My Sister, the Serial Killer

Chichi sells shoes at the hospital. Korede finds Muhtar’s wife and his brother in Muhtar’s room. The wife insults Korede’s looks and her station. Korede asks them to leave, which the woman ignores until Muhtar, with “an authority to his voice I have not heard before” (189), throws them out. The wife wants him to approve of their son’s marriage because the girl’s father is running for governor. 

A vision of dead Tade who says to Korede, “’You did this’” (190).

Korede goes to Tade’s office and destroys the ring, stealing the diamond. She stages a ransacking. Yinka accuses Mohammed, and the hospital fires him. Korede thinks she has “bought Tade more time to think things through” (193). After a few days, she asks Tade about the ring and he says it is “curious behavior, for a drug addict” (194), since Mohammed did not steal the drugs. Korede throws the diamond into the lagoon. 

Korede binge-watches TV shows to distract herself. She visits Femi’s blog but finds it taken down. Then, she gets a call from Ayoola.

Ayoola cried on the other end of the phone. She had killed someone named Peter, her second victim.

Tade calls from Ayoola’s number. In his house, Korede finds Ayoola in the bedroom stabbed with the knife. She tried to kill Tade, and he resisted. Ayoola says he hit her, but Tade, “the first man able to defend himself against Ayoola’s accusations” (199), says she is lying.

Korede bandages the wound with the knife still in and calls the hospital. Tade carries Ayoola to the car and he drives after them. He attempts to justify himself, and Korede warns him to keep quiet or she will accuse him of the attack. He tells her, “You’re worse than she is” (201).

Ayoola is recovering, still unconscious. Mother arrives, devastated, and she pushes Korede for information, which Korede hesitates to give because she and Ayoola have not had time to concoct a story. Korede admits they were at Tade’s house but refuses to say anything else. She wills Ayoola to wake up. 

Ayoola regains consciousness; she feels both terrible and bored. The police arrive and, to Korede’s shock, Ayoola immediately tells them that Tade stabbed her when she refused his proposal. When Tade left the room, she seized the moment to call Korede.

Later, Ayoola tells Korede to make a choice between her and Tade: “You can’t sit on the fence forever” (207).

Korede finds Muhtar’s wife in front of his room, crying because he plans to divorce her. Muhtar dismisses her questions, saying, “She does not cry for me, she cries for herself” (208). He has heard about Ayoola and tells Korede, “Free yourself. Tell the truth” (208). Korede does not see the truth in the same way. Although they are discharging him, Muhtar wishes to stay in touch, but Korede does not know how to react. 

Ayoola takes photos of her wound for Snapchat. She says that Tade believed Korede was responsible for Femi’s death because she was jealous, and that she’d done what she had to do to protect Korede. When she attacked him, Tade said, “Korede was telling the truth” (212). Korede admits she told Tade that her sister was dangerous. Ayoola reminds Korede, “It’s his word against ours” (213). 

Their father’s name was Kehinde, and he was Taiwo’s twin. The Monday before his death, Taiwo came to take Ayoola away to the rich businessman they had met before: Father was selling his daughter for a deal. Korede protected her from their aunt, waving father’s cane. They feared their father’s reprisal, saying he could not kill them if they killed him first.

The police question Korede. She says she warned Tade because she believed Ayoola’s actions with Gboyega were imprudent and contributed to his death. She feels calm: “There is a faint smile on my lips because I am humoring them and they should know that I am humoring them” (216). She plays on the detectives’ appraisal of Ayoola, and she knows they are smitten with her. She says she has never known Tade to be violent, but she has not known him long. 

Muhtar leaves the hospital and Korede misses him. The police have arrested Tade and revoked his medical license. He will spend several months in jail for assault. Korede has chosen a side: “She will always have me and I will always have her; no one else matters” (219). She calls for Mohammed to change the sheets, only to realize that he no longer works there either. 

After a while, Korede debates whether to call Muhtar. She is “beginning to forget what his voice sounds like” (220). The house girl informs her there is a male visitor. Korede burns the paper with Muhtar’s number because her sister needs her more. She goes downstairs to meet the new admirer who has brought roses: “The man smiles. I smile back” (222).