After that incident, Xavier was very different. More quiet and reserved. He seemed to really focus on his work. He had expanded somewhat and was now working on land disputes as well. He had some big clients who owned large tracts of land in Kajiado and they made frequent visits to his office. He hired a secretary, Alice, to help him. Alice was a nice girl, very tall and a little intimidating to those who did not know her well.
In 2018, Xavier had lived and worked there for a little under 2 years.He paid his rent on time and had stopped flirting with everyone who wore a skirt. Then in July things changed. Xavier missed a rent payment. I found it very odd. He usually would pay his rent months in advance. So most of the time he would be three if not four months ahead of rent. But this time he was one month behind. I assumed it was an oversight. Perhaps he had forgotten how far ahead/behind in this case in his rent payments were, so I Sent out a casual text message reminding him of his rent balance.
“ sorry Mum, I think I may have forgotten. Let me go to the bank and deposit now now.” he sent back.
2 weeks later, still no deposit. I walked over to his office to find out what was going on. His office was shut. Maybe he was at court. I left word with the caretaker to let him know I was looking for him.
Another 2 weeks, still nothing. This is when I got suspicious. No communication, no payment, nothing. I asked the caretaker what was going on, he said he had not been seen in weeks. I was worried, this was very unlike him. Later that evening he called me. He told me he had been going through some very rough times back home in Uganda. He had just lost his mother. Therefore rent payments may be late. I understood. After all, I am not heartless. I told him it was okay. Not to worry too much about it(little did I know that his mother was live and well-but more on that later)
HE didn’t return to Rongai until 3 months later. By this time he owed me about Ksh.140,000 in unpaid rent but I was not too worried about it. He had big clients and he had always paid rent on time all the time before so I’m sure he would figure it out.
But when he returned he was strange. He would not be at his office opting instead to work from his house if he was working. And he would leave very early in the morning and return late at night long after the caretaker would be asleep. The only person who saw him was the watchman.
Then I heard the rumors. He had bought a car. A new Nissan Xtrail. Funny,he had money to buy a car but no rent money? I didn’t see the car. So I thought it was just a rumor from the girls at the shops. But then the watchman confirmed. Yes he drives a black X-trail. He does not park it at the parking downstairs but at the petrol station some 300 meters from the building where some buses park for the night. I went to the petrol station to ask. One of the attendants said yes, he drives the same model as mentioned and parks it Behind the buses where you can’t see properly. He then walks to the apartment. And in the morning, he comes and picks it to go elsewhere.
I went to find Alice, his assistant, to ask. Alice had not been seen for a while but I had her number, I called her to ask about where she is and everything. She says that she stopped working there about 7 months ago. He had not paid her in over 3 months. She had been there for all but 5 months. Apparently he always blamed the low business and the long time it took for clients to reach settlement.
So Alice had not been paid, I had not been paid but he has a new car? What was going on?
I voiced my concerns with other people; it was as though I had opened a Pandora’s box. The guy seemed to owe everyone. From the shopkeepers, the rider he had contacted to be delivering things to his clients and even the lady who sells groceries. He had run up a tab down the street and his friend John was the one who had eventually paid it off.
Was our learned fellow a scoundrel?Was he going through a difficult time? We would soon find the answers. I locked the apartment and waited. He never came. The person who did come was his sister. We had seen Wendy a few times when she visited from Uganda.She was supposed to come and live with her brother as she joined Multimedia University but she couldn’t reach her brother. So she came to see what was going on herself.
