Drink

Iyare hung up the call after Shelley agreed to be there in an hour. Iyare turned her attention to the workers. "Have you all introduced yourself?" she asked.

"No," the three people left responded and quickly introduced themselves. Iyare was watching Josephine all the while; she could see she was sweating seriously.

"It seems the air-conditioner is not working?" Iyare asked, looking at Josephine.

"They are working just fine," Cece, a maid that introduced herself as the head of staff in the house, answered.

"Josephine seems to be sweating, so I thought the place was a bit hot," Iyare said. Her voice was so lovely and calm. Anyone who listened to her would feel that she was very caring.

"I am fine, MA," Josephine tried to compose herself. It will take a while for Shelley to get here. So First, she needed to figure out how to get rid of the coffee cup, Iyare had picked and placed on the table.

"How long have you worked here, Cece?" Iyare asked. She wanted to see how long Josephine would pretend. She must confess she enjoyed the silent torture she was giving her.

"20 years MA," Cece answered.

"Wow, that's so long; you must have known my father very well," Iyare commented. She knew she would have to trust a few people in the house. She was unsure if Josephine was the only eyes Mr Charles had here.

"Yes, Ma, I am one of his trusted stewards," Cece answered. Iyare nod. If her father's most trusted subordinate is a traitor, she could not trust his judgment on who to trust.

"Josephine, how long have you been working here?" Iyare turned to her. She was yet to decide what she would do to her for trying to kill her.

"One year," she replied. Iyare nod. That is quite a long time. She thought Mr Charles just hired her to get her killed, but that may not be the case. 'interesting,' Iyare said to herself before taking her attention away from her.

"Who is the chief of security again?" Iyare asked. She was not paying attention when the person introduced themself.

A man steps forward, "Sam at your service, ma," the chief security introduced himself.

"How long have you been working here?" Iyare asked. She was deliberately wasting time asking random questions. She would get to the root of how a random man walked in and delivered a threat to her.

"Six years, ma," the man answered.

"How many people are currently guiding the gate?" she asked.

"Just two, ma, since you called us all in for a meeting," Sam answered. Iyare nodded her head.

"So tell me, who was the man that delivered a package to me this afternoon?" Iyare asked her expression was calm but unreadable.

"MA, we did not give anyone access to the mansion this afternoon. Your assistant, miss. Shelley ordered not to let anyone in today and tomorrow except the person who got permission from you. She said it was your order." Sam answered.

Iyare frowns her brows; she never gave such orders. "Why will Shelley do that?' She wondered but decided to ask Shelley about it once she arrived. Then she had an idea.

How did a man deliver the package if Shelley gave such an order? She looked around the room till her eyes fell on the maid who brought the brown envelop to her room.

"You told me a man delivered the package?" Iyare asked. The woman looked so lovely. How could she be involved in such webs of lies? It either Sam was lying, or she{the maid} was lying, Iyare thought.

"MA, I did not receive the package myself. However, Cece received it and told me it was delivered by some guy," the maid informed Iyare.

Iyare turned her eyes back to Cece. "MA, the package was actually delivered when you left for the funeral service," Cece said.

She did not know that Shelley had given such an order. She would have never delivered that package. Cece was not very familiar with Shelley since she was employed for the sake of Iyare.

"I want the security forage of the man that delivered that package," Iyare told Sam.

"MA, I am afraid that's not possible. When you called the meeting today. I checked all the footage so that I could do a quick investigation before facing you, but there was nothing," Sam explained. He did not look at Iyare as he felt embarrassed.

He was surprised about the package; nobody would be allowed into the house just to deliver a package. On the other hand, he was sure non of the security men would have tempered with the footage. The question now was who else could have done it.

"Are you saying someone tampered with it?" Iyare asked with a raised brow. If her so-called father was one of the most wealthy people in Quee city, then how is it possible that his security was this weak?

"It either that or one of my men collected the package. The second option is more likely since we would not let any random stranger in to deliver a package," Sam explained. He felt incompetent at that moment.

"Cece, can you describe the man that delivered the package?" Iyare asked. At this point, she knew she could not trust anyone. So she tried her best to read each person's facial expression.

