"Kill it! kill it!!" Kachi shouted jumping on her bed, she was wearing a short and a singlet. Her hair was wet due to the shower she took minutes ago.

"What does it look like I am trying to do!" Chioma shouted, holding her left foot slippers in her right hand as she used the other one to slowly move the box which she suspected that cockroach was hiding in.

"Where did it go to?" Kachi asked looking around the room.

"It is in my mouth, you don't see me looking for it?" Chioma carefully shifted the lid for the box. She was ready to slam anything she saw inside but all that was inside was her favorite sweater. "Errh Kachi?"

"Yes?"

"What is my sweater doing in your rooooo... arrrgghhh!" The cockroach flew out from its hiding spot, under Chioma sweater. It was heading for her face.

"Chimooooo!" Kachi jumped down from the bed and ran out of the room and Chioma followed the suit, slamming the door hard behind her and laying back against it. "I am dead oo, there is cockroach in my room, it should be the thing that crawled on my body last night, but I ignored it. How did cockroach even find its way here?"

"You are asking me abi? Sha it is not my own room. I have left you and your new neighbor, I have work to do." She stood up properly from and walked towards the couch to take her bag which she had dropped there earlier.

She was about to go to work, when she heard Kachi screams from her room, shouting, "Cockroach, cockroach!!!" She had thrown her bag to the couch and bursted into Kachi's room like princess charming, but at the end, seems the cockroach succeeded.

"Wait na, before you go help me and kill it, where will I stay? It's in my room!"

"Go and stay in my room, when I get back I will kill it. Bye bye, wait, cook food oo, if you want me to kill the cockroach, cook food," She said as she walked towards the entrance door. "Don't invite new neigbors to our house, and don't touch any of my clothes again," She said out loud for Kachi who was already going to Chioma's room to continue her sleep.

She closed the door behind and took a deep breath in, relaxing in the scent the morning held. It was refreshing. Michael and her weren't going to work together today. She was going back to question Funmi and Michael was going to meet Nneka. At the end of the day, they will come together to join facts.

"But first things first, breakfas-" It was then that she finally noticed the envelope which lay in front of her. It was sealed with- with, "Is that blood?"
Chioma picked the envelope, holding it by the side. She looked around to see any suspecting figure, but the image that stared back at her was that of her neighbors. She slipped the envelope in her bag.

"Good morning." She greeted Mrs Parker as she walked to her car. Mrs Parker was Nigerian but she was married to a foreign man. They moved to Nigeria about 4 years ago. Mrs Parker wanted her two children to grow up here in Nigeria, and get to learn in some of the traditions she was brought up in.

"Morning beautiful, have a nice day," she said.

"You too!" Chioma called out as she got into her car. Settling down, she brought out the letter which she had kept there earlier. "Ok, let's see what the bitch has sent me."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Michael got down from his car and walked into the compound that Nneka was living in.

"Excuse me!" He called to an elderly woman who was working out.

"Can I help you?" The woman asked in her strong yourba accent. She had huge tribal marks on her face, her two hands were holding a big cooler, from which came the salivating aroma of what most Nigerian children will call "Party Jellof rice".

"I am looking for a woman, called Nneka. I was told she lived here," he said.

"Oh, you mean orobo fatty bumbum, I know her na, na she be my number one customer." She laughed and gave Michael a look over, "Na you dey toast am?" She held a mischievous look on her face as she questioned Michael.

"No oo, I am not toasting her, I am just a friend," He said quickly with a wave of his hand. He needed to get away from this woman fast. The strong aroma coming from her cooler was reeling his brain and making his mouth water. As a young bachelor, all he eats everyday are junks and the simple noodles, which after many attempts he finally learnt to cook right.

"Ok oo!" She looked round the compound there was a young lady who was just leaving the compound and a boy of about five or six coming out from an apartment. He was holding a sachet pure water in his hand. The water had finish, but the boy was still sucking it. "Tunji! Tunji! Come here with your kekere bumbum."

"Mammi!" He threw the water nylon away and ran towards his mother. When he had arrived at her side, he stole a look at Michael, admiring his bodybuild and black suit.

"Take this young man to orobo house." She told him in her local dialect. "When you are done, come and help me buy pepper from Mama Rasheedah." She turned to Michael and said in English. "Follow the boy, he will take you there."

"Thank you ma," He greeted and she responded with a nod. He followed the small boy in front of him. They went inside the building and walked up to they stopped at the second floor.

"Na there she dey live." He pointed at the apartment on the right and ran away before Michael could say thank you, or offer him money for biscuit.

"Well... thank you!" He shouted after the boy. He walked towards the door, pressed the bell and waited.

"Yes? Wait! I am coming." A voice shouted from the house. While Michael waited, he read the "Mountain of fire" poster which was pasted on the door. He kinda regretted choosing to question Nneka and letting Chioma go to Funmi.

