CHAPTER TWELVE

Sunday came and passed. There was no call from Jane. Gil called her, the call went unanswered…then he called Maider to ask what was wrong and according to Maider nothing was and she added, “Maybe she is busy preparing for her classes, I’m sure she will call you, she really cares for you.” She lied. Gil stayed positive and went to the bedroom. The night seemed longer than usual, his mind was on what he had with Jane and he wished it could last longer. He hoped it lasted for a while longer to give him a chance to come clean with her and ask for her forgiveness, promise her his undying love, and probably ask for her hand in marriage.

Despite what he’d done to her there was no doubt he wanted to spend his life with her. He wanted to have a family and grow old with her. He fell asleep in the middle of his draining thoughts.

******************

Her search of the previous night had proved nothing. Why was she angry with Gil? The agitation on her part was of no help; it was just empty anger. What was she angry over, that the documents contained little information for her? Or was she angry because she’d failed to access the information she wanted? What if she was accusing an innocent guy, how would she explain it to him afterward? Would that not ruin the little trust he may have for her? And the worst thing one can do in life is to betray trust. Betrayed trust, accompanied by false accusations could tarnish any relationship. She had to rethink her alternatives before rushing to the police.

What if they demanded a valid piece of evidence that she was indeed certain Gil was the responsible person for the robbery? Would she tell them that she’d seen a faint document that had no clear information on it? She tilted her head up; a tear that was rolling down her cheek half-dried. She realized that she was not in tears because she’d failed to gather the information. No, she was crying because she was accusing Gil. She cried because she was missing Gil. She didn’t realize it till her body longed for him. She stood up, went to the bathroom, filled the tub, and got undressed.

She stood in front of the mirror and admired her well-shaped naked body; she let a little whistle escape her lips. She was done with thoughts of the night she’d had with Gil. Indeed, a night to archive, a night to always look back at. And if indeed Gil was the guy who’d robbed her, then that would mean she was unfortunate. In actuality, she couldn’t imagine herself without Gil.

She reconsidered her plans again and somewhere deep down she even thought of calling off this stupid spying thing she was doing. She immersed herself in the water, took a long one, all the while reminiscing the naked body of Gil. She dried and wrapped her sexy body with a towel and went to bed. The following day was going to be a long one at school.

Monday morning came, cozy and loveable; the sun rays met her face when she stepped out of the house. The slight strong currents from the river brought with it a dense and rich aroma of mud and some river weed. She stood fixedly for a moment taking in this smell of nature, after picking up and differentiating the various aromas in the air, she locked the door and proudly walked to the gate. She waited for her friend to pick her up. It had become a norm since Gil stole her car…he depended heavily on Rose to transport her to and from school. Merely three minutes into waiting, Rose pulled by the gate. Jane helped herself into the car and fastened her seat belt after exchanging some friendly glances with Rose.

“So…” Rose began, after studying her friend in the mirror, and noticing that she looked unbothered by a thing she was showing signs of pure bliss. “… You went to Francistown, what happened?” She patiently waited for the answer, as Jane struggled to produce the words. Jane didn’t know where to start, whether to tell her she managed only to meet Gil’s friend and keep quiet about her interaction with Gil, or…. The glow she had on her face was because of the intimate time she’d spent with Gil. She decided to divulge most of the events of the trip. After all, Rose was her friend and she had seen her through thick and thin.

“Yep, I was there. I managed to meet Gil and his friend too. There was nothing much to dig on to.” What I’ve gathered so far is a far cry from implicating him.” She pretended to be busy with the mirror.

Though she was trying to be cagey about the details of the trip, Rose somehow managed to see that there was something afoot, something that her darling friend was trying to hide. Having been around her friend for such a long time, Rose had mastered her friend to the point where she could always tell what she was feeling at any time…or at least when she was hiding something. So if Jane is trying to be witty with her it wouldn’t help, she had already detected the lie.

“Oh. That’s all?” Rose poked her friend. “Tell me about your meeting with Gil, I’m interested in those details in particular.” For a moment Jane hesitated, she knew that Rose had caught on her little bluff. She opted to lift the lid of curiosity from her friend, though it was another lie, but it was a lie enough to make Rose nod in concession and for the meantime, she would keep quiet. “We just had a civil meeting over lunch at a restaurant. We chatted for a few minutes, after that we took a short walk,” she lied.

