Must Read: The Claw, The Tail, And The Cross. - Season 1 - Episode 10

7 years ago

Must Read: The Claw, The Tail, And The Cross. - Season 1 - Episode 10

“A cross?” Jenny said afterwards when we were alone at the back of the building. “Just a cross?”
“Yeah,” I responded as I watched Sidney basking in the Sun in a corner, his large tongue hanging out of his mouth exactly like a dog’s, panting away in a bid to keep cool. Every once in a while he would yawn, showing off huge canines.

He looked at us disinterestedly and went on to clean his fur.
“Chuks!” Jenny shouted and I turned to face her. She had this exasperated expression on her face. “Are you telling me that with all the detail you gave me about the others, the only thing you could see in Chioma’s case was some old cross?
“Old wooden cross,” I corrected. “Were you expecting something else?”
Jenny seemed caught off guard with the question and she paused before responding, “It’s not like I was expecting her to be the beast, it’s just, the way she is…the way she behaves…I was expecting her to be the one chained to a box of secrets.”
“I gather you don’t like her much,” I said raising my eyebrows. I remember how she had on more than one occasion looked at Chioma with something bordering on disdain…or was it jealousy? “Come now, it’s your turn to spill the beans. What do you have against Chioma?”
“Nothing!” Jenny exclaimed. “It’s just, well, she gets under my skin.” “Go on,” I said. “She’s a nice quiet girl, truthful, helpful and loyal to the company. She’s one person that does the work like she really wants to.”
Jenny sighed and I could see she badly wanted to express herself but was unsure of the words to use. She took a deep breath and went on. “She doesn’t drink, she doesn’t smoke, she never follows us out on weekend parties, always saying things like she wants to go to church, she wants to go for meeting, this is bad, that is not good, and so on. She’s an annoying irritating little tramp!”
“You are annoyed with her because she is a spoil sport?”
“Yes! No…I don’t know.” Jenny paced about a bit, her hips swinging erotically. I forgot what we were discussing for a moment as my eyes travelled down her hips to her lovely legs.

I wondered if any of the other members of the board had tried to hit on Jenny before and if they had been successful.
“You are not focusing, Chuks.” Jenny said, with a wink that told me she had caught me staring.
“I’m sorry.” I said and shook my head, forcing my thoughts back to the issue at hand. “It’s just amazing that you are this beautiful, you have such S£x appeal and I’m sure the men were falling all over themselves for you before I got here, and yet…you are jealous of Chioma.”
“You think so?” she asked “I know so,” I said. “I can literally see jealousy oozing out of you.”

She manipulated her ring, the one that was supposed to keep her under the radar of my gift.
“So much for this thing,” she said quietly.
“It’s just, I am hardly a saint. I used what I have to get to where I am today. But Chioma? She seemed to have worked her way to the top.

No short-cuts, no s£duct!on, no bribery. At least none that I know of. And that makes me uneasy.

There’s something that is not quite right with her and I was hoping you would be able to see it and tell me.” She looked so forlorn that I felt sorry for her.
“Really, I’m telling you the truth,” I said. “I even tried to look beyond the cross but the more I looked, the more it came into view, blocking my field of vision. It was almost as if the cross was blocking out every other thing about her. I felt something more was there but I just couldn’t see it.”
“That’s okay I guess,” Jenny said. “So who do we think is the man-animal?”
“I was really expecting to see a beast or at least some semblance of one, but there was no manifestation to that effect. I guess you are right, he must be doing something to keep his animal side under control when he is around people.”

I said. “That being said, we should be able to do some more investigating. Something is bound to come up.”
“Daniel gives me the creeps.” Jenny said.
“I think we should start with him first. He is an absolute pest and I don’t think anybody here really likes him. I heard the only reason Mr. Bells hired him in the first place was because of a highly placed call from Abuja. He hardly does his job and is always looking for where to siphon money from despite his huge salary. Mr. Bells has warned him on more than one occasion and has recently been thinking of relieving him of his duty, he told me so himself. He looks like someone who wouldn’t care about anything except himself.

If someone like him were to be the man-animal he would kill without remorse if only to feed his savage appetite. He is my number one candidate.”

“He looks too obvious to be the one if you ask me,” I said.

“That’s because you have the Sight.” Jenny replied. “If not how would you have known the man had so many issues?”
“I think Kelvin is the man-beast’s accomplice.” I said.

“He’s just friendly enough and hard working enough to blend in without arousing suspicion.

Also he suddenly leaves his wife and children behind and is loyal to a singular purpose or personality, why? And the blood on his hands?

That’s pretty straightforward to me. If we start with him, he should be able to lead us to our leopard.”

“Speaking of leopards, how are we sure it isn’t Mr. Bells? I mean, I like him, but carrying a leopard with you wherever you go seems kind of weird.”

I shook my head, “No, both the persons in my dream had Nigerian accents. Our foreign friends are out of this one.”
“So I guess John and Obi are out of it too?” Jenny said. “John, definitely. He’s harmless, except maybe when he hunting after you…”
Jenny laughed. “He is a sweet fellow, but I like my men with less beef around their stomach.” “And Obi…his secret is so small…more of someone with a personal problem than anything else. And he has a friendly aura as well.

I guess we can keep him out of it for now. Let’s go for the more unpalatable folk first.”
“Yeah, I like Obi too.” Jenny said.

I looked at the time, it was 11.30am. The power had just been cut off and in a moment we heard the gentle rumble of the Lister generator as it was switched on. Sidney’s ears picked up and he growled gently. He cast another look at us and looked away. I watched him with interest.
“Jenny?”
“Yes dear?” she said. “What’s with you and that leopard anyway? The normal leopard, I mean. He doesn’t seem to like you very much-“
“The feeling is mutual” Jenny said in disgust. “Yeah, I get that, but on more than one occasion I have seen it looking at you with a sort of…I don’t know how to explain it. Respect?”
Jenny touched her ring absent mindedly. “We respect each other, we keep out of each other’s way. It’s a mermaid-animal thing. Never mind.”
“Hmmn.” I said. “Let’s get back to the others.”

We walked back to the front of the house. I saw Chioma hurrying into the building, carrying some files with her. She cast me a glance and smiled. I smiled back. She was obviously interested in me though I didn’t think it was for the same reasons as Jenny’s. The others were still talking together in a group and we went back to join them.

After an early lunch we had an afternoon session.

Mr. Bells wanted me to head out to the Airport to meet the workers there. Mr. Obi decided to follow us while the others declined. It wasn’t compulsory that they should come so Mr. Bells didn’t mind. Our driver was late as usual; apparently his lunch had been a little late. We sent an orderly to find him and soon he was running out of the staff canteen, cleaning his mouth and making a quick call on his cell phone.

We all entered into the car, Jenny in the front and Mr. Obi and I at the back and soon we were on the express towards the airport.