Chapter 24: Chapter 24

An ambulance had been called to pick up Ken's dead body. The ambulance had arrived in less than thirty minutes and the doctors had actually confirmed that Ken was really dead.

They had lifted his dead body unto the stretcher and covered him in those white clothes and hoisted him into the ambulance. Amsey had given Ken's address to them so they could inform his family about his death.

We stood transfixed still scared and trying to figure out what the next move was.

The once supportive crowd had become hostile and pointed accusing fingers at Amsey.

"You already had your revenge. You beat the poor man to a pulp. You could have still left him, but no, you were too engrossed in your wicked act that you just had to kill the innocent man." They fired at him.

I could hardly believe my ears. Weren't they the same people who fuelled the fire by encouraging and hailing Amsey? Instead of them to separate them from fighting, they had been enjoying the show. And now, they were putting all the blame on Amsey and calling him a murderer and all sort of names.

People could be so judgmental and two-faced. Where exactly was all these accusation coming from?

Amsey had been speechless since the whole incident. He couldn't even bring himself to say a word. I knew he hadn't expected things to turn out so bad and the unkind manner in which the crowd spoke had worsened the whole situation for him.

His face was sullen and I could tell he was full of regrets. I squeezed his hand tightly and reassuring him that everything will be okay.

The crowd kept on torturing Amsey with their words and I knew I had to do something about it before things got any worse.

"Listen, you all need to stop talking to Amsey like that. This entire thing was unintentional and you guys even coaxed the fight, you were the ones who kept on supporting him and it got into his head. Amsey never intended on.... Intended on....." Shoot! I couldn't even bring myself to say it.

"You can say it." Amsey said in a gruffy tone. He scoffed. "I killed a man." He laughed boisterously. "I killed a man, not any man, but Ken." "Fuck!" He shouted.

I could feel tears burning in my eyes. I squeezed his shoulder. "Amsey, take it easy."

He shrugged, removing my hand from his shoulder. "They're right. I'm a murderer."

"You see, even he, agrees." The crowd chorused.

"You're not. You're......"

The sounds of sirens blaring all over the place cut me off.

I looked towards the direction of where the sirens were coming from. Lo and behold, it was a police van.

Who had called the cops on Amsey? No! They couldn't take my Amsey away from me. He was the only one I had.

The police van screeched to a halt and two police officers alighted from the vehicle and walked with agility to where we were.

For a second, I hoped they had come for a different business and not to arrest Amsey for committing the crime of murder.

I hoped, I wished; I prayed silently.

"Who is the man that killed someone during a fight?" One of them asked in his baritone voice, swinging his baton.

"Him." The crowd chorused, pointing their fingers at Amsey.

I swallowed hard. I had known that it'd come to this but I had thought that maybe, just maybe, a miracle would occur.

Do miracles even happen? At this point of my life, I didn't think so.

Two of them walked to where Amsey stood.

The one who had asked the question spoke up again. "Is this true?"

"Yes." Amsey said.

"I'm Sergeant Tobiloba and you are under arrest for committing murder which is an offence in Section 319 of the Nigerian Criminal Code and you have the right to remain silent because anything you say or do right now could be used against you in the Court of Law." The same police officer said.

The second police officer brought out his hand cuffs from his pocket. Amsey simply brought his hands forward and the man cuffed his hands.

Amsey turned to face me. "I love you, you know that, right?"

I held his hands and tears fell from my eyes. "You can't leave me like this, Amsey. You can't. I can't live without you. Amsey, I love you. You can't leave me, please, you can't." My tears fell on his hands and I kept on babbling words I can't seem to remember.

For the first time, I saw Amsey cry. The tears flowed in torrents from his eyes. "I promised to always be there for you. I'm sorry I made a terrible mistake and now, I can't fulfill my promise. Forgive me, Cas. I wish I hadn't.... I'm sorry."

"No, you'll fulfill your promise. I'll get you out of there, I swear. I'll get you out of that prison. I promise you, Amsey." I said.

"There's nothing you can do for me now. What's done is done." He said.

"No, the Amsey I know will never accept defeat..."

"And the Amsey you know will never murder a person in cold blood."

"It wasn't you who did that."

"Exactly, Cas. The Amsey you're used to is gone. Accept that reality now for your own good."

I shook my head.

"Enough of the chitchat now." Sergeant Tobiloba said.

I wondered if the other police officer was dumb. He hadn't said a word since they had come to arrest Amsey.

I looked at Sergeant Tobiloba with pleading eyes. "Please, he didn't do this."

Sergeant Tobiloba only gave a reassuring smile which was uncommon for police officers who were always so mean and annoying with little patience. He seemed like a nice person because it was rare that they'd even let you converse with the person before hoisting him into their van.

He removed a complimentary card from his back pocket and handed it over to me. "The name and address of the police station he's being taken to is on the card. You can come there with your lawyer." He said and gave me a small squeeze on my shoulder.

