"Erin Lákátabú" (a novel by Débọ̀ Awẹ́)



CHAPTER 1:  The teachers in the school attended by Déolú, Chief Saba's son, use the students to farm more often than necessary. It is the new principal who now limits each class'  farm work to its Agric period, to the delight of many students and their parents.  The first principal of the school is Mr  Pọ̀jù, who is transferred after spending only 2 months. Next is Mr Àjàgbé, who dies after spending 3 months. The 3rd principal is Cleric Ògúndélé, who is retired after spending only 2 months. It is 8 months after this that the school gets the principal who reduced the students'  farm work. 

CHAPTER 2: Mr Àlùkò studied CRS before doing his national youth service in Port Harcourt. His wife, Àníkẹ́, is very supportive during his long spell of joblessness. Láyí and Àlùkò frequent Ibadan countless times before Àlùkò gets his employment letter as a teacher with the help of Ọsọbùú. Àlùkò promises to link Láyí too to Ọsọbùú for help in getting the job.

CHAPTER 3: The road to Àlùkò's school from Ilesa is bumpy. The students (and even some teachers) are unmannerly and not properly dressed. When Àlùkò tells Láyí his experience, Láyí openly envies him, saying he has been to 13 schools without getting an endorsement letter. He has to bribe a certain principal with 50 naira before getting the letter.

CHAPTER 4:  Three weeks into Àlùkò's stay at Àjọdá Grammar School, the principal (Mr Fìdípọ̀tẹ̀) holds a staff meeting, where he allocates classes and subjects to the teachers, appoints school prefects and exhorts the teachers to be hardworking.  One day, during a students'  football match, the vice principal (Mr Fìjàbí) badmouths Mr Fìdípọ̀tẹ̀ to  Mr Àlùkò (who secretly identifies him as the real problem). Àìná (Mrs Àlùkò) agrees with her husband's viewpoint on this .

CHAPTER 5: Mr Àlùkò does not tolerate any nonsense from the students, to the delight of Mr Fìdípọ̀tẹ̀. The other teachers feel that he will calm down with time. Many parents complain about him but the principal supports him.

CHAPTER 6: The teachers order the students to cut grass ahead of the military governor's visit round all the LGAs in the state. As Mr  Àlùkò is apportioning each student's section to him or her, some girls plan to bewitch him into dating them. Some boys also plan to place charms on his chair but he is unharmed by it.  While  Símbì is pouring water on Mr Àlùkò's chalk-soiled hands after a lesson one day, her love charms work on him and they start dating. Many other teachers have several girlfriends among their students.

CHAPTER 7:  During the school's Mock SSCE CRS exam, Símbì is caught cheating and says Mr Àlùkò leaked the live questions to her. He also faces charges of going for further studies without government permission. This 2nd charge requires him to refund his 6 month's salaries but is eventually resolved.

CHAPTER 8: Láyí prepares Àlùkò for his interrogation over Símbì's matter with the right mock questions and answers. As a result, Àlùkò scales the hurdle and the cheating students are punished. Later on, Fìjàbí confesses to being behind the 2nd charge to punish  Àlùkò and Fìdípọ̀tẹ̀ for their "arrogance".

CHAPTER 9: The people of Àjọdá are unhappy over the merger of their school with that of Ìjokòdó, near Oko-
Alábà. This is because only the JSS classes will be left in  Àjọdá while Ìjokòdó takes the SSS classes.  Ìjokòdó is 2 km away from  Àjọdá. Though the Ìjokòdó Grammar School started 4 years earlier than the Àjọdá school, the latter school is more developed. This demotion therefore pains the elders of  Àjọdá.  Fìjàbí expects  Fálànà (the Ìjokòdó principal) to be the overall principal of both schools. However,  Fìdípọ̀tẹ̀ and Fìjàbí are retained as the principal and the vice principal respectively, while  Fálànà and his deputy are posted to Asípa and Ọlọ́ọ́dẹ.
  
CHAPTER 10: Fìdípọ̀tẹ̀'s relocation of students between both towns work, unlike Fálànà's earlier attempts before his transfer. However, Fìjàbí is a thorn in  Fìdípọ̀tẹ̀'s flesh.