A reminder of her meeting with Gil involuntarily caused her breast to gush, she felt a warm liquid flow down her thighs, and she knew how badly she missed him. For the remainder of the trip, she was engulfed in her fantasies. They parked at the staff parking lot, and each got out of the car with her stationery and headed for the staff room. They marched side by side in silence. They attended a thirty-minute staff meeting before all were consumed with their daily routine duties.

Maider dropped by the Block 8 Shopping Complex after work, all day long she had been pondering on her thoughts about Pro. Having that kind of self-esteem, she wasn’t shy to intrude the lawyer’s home. She called at the intercom, at first there was no answer; she was acknowledged on the second attempt. The gate rolled back, leaving the huge house in plain sight, she scrutinized her steps as she walked to the main door of the house. With a somewhat puzzled expression, Prof held the door ajar for her, and she went past him. She stood in the living room, her purse tightly clasped in front of her thighs. She grasped it so tight that even if a purse cutter had tried to snatch it, they would’ve struggled a great deal.

She stood at a meter and sixty-five centimeters, and many would consider that too tall for a lady. Her short hair was tinted in pure gold, brushed neatly and her hazel eyes circulated the living room as if it was her first time inside it. Her sharp, straight nose stood erect as if to pick any kind of odor that stifled the air in the room.

She was fully shaped, much to one’s amazement; it is rare to find anyone with English genes having such a fully built figure. Prof offered her a seat, which she humbly accepted. He studied her for some time, his eyes fixed on her. It made Maider a bit shy; she dropped her stare to the floor. “Juice…. Or Wine?” She chuckled at the last part. He was surely recalling how Maider behaved the last time she had it. She felt a bit embarrassed about it now; Jane had told her how out of line she was at Prof’s house. So when the offer for wine came, she declined and settled for juice though she wanted the former.

“You look fine today.” He complimented her after she had accepted a glass of red grape juice. There was something Maider was keeping rolled up on her sleeve. Prof poked her for it. “What brings you here, need some kind of help?” He asked. She emptied the last drops of the juice into her mouth. Feigning a throat clearing, she responded to Prof’s question. “Not quite…I came to apologize for my behavior last Saturday. Jane told me I was quite the handful.” She knew that wasn’t the reason she’d visited. Her reason was to see Prof and only that. She liked him, and she couldn’t keep it hidden…her main worry was whether or not Prof would go for her too, especially after she had displayed a bad picture last Saturday.

“I will say, I accept the apology, though it is absolutely unnecessary for you to apologize.” He smiled at her. He left her in the living room after he had gently asked her to wait for him—he had to finish up preparing dinner. He took less than thirty minutes doing that, and all the while they were involved in small talk.

Finally, he emerged from the kitchen to the living room, two plates in hand. He had prepared pap with some roasted meat—the kind Maider loved. They ate silently. After supper, Prof offered to drop Maider off at her place, and with a huge smile, she accepted. The trip to her place was short since the traffic congestion had subsided. Though they were quiet the whole journey, they kept stealing glances at each other, and it seemed none could guess what the other had in mind. He dropped her by her gate and drove off.

Okay, Maider may have popped up unannounced at his compound just to apologize as she so claimed, but there was more hidden in that pretty face of hers. Anyway, time will tell, and Prof harshly brushed the idea aside.

Gil had a very lousy day at work; his mind was elsewhere: Jane. He’d called her on Sunday and her phone went unanswered, he had tried it again this morning and this time it went straight to voice mail. He probed his mind for what might’ve gone wrong when they were together; nothing with a clear coherence stood out.

They were so damn fine—they’d had the time of their lives actually—and that was the kind of time he would love to spend with Jane his entire life. He had vowed to himself that if things went accordingly, a month wouldn’t pass without him confronting Jane about the missing, Rakops Gil. He would come clean, and if things went south, he would kindly embrace his fate.

After all, he deserved whatever came his way. Why is she not taking my calls? He quizzed himself. The only moment she’d looked vexed was when she was standing by his chest of drawers ‘doing her hair’. That single question, what you doing in there? had thrown her off balance. She had rushed out of the room and without even saying bye she was gone. But was that alone enough for him to get a cold shoulder from her? He doubted. Perhaps there is something fishy going on.

