Facing the Truth

By Lara Akhigbemen

Olivia Cole doesn't believe wholeheartedly in the faith of her parents. As she goes to university, she sees it as an opportunity to experience the world. This gets her into big trouble and she is given one way out. Confused with nowhere to go she turns to Victoria, who gives her some godly advice, but will she adhere to it?

On the other hand, Victoria Johnson has her own past to contend with. She is an active single woman in and outside the church, finding solace in her active life.  Even as a Christian she is unable to forgive her parents and most of all herself for events of the past.  Her seemingly settled life is turned upside down and she is forced to face her past before she can really move forward. Along the way, she gets a helping hand from a detective, James Rickett who she wants to avoid at all cost.

 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lara Akhigbemen
• Release date: Nov 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386556183

Book preview

Part One

Chapter 1

July 2005, 9.45 p.m .

Victoria Johnson walked into her apartment, exhausted. Apart from the tight muscles and heavy legs, her brain also felt like it would cease functioning at any moment, like a winded clock on its last leg. Relief washed over her as she sank into the cool, leather armchair in the lounge and took in the lavender scent that welcomed her home. Besides the long day that she had endured, the London weather had been extremely hot—something of a rarity. It had contributed to the stress of the day and somehow zapped her energy. In the morning, she had left home early with the intention of getting an early start at work, but the main work she had set out to do was still undone. By ten o’clock her attention had been drawn to a couple of urgent cases, which meant she had to drop everything she was doing.

Being a social worker for children and young people hadn’t always been her dream, but she had come to love the job. Well, not the part that made her completely exhausted like today, but the part where she was of help to vulnerable children who were being abused and where she was able to find good homes for homeless teenagers. Placing them in homes where they could be helped to make the right decisions in life and become useful to themselves and hopefully the wider community. Defending confused youths who could have spent most of their teenage years in young offenders’ facility, but instead, they got a chance to spend those years in good homes that could have a positive effect on them. Those were the rewards that brought a smile to her face and satisfaction to her heart.

She felt her tense muscles relax as she sat, but she still felt uncomfortable. So she moved to the double-glazed windows opening the top sections letting in the most needed fresh air that was scarce all day. Victoria’s third-floor apartment got its dull glow from the street lights, as she refused to switch on the light on her way in. Her flat overlooked a small park, now deserted due to nightfall. The park looked like a black blob on a canvas with white spots in a few places indicating where street lights were situated. Beyond that, the darkness was brightened by the silver and golden glow of the lights from houses and offices, apart from the street lights giving Wandsworth the much-needed light it required at night.

She had spent the day dashing around this city from the hospital to the police station but unable to get the vital information needed to help her clients. They were two teenage boys involved in a fight the night before. One had ended up in a hospital at London Bridge with a serious head injury and in a coma. The other, detained at the police station at Elephant and Castle, was accused of harming his friend. From where she stood, she prayed the hospitalised boy would gain consciousness soon and remember what happened. His friend had been drunk and unable to give a coherent account of the incident. The whole incident was far from being solved, which meant she’d have to focus on it again in the morning or even be called out during the night if there were any new developments.

As she stood, she enjoyed the silence that surrounded her. Apart from the occasional passing of cars outside, inside was the unobtrusive sound of the clock and the humming of the fridge from the kitchen combined had a soothing effect on her. She was still deciding on whether to have a shower or eat when the home phone rang. Since it was the home phone, she knew it was either family or friend.

‘Olufunke...’ It was only her mother who called her by her Nigerian name. ‘...I’m glad you’re home,’ she continued excitedly.

‘Hi, Mum...well, I just got in and I’m about to get something to eat.’ Victoria added the latter so her mother wouldn’t stay on the line too long, as it was a habit of hers.

‘Oh...all right then, I’ll let you eat and maybe phone you later.’ She sounded slightly deflated.

‘Mum, it’s all right. Is everything ok?’