CHAPTER 11: Láyí visits Àlùkò and recounts his ordeal in his own school. "The schools board posted Apara as principal without transferring  Olútáyọ̀ away first. Apara used his being an indigene of Kújọ̀ọ̀rẹ́ town to badmouth Olútáyọ̀ to the townspeople. As a result, the people came to foment trouble in the school. The principal wasn't around then so they attacked some teachers. Ògúnníran was hospitalized after the attack while the rest of us were taken away to safety in a woman's car".

CHAPTER 12: At his grandfather's funeral, Àlùkò discovers that Fìjàbí is his second cousin. From then on, Àlùkò uses the opportunity to advise Fìjàbí over his poor relationship with Fìdípọ̀tẹ̀. However, Fìjàbí turns deaf ears to all his advice.

CHAPTER 13: Two weeks to the beginning of the second-term exams, 2 inspectors and 4 auditors from Ibadan besiege the school. They discover that Fìdípọ̀tẹ̀ is innocent of the charges (of collection of illegal levies and leaking live questions to a female student) levelled against him by Fìjàbí. Instead, Fìjàbí himself is discovered to have been borrowing money from the school account without repayment and planning to abort a pregnancy for Wẹ̀mímọ́, a female student. As a result, Fìjàbí is retired without any pension or gratuity after 28 years of service.

This novel teaches us against unbridled ambition and rancour.

¤

"Aṣenibánidárò" (a novel by Kọ́lá Akínlàdé).

CHAPTER 1: Adégún Babalọlá, Adéògún Babátọ́lá and Ilésanmí Àràoyè are bosom friends. They wear matching clothes on the night of Adégún's mother's funeral. Other people present are Prince Adésọjí Oyèdélé and his detective friend (Akin Olúsínà), Àlàbí Ayédùn , Joseph Adélẹ́yẹ ,Daniel Èṣùgbèmí, Àkànbí and Ọpẹ́. Ọpẹ́ tells Adégún that Àkànbí is a thief.   The following day, Sọjí and Akin hear that Adégún's box is missing and that it is one Aríyìíbí who reported seeing the key to Adégún's room on the ground outside the house. Adéògún helps Adégún to pay for the drinks. Sọjí promises that Akin will help them to unravel the mystery.  

CHAPTER 2:  Akin hears that Àkànbí left the funeral night party in a hurry without telling anyone. He also learns from Ọpẹ́ (Àkànbí's aunt's husband) that Àkànbí is a chronic thief. He has been arraigned for robbery before  Justice Babáyẹmí (his mother's brother), who helps him pay the fine on identifying him. "Babáyẹmí told him to tell him what he wants to do for a living but he goes on to steal a bride's wristwatch. After Àlàkẹ́ and I bail him out of that, he steals a motorist's money, but no relative intervenes this time around". The next day, Akin goes to Arẹ́nijẹ, sees Àkànbí at the motor park and follows him home. Àkànbí says he doesn't steal from his relatives. Adégún is  Àkànbí's second cousin.  Akin leaves Àkànbí and heads for Dágbólu.  

CHAPTER 3:  The vehicle carrying Akin meets another passenger vehicle on the way. This second vehicle is decrepit and has the words "Mo bá Ọlọ́run dúró"(I stand with God) written in front and  "Tì ẹ dà?" (Where is yours?) at the back. At Dágbólu, Akin buys and eats some bush meat. The vehicle packs its luggage and heads back to Àròsọ. At Arẹ́nijẹ, "Tì ẹ dà"  has broken down and another vehicle "Bálé láyọ̀" (Meet peace at your destination) helps to take some of its passengers with the help of  Àkànbí, a motor park agent. At the motor park in Àròsọ, a woman selling clothes raises an alarm that her cloth has been stolen. The cloth is eventually found at Àkànbí's house!  Àkànbí is detained. Akin goes to  Adégún's house and learns that the cloth-seller is  Ilésanmí's maternal grandmother. Ilésanmí decides to get Àkànbí released to help Adégún (just as Adéògún helped Adégún with 50 naira for the drinks).

