Click to read EGGSHELL here
Click to read EGGSHELL 2 here
Click to read EGGSHELL 3 here
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Le Relax Hotel & Restaurant
Greater Victoria, Seychelles
March 15, 1995.
He ran into her on the stairs, spilling the paper bag of Cheerios he was holding and the contents of her handbag all over the ground.
“I am terribly sorry miss. I was not looking….” He bent to help pick up all the different contents of her bag. He surreptitiously pinned the small camera on the bag before handing it back to her. She looked sufficiently flustered and he moved quickly. His eyes reflecting his genuine concern and pain at having caused her such distress.
“My apologies again, Miss….” He held out his hand for a handshake. He needed her to trust him enough to take the offered hand.
“Monalisa Delague. And you are?” She took the offered hand and winced as she felt a small prickly pain on her palm. It wasn’t pain he saw in her eyes, just surprise.
“Sani Ibn Mohammed,” Dogo smiled at her under the moonlight. Mission one accomplished, “I was worried and my mind was pre-occupied with thoughts for my friend and I failed to see you coming down,” He flushed and flustered as he shifted embarrassingly on his feet.
“Oh! Hope there was nothing wrong with your friend?”
Dogo saw it first in her eyes before the words came out; the concern of a professional and well-schooled service provider kicking in. Hers was a job that has taught her to cater first, by instinct, to every need and concern of guests of the establishment where she worked and earned a decent living.
This is where and how he wanted her to be.
Good, Dogo thought to himself as he continued to peer around as if expecting his companion to appear from the darkened shadows around the profuse gardens.
“I don’t know. We came in together this morning. The tall, dark-skinned Nigerian,” he looked in her eyes to see it light up in recognition of the described male guest at the Le Relax. “We went out this evening and since then I have not been able to find him.”
Her eyes clouded with genuine concern now, “I hope you reported at the police station?”
“I don’t think that is necessary for now. I was just going up to check his room, to see if he is there.”
He could see that she was now genuinely worried for the well-being of his target. That is a good thing. It is essential for what he had in mind. He congratulated himself for making a correct guess when he picked her as a prime candidate for his tempering test yesterday night while he was checking in.
He had noted her flustered look and red cheeks when his target smiled at her, and in that instant he had decided she was going to be his bait. In his business, decisions are made in split seconds and many times purely on instinct. He had never failed before with his decision-making.
“Can I help you? I mean….” she paused and looked around, as if expecting someone to come out and reprimand her for what she was about to say, ” I mean… can I follow you upstairs …and check if he is okay?”
Dogo smiled to himself, “Sure, Miss Delague. I’d like that very much.” His plan was falling into place with minimum effort.
He led her back upstairs.
***
The first thought that came to his mind as he stirred from a deep drunken sleep was that of Katherine. He didn’t open his eyes. He just tried to remember. It was difficult, his mind a muddy sea of faint recollections.
They had ended up back at his hotel, how it happened he couldn’t remember and hardly cared about now. It was a worthy night to crown his week in the Island of temptations. The sex was still as good and volcanic as it was back when they were in England studying. They both hadn’t lost their touch for one another.
Wemimo Martins tried to fish from his memory the hazy recollections of what transpired after they left the resort. His sleepy mind couldn’t extract what he needed. It was like a part of his mind had been blocked with a steel door, to which he did not have the key. He struggled to swim out of the hazy clog of sleep. His mind tethering on the brink of foggy memories about what transpired after they left the Les Babarons. But, everything stayed on the brink. As much as he tried to remember, the substance of the memory kept slipping away. He however remembered almost everything else before and during his time with Katherine at the resort.
He had Kathrine to thank for gifting him a perfect and successful trip.
He forced himself to open his eyes and turned over to his left side, looking to find her still lying there beside him. But, all he saw was a piece of paper stuck under the telephone on the bedside table.
She was gone.
