Part III – The Madness

(This is the third and final part of the story, which started two weeks ago. Part 3 of 3)

Weeks passed and Linda was happy that Mike seemed to have disappeared back to his hole. There was no sign of him anymore. Initially, he had called her about twice or thrice every week but she had neglected to take his calls. He also texted her a few times and she refused to reply. Thereafter, all was silent. She believed he must have seen the error of his ways and repented. Or he could have found a new love, as he was always the ladies’ man. Whichever way it was, she was glad he was out of her life again and she could forget him totally.

Linda was happy and glowing. She had just discovered that she was pregnant and was enjoying the news. So there was nothing wrong with her after all! Mike must have been the problem. He never did agree to even consider that as a possibility and never agreed to go for a test with her. He just assumed she was the one with the problem.

She was enjoying being a stay at home wife for the first time. This time around, there was no pressure for money. Samuel was a good provider and he never had anything but compliments for her. When she had suggested she would like to continue her job at the Ports’ Authority after their wedding, he had not complained. But she voluntarily resigned after a few months, with the intention of trying for a baby, a decision which had paid off quite fast. It was in the process of going through the routine fertility tests that the doctor discovered she was already pregnant.

Nowadays, she took things easy. Samuel had employed a cook and steward for her, and she didn’t need to do anything strenuous in the house.

The pregnancy itself was not very easy or convenient. It seemed her morning sickness was going to extend beyond the first trimester and she found it difficult to eat the food prepared for her. Her mother had come to stay with them for a while, to help manage her in the first few weeks, when the morning sickness was really bad.

X X X X X

Mike was ready to see Linda again. He had perfected his plan and was ready to execute it. His plan was to give Linda a sound beating, one that she would not forget. And he intended to warn her to leave her husband. He wanted to be in control of her life and was not ready to have her be with someone else. His emotions varied wildly between love and hate. One thing he knew for sure, he wasn’t ready to have her out of his control. The idea of another man being with her made him mad!

X X X X X

Linda stretched out on the sofa in the sitting room. She missed her mother, who had just returned to her own home two days prior. At least she had a gist partner in Mama. The days tended to be long and boring without her. Samuel had gotten so busy with work in recent times, he only called once or twice during the day, for very short conversations, just to check in with her and find out how she was coping. She waited for the cook to return. She had sent him to buy pepper soup from a particular joint after she lost the taste for his own cooking. Sometimes she had cravings she couldn’t explain. She hoped the man understood, as he looked quite puzzled when she sent him on the errand.

 

When the doorbell rang a few minutes later, she got up to answer it, because the steward was washing clothes out at the back and she was closer to the door. She let out a gasp when she saw who was at the door. Mike. She made to shut the door, but he pushed it back and entered. He shut the door behind him and rushed her, shouting obscenities at her. He was like a crazed man. She noticed he had a strong smell of alcohol on his breath and his eyes were wild.

‘You think you can leave for another man, eh?’ he shouted, as he landed the first few blows on her face and head.

She was too stunned to think. She didn’t know what to do to stop him and tried to evade his blows, without success.

He kept shouting at the top of his voice and attacking her. When she lost her balance and fell, she remembered that the steward was around and started shouting at the top of her voice.

‘Calistus, Calistus, Calistus, help ooooo!’

When he did not immediately show up, she shouted louder and Mike was shouting at her to keep quiet. The raucus got the attention of the maiguard, who had briefly gone to gist with his fellow guard next door. Almost at the same time, Calistus ran into the sitting room from the backyard. They both ran to save their madam and were able to overpower Mike, who was still kicking and shouting like a madman.

Linda crawled to the nearest chair and sat down. She reached out for her phone and called Samuel. Immediately he picked the call, she burst out crying.

‘Mike came to attack me. He came to beat me up. Come quickly o. Come and see’, she said sobbing into the phone.

‘What? What happened?’, he asked, panicked and concerned.

Linda could not help herself. No answers were forthcoming. She just kept sobbing into the phone.

Finally, Samuel told her, ‘Okay, I’m coming home now, I’m coming’.

He dropped the phone and called the chief security officer at his office. He instructed him to get policemen who would follow him to his home as there had been an attack there.

Within the hour, Samuel arrived home to see his wife, badly battered and bruised, lying down in the room. Calistus and the maiguard had subdued Mike and managed to tie him down.

Linda was panicked and still crying, even though the sobbing had subsided. She tried getting up when Samuel came into the room, but he told her to stay in bed.

‘What happened?’ he asked, looking at her battered face. She explained everything to him.

After hearing the whole story, Samuel let out a deep sigh.

‘You need to go to the hospital. We need to know you are okay and the baby too. After that, we’ll need to lodge a complaint at the police station. He’s not going to get away with this’.

With that, Samuel helped his wife up and they packaged her to the car. By this time, the policemen that came with Samuel had taken Mike into custody and transported him to police detention.

A thorough check up at the hospital revealed that Linda and the bay were fine, after all. What they needed was some rest and tender loving care, which Samuel was at hand to provide, with the help of his mother in-law, who came back to assist.

Samuel was not satisfied with the handling of the case by the Police. Although they had remanded him in custody, he was certain that Mike was able to bribe his way out. He considered his options. There were only two really; either he left the Police to handle the matter in their own way, or he took matters into his own hands and found a way to deal with Mike on his own. After much thought, he decided to use the Police system to his own advantage; he would get a senior police officer on his side, to ensure that Mike was not able to escape the punishment due to him.

Already, the Police were talking about charges ranging from assault and battery, criminal assault, threat to life etc. Samuel started seeking the help of his friends to find someone who could connect him to any top police officer. He finally got one who promised to introduce him to the Commissioner of Police in the state.  An appointment was booked and he looked forward to the day.

On the said day, they arrived thirty minutes early for the appointment, but the bureaucracy surrounding the man delayed them for a whole hour before they were ushered in to see the Commissioner.

Nevertheless, it was a fruitful meeting, as the Commissioner assured them that he would see to it that due process was followed and Mike would not escape the long arm of the law.

Samuel was satisfied with the outcome of the meeting. Thereafter, he communicated regularly with the Commissioner, to follow up with the progress of the case. Mike was charged to court for criminal assault and was found guilty. He was sentenced to 14 years imprisonment. The judge, in her judgement, mentioned that she gave the maximum punishment in view of Mike’s blatant disregard for the state of the complainant, Linda, who was obviously pregnant. Neither Samuel nor Linda were in court on the day judgement was given, but they got the news later.

Samuel made up his mind that, for the safety of his family, it was best to change addresses, so that Mike would not easily locate them whenever he finished his prison sentence.

A few months later, Linda gave birth to a lovely girl and their joy knew no bounds!