It is past midnight and Dr. Adam is on the phone, talking to Alessandro, chairman of the Council of Galdolpho. He wears rich cotton pyjamas while sitting in his exotically furnished living room. A tall glass sits on a stool beside him, filled with a mixture of apple fruit juice and ice cubes. He sips intermittently from the glass as he talks.

“Any news about the Chibok papers, Professor?”

“Well, our PIs have visited two of our ladies, but nothing positive has come out of it.”

“Which ones?”

“Taiwan and France. They found nothing, but are going on to the next girl.”

“Which one?”

“Dunno, Chairman. They choose at random. That way, they’re fully in charge of their operations.”

“Great. Let me know when something breaks.”

“Sure, Chairman.”

“Good night, Professor.”

“Good night, Chairman.”

Dr. Adam puts down his handset and sips his fruit juice pensively, a frown creasing his handsome face. Just then, a series of beeps emanates from a small red phone beside him on the couch. Dr. Adam is about to take another sip when the beeps go off. He takes a look at the phone and hurriedly slams down the glass cup on the stool. Grabbing the red phone, he rushes into the visitor’s toilet and locks the door behind him.

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As soon as he enters the toilet, his wife, Sharon, a beautiful Jamaican lady that looks younger than his son wonders in from the bedroom and casually picks up the black phone left behind by her husband. She begins to check through his call log but discovers that the very last call was from an unknown number. She purses her lips in apparent disappointment. Ten minutes later, her husband finds her sitting there with a big frown on her lovely young face.

“Hello, darling,” he says. “Hope I didn’t wake you up.”

“Who you talking to at this time of night, Solo?”

“Just…er…just a friend, Monica.”

“Friend without name, Solo? I checked your phone and she aint got no name!”

“How many times must I warn you not to check my phone, dear?” admonished the besotted Adam as he settles beside her on the couch.

“Why not, Solo? Aint you my husband?”

“Still, I’m entitled to my privacy, aren’t I?” asks Adam without any rancour in his voice, his tone that of a father correcting a favourite daughter. Monica is just twenty-eight. “And how do you know the person was a woman?”

“Must be. Else you won’t hide her name. The day I catch her, I’ll cut out one of her ugly breasts!”

“Monica the Ripper!” shouts her husband, breaking into a prolonged laughter. Afterwards he kisses his wife on the forehead. “Listen, darling, it’s impossible for me to have a beautiful babe like you at home and still see another woman. You’re my jewel of inestimable value!”

“Okay, just be warned,” says his wife, beginning to smile in spite of herself. “Anyways, when are you getting me that diamond necklace? I’ll like to wear it to the company’s end-of-year party, Solo.”

“I’m working on it, dear. Be patient.”

“Okay.”

“Come on, let’s go back to bed.”

Adam pulls his wife up and leads her to the bedroom, his smiling face masking his sinking heart. He just bought his wife a ruby costing thirty-seven and a half million dollars. Where in hell does she expects me to cough up sixty-two million dollars at this time of the year, he wonders, sighing inwardly. His yearly bonus is a princely twenty million dollars, but what’s that beside the cost of the diamond necklace? It’s in moments like this that he misses his late wife the most. Doreen would have never made such inconsiderate demands on me, he sighs inwardly again.