Chapter Three

Barrister Williams Benson now stood before the witness , Mrs Maria koker who was now watching him closely as he prepared to begin his own cross examination on her. The court had been dead silent in anticipation of watching this new lawyer exhibit a beautiful demonstration today as he was rumored to have done In his past cases. 

They watched to know exactly if the rumors were true ; if he was just as good a lawyer as Miss Nena Daniels.

Williams once again adjusted his tie and suit , it seemed to be a force of habit of his. He cleared his throat and then suddenly but not surprisingly , he began “ Mrs Maria, you have been the housekeeper for the Johnsons this past five years, correct?”

“yes , that is correct” Maria answered. 

“ so miss Lucile… who is she to you?”

“she is family” maria replied, now throwing a little smile at Lucile “ I’ve known her a long time. She’s like a daughter to me.”

Barrister Williams nodded his head “ Maria, if you’ve been with the Johnsons that long , and you’ve understood the Johnsons to be close friends with the Madonnas as you earlier said, surely you must have seen my client here Mr Bayo or B.J as you know know him , over at the house a couple of times. No?”

“ I have . B.J comes visiting from time to time as I just told her earlier” Maria replied, now pointing out to where Nena was seated.

“OK.” Said Williams “ so how woud you describe his behaviour over the pas visits”

“ I haven’t really taken much notice of him. I don’t know him all too well, so I can’t say for sure”

Barrister Williams now stood silent for a moment and stared deep into Maria’s eyes. 

“ Mrs Maria, you just told the court that you were the only one at home when Mr Bayo walked in to see Miss Lucile, isn’t that correct?”

“Yes I did”

“and she took him up to the room when he arrived?”

“yes?” Maria answered, now looking puzzled , trying to comprehend where all these random questions was going.

“And you gave no objections?” Williams continued “sounds to me like you were all too comfortable leaving young fragile Lucile whom you claim is like a daughter to you, alone in the hands of someone you claim you don’t know all too well”

Nena quickly rose up to her feet “objection your honour” she frowned “ relevance of question?"

“objection overuled” the judge interjected “ the defendant is building his case, let him.”

Nena now sat down, leaving Barrister Williams to continue his cross examination on the witness. 

Barrister Williams smile was reassuring that he was making progress with the witness. 

 “ it wasn’t in my place to object anything “ Maria continued “ I’m only her housekeeper, remember? Not her mother”

“but you just earlier told the court that she is like a daughter to you . the way I see it , In the absence of Mrs Johnson , you would assume the role of her mother for the interim. Right?”

Maria nodded slowly.

“ now tell me” Williams continued “ what kind of mother would leave her daughter , in the hands of a man she wasn’t sure of , or 'didn’t know too well' as you said”

Maria now squinted her eyes at the arousal of suspicion at where these questions were headed. It was obvious she was beginning to get not so comfortable, at least not as comfortable as she was in the beginning. She wiped her nose again with the handkerchief in her hands “ well..” she started “ I noticed miss lucile on calls more frequently with B.J for a few weeks prior to the incident, I noticed they were getting close and I felt it was a good thing because I rarely see or know any male friends around Lucile in a very long time’

“and how did you know this was B.J on the phone?” Williams asked.

“I overheard her calling his name out loud a few times on the phone. Plus , we also talked about it once, she seemed to like this boy”

“seemed to like him you say? You weren’t sure of the status of their relationship?”

“No, I wasn’t “

“objection your honour” Nena wiled out again.

“oh you can sustain objection all you want” Williams interjected “ I’m quite done here with the witness anyways. That would be all. No further questions your honor.” He said now looking at the Judges bench.

The judge looked down at him for a minute , locking eyes sternly as he began “ I understand Barrister Williams , but you understand this as well.. The next time you speak or more so , sustain an objection on my behalf, I would charge you for contempt. I don’t pardon such insolence in my law court, is that understood young man?”

“ yes your honour” wiliams answered “ I humbly beg your pardon for my misconduct.”

“ you may now go back to your seat” the judge said.

 The judge rubbed his bald head again, lowered his glassed and squinted his eyes into the paper sheets he had before him on his desk, as he asked “ does the prosecution wish to re – direct?”

“no your honour” nena stood to reply. 

“does the prosecution wish to call anymore witness then” 

“yes your honour” Nena began “ The prosecution would like to call…”

“ well, this case would have to be adjourned “ the judge interjected “ till the fifth of April 2022 . I’m afraid you would have to wait till then to invite anymore witnesses.”