CHAPTER 4: The next day, Akin goes to  Ilésanmí's house, where Ilésanmí recounts their ordeals of the previous day at Arẹ́nijẹ.  Adéògún falls and gets hurt while rushing to get into a vehicle. The police refuse to let Ilésanmí withdraw the case. During the court session in Ìlúpéjú, Adéògún gets up to urinate and is punished (with standing in a box) for the loud noise made by his shoes. Àkànbí is sentenced to 6 months' imprisonment or a 40-naira fine. The stolen cloth is returned to Mrs Àràoyè. Àkànbí's lawyer charges 20 naira for representing him. Adéògún (when released after the court session) pays all the 60 naira. 
 
CHAPTER 5: Akin, his friends and Ayédùn are at  Bísí's beer parlour when they notice a young man in oversized fish-patterned clothes. Then Ayédùn and some other people speak well of  Aríyìíbí as a honest driver, though he doesn't allow people to beat down his transport charges. Bísí recounts how Aríyìíbí returned a bag containing 14 naira which he once forgot in his vehicle. However, Níran (the man in oversized clothes) disagrees, saying Aríyìíbí did not return a box someone forgot in their vehicle but gave him the oversized shirt on him from the box. Adégún, Adéògún and Ilésanmí join them there and head for the house of Olúdé,who is wearing undersized fish-patterned clothes. This is a mystery because Olúdé did not attend Adégún's mother's funeral night party. 

CHAPTER 6:  Olúdé explains to Akin and co, " When the person who forgot the box in our vehicle didn't show up after 2 days, and the contents are not really valuable, we shared the clothes among ourselves". Adégún asks Olúdé to return the ₦166.60k in the box but Akin tells him to calm down (reminding him that  Olúdé is Ilésanmí's brother and looks reliable). 

CHAPTER 7: Àkànbí has landed in jail for stealing again. Akin and Túndé (a fellow detective) see him in prison clothes cutting grass at a government office and singing prison songs with his fellow prisoners. Akin goes to Lagos and plots with some companies to advertise a job for Senior School Certificate holders from Àròsọ. Adéògún applies for and gets the job. After 2 weeks on the job, Adéògún is arrested by the police for using someone else's certificate to get the job. Akin stands surety to get him bailed until the next court session in 5 days' time. 

CHAPTER 8: At Sọjí's house that night, Adéògún confesses how he stole  Adégún's box because of the certificate. He inserted "o" into "Adégún" to form "Adéògún" and crossed the first "l" in "Babalọlá" to form "Babátọ́lá"! After removing the certificate and the money, he dumped the box containing only clothes into Aríyìíbí's vehicle to implicate him, not knowing that Aríyìíbí has transferred the vehicle to someone else. On the judgement  date, Ilésanmí pays for a lawyer to defend Adéògún. The judge sentences Adéògún to 2 years in prison or a ₦200 fine. He is unable to pay the fine (and his friends refuse to help him pay) so he becomes a prisoner.

It serves him right for being an  "Aṣenibánidárò" (someone who harms one and then pretends to sympathise with one).

¤

"Olorunsogo" by Sunday Eso-Oluborode

CHAPTER 1: Bídèmí is a well-behaved and brilliant JSS 2 student at a school in Ilesa, Osun State. His schoolmates often insult him as "a bastard and a prostitute's son". When he asks his mother (Róñkẹ́), she says the father of  Ọláníkẹ̀ẹ́ (her second child) is also his father and that  Alábàáṣe  is both her maiden surname and his father's surname.  Bídèmí believes this and starts calling Ismaila "my father"  instead of  "Ọláníkẹ̀ẹ́'s father" (as most people call him). However, Ọláníkẹ̀ẹ́'s father doesn't like Bídèmí  because he isn't his biological son. He only pretends because Róñkẹ́ has bribed him to pretend to be Bídèmí's father. At a point, his hostility makes Róñkẹ́ leave his home with her children. However, they later return when Ismaila has a vehicle accident and needs to be cared for. The vehicle is withdrawn from Ismaila,who becomes a motor park tout hunted by the police. At this time, Bídèmí has to leave school due to his mother's inability to pay his fees  (due to bribing Ismaila!)  and now stays home with his sister, Níkẹ̀ẹ́. One day, Ismaila beats Bídèmí into coma for beating his sister for breaking a cup. When Róñkẹ́ comes home to get money for the hospital bills, she finds 200 naira missing and fights Ismaila (until his friends arrive the scene and pay the money and half of the hospital bills). The next day, Róñkẹ́ files a divorce suit against him. It is in court that Bídèmí hears that Ismaila is not his real father. After this, Ismaila (who carries people's luggages for money in addition to his motor park tout job) absconds with someone's luggage and is jailed for 2 years.  Bídèmí's owing the school 3 terms'  school fees and being absent from school for long cost him a scholarship opportunity. This angers him so much that he threatens his mother with a cutlass to show him his real father.

