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Chapter 8

Timaro couldn't wait till the next day, she went straight to Raymond's house that night. Raymond quickly opened the door for her and she entered. She had been to his house only twice. This was her third time. Raymond wasn't surprised to see her because she had called him after she left Fabian's house and announced that she was going to stop by his house and show him something really important.

He was so desperate to know what Timaro had to show him that he forgot to tell her to sit down. Timaro was not even bothered, she just wanted to show Raymond the latest evidence and be on her way since it was already getting late.

"I couldn't read all the messages, but I was able to screenshot them," she said, handing her phone to him.

Raymond went through the pictures, before reading the screenshots one after the other. From the messages, it was clear that Fabian and Susan had been having an affair even before she got married to Richard. Raymond checked the dates of each of the chats, some were two months before the wedding while some were three months back.

They hadn't chatted after the wedding, or maybe they did, but deleted the messages because the last conversation which they had was a month before the wedding where Fabian asked Susan to take a nude picture of herself and send to him, but she insisted that Richard was around. He then asked her where he was, she told him he was downstairs. 

"This is definitely not the end of their conversation, I suspect he deleted the rest probably because of how dangerous they were. Susan got married on the 18th of April, but her last chat with Fabian was on the 6th of March, a very erotic one at that. The chat ended with "he is downstairs". I want to believe that this is not the only chat they had, he must have deleted the recent ones," Raymond said.

"While I was still with the phone, she called him. Which means that they communicate often. You are right, he must have deleted the most recent chats which could have given us the full evidences," Timaro said.

"I'm sure they both planned the death of Richard. Let's say, while she was upstairs on their wedding night, she was updating Fabian about her husband's movement. Fabian turned off that generator so that Richard could go outside. From there, he was able to kill him," Raymond said.

"What if that wasn't even the story? I think Susan lied to us. It could be that hoodlums didn't break into their house as she said, it was only Fabian. He could have come as Richard's best man with the excuse that he wanted to pick something or say goodbye to them, then killed him. Susan is a bloody lier. We need to get access to her phone, search her room and possibly drop cameras in her house without her knowledge," Timaro said.

"If so, we need to reinterrogate Amalia. If she agrees that Fabian later left her in the hotel they both stayed that night, then our suspicions are right, but if she doesn't, then there's a possibility that she isn't innocent herself," Raymond said.

Timaro's phone rang while they were still discussing. She looked at it and saw that it was Fabian who called her. Her heart skipped. Raymond told her to pick the call and put it on loud speaker and as well record it. She took a deep breath and picked the call.

"Hi Detective," Fabian's voice went through.

"Hi Fabian. Did you check your time before calling me? It's late for goodness sake," she said, feigning a yawn.

"Oh, I'm so sorry for disturbing you. Actually, I'm outside your house. I've been knocking your gate for ages. I just came to plead with you that I'm very sorry for the drama that unfolded earlier today in my house. Can you please come open the door for me let's talk?" He asked.

"Oh, you didn't have to come. You are forgiven," she replied.

"Thank you so much, but I still want to see you before going back," he said.

Timaro paused for a while and looked at Raymond who had written something in a paper and showed to her, so that she could tell Fabian.

"I'm sorry, I'm not at home. I'm in a church for an all night program, I'll be back by tomorrow morning. I promise to see you tomorrow after work," she said, just as Raymond wrote.

"Oh, it's fine. I'll see you tomorrow then," he said. "Shit! I must get her!" He said to himself after the call, not knowing that he didn't end the call.

Raymond and Timaro looked at each other when they heard Fabian's last exclamation. Timaro quickly ended the call and finally sat on the couch, sighing really loudly. That was when Raymond remembered he didn't offer her a seat when she arrived.

"I'm sorry I totally forgot to offer you a seat. I've made you go through a dangerous phase, I'm sorry," he said. Timaro wondered why he was so caring because the Raymond she knew never cared about her or any of her colleagues.

"It's fine. It's part of our job, remember we're a team," she said. Raymond sat beside her with a lot going on in his mind. He wondered if Chika would have been this smart if Sergeant Simon had granted his demand of exchanging her with Chika. A part of him was grateful that the Sergeant was adamant.

"I hope you know you're sleeping over? It's late already" He said.

Timaro nodded. Raymond saw that she looked tired. He stood up and told her to follow him so that he could show her to the guest room. When they got to the room, Timaro fell on the bed.

"My legs and back ache badly," she blurted out. She didn't need to explain further to Raymond, he saw the pains written all over her face.

"I could give you a massage if you don't mind. Remember we have a lot of work to do tomorrow, so you need to be strong," he explained, looking at tired Timaro. He didn't know why he offered to massage her, but he forced himself to believe that it was because of the many works they needed to do the next day.

"Okay, I'll just shower and come meet you in the sitting room, I really need the massage," she said.

"It's okay, I'll be waiting for you. I have stew in the fridge, should I boil rice or plantain for you?" He asked.

"Rice is okay, thanks," she said.

Raymond closed the door and went straight to the kitchen to put the rice on fire. He then went back to the sitting room where he got himself busy with his laptop. Few minutes later, Timaro came out with a white towel around her body.

Raymond was amazed at how beautiful she was on his white towel. He was a guy who never fancied women or anything related to relationship after his last encounter with a woman he loved. After his fiancee ran away with her lover, a week to their wedding, Raymond developed hatred for the female folks. He quickly turned his face away when Timaro got to where he sat.

"Don't be vexed, do you have any cloth you can give me to wear for the night? Mine is sweaty and tight," she said, innocently.

"Oh, okay. Give me a minute, I'll be back," he said and rushed out of her sight. He came back and met her resting on the couch and watching the television. His eyes went to her long straight legs. They were bold and beautiful. She had the most beautiful skin he had ever seen.

"Thanks," she got the clothes and went back to the room. She returned few minutes after, looking even more beautiful in his shorts and extra large polo.

"Food is ready, but I should massage you before you eat, lie on the rug," he said.

"Okay," She laid facing down so that he massaged her legs. Raymond ran his hands through her legs with the hot balm in his palms. He wondered if she knew that the soft sounds she was making in response to his massage was not helping him at all.
When he wandered his hands to her back, she squirmed uncomfortably and sat up.

"I'm fine now, thanks," she said. He looked at her, the same look he gave her in the office when she talked about falling in love with Fabian. A fierce look that she couldn't comprehend.

Stay tuned for episode 9