CHAPTER ELEVEN: The Camera

The sound of the police siren grew louder.

Amara stared at Jidenna, then at the small gold ring still sitting inside his open palm.

For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.

The proposal that should have been the most beautiful moment of her life had arrived at the worst possible time.

Outside, several car doors slammed.

Jidenna slowly stood up.

“Amara,” he said quietly, “you don't have to answer me now.”

She looked at him.

“I believe you.”

His eyes softened.

“But believing you doesn't mean we ignore what is happening.”

He nodded.

“You're right.”

Another knock shook the bedroom door.

“Oga Jidenna!” the security head shouted. “The police are here!”

Jidenna closed the ring box.

“Keep it,” he said, holding it toward Amara.

She hesitated before taking it.

“I'll give you my answer when this is over.”

A faint smile appeared on his face.

“I'll wait.”

The door opened.

His lawyer, Mr. Okafor, entered quickly, carrying a black briefcase.

“Sir, we need to go downstairs.”

Jidenna nodded.

“Did you bring everything?”

“Yes. And I need to see that camera.”

The security head immediately handed him the broken device.

Mr. Okafor examined it carefully.

“This could be important.”

“It was hidden in the tree opposite our bedroom,” Jidenna said.

“Who found it?”

“My security team.”

“And who placed it there?”

“Kene.”

The lawyer's expression changed.

“Are you certain?”

“We have CCTV footage showing him entering the garden three weeks ago while I was in Abuja.”

Mr. Okafor took a deep breath.

“Then we don't panic. We document everything.”

They walked downstairs together.

Amara stayed close behind Jidenna.

When they reached the main hall, six police officers were waiting.

At the front stood a senior-looking officer holding a folder.

“Mr. Jidenna Cole?”

“Yes.”

“I am Superintendent Nwosu. We need you to come with us concerning the reopening of the Sophia Adeyemi investigation.”

Jidenna didn't move.

“My lawyer is here.”

The officer nodded.

“You are entitled to legal representation.”

Mr. Okafor stepped forward.

“Officer, before my client goes anywhere, I would like to submit some evidence.”

He placed the camera on the table.

The officers immediately looked at it.

“This camera was found hidden in a tree outside my client's bedroom,” the lawyer said. “It appears to have been positioned to record inside the house.”

Superintendent Nwosu picked it up carefully.

“Who found it?”

“The security team.”

“Do you know who installed it?”

Jidenna answered.

“My brother.”

The room became silent.

The superintendent looked at him.

“Your brother?”

“Kene Cole.”

The officer wrote something in his notebook.

“Do you have evidence?”

“Yes.”

The security head stepped forward and handed him a tablet.

“CCTV footage, sir.”

The superintendent watched.

The video showed a man entering the garden.

Even though the footage was from several weeks earlier, the face was clear.

Kene.

He walked around the garden slowly, looking toward the house.

Then he disappeared behind the trees.

The superintendent watched it twice.

“Make a copy of this.”

One of the officers immediately took out a storage device.

Jidenna's phone suddenly rang.

He looked at the screen.

Unknown number.

He answered.

“Hello?”

There was silence.

Then a man's voice whispered:

“Don't trust your lawyer.”

Jidenna froze.

“Who is this?”

The caller hung up.

Amara noticed his expression.

“What happened?”

Before he could answer, the phone rang again.

This time it was a message.

One sentence appeared on the screen.

THE CAMERA WAS NOT PLANTED TO WATCH YOU. IT WAS PLANTED TO WATCH WHO VISITS YOU.

Jidenna showed Amara.

Her stomach tightened.

“Who would want to watch people visiting you?”

Mr. Okafor took the phone.

“Don't respond.”

Superintendent Nwosu looked at the message.

“When did you receive this?”

“Just now.”

The officer's expression became serious.

“Give me the phone.”

Jidenna handed it over.

Then another message arrived.

ASK YOUR BROTHER WHAT HAPPENED AT THE OLD WAREHOUSE.

Amara looked at Jidenna.

“Old warehouse?”

Jidenna frowned.

“I don't know what that means.”

His security head suddenly stepped forward.

“Oga…”

Everyone turned.

The man swallowed.

“There is an old warehouse belonging to the company.”

“Where?” Jidenna asked.

“Near the river. The company stopped using it years ago.”

“Why didn't I know?”

“You were studying abroad when it was closed.”