Nena nodded her head in agreement even though her facial expression did otherwise. She must’ve been filled with disappointment that the court session didn’t last as long as she anticipated.

The judge however proved he could care less about what nena or anyone else thought about his decision . He proved it by immediately hit his gavel on the plate to bring the court session to an official close and rose to leave.

“all rise” the bailiff once again screamed. He just had the most annoying job ever if you asked me .

Nena packed her documents from the table into her bags as she prepared to step out of the courtroom with her client and family. She was seen whispering something into Lucile’s ears. They both stood up to join the rest of the family “ don’t worry Mrs Johnson, we would surely bring this man to justice. He doesn’t stand a chance” Nena tried reassuring Mrs Johnson who was now sobbing with a handkerchief to her face. It was hard telling if she was truly being emotional or she was trying to put on a show for the press waiting outside for them. Mrs Johnson nodded to Nena as a gesture to affirm she trusted in Nena's professional abilities to put the alleged rapist behind bars.

“thank you for taking this case for Lucile’s sake dear” Mrs Johnson spoke “I know its been too much for you”

“ Not at all ma” Nena interjected “ besides , Lucile here is family” she was now rubbing her hands on lucile’s shoulder, looking deeply into her eyes “ you’re going to be okay” she said 

“ thanks Nena” Lucile replied and gave Nena a warm hug.

Nena began to feel something vibrating in her purse . she immediately detached herself from the hug and quickly opened her purse to check what is was, almost certain it was her from her cell.

It was no surprise to her that it was her phone which was ringing out loud now. She reached for it and attempted go pick it up.

“ it must be that hot fiancé of yours again” Lucile said Jokingly , smiling.

“No dear” Nena replied “ it’s from work , I have to take this , I’ll see you guys later “ she said now waving away at the family , including Mr Johnson who had been standing silently with them all along.

Nena moved away from the family to answer her call after bidding them goodbye.

“hello “ she began as she reached the phone for her ears.

“ congratulations “ the voice on the phone replied.

“on what?” Nena asked .

“on your case today . I watched. “

“how “ nena asked , looking puzzled.

“ come on now, you really have to ask ?” the voice on the phone answere, now sounding brandish “it’s the 21st century remember? Where privacy is no longer a thing in prescence of social media. I had one of my subjects over there livestream the trial for me on I*. It would surprise you how much you can watch for an event happening miles away from you with the internet”

Nena suddenly didn’t look surprised anymore. After all, with her knowing the caller all too well, she understood how resourceful he could be when it came down to acquiring information. It was this trait that had earned him his position amongst the highest ranks of well established lawyers in the country. 

“ today was a total flop. Everything went south. I expected a verdict today to convict the defendant, I didn’t want it to be adjourned . this case was supposed to be an easy one. At least that’s what I thought.” 

“ just take it easy on yourself young lady. It wasn’t you your fault. You performed superbly today. I told you I watched . Judge Martins has always been a lazy man . that’s all. He never lets his proceedings last any moment more than an hour. I have known him a long time. Don’t worry about it.. the verdict would be to your win dear. Trust me.”

“thanks. I still have to come down to lagos soon though. I didn’t expect to stay this long anyways . I can’t stay till the adjourned date the judge gave”

“that’s right dear, you can’t. in fact, we need you down here this weekend. The government is bringing in a new superintendent to oversee the drug war task force and the RICO we pulled up on maestro” the voice from the phone now paused as if waiting for Nena to comprehend the first half of his message then he continued “ the superintendent would be debriefing the team on Wednesday, you could take a flight to catch up before then , right?”

There was silence on the line for a moment as the caller waited for a reply to his question and the receiver – miss Nena hesitated in giving one. 

“ hello” the caller cried out “ nena are you there?”

“yes” nena replied “yes, I am. I will be there, I would take a flight over tomorrow.”

“ Good. We would be expecting you. Goodbye daughter”

“goodbye dad” Nena answered , now hanging up the phone.

Malcom Eze Daniels , her father with whom she just spoke, was the head of the law firm she worked in lagos . He had never called without leaving her with a new assignment or job to do. she was not surprised that this call was no different. The drug crimes task force had been established to dissolve the criminal elements tat intoxicated the wild city of lagos. The task force had opened a RICO(Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) file on the biggest criminal orgainsation in the streets aliased the BMO. The black Mafia Organisation

Nena could still vividly remember the first day the task force was been set up and the RICO , initiatied two months ago. Courtesy of her ever preceeding reputation, she had just gotten a special recommendation , from the city’s Legal council to be an incredible asset if present in the task force. She was seated in an office for the first official briefing of the task force. She remembered the room filled with a few legal prosecutors like herself from the same firm as she and also, some drug law enforcers from the NDLEA. She remembered how tired she was on that particular day , having little interest in being anywhere but home on her comfy bed , but there she was seated amongst the midst of over enthusiastic patriots who wanted nothing more than to win the war on drugs and make their country proud. 

