The Body
When a body shows up at her house, it’s up to her to figure out how to get rid of it.
“Don’t just stand there Nungtso, do something” Tope said as he dragged the dead body towards the living room.
I stood there with my mouth and eyes wide open. I couldn’t bring myself to move. All I could do was stare at Tope as he grunted while dragging the body.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this.
This was not the plan.
All our years and months of doing this, nothing like this had ever happened. It was supposed to be successful.
Before I let you know what is happening, allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Nungtso and I am anything but a killer.
My boyfriend Tope and I met at a comic convention in Lagos, I was there because my friend had forced me to attend while he was there because he was genuinely interested in Comics and all those geeky things that I guess guys and some girls are into. My friend who was also a comic freak left me to stand all alone while she gawked at a video game and went into a full-blown discussion with the creator of the game.
I stood around, feeling as lost as a lost puppy and that was when I met Tope. It was an instant attraction, we kept on having eye contact till he walked up to me and introduced himself as Tope and trust me when I say that it was the beginning of something beautiful.
We exchanged contacts and got to know each other and that was when we realized that we were both different yet the same. Tope at the time worked as a video editor for a lifestyle show and the pay was good. I know this because he was able to buy his own house in a luxury area in Lagos and he also spoiled me silly with gifts. I was living the life or rather we were living the life.
My friends and roommates thought I had a sugar daddy at one point because I refused to introduce them to Tope. Eventually, I moved out to live with Tope and I would say that was the best decision of my life.
Everything went fine until Tope lost his job, it was a dark time for him because it had never occurred to him to invest his money. I was shocked, all the time we had been spending carelessly, I assumed he would have a backup plan in case things went wrong but he didn’t. I also wasn’t working, I had a small food business but it wasn’t bringing enough money to even sustain me talk less of sustaining two people. Tope started looking for a job but it was hard to get one especially one that paid enough for us to afford our expensive lifestyle.
And then we got an idea.
An idea that helped us afford our lifestyle and go back to our spending except it wasn’t as reckless.
It started on a Tuesday morning, Tope was scrolling through his phone on the living room couch while I was watching my favorite reality show and painting my nails.
“Nungi, you won’t believe this” Tope said. I turned to look at him, he was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
“See what?” I asked.
“This lady just slid into my DMs on Instagram”.
I frowned “And that is a good thing because…”
Tope looked at me and laughed “Babe, take it easy”.
“Should I?”
“Yes, you should. She’s just a random girl that has been disturbing me”.
“Disturbing you?” I folded my arms “She won’t be disturbing you if you are not giving her attention”.
Tope rolled his eyes “Don’t do that”.
“Do what?”
“The jealous girlfriend thing. It doesn’t look good on you”.
I narrowed my eyes and turned back to my nails.
“Anyway, the reason I am smiling is that she wants to meet me and from what I am seeing she is rich”.
“And so?” I was boiling. What was he trying to do? Make me jealous?
“I have an idea”.
“I’m listening” I dropped the nail polish and faced him.
“You might not like it but what if I pretend to date her and because she has a thing for me, she starts spending money on me and then when I have had enough, I break up with her”.
“Really Tope?” I stared at him in disbelief. “That is just stupid”.
He laughed “I know”. He kept on scrolling through his phone.
“Don’t do that again o. How do you think I will let you date someone else?”
“Hey. I said pretend”.
“Same thing”.
We were quiet for a while, I kept on thinking about what he said when I had a light-bulb moment.
“Tope. I have an idea”.
“What?” He asked still scrolling.
“It’s similar to yours but we will be smarter”.
“Go on” He faced me.
“How about your chat with the lady and arrange for a meeting in the night with her and then….” I sighed “… You rob her”.
Tope laughed “Are you kidding me? What do I look like to you? A thief?”
“I don’t understand, how is it different from what you suggested? It’s still stealing and since you brought up the whole stealing idea, I am giving you a smarter way”.
Tope eyed me but I knew he was considering it.
“Okay but no one will carry a large amount with them and I can’t take her money. She will expose me on social media.”
“Look, you are a computer guy, all you need is her ATM. When you are taking her money you will cover your face and take her purse. Meanwhile, I will use your phone to be chatting with her so that it would be as if she was waiting for you and got robbed. After we rob her, you will still be chatting with her for some days before you break up with her”.
“But what if she asks me why I didn’t show up”.
“So many buts. You will tell her that something came up. You will give her an excuse. If you are lucky enough you will steal her bag containing her phone so that it will look like you couldn’t get a hold of her”.
Tope thought about it for a while and said “Let’s do this”.
And we did.
It was successful, we were able to rob an unsuspecting lady while she thought Tope could not make it because his ‘boss’ called him. After hacking her ATM card and immediately withdrawing money with our faces covered (we didn’t want those ATM cameras identifying us). We were able to get up to N500,000 probably because she had another ATM card that she didn’t bring with her because we expected more.
A month later, they ‘broke’ up.
The money came so easy but yet it was not enough and that was when we decided to try again. This time, I suggested that we used a paid dating site to get rich successful career women and trust me when I tell you that in a month we had up to a million in our account. We were living life again. My job was to source and pick the women and even chat with them while Tope carried out the dangerous work.
