There seems no end to the intrigues Tony, an entrepreneur is facing. The operations manager of his firm who had been spearheading the unauthorised weekly sales of company products worth about N50,000 and dividing the proceeds with other employees had been arrested. The man is a prime suspect in the theft of N3.2 million worth of goods from the company premises. His wife had been to Tony’s office to plead with him to drop charges against her husband, claiming he knew nothing about the major robbery. It was the operation manager’s wife who actually revealed the ‘small robberies’ which implicated about six other staff, three of which are key – the production manager, the collations supervisor and the human resource manager.
Tony had given the woman the go-ahead to bail her husband but to his utmost shock, she had used her phone to record the period she was in his office alone with him. During those few minutes, she moved very close to him while unraveling the conspiracy of the weekly sales that had been going on in the office. Tony thought then that she was leaning close to him because she did not want the other staff that they both knew were behind the office door to hear what she was saying. But Tony got a phone call from the inspector handling the case claiming that the operations manager’s wife had accused Tony, the CEO of making advances at her and that was the reason he was implicating her husband in the major robbery that took place in the office.
Tony has been with Kale, his childhood friend and Shina, his mentor when he got the phone call. He had been shocked and exclaimed loudly. When he told the two men, Kale had also exclaimed, only Shina was unruffled.
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One of the restaurant managers approached them. “Hope there is no problem, gentlemen?”
Shina smiles at him. “No problem.” The manager looks at the three men. Except for Kale who is dressed casually, Shina and Tony look resplendent in their sharp designer suits.
“Okay sirs, if you need anything, just let me know. I am nearby.” The man says courteously and leaves. The attention of the other guests at the restaurant also shift from them.
Tony shakes his head. “I can’t believe this is happening, that people would go this length after robbing me.”
“I have seen a lot of criminal tendencies since I started my security business five years ago but this one beats me.”
“I am going to deal with that operations manager and his wife,” says Tony, clenching his fists in frustration.
“Calm down Tony, that is precisely what they want to achieve, so you would not be in your right mind as you tackle the crime they have committed.” Shina tells him.
“Uuummm,” says Kale thoughtfully. “The crime they have committed? They? Something has just occurred to me. The operation manager’s wife might have played an even greater role in the N3.2 million robbery than we thought.”
“The police station is nearby. Let us go and see the video,” says Tony.
On introducing themselves, the three men are ushered into the office of the DSP. The inspector is sitting at his desk while the inspector stands at the edge of the table. He shows them the video which he had downloaded from the woman’s video to the laptop. They get to read the operations manager’s wife statement and then watch the video. Tony sees himself leaning on his desk with his two hands. He remembers the headachy feeling he was having then. He also sees the operation manager’s wife leaning on the table and whispering close to his ears. To the casual observer, they seem like two intimate people, having a very intimate conversation.
They finish watching the four-minutes vide. “Toooooony!” says Kale. “Does the job of a CEO entail leaning so close to a woman when discussing official matters?”
Tony gives Kale a very hard look. Shina also frowns at him and Kale becomes mute. As Tony and Shina discuss with the DSP and the inspector, they try not to say too much.
The three men leave, agreeing to get back to the officers. They had come in Shina’s car. Kale gets in the front seat beside the driver while Shina and Tony get into the backseat.
“You must be very careful,” Tony says to Kale, “That is certainly not the place for such careless chatter on such a serious issue.”
“So sorry,” Kale says, turning his neck towards the back. “But this issue is getting too intriguing and it would have been laughable if it wasn’t so funny. That woman is a criminal as well.”
“How did I get into all these?” Tony asks no one in particular, clearly exasperated.
“Over the years, I have discovered that by nature, people are complex beings who will confound you one minute and astound you the next,” Shina says. “But there is a very simple solution that will put an end to this drama by the former operations manager and his wife.”
“What is that sir?” Tony asks keenly.
OLUYINKA ALAWODE
