Hostile Takeover

Chapter Seven

The room was quiet.

‘How do you know this?’ Mr. Suseyi asked.

‘I know my friend sir,’ Nolan responded.

‘Please explain to us what happened before the robbery in question, how you are connected to all this.’

‘Keep in mind that one mistake of dishonesty can paint you as an accomplice. There are some serious allegations floating around here,’ Mr Suseyi said.

Nolan swallowed saliva while looking at Arista, who was looking back at him.

‘Relax, all you have to do is tell the truth.’

‘Okay um, I received a text from a strange number as I was working in the office and I immediately knew who it was . . .’

‘Speak up please, so we can all hear you,’ Mr Suseyi said.

‘I received a text, a strange number, the text contained a jumble of numbers and dots,’ he started audible enough,

‘It was an encrypted text, a simple cipher Arista and I came up with in college; I could barely believe it, it had been six months or so since he was last seen, it was a location and a time when I decoded it; Café Wani, a lunch date.’

‘When I went there, I found Arista at a corner table, he was gleaming at me. We hugged, caught up and enjoyed lunch together.’

‘Did he look well?’ he asked.

‘He looked very good, very clean,’ Nolan replied.

‘Told me about where he had been all this while and fed me this story about a vengeful young man who made it his dying wish to bring down his nemesis, said it was an idea he had for his first novel. Hours later, he confessed it wasn’t a novel but a real-life vendetta he was orchestrating and asked for my help.’

‘I just laughed and continued chatting about other things, told him about people that missed him and all. In the evening, he led me to a thicket of bushes near the Masumba farms, and said he had a surprise for me.’

‘The surprise was a duffel bag full of money buried under dry leaves and branches. I almost fainted when I saw it.’

‘Then he told me it was fake and proceeded narrating his plan. He said I had to visit The Noisiv in the morning, make it seem like I’m there to open a safe deposit box.’

‘Just look rich, he said.’

‘He said they would give me some space for a few minutes to place my valuables in the box I had just opened and that is when I should stash the fake money on the real stack in the vault.’

‘I asked him why he couldn’t do it himself. He said he had been going to The Noisiv countless times about his father’s case and his face had become too familiar. Apparently he had been in town a week before he appeared to me.’

‘And you just agreed to do it?’ Mr Suseyi asked.

‘Not at the time,’ Nolan continued,

‘I refused, and he guilt-tripped me, went on about how he had suffered his losses at the company’s hands, how he had almost died on the road thinking about the whole thing, how he had lost purpose to go on and, honestly, I felt a mix of compassion and anger, I had hated what these people had made him go through but at that moment, I hated them even more.’

‘So, I told him I would do it.’

Most of the jury were shaking their heads, the audience in soft murmurs. Patra’s mouth hanging open.

‘Commit a crime for a friend?’ Mr. Suseyi asked.

‘Yeah, I know, I wasn’t thinking at all, it was dumb, but I just didn’t want to lose my friend again. Knowing Arista, he would have just found another way to do it and I thought it would be worse if he went at it alone.’ He replied.

‘Okay, then what happened?’ he asked.

‘Then we went to my apartment, spent a night and, in the morning, I went to the bank as planned, opened a safe deposit box as he had requested and, shockingly, just as he had said, the manager gave me some privacy for a moment, and I was given a key, that was when I planted the fake money.’

‘Just to be clear, do you realize you are confessing to a serious crime here?’ Mr. Suseyi asked.

The courtroom was so quiet you could almost hear heartbeats. Every one attentive.

‘I am aware of the gravity of the situation, yes,’ he replied.

‘What happened next?’ he asked.

‘Went back to the apartment and met with Arista. I shared the victory. He didn’t seem too happy though. A conversation about his girlfriend began, and I asked him if he had seen her yet. He said he hadn’t. Initially, I had thought one of the reasons he had returned was because he had learned that she was pregnant with his child. Turned out he hadn’t known.’

‘He stormed out of my apartment in a hurry in search of her. It was when he returned in the night that he told me that the money I had just earlier planted needed to be retrieved.’

‘Wow!’ Mr. Suseyi commented.

‘Yeah,’ Nolan sighed, looking in Arista’s way, who looked ashamed.

‘I told him I wasn’t going to do it. I had risked my freedom getting the money in I was not about to attempt getting it out.’

‘He argued that little time had passed, and they wouldn’t notice, but I refused.’

‘We had a big fight, things were said, and Arista left the apartment at 10pm. The following day, I heard about the robbery and I couldn’t believe it when I discovered it was him.’

‘Good Lord, no further questions,’ Mr. Suseyi uttered and went back and sat down.

‘I would like to ask the witness a few questions,’ Mrs. Imela asked.

‘Go ahead.’ The judge allowed.

‘Mr. Bwalya, where were you two hours ago when you were supposed to be here?’

‘I was home, I couldn’t gather the courage to come.’ He replied.

‘Really?’ Mrs. Imela asked.

‘Yes.’

‘Okay and what is your relationship with the accused?’

‘He is my best friend,’ Nolan responded.

‘Throughout your narration you have established that you would break the law. Heck, you did break the law to help your best friend,’

‘What is to assure us you are not breaking the law right now? Lying on the stand to collaborate his story?’ Mrs. Imela asked.

‘Break the law to get my best friend incarcerated? How exactly does that help him?’ Nolan asked.

‘So why are you comfortably exposing everything then?’ Mrs. Imela asked.

‘He has already confessed, there is no darkness for any of us to hide in anymore,’ Nolan replied.

‘No further questions.’ Mrs. Imela went back, knowing her firing was as futile as a round of blanks.

Nolan stepped down and went back to his seat, Patra couldn’t believe the story. The insanity, the guts, what were these guys thinking?

‘Your honour.’ Mr. Suseyi called.

‘I would like to call Mr. Atsira Amol to the stand, please, Chief executive officer of The Noisiv.’ He spoke.

Everyone stared as old Amol walked to the stand. Most of the people knew exactly who he was and most of them saw he didn’t look well.

‘I will get right to it; do you know this young man, sir?’ he asked, pointing at Arista.

‘Yes, I know him, I know his entire family, I knew his father too.’ Mr. Amol answered with forced composure.

‘Only answer the question asked please.’

‘How do you know him?’

‘We had a contract with his father, Mr. Friday Loma, Arista has been showing up trying to negotiate the release of his father’s benefits as per contract.’ He replied.

‘What, everything he has said about his father, his family, is true?’ Mr. Suseyi asked.

‘Unfortunately, yes, it is.’ Arista smiled a little.

‘So, if your company had fulfilled its obligations, none of this would have happened?’ he asked.

‘Objection! Relevance?’ ‘Sustained!’

‘Ask the questions relevant to the trial at hand, Mr. Suseyi, the witness is not on

trial.’

‘Does the bank have a safe deposit box opened with the name Nolan Bwalya at the date stipulated?’ he asked.

‘Yes, it does,’ Amol replied.

‘No further questions, your honor.’ Mr. Suseyi went back.

‘State, cross-examination?’ the Judge asked.

‘No, your honor.’

‘Any more witnesses?’

‘No, your honor.’

‘Indeed, the state to make its closing arguments please.’ She proceeded.