The inspector spoke up. ‘This is my friend, Dr. Madeline Berah, she is interested in the case; and this is her niece, Miss Enita Parry. I assure you that they are the only ones who know anything about an investigation. I am doing it under the radar, as you requested.’
The man’s eyes opened wide. ‘Thank you. Is this the madam, the one who solves crimes as a hobby?’
‘Yes,’ replied Aunt Deline simply, ‘I read the report in the newspaper of how you lost some documents and I got very interested. So, how did they get lost?’
He sighed. Then he looked out the only window in the office. The window looked out to the scattered rusty roofs of the adjoining buildings. He looked back at us and sighed again. Suddenly, he got up, strode to the door, opened and shut it again, as if to make sure it was properly shut. Then he sat down again.
‘Five days ago, I received an envelope delivered by hand from someone who would not leave his name. My secretary said the person who brought it was a young boy who said he had been sent to deliver it to my office. The envelope was marked ‘To the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works.’
‘At first, I thought it was a bomb but, picking courage, I looked inside and found sheet after sheet of papers detailing different high-price contracts given out by this office in the past ten years. About twenty of them. As you know, the office can only award contracts up to a certain amount. Anything above that is done by the state government. I was very surprised. I had not called for them, so I wondered why they were being sent to me.
‘So, I sent for the director in charge of contracts and asked him to give me the files containing the contract papers. I wanted to see if the ones with me were authentic.’
Aunt Deline spoke. ‘Were the papers copies or originals?’
‘Originals!’, the man almost shouted. ‘As original as you and I.’
‘Well,’ he continued, ‘I did not see him that day. At the end of the next day, I sent for him and repeated my request. He stammered and prevaricated but finally told me they were missing. I asked him to go.
‘Not knowing what to make of the situation, I determined to keep the envelope with me until I figured out what was going on. Three mornings ago, I brought out the papers again to see what was so special about them. What was my surprise when I found that the last five sheets were not contract papers but gambling receipts!’
‘Gambling receipts!’ the inspector echoed. Aunt Deline closed her eyes for a moment and a tiny smile crept to the left corner of her mouth. She always did that when she felt she was in control of the situation. Whenever a situation got the better of her, she tended to bite the skin off her lips or the lining of her mouth. Nasty habits, but that was her.
‘Yes, gambling receipts running into millions of Naira, from a Lagos hotel! And they had been made out in the name of my most senior director who had been a thorn in my flesh since I got here. You can just imagine how I felt. I was elated that I finally had something against my worst enemy, but at the same time baffled. I began to be more careful how I kept that envelope; I was determined to guard it with my life until I got to the bottom of things. I promise you, I never let it out of my sight.’
‘How much did those receipts total?’
‘About one hundred and fifty million Naira!’
The inspector whistled. Aunt Deline’s eyes opened. I could not imagine what the sum looked or felt like. I stayed still.
‘Why did you not make copies of the papers to be on the safe side? That could have saved you many palpitations’, the inspector asked.
‘I thought of that. But I could not entrust it to my secretary or anyone else. Can you imagine the kind of talk that would have generated if people saw me doing that at a computer centre?
‘I decided to lie low and watch what would happen.’ He sighed. ‘Well, what happened was that two days ago, that envelope was stolen.’
‘Can you describe the circumstances of the theft?’ asked my aunt.
‘Yes. At ten in the morning on that day, I had to attend a meeting at the office of the head of service. The meeting ended at a quarter to two in the afternoon and I came back here.’
‘Did you see the envelope any time during that time?’
‘I saw it. It was in my briefcase. I remember because I opened my briefcase to bring out a document. It was lying close to the bottom of the case because I put many things on top of it so that no one can easily spot it. Everything was ok all the time I was in the office. It was when I was about to sleep that night that I checked the envelope once more only to discover that it was no longer in my briefcase. You can imagine. That was the end of sleep for me that night. In fact, I haven’t slept ten winks since that moment.’
‘Try and remember. Did you take anything else out of your case that afternoon before you left the office?’
‘No.’
‘Did you have any visitors?’
‘You mean apart from the people who work around the office here?’
‘Anyone at all?’, persisted my aunt.
‘As a matter of fact, yes, I did; many people came in and went out, but I saw only one outsider, a schoolmate of my youngest brother’s came to greet me. He was looking for a job or a contract, I can’t remember which one now. But all the while, my case was near me here, behind the desk and definitely out of sight to all visitors. In fact, you would have had to be searching for it to know where it was.’
‘I see. Did you leave him alone for a moment, to go to the restroom for instance?’
‘Not while he was here. When he was leaving, I saw him to the door myself and he seemed to be on very friendly terms with my secretary.’
‘The secretary! How would you rate your secretary?’
‘She’s first class, very efficient and loyal to the core. She cannot hurt a fly.’
‘Hmm… Have you ever tested her loyalty?’
‘Many times. Look, I can safely entrust my life into her hands. She would sooner sacrifice hers than let mine go. She’s that kind of person.’
‘I see. All right. What did you do when you discovered the papers were missing?’
‘I began to look for them. Searched everywhere in the house; came next morning and searched everywhere in the office but no luck. My secretary has been a tonne of help too…’
‘At what point did it get into the press? Who told them?’
‘I don’t know…Now, I have received a summons from the governor over the matter.’ The man sighed and bowed his head.
‘Who knows about the papers in the office apart from the secretary?’
‘No one. Not even the cleaner.’
Aunt Deline sat up. ‘The cleaner?! Who is he and where can we find him?’
The man rang a bell. The secretary opened the door.
‘Ask the cleaner to come in for a minute.’
She left.
A few minutes later, a youngish looking man came in. He was dressed in a badly sown brown French suit. The arms and torso were way too big and the front tended to be much higher than the back, almost exposing his not-very-white singlet.
‘Mr. Lawani, these people want to ask you a few questions,’ said our host.
A frown immediately crept onto the face of the man. He reached out with his left hand to lean on the chair nearest to him. Suddenly, Aunt Deline shot up from her chair and strode up to the man.
