(Season 1): GENEVIEVE COLE. E10

To read the previous episode, click Twist and Turns (part 2)

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 Episode 10 Title: The Traitor In The Crime.

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After I cried close to a minute, Quincy tapped by back gently. He used his right hand to clean my face, when I stared at him, he looked at me with a wholehearted smile on his lips.

“You have to stop grieving,” he said to me and closed the laptop. “We have to let go and move on with our lives.”

“You should not have closed it. I have not finished listening to everything he said.” 

Quincy uplifted on his feet, lifted the laptop, he spoke to me. “My father never told me to show you but I did. You don’t have to finish it.”

I rose up too. “Why?” I asked. “I deserve to know what he said.”

“It will only break your heart.”

“What do you mean by it will only break my heart?”

“I do not have to explain to you. I only need to take good care of you and keep you safe Genny.”

I became angry at his words. “I am capable of keeping myself safe. Before you came into my life, nothing bad happened to me. Why now? If you want to take care of someone, Jasmine is there with open arms for that.”

“You are talking like a kid!” he uttered in a furious tone. “Forget about Jasmine. I am happy to disappoint you that I will never be with her. I will wait for you whether you like it or not! Forget about taking care of yourself, the animal behind my father’s death will not come after you immediately. It does not work like that!”

“Don’t act like I believe you are truly his son!”

Quincy Harvey gazed at me with a huge frown on his face. He dropped the laptop back on the stool. “What do you want me to do, that will prove I am Freddie Arinze’s son?! Tell me!!”

“I am not a child that you can yell at. Show me something to prove, like pictures with you and him together. Maybe you stole this video from his real son. I should be scared of you. I don’t even know if you were sent to monitor me or convince me not to secretly investigate Uncle Freddie murder!”

Quincy eyebrows rose. He made an angry face. “If I was sent, do you think I will convince you not to reopen the case or kill you right now? You are probably the only one who thinks my father was murdered.” 

   

“I don’t know what to believe anymore! I need concrete evidence to prove I can trust you completely.”

“Show me a recent picture of Uncle Freddie and you.”

“I showed you one before.”

“How will I know that was you?” I asked. “That person with him was only a kid. How will I know he grew up to be you?”

He shook his head and turned his back at me.

“Where are you going to?”

He did not turn his back to answer me. “I am going to my room. I am coming!”

I sat down and waited anxiously for him. He came back few minutes later with some documents on his hand. He gave them to me. I opened them to glance and read them. It was his birth certificate with the name written boldly on it : Quincy Chinedu Arinze. I dropped them down as I noticed some pictures. I scanned through the photos and I saw Quincy and Uncle Freddie. Different photographs with them inside. One particular pic caught my eyes. The two of them were holding two bottles of beer together, lovely smiles on their lips. They appeared extremely happy. I noticed the environment was not in Nigeria but abroad. I felt drained and harsh. I should never have accused him of what I was not sure of. I only embarrassed him.

I put them down on the sofa and peered at him. “I never…”

“Please leave my house. I need some time alone.”

I opened my mouth out of shock. Did I blame him for nothing? Yes I did. “I am…”

Quincy cut me short again. “I don’t need your apology. I do not need you to find out what happened to my father. I will do that myself, alone. That is what I will do to keep you safe. I will never bother you again about relationship. You do not believe in love, I will respect that and let you be and leave you to continue to believe that love does not exist. I will not bother you or persuade you that I am in love with Genevieve Cole. Please go home and rest. Your aunt should be waiting for you, see you at work tomorrow.”

After I listened in silence, my heart crushed into two. I was hurt to receive those words from the only child of a man I loved dearly. Did I deserve what he said, yes. If only I kept my mouth shut, Quincy would never have said those things to me. I sniffed my nose, carried my bag and walked to the entrance door. I turned my back to look at him and he was staring at me with his charming eyes. His muteness pierced my bones and then it dawn on me that I might really like him. I might have turned a blind eye about how he honorably felt for me. A wave of pain crushed my feelings. I looked away and opened the door to leave.

On my way back home in quietness, as I drove, my phone rang severally and I purposely refused to pick. If I mistakenly did, I know I will definitely cry audibly. When I arrived home, my aunt opened the door. She greeted me with a grin and I responded with a cold shoulder. I headed straight to my room, shut the door, climbed my bed and tried to force myself to sleep. 

