The man who can't be caught (Short Story)

“The man who can’t make up his mind” my niece said startling me.

She had been standing quietly by the window for almost half an hour and I had forgotten that she was in the room. I looked up from the sketch I was drawing and smiled in her direction.

I adore my eleven year old niece and usually find her one-line labels amusing and disconcertingly accurate. Take for example, the case of our neighborhood butcher who had a thriving business till last week. At the market square, weeks before the incident, Temitade pointed a skinny finger in his direction and said in her usual dry tone ‘the sac under the table man’. The label proved true because the butcher was thrown out of the square last week when it was discovered that while chopping meat into smaller bits for his customers, he would furtively drop some pieces into a bag he kept under his table.

I was curious to see who the ‘man who can’t make up his mind’ was, so I got up and walked to stand beside Temitade. Temitade is unusually tall for her age and at five feet one inch, her head stands at my waist. She pointed at a white Toyota Camry driving up the road. It was circling an abandoned building on the other side of the street. From my flat which is situated on the topmost floor of a four storey-house, we have an unimpeded view of the driver’s activities.

"That’s the fifth time he’s gone around the building,” Temitade said. The building she referred to is empty, left in a terrible state of disrepair by its owners for two years. The fence around it is also broken in places, and parts of the house and its grounds have been overtaken by weeds. Recently, the property has been popular for one other thing -

“Isn’t that the property with that awful smell?” I asked, adding hopefully. “Maybe he is surveying it to buy.”

Temitade shook her head and said, “He slows down at the gate, looks inside and continues driving,” then she exclaimed, “Can you see what I mean? He’s doing it again.”

We watched as the driver slowed the car down at the gate “I wonder what he’s looking for.”

“Maybe the lady and the little boy who are in the building,” Temitade said.

I stopped looking at the car and frowned at Temitade. “What lady and little boy?” I asked sharply.

Temitade shrugged “I saw them in the building” she said unhelpfully

“Nobody in their right mind would go into that property,” I said outraged “that building can collapse at any time.”

Temitade didn’t say anything and we continued watching the car. I watched the building as well for any signs of movement.

Finally I asked “Have you seen the lady and the boy before today?”

Temitade looked pensive “Yes, some weeks ag,o” she said slowly “The day you forgot I was staying over.”

I smiled wryly; she would never let me forget that. On that fateful day, I returned home about 2am and found her asleep in my bed. I had forgotten that I invited her to sleep over. Instead of calling her father, my perfect and annoying brother to pick her up, my ingenious niece persuaded a carpenter to break down my door.

“Was that before or after your fight with me?” I teased her, knowing full well that the ‘fight’ started three days after the incident.

She gave me a superior look and said “I didn’t fight with you, I chose not to speak with you and that was three days after Uncle Timothy was buried”

A dark look appeared on Temitade’s face as she said the words. I thought I could understand why. Uncle Timothy’s death had being her first brush with the dark spectral being and even for older folks the experience isn’t easy at all. I can still see her pinched face at the funeral when they lifted the coffin lid. She looked thoroughly shocked and ran from the room. It took a lot of persuasion from her father before she would come out of her room. I was surprised that she didn’t speak to me for days. I still get uneasy when I think about it. Why did she choose not to speak to me? I didn’t force her to go for the funeral, matter of fact, her father and I disagreed strongly about her presence at the funeral. I felt that he should know better, being a medical doctor and all that.

“There he goes again” Temitade said, her interest returning to the car

“There’s something fishy going on” I said inadequately

“Maybe you should call the police” Temitade suggested

I nodded thoughtfully “Maybe I should” I said but made no move to do so.

Temitade walked to my desk and picked up my phone, she handed it to me and rattled off some numbers “those are the police emergency numbers that my dad gave me” she explained

I rolled my eyes and she giggled. It is common knowledge that apart from our mutual love for his daughter, my older brother and I have nothing else we agree on. For instance, if I had a daughter I would not leave her at my brother’s for the weekend and arm her with emergency numbers. I would show some trust.

I dialed one of the numbers and an officer picked on the first ring. I explained to the Police officer that we had a prowler in the neighborhood whose activities I felt required a closer look. The officer assured me that there were officers on patrol close by who could be at the location in question in two minutes. I gave a detailed description of the neighborhood and the prowler and hung up. My civic duty done, I looked out of the window and noted with satisfaction that the Toyota Camry had stopped opposite the gate of the house. The driver was sitting duck, and the hunters were on their way.

Asking Temitade to stay in the room and ignoring her pout, I ran downstairs and arrived at the house almost the same time the officers arrived in a black beat up van.

The van packed beside the car and four Police officers dismounted and surrounded it in the most intimidating manner.

