THE MURDER WEAPON

THE MURDER WEAPON EPISODE NINETEEN

CLARK'S PLACE

Clark: the guns are in my room. Inside the left drawer the key is in the pen holder on the same table.

Faruk stopped pointing the gun at waridi and went to Clark's room.

He looked for the gun where Clark said it would be but surprisingly it was not there.

Faruk went back to the living room very upset so he pushed waridi off Clark and grabbed him by his neck.

Faruk: how dare you lie to me?

Clark punched his stomach and he let go of him then all over sudden there was a fist to fist fight and because Clark was already wounded, he couldn't beat up Faruk who by now had his gun pointed at Clark again.

Faruk: the guns are missing where you said they would be.

Clark: I swear that I kept them there, they have been there for the past two weeks.

Faruk: so you are telling me the guns grew wings and flew away?

Clark left the room and went to check if what Faruk was saying and true to his word, the guns were missing.

Faruk: am giving you 24hours to find those guns and if they are not in my office by tomorrow I will wipe both of you out. You can't run or do anything stupid for I have my eyes on you.

With that warning he tucked his gun in his trouser and left.

The night was quite long and cold at the cells but the fact that i was alone in there made it a bit bearable though i couldn't get my mind off waridi. How did she take everything that had happened, how would I even reach her to tell her about the search that was going to be carried out the following day?

I don't know about the gun that the officers had with them earlier but finding guns at my place would only make things worse for me. I rested my back on the cold floor but couldn't fall asleep for obvious reasons. My mind was wandering everywhere hoping I would have gotten a solution come the following morning.

CLARK'S HOUSE

Clark had dressed waridi's wound and bandaged it then had her do the same since

They couldn't go to the hospital. Some of the things people learn in the gangster world is how to go about dressing or treating a bullet wound since most hospitals don't take in patients with unexplained bullet wounds and by that I mean the police had to get involved.

Waridi: so, what guns were the two of you talking about?

Clark: don't worry about it, it's good if you don't know.

Waridi: I got a bullet for it so I might as well get answers.

He took her hand and pulled her to the front side and she stood there looking at him waiting for him to spill the beans.

Clark: I stole the guns from faruk's office because I had committed a crime with one of them. Faruk ordered me to kill someone and I did and after that he took the guns and held them as a leverage that he would use against me if I ever left or double crossed him.

Waridi: who did you kill?

Clark: that's not important.

Waridi: you know, your story sounds similar to what I have heard before so tell me. Who did you kill Clark?

Clark: some guy who used to work with Rahim. His name is Duke's.

Waridi: the same dukes that Rahim has been arrested for killing?

She asked raising her voice alittle bit as she was in shock.

Waridi: you killed Dukes and you know so well Rahim is going down for it and you are doing nothing about it?

Clark: what the hell am i supposed to do when the guns that could prove his innocence are missing?

Waridi:(shouting) I don't know! Show up at the police station and confess to the murder or something...

Clark: I can't do that!

Waridi: why not?

Clark: because he was the only thing standing in my way. On an ordinary day I wouldn't be worried if he was locked up but I am because the missing guns could be traced back to me.

Waridi: you are stupid. If you think am going to sit here and watch Rahim go down for a crime he didn't commit then you don't know me at all.

She put the bandage down picked her purse and walked away but before she could get out she turned and walked back to him.

Waridi: did you kill the Myra girl too?

Clark: No I did not.

She walked out this time and went away. When Waridi got to the car she sat there for a while before starting it and alot of things crossed her mind. Who was Clark really and why had she put so much trust in him. She knew Clark and Rahim never got along but she never thought it would be to the extreme.

"You know alot of things Clark, more than you are letting on and I will find out who you truly are" she said starting the car and driving off.

Waridi thought she would hear from Rahim but he didn't call then she remembered he did not take his phone with him and she had also panicked and left in hurry to confront Clark that she didn't remember to take it with her.

"What could be happening at the station, has he been detained, would I be allowed to see him?" She thought again. Waridi had never been arrested before so she didn't even know how to go about Rahim's arrest.

In the midst of all her thoughts, she decided to go back to Rahim's place and see if maybe he had been released and if not, to see if she could find someone in his phone who could help.

The car parked in Rahim's compound at around 11:00pm. There had not been any traffic on the road so the drive wasn't that long.

She got out of the car and rushed towards the house. She got in locked the door and the first thing she did was go to the kitchen to get a glass of water for some pain killers she normally have in her purse because the pain on her back was unbearable.

When she was done at the kitchen she walked to Rahim's bedroom and went to the closet to check her now bleeding back on the mirror.

"Damn you Faruk!" She said getting some tissue from the washroom and wiping off the blood then flashed the tissue in the toilet before walking back and laying on Rahim's bed staring at the ceiling.

