SHE'S A SUSPECT. BUT NOT FOR WHAT YOU THINK__DAILY PROMPT 14SEPT

"She is a suspect....."

That's what the police officer said to meee.
Like I was supposed to be shocked.

Mama.

My own Mama.

Let me start from the beginning.

5 minutes. That's all I have. Timer's running.

It was Tuesday....Normal Tuesday. I was supposed to be in class but the generator in our hostel died again. No light, no lecture.
So I went home. Surprise my Mama.

The house was quiet. Too quiet.
Her shop key was on the table. Her apron was folded. Her phone was ringing... from the bedroom.

"Mama?" No answer.

Then I saw it. The window in the kitchen. Open. And the money box. Empty.

My chest went cold.

10 minutes later, 2 police men came. "Someone reported a robbery at the market. 300k missing from Mrs. Bisi's provision store."
"Mrs. Bisi said she saw your Mama near the store at 6am."
"She is a suspect....."

I laughed. Like actually laughed.
"Mama? The woman that prays for market women every morning? That Mama?"

But then the officer showed me the CCTV screenshot.
A woman. Wrapper tied. Head tie. Walking away from the store with a black nylon.
6:03am.

It looked like her. The walk. The wrapper. Even the slippers.

I went to the station with them. My hands were shaking.

When they brought her out from the back room...
It wasn't her.

It was Aunty Ngozi.
Mama's best friend.
The woman that borrows Mama's wrapper every Sunday because "hers is dirty".
The woman that has the same slippers as Mama because they bought it together at Yaba.

Mama was at church. 6am prayer. 20 people saw her.

The police let her go. But the damage?

Now everyone in the market is whispering.
"Is it true?"
"I heard..."
"Suspect."

Mama came home and didn't cry. She just started sweeping.
"People will talk," she said. "Let them."

But me? I can't stop thinking.
If they got the wrapper wrong... what else are they getting wrong?
If my own eyes believed that screenshot...

She is a suspect...
But the real suspect is how fast we believe things.

**IMAGE IS AI GENERATED""