Dirty Diaries. Bayo Inc. David

out some money. “This is twenty thousand. I need some version.”

      Judas collected the original money and as he headed to his laboratory he mumbled an appreciative sentence. He crawled in and presently returned with fifty thousand. Kelvin and BM Kazeem were the only partners who received fifty thousand fake at the presentation of twenty thousand original. Others received that amount for twenty-five thousand original. Judas said he appreciated his patronage, and watched him divide the money into all the pockets in his narrow gray trousers.

      Mixing wine in his bar after he had bolted the door against his visitor, Judas was startled by the sudden slam of the bathroom door. “That was scary.” He turned to Kane.

      “So you befriend cops, eh?” Kane asked lightly but with pretended annoyance. He’d heard their discussion and knew that Kelvin was not a threat to his safety. “That fellow is a cop, eh?”

      “Oh, relax.” Judas shrugged it off. “You care for an ounce of whiskey on the rocks?”

      “Whiskey on the mountain, my ass! You pal with the police and told me to feel at home.”

      Judas patted him on the neck. “Sit down, my boy—don’t get fearfully aroused.” He drained his glass and told his son how important Kelvin Lucas was in his life.

      ***

      Kelvin returned to Judas’s house when his memory had clicked to one of those discoveries he’d forgotten to reveal, but by then some days had passed. He was about to sit down when Judas emerged from his bar with two glasses of wine and offered him one.

      “I have helped you make that. It will reduce your amnesia.”

      Kelvin, perceiving a foul smell coming from the glass, had a quick look at it and saw leaves and seeds floating. “Thanks.” He downed it and frowned. “Very bitter.” He rejected the offer of another glass.

      “How are your wives and the kids?”

      “All are well.” The look on his face didn’t suggest so.

      “I know that the sketching of a master plan wouldn’t take you an eon. Let me hear your theory before I say bravo and then redesign it,” Judas said roughly, with a wrapped weed hanging on a corner of his mouth.

      “I haven’t come up with a plan yet. I’m still going to get one crucial report about Dave Harrison before anything constructive.”

      “You are not alone.” He’d been fumbling with the lighter to get the weed on fire. He finally lit it and winked from the effect of the smoke. “I was going to tell you about my noble intention of adding some five or six neophytes to our circulatory chain stores.”

      “My dear Dean, we will talk about all that later.” Kelvin narrated what happened in his station few days back, how an officer arrested Kane’s best friend, the interrogation and how he had successfully quelled the threatening case. He advised the Dean to be more careful about his assumed son and the men who worked for him. “Only BM Kazeem can be fully trusted. You are too generous, and you trust everyone. There are some secrets you need to keep to yourself. One doesn’t see a calamity coming. It always comes from behind, but it’s a pity you don’t look behind you. Be careful of what you tell your Kane.” He paused to look around, and lowered the tempo of his voice. “Is he around?”

      Judas fixed a pair of red eyes on the long corridor. “He is, but he can’t be within earshot. He had a terrific moment in the bathroom this morning.”

      The look on Kelvin’s face said he was doubtful as he still glanced left and right.

      Judas reassured him. “He should be sleeping, not attuned.” He inhaled his weeds deeply, making his cheeks sag. “I’m listening.”

      It took some seconds before Kelvin remembered what he was saying. “Anyway, keep your things away from Kane. He is dangerous. You need not be told. BM Kazeem and I told you in prison how he killed mercilessly. The robberies he masterminded were all successful. He did so much evil stuff. Do not pity him. Have no deep love for him. Kane does not depend on you. Show him no sympathy. I may not have another chance to tell you all these. Don’t rely on him. Do not treat him like a son. He is a beast in human form.” Kelvin stood up impulsively and walked to the door like a disappearing ghost. “Put a limit to every good thing you do.” He vanished into the street. Judas did not see his back when he peeped from the window. He had gone.

      Feeling gratified by the note of warning, Judas walked quietly to the door to bolt it, murmuring. “Kelvin has pulled at my heart string. I can’t think about Kane’s monstrous past undisciplined pictures. A scatterbrain.” He was born at a time Clara was having an extramarital affair—and Kelvin, who had investigated the mystery, now said that Kane should not be treated like a son. “I saw in his face that there was a spasm to fear. Something must be friggin’ fishy.” Judas drew aside the curtain to his laboratory and crawled in. Still speaking to himself, he finished: “I need two or three more facts to sum to the corpus of already acquired . . .”