Six:
"I pray He does not count this against me on Judgement day. I have made this decision and I hope you understand. It has to end. We must stop, yes, everything. This is not the best thing for us, especially for you. Let's end it and keep it buried. They must never find out, not anyone. I do not want history to repeat itself. My prayer is that you see the sin in what we have done. Pray for His forgiveness, I will pray for mine"
A letter read thus.
By two a.m, Father Paul finished his letter. He folded it and slipped it into an envelope. Now all he had to do was make sure the receiver got the letter.
Then he began to pray....
*** *** ***
Father Paul was halfway through his morning message when Inspector Wunmi slipped into the church.
She couldn't imagine she had gone against all her decisions not to step into a church to accept Father Paul's invitation.
She found a seat at the back row and sat down. An old man flashed her a grin as if they have been friends for a long period of time. She returned a rather hasty grin.
Father Paul was preaching about Heaven and Hell. He clearly had seen her enter the church because his gaze had moved from the front row and settled on her, exactly where she was sitting. Her heart did an embarrassing back flip.
"Hell is an eternal home of damnation for those who refuse to accept the Light which is Jesus Christ. Everything in your life might be telling you there is no such person as Jesus, as God, as the angels, as the Holy Spirit but my brothers and sisters, the devil who has planted this falsehood in your heart, is waiting for you at the gates of Hell with open arms"
The message was clearly directed at her. She managed a smile and she saw he understood it.
"Because everything seems to be down in your life, because you've lost someone who is so dear to you does not mean Jesus is a false saviour we Christians have cooked up. You do not want to see the horrors of Hell because then you will realize there is no such pain as being in that damned place. Hell was prepared for the Devil and not for you but only sin makes you a qualified guest. Choose this day where you want to spend eternity. Is it in the blissful arms of God in Heaven or in the inextinguishable flames of Hell?"
The morning service ended at exactly nine. People began to file out of the Church, an unexplainable joy etched on their faces.
Wunmi would never understand Christians. Even in the face of death, they would never deny the Man on the Cross. They were ready to die for Him because they all believed that by doing so, they had a place in Heaven.
That was what religion did to people. They never choose to think about trying to sustain what they could see, instead, they aimed for things not seen.
"I see you did accept my invitation" Someone said behind her.
She turned around and found Father Paul behind her, his hands crossed behind him, a smile on his face.
"I did but it's a Sunday and we hardly have anything to do at the station"
"So you really do not go to Church on Sundays?"
"I have never dreamt of going to one"
Father Paul nodded.
"A die hard atheist. Was your father one?"
Wunmi swallowed hard. The thought of her father was an unaccepted memory.
"He taught me never to get entangled in the webs of religion"
"You do interest me, Inspector Wunmi. I believe your coming to Umuda was for a better reason"
"Umuda needs saving" Wunmi said.
"If I didn't hear that right, do you mean the literal saving or the divine saving?"
"Literal. I heard most of the cases here turn cold and investigations hardly yield anything. If my job has taught me one thing, it is to be ready to shed light on things unknown"
"Believe me, if you move closer to God, you will do more than that. You do not know what you're missing. If you knew, you would do anything to also bring people to Him"
Wunmi took a step closer to him and folded her arms across her chest.
"Tell me, Father Paul, would you do anything to make a sinner repentant? To what extent can your religion take you?"
It took Paul seconds to give Wunmi an answer.
"Anything Christ tells me to do" He replied and clutched his rosary tighter.
Just then, Janetta got to them. She definitely didn't look happy this morning for reasons Wunmi guessed might be related to yesterday's event.
"Morning, Inspector Wunmi"
"Morning Janetta. I'ld say your parents aren't aware you're here"
"I am the church's cleaner" She answered.
Wunmi noticed she didn't greet Father Paul.
"Oooh, then you're doing a very great job. Some good cleaning done"
"Thanks"
"Morning Janetta" Paul greeted calmly like Janetta was a naughty girl who needed to be treated with calmness.
"Morning Father"
"God's blessings on you"
Wunmi could feel the hatred emanating from Janetta. She thought the young girl didn't hate the man but then she remembered that the same man was keeping her (Janetta) from her lover.
"I'll like to have a word with you, Janetta, if you do not mind"
Janetta almost snorted.