His body stiffened, a cold chill run down his spine, and he broke out in sweats. A weird and of course unpleasant thought dug its way into his mind: What if Maider had told Jane about the night they had once had and told her about the other sick whores whose company he’d more than once entertained at his place?

That was reason enough to send a lady like Jane into mute. And if she had told her, his chances of ultimately having the love of his life were as dim as the fading lights of a candle. He thought of calling Maider, but he failed to make out the right word she would tell her, so he opted out of the idea. He tried Jane’s number again, this time it rang! He waited, patiently praying she picks up.

She leaped with joy when she slid the receive button, she had long wanted to return his calls, but her ego had overwhelmed her needs. Eventually, she’d opted to wait for him to call, and finally, as expected, he did. The heavy cloud of worry that had lingered over her like a tiny mist was dissolved. She was now worried that her cold attitude might’ve pushed him away. And if he did distance himself from her, she would not have only lost her chance to pin him down as a criminal, but sadly, it would mean she lost someone she really liked, merely because of her stupid attitude.

With a wide grin, she placed the phone in the ear “Hello…” she paused, her pulse racing, and waited for Gil to respond. Normally his voice would send an immediate tornado of arousal over her whole body. Her body would submit to his voice and remain nimble, ready for anything. As expected his voice was sweet just like every other time before, and it had the same effect on her. She wanted him. She wanted him so badly, every corner of her body craved to be touched and caressed by the gifted hands of Gil.

“I was worried about you Jane, worried to death. You know, I never knew I could feel this way about someone.” At last, he was relieved, the frown on his face had melted away as the tiny lines of a smile started to form across his lips. He could hear her heavy breathing over the microphone. The sound ran through his ear, down to his limbs—the exact sound she had made when she climaxed the night they made love. He forbade his mind from going into the details of that night; he had to know what was going on. Why was she giving him the silent treatment?

“I know…” she dried her tear with a tissue, before continuing with her nicely fabricated excuses to justify why she’d been so cold to him “… thing is, when I arrived on Sunday, there was a power cut; my phone’s battery was low. And hence I was unable to receive calls. I just had it charged about an hour back,” she lied. After an in-depth consideration, he bought the excuse. Having stayed at Rakops before, he knew how much of an ass the power could be. Now that he was thinking about it, it wasn’t only Rakops, but most rural areas in Botswana. He lifted his mind off Rakops; it was the last place he wanted his mind to dwell on.

As they always say, the past is a precious archive one keeps on peering at to avoid repetition of previous mistakes in the future. But what kind of memories or events resided in his Rakops archive? The death of his family, life mercilessly roughing him up, and more abashedly, the crime he had committed. The pain he had subjected to someone he now dearly treasured. Was that enough to archive and look back at? Not a bit.

“Okay, I understand that. When are you visiting me again? You know I can’t have enough of you.” He teased; they both laughed, before discussing when exactly she would pay a visit. They agreed that she would visit the following week. She tried to coax him to go over to Rakops the following weekend.

He puffed a lot of excuses, and Jane easily fell for the excuses; she would make the trip to Francistown the following week. Minutes after Gil’s call ended, Rose knocked. Jane opened the door for her. The former was, as always, super stunning and jubilant. She was the kind of person who was hardly ever moody, neither ever carried a negative aura, despite the situation.

Jane had observed that Rose always had her ego in check, and she always maintained her cool; in short, she was always more sensible than the next person.

Being a native of the village, she had to strike a balance between modern and traditional life, and despite having gone to school mostly in urban areas, she had traces of culture in her. Though she didn’t put on those humungous dresses and head scarfs with horn shapes like other Herero ladies do, she was just as traditional as the next Herero woman. She was not as pretty as Herero women are usually rumored to be but were rather smart.

They sat on their usual couch and chattered the hours away over a cup of coffee. Finally Rose poked her. “Are you sure you will find the link to the crime?” Jane was silent for a rather lengthy moment, not sure what to say. Her initial idea of dating Gil was backfiring on her—not that it was a bad; falling in love has never been a bad thing. A strong rush of arousal ran through her body. She used the coffee mug to hide a tear from her friend. She continued after she had fully regained her composure.

