BLACKMAIL I
True to Cathy’s thinking, Zach was standing at the window,
watching the street and awaiting her return. Recalling what had happened
earlier, he advised himself not to ask her any questions. But he was itching
for answers! He watched her pay the fare, step out of the taxi, adjust her
clothes, and walk nonchalantly into the house. He responded to her greeting
coolly. She entered the bedroom without saying anything else. He left his post
at the window and went to the kitchen to prepare a meal for both of them. She
still did not say anything to him after he had finished and invited her to the
meal.
Cathy was comfortable with the silence as Zach could not
push about the missing ring and who the other man was. She would have to tell
him, eventually, but she was afraid of the result. If the boyfriend had not
gone well, so much worse can happen with the husband. For now, she gloried in
the silence, using it as a weapon and biding her time.
Their new routine of silence went on for a full seven days
and nights. Cathy had not heard from Dale during that period. She assumed he
had reconciled with the latest development in their relationship. She was
therefore jolted when she saw Dale’s number displayed on the phone screen as
incoming call. She felt a bit scared, but what could a man who had professed to
love her do to her? She answered the call then, and wished she had not.
Dale’s calm voice came through. He was curt. He wanted to
see her that evening at seven at the beach. If she did not show up, her husband
would receive a video of both of them in a very compromising position. He hung
up and sent her the video via WhatsApp. Oh, what was she to do? She did not
want her husband to see them! They were even worse than her confession and he
might surely leave her. She checked her watch. An hour to seven. She went
inside, dressed up and went to meet Dale. Zach could only watch in silence.
Dale was waiting for her at the beach. He smiled maliciously
as Cathy approached him. When she got close enough, she enquired of the matter.
Dale went straight to the point: he felt used and dumped; he must be
compensated otherwise he would spread the video. It sounded foolish to Cathy
and she began to laugh. She stopped immediately when Dale grabbed her waist
roughly and whispered maliciously that he meant whatever he had said. Fear
spread through Cathy and with a shaky voice asked Dale how much he wanted in
order to destroy the video. His hard voice ground out GHC7,000 as the
compensation. Cathy stiffened. He was not finished: he wanted the money in full
in exactly seven days. Just as roughly, he kissed her lips and released her. He
left her there, her lower lip bruised from the ferocity of the kiss.
When she calmed, she found her way to the bus stop and got
into a waiting taxi. As she nursed her bruised lip, several thoughts ran
through her mind, foremost was how she would come up with 7,000 in just seven
days. Should she buy his silence, or should she tell her husband what happened
when she thought he was dead? And the ring, was it possible that Dale had taken
it? She brushed that thought aside as quickly as it came; what would Dale benefit
from taking her ring if he did not know that she was even married in the first
place? She had not come to any useful conclusion when she arrived at her home.
Her husband was not watching out for her this time around. When she got to the
bedroom, he was snoring gently. Oh, how her heart ached to lie in his arms and
sleep till eternity. Now, her guilt could not permit her. She changed into her
lingerie and slipped into the bed. Her husband automatically turned and put his
strong arm protectively around her middle, lifted himself up and kissed her
cheek and earlobe, whispered “I love you, Cathy” and went back to sleep. Cathy
just lay there, the stress of the past week and her current predicament
liquefying into tears and streaming down her cheeks. She cried herself quietly
to sleep.
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