I thought about my former boss, on a fateful day, after work, I went to a supermarket with him. I took note of a little girl holding a beautiful teddy bear. Uncle Freddie noticed and asked why. I told him, I never had the opportunity of having a toy or a teddy bear when I was a little kid. He laughed at me and promised to get one for me. I told him it was unnecessary but he insisted he was going to get me one at the right time. A year passed and I received nothing from him. I thought he had forgotten about it, but few weeks before he passed away, Uncle Freddie came to my house and handed over a pink teddy bear. I laughed and laughed until cheerful tears fell from my eyes. I hugged him and took it from him. I promised to keep it safe and placed it on my bed. After he died, I threw it inside my wardrobe with tears in my teary eyes. I did not want the teddy but Uncle Freddie back.

Aunty Bimbo banged my door, begged me to open but I snubbed her. I told her I wanted to be alone, she respected my request and bid me goodnight. I stood on my feet and left to open my wardrobe to search for the teddy bear.

I saw it after I search where I stored my shoes. I grabbed it and dusted the dirt on it before I went back to my bed. I held it tight and remembered the happiness my former boss brought to my life. Whether Quincy Harvey likes it or not, I will avenge his death! Nothing on earth was going to stop me, not even his son.

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The next morning, I woke up with a sad face. I got up from my bed, removed my clothes and went to have my bath. I got dressed in a fitted black suit, wore my shoes and carried my brown leather bag. I went to the living room and saw my aunt seated on one of the dining chairs with her hand on her jaw. I knew she was thinking about how I acted last night. I walked to her and sat close to her side.

“I am sorry for the way I acted yesterday,” I said to her. “Please forgive me.”

“I have already forgiven you,” she said and removed her hand from her jaw. “What really happened to you? This is not you,” she said with a worried expression on her face.

“There’s no need for that.”

“I have never seen you like that before. Please, tell me my daughter.”

I sighed and balanced my eyes on her. “I am not happy.”

“Why?” she asked in a concerned voice. “Tell me everything.”

I could not open up that Uncle Freddie was killed. I lied that Quincy rejected me because I felt he lied about his identity. He was able to prove he was truly his son. He walked me out of his house and he said he won’t bother me again about a relationship.

“Is that why you were sad?”

“You won’t understand.”

“For you to behave the way you did,” she said. “Do you love him?”

“I don’t know.”

“The only advice I will give you is to let him be. Be happy whenever you are around him. If he is truly yours, he will never let you go.”

“How do I know if I have fallen in love with him?”

“You will know. Give yourself time.” She wrapped her arms around me and kissed my forehead.

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I arrived at the office and went straight to my office. My colleagues and I greeted each other. Detective Jasmine rose up from her chair and walked up to me

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“I want to apologize about my behavior to you. I am sorry.”

Jasmine and I quarrel, argue and settle. I knew she liked Quincy but it was not my fault he wasn’t interested in her.

“It’s okay.” I said. “Apology accepted.”

“You should also apologize for calling me a bitch.”

I laughed and said I was sorry. We hugged each other. We chatted for some time. I was in a cheerful mood as my friends surrounded me. Detective Akin and Leroy left us later to investigate a case. I noticed Oscar was staring at me and I knew he would come and ask me why I have refused to give him a reply concerning his wish for me to be his woman. I purposely stood and left the office and I met Quincy coming towards my direction. My heart skipped!

“I was coming to meet you.”

I took a deep breath and asked, “Do you want me to do anything for you?”

“I want you to follow me somewhere,” he said with a stern tone. “Doctor Ibinabo is already on her way to the crime scene.”

“Why is she going there?”

“We might be able to get the catch the killer there.”

“What does that mean?”

“Follow me,” he said. 

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On the way to the scene, we said nothing to each other. As the both of us got down from the vehicle, I stopped him from entering the house by holding his hand.

He looked at me. “Anything the problem?”

“I want to say sorry about what I said.”

“If it’s about yesterday, forget about it. I have forgotten about it.”

“Just like that?”

“Please Genny, let us focus on this new case and worked like professionals.”

I choose not to say anything further but concentrate on the new case. We walked into the building together.

A six-year-old child got strangled to death in her sleep. The suspects in the house were the father, mother and female housemaid. The mom of the child said she woke up and when she tried to wake up her daughter, she did not. She alerted her husband who came to check his child and found out there was no pulse.

Doctor Ibinabo said the victim was strangled between 4am to 6am.

“What about you?” I asked the maid. “Where were you between that time?”

“I was sleeping by that time.”

The couple said they were in their room sleeping too and they were innocent.