Cece curses herself. How did she make the mistake of telling such a silly lie? No random person can just come into the house. She had acted carelessly because she felt Iyare would be stupid. after all, once Iyare got scared, she would not investigate.

"MA, I did not quite pay much attention to him since he could only get to the door of the mansion if he was cleared at the security stand," Cece came up with another lie. Her facial expressions did not give away anything.

"Who was guiding the gate as of that time?" Iyare asked; she was determined to investigate the matter as she could trust no one.

A young man steps forward. "MA, I am certain I did not let anyone in. In fact, I did not see any delivery guy," the young man explained. Many of the staff had gone to attend the funeral, this was why Cece used that time to lie.

Iyare thought about everything. The only possibility was a break-in. "Sam, is it possible that the guy broke in?" She asked.

It was not that she trusted any of the answers she had been getting. Instead, she just hoped to get a little clue from the inconsistency in their responses.

She was so interested in knowing the person that delivered the package. Since it was not a delivery agency, so she was sure the man would be able to confirm her suspicions.

She wanted to be entirely sure Mr Charles was the one who sent the threat; who knows if she had more enemies.

"No, ma, it is close to impossible. The only way someone will successfully break in without us picking the signal is if he had help from one of the workers," Sam explained.

Iyare nods her head; maybe Josephine helped him or Cece; after all, she is like the oldest maid, and it was too much of a coincidence that she received the message. It could be anyone, including the security man on duty as of that time.

Since she could not make sense of the package delivery, she decided to torture Josephine a little since Shelley would be here any moment.

Josephine was preoccupied with her own thoughts. How on earth would she save herself from the present situation.

"Josephine, it seems you are worried about something. Are you okay?" Iyare asked, sounding very caring.

Josephine forces a smile on her face. "I am okay, MA, just a little thirty. Can I go get some coffee, please?" Josephine asked. She knew she could not run away from the house since Iyare had ordered that no one be let in or out.

So if she could get a cup of coffee, she would find a way to replace the actual sample.

Iyare could not let Josephine out of her sight. She knew Josephine was up to something, but she acted casually and turned to the maid who brought her the package that afternoon.

"What is your name again?" she asked.

"Merry," the maid replied.

"Merry gets Josephine a cup of coffee, She looks pale. I am afraid she is not fine."

Merry immediately left to get the coffee. At that time, Iyare's phone rang.

Shelley was at the gate. "Let her in," Iyare said as soon as she picked up the call.

Merry return with a cup of coffee shortly. She was about to hand the coffee over to Josephine when Iyare stopped her.

" Drink," Iyare said. Merry was shocked at Iyare's order, but she put the cup in her mouth and drank almost half of the content since the coffee was room temperature.

"Hand it over to Josephine," she said. Josephine was unsure what Iyare was up to, but she accepted the coffee. Josephine drank the cup of coffee and left just a little amount.

"Josephine, what did you add to my coffee?" Iyare asked directly. Shelley walked in and was shocked at the scene at that exact moment.

She knew Mr Charles would not give up so easily; that was why she gave the order not to let anyone in. She could never have guessed that one of her workers could be used. Josephine's heart missed a bit when she heard the question.

"I did not add anything," Josephine gathered her courage and replied, looking very confident. She knew she would get caught, seeing Shelley was already here, and she had not gotten rid of the evidence.

"So why could you not drink the coffee the way you just did?" Iyare raised her brows.

Josephine finally understood that she had fallen into Iyare's trap. She could not say it was hot since Iyare handed it over to her, and it was not.

"I was just scared and nervous at that time since I thought you just wanted me to sip from it. But when you said I should drink everything, I was so shocked that the cup dropped off my hands," Josephine lied. She knew she would get caught when Shelley got the test result. The result will be out tomorrow, so she could run away tonight, as long as she does not give herself away.

"Oh, okay," Iyare replied and handed the coffee cup to Shelley. "Test it for poison," Iyare instructed.

Shelley collected it and nodded. "Wait for me, let me get charged. I want to look around," she said and got up. She took two steps before turning to Sam, "watch her all through the night. She must not get missing," Iyare instructed before leaving the room.

The minute she walked away. The room fell into a pin drop silence.