He smiled as he remembered how sensitive she was to how others felt. How sensitive she had been to him, always measuring his sensibilities and idiosyncrasies. She had even saved him the embarrassment of the ‘morning after’ – finding her way out before he woke and leaving him a simple, yet poignant note by the bedside table. He quickly scanned the contents –
I had the best night. It was nice to see you again, Wem. Call me any time you need anything. Don’t try anything else with her…like you did last night.
It was more than he deserved considering how he had treated her those many years ago. It was true they always shared something special. But, it was also true they were two fiery meteors whose trajectories couldn’t have kept them together for too long.
They were that much different, yet so alike.
Then his brain slowly began to process what he had read – her?! Which “her”? Who was she referring to? He felt his skin crawl even before he turned to the other side of the bed.
Lying there, not breathing and stark naked was the beauty from early on yesterday at the reception.
His head exploded as all he saw was a flash of light.
He must have momentarily lost his mind. He came back to his senses to find himself on the bed still staring at the naked body. He could see she was dead – she was not breathing and she was not moving. But, how did she get there? Then he began to move, he turned over and picked up the note again…
I had the best night. It was nice to see you again, Wem. Call me any time you need anything. Don’t try anything else with her…like you did last night.
Luv always, Kate
He closed his eyes and tried to recollect. But, it was too much of a task to do that. He simply couldn’t remember what had happened after his drink with Katherine.
The note said it all though. He must have had a threesome, with Katherine, naughty as she could be a willing participant. But, how could this other woman be lying on his bed dead?
He was in deep trouble. Deeper trouble than being caught in possession of an illegal copy of the blueprints to the Sub Six.
His first thought was to call the police, then he panicked and thought about calling home, calling anybody else but the police. He knew that he cannot call the police. He cannot sentence himself to such a bleak future.
If he was to get out of this no one must know what had happened. He couldn’t imagine what life in jail on this Island would be like. He couldn’t even bear the thought of being caught. Not with the project he was going to be working on waiting in Lagos.
Lagos….He had a project waiting to pitch. God! How did this happen to him?
His brain told him he ought to get out of bed, but his body and nerves where motionless. They refused to act on the commands from his brain. He continued to stare at the body in wonderment.
It was a perfect body, well curved in all the right places. The mound of her left breast was tucked away out of sight, but the right breast was in full view and it was not a bad sight. He found himself tracing the line of her body all the way down, it was a perfect body with little blemish as far as he could see. Hie eyes casually scanned the length of her body all the way back to her head, her eyes were closed in almost blissful sleep. If not for the fact that she was not breathing.
It was like a bell went off in his head – SHE IS NOT BREATHING!
His mind crowded over once more as he was rudely reminded of the situation in which he found himself. There was a beautiful girl lying dead on his bed. A girl whom just a few hours before had smiled at him at the reception when he checked in. A girl he had lewd thoughts about at the time when she flashed him that smile. It seemed like ages ago now.
As his mind began to take in fully what had happened, it became clearer to him that no one must find the body. It was also clear he had to find a way out of the Island before the disappearance was discovered.
But, did someone see him with her and Katherine last night? If that was the case, it may be a problem for him. He was probably the last person seen with her. And from all indications, she must have died after Katherine left. What did he do?
God!
His mind was beginning to lose itself again. But he needed to keep control and get a grip. He had to move and he had to move quickly too. He got off the bed and got into his boxers. It was difficult as he was shaking all over, but he managed. Then he retrieved his trousers and got his passport from his briefcase. He had to book his flight out as soon as possible. With some luck no one would discover the missing girl before he leaves the country.
The girl. How would he dispose of her?
That was a problem he would have to deal with later. For now, he had to plan his escape route and hope nobody gets too suspicious or starts to ask questions.
Then, like someone who just heard the sudden crack of a pistol shot from far off, he whipped his head sharply in the direction of the door and stared in horror as the doorknob turned slowly and silently.
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