As she was lying there, she remembered a conversation she had with Rahim play in her mind. It was one of the nights she had come to sleep over and in the morning she realized her one of her ear rings had fallen under the bed and when she bent over to look for it, she found it on top of a bag that she pulled out of curiosity when Rahim was in the bathroom.

She had opened the bag and when she saw guns and a few explosives she didn't bother returning it under the bed but waited for Rahim to get out of the bathroom and when he did he walked up to where she was not sure how to ask how she had gotten to that bag.

Waridi: are you a terrorist?

Rahim: No. Am a young man trying to survive in a world full of crimes.

Waridi: what are you doing with all these? Rahim: like I said, it's for protection. What were you doing going through my stuff in the first place?

Waridi: I wasn't going through your stuff. My ear ring fell on top of your bag and when I pulled it, it was slightly heavy so I got curious.

He closed the bag and pushed it back under the bed. Then walked back to the closet to get dressed and almost immediately waridi got up and the first thing she did was check under the bed. The bag was still there so she pulled it out and checked under the bed to see if there was something else but it was just the bag.

Before she could do anything else, a call came through her phone and on seeing it was Clark she ignored it. He called like three times and when he realized waridi was not picking he sent her a text.

Clark

Go to Rahim's place first thing in the morning and search his house. Get rid of anything that might get him in trouble.

When Waridi saw the text she called him back.

Waridi: I have seen your text. Anything else the police told you that I should know?

Clark: am not working with the police waridi, I just want to help. When a criminal is arrested the first thing they do is ransack the suspects house, car to see if they can find something to strengthen their case against him. I just thought you should know.

Waridi hanged up without saying another word because she was still so upset with him. She lifted the matress and looked under it but there was nothing, she searched his closet and in the process found a framed picture of Rahim and a very pretty lady on it. He was holding her chin and staring right into her face. She stared at the picture for a while then took it and put it inside the bag and carried it out of Rahim's room. She passed by the kitchen and got the gun Rahim had dumped into the trash bin and put it in the bag too as she also took his phone from the seat and left the house leaving the key under the door mat just in case Rahim got back.

Waridi drove to her place and got home at around 1:00am and after she Safely hid the bag under the cupboard below the kitchen sink she retired to bed after a shower.

The following day at around 11:00 am I was taken into the interrogation room again and the same lady who spoke to me the previous day is the same lady I got to talk to again.

Me: I need to call my lawyer.

Officer: you will when the time for it comes.

Me: you know I didn't do the things am being accused of.

Officer: we don't know that but we don't detain people for no reason. If we find you innocent of the charges we will let you go but for now we cannot assume the leads with your face all over for being wanted.

I was silent. The lady interrogating me was a bit gentle and talking to her was a bit easier compared to the one that interrogated us before when Toffy and i got arrested a while back on claims of smuggling drugs into the country which by the way we were.

Officer: why would someone want to set you up for the lady's murder if you didn't have anything to do with it? Were you in a love triangle?

Me: no, I didn't have a girlfriend when I knew Myra.

Officer: we did a ballistic test on the gun but interestingly enough, no shots were fired with that gun but apart from your finger prints, there were someone else's.

I looked at her not surprised at all for I knew the only two people who handled that gun was Faruk and I. There was nothing to be excited about really because the fact that the shots were not fired from that gun didn't mean I would walk out free after they searched my house and found unlicensed guns and from the look of things, I was totally screwed.

The officer told me the other police men were ready as they had been given a search warrant for my house and car and they were going to take me with them so I nodded and almost immediately another police officer came in and took me with him.

ELSEWHERE

Renee woke up not having slept well over Rahim's arrest and everything Nick had told her about Rahim. She didn't know whether to believe him because he sounded very convincing but she knew if she didn't talk to someone about it, she would loose her mind so the first thing she did was call waridi whose number she had taken after spending the whole day together bonding over stuff.

Waridi was still in bed having slept late that morning so she was woken up by Renee's call and since she thought she was calling to ask about the burial she received so that she could tell her what had happened overnight.

Waridi: hey

Renee: hey, are you free today?

Waridi: not really but I can find some time for you what's up?

Renee: can you come over?

Waridi: I got into a little accident yesterday and am in a bit of pain. Maybe later in the day or if it's urgent you can come to my place instead.

Renee: that's better. I need someone to talk to before I loose it. Text me the directions.

Waridi: okay.

She hanged up and texted her the direction to her place then went back to sleep as she waited for her to get there.

Renee didnt have a car so she called her usual bike guy and he picked her up after making sure she had locked up all the doors and windows to avoid any more surprises.