CHAPTER 2: When Róñkẹ́ is in SS2, Fẹ́mi Òòṣàfúnminíyì and 2 of her other classmates are the ones who are good at Maths. One day, Róñkẹ́'s  waist beads get scattered to the floor after her being caned by the Maths teacher for her poor performance.  Róñkẹ́ goes to Fẹ́mi for private coaching. Along the line, she falls in love with him and makes the first move. He agrees to marry her in future.  Most of the students (including Róñkẹ́) party everyday but Fẹ́mi faces his studies squarely. At Lọlá Ìbídùn's birthday party, Gbọlá and Títí go into a dark corner together from 1-6 am.

CHAPTER 3:  A wave of transfers brings Mr Ẹ̀san to  Róñkẹ́'s school. He is a hardworking and no-nonsense teacher. When he disciplines Lọlá Ìbídùn for applying cosmetics under her locker's cover in class, she accuses him of sexual harassment. Mọ̀rúfá and Kẹ́mi expose the truth about the plot she has told them about earlier. Lọlá and her false witnesses are all punished. A week to their final exams, Títí tells Gbọlá she is 4 months pregnant for him. Her father ejects her from the house but later takes her back in. After several intakes of abortion drugs that appeared not to work, the foetus comes out by itself but lands Títí in the hospital. Her father pays her 5,000 naira hospital bill and leaves  Gbọlá and his influential mother to God. Fẹ́mi gets the school's best result in their SSCE.  Róñkẹ́ and Títí make a few papers while Lọlá and Gbọlá fail all their papers. Fẹ́mi continues his schooling while Róñkẹ́ gets a job in the Finance Dept in the secretariat in Ibadan. She lives with her friend, Fúñkẹ́, in Ibadan.

CHAPTER 4: One weekend, Fẹ́mi (while on a visit to his elder brother, a doctor) branches to see Róñkẹ́.  Róñkẹ́ and Fúñkẹ́ welcome him warmly but he doesn't stay the night with them. Later on, Róñkẹ́ starts dating several men, rejects Fúñkẹ́'s warnings and eventually gets her own apartment. She doesn't respond to Fẹ́mi's letters and hugs another man in his presence one day. Róñkẹ́ is sleeping with her boss in the office (DG,i.e. director-general), Chief  Olówólayémọ̀ and Dr Wàsíù. Lọlá Ìbídùn now sells babies' clothes in Osogbo.

CHAPTER 5: Fúñkẹ́ and Abíọ́dún get married and have children together. Róñkẹ́ is now a student at the College of Education in Ilesa and continues her promiscuous lifestyle. Fẹ́mi gets admitted into LAUTECH, Ogbomoso and Akin into OAU, Ile-Ife. Róñkẹ́ also dates Akin Balógun (a bank manager),whose wife embarrasses her at a party.   Róñkẹ́ fails her final-year exams and earns an extra year. All her lecturer lovers disappoint her. Chief Olówólayémọ̀ replaces her with a younger woman. Róñkẹ́ starts dating Fèyí Ògúnrìndé, who gives her clothes and jewellery stolen from his ex-girlfriend (Bímbọ́) as gifts. He disappears into thin air before these items are seen on Róñkẹ́ and she is expelled from the school. Akin is posted to Kaduna State and  Fẹ́mi to Imo State for National Youth Service.

