Chapter 38: Chapter 38

Part Thirteen

Angel of Justice.

Chapter Thirty Five

"Where's Eva?" Darrell asked walking into the room. He noticed Halal had put on a mini red dress and was styling her hair by the mirror.

"Wow, look at you....dressed like it's your birthday. You look hot" Darrell eyed Halal who simply smirked.

"I've sent Eva out with Daria, told her we needed privacy" Halal said.  "I thought we were dining out?" Darrell cocked his head.

"We are...why all these questions? Just get dressed already" Halal hissed applying a sheen of lip gloss on her lips.  Darrell smiled and shook his head. "Okay, give me a few seconds" he said taking off his shirt.

Halal smiled before quickly texting Daria that Darrell was home already. "What restaurant are we going to by the way?" Darrell asked entering the bathroom.

"Um...." Halal blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Villa Medici" she said quickly.

"Villa Medici?" Darrell asked.

"Yes,  Dad recommended it. Anyway could we go to dad's first before we dine?" Halal asked.

Darrell stepped out of the bathroom "Halal you do realize how transparent you are and you're not talking to a school boy.  Let me guess there's a surprise party at Jacques. You and Daria are so cliche" Darrell rolled his eyes.

"Yes! it's a birthday party, everyone put in a lot of effort into it. Even if you hate parties, you're going to attend this one and love it. Make sure you smile when you walk in and act really surprised" Halal ordered.

Darrell smiled and nodded. "Alright, thanks. I appreciate the effort" Darrell said opening the wardrobe to take out his outfit.

"What do we do, what do we do?  We don't even know when Victoria will wake up.  I don't want to go to jail Harvey, if you love your children and I, you will do something!" Janice yelled.

Her hands shook nervously, tears were running down her face. It was as if she could sense her end was near.

"Harvey you have to do something, you have to do something" Janice sobbed.

"What will you have me do, what will you have me do? Get my hands blood stained by killing Victoria who just recovered from the near death accident you caused, are you crazy? I don't even know where she is but even if I did, I won't hurt her!" Harvey yelled.

Janice turned to him angrily, "Why, because you were sleeping with her? You think I didn't know? Everyone knew Harvey! everyone knew how you disrespected me by sleeping with a whöre. If you want me to forgive you, you have to help me now!" Janice shouted.

"I'm thinking Janice, I'm thinking. Why did you have to do it in the first place?" Harvey asked frustrated.

Janice sniffed "I didn't want to... I have too many sins Harvey.  Things I'd done while I was still a nurse" Janice sobbed.

"What sins Janice?  Talk!" Harvey commanded.  "I sold children!" She revealed in a loud voice.

Harvey got off the bed and walked to her, shock and disbelief evident in his features.

"What?" Harvey looked at her in fear. He was truly afraid of this woman, who was she?

"When I was transferred to a health center at Abuloma in River State. One of the midwives approached me,  she said she had a job for me.  She wanted me to help her, we switched the healthy babies with dead ones  and we sold them" Janice confessed.

Harvey looked at her wide eyed "Janice, how could you?" Harvey asked. "Who did you sell those children to?" Harvey asked.

Janice shook her head frantically "I don't know Harvey, I don't know. I only wanted the money, I'm sorry. One of the doctors started suspecting us so he planted a camera and got one of our operations where we switched the babies on tape.  The midwife Tayo managed to silence him but we never got the tape. The man with the tape began to blackmail us, it went on for so long. Even when we had our daughter Cliona, I was still paying. All those cheques I claimed were for charity, they weren't" Janice sobbed.

"Go on, how did Halal come into it?" Harvey asked.

"One day the man stopped sending threatening mails, for an entire month I got nothing. Then a woman called, she told me she'd bought the tapes and the man wouldn't blackmail me anymore. I thought I was free but she was worse, she didn't want money.  She threatened to air out my secrets for the world to see, I  had to do what she wanted. Borrowing a leaf from Tayo's book, I managed to get a few money hungry staffs at the hospital to work with me. I killed Femi because he came snooping, I almost succeeded in killing Victoria.......Harvey  I'm so sorry. There was nothing I could do" Janice sobbed.

Harvey looked at her in disgust "I can't believe I married you, you're a demon. You're everything I'm against and if you weren't the mother of my children, you'll be rotting in jail right now"  Harvey spat.

"Harvey, I'm sorry. I know I deserve to die,  I deserve to rot in jail but please don't let me die a shameful death, don't let me die a miserable death please. For the sake of our children, for the sake of your reputation" Janice begged.

Harvey shook his head "Why did you have to kill Halal's children? You could have hidden them.  You're the replica of the devil!" Harvey shouted.