"I do not mind"
"Great, let's talk in my office. Inspector Wunmi, as much as I would have loved us to continue this conversation, I'm afraid I have to stop for now"
"No problem, Father. But no matter what you will say to Janetta, do remember it's not their fault" Wunmi said.
Father Paul gave a rather superficial smile and left, his priest cloak sweeping behind him.
"Janetta, no matter what, do not say anything irrational"
"Alright, Inspector Wunmi" Janetta said and gave Wunmi a charming smile before she left for Father Paul's office.
As Wunmi made to leave, she caught sight of Francis talking to a light skinned girl who wasn't really cute. She covered her hair with a red scarf and had this kind of grim expression on her face. Francis was whispering fastly to her as if he didn't want someone else listening to their conversation.
"It just have to be this night...."
Francis was saying but when he saw Wunmi coming, he kept shut.
"How are you, Francis?" Wunmi greeted.
"I'm good, Inspector. Meet my sister, Joyce"
He introduced the girl. Joyce gave Wunmi a weird grin. Wunmi suddenly began to realize how they looked different from each other. They definitely are not siblings, she thought.
"Nice meeting you, Joyce"
"Francis told me you are the new inspector. Good, it's high-time we had a female inspector in Umuda"
Joyce talked like she had seen a lot of attrocities former inspectors had done.
"I do not see gender as a reason for acceptance in Umuda. It is as long as you know your job and what you're meant to do" Wunmi said.
"Which I guess you're, you saved my brother yesterday night" Joyce said.
Wunmi chuckled.
"Ooh, do not take my support yesterday as a show of my competence. I don't accept your stealth relationship, no, not in the middle of the night. It's dangerous for you two and you shouldn't do things that will have the whole village frowning upon" Wunmi explained
"You just do not understand my Uncle. He is as crazy as hell" Francis objected.
"He is a man of God" Wunmi said, rather surprised.
"Religion has got into his head. He can not think for himself. It's like he can hear this voice we can't hear and by that, he is definitely going insane" Francis said in an angry tone.
"Francis, you should not speak of our Uncle like that. He is just suffering from.. you know" Joyce said but Wunmi couldn't miss the smirk on her face. Joyce was definitely enjoying this. Wunmi began to think that Joyce might be a dangerous girl. Someone, one had to steer clear of.
"We both know him better, Joyce. If others do not see it, we do" Francis continued
"What has he ever done to you, two?" Wunmi asked.
Francis was about to talk but Joyce stopped him.
"There are a lot of things you don't know about Paul James and we will not be the ones to tell you of those things. But if you want to know, ask his other mother" Joyce said in a firm tone, gave Wunmi another weird smile and turned to her brother, "Let's go, Francis, it's almost time for another service"
Wunmi watched them leave and made a mental note to herself that Joyce was definitely dangerous.
*** *** ***
That night, Wunmi dreamt that she was in Heaven. But this Heaven was seriously familiar. She remembered she had been there, she remembered the tall skyscrapers, the parks her Parents had taken her to. In her dream, she remembered she was seeing the city they had been when her mother had been killed. Yet this city was more beautiful.
Someone held her hands and she was happy to realise that it was mother. She was so beautiful, her face radiated like the sun. She smiled at Wunmi, the usual smile she had always given her. The softness of her hand seemed to make Wunmi forget all about her worries.
Then everything changed.
She felt her hand slipping from her mother's. A strange wind broke their contact and Wunmi saw her mother being pulled away by huge flames.
This was hell. Demons were pulling her mother away from her. No, not again. She could perceive it again, the smell of burning flesh.
"Mother!!!!!!!"
Wunmi woke up with a start, panting. She was on her bed, sweating profusely, her heart pounding so hard she feared it would jump out of her chest. Heavy rain plummeted on her roof, cold wind blowing hard against her curtains, making them soar so high. She had forgotten to close the windows.
But that was not the problem.
The problem was; someone was pounding hard on her door, at.... She glanced at the wallclock.... Two a.m!!!
Grumbling in protest, she searched for her slippers and found them. In the faint glow of the night's moon, she grabbed her gun and made for the door.
"Who is there?!!"
The pounding continued. Apparently, the person knocking couldn't hear her.
She unlatched the door and swung it open, preparing to raise her gun but surprise stopped her.
Hunter Chidioke was at her doorstep, dripping wet from head to toe, his hunting gun in his hand.
"Inspector Wunmi"
Wunmi could see panic in his eyes.
"Janetta is missing" He added.....