CHAPTER 6: Róñkẹ́ is born in Osogbo by an Osogbo-indigene father (Láyí Alábàáṣe) and a Bendel-State-indigene mother (Margaret). Margaret is reared up by her maternal aunt, Lydia. Róñkẹ́ is the first daughter of Láyí (who has had 3 sons from his first wife). Láyí dies before Margaret could get pregnant again. Margaret rears up  Róñkẹ́ until she starts working in Ibadan. Lọlá loses 2,000 naira to fraudsters. Gbọlá and his gang of armed robbers are caught and executed. The shame makes his mother commit suicide. Múbọ̀ earns life imprisonment for cocaine trafficking. Fẹ́mi comes home to meet his family in Ilesa, where he meets his future wife (Motúnráyọ̀  Ọlọ́wẹ̀, who is doing her national youth service in Ondo State). Róñkẹ́ stays put in Ilesa and doesn't go home to her mother in Osogbo. Her mother hears that she is pregnant,sets out for Ilesa to see her but perishes in an accident on the way.

CHAPTER 7: Fẹ́mi marries  Motúnráyọ̀ a year after their youth service. Mọ̀rúfá and  Kẹ́mi are at the wedding  and report (as nurses in Osogbo) that Títí's marriage has been childless because of that abortion. Róñkẹ́ learns from Títí's experience and keeps her own pregnancy, though she doesn't know the father.  Fèyí, who she most suspects is the father, has disappeared. She later marries Ismaila Alábàáṣe and has Ọláníkẹ̀ẹ́ for him. By the time Ọláníkẹ̀ẹ́ is 2 years old, Ismaila has become hostile to Bídèmí as seen in the first chapter of this book...

This story teaches us that patience is a virtue. Róñkẹ́'s earlier statement, "I am no longer in the Sùúrùlérè (Patience is rewarding) camp but in the Ọlọ́runṣògo (God provides glory) camp" is the basis for the title of this novel.

¤

"The way the cookie crumbles" (a novel by James Hadley Chase).

Ticky Edris and Phil Algir plot to rob the impregnable Florida Safe Deposit Bank. Previous robbers'  attempts to burgle the bank from outside have failed and only led to loss of lives. A mole on the inside is needed for successful robbery. How is this to be achieved? The estranged wife and daughter of the Vice President of the bank (Muriel Marsh Devon and Norena Devon respectively) are murdered and Ira Marsh (Muriel's sister) planted on the Vice President to impersonate Norena. . .

DETAILS

CHAPTER 1: Harry Browning is the owner of the La Coquille Restaurant, one of the top 3 restaurants in Paradise City. He is a personal friend of the Mayor and of the Chief of Police, Captain Frank Terrell. (The other Paradise City cops mentioned in the novel are Joe Beigler, Fred Hess,  Charley Tanner, Max Jacoby and Tom Lepski.) One day, Browning phones Sergeant Joe Beigler to come and clear out the corpse of a woman who died of heroin overdose at his restaurant and ensure there is no negative publicity. Beigler goes there with Fred Hess. A suicide note lies by the woman, containing the words, "You'd better go to 247, Seaview Boulevard. He had it coming. I did it. To save trouble, I'm taking the easy way out.   Muriel Marsh Devon". Ticky Edris is the misshapen dwarf (only 3.5 ft tall) waiter who served Muriel her last drinks and lives on the apartment opposite hers. Seaview Boulevard (where Muriel lived) connects Paradise City with the town of Seacombe (where Ticky lives). The boulevard has large villas at its Paradise City end and shabby houses at its Seacombe end. The corpse of Johnnie Williams (Muriel's lover who lives in the room next to hers) is found riddled with gunshots at 247, Seaview Boulevard.

CHAPTER 2: Phil Algir is a handsome conman who has been jailed for 14 years in New York before leaving for Florida to escape another arrest. After chatting with Ticky, he goes to Greater Miami. The cops find the photos of a 17-year-old girl in Muriel's apartment and letters ending with "Your daughter, Norena". To shield Norena from her (Muriel's) drug and prostitution escapades, Muriel sends her to a boarding school (The Graham Co-Ed College, Greater Miami) and takes her on sea trips during the vacations. Ticky tells Dr Wilbur Graham (the owner of the school) on phone," Norena's mother is seriously hurt in an accident. Please allow Mr Stanley Tebbel, her mother's attorney, to collect her from school. She can call my number for confirmation. She knows me as a family friend". Algir collects her from the school and stops her from asking too many questions so he can kill her (without feeling guilty) easily later as he did to Johnnie Williams!   Another 17-year-old girl, Ira  Marsh, Muriel's youngest sister (who is the same age as Norena and born after Muriel left home) alights from the New York plane at the Miami airport. Ira is the youngest of their mother's 11 children.   "Four of the boys had been killed in a drunken car crash. 2 others were serving life sentences for armed robbery. 4 of the girls (including Muriel) had walked out of the slum...and hadn't been seen or heard of since"(page 40). Their father is a lecher. Four months earlier, Ticky (after hearing her age similarity to  Norena and investigating her background through an agency) tells her, "Norena died in a swimming accident last week. Her mother is dying and has about 4 months to live. Norena's dad hasn't seen or heard of her for 16 years and will easily accept you as his daughter after Muriel dies". Ira is desperate for money and agrees.

