A billion dollar secret

Chapter4

CHAPTER FOUR

It took only a few minutes ride to Victor’s place, his apartment contained only two bedrooms but the other was in no condition to be used which leaves them with just one and that wouldn’t be convenient for both of them, he suggested Catherine slept in the bedroom while he sleeps on the couch in the living room but Catherine declined and opted to sleep on the couch instead, he fetched her a really nice and comfy blanket from the bedroom and waited till she fell asleep before retiring to bed himself.

The next morning, Victor was up early while Catherine was still deep asleep, he prepared breakfast for them both. He kept Catherine’s portion secured, sat at the dining table to have his breakfast. Before he finished eating, Catherine woke up “Oh my God, I slept in, how long have you been up?” Catherine asked while her senses were trying to catch up from a long sleep “Just over an hour; hasn’t been too long” Victor replied “you should freshen up, I made breakfast already and it’s going to get cold” he added.

Catherine got up from the couch in which she slept, folded the blanket gently, left to freshen up and joined Victor at the dining table “So, care to talk now? About yesterday” Victor asked “I am still in shock of what happened, Jeff got back shortly after I returned yesterday evening, only to get set to leave again and he told me he wouldn’t be coming back home that night, he said their agency had deliveries to receive and they have to take the stocks instantly, and he wouldn’t be able to make it back home last night, when he left I was up watching TV until I got really tired and went to sleep, only to wake up with a breathing difficulty, the house was filled with smoke which indicated something was on fire, then I found out it was the house itself, I only managed to escape instinctively” Catherine explained “but how? Where did the fire come from? Was it from within the house? Maybe a defection could have caused it” Victor asked “it definitely wasn’t from within, if it was, wherever it started from would be badly affected and with the way the flames surrounded the house, the only logical explanation is to that someone set it on fire” Catherine explained “that’s strange, things like this rarely happen around here, but who could’ve done that? And why would they do such a thing?” Victor asked “There’s a greater chance of an elephant passing through the eye of a needle than I being able to answer that question, as a matter of fact, I should be the one asking you. You said everyone knew Jeff, you would know that because you stay around and apparently, you also warned me to leave there as quickly as possible just yesterday. What kind of a person is he? What exactly do the people know about him?” Catherine asked “Everyone knew Jeff to be a not so well doing guy, used to live a crib along this alley, he went to college in Chicago, returned I think two years ago claiming to have graduated but was even worse off than those of us who never went to college, and then about a year later, Jeff bought one of the biggest mansions in San Diego, the rumours have it that he got into drugs and hard substance dealings but no one has been able to prove that” Victor explained. Catherine took a long pause trying to process everything she had just heard, although it still didn’t account for the source of the fire, it did shed some light on certain things if the rumours were true “Jeff never revealed a clear detail about the nature of his job, he only told me he’s a contractor and he works with an agency that deals with supplies of goods and he stays out really late but he didn’t look to me as the type that does drugs, he was never the type right from college, we were close friends and when I got here if he were to be using such substances I would’ve noticed something at least” Catherine explained “friends from college, I see you must really know him, but I must say, Jeff is someone we all thought we knew until everything about him changed overnight” Victor added

“Errr, it’s time listen to the morning reports from the news” Victor said as he looked at the blue quartz clock hanging on his wall, he got up to turn on his television and sat on the couch ready to hear the morning reports from around the world. The first news that was brought to his screen was that of Jeffery Hendricks, who reportedly had been arrested having been caught in possession of a considerably large amount of hard substances, it appears he was sent to deliver the substances to a distant location and according to the patrol officers who caught up with him in the early hours of the morning along the borders of San Diego, he’s an expert who concealed the substances in an artificial compartment fitted into the base of his car just beneath the driver’s seat, if it hadn’t been for the powdered traces found on the surface of the seat and the leading officer’s keen sense of smell and expertise of investigation, he wouldn’t have been caught. “I guess the rumours were true after all” Victor said to Catherine who didn’t seem to be pleased with what she had just heard on the news “that explains why he never allows me seat next to him while he drives, he always made me sit at the back, and his car has this barrier that only allows you see the face of who’s driving from the back, nothing more, not even the car’s stirring” Catherine explained. There were reports also about Jeff’s mansion that was engulfed by a mysterious fire in the middle of the night, thanks to the intervention of the fire fighters, only about 10% of the building was destroyed. However, the cause of the fire was yet to be figured out, the building was placed under restriction till the investigations would be completed.

