SILENCE

They got to the house just after eight in the evening, they had had a long day and all he wanted was to sleep.

‘Sorry but why are you helping me?’ she asked after directing her to the master bedroom where she would be sleeping

‘I have no choice Larna, in as much as you don’t want me I still hold on to the fact that we are married and that alone makes me want to hold on to what could possibly come after all this.

She looked at him as if he were some type of crazy before banging the door in his face.

He walked back to the living room and sat on the chair not believing that his life had taken such a twisted turn in the past few months. The knock from the door is what brought him back to life, he knew it was Ben because he had called him earlier to come home.

‘Hey man.’ He greeted looking around

The place was looking clean all thanks to the lady that Wangu had come with.

‘This place looks neat.’ He complimented settling into a chair

‘Thank you.’

‘Anything to drink?’

‘Castle lite will do.’

Elisha shook his head before moving to his mini bar and collected two bottles of castle lite, he opened one and handed the other one to Ben.

‘Thank you.’

Elisha switched on the television where the Zambian game was being repeated, he reduced the volume then turned to Ben.

‘What do you have for me?’

He sighed before taking another sip from his bottle.

‘How much do you know about your wife?’

‘What is that supposed to mean, she is my wife and whatever I know is enough don’t you think?’

Ben sighed a he removed his phone and handed it to Elisha

Elisha opened the phone and looked at the images that were on it.

‘What is the meaning of this?’ he asked

‘I had the same reaction but I need you to go on.’

On the images that Elisha was looking at was a young Larna bruised and badly beaten, she was tied to a chair and looked unconscious.

‘Where did you get all this?’

‘This puzzle keeps getting confusing and without her speaking I bet we will never know what exactly went wrong.’ Ben said

‘Larna lost her memory, I cannot get anything from her and now I am totally depending on you.’

There was silence

‘From the little information I gathered Sasha didn’t commit suicide, she was murdered but her death was made as secretive as possible because as I said so many pieces have been left hanging.’

‘You told me she was engaged to be married at the time of her death not so?’

‘Yes I did except the man also took his life months after she died.’

‘Do you have anything on the family?’

‘Uhm no I don’t.’

‘I think we have a starting point, we can start with them.’

The two men left the house in search of the man’s family, from the little information provided to them by the police they got the address and they were hoping the family had not moved because it had been over fourteen years.

They arrived in garden compound after asking for directions from the local people, the house was designated and looked like no one lived there but the little light that was coming from one of the rooms gave them a little bit of hope.

‘Do you really want to do this?’ Ben asked

‘I have no option.’

The two men got out of the vehicle and walked to the front door, it looked weak even in the dark and had a bit of holes such that one could see the inside.

Ben knocked once but no one was coming out, he knocked again and again but no one was coming out. And when all hope was lost, someone came to open.

‘What do you want?’

The lady that was asking was really old, she looked scruffy but one could tell that she had once been a good looking woman but obviously the toils of life could have gotten her like that.

‘Ma’am we looking for one Mr. Banda.’ Ben said

The sound of that made her bang the door in their faces

‘That went well.’ Elisha said taking in the dust that hit their face

‘What next?’

‘We don’t leave, if we have to sleep here we will as long as we don’t information on Sasha we will be here.’

They walked back to the car and dropped their seats, it was nine in the evening and they planned on spending the night there.

The first rays of light hit Elisha first on the face, when he opened his eyes he almost freaked out as a little boy was starring through the window.

He shook Ben until he woke up.

‘What?’ he asked complaining

‘Wake up we have company.’

He lazily got up and starred at the boy that was looking at them.

‘How are you?’ Elisha asked when he rolled down his window

‘Grandma says she is ready to see you.’ The boy said before running off

‘She had to wait for us to sleep in the car, really?’ Ben whined

‘Stop behaving like a little boy.’ Elisha told him getting out of the vehicle

They noticed the surrounding to the house was worse than it looked in the night, it was filled with little and weeds. Anyone could have thought that maybe the owner was dead or something.

They got to the front door and the door opened even before they could knock, it led them into a passage which they walked through. At the far end was another door which was slightly open, when they walked in for a moment they thought they had gone into a different house. It was well decorated with expensive furniture, the place had a rusty and gold touch to it. On the walls were photos of a very beautiful woman with three young boys, on the other side was a huge television mounted to the wall. The room was extended with a dining area that had another set of expensive furniture. Both Ben and Elisha thought that maybe they were lost.

‘It’s either you seat and stop staring or go back using the door that led you here.’ They heard a voice say

They turned to face the old woman that had received them, she was very light one could have mistaken her for a yellow bone. She was clean and dressed in a long peach dress with white flip flops on her feet. In her head was a crown of black thick natural hair that was neatly tied in a bun. She had a cup of tea in one hand and a white handkerchief in another.

‘You can make yourself comfortable.’ She said settling into one single chair

A white cat came running towards her and sat just next to her.

The two gentlemen sat down facing her.

Minutes later the boy who had come to wake them up brought a tray with two tea cups, some bacon, greens and boiled eggs.

‘We are eating clean.’ She said pointing at the food

They had just finished their food when Elisha started to speak.

‘Thank you so much for the food ma’am.’

‘You are welcome, what brings you here that made you sleep in the vehicle the whole night.’

‘Well, we wanted to talk to Mr. Banda, your second child.’

She sighed then put her cup down.

‘Fernando is no longer in the Country, he couldn’t continue living here after losing his brother. It was too much for all of us.’ She said

The men looked at each other

‘Maybe you could help us, it has to do with Sasha’s death.’

‘You mean Sasha’s murder?’ she asked shocking them.

..

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Winnie

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