Tangled Break. Part 2.

Freda could not believe what she had just seen. She ran back up the stairs and out of the building through the front. Hafsa had called her when she heard her footsteps on the stairs but Freda ignored her. She ran out to the main road where she hailed down a boda-boda.

“Crested towers” she said to the boda-man as she settled on his motor bike. She told him to go as fast as he could, and off he sped. At Crested towers, she rushed to her brother Nelson’s office. Nelson would know what to do. The minutes it took for the receptionist to buzz her through felt like an eternity. Finally she was in his office but where was he?

“Didi?”

“Oh thank God you’re here!” Nelson had walked into his office a few minutes later.

“What’s wrong?” He asked. Freda told him what had happened at the office. He got his phone, made a few calls. Finally he got the person he was looking for and told him to go to Freda’s office immediately. “...yes, call me as soon as you get them.” Nelson said and hung up the phone.

“Let’s wait here” he told Freda as he went over to get her a glass of water. She did not know whom he had spoken to but was confident everything would work out. Nelson always fixed everything. He had so many people ready to do him favors. She never asked how come. She could hardly drink the water. Her stomach was knotted up, and her eyes were twitching. She hoped whoever had gone over to the office would find the boxes, and their owners. Nelson’s phone rang and she jumped. Caller was not who she hoped it would be. It was related to his work. Disappointed she sat back down.

After what seemed like a lifetime, Nelson’s friend called. “Let’s go.” Nelson told her as soon as he’d hang up the phone. Freda was excited. She was tense too. Why didn’t Nelson go back to the office alone?

Five minutes later, they arrived at her office building just as a police pick-up truck was pulling up too. The policemen jumped off and started to block the entrance but Nelson’s friend came and ushered them through.

“Is this Freda?” he asked Nelson as they walked up the stairs.
“Yes. Did you find them?”
“You can’t believe our luck! How did she even find this?” Freda told him how she had come to open the box.
“They called you a thief?” Nelson’s friend laughed. They walked down the fire escape to where the boxes were. The four boxes had now been opened. Hafsa, David and James were seated on the ground guarded by two mean looking policemen.

“Have they talked yet?” Nelson’s friend shouted to the policemen.
“How can they not?” the shorter of the two men asked. He proceeded to shout some swahili words at Hafsa who had started to cry. Freda did not understand swahili but knew Hafsa did. She usually spoke to the drivers of her trucks in swahili.

“Are these the men who were discussing the boxes?” Nelson’s friend asked Freda.
“Yes.” she replied. She looked at James who averted his eyes. Nelson’s friend barked something into his walkie-talkie and six policemen came down the fire escape. These men roughly led Hafsa, James and David out of the room to the waiting pick-up. Hafsa cried and begged Freda to tell the policemen she had nothing to do with the boxes. Freda simply stepped out of the way as Hafsa was led away.

“You will have to come make a statement at the station.” Nelson’s friend gently said to her. Freda started to sob and Nelson tapped her back awkwardly. He asked her to hang in there saying it would soon be over but Freda knew this would never be over. She looked at the boxes as they were being carried out. She knew she would never stop crying for those babies. The images of their dried out bodies would never leave her mind, and she would always wonder how their little bodies had been dried out like that. She would always wonder why they had been killed, where they had been gotten from, who was missing their babies, and why? Why would anybody do something like this?

Later that evening at the Police station, Nelson had told her their story, or what they thought was their story. These four babies belonged to a young mother who had sold them to Hafsa for Two hundred thousand shillings each. She could not take care of the quadreplets after their father, a boda-boda rider had abandoned her at the hospital. Hafsa had approached the young mother at the hospital where she had promised to take care of the babies, but soon took advantage of the woman’s despair. She offered her a quick and quiet way out.

James knew a man who could turn crushed babies into incredible wealth.

David was the spoke in Hafsa’s wheel, doing whatever she told him to do.

There were never any missing supplies but Freda needed to be scared from entering the store ever again. They feared she might notice the boxes in the corner.