For 2 years that was what we were doing.
It was our full-time job.
And we were good at it.
We were not hurting anyone, physically that is, and if we liked the women we used, we made sure we didn’t withdraw all the money. It was a win-win situation.
Till today.
Till a dead body showed up in our living room.
Her name was Katherine.
We knew she was a feisty one from her profile picture, in which she was wearing a suit with her arms crossed (I mean, who uses that kind of picture on a dating site? when it’s not LinkedIn) and her bio description on the dating site. She wrote ‘If you are not looking for marriage, don’t even bother. Serious men only. Rich, Independent woman. No time for deadbeats’
I told Tope that we should overlook her and go for someone else but did he listen? No. He insisted that she seemed rich enough and maybe this was going to be a huge deal. After much persuasion from him, we finally sent her a message. I was the one that chatted with her because I knew how to handle her type, she came across as blunt and sometimes rude but sometimes I could see the vulnerable side of her, at a point she started letting out her feelings. I felt like I had accomplished something and I was grateful we picked her because she was the General Manager of one of the biggest advertising firms in Nigeria We spoke to her for about a month before we arranged a meeting.
I knew she was going to be a hard one when she tried to meet on her terms and suggested where she would meet Tope. Tope usually arranges meetings with the woman in a lonely area far from where we lived but this lady wanted to go public. After a lot of coercing she agreed to meet where we planned.
Tope was ready to meet her that day but I couldn’t push the nagging feeling at the back of my mind that something was going to happen. Something bad. I asked him if he really wanted to go as I watched him get ready and he faced me and said “Of course. I have a feeling that we have hit a big jackpot baby”.
I sighed as he walked out the door. I knew something bad was going to happen.
I was sure.
And it did.
The whole house was quiet but loud with my thoughts. I decided to while away my time by cleaning our toilet. Weird way to relax but something about scrubbing a bathroom makes me calm.
I got a call from Tope later while I lay in bed staring at the ceiling.
“Nungi” I heard him say. There was something different in his voice. He sounded like he was crying. What happened?
“Tope. What’s wrong?”
“She’s dead”.
I got up from my bed.
“What? She was dead before you got there or…”
“I killed her Nungi. I killed her”.
Oh no.
“Calm down. Where is she now?”
“In the boot”.
“What the….” I couldn’t even bring myself to cuss “Why the heck is she in the boot? You could have left her body there”.
“I panicked”.
I sighed. Tope was going to get both of us in trouble. Big trouble.
“You know what? Just come home. We will figure it out”.
“Okay” He said and hung up.
I tried to think of what we could do.
I came up with nothing.
Now here I am. Staring at the dead body that Tope has dumped on our white carpet.
Tope arrived about 20 minutes later, he dragged the body in and kept his hands akimbo as we stared at the body.
“Tell me what happened” I asked as Tope tried to catch his breath.
He didn’t answer me as he let out deep breaths.
“Answer me Tope because…”
“… I am trying to catch my breath….” He said giving me an icy stare.
I scowled as I sat down, waiting for him to catch his breath. After a while, I got fed up with waiting.
“See Oga, you have to catch your breath later. We have a dead body in this house and we need to get rid of it fast. So tell me what happened”.
“Okay. Okay” Tope sat down on the floor “I went there alright. I went there and she was there, she even looks scarier in person trust me. I wore the mask and as usual, I pointed a knife at her and asked her for the money. She gave me her purse and just as I turned around she jumped on me and struggled with me and in the process, she removed my mask. We looked at each other for a while and I had no choice but to kill her. She saw my face Nungi. She saw my face” He ran his hands through his hair.
I let out a sigh but not of relief.
“We need to get rid of the body Tope. We can’t leave her here” I said, I couldn’t bring myself to look at the body but I took a peek and when I did, I felt nauseous. Her eyes were wide open and so was her mouth. She looked frozen. It was scary to see.
I jerked up from the couch “Close her eyes” I said. I had to take charge, there was no time for pity or guilt, I wasn’t about to go to prison.
I headed to my room, grabbed my car keys from the drawer right next to my side of the bed and walked back to the sitting room
“You have to put her in a bag, we can’t afford for our neighbours to be suspicious” I said heading to the door
“How am I supposed to do that? We don’t have a bag that big”
“I don’t know but you have to do it. Chop her body up or something”
Tope had a look of horror on his face “Nungi!” He exclaimed
“What? Are you ready to go to jail because I am not” I said narrowing my eyes.
“Okay. Okay. Help me with the knife”
“Knife?” I laughed before giving him a serious look “You killed her so clean-up” I said before leaving the house.
I could feel my hands shake as I tried to open the car door. Even though I had a brave face, I was shaking inside, many thoughts ran through my head.
What if we get caught?
What if the police are watching us right now?
I shook my head and laughed. There was no way. The police had nothing to suspect. I entered the car and sighed as I leaned back into the driver seat. All I could think about was how everything had suddenly gone wrong. I tapped the steering wheel as I waited for Tope.
What was taking him so long?
