tell you, unless you promise to come alone.” So I promised.
When I got to the apartment Somto was already dead. His trousers were around his ankles and the shock on his face mirrored mine.
“You…you did this?”
Back then I was too scared to hang about and clean, so we torched the room. I never even considered putting Ayoola at the mercy of the police. Why take the risk that her cry of self-defense might go unheard?
Somto had a studio apartment to himself that overlooked the water—the very water that led into the third mainland bridge lagoon. We took the diesel he was keeping for his generator, poured it over his body, lit a match and fled. The other tenants ran out of the block quickly when the fire alarm went off, so there was no collateral damage. Somto was a smoker; it was all the proof the university needed.
Murderer—Ayoola; Place—Studio Apartment; Weapon—Knife.
MANEATER
Ayoola wins Cluedo, but only because I am forced to keep explaining the rules to Tade to prevent him from falling into the traps she is so adept at setting.
I had convinced myself that if Tade could win here…then maybe…
“You’re a pro at this,” he tells her, squeezing her thigh. “Hey, I’m hungry. I wouldn’t mind some of that cake. Do you have any left?”
“Ask Korede na.”
“Oh. Korede bakes too?”
She raises her eyebrows and glances at me. I meet her eyes and wait.
“You think I bake?”
“Yes…I had your pineapple upside-down cake.”
“Did Korede tell you I baked that?”
He frowns. “Yes…Wait, no…It was your mum.”
She smiles at him, as if sorry that he was deceived.
“I can’t bake to save my life,” she states plainly. “Korede made apple crumble this morning, would you like that?”
“Oh. Okay, sure.”
Ayoola calls for the house girl and tells her to bring the apple crumble with custard and side plates. Five minutes later, she is dishing out hefty portions. I push mine away, feeling nauseous. Tade takes a bite of his, closes his eyes and smiles. “Korede, this is heavenly.”
AWAKE
I haven’t gone to Muhtar’s room since he came out of his coma. It’s the end of that era. I can no longer talk to him with impunity and I was not the nurse allocated to attend to him in the first place.
“Korede.”
“Hmmm.”
“The patient in room 313 would like to see you.”
“Muhtar? Why?”
Chichi shrugs. “Better go and ask him.”
I consider ignoring the summons, but he’ll soon be walking around the floor as part of his physiotherapy, so I know it is only a matter of time before I see him. I knock on his door.
“Come in.”
He is sitting up in bed with a book in his hands, which he sets down beside him. He looks at me expectantly. There are heavy rings around his eyes, but his pupils are focused and sharp. He seems to have aged since he woke up.
“I’m Nurse Korede.” His eyes widen.
“You’re the one.”
“The one?”
“The one who visited me.”
“Oh, they told you?”
“Who?”
“The nurses.”
“The nurses? No, no. I remember.”
“You remember what?” The room is cold; my hands are tingling, their temperature dropping.
“I remember your voice. You talking to me.”
My skin is dark, but I am certain all the blood has rushed to my feet, rendering me ghostlike. What happened to all that research that established the unlikelihood that comatose patients were aware of their surroundings? Yes, Tade had been convinced that my visits were doing some good, but I had never thought Muhtar could actually hear me.
“You remember me talking to you?”
“Yes.”
“Do you remember what I said?”
MARKET
When I was ten, my mum lost me in the market.
We went to buy tomatoes, bitter leaf, crayfish, onions, ata rodo, tàtàsé, plantain, rice, chicken and beef. I was holding the list, but I had already memorized everything and I chanted it under my breath.
Mum was holding Ayoola’s hand and I walked behind them. My eyes were focused on my mother’s back, so I wouldn’t lose them in the sea of people pushing and shoving their way between the stalls. Ayoola saw something, a lizard perhaps, and decided to chase it. She pulled her hand from my mother’s grip and ran. My mother, acting on instinct, ran after her.
It took me a second to react. At the time, I didn’t know Ayoola had run off. One minute my mother was walking quickly but steadily in front of me, the next she was hightailing it away without me.
I tried to follow, but I lost her immediately and stopped running. Suddenly, I was in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by threatening strangers. I