The three young men looked down into the briefcase full of money, wondering what to. Mahmoud had a suggestion. He wanted them to leave the little girl in front of her parents’ house and call the parents to pick her up. They can then leave the keys of the house under a rug, split the money and go their separate ways. Okota did not like the idea of leaving the girl alone by herself until her parents pick her up. Mahmoud had explained that they could stay in the car and watch her until her parents showed up but Nii Darku thought that would leave them vulnerable if the Police are involved. His suggestion was that they kill the girl, take the money and run. Okota objected strongly, saying they would have to kill him before they kill the girl. His opinion was that Mahmoud should take the money back and just let events go according to plan. Both Mahmoud and Nii Darku were worried that the old man could double-cross them in the end if they don’t take the money while they could.
Nii Darku’s suggestion that Baaba be killed put Okota’s nerves on edge. He had never imagined that Nii Darku was capable of such thoughts. He kept wondering whether the many nights of fear and enxiety, tempered by endless joints and the sudden sight of so much money were taking a toll on Nii Darku’s mental capacity. He had often heard that marijuana made people calm and peaceful but he was beginning to doubt that. He wanted to offer to take the money back in order to make things easier for everybody but he was scared. He no longer trusted Mahmoud and Nii Darku to respect Baaba’s life.
Mahmoud snapped the briefcase shut. A faint glow of orange sunlight was streaming through a parted curtain from a window on the west side of the living room, signaling approaching dusk. Okota looked at his watch. It was 6:27. He decided to go and check on Baaba. As he was walking out of the living room, he heard Mahmoud saying, “I think our work is done. We wanted the money. We have it.”
“No!” Okota said, stepping back into the living room. “Our work is not done yet. There’s a girl here who needs to go back to her parents. It is our responsibility to make sure that she safely gets back to her parents. If anything happens to her, you will be surprised that our lives would become even more miserable than it was before this whole nonsense began.”
He walked to the room where they had Baaba locked up. She was laying on the bed. Her lunch was still sitting on the small coffee table on which they had placed it, untouched. He stood in the doorway and watched her for a few minutes. He felt a light touch on his shoulder. He thought it was Nii Darku but he heard Mahmoud’s voice say;
“You’ve grown to like her very much.”
“She’s a great kid. She’s an innocent girl. She could be my sister or your sister. What has she done to deserve what we’re putting her through? She has to be home with her mother and father, eating well and sleeping peacefully.”
“It’s not us. We’re not the problem. Her own grandfather is. He is the one who decided to put her through all this. Only Allah knows why. Why do educated people do stupid things? A whole doctor, he should have more sense than that. We’re just uneducated people drawn into this because we want the cash. But, she could have ended up in the wrong hands. Just think about that.”
“I’m still not sure that she ended up in the right hands,” Okota said as she picked up Baaba’s lunch and led Mahmoud into the hallway. “ Nii Darku has become a monster overnight.”
“Don’t worry about him. I don’t think he really wants to kill her.”
“I won’t let him. I swear I won’t. I thought he brought me into this because he knows I like kids. My younger brother died of measles when he was only five years old. Every kid in trouble reminds me of him.”
Okota wanted to say more but he had to stop in order to hold back tears.
Nii Darku heard the others talking in the hallway. He thought they may be plotting against him so he went to join them.
“Chaley, you guys know I don’t really mean we should kill the girl, right?”
“Shhh!” Okota hissed, inclining his head towards the room in which the girl lay sleeping. All three of them tiptoed into the kitchen. Okota put Baaba’s neglected lunch on the counter. As he got ready to wash his hands and take her dinner down to her, he saw Nii Darku bring out a joint from his pocket, place it between his lips and get ready to light it. Okota snatched the joint, saying, “if we’re going to think clearly through this situation, neither of us must hire a lawyer!”
Both Nii Darku and Mahmoud laughed in spite of themselves.
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