Jidenna looked at his lawyer.

“Can we check it?”

Superintendent Nwosu shook his head.

“Not yet. If there is evidence connected to the murder investigation, the police should search it properly.”

Jidenna nodded.

“Then search it.”

The superintendent looked surprised.

“You're willing to cooperate?”

“I want the truth more than anything.”

Amara watched him carefully.

For the first time that morning, she realized something.

The police weren't the only people investigating Jidenna.

Someone else had been watching the family for weeks.

Someone who knew about the camera.

Someone who knew about Sophia.

Someone who knew exactly where Kene had been.

And someone who clearly wanted Amara to discover something.

Then a police officer rushed into the hall.

“Sir!”

Superintendent Nwosu turned.

“What is it?”

“We have a problem.”

“What problem?”

The officer handed him a phone.

“We traced the number that sent the messages.”

“And?”

The officer looked uncomfortable.

“The number doesn't exist.”

“What do you mean it doesn't exist?”

“It was generated through an internet service. We can't identify the owner.”

Jidenna stared at the phone.

“Then whoever is doing this planned everything.”

Amara suddenly remembered something.

“The first message.”

Everyone looked at her.

“The message I received before all of this.”

She pulled out her phone.

“It said, ‘Ask him where he was for two days after the accident.’”

Superintendent Nwosu looked at her.

“Show me.”

She handed him the phone.

He read the message.

“When did you receive this?”

“Last night.”

“Before Kene went on television?”

“Yes.”

“Who sent it?”

“I don't know.”

The superintendent stared at the screen.

“Then perhaps Kene isn't the person who started this.”

Jidenna's eyes narrowed.

“What are you saying?”

“I'm saying your brother may be using information that someone else gave him.”

Nobody spoke.

Suddenly, the television in the corner switched on.

The news channel was still running.

A reporter stood outside what looked like an old building.

Amara's eyes widened.

“That's the warehouse.”

Everyone turned toward the screen.

The reporter was speaking urgently.

“Breaking news. Police sources have confirmed that officers are preparing to search an abandoned warehouse connected to the Cole family business following new information in the Sophia Adeyemi investigation.”

Jidenna stared at the screen.

“How did they know?”

Mr. Okafor's face became pale.

“They shouldn't know about the warehouse yet.”

The reporter continued.

“An unidentified source claims that important evidence connected to Sophia Adeyemi's death may have been hidden at this location for years.”

Jidenna's phone rang again.

Unknown number.

This time, he didn't answer.

A message appeared.

YOU ARE LOOKING IN THE WRONG PLACE.

Then another.

THE WAREHOUSE IS A TRAP.

Amara looked at Jidenna.

“Don't go there.”

He nodded slowly.

“I won't.”

The phone vibrated one final time.

A photograph appeared.

It was a picture of Sophia.

She was standing beside a car.

And behind her was Kene.

But that wasn't what frightened Amara.

In the corner of the photograph stood another person.

Someone neither Jidenna nor Amara recognized.

Someone whose face had been deliberately blurred.

Underneath the photograph were six words:

SOPHIA DID NOT DIE THAT NIGHT.

Jidenna stopped breathing for a moment.

Superintendent Nwosu immediately took the phone.

“Where did this come from?”

“I don't know.”

The officer stared at the photograph.

Then he looked at Jidenna.

“Mr. Cole…”

“Yes?”

“If this photograph is authentic, everything we've been told about Sophia's death may have to be reconsidered.”

Amara looked at Jidenna.

His face had gone completely pale.

The man who had spent years carrying the weight of his wife's death suddenly looked like someone who had just discovered that the past wasn't buried at all.

And somewhere outside the mansion, hidden among the crowd of reporters gathering behind the gates, a man lowered his phone.

He had been watching the house.

He smiled.

Then he made a call.

“Kene,” he said quietly.

There was a pause.

“The plan worked.”

A voice answered from the other end.

“Did they see the photograph?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

The man looked toward the mansion.

“But there's one problem.”

“What?”

“Amara is still alive.”

The line went silent.

Then Kene's voice returned.

“Then we make sure she doesn't discover the truth.”

Inside the mansion, Amara suddenly felt a chill.

She didn't know why.

She only knew one thing.

The danger had never been about Jidenna's past alone.

Someone was coming for her too.

Make the police confrontation more realistic

Deepen Amara’s emotional conflict

Clarify the camera evidence chain