by Anthony Mugo
“I will be damned!” Muturi said. “How did you do that?”
“I get lucky sometimes,” Sanse said.
“You must be good. Hell, you just cost me a client but I am not complaining.”
“Does that mean I can have a beer?”
“It means you can have as much beer as you want,” Muturi said beckoning to the bartender.
“Must I struggle to find out how you raised capital?” Sanse asked.
“Do you have a client to that effect?”
“Yes. Me.”
Their orders were brought.
“Hiding anything from you is a waste of time,” Muturi said. “I was raised by a single mother, a primary schoolteacher. She passed on late last year of meningitis. Two days after her burial I went to the bank to check out her account. Guess what I found? Two million shillings.”
“A spendthrift mother?”
“Far from it,” Muturi said. “Someone deposited the money a day after her death.”
“Who?”
“That is the big question. I also realised that at the beginning of every term or semester the account received a huge deposit. Whoever was doing it went to great length to conceal their identity.”
“That is interesting,” Sanse said.
“You’re the first person to know this. I befriended Detective Kewa hoping to hire him to look into the matter. But then it takes time to trust the police.” Muturi stopped to sip his beer. “I want you to look into it.”
“That is a mistake.”
“It is my mistake.”
“I think the depositor has a good reason for keeping behind the scenes. Your mother was able to live with it; you should too.”
“Why give so much but not their identity?”
“I don’t know,” Sanse said. “You’re no longer in school. Your mother is gone. I think the bigger question is: what will prompt another deposit?”
Muturi regarded Sanse then burst into laughter. “Let’s get drunk.”
“That is a bright idea.”
Chapter 27
Catherine lifted her hand to knock but stopped in mid-air. Damn, she was taking this too far. She turned to leave but stopped dead as the door flew open.
“I… I didn’t knock,” she stammered.
“Of course you did,” Sanse said. “Come on in.”
“I would rather not.” Catherine looked lovely in a cream t-shirt and a red skirt. She trained her eyes on her beautifully manicured fingernails.
“Thank you for saving my life,” Sanse said.
“You should thank Alex.”
“What brings you down?”
“The other night a burglar tried to break into my house. Someone answered my distress call. Was it you?”
Sanse didn’t answer at once. “Does it matter?”
She looked him straight in the eye. “Yes. A lot.”
“Do you know the birth name of the Good Samaritan?”
“No. Why do you ask?”
“Because of importance were his actions, not his identity.”
“Do you ever give straight answers?”
“Yes.”
“When is the last time?”
“Just now.”
“You are impossible.”
An uncomfortable silence fell between the two.
“I was at the funeral,” Catherine said.
“Really? It is good to mourn with the bereaved.”
“Everyone thinks you’re a hero.”
“Is that a fact? I wonder what they will think I am next.”
“I could have died in that shootout too,” Catherine said. “I think God gave me another chance so that I can see the value and beauty in others. You are a good man.”
Their eyes locked.
“You make more sense when you are mad at me.”
“Crime is so rampant no one is safe,” Catherine said. “Your family and Raymond died because of your dedication to make the world safe for all of us. I thought that taking it out on you was the best way to grapple with loss. That was silly. You are a role model to Alex and I admire his heart which is not as corrupt as his mother’s. By the way Alex wants his party.”
“Then Alex will have his party.”
“Today at eight?”
“Today at eight.”
Catherine started off. She is a beauty, Sanse thought. Suddenly he felt lonely. He walked to the wall unit and picked a tube of Medusa. He sat on the sofa and stretched his legs on the coffee-table. His attention rested on the razor-sharp machete lying on the floor for a full minute. He had earned his pay; he just couldn’t clear the arrears as fast as he was required to. The bank had to understand that otherwise... He started as a car pulled up outside. Here comes, he thought. The wolves never waste their time. He walked to the window and peeped outside. He did not know whether to be relieved or not as Rumu walked through the gate.
“Going to work?” Rumu asked on entering the house. Sanse was surprised to realise that he was holding the machete. Rumu handed him a banking slip.
“I promised you Elizabeth would be the first client at the bank,” Jimia said.
“Thank you,” Sanse said.
“We still have half a million to go.”
“Yeah.”
Sanse’s phone rang. It was Pai.
“I have thought long and hard how Mwendia got the memory card,” Pai said. “I have a theory. Some officers live within the compound with their families. Maybe someone hired Mwendia to rush them home and back to town or wherever they had come from. Maybe they arrived during the morning brief. Mwendia probably decided to pop in our office as he waited for his client. After finding no one in the office he took the file on my desk only to see the memory card. He took it and walked out. He probably left once I was gone.”
“Those are lots of maybes but it is possible,” Sanse said.
“Is there any hope that I can dissuade you from informing on me?” Pai asked. “This is the only work that I love doing. It holds my wits together. This is my life. I am not perfect at it but I try. This is...”
“Do you remember the day I threatened to shoot you?” Sanse said. “No pleas, no threats, no apologies would dissuade you from doing the right thing. What a sharp sense of justice! Oh boy, you were amazing! Humanity should emulate you.”
“You can’t prove a thing. It will be your word against my word.”
“There is the word of the man who almost cost an innocent man his life,” Sanse said. “Then there is the word of the man who solved two murders and stopped blackmail.”
Sanse ended the call.
The End
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List of characters
Michael ‘Mike’ Sanse – a former CID officer now a private investigator.
Emilio Gitonga – a construction magnate.
Elizabeth Watene – Gitonga’s sister
Felix – Elizabeth’s son.
Zachary Wira – Gitonga’s brother
Robert ‘Bob’ Thuo – Gitonga’s son
Grace Nduta – Bob’s wife and Gitonga’s former girlfriend
Eunice – Gitonga’s house help
Job – Gitonga’s farmhand
Senior Detective Cosmas Pai – officer in charge of Gitonga’s murder and Sanse’s ex-partner
Pastor Peter Munderu – a preacher and founder of a local church
Samuel Jimia – Gitonga’s cousin.
Catherine – Sanse’s neighbour.
Alex – Catherine’s son.
Glossary
Wamunyota – a habitual drunk
Boda boda – motorcycle taxi
Matatu – a public service vehicle
About the author
Anthony Mugo graduated from Moi University in 2001 with B A in economics. His two stories entitled Too Innocent to Die and Not a Drop won the National Book Development Council of Kenya (NBDCK) Prize for Budding Writers in 2009 and 2010 respectively. Neve
r say Never (ASIN 9966362371), a semi-autobiographical novel, won the Burt Award for African Literature in 2012. Ask the Stars (ASIN 9966310622) won the same prize in 2014. He lives in Nairobi with his wife, daughter and son.