She was in her blank world encircled in black. She knew she was motionless and couldn’t help to bring herself out of it. Where is her love, the one that always stood by her, her everything. Why can’t he help her out of her present state. He had promised to never leave her by herself in any situation. Why has he turned his back at her??? she wondered. Perhaps he is also helpless, she thought in her subconsciousness.
‘Mr Tade, you have only one option and that option is to confess you murdered Rodriguez’.
‘But, I did not kill him’ Tade exclaimed. His fore head had sweat pimples even in the air-conditioned room. He had been taken into the room since the police came to harass him at his apartment in the resort, on the day he was to travel back to Nigeria, his country. He had already spent two (2) days in the room at the Immigration department office. His wife was with him till they were both taken to the penitentiary after charging them of Murder. They never thought their knowledge of Rodriguez’s existence could part them and also make them get punished for a crime they knew nothing about, maybe, they did know something– his existence. They were being punished for knowing him.
Tade paces back and forth in his cell. His trial was adjourned to a later period like the subsequent ones, that he had been present for. The Nigeria High Commission seemed to be of no good assistance to him. The past court trials had not been a productive one; establishing he had no connection in Rodriguez’s death. He had spent three months fighting Rodriguez murder case. He was practically denied communication to his family and wife’s family, but, due to the persistent pressure from the Adams family, they got aware of Tade and Lola’s plight through the Nigeria High Commission.
Tade and Lola’s parents visit their children at the penitentiary in Dominican Republic. They make efforts by getting a good lawyer to represent their children. They seem to be making progress but the trial keeps being adjourned. They had no choice but to return back home promising they would come back. Things did not get any better after they left.
It’s been a month since the last trial, Lola looks through a hole that conveys light to the cell she’s been staying alone for the past four months. They had locked her separately from the other inmates likewise Tade since they had not been sentenced yet. Looking through the hole, for Lola, has been her ‘Hope Assurance’. She concluded if she could still see the little light then she could live till the end of her present phase. As she leans her back on the wall writing with a pencil, she hears a familiar sound which signifies food is ready. She stands to take it through the opening that allows for the passage of food. Then she hears ‘oye su juicio en la corte es mañana’ (hey! your court trial is tomorrow)
Lola replies Gracias¡(thank you)
She had gotten more familiar with spanish as one of the wardens bought her a book on understanding spanish. She learnt quickly about words used relating to crimes, court etc. She eats happily picturing her husband’s face. I would be seeing him tomorrow, she said to herself smiling albeit crying while eating…
Their vehicles arrived at the same time. Tade spots her and tries to yank himself free to meet her but, he is constrained to do so. They get to smile at each other, the only form of communication between them occurring once in a month for the past four months. In the courtroom, they begin the same routine of arguments based on evidences of both parties. The Prosecutor held it that the blood found in the victim’s surrounding happened to be Lola’s and other forensic evidences such as the finger prints on the broken window glass, the shoe prints in the house, alongside the finger prints on the switches showed Tade and Lola were in Rodriguez’s house even after the murder. The Prosecutor argued the impossibility of being in the house and not realizing there was a dead body in it especially after searching for Rodriguez; according to what Tade and Lola had claimed as the reason behind the finger and shoe prints found in Rodriguez’s house. While the Defense counsel (Tade and Lola’s lawyer) raised the defense of alibi proving that they are not guilty of the crime charged against them. The Defense counsel revealed that as at the time Rodriguez was murdered according to the forensic investigation, Tade and Lola were seen in the surveillance camera of a restaurant outside the resort, which reveals, they would have required about thirty (30) minutes to get to the resort, Rodriguez’s apartment to kill him if they had been the ones. The surveillance camera of the restaurant showed they had stayed at the restaurant for an hour. While the resort surveillance camera made explicit that they arrived two (2) hours later after going to a mall which was also noted in the surveillance camera of the mall. The defense counsel’s view was, they couldn’t have been at those places and at Rodriguez’s apartment at the same time. The Defense counsel further stated Tade and Lola had nothing to gain in the death of Rodriguez’s he stated the incident that had happened in the restaurant at the resort making apparent Rodriguez’s life had been threatened in the past. The Prosecutor on the other hand, argued that Tade and Lola had a lot to gain in Rodriguez’s death and his proof was Rodriguez’s will stating Tade and Lola as the sole owners of all his properties….
With this Conclusive and Revealing Proof, The judge sentences Tade to Thirty (30) years imprisonment and sentences Lola to Twenty-five (25) years imprisonment stating her as an accomplice by concluding due to her injury, she could not have been the perpetrator of the crime. Upon the hearing of the judgement, Lola slumps…
From the desk of Mary Elebijo.
maryelebijo 
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