"Thank you." I managed to say.

I turned my attention back to Amsey. I touched his cheek.

"I'll come there." I said.

"Bring fried plantains when coming. Make sure they're not burnt." He ordered and gave a small laugh.

I knew he wasn't fine but he didn't want me to worry about anything.

I smiled, tip-toed and gave him a light kiss on the lips.

"I love you." I said.

"I love you more." He said.

And I knew it was true.

Without further ado, the police officers led him to their van. He turned around, smiled at me once more and stepped into the van.

The driver drove off and I looked at the disappearing van longing and hoping for Amsey to come back to me.

The crowd started to disperse one after the other murmuring to themselves and talking about what had happened.

I felt weak. My legs wobbled and just when I thought I'd crash to the floor, a hand held me and supported me.

I looked up to see the accountant of the baby shop whom Amsey had left the change for. My downcast eyes met her sorry eyes.

Without even bothering to think, I flung my arms around her and started crying all over again profusely.

She wrapped her arms around me too, patting my back and stroking my hair. It was comforting and easily soothed my pain.

"Come." She said and led me back into the baby shop and offered me a seat which I was deeply thankful for and I gladly sat.

She went back outside and gathered the shopping bags from off the floor. I had been completely engrossed in the death of Ken and the arrest of Amsey that I had forgotten all about the shopping bags which contained all the items we had shopped for. Amsey had given them to me over the course of his fight with Ken and I had dropped them when Ken was confirmed dead.

She came back into the shop and arranged the bags neatly on the counter and opened up a bottle of frozen yoghurt for me.

"Drink up." She said.

I shook my head in the negative.

"Listen. Being moody will not change anything. You need to be strong, I'm sure that's what your husband will want." She said.

I only looked up at her, not saying a word.

"He loves you so much. You guys look too young though, I'm sure you married at an early age."

I gave a light chuckle. "We're not married." I said.

"But..."

"He's just my boyfriend but we live together." I explained.

She looked rather disturbed. "That isn't right. What about your parents?" She asked.

I contemplated on whether I had to tell her or not. "I can't tell you anything about that. Sorry." I said.

"It's fine." She said.

We stared blankly at each other for some minutes.

I couldn't even think well.

I took one look at the frozen yoghurt, grabbed it and took a swig from the bottle.

It actually tasted nice and was refreshing. I exhaled. "That tasted great." I admitted, checking the bottle to see the brand name.

She was writing down something and then I realized how ungrateful I had been.

I cleared my throat nervously. "Umm... I'm grateful for your help today. Thank you for everything, Miss... ummm... Mrs... Accountant madam.." I told the woman, feeling really like I were an idiot.

She chuckled. "You're welcome. I'm Mrs Patricia by the way. What's your name?" She asked, still not looking up.

"Cas.... Cassandra." I responded.

"Cassandra what?"

"Cassandra Msheila Peters."

She looked up abruptly. "Msheila?'

.

"Yes. Any problem?"

"No. The name just rings a bell." She said and smiled.

Everywhere went awfully quiet again.

I kept on thinking on whom I could possibly call that could help Amsey out of jail. The only close person to me apart from Amsey was Rita and there was no way she could help me out.

My eyes lighted up a spark. Wait a minute! Victoria. Victoria had influential parents that could possibly help Amsey out of jail. This was fate! This was where everything had been leading up to. Victoria was the jackpot. I could promise them that Amsey would become their son-in-law. There was nothing utterly impossible for rich people with connections in Nigeria.

I understood it all now. This was how my destiny was building up. Amsey would be angry at me at first for making such a big decision without informing him about it but I was just going to save his own skin. The Amsey I knew would rather rot in jail than get married to Victoria but this was for his own good.

And this was entirely not my decision. This was fate. What else could someone like me do to help him? I knew I'd be hurt at the end of it all but if ignoring my happiness was the key to Amsey's freedom, who was I not to be sad? Amsey had already done more than enough for me and had made a lot of sacrifices for me so this was the least I could do to save his life and his reputation.

"I'd do this for you, Amsey." I said aloud.

"What? Are you okay?" Mrs Patricia asked.

I only smiled and held her hands. "I'm perfectly fine. I just discovered a way to free Amsey of all the accusations and let him walk as a free man once again." I said.

She beamed. "That's good news. I told you everything will be fine."

I nodded happily.

I took out my phone to dial Victoria's number. She had given me her number and I was going to try it for the first time ever.

As I was about to dial the number, a call came in.

I looked at my phone screen, it was Pastor James who was calling.

I accepted the call happily. "Hello, Pastor." I said, excitedly.

"How are you doing today, Sandra?" He asked.

"I'm okay."

After exchanging pleasantries, I told him I was far from home with no transport fare so he offered to come pick me up and said he had wanted to discuss something with me so it was a perfect opportunity for him.

I had hung up and texted him the address of the baby shop.

