A Wealthy Widow in Kangema III-By Edward Maroncha

(Continued from A Wealthy Widow in Kangema II)

Judith’s mouth is dry, but she tries to keep a straight face. Surely this is the end, and she has lost. But she is only going to lose her life. Her daughter Veronica is going to inherit her property. She has some confidence in Julius. Alex might be influential and corrupt, but he cannot be influential enough to override a will she wrote only yesterday.

“That is fine Alex. I am ready to die. But at least you won’t get a coin from me.”

“Your will is ready Judith. In fact, it has been amended to cut out your brat completely.”

“You are right about one thing. My will is ready. But you are not in it. You are getting nothing.”

Alex smiles.

“You are forgetting that I am your lawyer, and I have been your lawyer since your husband died. So I know very well that you do not have a will.”

“You haven’t been my lawyer for the last 16 hours. That is enough time to make a will, Mr. Lawyer,”

Judith can see some confidence ooze out of Alex’s eyes.

“Yea. But you are forgetting one thing. I am Alex. Whatever ambulance chaser you got to draft the will does not know the people I know. I have judges, magistrates and clerks eating from my hand. Even the police. See how quickly I got you arrested? That is called clout. That is how the will I present in court will prevail over whatever your miserable ambulance chaser presents.”

Judith can feel panic rising in her chest again. But she fights it. She cannot give this snake the pleasure of seeing her wilt. So she decides to bluff.

“How much are you going to bribe them with Alex? 50k?”

“No judge will take 50k. 200k perhaps? Even 500k. After all, your estate is worth billions.”

“Wrong again. I would suggest you stick to a maximum of 100k. I only have about 400k sitting in my account. I transferred all my estate to a trust. You don’t want to make money for judges and end up at a loss, do you?”

“Which trust?”

“None of your business,”

“Rubbish. You cannot transfer an entire estate worth billions in a day,”

Judith smiles again.

“The biggest problem with you, Alex, is that you think you are the only crook in town. You forget I have the resources to buy any other crook that I want.”

Alex looks at her in veiled shock. Should he believe her? Or is she bluffing? He needs time to find out if what she is saying is true. He will have to talk to the OCS and delay the plan. He knows will have to cough more money to convince the OCS to delay the plan, but it is better to be sure.

                                                                                   *

Julius has no intention of going to Kangema. He knows that it will take him some time to get there, even at the top speed of his SUV. He has been in the game for long enough to know that Alex has compromised someone. What he needs to know is who has been compromised, and how senior he or she is.

He locks himself in his office and begins to work his phone. First, he calls the OCS and explains that a client of his, a prominent lady by the name Judith has been arrested and he wants to know the charges. The OCS says he has been at the station the whole day and hasn’t heard of any high profile arrest. Just the usual poor drunks.

Julius immediately knows the OCS has been compromised.

“There is a pastor at the station right now. He was with Judith when she was arrested. I will direct him to your office and he will tell you what your juniors have been up to while you were away,”

“I have just left the station, unfortunately. He will not find me until tomorrow,”

*

Alex walks to the OCS’s office in a hurry.

“There is a change of plans. We need to delay the plan for a little while,”

“That will not be possible Alex. I am activating the plan right now. And you had better have my balance ready,”

“That is the point. There might be no money. There is a small wrinkle that I need to take care of,”

“There is a lawyer sniffing around Alex. You lied to me that nobody will ask after her,”

Alex’s body stiffens. A lawyer? Maybe she is not bluffing after all.

“Do not worry Joe. He is probably some useless guy she collected out of desperation,”

“I am sorry Alex but I cannot risk my career for you.”

“I will double your commission,”

“You don’t get it, do you? I told the lawyer that I have left the station. So on paper, I haven’t been here for the last 1 hour. I have just arrived. The plan can’t go on as planned; she cannot be killed by my officers. Too risky. I have come up with a new plan to take her out. We will have to take out the pastor too because the nosy lawyer mentioned him.”

“Isn’t taking out the pastor too risky? Why don’t we just cut our losses and move on?”

“If there are any losses to be cut, you are the only one to cut them. These people will go out there yapping. I might lose my job. I might even be jailed. No sir, they will have to die. And I expect my payment immediately they die, otherwise I cannot guarantee that you will stay alive for much longer yourself,” the OCS says, glaring at the lawyer.

Just then, the OCS’s private phone rings.

