Scars (Romola 2)

62: That Kind of Girl

"He's still not saying anything-- the little rat. Don't worry, we'll get something out of him."

"What about the girl?" Olumide paced the length of his office, phone to his ear. Matthew was the least of his problems.

"We haven't found much." The IG replied.

"What about her house? Or her parents? Any leads?"

This was something he ought to have done by himself. He sat on his desk. Over the past two days, memories of the previous years had come to him. If he had made any effort towards finding Romola's parents when she lived in his house, maybe he wouldn't be in this problem, having to depend on the police force for a personal matter. Romola rightfully had that against him.

"Olumide, we are working as hard as we can. There is no need to double efforts."

"Alright. I'll wait."

Except that he couldn't. She was out there. He wanted to see her even more now. Maybe he was crazy because the woman he was searching for did not exist. The Romola he loved was made of lies but that did not dampen his need to see the real Romola. If anything, it fuelled it.

"Take good care of yourself and send my greetings to your father."

"I will."

Olumide cut the call. He would not speak to his father. In fact, the only person among his closest family and friend associates that he could speak to without judgement was Ajoke.

Everyone else had something against him. Dami wouldn't pick his calls. Vicky wouldn't return his. His mother felt like he'd cheated her— of what, he wasn't sure. His father accused him of acting too spontaneously. But what choice did he have? It was either he had his way chasing after a shadow of Romola or that his action gave his sister the courage she needed to leave her bad marriage. And then there was Yetunde. She wouldn't stop calling. He'd barred her number and she'd just gotten another one. It was way too easy to just get another sim card in this country.

He dropped his phone and settled into his wors space to begin work for the day. He reached for the cabinet attached to the bottom left of his desk and opened it. There, on top of the files he needed, were pictures of Romola. The same pictures he had on his phone. The same ones that had landed Matthew in prison. He held the pictures and took his time to go through each of them, trying to guess the context behind the pictures. She smiled a lot in all of them. The one with the biggest smile was a smile that didn't quite fit her face. It was the picture of her topless on the beach.

It still pricked his heart. How in the world had this picture ended up on the internet? He was the photographer and he hadn't shared it with anyone. He couldn't do that. Why would he want anybody to see his girlfriend's body? Had she done it herself? Was she that desperate for money? She could've asked him. He set the pictures on the table then picked up the file.

A burning feeling took up space in his mind. Something about that just didn't seem right. Yes, the Romola Yetunde had revealed could beg for money but the Romola he knew, the one whose picture he'd taken had genuinely been upset. She'd asked him to delete it but he didn't. If he hadn't kept it for his own selfish pleasure, that picture would not float around the internet.

But when? When would she have had access to his phone? He hadn't kept a password on his phone, then. She would have had access to the picture but she was so upset by it, that he didn't think she would ever want to set her eyes on it again. Much less sell it. Something didn't make sense.

He drew his chair closer to the computer screen and tried to write his report for the previous month but the same feeling of uncertainty plagued him. It plagued him so much that it messed up his numbers and spelling, and after 30 minutes, he hadn't written more than two incoherent lines. He pushed back his chair and stood. There was no way around this. He had to get to the bottom. He had to swallow his pride and go to Naomi and beg for Professor Olatunde's number. Since Vicky had decided he wasn't worth maintaining a friendship with, he would have to beg Naomi, regardless of what she thought about his relationship with Romola.