She Knows. We Are Almost Certain Of It Now.

This publication has a policy of reporting only what can be established. We do not speculate. We do not assume. We follow the evidence where it leads and we report what we find. What we have found, after ten days at the family house in Ibadan, has led us to a conclusion we are not yet in a position to state as fact. But we are close.

This morning, this reporter arrived at the compound earlier than usual. Five minutes before seven. The street was still quiet, the light still low, the kind of morning that makes everything feel slightly more honest than it does in full daylight.

Bolanle was already outside. She was sitting on the front step with a cup of tea, watching the street. When she saw this reporter, she did not startle. She did not retreat inside. She simply looked, nodded once, and returned her gaze to the road ahead. She was not looking for someone. She was waiting for nothing.

There is a difference, and after ten days on this street, this reporter knows exactly what waiting for someone looks like. It looks like Iya Tope at the window. It looks like checking a phone. It looks like eyes that keep moving to the gate, even when the rest of the body is pretending to be still. Bolanle’s eyes were not moving anywhere.

This reporter sat down nearby. We did not speak for several minutes. Then Bolanle said, without turning her head, “You’re here early.” “So are you,” this reporter replied. She smiled into her tea. “I always am,” she said. That was all. She finished her tea, stood, smoothed her wrapper, and went back inside. The door closed softly behind her. Ten days ago a man went missing from this compound. 

His first wife has been controlling the story. His second wife has been falling apart. His third wife has been demanding answers. His fourth wife has been drinking tea on the front step at dawn, watching a street she has no reason to watch, unless she already knows that whatever she is waiting for is coming from exactly that direction.

We will have more tomorrow.

— The CEN Report
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