While unable to neither return to Jeffery’s place nor be able to set her eyes on him again with nowhere else to go, Catherine remained at Victor’s place.

It was all going well between them; Catherine found a short-term job at a nearby convenience store where she works for just four hours per day while Victor is still a staff at the Life Sports Complex. Victor soon began expressing intimate affection towards Catherine, frequent date nights, gifts and occasional surprises, it went on for quite a sometime until one very night, they had both returned from their respective places of work, Catherine was back earlier due to her shorter schedule, Victor showed up later on with a gift bag as he has often done and handed it to Catherine, but it didn’t contain any gifts this time, it contained a designed message card with a note on the inside, she flipped it open and written on the inside of the card was “Be my girlfriend” after reading the message inside the card she looked up only to be greeted with a bouquet of flowers and a smile from Victor who gently asked “what do you say” Catherine took a brief pause before uttering a word “Victor, this is coming as a surprise, I was going to inform you about something else entirely, I’ve been waiting for you to return for quite some time” Catherine replied “I guess this can wait, what is it you wanted to tell me” Victor asked “I’ve been working for over a month now and I’ve finally been able to save up enough money to get an apartment for myself, matter of fact, I already contacted an agent and I have one almost secured which means I’ll be moving out of your place real soon” Catherine explained “that shouldn’t stop us from being a couple, it would even make it more fun, we can always have sleepovers any time we want” Victor responded still with the flowers in his hand, “I’m sorry Victor, but I think I explained my predicament and the reason I came to this city to you, and after six weeks of being here, I’m just about to tick item one on my to-do-list which is to get an apartment for myself, I’m sorry but a relationship isn’t on my bucket list right now” Catherine explained. Victor didn’t say a word further; he turned around and dropped the flowers in a vase on the centre table and headed straight to his room. Catherine pondered over the words she spoke again, she wondered if she said anything wrong, all she said was the truth from her own end, , they both went to bed without saying a word to each other.

The next morning, Catherine was woken up by a call from the house agent, it was time to complete the agreement for the house, she got ready and all that was left was to pick up her documents and head over to the agent’s office, but she couldn’t find them where they were kept, she searched and searched but there was no luck finding them, she called Victor over the phone to ask if he knew anything about the whereabouts of her documents but he wasn’t picking up, however, her persistence would eventually pay off after half an hour, Victor answered the phone but he blatantly denied knowing anything about the documents, after asking and pleading so many times, Catherine dropped the call. “He’s definitely not telling the truth” she said to herself. She resumed the search for the documents “it has to be here somewhere” she muttered. She checked everywhere possible within the house and it came down to just one place, a place she’s never been before, Victor’s room. She’s been cautious since her arrival of not overstepping her boundaries because despite his kindness and warm gestures, he was a total stranger but this time she had no choice but to throw caution to the wind, she headed straight to his bedroom only to find out it was locked, the key definitely wouldn’t be anywhere she would be able to find it, she had to seek alternative means to unlock the door, she searched her purse and took her hairpin with which she picked the lock carefully, it took quite some time but she was not the type to give up easily, she broke in at last after so many attempts.

The room was neatly arranged but something felt odd about the interior, it felt as if it was Jeffery’s room she walked into, it looked exactly the same, same painting and arrangement, she tried to ignore the perception and focused on finding if her documents were hidden inside the room somewhere, she checked the drawers and hidden corners of the room but didn’t find them, she thought of where next to look, then she headed straight to his wardrobe, she opened it quickly to run through in hope to find her documents, after a long extensive search, the documents weren’t there but she found something else; a portrait containing two teenage boys, one was definitely Victor and the other face looked really familiar, she also Victor’s identity card which revealed a shocking truth about him; his full name was Victor Hendricks, he’s Jeffery’s younger brother.