“Hello? Yes sir…Yes sir…No sir…No sir…Yes sir…I am not at the station sir…I will find out sir…yes sir…yes sir…I understand sir,”

He hangs up and glares at Alex.

“That is the regional commander. He says he is being chewed by the Minister of Interior who is getting chewed by State House over this woman. Seems like your so-called ambulance chaser has more clout than you. Now I can’t kill those two. Thank God I didn’t lead the arrest. I am going to call them to my office and apologize for the woman’s wrongful arrest. Now get out of my office, I need to cover my tracks and get myself out of the line of fire.”

                                                                               *

Samuel is a bag of nerves. He has been trying to reach Julius unsuccessfully. What is going on? Has Julius been compromised? No, impossible. He knows Julius to be a man of principle. He tries to imagine who else he could call but he draws a blank. He is not one of those connected people who have the who and who in the society on speed dial.

Suddenly three helicopters land at the police station. Samuel gets even more freaked out. Helicopters do not pop by in Kangema anytime they want to. He is sure they are connected to Judith’s case somehow.

Police officers file out of two of the helicopters, alongside two men and one woman, not in uniform. Samuel recognizes two of them instantly. One of them is Julius and the other is the DCI, Fridah Kendi. He later learns that the third is the State House Chief of Staff, Wycliff Odira. Journalists disembark from the third helicopter.

Julius comes and hugs Samuel.

“Do not worry my brother. Everything is under control,”

As Samuel watches, the OCS, Alex and two sergeants are arrested and bundled into one of the helicopters. Then Judith is released.

“How did you do this?” Samuel asks, perplexed

“Odira, that is the State House Chief of Staff, is an old friend. When I realized that Alex had bribed the police, I just called him. He, in turn, convinced the President that this is a chance to prove to the country that he is serious about police reform. Of course the President jumped at the idea like any politician would. Odira came and tagged the journalists along to make sure the country knows that the President is working. It has turned into a political operation but what matters to me is that my client, Judith, is safe,”

 “Won’t Alex bribe his way out? He clearly knows people,”

“I doubt anyone will want to take a bribe in a case the President has a personal interest in.”

“Thank you so much, Julius. Just send me an invoice for your services. I will take care of it,”

“Oh no. I will not charge you for this. This is a favor to my old friend Samuel. But I will appreciate if you make me your lawyer, now that your lawyer is going to jail for a long time,”

“Are you even asking? You became my lawyer when I stepped into your office yesterday. From now on all my legal transactions belong to you,”

“I think we should get out of here. I don’t think a police station is the most interesting place to hang out,” Samuel says suddenly.

Judith looks at Samuel as if she has seen him for the first time. Here is a man that she was looking down upon yesterday because he is not as wealthy as that criminal Alex. Just yesterday. Yet, when it came down to it, he is the one who did everything to protect her from harm. The harm visited upon her by the very man she thought could protect her because of his apparent wealth. Samuel may not wealthy, but he has shown that he can take care of her in his own way. What is money anyway? She certainly has enough for the both of them.

She moves closer to him and hugs him tightly, then plants a kiss on his lips. He kisses her back then pulls away.

“You might want to be careful about the kissing part, Judy. At least until I marry you. I am still the pastor of a ultra-conservative, rural congregation. I do not want my actions to be misconstrued or lead anyone astray,”

“Are you proposing to me?”

“Let us just say I have just made a statement of long term plans,”

“Long term plans? What are the short term plans?”

“Dinner, tonight. Nokras Hotel in Murang’a. What do you say?”

“A big yes to both long term and short term plans.”

“Aren’t you, like, supposed to play hard to get a little bit?” Samuel asks, with a twinkle in his eye.

“I am not a 23-year-old girl. I am a mature woman who has made enough mistakes in life, some as late as 24 hours ago. I have no time to play games. By the way, aren’t you bothered by the fact that I was planning to spend the night at Alex’s house? I mean, you are a pastor,”

“I have known you for long enough a period to know where your heart is. Just because you made an error of judgment doesn’t negate the fact that you are a good woman who loves the Lord. Now, let us go for dinner,”

“But we need to freshen up. It has been a long day”

“I love you as you are,”

Judith smiles.

“I love you too, Sam,”

“Ahem. I am still here. Get married already. I will be the best man,” Julius says, and they all burst out laughing.

[THE END]