14 CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Eddy stopped few blocks away from the Antonia mansion and leaned his back against the car seat. He had been on the road since morning; he was a bit tired and sleepy. If only he had not taken the contract to kill Carly, he'd had been on some other sought of errands that will be quick. But his heart was made up to help Carly, so there was no need for complaining.

Eddy sat in his car, his mind raced to and from; it was all about Carly and Charlie. Ever since he made Leonard his new ally, killing had almost seem an old story to him. He was not any longer interested in violence.

Eddy was not ready to face any lost; he'd been the boy of the street. Many people feared him, he was the killer of many; the predator. Since he had vowed to protect Carly, he was ready to lay down his life for her. After hearing her story, he'd vowed to take a slow revenge on Charlie until he met Leonard, who happened to be in dire need for revenge. They had worked together ever since.

As Eddy sat in the vehicle giving a thought to his life, his eyes could see faintly the shadows of three hefty men entering the Antonia mansion. He was not so acquainted to the strange men as all his focus was away. A little while longer, the three men dragged out a lady, they stood for a while with their lips moving. One of them held a gun out and shot the woman.

The gunshot brought him back to reality, as he watched; they three men ran into a vehicle and started out. He looked forward as he saw a woman lying on her back in front of the gate. He quickly pushed his car door open and ran to the spot. A woman old enough to be his mom lay still in a pool of blood. He looked around, without wasting much time; he ran back to his car, reversed it and started out.

Could Charlie have sent those men? Eddy almost threw up. He was saddened, it occurred to him that it was only Charlie that was violent toward the Antonio's. He therefore dialed his number as he drove.

"-hello…?"

"Hey my boy…"

"Did you send any other person to Carly asides me?" Eddy inquired.

"-calm down my boy," Charlie said. "Many fishermen go to fish in the same sea you know?"

"Well, those fishermen had caught the wrong fish with your net; they had killed the wrong person!" Eddy screamed out.

The latter remained silent for a while, the out lash was bad to his personality and he had quoted that he hated mistakes.

"How did you know about this…?" Charlie said at last.

"I'm the watch dog, right?" Eddy bellowed.

"Okay. I'll do something about it." He hung up.

∆∆∆

Barrister Christophine conveyed Carly with her vehicle. Since they are going towards the same direction; there is no need for her to ride separately in her own vehicle. She'd packed her vehicle at the public garaged and had boarded Carly's; she drove the vehicle because she wanted Carly to take some rest. Carly had remained silent throughout the Journey. Barrister Christophine had pleaded to take her home with respect to her problems; she has become her lawyer and her wellbeing had become her concern. She twisted her neck to stare at Carly at the back seat. She was still fast asleep, she was dull and pale. The barrister turned and faced the road. Few blocks away from the Antonia mansion, she saw a group of people in front of the gate who had closed up tightly against someone.

She maintained a proper face, believing that nothing was amiss. She could not nail down what the gathering was all about. She kept on driving.

As she drove almost close to the house, she flashed the car's head lamp on them, trying to get them off the way. The people moved to one side, making the figure on the floor come to view. In shock, she halted the vehicle and came out in jiffy.

An old woman was lying on the floor; dead. She didn't know who it was, but because the gate to the house was open, she suspected that the old woman lives in the compound. She was lying in a pool of blood, still and dull. She believed that the old lady was someone associated to Carly as the onlookers often called Carly name. As she had learned that the old woman lived with Carly, and that she was in fact like a mother to her, she thought on how to stop Carly from seeing the dilemma. She was yet to recover from the will's content. She must not see this; she had to drive her back.

With that she turned to go, but Carly was behind her all the while observing.

Slowly, she came forward as every part of her body trembled. She saw the old woman lying stiff on the floor with all her blood soaked to her body. She began to cry again as she slumped on the floor beside the woman. She had now turned white and her skin was as cold as ice. The blood was drying up, indicating that it happened a while ago.

She parted her lips as if to say a thing but declined, she started to move her hands round the woman's body. The barrister watched her; she was too weak to stop her.

She shook the woman hard.

"-take me with you, ma'am!" she wailed, "I don't belong here...you know?" she fiddled the woman's clothes. "You should have at least waited for me to come." She sniffled hysterically. "…I wanted to tell you something." she wailed along. The onlookers waited sympathetically, trying to know how everything's going to end.

"-you know miss," Carly winced. "I'm not even the owner of all these property..." Carly glared around and hence faced the woman again.

The barrister summoned courage to raise her up, but she was not done crying, she declined and the barrister left her. She peered at the woman and resumed her farewell speech.

"I saw that in the will. He didn't even give me a car, all he owned was sealed by him to Charlie, a friend! Just a friend, but me...?" she thrust her hand upward as if she wanted to carry a thing. "That's how worthless I am…"

Sadly, the onlookers that flooded the arena started to depart on hearing the ambulance's siren. Reporters that came with the ambulance covered the scene; taking shots.

Carly was still crying over the woman, but the barrister remained behind, making sure that she's not caught in whatever they shot. She wanted nobody to see her yet, she had planned her revenge and nothing will spoil it for her.

The barrister was not finding it easy, she was stirred up all over. As she leaned against the vehicle observing the proceedings, all her mind could think of was revenge, a well-planned revenge.