Janice shook her head "She wanted them dead Harvey, I had no choice. I had no choice" Janice sobbed.

"Who is she?" Harvey asked. Janice shook her head. "Who is she!" Harvey shouted.

"Her name is Eva, that's all I know!" Janice yelled.

Felicity inspected the red velvet cake that had arrived barely thirty minutes ago.

"Halal just texted, they are on their way" Daria said walking over to her.

"Everything is perfect, your brother is a very lucky man.  I can't believe Halal went through all that stress to give him a surprise party" Felicity looked around the house.

Daria smiled and nodded. "Indeed he is" she said.  Felicity smiled again and turned only to see Eva standing by the corner, she nudged Daria.

"Who is she?" Felicity asked. Daria rolled her eyes.

"Halal's cousin, she's bad luck. Don't let her touch anything" Daria said.

Felicity chuckled "Oh...so she's the one Darrell was talking about. My ears have been filled, he said a lot" Felicity said amused.

Daria rolled her eyes "Bad things I hope" She said. Felicity was about to reply when her phone rang.

Doctor Matthew was calling. "Excuse me?" she muttered to Daria and walked away.

"Hello, could you call me back?" Felicity asked immediately she answered the call.

'No, it can't wait. Victoria is awake, she's still in a terrible state but she's been muttering some things. She mentioned you, she mentioned Darrell and then she kept chanting Janice' Doctor Matthew informed, he sounded confused.

"Janice is Harvey's wife, what has that got to do with anything?" Felicity asked confused. Then she suddenly remembered something Darrell had said.

'The person doing all these must be someone with unrestricted access....'

"Oh my God!  Doctor Mathew I'll call you back, I have to call Darrell immediately. And make sure you don't let anyone else know about this" Felicity instructed.

The lights went off, Darrell and Halal had arrived . 'Okay' Doctor Mathew said and ended the call.

The lights came on again 'Surprise!' she heard the cheer and loud clapping.

Felicity sighed, She and Darrell would have to leave this party, they had important matters to deal with.

Felicity rushed to Darrell who was stuck to Halal's side grinning like a lovestruck teen boy. "Can I borrow him for a minute?" Felicity asked smiling. "Sure" Halal smiled back.

Felicity pulled Darrell to the side. "Darrell, we have to go" Felicity whispered to him.

Darrell frowned "What's wrong?" he asked. "Mathew called, Victoria has revealed 'you know who' " Felicity said.

"Who?" Darrell asked immediately. He looked over at Halal to see if she listening or looking at them. When he saw that she was chatting with someone else he turned back to Felicity.

"Janice" Felicity whispered. Darrell shook his head. "No...." he looked at her in disbelief.  "I'm sorry" Felicity whispered.

"Harvey must have found out, that's why he started acting strange. I knew something was odd, I just didn't suspect Janice. She had unrestricted access, and she was close to Femi also. I just don't understand what her motive could be" Felicity said.

"We have to leave now, we have to get Janice. We'll call the police on our way" Darrell said. "I hope Halal won't be upset, I hope this hasn't ruined your birthday?' Felicity said apologetically.

Darrell shook his head "If anything, this is the best birthday present ever. I can rest now, knowing that the killer is behind bars. We have enough proof to have her sentenced to death, that's what she deserves" Darrell said.

Felicity nodded with a smile, she looked over at Halal who was busy with her phone and smiled again. "Let's go" Felicity said.

"Go where?" Daria frowned looking at them.

"Did you appear out of the blue?" Darrell frowned. "Start talking, you two look suspicious" Daria continued.

"We've found the killer, we don't have any time to waste.  We're going to call the police and head over there immediately.  Do me a favour, don't leave Halal's side" Darrell said sternly.

Daria nodded "Go, I'll distract Halal" Daria said. "Catch that killer and do justice to it" Daria smiled before walking away.

Darrell nudged Felicity who immediately followed his lead.

"Where's Darrell?" Halal asked Daria when she didn't see any sign of Darrell and Felicity anymore.

"He was standing right there with Felicity minutes ago, where has he gone to?" Halal  asked again.

"He had a work emergency" Daria answered.

Halal rolled her eyes "What kind of work emergency? Today is his birthday, couldn't he take a break? I went through a lot getting all these people together for this party and he just left without telling me?!" Halal raged.

Jacques walked over to the ladies, Halal, Eva and Daria.  "Honey what's wrong?" he asked Halal.

"Dad could you hand out the take home refreshments and gifts to everyone and tell them that the party is over" Halal said tiredly.

"What's wrong, where is Darrell?" Jacques asked.

"Why don't you ask Daria?" Halal said walking away.