I closed my eyes and I leaned back. I wished none of this was happening. As I thought about the next line of action, I heard the front door open. I opened my eyes and I saw Tope coming out with a black bin bag. He kept on looking around to make sure no one saw him.
“Even if they did see him, the way he is acting is enough for them to call the police” I thought as I opened the boot for him.
Once he was in the passenger’s seat with me, I sped off. If anyone had seen Tope and his suspicious behaviour, we needed to leave before they did something outrageous.
Something outrageous like calling the police
“Where are we going to drop the body?” He asked.
I didn’t know where we were going either but I knew that we had to get away from familiar territory. After driving for a while, I was able to see that we were on a lonely road. I felt chills go up to my body. There was nothing on the road and the road was surrounded by bushes. I stopped the car.
“Here” I said looking straight ahead.
Tope looked at me for some seconds before getting out of the car. I looked straight ahead hoping that no one sights Tope.
“What is taking him so long?” I thought as I heard him close the booth.
Immediately he entered the car, I sped off.
“Where are we going Nungi? I need to go home and just take off my clothes and rest”.
I said nothing as I drove to the front of a restaurant.
“What are we doing here? I am not hungry”.
“Take off your clothes”.
“What?”
“Just take off your shirt and your trouser”.
Tope looked at me as he removed his shirt and his trouser.
I grabbed the shirt and trousers from him as I made my way to the dustbin that was placed in front of the restaurant. I quickly dropped the clothes in the bin without looking around. I jogged to the car even though I knew it was a bad idea but I needed to get out of the place. I entered the car and drove us back home.
Throughout the ride, we said nothing to each other. There was this awkward silence in the car. I wanted to say something so bad but I couldn’t because I was scared.
When we got home, Tope practically ran out and slammed the door behind him. I sighed as I got out of the car, He could hate me but I was trying to save us from going to jail.
I got into the house, locked the door and collapsed on the couch. I closed my eyes as I recounted what happened. I couldn’t believe a human was dead and we just got rid of her body.
What if the police knocked on our door?
What if someone saw me?
I heard the room door open, I could feel Tope staring at me but I refused to open my eyes.
“What was that all about?” I heard him ask.
“What was what all about?”
“You commanding me and trying to act like… like…”
“… like what Tope? Like what?” I asked, opening my eyes and facing him. “You put us in this mess and I got us out of it and instead of you to be grateful, you are trying to start an argument… An argument I am not going to have with you” I said.
Tope grunted and walked out of the house. I could not figure out why he was angry. I mean, I saved us… pardon me… him from getting arrested and I still had a nagging feeling that we were going to get caught. This was the time we were meant to stick together.
Tope eventually came back but it was the next day and we went on with our day. We hardly said a word to each other and this went on for days. We didn’t speak to each other. Tope would go out and come back days later. We were growing apart, not only from each other but from our money.
But that was not what scared me… What scared me was the thought that kept coming to my head that either the police get us or Tope exposes us to the police.
What validated my fear was when I saw the news of Katherine’s death announced on Canton Tv and what made it worse was that it was everywhere on social media. There was even the hashtag justiceforkatherine trending. The good part was that her body was not found but people already concluded that she was dead. I couldn’t say all this to Tope because he would rather go out for drinks than talk to me but I knew I had to do something. And fast.
I had to save myself.
I had the perfect idea.
***
I had to make sure Tope was home for this plan.
On a Tuesday while he was trying to get ready to go out and was tying his shoelace, I stood at the entrance of the room.
“We need to talk” I said, my hand on my hips.
“About what?” He asked, without looking at me.
“About everything. You have been acting strange since the…” I lowered my voice “…since the Katherine situation”.
“I need time…”
“…Time for what? This is the time we need each other Tope. In case you did not notice, her death has been everywhere and we need to come up with a plan before we get caught”.
Tope sighed “I know about her death being everywhere, I just… just can’t live with myself knowing that I am a murderer. It haunts me Nungi. It does” He said looking into my eyes. I could see the sadness and hurt in his eyes and I felt for him. All this while I had been thinking he was avoiding me. I didn’t know he was beating himself up. I walked over to him and rested my hands on his shoulder.
“We will get out of this. Mistakes happen”.
He placed his hands on his head and I knew he was crying. I sighed. It was too late. I had to go on with my plan.
At that point, there was a knock on the door.
“Do you want to get that?” I asked Tope.
He sniffed and nodded as he stood up. I sat down on the bed and sighed. I knew what was coming.
I could hear Tope open the door and I could hear the voice of a man ask “Are you Mr Tope Adesina?”
Tope said “Yes” I could hear the confusion in Tope’s voice.
“You are under arrest for the murder of Miss Katherine Obazie…” and the man went on to read the rights Tope had.
I stood up and went to the sitting room where Tope was being handcuffed. He struggled a bit before looking at me. I could see the hurt, the confusion in his eyes but beneath that, I saw something more. Something so strong.
Hatred.
As the policemen led Tope out and into their van, I stood at the door of our apartment and watched him. The neighbours were also watching from their windows. I felt bad for him but I had to do it. I had nothing to do with the murder.
I had to take care of myself.
