  Caro, after leaving Beryl, had trekked very little and enjoyed much. For the first time in her life, she had five thousand naira all to herself, in no one's house and under nobody's supervision. It occurred to her to indulge herself a little, so she purchased sardines, corned beef, soft drinks and everything else that she had always looked forward to eating all her life.
      Within a few days, she had broken several records and consumed things she never would have hoped to consume if she was still in her father's house. Running away had a lot of perks, to be sure.
      For once, she could spend freely and without thinking too much, even giving some change to beggars. Though her birthday was still many weeks away, she felt like treating herself like a queen. It was wonderful how easily you noticed beautiful things when you have money. To make things more splendid, she had not encount

  Donatus walked quietly into his compound without responding to the greeting of Henry who was the one that had opened the gate. His face was expressionless and tired-looking. He stood aside and waited for the young man to finish locking the gate.
      "Henry," he called.
      "Sir?", Henry answered, running over to meet him.
      "Where is Timothy? Go and call him for me."
      With that, he walked straight to his front door while Henry ran off on the errand.
      Minutes later, Timmy strolled into Donatus' parlour. He found the man seated on a couch and reading a newspaper.
      "You called me?", Timothy murmured gruffly.
      "Ehen Timothy. Why have you not been picking your mother's call? How many times has your mother called you?"
      "I got my reasons," Timmy shrugged carelessly.
      Donatus eyed him in silence and shook his head in pity.
      "Anyway, your mother wants

  In the days that followed the so-called robbery and the subsequent police investigation, Timmy was exempted from manning any of the two shops Donatus owned. He was left behind at the house while the rest went out to work. In a normal situation, he would be happy or bored, but in this case, he was very worried.
      He was beginning to question the wisdom of his action: lying about the incident to Donatus and the police. He had done it to protect himself and Chidi too, but if the police were to find out the truth, they both might end up having trouble on two fronts and that was worse than what he had lied to avoid. There was no question about it, telling the whole truth would have been the best option. But since he had already told the lie, what could he do to salvage the situation?
      "Teemothy!", Donatus called from the parking space, jerking him out of his reverie.
      "Yeah?",

Caro, after leaving Beryl, had trekked very little and enjoyed much. For the first time in her life, she had five thousand naira all to herself, in no one's house and under nobody's supervision. It occurred to her to indulge herself a little, so she purchased sardines, corned beef, soft drinks and everything else that she had always looked forward to eating all her life.
      Within a few days, she had broken several records and consumed things she never would have hoped to consume if she was still in her father's house. Running away had a lot of perks, to be sure.
      For once, she could spend freely and without thinking too much, even giving some change to beggars. Though her birthday was still many weeks away, she felt like treating herself like a queen. It was wonderful how easily you noticed beautiful things when you have money. To make things more splendid, she had not encountered any trouble so far and finding abandoned or unsecured shops to sleep in was no problem.
      

Chapter 11