The driver of the Toyota Camry got out of the car with a confused look on his face. He was a tall, thin man with a good looking face. He did not look like my idea of a dangerous criminal and I sighed with disappointment “Good afternoon officers” he said “Is there any problem?”

“What is your business here?” one of the officers demanded. I looked at his name tag, it read M.A Yinusa. Officer Yinusa was obviously the senior officer here and by his tone, he didn’t share my view about what criminals looked like. In his line of business everybody was probably a criminal until he could prove otherwise

“I was looking.........” the man’s voice faltered, he looked at the faces around him and suddenly realized that a crowd was gathering around him. “Why do you ask Sir?” he said cautiously.

“We had a call about your activities, they were reported as being suspicious” Officer Yinusa said

“Someone called you about me?” the man asked with disbelief

“I called” I said suddenly from among a growing crowd of curious people. Everyone looked at me and I added by way of explanation “You drove around this building almost fifteen times” I noticed that several people from the crowd nodded in assent.

“So, what is your business here?” Officer Yinusa asked again

“My name is Toye Odu” the man said “I got a call form an unknown person that my wife and son are in this place”

His words were so unexpected that we all stared at him. The officers looked at the abandoned building “Is this where the smell is coming from?” one of them asked looking at me and I nodded “Why would your wife and son go in there?”

“I don’t know” Toye Odu said and suddenly he broke into tears, his thin shoulders shaking “I have not seen them for over a month. They were attacked at gun point on the third mainland bridge and their attacker drove away with them. There are police records to support this at the Panti Police Station. We’ve been looking for them everywhere”

There was an uneasy silence as we all looked at Toye Odu and then at the building.

“Why are we still standing here? Let’s go inside and check!” Officer Yinusa barked suddenly “You!” he pointed to the man and then pointed at me “And you! Come with us”

They all dashed into the building, and I reluctantly followed. The awful smell hit us afresh as we stepped in through the gate and we all gagged. Yet we continued into the building. We had to run through walls of grasses and swarms of flies. It was not the way I would have chosen to spend my afternoon.

Suddenly, one of the officers shouted and we all rushed forward eagerly. We could tell that he had found something momentous.

Apparently, it was also something so terrible that it made the man called Toye Odu scream in agony.

I heaved my guts out when I saw the discovery. Temitade and her one-liners! I blamed her terribly for putting me through this experience.

The remains of a woman in what must have being a white gown and a young boy in black shirt and trouser lay on the floor of one of the rooms in the building. They must have been there for a while. Their bodies were barely recognisable due to decomposition and the ravages of animals. This then was the origin of the smell.

“Arrest this man!” Officer Yinusa shouted with anger pointing at Toye Odu who until that minute had been staring at the bodies with stark disbelief, his hands clutching his head

“But why?” Toye Odu cried “This is my family!”

“Nobody could have seen them here! These corpses must have been here for at least a month!” Officer Yinusa fumed

“But....But someone called me that they saw them” Toye Odu stammered “I don’t know how it happened and I don’t know who called me!”

I cannot understand even till now what emotions ran through me as I watched the man defend himself. It might have being sympathy, but whatever it was, I found myself saying “My niece told me earlier that she saw a woman and a boy in here”

The officers looked at me with suspicion, and Toye Odu looked at me as though he was seeing me for the first time. He probably was.

“Why didn’t you say this earlier?” Officer Yinusa asked suspiciously

“I didn’t think it was necessary till we saw this” I said defensively

“Where is your niece and when did she see this woman and boy in this place?” Officer Yinusa questioned

I replied reluctantly “I don’t know if it was this woman and this boy, but she saw them about thirty minutes ago from my place which is some houses away”

“Can we see your niece?” Toye Odu asked eagerly

I hesitated “She’s waiting for me in the house”

Officer Yinusa, Toye Odu and one of the officers followed me to my flat. The crowd on the street watched us with curiosity. I could hear them whispering, giving their own interpretations of events. I felt the sweat run down my back. I should have kept my mouth shut, I thought

When we entered my flat, Temitade was still standing by the window. I looked nervously at my desk and noted that the sketch I was drawing earlier was gone. The desktop was empty.

Temitade met my eye and said mysteriously “The man who can’t be caught”

I was not in the mood to ask her what she meant by that. It couldn’t be anything good anyway, and one label was enough for one day. She would explain this one another day.

“These gentlemen are here to ask you some questions” I said

“About the car or about the woman and the boy?” Temitade said in her dry way.

“Did you see a woman and a boy” Toye Odu asked excitedly

“Dont lead the witness on!” Officer Yinusa said sharply. He asked Temitade to sit down and sat opposite her.