CHAPTER 3: Instead of driving to Paradise City, Algir heads with Norena to the seaside. As the car stops, she runs out inland for safety. Algir can't run as fast on foot so he re-enters his car to take a shortcut and lie in wait for her at a hummock. He strangles her and takes her corpse back to the beach. He removes all her clothes (so that the college laundry marks on them won't help the cops identify her), drops her at the foot of a sand dune and shifts the dune onto her body.    The cops find out that Muriel owns the gun used to kill Johnnie Williams. The handwriting on the suicide note matches the one on the specimens found in her apartment. Captain Terrell tracks Melville Devon (Norena's father) down, tells him about Muriel's and Williams' deaths and Norena's arrival from school to live with him. Terrell shows him Ira's photo that Ticky had planted in Muriel's bedroom.    Algir picks Ira up at the Seacombe bus terminal and goes to Ticky's apartment. Ira changes into Norena's clothes and waits for Mel Devon's arrival.  

CHAPTER 4: Joy Ansley has been Mel Devon's fiancee for 5 years. 2 weeks after Ira's arrival, Joy advises Mel to get her a job at the bank to cheer her up out of her "depression". Within weeks, Ira finds out how the bank operates. "Customers rent safes, put their money there and lock up the safe. Each safe has 2 locks: one for the customer and the other for the bank. Both parties must be present before the safe can be opened and each party goes away with their own key". She also finds out the numbers of the dead safes (whose owners are usually away for long). Algir is to rent a safe at the bank, take a look at Doris Kirby (who is in charge of the vaults) and arrange a fracture for her at her home (so that Ira can step in until she recovers).

CHAPTER 5: Ira gets an impression of the bank's passkey and gives it to Algir to duplicate. She decides to bring in Jess Farr (her gangster boyfriend in New York). Mr Hyam Wanassee, a Texas millionaire, arrives at the vault to deposit money and gives Ira his key to open the safe. While he flirts with her, she presses his key into the putty concealed in her left hand. She gives Algir the key impression to duplicate. She is emptying money from Wanassee's safe into Algir's (for him to take out as a customer) one day when Mel walks in & almost catches her.From then on, she keeps watch at the vault's entrance while Algir empties the safes himself.

CHAPTER 6: Mr Lanza Junior also falls into the flirt's trap, but his safe contains only stock coupons and share certificates. Mr Ross holds on to his key and opens and shuts his safe himself. Ira wants to quit from the plot (having been softened by interacting with Mel, Joy,etc and the financial security and peaceful home) but Edris blackmails her. Jess too forces her to continue the "job" and steals part of her money. He stays hidden for some time in Mel's beach cabin.

CHAPTER 7: Jess finds a gun in Mel's cabin. Mel and Joy agree to get married at the end of the month. Mrs Marc Garland comes to the vault and Ira is able to get her key's impression. Jess rents a shabby Ford and drives after Algir (who has just parted from Ira) to Edris's apartment.    Fred Hess goes with his wife (Maria) and his son (Fred Junior) to the beach for a picnic. To get some rest from the "naughty" boy, Hess tells him to dig out an old man from a certain distant high sand dune so the old man can give him meat pies. Ten minutes later, Junior digs out a stinking woman. Hess and other cops find a pair of pale blue plastic framed spectacles Norena was wearing at the hummocks where she was killed. The heel impression of Algir's shoe is also found there.