"Get up miss." An attendant reached to Carly. "We are to take her now, miss..."

The latter remained silent, all her attention was on the woman. Her heart was aching badly.

The barrister came forward. The reporters had left, so there was nothing to hide from. She went straight to Carly.

"Get up already, its late." the barrister reached out to her.

Carly ignored her, rocking the corpse sadly.

The barrister tried again, but all her effort was abortive, she was not given any attention by Carly.

"Get up already miss..." the worried attendant spoke again.

The barrister knew that anybody in Carly's shoe will do exactly as she was doing. She needed to put words straight to her, maybe that will help the situation. She moved close to Carly and lifted her mildly; allowing her body to rest against hers. She rocked Carly, allowing her gaze to face the opposite direction. As Carly leaned on her, she signaled the attendant to take the corpse. The attendant nodded. He turned to his co-workers and signaled them to get everything ready; while the barrister rocked Carly on.

Ignorant to the happenings around her, Carly remained in her position against the barrister's arm. Her tears rolled down her eyes as she remembered being doubtful of the woman, not telling her anything. The woman died not knowing that she had been given a deadline to vacate the house. The will she had thought would help her secure the house, made matters worse, and the woman knew nothing about it. The woman had always been there for her, she had been so helpful and caring; always. Now that she had been killed, who will console her? She knew nothing about her relatives. She was obviously alone in this world.

Just then, she felt thing's not right. She tried to turn around to know what was happening, but the barrister avoided her. Feeling so sure about her feelings of the woman about to be carried away, she tried to turn again, but still the barrister didn't allow her. Fiercely, she dragged her head towards the place the woman had laid previously, she only saw the attendants arranging the corpse on a stretcher. Feeling disappointed she tried to free herself from the barrister's grip, but it was impossible.

"Leave me alone!" She wailed, struggling in frenzy. "Take me with you! She's still alive I'm sure. She'll wake up I know!" Carly hollered at the attendants. Seeing that the ambulance had started out, she hit the barrister really hard. She let her go, Carly ran after the vehicle crying. "Wait for me please!" she hollered again.

But then, the bus was soon out of sight. She fell to her knees and buried her face in her palms; crying.

The barrister approached Carly with the vehicle. As soon as she reached the spot she kneeled crying, she came down and stood beside her.

"-it is okay, dear…"

"It can't be okay!" She snapped. "It can never be well again..." she continued to sob.

"It's late. Let's leave here."

"To where...?" she raised her face; still full of tears.

It was late but the street lights made everywhere glow. They reflected on her face that was now red.

"-my house…of course." The barrister spoke again.

Carly was not ready to leave, she had a dirge to sing alone; just alone.

"It's safe, don't worry." The barrister spoke once more and sat at the lower roof of the vehicle, overlooking Carly. "I have three spare rooms and a huge parlor, you can pick anywhere of your choice, I can't let you stay here tonight."

Carly was a lady, and every part of her needed cleansing, she was dirty all over. Her previous struggle to save the woman from being taken away made her rubbish her cloth.

The barrister came and held her up, she was still sobbing. The death of Mrs. Pauline must've inflicted a deep wound in her soul. Feeling stiffened, she followed the lady into the vehicle. Carly sat at the back seat as usual, while the barrister drove the car away.

∆∆∆

Charlie landed a hard slap on the face of one of the three men that stood at ease in front of him.

"-all of you are crazy!" he yelled out madly.

"I'm sorry sir." The man pleaded. "I thought we were to kill whoever comes out of the gate."

"No, you fool!" Charlie yapped. "I said kill the girl in the picture!"

"I'm sorry sir. No mistakes next time…" the one at the center spoke.

"You'd be pardoned." He sat on the chair behind him. "But that's it." He took a gulp from a glass on the side stool and dropped the glass. "I hate mistakes, I told you. Any more mistakes, you'll be out." He glared at them fiercely.

The men nodded and signaled each other, wobbling away.

∆∆∆

"Last night, a life was lost at the front of Antonia mansion, the house of Ben Antonio to be precise." The news caster's voice was loud and clear from the flat screen. The three men listened attentively as they sat on the chair in Charlie's office. "The deceased happened to be the old cook. She was found in cold blood in front of the gate. People, who were there, said it was a gunshot. The young miss was found crying on the corpse as she said something about a will."

The scene of Carly crying on the corpse came on screen, and the three men watched silently.

"-you know miss," Carly winced. "I'm not even the owner of all these property..."

Everything was recorded as it happened.

The news caster shook her head in pity. "Thanks for listening to the news at ten."

The screen became busy with other sort of programs, with that, Charlie took the remote and switched the television off and hence glared at his associates.

The men looked at each other; they were not so lively; they wanted Carly dead not the old hag. He just rocked his chair; Charlie was not a man to be trusted anymore. He was a daredevil. He had always wanted all the property for himself, and to his likeness; the devil had blessed him with men that shares his thought. Who knows, maybe Carly would have been given a portion only if she'd not tried to be stubborn, they might have gotten along and she might not have gone to search for a will, now this is what her stubbornness had caused her.

Dexter stood up, he came close to Charlie and peered on at him, he could see his sorrow hidden. Without any words, he approached the door and shambled off. Gordon stayed back, he was not entitled to much free movement; he's not reached the rank yet, maybe.