I decided against calling Victoria while in the shop, it was something private I didn't wish to disclose to an outsider.

A magazine on the table caught my attention.

I picked it up and looked at the face of the cover. She wore a fitted white fluffy off-the-shoulder dress which hung tightly to her curves, with a pair of long diamond earrings and a diamond necklace.

The short black hair she had on only elevated her elegance the more and her clinky black-heeled shoes she had on matched her outfit completely.

Her makeup was on point and perfectly blended, her mascara and long lashes highlighting her ash-coloured pupils which enunciated her cat-like eyes and dazzled like the stars in the night sky, her red Mac lipstick embracing her full lips and her contoured nose which shone as if in a competition with the sun.

She wasn't only beautiful; she was graceful, elegant and outrightly sophisticated.

She was Adia....Nigeria's biggest female star.

I knew I would look more beautiful than that provided I also dressed expensively. I didn't even need a nose job or liposuction like her. If I could be more beautiful than her in all her costly splendour, imagine how I'd look when I had all she had. And I knew how to get that.

"Sandra?" I heard Pastor James' voice call.

I looked up to see him. "You're here. You got the right location." I said.

"Yes. This place is quite popular." He shrugged.

I gave him a small smile.

"I really need to speak to you, Sandra." He said, grabbing the chair from the opposite direction and pulling it close to me. He then sat down.

I didn't even know when Mrs Patricia had left and I had no idea of where she was.

"What do you want to say?" I asked him.

He looked around briefly then turned his attention back to me. "I had a bad dream."

"Okay?"

"It's about Amsey. I dreamt he'll be in danger. I've already prayed about it but I thought it wise to tell him about it so he could also pray. I wanted to inform him of it but I couldn't reach him and that's why I called your line instead. If we could join our heads together to pray about the dream, I'm positive it will be averted." Pastor James said.

I sighed. "There's nothing to avert. The deed has already been done." I said.

For a moment, he looked terribly scared. "Did something bad happen?" He asked.

Mrs Patricia came into view.

"Cassandra, is this your guest?" She asked, with her ever warm smile.

Before I could respond, Pastor James and she exchanged an extremely intense eye contact.

"James?" Mrs Patricia said.

"Patricia." Pastor James said.

"You know him?" Mrs Patricia asked.

"You know her?" Pastor James also asked, almost at the same time.

"Do you guys know each other?" I asked.

"Apparently." They both muttered.

"How?" I asked.

"Let's go." Pastor James said, grabbing my hand.

"Why the hurry?" I questioned.

"Let's just go." He said, leading me out of the shop.

"Take care of yourself, Cassandra." Mrs Patricia said on top of her voice.

"And you too, ma. Thanks." I managed to say back to her as Pastor James led me out of the shop forcefully.

"Do you know her?" I asked Pastor James after we got into his car.

"You don't need to know about it. It's private." He said.

I grinned. "Looks like everyone has something they're hiding but it's funny because you're a pastor. Only God knows what you're so desperately trying to hide." I said.

He ignored what I had said and started driving the car.

"You were going to tell me about Amsey." Pastor James said, changing the subject.

I narrated in details how we had come to shop for the baby and how Ken had triggered Amsey into fighting and how he had died which led Amsey go into jail.

By the time I was done with my story, we had already gotten home.

He parked in front of my house listening intently to every single detail.

"It was wrong of Amsey to fight." Pastor James said.

I nodded my head in agreement. "Yes, it was."

"And it was wrong of you not to stop the fight from taking place." He added.

"I regret not stopping it." I said.

"But there's no need crying over spilt milk. All we need is to pray." Pastor James said.

"Pray?"

"Yes. Do you believe in miracles?"

I already had a solution to the whole issue but I decided to pray with him since he insisted.

"I'm not sure if I believe in miracles but let's just pray." I said.

We prayed for a while.

If there could be a way out of this apart from Amsey getting married to Victoria, I'll be extremely glad and thankful to God. If only.....

My phone rang.

We were still praying so I muted the call. But the call came again and again!

"Just pick it up." Pastor James said.

I thought he was too engrossed in his prayers to have even heard my phone ringing.

"If you don't answer the call, the person won't stop calling so pick it up." He urged.

I sighed and looked at my phone screen.

It was a number I didn't know.

I wondered who it was. I only shrugged and answered the call.

"Hello." I said.

"Hello. Good evening. Are you Miss Cassandra Peters?" The voice asked from the other end.

I thought for a moment. The last time I had heard something like that was when my mother died. I was quite jittery. "Yes, I am." I said.

"There's good news." The voice said and explained to me what the good news was all about.

The caller kept on speaking for roughly two minutes and I found it hard to believe all that the person told me was true.

"Are you still there, Miss Cassandra?" The caller asked.

Tears of joy streamed down my cheeks unto my neck.

Pastor James looked worried. "Is everything fine?" He asked.

"I do believe in miracles." That was what I told him.

Miracles took place.

Believe it or not.