“I’m not sure anymore Rose, at first I thought it fascinating to dig around for information to incriminate him. I lied, I should have told the police I have got a suspect a week or so back. I am late now Rose.” The puzzled Rose tried consuming every single word said to her, bit by bit. She failed to understand what she meant by being ‘late’. “Late? Late how, Jane?” she forced a question through her bemused face.

“Can’t you see, Rose? I’m already falling in love with the guy! What would be of me if I ignored my feelings and fervently pursued the truth? Will I take him to the cops? Won’t the truth destroy my happiness and tarnish my love?” Her voice was muffled, her lips curled tightly in deep thought, she wasn’t even sure herself what she’d do if she found the truth. Or what would happen if Gil found out that she was spying on him. She swallowed hard.

For a couple of uncalculated moments Rose stared blankly at her friend, she couldn’t believe what Jane was telling her. Of all things why would she opt to fall in love with a criminal? Not just a criminal, in fact, her wrongdoer! What had gotten into her? So Gil had stolen her possessions from her and was now stealing her heart too! That was too naïve of Jane. First, it was a coincidental meeting at a pub. Secondly, a trap to investigate his origins. And now the trap had turned into love? She wondered for a long moment. Something in her gave her a much-needed reminder, a simple question. Who is strong enough to stand against the bond of love? Practically no one was strong enough to do that. So if her friend was indeed in love, she had to let it be.

“I won’t comment on that Jane. After all, you are an adult and you know what you are getting yourself into. What I can promise is my undivided support through this, no matter where it leads.” Those were the best words she could say to her friend, though in her heart of hearts she knew Jane was gambling with her life. Jane absorbed the words in silence; they had a lot of weight on them. An awkward silence filled the room, each buried in her thoughts. Rose wondered what Jane was thinking of—obviously her newfound love. The atmosphere was getting tense; the silence getting disconcerting by every passing second, and Rose checked the wall clock.

20:15

She silently stood.“ Time to leave, it is getting late.” Her ignition started, and a few minutes later the sound faded into the distance. Now Jane was alone and faced with a monster she hated the most: her thoughts. For the first time since she started dating Gil, she felt agitated, she despised every moment she had had with him, hated ever seeing him. Her inner self quizzed her…why was she stressing? What if the crime had nothing to do with him and she was just throwing around false accusations?

Would she then forgive herself for that or better yet, would she ever accept the fact that she’d made Gil run away from her? For a moment she hesitated. Why couldn’t she give it a month or two? If Gil’s acclaimed feelings for her were genuine, and he was indeed the one who had put her into those six months of misery, he would surely come clean. It wouldn’t be easy, but suspicious as he already was of her spying endeavor—she had noticed—perhaps he’d feel inclined to confess a little sooner. Or maybe he’d try and negotiate a truce. Truce? Jane repeated the word. What kind of truce could he seek? If he did it would have to be very convincing, and binding. With that thought, she slid under her sheets and went to sleep.

**************

Gil must have fallen asleep after his call to Jane because when he woke up it was a few minutes before 21:00. He went to the bathroom and filled the tub with warm water. He immersed himself in it. It was a quick and peaceful bath. He dried and dragged himself to the kitchen. He had a cola and a few slices of bread. Ever since Jane had submitted to him, he was being haunted less by her naked body; sometimes he would go for days without visualizing it. The only thing that was a permanent residence in his thoughts was how badly he missed her—not lustful longing, genuinely and purely because he loved her.

He rested on the sofa with nothing in his mind for a change. Somehow his mind was overworked with all the thinking, of late it had gotten accustomed to just switching off, and he would stare into space without batting an eyelid. All this while he’d have no thoughts whatsoever, or perhaps he was thinking—just subconsciously. The following day he was going to be off-duty. He would visit Prof at his office… it had been a while since they last saw each other, moreover, he had to find out if Maider had approached him.

He went to bed sometime after midnight. That was after he pounded stressfully on something that had intruded his mind, and to his amazement, he wondered how he could forget to digest something so disturbing. Earlier today when he’d called Jane, before cutting the call Jane had suggested that he visit her at Rakops the coming weekend. He’d almost dropped dead hearing those words, how stupid he had been, to have not considered that possibility. A sickening thought trespassed his mind; what if the request had been a way of trying to see how he would respond to it? He traced his conversation with Jane.