CHAPTER  8: The following morning's newspaper carries the story, "Unknown blonde found strangled at Coral Cove". Algir wants to run away immediately but Edris tells him to get the Garland money first before leaving the next day. Algir books a flight to Havana (by phone) against the next day's  afternoon while Edris takes a "10-day leave to New York" from the restaurant (in order to lie low). Since the article has said nothing about the spectacles, Edris feels safe.   The lab boys find that the owner of the spectacles had acute astigmatism and would have to wear them constantly. The report on the plaster casts of the heel impressions shows that the killer is about 6 ft tall, weighs 190 pounds and wears new number 10 shoes. Lepski remembers that  "Norena Devon"  falls in the  victim's age range but doesn't wear spectacles. Mr Harry Tullas, who has heard the broadcast, tells the police about his seeing a man (Algir) and a girl (Norena) driving ahead of his own car towards Coral Cove, and his coming back alone later to pick up another girl (Ira). Mr Tullas describes Algir's Buick Roadmaster convertible and physical appearance (which reminds Beigler about Algir, whose photo has been sent to them as a wanted man by the New York police). Mr Tullas identifies Algir's photo as that of the man he is talking about.   Hess goes to the airport, describes Ira to the officials and gets her full names and New York address from the murder date's flight list.

CHAPTER 9: Algir has left his Regent Hotel room and now hides in Edris'  apartment. The next day's newspapers mention Algir's real names, Regent Hotel address, "Harry  Chambers" alias used to rent the Buick Roadmater convertible and his physical description. A guard from the Florida Safe Deposit Bank phones the police about the wanted man's close resemblance to their "Lowson Forester".  Edris sneaks out to tell Ira to bring out the Garland money  alone because Algir is in hiding, showing her a newspaper and revealing for the first time that Norena was killed. He tells her to stick the money in her pants and sneak out to see him at the restaurant near the bank. She will then be free to enjoy her new home with Devon once he and Algir leave town. After hiding the money, she is summoned to Mr Devon's office, where she meets Detective Lepski. During the interview, Ira denies knowing Dr Weidman of Miami (who tested Norena for her eyeglasses), reads the tiny handwriting used to record her answers without glasses and turns pale when asked if she knows a girl called Ira Marsh. She denies knowing Ira (whom she would have known as her aunt if she were Norena). On getting out, she quizzes Edris into revealing that he killed Muriel and wrote the suicide note and the other letters found in her apartment. He also admits Algir killed Williams. Ira tells him she has returned the money to the safe.    Jess Farr watches Edris and Ira part and trails  Edris back to his apartment.   Lepski gets Norena's real photograph from her school and shows Algir's photo to Dr Graham (who confirms him as "Mr Tebbel").   

CHAPTER 10: Edris gets a gun with a silencer and tells Harry Morris to get him a night boat to Mexico. He tells  Algir he has got the Garland money and shows him his photo in a newspaper deliberately dropped on the floor. As Algir stoops to read the newspaper, Edris shoots him dead and packs all the money (belonging to both of them) in the apartment to pay for the boat ride. As he tries to leave the apartment, Jess Farr enters, knocks him unconscious and takes the money away. The facts on ground show Ira impersonated Norena. Captain Terrell orders the arrest of Edris (as the one who sold Algir to Dr Graham). Jess is caught with the money and a gun by cops after driving recklessly in a traffic jam. Edris wakes up later, finds his money gone, and gets drunk in sorrow before the police arrive to arrest him. "It's the way the cookie crumbles", he says as he gets into the police car, blaming Algir's carelessness for the failure of the plot.

Ira Marsh writes a farewell letter to Mel Devon, saying that she didn't know Norena was killed and that she will drown herself to spare him the embarrassment her arrest will bring him. Then she goes for her last swim on earth................

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OTHER CHARACTERS :  Louis ("maître d'hôtel", French for "head waiter", at the La Coquille) ;Dr Lowis (the medical officer  who examined both Muriel and Johnnie Williams); Bert Hamilton (a reporter from The Sun).

"Àyànmọ́", a novel by Afọlábí Ọlábímtán.

Àlàbí  is his parents'  only child so they are impatient for him to marry and start having children. He is already a teacher but wants to become a medical doctor.

Àlàbí once dated Àjọkẹ́  in the teacher training college. Because her mother has embraced Àlàbí  as an in-law long before informing her father, her father asserts his authority by forcibly giving her away to someone else, an old and polygamous Alhaji. However, Àjọkẹ́ is barren and always sickly in the 3-year marriage. An oracle says that her destiny is incompatible with his and she will die unless they divorce. She divorces him but  Àlàbí refuses to marry a "second-hand"  woman.

