After the girls had left Grace alone, she had decided the only option was to blend in the crowd so she wouldn't look out of place. Her plan didn't work for long though as Raymond caught her not long after.
"Gracie!!" He called with his hands up as soon as he sighted her. "I swear I didn't think you'd come." He said as he got closer to her.
"Well am here, aren't I?"
"Yeah, you are. And you said this night is about bygones, so why are we dulling eh?" He curled up his lips. "Am almost done with this bottle, it won't do us any good. Let's go to the bar."
Not waiting to hear Grace's response, he dragged her towards the bar.
"Barman, one bottle of Henny please." He ordered as he took a seat. Grace didn't and he noticed.
"What's up with you?" He asked.
'Yeah Grace, what's up with you? You finally found the excitement you were looking for and now you are acting like a baby.' She thought.
She gave a slight shrug. Her caution didn'
Veronica hadn't thought anything through after leaving Joana. Her head was already starting to hurt. Too many thoughts, too many people, too many possibilities. Just like the rest, she wanted the night to end too."Good evening." She said to the man behind the counter at the bar."Hello," He replied with a beaming smile. "What can I get you?""Nothing. I just want to ask something."The bartender kept quiet to hear what she had to say."The drinks, where are they stored?" She said regretting her words almost immediately. The man raised a brow."Are you the police or something?""No no. Uhm, I just want to know, have they been opened before, or they are still sealed until it gets here from your store.""Of course! We can't just open everything down because customers are plenty. What if they don't order as much as we thought they would. Do you want to make me pay with my salary? (1)"Veronica curled her lower lip in frustr
The time was 10:00 pm. The Sultan's hotel was in lockdown mode after the police showed up with an ambulance. They confirmed Raymond's death in front of everyone and then put him in a body bag and then on a stretcher. Everybody present at the hotel was gathered at the pool area and the policemen- a total of six officers- divided themselves as some tried interrogated the people present and at the same time controlled them from getting closer to the crime scene. Margret, Veronica, June, Joana, and John were the ones the officers had a hard time controlling as they tried to get to Grace who was at the other side getting interrogated by one of the policemen."Can you explain what happened here miss?"Grace wasn't listening when the police officer standing in front of her asked the question the first three times. She sat on a bench, staring at Raymond's body which was already in a body bag, fragments of pictures flashing in her head, a constant reminder of what she had
"He said he is on his way," Margret said as she placed her phone back in her pocket.Everyone had left the hotel immediately after the police left. No one wanted to be around in case they came back. The girls stood at the end of the street and waited until Margret called Efe and got his response."So what now?" June asked."We wait until he comes," Veronica replied."What? Raymond is dead. I could die anytime soon and you want me to wait until he comes?" Joana fumed."Your friend is in prison Joana!" Veronica shouted. "Have some fucking sympathy!""So it means you can't think of any plan except Grace is involved? Some detective you are." Joana scoffed."Why did you take so much time coming back to the room?" Margret said."What?" Veronica asked."After separating from Joana, I called and you said you were on your way but it took you about fifteen minutes before you came. Where were you?""I--" Veronica said then s
John laid on his bed with his phone in his hand as he listened to afro-pop music blasting loudly from the speakers of his earphone directly to his eardrum. He used this to pass time as he waited for Joanna, he also used it as a means to keep his mind from overthinking whatever happened at the party. He still couldn't make sense of what he saw. Raymond was dead, Grace was arrested for his murder and it seemed like Joanna and her friends knew more to it than they were letting anyone in on.As usual, Joanna was going to sneak into his room from his window to prevent his parents from finding out. John had left if slightly open for Joana who got without any difficulty. More than anything, John hoped for some explanation as soon as she came in. He sprang to him immediately he noticed her presence."Hey Jo we need to talk--"Joana jumped on him, taking him by surprise with a deep kiss on the lips which propelled them back to the bed. She moved on to send kisses t
Grace didn't sleep during the night, she couldn't. All she did was reflect on her past decisions. Of all her friends, she was the one who people referred to as the bad egg. Parents in their neighborhood were always making her out as a bad example to their children and anytime she and her friends got in trouble for anything, it was a result of her actions and behavior. But she was okay with it then. She would tell herself it was everyone else's fault. It was everyone else's fault that her parents died. She came to realize that night that she acted as a bad child so people would notice her so that people would give her attention so that she wouldn't feel alone. But she never felt more alone than she felt that night.Morning soon came and Grace started dozing off. With each nod came a silent whisper that jolted her back up.Murderer!It wasn't enough to stop her from snoozing until the noisy sound of Patricia's baton clanging against her cell finally ended her slum
"Margret, what are you doing here?"The three girls jumped to their feet immediately. Margret couldn't answer. What was I doing here? What was she doing here? June was almost eaten up by her fear. She held Joana's hands tightly as they both gazed at Maryam."I-eh." Margret stammered."You told me this morning that you were heading to June's house to meet up with your friends," Maryam said. "Why are you in a police station?"Maryam could tell when Margret's eyes shifted from hers to gaze on something else. She spun around to see Grace and the adults in a heated fuss. Everyone else in the station was watching too from a distance."What is going on?" Maryam asked in utter confusion."It's nothing mom.""That doesn't sound like nothing, and you lied to me so you could come here... Something is going on and if you don't tell me right now, I'll go find out myself."Maryam's words sent their heart racing fast. Telling her about Raymon
"Gentlemen please, let's be civilized here. This is not a market place." Inspector Jerome said with an effort to control the uproar between Efe and the Onwukas."Mr man you better sit back and do your job." Mr. Onwuka snapped back at Inspector Jerome. "This girl must not leave here today, she must rot in jail.""I'm sorry but that won't be happening." Veronica chimed in, announcing her presence. Grace's eyes widened in disbelief as soon as she heard her voice. Seeing Veronica's face overwhelmed her with a sense of uncertainty about what could happen next. Everyone including June and Joana was clueless about what was going on."Who is this?" Jerome asked. "And I thought I told you, girls, to wait over there?""Who I am is not of importance right now," Veronica replied. "What is important right now is that this girl right here is innocent and you are going to receive a call any moment from now telling you why you should release her.""What?" Jerome s
"So can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?" Efe queried as he stood in the middle of the living room. June, Grace, and Joana took their sitting positions on the only sofa in the room while Veronica sat on a wooden chair close to them."Guys, I think we have to tell him," Grace said as she looked at her friends. They didn't like the idea."Are you sure?" June asked."There's no point in keeping it from him now," Grace replied, glancing over to Veronica for support.Veronica shrugged."Well..." Efe said with gesturing with his hands to indicate his impatience.Grace sighed.