It wasn’t until a tall dark skinned woman walked in the room and introduced herself as a detective that Nena finally gave her attention to the matter being addressed in the room.

“Good morning people” as the detective began “my name Is detective Wallace illorh, from the L.S.P.D . some of you seated in this room might know me from prior professional affiliations or engagements in the past, but for the sake of those who don’t , I’ll give you two specific details about myself that I deem very important in our relationship if we are going to be working together. Number one is ; I am a very easy going person , until when I’m not and that would be when my subjects fail to exhibit dedication to the progress of the work at hand. My work!”

She took a moment to examine the faces of everyone in the room just to be sure her dick swinging techniques were being effective. From the silence that erupted as she spoke, it seemed to be working perfectly.

“number two” she continued “ is that I value focus and detest distractions or complacency or any other form of work negligence you wish you could bring to the table . Anyone in this room who can’t co-operate with these two beautiful traits of mine can now excuse us and walk out of the door respectfully , before we go any further. Here’s your chance. The next time you would have a chance to be discharged of your duties, it may not be done with this much courtesy, I must warn you.”

The pupils of everyone’s eyes in the room were now moving rapidly through the left to the right corners of the room, throwing a stare at everyone else seated, scrutinizing their countenance to detect who may have the intention to leave.

Apparently, no one did and just as detective Wallace realized no one was going to be standing up to leave any time soon in accordance to her rhetorical request, she continued “very well , we might as well get straight down to business then” she quickly turned and pulled down a whiteboard filled with pinnedbphotographs all over it , tethered to each other by strings. “ as you all know, this is a task force pulled together by the NDLEA together with the L.S.P.D to put an end to the drug crimes menacing the good city of Lagos. Each of you has been specifically drafted for your competence in your individual fields . we would be requiring you to put your best in this investigation as we would be pulling resources together to achieve positive results .” she now faced the board pointing at the top where a writing had been inscribed on in titling the project R I C O . “ this is a RICO we pulled in on our major targets. An underground drug cartel called the Black Mafia Organisation. So far, from all the suspects we’ve been able to interrogate , It all points down to one man as the lead distributor in this proximity.” She now pointed atop the board where a portrait photograph of a man in a mask was placed alongside with a question mark sign beside it . “ he is called Maestro and has been a potential target for a long time. So far , no one has managed to identify him . even any suspect we manage to apprehend would never give up any information on him. They just don’t flip , not for anything. I knew this one suspect, I had his balls in my hands and swore on my mother I would blow it off if he didn’t tell me something on maestro. He looked me dead in the eye and told me that was a much preferred fate. Can you imagine that” 

“with your hands on my balls?” a voice interjected from the back of the room “phew! lady, I think I would agree with the suspect on that” the whole room slowly began passing round a good laugh that soon erupted after the joke from the anonymous voice from the back. 

It didn’t last long as it was paused when Wallace called it short “ that’s how desperate I am to pinning the asshole once and for all. Now I’m not really one for much talks so I’ll only say this once and we can call it a day here; our primary goal is the prosecution of the most notorious drug dealer in our hemisphere and that is maestro. I need all hands on deck on this project” 

 Nena could feel her teeth grinning and her fingers itching. She wasn’t sure if it was the austerity of the fierce detective Wallace illorh or the mystery behind this maestro and his drug organization that had got her excited about this project as she noticed herself swearing to make the case her priority , considering she equally had to prove her worth to be on the task force. This was her first major government sponsored contract and she knew how beneficial it would be to her career. She wasn’t about to give anything but her absolute best. At least so she thought. 

Nena remembered the that rush of excitement that filled her then . She remembered the name of their mystery man again- M A E S T R O ,as her father mentioned it on the phone call she just received . she remembered the feeling, the urgency of the project. She remembered it all once again as she stood outside the court house after the call with her dad. She quickly hurried into the aston martin sedan automobile she had parked a few meters away from her and then drove off to her hotel in great haste. She had remembered how hungry and tired she had become from all those reminiscing.