“Mrs. Irene please how do you expect us to find anything out in just seven days…!” – Tim

Paranoia spread round the room to each crew member.

Irene’s eyes shrew no sign of sympathy towards the crew. She was impatient to know her brother’s killer and she sensed the people before her knew about it and had some kind of link to his death, and she was bent on letting hell loose in order to find that killer in disguise 

“I don’t care how you are going to do it, or who knew him and who didn’t. All I know is that you all have seven days to find out how my brother died. But for the meantime” she turned back to Malia “what I want to know right now is how you came into my father’s house, and I never got to know about it. I have eyes and ears at the back of my head, so how come I never knew about your visit.” Irene glared at Malia

“I don’t know. Frank’s friend personally picked me right from the airport to the house. And took me straight to Frank’s room. I didn’t see anyone in the house apart from Frank and his friend. When I asked him why the house was so empty when he was giving me a detour, I told you before, he said his parents travelled on their usual long journey’s and it was just himself and his friend living in the house most times”

“That’s a lie” Irene blurted out.

“I am not lying I swear” Malia grew scared. The rest of the crew were beyond confused on the drama that proceeded the other

“My parents have three maids in the house along with a chef, a chauffeur, a gardener, a gateman and a butler. Frank doesn’t have friends, especially one that he would boldly bring to the house. And how can you make me believe that 8 workers would just disappear from the house and then a sudden new friend of Frank comes along from nowhere. Don’t mess with me Malia, what are you hiding if you don’t want things to get ugly this minute.”

“I swear Mrs. Irene, I am not hiding anything” Malia’s tears started gushing out again. Jeremy gazed at her from his corner. He felt hurt seeing a tear on her face but he close his eyes shrugging the feeling off and then looked at her without a sense of remorse

Eli forced herself to speak up, being annoyed at Malia’s continuous denial “Malia just say whatever you are hiding and let’s end this once and for all”

“I said I am not hiding anything Elizabeth. Believe me!!!” Malia snapped at her in her paranoid state

“Then how come you were the first person to know about his death” Quinn jumped in. Malia gave her the unbelievable confused look. “I saw you at the Centre when I came to tell the news to my crew, but you already knew about it. How? I got to know from my dad, how did you get to know yours because the news wasn’t broad at then?”

“I told her” 

Everyone’s gaze turned towards Tony. He saw the tension rising after Irene had threatened them all. But had been quietly observing the horrible drama before him.

“How did you know?” Eli asked calmly

“Common, Quinn’s dad knew about it and it passed down to Quinn. The rumor was going bit by bit already. It just didn’t get to some of us quickly.

Silence grew once again before Malia soberly did justice to the serenity

“I didn’t do anything”

Quinn spoke up “Eli and I figured something out.” All eyes now turned to the two ladies sitting together “I have been in touch with Dr. Badmus lately” Quinn felt Irene’s stern gaze on her “who has been of great help” she stressed her sentence which loosened Irene’s gaze “we got to know more about the poisonous plant, that it belongs to the Apiaceae botanical family. They are vegetable family just like parsnips, carrots and others. We both checked online, after remembering Dr. Badmus’s words, that the plant have similarities with other veges that could make differentiating the poisonous plant with others pretty hard and when we dogged some more, we saw that the poison hemlock roots looks just like carrots…”

Quinn paused but everyone apart from Eli stilled looked confused. Then Eli continued

“Quinn said you can attest that Frank’s favorite veges were carrots…” she paused hoping everyone could fix the pieces together

“What are you insinuating!” Malia got angry “I didn’t even have the time to buy anything on my way to his place. All I took along was a little bag that could long contain my phone. So because I know things about my best friend, you think I poisoned him?! I never even knew such a plant like this exist until Frank’s death!”

“Enough with the confusion!” Irene snapped. Silence grew for seconds once more as Irene paced with piled up thoughts in her head. “You are saying there is a high tendency that if Frank didn’t accidentally step on the plant, he must have been poisoned through his meal?”

“Something like that” Quinn responded

Irene looked at Malia suspiciously but then said “I have done my little research on the plant and although it’s deadly, it doesn’t kill its victims instantly. I was home the day Frank passed away. I remember when Frank called me to attend the family gathering he was organizing. He told me he was back home already anticipating for the family reunion, that must be when he called you to come over to the house, and two days after that, I came home. The rest of my siblings also came the day after, that was the day for the family little reunion and the night he died. So definitely he must have been given the poison days before…”

Jeremy decided to round up the suspicion as everyone summing up their thoughts in their head “and if he was poisoned through his meal, then it means… the culprit has been taking shelter under your father’s roof. Who knows… it could be your eyes and ears…” Jeremy gave a wicked smug “or even your messed up family that doesn’t give a damn about their dull and unprofitable son”

Irene landed a reflex slap on Jeremy’s face “don’t you ever…”

She wanted to complete her statement, but the guilt that evolved within her on behalf of herself and family made her dart away from the Centre

To be continued…

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