No! He didn’t panic. He had immediately responded, “I would love that, but I’m on duty, and we’re behind with production due to the latest rains. My boss won’t give me a day off.” She’d bought the lie, and he had sighed in relief. But… but there were limited chances of him avoiding going to Rakops. Being in a relationship meant he’d have to every once while take those long drives to see his lady. He hadn’t carefully thought this through when he wooed her; he should have outlined all the possible dangers of this relationship. Beating himself up was of no use now, though; his main duty was to keep his identity hidden from Jane. So far he’d managed to accomplish that, and now he was faced with a mammoth task: telling Jane that indeed he was the infamous Gil and was responsible for her break-in. With that, he went to bed.

The following day was Tuesday. He woke up after nine-thirty am, stretched his relatively tired body, kicked the blankets out, and made his way to the bathroom. He filled the basin after brushing his teeth and had a quick face wash. For a few minutes, he had his breakfast, before going to his car. He started the ignition and headed to Prof’s office. They met by the office door, Prof on his way out, perhaps for breakfast or in a rush to court. They exchanged pleasantries and compliments were made.

“Look who’s here, Gil himself!” He was grinning to the fact that his chap seemed to be in good shape, the dark worry that had burdened him for months seemed to have eluded him. “I am here to see you Prof, and it’s not just an ordinary visit. We have to talk.” He jerked his eyes beyond Prof as if checking if there was anyone in the vicinity. “Oh. So I fooled myself old pal, I was here thinking whatever was bothering you all those months had finally faded away.” His expression changed to that of worry. Gil was thoughtful for a moment or two, before reproaching the remark. “Not really, Prof. I am fine, I just want to make sure of something. It’s almost ten, why not dash into a coffee shop and have a chat?” They agreed on that, and so they marched into a nearby coffee shop and had a cup of coffee with a piece of cookie. In hushed voices, they had their chat.

“I understand Maider came to you over some legal issues. I want to know if indeed she was after that or she had another agenda.” Prof chuckled to the question, obviously remembering how Maider had been drunk that afternoon and not mentioned a single thing about having legal problems. Her friend, rather, had been the one to seek advice, claiming that she was helping her students with their law-based project.

“No, she didn’t. Your girlfriend was the one in…”

Gil interrupted his sentence. “Hold on a sec, my girlfriend…” he decided to let die of whatever he wanted to say.

“Why do you look surprised? They told me that sexy, beautiful Jane is yours. Or they lied?” equally puzzled too, he asked. Gil nodded his head. “Nope, they didn’t. She is my girlfriend.” He swallowed hard. “So that’s all they requested, help on some project?” He felt his worry gently dissolving inside him. “Yeah… That’s all they wanted. Save for the fact that wayward Maider consumed my entire bottle of wine by herself.” He giggled and Gil joined him. They settled the bills and left.

******************

Her mind had been lost on thoughts of Prof, from the previous afternoon till now. She had been musing a lot on how good-looking Prof was. Though she had avoided directly staring at him during the short trip to her place, she had constantly peeked at him through the corner of her eye. She’d occasionally caught a glimpse of his smiling face, and had shyly knotted her fingers. He had dropped her off by the gate and drove away without a word, not at least a goodbye wave. Though that was much of a humiliation to her, it didn’t stop her from thinking of him. She had opened her door, entered the room with a heavy heart, her legs heavy and reluctant to move thanks to Prof’s poor treatment. She locked the doors before tipsily going for a bath, which was quicker than usual this time.

She dried up and covered her body with a towel. She then went into the kitchen to prepare supper, and apparently, she had no appetite for anything. She wasn’t sure herself whether meeting up with Prof had turned her day sour or her mood was spoilt by figments of her own imagination. She went to bed just after 2000hrs; curling herself up on the large bed, she pulled her teddy bear closer to her body and went to sleep.

She felt much better in the morning when she was preparing herself for work. And to lift her mood to even higher dimensions, Prof called her first thing in the morning, telling her he hoped she’d had a good night. She of course delightfully told him it’d been the best night in a thousand. Her day was a very good one after that, courtesy to Prof’s call.