Guilty or not IV

Monday nights weren’t totally bad. The thrill that the day’s work had ended was enough reason to be happy, if you weren't  stuck in traffic. This Monday night however, was a little gloomy. The only flicker of happiness Cheta had was that he had his daughter. Someone was missing and had to be found.
Cheta had gone to pick Gbenga as planned. On their way to the police station, they did not say much to each other. Gbenga tried to remember all the details of his last conversation with Simi. Where could she be? They got to the station soon enough but making their complaints was taking forever. “We are here to file a missing person’s report”, said Cheta, once it got to their turn. “What makes you think he/she is missing?” asked Sergeant Tiwa, the policeman on duty. “I never see her since Saturday”, Gbenga replied, “she suppose come back yesterday but she no come, she no dey pick calls too.” “Did she say where she was going?” asked Sergeant Tiwa. Gbenga thought for a while before responding. “No.” The policeman asked for a picture of Simi and Gbenga gave it to him. “Who are you to her?” he asked them. They both answered him. For some reason, the policeman kept asking Cheta about his relationship with Simi. He wrote things down and unknown to Cheta, he was seen as the first suspect of Simi’s disappearance. Necessary procedures were taken and paper work completed and the police said they’d search for her.
Cheta dropped Gbenga at his house before going over to Phoebe’s to pick up Ada. “Hope she wasn’t much trouble?” he asked Phoebe as he watched his daughter asleep on the couch. “No, she wasn’t”, Phoebe smiled, in spite of herself, “she was an angel.” Cheta stayed with Phoebe a while, she always had a way of making him smile in sad times. Today wasn’t so different. He wanted to kiss her so much but was weary that Ada would wake up at any minute. So, instead, he gave her a kiss on the forehead, woke Ada up and went home. Phoebe was a bag of nerves. She was also a good actress, how she managed to fool Cheta that nothing was wrong with her till he left was a miracle. She didn’t sleep much that night, she kept seeing Simi with blood gushing from her head. The next morning, it took all her strength to get to work. Luckily for her, no one had noticed the imbalance in funds, so she quickly paid the money back, disguised. She called Cheta later in the day to ask about the investigation and received a shocking news. After work, she drove to Cheta’s house and found everything as he had told her. Ada was with Sara, Cheta’s housekeeper. The police had taken Cheta to the station for more questioning, apparently he was a major suspect. Phoebe was speechless when she was finally alone with Ada. How would she live with this, it was one thing to be guilty, but it was another thing to let Cheta take the fall for what she did. What had she done?
Gbenga got home from work feeling restless. He should have been happy that the police had reprimanded Cheta, but he couldn’t him but think they were wrong. He had not been completely honest with the police that day. He recalled his conversation with Simi Saturday afternoon. Simi had clearly said she’d be going to the small house on the island. Gbenga thought that was weird but he didn’t question her, after all, she was his elder sister and she had said she’d return with a lot of money. The wrong thing was that the house on the island belonged to their cousin Bola, who did drugs whenever he was in town. Gbenga didn’t want to be associated with such but now he wasn’t sure anymore. The police had Cheta but still had not found Simi. He had to say something.
Phoebe had put Ada to sleep but she couldn’t sleep. It was past 8pm and no news from Cheta yet. She kept pacing and biting her finger nails, something she hadn’t done since she was 13. If Cheta didn’t come back, she would have to say something. She remembered how she had made sure no one tracked her to Simi’s death by taking Simi’s phone that night. The phone had rang all of Monday but she had just watched it ring. After some time she switched it off, took out the sim card and destroyed it. Then she had disposed of the phone far from her house. No one would look for a phone in a garbage truck. So much for all this, she couldn’t let Cheta pay for what she did.
It was Wednesday and still no news of Simi’s whereabouts. Gbenga got to the station as early as he could. He met sergeant Tiwa and also asked him why he had detained Cheta. “He is the only one who has reason enough to kidnap Simi. She had his child and he obviously wanted that. It didn’t take him long to get the girl after your sister’s disappearance. Speaking of the child, we need to get her from his house, you will be taking care of her.” “But Simi is still missing na, and I can’t be looking after the girl for long”, Gbenga replied. “We are working on getting that information out of him”, Sergeant Tiwa replied. Gbenga took in a deep breath before he spoke again. “Simi been tell me one time say she go go island, I no take am serious because she no dey go that place, na our cousin dey stay there.” “And you are just saying this now”, Sergeant Tiwa was cross with Gbenga. “Do you know I can arrest you for holding back information, preventing investigation?” “Ah, abeg”, Gbenga went down on his knees, “I no remember till yesterday, she just say am like say she dey joke say she go there. And na on Friday she talk am. Na Saturday she just waka comot.” Sergeant Tiwa wanted to stay angry at the young man but things had to be done. They had to go to this place he just talked about.
Phoebe listened to the conversation between Sergeant Tiwa and Gbenga in the station. None of them had noticed her when she walked into the station, ready to say the truth. None of them had noticed her when she quietly left, got into her car and drove away. Surely the place the young man had talked about was where she had met Simi. She hoped and prayed nothing would come back to her. Right now, she had to head to work. Ada was with Sara again.
About two hours later, Sergeant Tiwa, Gbenga and two other policemen arrived at the small house on the island. Sergeant Tiwa first stepped in and was welcomed by a terrible stench. He put his hand over his nose as the others stepped into the house. “Hmmm, something dey smell”, Gbenga said. Stating the obvious, thought Sergeant Tiwa. He went into the house following the direction of the stench. He opened a bedroom door and saw a small bag on the bed. “Gbenga”, he called, “do you recognize anything here?” he asked as soon as Gbenga came inside. Gbenga simply nodded, then they both left the room and entered the bathroom. The stench hit them like a wrecking ball. There, at the base of the bathtub, a woman’s body lay decaying, with dried blood on the floor. Gbenga screamed as he recognized his sister. “Ah, na Simi be this sir, ahhhhh my sister don die.” For a grown man, he had tears in his eyes. He didn’t want to leave but the other two policemen came to drag him out. Sergeant Tiwa quickly made calls for the body to be moved. The case of the missing person had been solved but the missing person was found dead. Could it be an accident or a murder case and who would be blamed. The brother who withheld information of her whereabouts or the ex husband who had a motive to have her disappear?