Guilty or not? III

Phoebe looked at the ceiling as it started to rain and hot wrenching tears flowed freely from her eyes. She had to get out of there immediately. She went into the house to know if she was alone and realized there was a kitchen, another room and a bathroom which had a bath tub and she was alone. An idea quickly formed in her head as she saw the bath tub. She had to stage Simi’s death. Adrenaline flowed through her as she managed to drag, lift and drag Simi’s body to the bathroom. She kept her body in such a way that her head was at the edge of the bath tub while the rest of her body was on the floor. She turned on the tap and sprinkled water close to Simi’s feet and around. She found a cloth and a bucket which she filled with water and went to the living room to scrub off the blood on the floor and the table. She went on her knees and scrubbed till her hands hurt and no trace of blood was found. She went back to the bathroom, poured the water in the toilet and flushed it. For the first time since she entered the bathroom, she noticed a mirror and stared at her pathetic image. Her clothes were stained with blood, Simi’s blood, so were her hands. She sobbed as she turned around and noticed Simi was still bleeding and the bath tub was getting red. It definitely looked like Simi tripped and unfortunately, hit her head on the bath tub. Wow, now she was a perfect thief and a murderer who staged people’s death. She only managed to rinse off the blood from her hands before she half ran into the living room, picked up the bag of money and dashed out in the rain. She didn’t have time to check if anyone watched her leave the house as she ran straight to her car and drove off without looking back.
Phoebe kept driving till she got to a close not too far from her house. She got out of the car and stood under the rain for a long time. Her tears had abandoned her and she hoped the rain would wash off her guilt as it washed away some of the blood on her dress. She wished she could die.
                                                         ***
                                                   17 hours later
Cheta didn’t like Mondays. The usual hustle bustle of the city increased and the previous day’s rain made everything extreme, especially the Lagos traffic. As if that wasn’t enough, he hadn’t spoken to Phoebe since Saturday. She had said she was ill and he tried calling her all Sunday but she wasn’t answering her phone. He was really worried and thought he’d go over to her house to see her after work. He’d calculated everything in his mind as he packed up for the day at the office when his phone rang. He looked at the number and guesses that whatever the person had to say wasn’t good. “Hello Gbenga”, he said as he picked. “Cheta, how far you na, you don hear from Simi?” Gbenga asked. “Why would I hear from Simi, she’s no longer my wife, I should ask you since she’s your sister”, Cheta replied. “Guy, never see her since Saturday, she say she go come back Sunday but I never see am. I don call her tire she no dey pick”, Gbenga replied, really frustrated. Cheta didn’t really care where the evil woman was but for Gbenga to complain, something might be wrong. She always confided in him. “OK Gbenga, how does this have anything to do with me?” “I for no call you oh, but your pikin dey my house since. I no even go work because of am”, Gbenga replied. “What, Ada is in your house?” Cheta asked standing up. It never really occurred to him that his daughter would be with Gbenga. “OK Gbenga, I’m coming over now, I’ll pick up my daughter and remove that burden from you.”
“Ahan, Simi nko? I no fit just give you Ada, she go kill me when she come”, Gbenga protested. “Right now, there’s no Simi from what you have told me and you need to work. So, I’ll come get Ada and we can file a missing person’s report. For crying out loud you haven’t seen her for two days. Maybe she’s just being herself as usual and nothing is wrong but I’m coming to get my daughter.” Cheta managed to convince Gbenga to wait for him and packed up quickly. He drove to Gbenga’s one room apartment with so many thoughts. Where was Simi? Why had she left Ada with Gbenga? She avoided doing that in the past because she knew he could easily drive over and see his little girl. He smiled now, he’d see his little angel after a long while. He parked his car in front of the building and walked to Gbenga’s door, before he could get there, the door swung open and a little girl with weaves ran out to give him a hug. “Daddy!” Ada screamed. “Oh my baby, I’ve missed you so much”, Cheta said with a lot of emotions. Gbenga came out immediately with a small bag containing Ada’s things and handed it to Cheta. “Thanks for looking after her”, Cheta told him. “No wahala, she be family”, Gbenga replied, “so, who go file missing person report for Simi?” Cheta thought for a minute before he answered. “We’ll both go, just give me some time to make sure Ada is in good hands, I’ll come back to pick you.” “Ok”, was all Gbenga could say. He only knew she said she was going to get a lot of money when she came back and things would be better. Now she was missing. He watched Cheta drive off with Ada and hoped for Cheta he didn’t have anything to do with Simi’s disappearance.
Phoebe had called work again to say she couldn’t come because she was still sick. This time, it wasn’t completely a lie, the rain she had stayed under for long had left her with a bad cold and she was also psychologically sick. She killed someone. She had locked up the money in a part of her wardrobe and made a mental note to pay the money back into the account she took it from the next day. She hadn’t eaten all day and was some how waiting for the police to knock at her door and hurl her out for her crimes. She decided to take cornflakes, it was already past 6 in the evening when she heard the knock. She tensed. It was happening, she was discovered, she’d go to prison or probably die at firing squad. A second knock brought her out of her thoughts and she slowly walked to the door. “Who’s there?” she asked. “It’s Cheta”, came the response. Phoebe was surprised, she had forgotten about him. What if he came to tell her he knew what she did. She opened the door and tried to fake a smile then saw him with a little girl. “You look terrible”, he said as he stepped into the house, “I’ve been calling you, why weren’t you answering?” “I’ve been ill”, Phoebe said simply, “and you know that.” Phoebe sat down on the couch and Cheta and Ada sat opposite her.
“I’m sorry, I was seriously worried”, Cheta answered, “hope you are on medication?” “I am”, Phoebe said and looked at the little girl with him, “this must be Ada.” Cheta smiled as he looked at Ada. He managed to convince her to sit at the dining while he talked to Phoebe. He explained to Phoebe that Simi was either missing or AWOL that was why he had Ada. He didn’t notice Phoebe tense as he mentioned Simi’s absence. “I’m sorry, I hope she’s alright”, Phoebe managed. “I need your help dear”, Cheta began again, “I know it’s probably too much to ask but I need you to look after Ada just for a while, I need to go to the Police with Simi’s brother.” Everything inside Phoebe screamed no, but she saw herself saying yes to his request. “Thanks so much”, Cheta said as he kissed her on her cheek. He went over to Ada and told her he’ll be back. “No no, don’t leave me here, take me with me or take me to mummy”, Ada protested, almost in tears. Phoebe’s heart broke as she watched Cheta trying to calm Ada down. She took away this girl’s mum. Finally Ada allowed her dad to leave. Phoebe took Ada to the kitchen to prepare the cornflakes and swallowed really hard. “You are pretty”, Ada said, jolting Phoebe from her numerous thoughts. Her voice was tiny. “You are very pretty too dear”, Phoebe told her, stroking her head and trying really hard not to cry. She counted the seconds waiting for Cheta to return. Today might be her last day as a free woman.