‘I just wanted to let you know that your dad has gone to the States for a couple of weeks for a conference and will be visiting your aunt Mabel while he’s there.’

‘If I’d known I would have sent some things to Aunt Mabel through him. I promised her the last time we spoke—’

‘Oh, it was urgent; he didn’t get much notice either.’

Victoria knew the excuse her mum gave was untrue, as she wasn’t on talking terms with her dad and her mother called mainly when he was out of town.

‘Would you like to come over for dinner on Sunday?’ asked her mum.

‘Mum, I’m not sure. I’ll let you know by Friday. Is that all right?’

‘That’s fine. I’ll let you get something to eat. Goodnight, darling.’

Chapter 2

June 2005, 10 a.m.

Walking into the store, Olivia inhaled the unique scent of leather from the variety of products displayed. They included shoes for men, ladies, and children, various styles of bags for every walk of life: school bags, work and office bags, hiking and sports bags, and even party bags of different sizes. There was a range of chairs and stools placed in strategic positions including low comfy armchairs in shiny, brown leather in corners. There were also straight-back wooden chairs at the ends of the shoe aisles with slanted footrests tucked neatly underneath. The children’s section had smaller chairs in red, blue, green, pink, yellow, and purple with matching-coloured mini-footrests to satisfy younger customers.

For the first time in her life, she wasn’t walking into a shop as a customer but as an employee—which excited her for many reasons. For once she was going to earn her own money and become less reliant on her parents. Well, anything she could still get out of them was going to be extra, and that was good! It also meant more freedom from their claws; the only free time she had from them was when she was at school. This was an opportunity to interact with real people outside the only circles she knew: home, church, and school.

She walked up to the checkout confidently and smiled at the smartly dressed lady in a grey skirt suit with a grey-spotted white scarf neatly knotted to the side.

‘Hi, I’m Olivia Cole, and I’m starting work here today.’

‘Hi, we’ve been expecting you. I’m Irene Walker, the store manager,’ said the lady with a broad smile, extending her hand to give Olivia a warm handshake.

Leading her to a couple of armchairs to sit, Irene explained the working process in the store. The Blue Water branch had twenty members of staff: a store manager, an assistant manager, three supervisors, and sixteen sales assistants. Half of the sales assistants were part-time. They had three shifts with the earliest starting at half-past nine in the morning and the last starting at three in the afternoon. The store’s busiest times were between twelve noon and three in the afternoon during the week and a slightly extended time at the weekend. Since Olivia was working on a part-time basis, which was two to three days a week, Irene explained that her training would be done over two weeks.

After the brief induction, Olivia was introduced to some members of staff and taken around the shop floor. Behind the shop floor, she was shown to the large storeroom where all the products were stored in a very orderly manner. She was also shown the tea and eating area, the staff locker room, the supervisors’ and assistant manager’s offices. Then finally, they ended up in Irene’s office, where she was given her uniform and they discussed the pay procedures and working conditions in detail.

Finishing her first shift at four in the afternoon, Olivia felt like she could go on for another six hours. She had enjoyed every aspect of the day. Just over an hour after she arrived at the store, she started work on the shop floor shadowing a fellow sales assistant called Samantha. In Olivia’s view, Sam was great fun and very professional in dealing with the customers. She was a couple of years older than Olivia and also worked part time. A university student going into her second year in Business and Finance, she explained to Olivia that the money helped towards her education. As they served customers, she emphasised the importance of politeness and putting on a smile, explaining that it made life much easier as some customers were just out to cause trouble. Everyone seemed very friendly to Olivia, and she couldn’t wait to get back in a couple of days.

‘HOW WAS YOUR FIRST day, ’Livia?’ asked Mrs. Cole, as she dropped her handbag and shopping bags with a big bang on the dining table in the middle of the kitchen.

‘It was good, Mum.’

‘Just good?’

‘Well, very good. The manager and other members