Àlàbí leaves his village (Aiyéró) for Lagos for further studies and to escape parental pressure. He is now over 20 years old. His parents decide to find a wife for him and house her at their home if he doesn't want any "disturbance" in Lagos. Àwẹ̀ró (Olú's mother), Àlàbí's co-tenant with 2 children and an absentee husband, tries to seduce  Àlàbí. When Àwẹ̀ró's pressure becomes too much for Àlàbí to bear, he asks his parents to send their choice (Àlàkẹ́) from the village.

The night before Àlàkẹ́ goes to Lagos, she dreams that an older woman is troubling her in Àlàbí's house. Her mother's herbalist says she doesn't need any sacrifice except patience. Àwẹ̀ró tries to provoke Àlàkẹ́ in many ways but fails. Àlàkẹ́ doesn't know she resents her marrying Àlàbí, because he didn't tell her about the seduction attempts! One day, Àwẹ̀ró leaves the house before Àlàkẹ́ and goes to the market. The neighborhood is deserted that afternoon. Àwẹ̀ró's room is burgled after Àlàkẹ́ too has gone out. Àwẹ̀ró tells the police that she suspects Àlàkẹ́ (whose room is directly opposite to hers), asking how she can be unaware of the burglary.  The police follow Àwẹ̀ró home with their sniffing dog and she feels nobody else has entered the house till then. The police take their dog to Àlàkẹ́'s shop in the market but it ignores her. It later pounces on Àkànní, Àwẹ̀ró's first cousin, elsewhere in the market. He is the thief!  Àlàbí and Àlàkẹ́ move out of the house at the end of the month.

Àlàkẹ́ gets pregnant in the first month of her marriage and  Àlàbí later travels abroad to study Medicine. Àlàkẹ́ gives birth to a son, Olúgbémiga, in his absence in Lagos in the house of Elder Babátúndé (Àlàbí's benefactor) against her widowed mother's wish that she gives birth in the village. Her husband and in-laws also support her giving birth in Lagos because of the better antenatal care. Her mother boycotts the child naming ceremony and sends her younger sister (Àlàkẹ́'s aunt) to represent her. Àlàkẹ́ visits Aiyéró with her baby after 40 days. Her mother is always finding fault with Àlàbí's parents and his benefactor. Àlàkẹ́ eventually moves to Aiyéró (first to Bádéjọ's house and later to her mother's house) under her mother's influence and against Àlàbí's wishes. She also stops replying Àlàbí's letters and he later stops writing her. 

In Àlàbí's final year, Jọkẹ́ (a lawyer) falls in love with him and tells her she's ready to become a second wife. However, she eventually gets  him to marry her  under the Statutory Law and he tells Àlàkẹ́ in writing to forget him and find another husband. Àlàkẹ́ is now unhappy and her mother abandons her to her fate. Àlàbí also tells his parents not to allow Àlàkẹ́ to move in with them or he will boycott their home. Àlàkẹ́'s aunt takes her to a herbalist to make a long-forgotten sacrifice.

Àlàbí and Jọkẹ́ move to Nigeria and get lucrative jobs in Lagos. However, Jọkẹ́  proves to be worse than Àlàkẹ́ was. During a 2-week visit to Aiyéró, she is rude to her parents-in-law, smokes and wears revealing clothes. Investigations reveal that her mother and her sisters change husbands frequently. After Àlàbí and Jọkẹ́ return to Lagos, his parents allow Àlàkẹ́ to move into their house. Jọkẹ́ comes to the village in anger, beats and throws out Àlàkẹ́ and insults Bádéjọ, earning the wrath of all her in-laws and even  Àlàbí. In addition,Jọkẹ́ is childless and sleeps with Adélékè (a judge). Àlàbí divorces  Jọkẹ́ after 14 months of marriage and reunites with Àlàkẹ́ (his destined wife). Àlàkẹ́ moves back to Lagos with him and is seen as refreshingly different from Jọkẹ́  by his visiting friends.

"Àyànmọ́" is the Yoruba word for destiny.

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