Suddenly the door opened to reveal a plus size young lady. She was wearing a yellow tee-shirt and a blue short which revealed her full laps. Her short virgin hair was held tightly in the african puff-puff.

Nneka stared at the handsome man in front of her, making sure that she wasn't seeing double. The first thing her eyes went to was the beautiful brown eyes of the man, then lower to the well defined nose and finally rested on the thin pink lips.

She cleared her throat, "H-Hi, u-uhmm...who are you?" She said offering a small smile.

"Hi, I am detective Michael Onah. I'm here to ask a few question concerning the death of Miss Evelyn Okeke." He offered his hand out for a handshake.

"Oh...detective? Sure, sure, come on in." She shook his hand and opened the door, giving him space to walk into the house.

Michael walked slowly into the apartment. He was surprised to find her sitting room as tidy as one could keep it, she didn't look like the tidy type. Two empty wine glass were sitted on the table.

"Have a seat, let me go drop this. My friend, Angela, just left. You may have seen her on your way here," She said as she walked out of the room.

Michael remembered the young lady he had seen walking out of the conpound earlier.

Nneka came back to the sitting room and sat down on the couch beside the one Michael was sitted on, so Michael had to turn a bit to the left to face her properly. "Can I offer you anything?"

"No, I'm fine, thank you." He shook his head.

"Ok then, ask me whatever you want to know," She told him, sitting up properly.

"Just a few questions and I will be out," Michael said.

"Ok."

"Your coworker, Funmi, she told me that you were also upstairs during the time of Evelyn's murder. Right?"

"Yes. Yes, I was upstairs, I had bumped into Funmi on my way down," Nneka recalled.

"Good. So can you tell me why you were upstairs at that time, when the party was going on downstairs."

"I went to the restroom to ease myself," she replied.

"Ok. Where you alone in the restroom?" He asked. "Was someone else there with you?"

"Well...it-it wasn't like that, it was actually-" she held an embarrassed look on her face.

"What is it? Tell me?" Michael urged.

"Well, the thing is, I didn't go to the restroom to ease myself. I was with a guy, my date to the party."

"What were the both of you doing... Oh, ohh! I understand now." He swallowed heavily, "So, this guy, who you were with, what's his name?"

"Chima, he is the office messenger." She murmured, looking down and away, being unable to hold eye contact with him.

"And if I call Chima, he would confirm that he was...well, there with you?"

"Yeah, yeah, he would," She assured. "Can you please not spread this if you question other employees, office relationships is frowned upon," She said quietly, biting her lips.

"Sure. So, tell me, when you saw Funmi, did you notice anything strange? Was she holding anything?" He asked.

"That one?" She asked regaining her normal chirpy voice, "I didn't notice anything oo. But who knows what she was hiding under her gown. Angela said Funmi was being really weird during the party, probably because she was seeing Alex getting engaged to Evelyn."

"So, you know about that too."

"Everyone knows that Funmi is in love with Alex, except Alex. Even Evelyn saw how deeply in love Fummi was with Alex. Exactly what Angela just said 'Who knows what a woman can do because of love'" She gave a silent hiss and shook her head.

"Angela knows Funmi?" Michael asked.

"Yeah, the three of us work together at the firm."

"Ok then." Michael stood up, "I should be on my way now, thanks for answering the questions honestly."

"No problem, let me show you out." She stood up and led him to the door.

"Have a nice day Miss," Michael said as he walked out.

"You too detective."

As Michael came out of the apartment building, he thought of calling Chioma but decided against it. He would tell her his findings when they met. He came out from the compound and walked to his car.

"You don talk to her finish?" A familiar voice asked. Michael turned around to see the Yoruba woman, she had called Michael from her kiosk. She was stirring something in a small pot and Michael suspected it to be the famous Yoruba stew, which contained more pepper than tomato.

"Yes ma, thank you." He greeted in appreciation. She gave a smile and nodded. He turned back to walk to his car, but on second thoughts, stopped and turned around. He walked back to the woman.

"How do you sell your rice?"

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stop asking questions if you don't want to get hurt. Keep poking and you would end up like Evelyn.

Chioma laughed as she relaid the message over and over again in her head.

Seriously, this is the stupidest murderer I have ever met. Stop asking questions, I am a detective! If I don't ask questions, what will I do? Sing? Act? Stupid person.

She parked her car by the roadside, turning the ignition off, she got out and walked towards Funmi apartment. She was about to knock when her eyes were drawn to the smashed window in Funmi's house.

"Funmi!" Chioma called as she pounded her fist on the door. The door opened almost immediately to reveal a tear streaken Funmi. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"Thiefs! They have my grandmother's precious items!" She started crying again.

Chioma walked into the house and looked at the place Funmi's "precious items" were before, which was now nearly empty, most of the things that were there were gone.

And so was the knife.

         *********************

That's it for this chapter, drop a comment and a vote, thanks.

Stay safe.