The Last Voice Note

by Seye Kushimo

At 2:13 a.m., investigative journalist Dara Akinwale receives a WhatsApp voice note from Tunde Adebayo, an old university friend she has barely spoken to in years. “If anything happens to me, don’t believe what they say.” By sunrise, Tunde is dead after falling from the balcony of a Lagos hotel. Police call it suicide. His employers say he was under investigation for stealing money. Even his family admits he had been behaving strangely. But Dara knows Tunde was afraid of something. Following clues hidden in his final messages, she is drawn back to Akinjide University and a mystery she has spent twenty-six years trying to forget: the disappearance of their friend Kemi Balogun. Kemi had been investigating missing university funds and politically connected businessmen when she vanished. Worse, on the night she disappeared, she called Dara three times. Dara deliberately refused to answer. Now Tunde’s investigation reveals that Kemi’s disappearance, his own death, and a modern network of politicians, businessmen, police officers and corporations are all connected. As Dara follows the money, powerful people begin fighting back. Her reputation is attacked, her daughter is targeted, witnesses disappear, and trusted allies are exposed as liars. Then Dara makes a discovery that changes everything. Kemi never died. She survived. And Tunde had secretly found her months before his murder. Together, Dara and Kemi uncover evidence pointing to Michael Falode, the sophisticated heir to a powerful political dynasty. But exposing Tunde’s killer reveals an even more disturbing truth. The conspiracy did not begin twenty-six years ago. A photograph dated 1954 shows seven young men who called themselves **The Forum**. One of them is Dara’s grandfather. And someone who has protected their secrets for seventy years now knows Dara is asking questions.