Chapter 24: The Confrontation
Fred entered the house after strolling for about
an hour. He felt weary staying at home all by
himself and had decided to take a stroll every
evening. His life had been wretched ever since he left Kampala. He had abandoned his work, his
apartment and everything, just because of stupid
jealousy. He wondered what had possessed him.
That was not the first time he would do something regretful and senseless.
He remembered his failed attempt to tie Lucy's
disappearance on Deo and became grieved. He
wondered how far and how long he was going to
run away from the police. He had not seen any
police knocking on his door but he knew it was
just a matter of time.
One thing kept troubling him; Luciana's corpse
hasn't been found. With the response he got from his police friend, he knew that Luciana was still missing. He didn't confess his crime to his friend but developed cock and bull stories of how he had to travel to Mbale for some business dealing and how he heard when he was away that his close friend was missing. He had framed up a lie in order to secure Deo's arrest about how he had been told by Lucy, some days before he left that she would be going on a dinner date with Deo the same day she went missing. That story had been enough to
motivate the police to arrest Deo, but he had made sure his name would not be mentioned.
He entered the bedroom still feeling a level of safety. After having a cold shower, he climbed the bed and fell into a dreamless sleep.
Brenda lay gently on the bed feeling the last bit of her strength leave her. It had been a struggle
getting into the house. She wondered if it was
always like that with Raymond and his so called
fiancée. Raymond had practically dragged his
fiancée out of the way after a terribly heated
argument which was filled with insults from her lips. She had been sorely tempted to run out of her the house. Raymond seemed to be so cool and
collected, and even throughout the argument, he hadn't disrespected his fiancée in any way but
Brenda kept on wandering what he was doing with the viper he called his fiancée.
Brenda closed her eyes as sleep set in. She tried not to think about the negative effects of what she was doing. She knew that her people would be worried sick about her but the mere fact that her sudden appearance might put them in more danger made her want to stay away. She would rather die than put her loved ones in danger. She sighed and slept.
"Answer me right now Raymond S. James; what is
that pale thing doing here?" Tinka yelled.
Raymond jumped to his feet as he forcefully
restrained himself from hitting her. He had never hit a woman in his life but he had the feeling that Tinka would make him change that record.
"Woman" he growled, "this is my house, and whoever I desire to bring into my house should be none of your concern."
She hissed. "This is my house too, Ray, and you
should at least respect me by leaving your whores outside instead of bringing them here."
"You are pushing me Tinka." He pointed his finger at her in a warning signal.
She laughed. "And what are you going to do?
Ehn? You can do nothing. You hear me? Nooothing" she yelled.
"Leave my house Tinka" he said quietly in a
tone that spoke volume.
"Me! Leave this house? You must be stupid to
think I would leave this house. This is my husband's house and I am here to stay" she yelled, loud enough to wake the dead.
"I am not married to you and never will. I would
rather die than marry someone who would make
my life totally unbearable" he spat between
clenched teeth.
"You wouldn't dare, you hear me? You dare not.
You see this ring?" She displayed her fingers. "It is not leaving my fingers, not even in the next 50 years, and very soon, it would be accompanied by a wedding ring; our wedding ring."
Raymond smiled. "Sure. I can't expect you to
release such a prized jewel. I was not asking you to give it to me, you can keep it. As for the wedding ring, you would only get it in your dreams because this engagement is over. We are done."
She shook her head. "You lie… you lie, do you
hear me? You lie" she yelled. "That whore has
bewitched you. You are not in your right senses.
I swear, I will get her for this. She is the one toying with your head, right? I will make her pay" she screamed at the top of her lungs.
"Oh… is that what you were trying to do when you went to that hospital. Of everything you could do, I never knew murder would add up to the endless list."
Tinka took in a sharp breath as she heard what
he said.
"Oh… You never knew I would find out? Why not? They have the whole episode recorded, you know? I could get you arrested; charge you for attempted homicide."
"Of course not. I did not do anything, they misjudged me." She lamented, shaking slightly.
"I don't know and honestly don't care. Leave this
house this very minute. I am sick and tired of your crap. I need some peace in my life and that will never happen with you infecting the whole place with your unbearable attitude."
Raymond sat down forcefully but Tinka did not
leave where she was.
"I told you before; I am not leaving. You will have to throw me out if you want me out." She spat.
"You have five minutes to pack your things and
leave. If you refuse to comply, the police will
have to help you out."
She glared.
"Calm down sweetie. Just look at yourself; you
are a shadow of yourself" Mr. Mbabazi admonished his wife who was busy thinking about the
misfortune which had befallen her. She had
become lean, and even though Ken looked sapped and under serious pressure, he still wanted his wife to take it easy and be a little optimistic for both of them. He really needed her to encourage him and realize that they were both in it together, but she had been behaving as if he was not there.
"Just leave me alone Ken, it is my daughter that
is missing here" she almost yelled.
Ken became furious. "Isn't she my daughter too?
What is the matter with you? Do you think this is
not affecting me?"
"Don't you yell at me Kenneth. I told you. I told
you not to allow her take that job and apartment. You could have insisted she stayed here, searched for another job which is close by, but what did you do? She talked you into it and you agreed. A girl should not stay away from her parents" she yelled.
Ken was horrified. "So this is what the problem was. You are holding me responsible for what is
happening? She has been living conveniently in
that house for six years and now is when you are bring up this issue?"
"I am not saying you are responsible, I am just…"
She trailed off, then looked sad and confused.
She looked at her husband and wondered what
had possessed her to talk that way, he was equally affected and she had hardly consoled him or tried to make him feel better ever since their daughter went missing. Yet, that did not stop him from petting and standing by her.
"I am sorry honey, I don't know what is wrong with
me" she moved towards him apologetically.
He blocked her advance with his hand.
"No, I think you know. You are right though, I am a
horrible father" he turned and stormed out in anger.
"No, Ken. I am sorry… Ken…" she followed him but he was out of the gate before she could stop him. She went back to the house, slamming the door forcefully. The tears soon started falling as she sat on the floor but she didn't know the cause of the tears: her missing daughter or her hurt husband.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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