A few minutes later she was knocking on waridi's door and after a few seconds she opened.

Waridi: Hi, come in.

Renee did and nervously walked to the living room.

Renee: am sorry for showing up so early.

Waridi: it's not a problem at all. I thought of calling you.

Renee: about Rahim?

Waridi: yes, you know?

Renee: I know alot of things that I don't even know what to believe. How do you look at him knowing he did all those stuff he did?

Waridi looked at her a bit confused.

Waridi: what things?

Renee: he killed my mother and brother and all these time he has been acting so nice was he even for real?

Waridi: calm down, what are you really saying?

Renee shook her head as a tear dropped down her face.

Waridi: whatever you think you know or heard about Rahim is wrong. Rahim didn't kill dukes, he was framed for it. He told me the story of how things happened and i believed him.

Renee: because you love him?

Waridi: no, because I know the person who framed him and I know the type of businesses he has been into and the consequences that comes as a result of refusing to partner with someone who just wants to benefit from you and when you can't do what they want, they black mail you.

I met Rahim when he was still a swim coach and I fell In love with him then. Later I came to realize what he was really about and even though he walks around with a gun, he has never taken an innocent life not as I watch. Rahim loved your brother and mother and that's why he has taken up the responsibility to take care of you even after they are gone.

Renee: Nick told me stuff that maybe Rahim never told you about.

Waridi: stuff like what?

Renee: he said Rahim killed Dukes so that he could access some money that only dukes knew existed after Nick's father died.

He also said that his father trusted dukes with his accounts more than he trusted Rahim and that angered him.

Waridi: do you really know who Nick is, let me shed some light because it looks like you have been fed some lies. Nick was Rahim's best friend. Rahim worked for his father and so did dukes but Nick never got along with his father so they parted ways and never spoke to each other for a very long time. When Nick and Rahim met, Nick never talked about his father with Rahim and since he was having a hard time living a good life with no job and money, Rahim employed him and made him the manager to his spar. Nick stole millions from Rahim and almost left him bankrupt and when Rahim confronted him, he told him he had taken back what Rahim had taken from his father and that's how Rahim learnt that Nick was the son to Rahim's former employer who had died after they were all attacked one night and the only survivors were Rahim and your brother.

Renee: so why would he make up stuff?

Waridi: to get you to that spot he has gotten you to. He wants to turn you against Rahim and I will not tell you what side to pick. You have both sides of the story and I trust you will make the right call. Nick is not someone you want to be friends with because he doesn't give a damn about you.

As they were still talking, a call came through Renee's phone and since it was on the couch, waridi saw faruk's name on the screen but did not say a word to her. She let her pick the call as she fixed some coffee for both of them.

After Renee was done receiving the call she leaned back and patiently waited for waridi who came back a few minutes later with two cups of coffee.

Waridi set one mug before her and sat at the same spot she had sat earlier.

Waridi tried so hard to find the right words to start a conversation about the call Renee had just received but she didn't know how without making her feel like she was digging so much into her life so she took a sip of her coffee and cleared her throat.

Renee: I hope you are not going to work are you?

Waridi: No, I no longer work and I don't think I will ever get employed again.

Renee: why not?

Waridi: I used to work in a club and casino but I didn't like what I was doing so I quit.

Renee: it's funny am being offered a job at a casino too. There is this guy who was a friend of my brothers and he owns a club. He wants me to go and work there but am still thinking about it. I don't even know what happens in a casino.

Waridi: people go there to gamble their money, cars, plots anything that they can and your work will be to entertain them and by entertainment I mean stripping and dancing for them as they throw their pocket change on you. Faruk that's the name of your brothers friend and the man who wants to employ you right?

Renee: you know Faruk too?

Waridi: he was my boss. Renee, that's the worst discission you will ever make with your life. You will come out of that place as broke as hell because Faruk will never pay you and if you are not careful enough you will leave there pregnant and with diseases. I will tell you again, Faruk is not someone you want to keep in your friend list.

We got to my place and the police had me unlock the door before they stormed in and left me standing by the door with one officer who was to make sure I wouldn't touch anything as long as the search was going on. I don't even know what was going through my mind but I was hoping waridi had removed the gun I trashed in the bin.

Me: can I atleast have my phone and call my girlfriend?

Officer: those were not part of the orders.

The search took place for close to an hour and I watched the police walk out of my house frustrated.

One of the officers who had conducted the search made a call and told whoever was in charge that nothing incriminating had been found at my place and on the officer incharge's order I was taken back to the police station and my guess was that i would be freed any moment. Could it be that waridi got rid of my guns for me? I had no idea but nothing else could explain what had happened. This lady was surely the one to keep and I couldn't wait to see her and kiss her for saving my life...