9: Home is not safe

Chapter 9

”George, do you know where i can duplicate a key” i said.
I had called George to come to the hotel where we lodged. He was surprised to see us in that dirty old hotel and had complained that our apartment, a few kilometers away, was far better.
I had told him what happened and showed him the soap i brought from Efosa’s house.
”I know a friend who can get us the key in Saint-Dennis. It will not cost more than €30 but they will ask for police report before they can work on it. But let me ask him about it” he said.
George made a phone call to his friend and after speaking French with him, he told me that it could be done illegally but would cost  €60. I gave him the soap and €60.
When he left, i told Naomi to stay in the hotel.
”I am going to Grigny. I will be back before an hour. Keep this phone and don’t go out of the hotel. If i don’t return in one hour, call me on the other phone. If i don’t answer, take this phone and go to the Juvisy Police Division. Tell them that your boyfriend is missing and play the recorded message to them. Tell them that you also know where Efosa lives” i said as i handed the Nokia E63 mobile phone to her.
”I am coming with you” She stood up and said.
”Listen baby, i need you to be safe. It is for our own good. The mission i am about to embark on could get dangerous and require running. I can’t run fast if i go with you”. I explained.
”Please make sure nothing happens to you” She kissed me and said.

I walked down the stairs of the old building and busted out of the road. Juvisy train station wasn’t far way, therefore i walked down to it and waited for the train to Grigny Center.
When the train from Paris Gare du Nord arrived, i entered at the extreme end and followed it to Grigny. It was already getting dark when i came out of the Grigny train station.
I walked to my apartment through the secondary route. When i got upstairs, there was no sign of Efosa and his friend. They didn’t break into my apartment. The lock was still good.
Lisa was at home when i arrived.

”Did anybody come here looking for me and where did you sleep last night” i asked.
She said that nobody came. She also explained that she had followed an old customer of hers to his house in Saint-Dennis near Parc des Princes, the Paris Saint Germain Football Club Stadium.

”Look Lisa, the rules have changed. I know that i am not your Madam or Master in this country but you live with me. From now on, you must call to tell me that you won’t be coming back. I can’t stop you from sleeping out but you must call first” I said.
She looked at me unbelievably before entering into her room.

I stood at the kitchen window and looked out to monitor the front of our building. My phone rang. It was Naomi.

”Hey baby, i told you to call in an hour not in thirty minutes” i said.
”I am just worried about you” she said and hung up.

From inside the kitchen, i heard a bag dropped on the passage and a door closed loudly. It attracted my attention.
I walked out of the kitchen and saw Lisa’s bag on the floor. She was crying.

”What is it” i asked.
She ignored me and continued crying.
I walked closer and hugged her. She continued crying on my shoulders.

I rubbed her back as i held her and asked what it was that was making her to cry.
”Did anybody hurt you Lisa” i asked again.
She shook her head, signifying that nobody hurt her.
A quick thought alerted me to the fact that she could be crying because of what i just told her about sleeping outside. I needed to be careful with how i approached the matter.

”Is it because of what i said to you” she nodded in affirmative.

Damn! I was too direct with my new orders. Those girls needed caring. They have been on the streets for long and the only thing people cared about was just to sleep with them. They all had complex problems which only few people understood. The obvious truth was that they were all prostitutes who slept with different men daily for money. The Madams and Managers who brought them didn’t care how they felt, their men from Edo state didn’t care as well. Their men only begin to care when the girls paid up the entire money they owed, by then, most of them would already be tired of sleeping with men. Then the Edo men would take them back to the streets to make more money by sleeping with men again after promising to marry the girls. Before the girls could find out what was going on, their ages would have been more than 30. Then the men would dump them and go for younger girls who had just finished paying up their own monies to their Madams.
It was all like a recycling system of life where the madams bring the girls and after milking their energies dry through prostitution, the men would take over and milked them further until the girls demand for marriage which will naturally bring fighting and eventual separation. It was a pathetic lifestyle. Those girls needed love but they lived in a hopeless world.

They were all over Europe especially in Italy and France. Most of them had gotten tired of life and could be seen walking around the streets like lunatics. The few who survived would save up money and joined the human trafficking cartel.

”I am sorry. It is just that if anything happens to you, the Police will come here to ask questions. I won’t hurt you again baby” i said.
I had held her hand with one hand and with the other, i carried her bag and walked back into the room.
Lisa had managed to stop crying and was about to remove the clothes she had worn when a big loud knock  hit our apartment entrance door.
I looked at Lisa and asked her to stay quiet, then i removed my shoes and tiptoed to the door. As i was about to look through the spyhole, the huge knock came on the door again.
It was Efosa, Luke and one other guy i didn’t know. Since we lived on the 4th floor, jumping out of the building wasn’t an option.

”Even though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil” Psalm 23, The Holy Bible.