Quincy asked the doctor. “Is there evidence that we can use to catch the killer?”

“The finger prints of the killer were on the neck of the victim.”

“What is the way forward?” I asked her.

“I will go back to the hospital and run some test but I need something from the both of you?”

“What is it?” my partner and I asked at the same time. We stared at each other and back at the medical examiner.

“I need something from them that I can use to run the test with the finger print.”

“Something like hair or blood?” I asked.

“Yes.” She replied.

Quincy spoke. “That will be difficult because we don’t have evidence to prove one of them did it.”

I thought of a way out and smiled at them. What if I know a way out?”

They stared at me.

“We don’t need to collect anything from them.”

“What do you want to do?” Quincy asked.

I told him to let me talk to the couple and their house help. I went to them, the woman was crying, the man face looked strong and the maid's face sad.

“I still cannot believe why a heartless soul could kill an innocent child. She was just a little girl. My partner and I need something from the three of you that can help catch the killer."

“What do you need?” The victim’s father queried.

“If the three of you insist you are innocent, step towards doctor Ibinabo and allow her take a cut from your hair to use and run some test.”

“For what?” the mother asked defensively.

“If you really want to know who killed your daughter, I don’t think you will say no if you are innocent.”

“I am innocent!” she uttered.

“What is stopping you to show that you are innocent?”

She cleaned her face and walked towards the doctor. “You can cut all my hair, I did not kill my child!”

Her husband moved towards them. “Take mine, I am not guilty.”

The five of us looked at the maid. She fell on her knees and began to cry. “Please forgive me! I am sorry!!”

The victim’s parents gazed at her in shock.

“You killed my child?” the victim mother asked her in a startled tone.

“It was the work of the devil.”

She put her hands on her head. “I am finished oooo!! What did I do to you? I have never maltreated you!!! You are a traitor!”

“Your husband raped me!!!"

“What?!” she exclaimed. “You said what?!”

The husband also fell on his knees and began to beg his wife for forgiveness.

"How could you cheat on me?!" she asked her husband. "You are a betrayer!"

"Forgive me!!"

“His child was innocent.” I said to the maid. “You should never have killed their child.”

“I got pregnant and when I told him, he took me to a hospital for an abortion. It affected my womb and I can never have a child again.”

“You are under arrest for murder!” Quincy said to her in an angry tone. 

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After we arrested the murderer, I went to meet a detective at the office fighting against rape. I told him if he could look into the rape case. I had to do it because I was a victim of rape too. The man who raped his housemaid can’t walk free. He is a rapist and should be convicted.

I went to have lunch at an eatery and when I came back to the office, Quincy had gone. I bid my coworkers goodbye and drove to the destination of my director’s abode.

He was surprised to see me at his house when he opened for me. He was shirtless. 

“What do you want?” he asked.

“Can I come in?”

He agreed and I entered. 

“I want to know what you were hiding.” I said to him.

“Hiding?” he asked. “What do you mean?”

“You did not allow me to finish watching the video.”

“That’s because you won’t like what you will hear.”

“I don’t care! I want to know the truth!!”

“If that is what you want, fine! One of them is a traitor. There is a mole among the three of them, I do not have a clue who the person is.”

I stared at him with a confused expression on my face. “Explain because I do not know what you are talking about.”

“Leroy, Oscar and Jasmine.”

“What about them?” I asked.

“One of them informed the person behind my father’s death information that my father was in his house that day he died.”

“You must be joking!”

“I am saying the truth! I will give the disc to you and allow you to hear what my father said. One of his homicide detectives betrayed him. He knew you can never be the one! I am working to find out the person and when I do, I will revenge!!”

“You are talking about my friends!”

“One of them is a foe! One of them knew he was going home that day.”

"Your father and I were supposed to have dinner at a restaurant that day but he went home claiming he had a headache."

"Did you contact any of them that night?" he asked. "Did you tell them you were no longer having dinner with him again?"

I recalled. "Yes I told them. I called the three of them that night to have dinner with me but they declined. They had reasons why they could not have dinner with me that day."

"Well, one of them conspired to murder my father!"

I had nothing to say because I was dumbfounded! I felt my heartbeat pound faster. Truly, it broke my heart. Who could be the betrayer? Leroy? Impossible! Oscar? Never! Jasmine? No way!

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Who do you think is the traitor? Leroy, Oscar or Jasmine??

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This is the end of Season 1. Season 2, episode 1 will commence on Thursday by 6pm!