Jacques smiled at Eva and Daria politely before leaving them to go attend to the guests.

"Excuse me too,  I'll go talk to her" Eva smiled at Daria.

Daria held her back "Stay, let me talk to her instead" She said.

Eva turned to Daria with a smirk "Little Daria, I don't think it's your fat, ugly, stupid face she wants to see right now. Why don't you run away and cry like a baby, isn't that what you always do?" Eva asked with a challenging stare.

"Screw you" Daria hissed and walked over to Halal.  Eva chuckled evilly before following.

Halal was sipping a glass of orange juice When Eva and Daria found her at the balcony.

She smiled at Eva and handed her a glass of Andrè rosé "Here you go, I'm sorry this turned out to be a shïtty party" Halal said.

Eva smiled "It's okay, It's Darrell's fault anyway" Eva said.

Daria glared at Eva "If it hadn't been important, my brother wouldn't have left. Stop fueling her anger!" Daria shouted.

Halal frowned "Daria don't talk to her that way, give her some respect. As a matter of fact, apologize to her right now" Halal glared at Daria.

Daria smiled "What?" She asked in disbelief.  "You heard me" Halal said.

"I'm not going to apologize for speaking the truth" Daria said.

"If you won't apologize for speaking that way then go home" Halal frowned.  Daria looked at her in disbelief, why was she acting so badly?

She wanted to leave because she was getting tired of Eva's behavior and Halal's blind eye to it  but she remembered Darrell's request. "My apologies Evangeline" she said.

Halal sighed and turned to her cousin for a response. "Apology accepted" Eva smirked.

"Why don't we sleep here tonight? Just the two of us" Halal suggested. Eva grinned, her plan to kill Halal would go smoothly that way.

Strangle her and leave before anyone starts suspecting anything. Master Abdiel had promised her a hideout in case she ever needed one,  the police would never find her.

"Great, we should all stay here together" Daria grinned causing Eva to frown.

"Aren't you married with kids? I don't think you should leave your husband or children and sleep out for the night. What kind of example are you setting for your children?" Eva asked.

"Listen to me you bîtch,  don't bring my family into this. The next time you do.... " Halal cut Daria off.

"Daria! Don't you dare speak to Eva that way, I'm tired of this hatred you have for her. Just go home, now!" Halal shouted.

Daria stared at Halal in anger and frustration before walking away. 'Good riddance' Eva smiled gulping down her drink.

Darrell and Felicity barged into Harvey's residence.  "Doctor Harvey!" Felicity shouted.

Janice woke up from her tears induced sleep. "Harvey, I can hear voices downstairs" she whispered.

"Doctor Harvey, Janice are you home?" they heard Felicity's voice.

"It's Felicity, she probably came to pick us up for the party" Harvey said.

"Oh, okay. Let's go downstairs. How do I look?" Janice asked.

"Horrible, wash your face. I'll go talk to them" Harvey said. Janice nodded and kissed his cheek.  "Thank you" she murmured.

Harvey gave her a half hearted smile before getting out of the bed.

"Darrell, why aren't you at your own party? Felicity?" Harvey looked at them confused.

"Well I was at my party when Doctor Mathew called. Victoria is awake and guess who is responsible for the murders, or do you already know who it is?" Darrell asked menacingly.

Harvey shook his head "It's not like that Darrell, let me explain" Harvey began.

"Two police vans are on their way here, when they arrive you can explain everything to them" Darrell said.

"It wasn't her fault Darrell, someone was blackmailing her to do those things" Harvey tried to explain. So this was the end, this was really the end.

"Who?!" Darrell shouted. "Someone named Eva" Harvey said.

Darrell stopped. "What?" he asked feeling air leave his lungs. "Eva" Harvey repeated.

"Oh my God,  Darrell go, go now. She must have plans to hurt Halal and the baby, you have to go now!" Felicity said to Darrell frantically.

He'd come chasing one killer and the real murderer was with the woman he was trying to protect.  "Don't let them out of your sight" Darrell ordered Felicity.

He ran out of the living room and dialed Daria. Her phone was switched off  "Fück!!" he yelled rushing over to his car.

He tried calling Halal as he got into his car but she wouldn't answer,  his heartbeat plummeted. His last option was Jacques.

He dialed Jacques twice before Jacques answered. "Hello, Darrell where are you?" Jacques asked.

"Jacques, Jacques! Halal is in danger. Where is she, where is Eva?!" Darrell screamed.

"What are you saying? Halal is fine, she's here, we're having dinner. Eva left few minutes ago, her boyfriend came to get her" Jacques said.

"Wh.....what?" Darrell stuttered confused.  Harvey must have been lying, or was there another Eva?

What the hell was going on?