Chapter 6

Sally

In a classy restaurant, we were seated in a private room for a VVIP session. The room was well furnished; we waited for the food to be served before talking.

I adjusted on my chair "Now let's talk, tell me all you know."

"Okay, um so when I went back to Nigeria, that's before Cisco came, I um." She paused, swallowing.

" When Cisco came to.. my home asking me to marry him, my uncle whom I'm living with agreed and he......."

I furrowed my brows."Wait...your uncle agreed to someone he didn't know?" I interrupted, I really did not understand why Pamela was hesitant to speak. She talked pretty fluently yesterday and her words were genuine, but now it felt like she was being forced to speak.

She was stammering every second, was she playing with me?

"No, I mean Yes! He agreed and I did too."She started fidgeting with her fork.

"What! You agreed?" I shouted, hitting my hand on the table.

It was just an exaggerated reaction so that she'll think I'm buying the bullshit she's telling me. I've lived long enough to master the act of deep psychology and manipulation and I'll implement that skill on her.

Pamela's eyes widened and she covered her mouth."Nooo! I'm sorry, that came out wrong, he agreed to it but I didn't." I could see her trembling slightly.

I stared at Pamela for a while, she was becoming suspicious. Pamela had been stammering and fidgeting with her napkin the moment she started talking. She memorised what she was saying, just like a child giving a speech in front of the whole school and then ending up skipping some parts and returning to it after remembering it.

It was suspicious.

Anyway, I shoved it aside, thinking that the poor woman was sad and scared. But her story didn't make any sense at all. It just didn't add up.

I sighed as I placed my hand over my jaw."just keep talking."

She took a deep breath."Okay, umm... it seems like they knew each other, and they kept talking the whole day about some company matters and other stuff." Pam continued, her voice still shaking.

"What company matters ?"

"Umm, that I don't know, but I'm sure they knew each other 'cause they didn't introduce themselves when they met."

"So it's like it was planned; he wanted you to marry Cisco. I knew it! It was all planned, Cisco sure has a lot of explaining to do."

"I don't think we should jump to conclusions without knowing the facts yet," she added.

I raised a brow at her."You're right; what's your uncle's name, and where does she live? Give me his details; I need to dig into him." I asked.

"Um, well, his name is umm ...Steve Odeji. He is from Port Harcourt, but he is actually English. I mean, his parents are Nigerians, but he was born here."

I eyed her a little, why all the stammering?"Where does he currently live?"

"He lives here, umm but he went to Nigeria to help me prepare for my wedding."

"What about your parents? Can't they...I mean why would they make you do this?"I questioned.

"Parents? I don't have parents they died when I was 6."

"You don't have parents? Then why the hell did you tell me your parents forced you to marry Cisco." I was getting infuriated, I had a feeling that Pam wasn't being honest.

I knew she had been spilling lies this whole time but to dig deep, I had to pretend that I was dumb.

"What!... I said that? Err...I do." She let out an awkward laugh.

I finally snapped."Pamela, if you want me to help you, then you better tell me the whole story and be honest..."Before I could finish talking, I heard a shattering sound.

Pamela just dropped her mug.

"I'm... I'm sorry, that was clumsy of me," she said, bending over to pick up the broken pieces.

"Just leave it; the waiter will clean it up," I said, clearly irritated.

Pamela sat down back on her chair and started fidgeting with the napkin, looking anywhere but at me.

She suddenly spoke up."I'm sorry, I'm just not myself, and I do have parents; they also seem like they know Cisco. That's why they forced me to marry him."

I scoffed. "Do you by any chance know how your uncle and parents came to know Cisco?"

She shook her head."No, I've never seen him before, and I haven't seen him around my parents either."

I sighed again."This is complicated. Alright then, this is what we will do..." Once again she interrupted me.

"Umm, Sally, can we finish this at home? It's kinda getting late."

We've barely spent thirty minutes here!

I stared at Pamela with raised brows before giving in and we headed for the parking lot. I quickly ordered some food for myself and my children before we finally hit the road. There was no way I was going to cook for Cisco.

As we headed home, I decided to finish our conversation. I kept bringing up topics related to her marriage to Cisco but Pamela always found a way to avoid them.

I was beginning to think that Pam was hiding something. I wanted to give up, but then I remembered that I hadn't really asked Pamela about her fiancee; good thing I remembered, or I might not have gotten the chance again.

"Hey.. Pamela, how about your fiance? What's his name?" I saw that confused look on her face.

" fiancee?" she said and then her eyes widened before going back to normal after a few seconds.

" Ohh ....my fiancee, He's totally fine. In fact, he's doing really well; we even talked yesterday, and his name is Umm. Jer... Gary," she continued, laughing awkwardly.

She really thought of me as a fool.

Why did she sound like she didn't remember telling me she had a fiancee, and it was just yesterday? This whole thing was getting really strange; well, it was only a matter of time before I found out what they were up to.

After a long moment of silence, I spoke up again.

"So where is this Gary from?" she asked.

"Nigeria"

"Where exactly?"

"Um... Edo State, Benin City."

"Okay...what's his last name?"

" Harwood."

"You mean Garwood ?"

"No just Harwood."

"Where does he work?"

"He's a doctor, he works at a government hospital."

"How does he look?"

" Why are you asking so many questions? I already told you all I know; what does my fiancee have to do with this?" Pam snapped.

I was shocked, she just yelled at me. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to intrude; I was just curious."

She looked out the window, avoiding my eyes. "Just focus on driving; I'm already tired." Pam sighed.

I stared at Pam for a short while before turning my eyes to the road. I smirked as I gripped the wheel; if Pamela thought she could fool me, then she's got another thing coming.

As we drove home, the tension in the car was palpable. I couldn't shake the feeling that Pamela was hiding something from me. It seemed like every question I asked only made her more nervous and defensive. But I wasn't about to give up. If there was one thing I knew how to do, it was getting to the bottom of a mystery.

The car ride back home was filled with an eerie silence, tension hanging thick in the air. Pamela's fidgeting and evasive answers only fueled my determination to uncover the truth. I knew she was hiding something, and I wasn't about to let her off the hook that easily; neither would I let Cisco go free.