Cross Country

ground with her head. Then she exploded!
    Houston Rockets must have shoved the grenade into the girl’s clothing. They had no reason to kill her. The murder was just for show — or maybe for my eyes.
    Or Adanne’s?

Chapter 94
    THE NEXT MORNING, we returned to Lagos, exhausted and with heavy hearts. Clearly, this kind of insanity happened often here. How could the people bear it?
    Adanne insisted that her family put me up for a day or so. “Whatever you need, Alex. I want to get this killer as badly as you do. I’ve written about him enough.”
    She had her own apartment in the city, but we drove to her parents’ house on a part of Victoria Island — to a side of this fascinating megacity that I hadn’t seen before.
    The streets here were wide and clean, with no buildings taller than two stories. Most of the homes sat behind yellow or pink stucco walls. Still, there was a familiar smell of fruit and flowers decaying in the air.
    Adanne pulled up to a gate and punched in a code.
    “Alex,” she said before we got out of her car, “I prefer to save my parents the stress and worry. I told them we’ve been in Abuja. They’re worried about civil war.”
    “Okay,” I agreed. “Abuja it is.”
    “Thank you. You’re very kind,” she whispered up close to my ear. “Oh, here they are. They’ll think you’re a new boyfriend. But I’ll clear that up, don’t worry.”
    Everyone was coming out through the carport to the parking pad as we pulled in. I was still pondering the idea of
Adanne’s new boyfriend.
    Two boys, adorable, smiling twins in school uniforms and undone neckties, appeared. They were elbowing each other to be the first to open Adanne’s door.
    There were hugs all around for Adanne and then introductions for me. I was
a policeman from America who was helping her with an important story
. I was
not
a new boyfriend. Adanne had everyone laughing about that absurdity within seconds.
Ha, ha, what a comedienne she was.

Chapter 95
    I MET HER mother, Somadina, her father, Uchenna, her sister-in-law, Nkiru, and the nephews, James and Calvin. They couldn’t have been warmer or nicer people. It seemed utterly natural to them that a complete stranger should come stay in their home for an unspecified amount of time.
    The house was a modest one-story but with lots of windows and interesting views. From the foyer, I saw a walled backyard with tamarind trees and flower gardens. I could smell the hibiscus, even from inside.
    Adanne showed me to her father’s office. The walls in here, like in Adanne’s office at the
Guardian,
were covered with framed news stories.
    I noticed that a couple of them dealt with a gang of killer boys, and the man who led them. The name Tiger wasn’t used, however.
    “Are these all yours?” I asked, looking around. “You’ve been a busy girl, haven’t you?”
    She was a little sheepish now, the first embarrassment I had seen from her.
    “Let’s say I’ve never had to wonder if my father is proud of me. My mother as well.”
    I also noticed a framed military portrait on the desk — a young soldier with Adanne’s features and her eyes.
    “Your brother?”
    “Kalu, yes.” She went over and picked it up. Instantly there was sadness in her eyes.
    “He was with the Engineering Corps. My big brother. I adored him, Alex. You would have liked him.”
    I wanted to ask what had happened to him, but I didn’t.
    “I’ll tell you, Alex. Two years ago, he went to Niku — for a meeting at the Ministry of Urban Development. There was a dinner that night. A private function at a popular restaurant. No one knows exactly what happened, but all fifteen people there were found dead. They were massacred with guns and machetes.”
    The Tiger?
I wondered.
And his killer boys? Was that why she had written about him? And maybe why I was here now? Was everything finally coming together?
    Adanne set the picture down with a sigh. Then she absently ran her fingers through her braids. Once again, I couldn’t help noticing how beautiful she was. Stunning, really. There was no getting around it.
    “That was the first time I ever heard of the Tiger. Only because I did my own digging. The ‘official’ investigation by the police went nowhere. As usual.”
    “And you’re still digging?” I asked.
    She nodded. “Maybe someday I can tell my parents that Kalu’s murder is solved. That would be the greatest thing, ‘
make my career,
’ as they say. In the meantime, we don’t talk about