“What is your name and how old are you?” he asked

“Temitade Ojo,” Temitade replied. “I am eleven.”

Officer Yinusa looked at Temitade’s tall but thin form and glanced at me “Is this man your father?” Officer Yinusa asked pointing at me

I expected Temitade to giggle but she didn’t, she looked at me with accusing eyes and looked away “I am his niece” She said

Officer Yinusa nodded. “Tell us what you saw earlier today.”

Temitade narrated how she saw a woman and a boy in the building and noticed a Toyota Camry circling the property.

“Can you describe what the woman and the boy wore?” Officer Yinusa asked

Temitade nodded “The woman wore a white gown and the boy wore black shirt and trouser with red socks. He wore no shoes.”

Officer Yinusa didn’t say anything for a while. He looked around my room as though for answers. Then he looked back at Temitade “Have you seen this woman and boy before today?”

Temitade surprised them by nodding, but surprised me even more with her words “I saw them some weeks ago late in the night,” she said. “Someone brought them to the house in a car. They seemed to be asleep.”

“Did you see the person who brought them?” Toye Odu asked agitated

Temitade hesitated, she looked at me and then at Officer Yinusa “I didn’t see his face,” she said.

The officers and Toye Odu had a lot of questions but they couldn’t get more than that out of Temitade. She had no further information to give. After almost half an hour, they took their leave. The mystery of the phone call to Toye Odu remained unsolved amongst other things.

Temitade and I watched through the window as more cars arrived at the abandoned property- more Police officers, a few reporters and a medical personnel or two. The bodies were taken away in an ambulance and Toye Odu’s Toyota Camry followed the ambulance. We continued watching till all the cars drove away. Then the crowd dispersed and eventually night fell and everywhere became as silent as the occupants in my room.

“How much do you know?” I asked finally

“About you being my real father? Or about the man who placed the bodies in the building? Or about the sketch of the bank that is situated two blocks from my parent’s home?” Temitade asked dryly

“I’m not your father,” I protested.

“Yes you are,” Temitade said with conviction. She really was a most unusual child, I thought with irritation. “I’m the only person in the world that you care about, and besides there must be a reason why my mum hates you so much.”

“Your mum isn’t the most loving person in the world,” I said. “She hates quite a number of people.”

Temitade didn’t look convinced. “She hates you especially,” she said and added “don’t try to deny it, I've known for a long time”

We were quiet for a few minutes. I tried to remember if there had been any hint from Temitade about this knowledge.

“The sketch” I hesitated “The sketch is just another drawing; you know how much I love to draw. I mean, I’m an artist after all.”

“You drew a sketch of Monique Jewellery store and two days later it was robbed,” Temitade said uncompromisingly. “And the Modas Antique store that lost that priceless vase? I saw the sketch on your desk; it had the vase showing on one side.”

I cracked my knuckles nervously.

“The man who placed the bodies in the building?” I asked nervously

“It was you,” Temitade said quietly

I took a deep breath and it hurt my insides

“I saw you in the moonlight,” Temitade continued in a quiet voice. “It was the day that you forgot that I was staying over. I looked out of the window and I saw you. I didn’t know then that they were dead, I thought they were asleep.”

“So why didn’t you tell the Police that I was the man who put the bodies there” I asked.

Temitade replied slowly. “I thought they were asleep when I saw them that night. But it was the same look on Uncle Timothy’s face when they opened his coffin. That was when I knew that the woman and the boy were dead.”

“That is why you didn’t talk to me,” I clarified

“Yes,” Temitade said nodding

“But why did you lie to the Police man,” I insisted

Temitade looked at me and her eyes seemed to glow in the dark. “It wouldn’t have being the truth because I know you didn’t kill them,” Temitade said. “You see, you are not that type of criminal. You wouldn’t hurt anyone that way.”

I should have being offended but instead relief flooded through me

“I stole the car as a get-away,” I confessed. “Imagine my shock to find dead people inside.”

Temitade nodded. “You called the man, didn’t you?” She asked

“I couldn’t help it,” I said. “A man has the right to know where his family is.” I tried to see Temitade’s face in the dark. “And you didn’t really see the woman and the boy earlier today, did you?”

“No,” Temitade said “I only said it to see what you would do.”

We sat in the dark for a couple of minutes without speaking “I’m not your father” I tried again

“Yes you are,” Temitade said happily “but dont worry, I won’t tell dad anything.”

I knew she wouldn’t tell my brother, but it didn’t make me feel better. It was much easier to think of Temitade as a niece.

After a few more minutes of silence, Temitade squeezed my hand and said “The man who can’t be caught”

The labels usually make me smile but this time it didn’t, it only brought relief.