Chapter One

It was about 8:13 PM in the Evening at the Sterling Hotel, when Joseph the Hotel Receptionist decided to change the little TV which hung above his desk at a corner for the supposed football match , he and his friend Eric had made plans earlier on to watch although Eric hadn’t arrived yet nor had the match started yet , he felt it wise to tune in the channel early to0 catch up with the preliminaries besides he hadn’t much to do , the Sterling hotel wasn’t what anyone would recommend to anyone for a standard hotel room , it was one of those sketchy set ups with a few rooms , located in the heart of Lagos whose affordability and ease of access made the sales and kept it in afloat. He tried adjusting himself on his chair when he got a message on his phone, barely looking at it his face bore a frown after which he replaced the phone back into his pocket, it was his landlord who had taken his antics a step further by sending him a message warning him of his overdue rent and the possibility of meeting his properties outside if he returned without paying; as if he didn’t have enough debts and overdue payments to make already.

Right now , his concern was finding what to eat before the match started, he hadn’t been lucky with that throughout the day and the thought of sleeping another night with little to nothing in his stomach wasn’t a good idea , he was still trying to figure out what to do when a man probably in his fifties dressed in a white t-shirt and shorts drove in and walked into the lobby with a girl by his side, the man looked a lot older thought he was in pretty good shape and seemed quite decent , in fact if he didn’t know better he would say the man may have lost his way coming to a place like this but again the Sterling Hotel was built for the purpose of all , privacy itself was the key , no questions was ever asked about those who walked in none any asked about their business there except for a lodge book where they customers who felt it necessary to put down their details and payments were always in cash.

“Hello, how much for a room here?”
The man asked as he drew close to Joseph who quickly stood up to answer the waiting customers, he glance at the man and then to the girl who looked quite younger , a lot younger he could consider the girl a daughter to this man , she was fair and a bit skinny but overall she looked beautiful too beautiful to be one of those road sides pick up he had become so familiar with since four months ago he took this job.
“hello, are you listening to me?”

The man asked again with some urgency in his tone making Joseph realize he had been starring longer than was necessary.
“Oh I am sorry sir, What do you say you want?”
Joseph replied with a smile.

“I asked for a room , how much is it here?”
The man replied taking one look at the door soon afterwards as if to check if anyone else was coming in before retuning his attention to Joseph who had began to stare through his key racks to check up on the available rooms.

“How long do you intend to stay sir , a night is N3000 here , if you won’t be staying over the night that would N2000 then”
Joseph replied with a set of keys in hand , he had picked out of the key racks

“Just gimme me room alright, here you can keep the change”
The man said producing some wads of sharp 500 naira notes and dropping it on the desk, something Joseph noticed the girl wasn’t particularly happy with but that didn’t stop Joseph from collecting the notes as quickly as he could before producing an entirely different key quickly from the rack which belonged to one of the rooms he himself usually took his time to clear out and was fitted with an air conditioner and a working telephone for his well know customers who tipped him good each time they came around.

“Oga Sir, you can have this one, its for special people sir , I bet you will enjoy the room sir, take the stairs and go up , the last room on your right ,the number is right at the top of the room”
Joseph instructed happily as the man and the girl walked away, once they were out of sight Joseph produced the notes and counted it to find out how much he had been tipped.
“jesus Christ, 4,500!?”

He asked himself with a smile taking N2000 out of it and placing it into the drawer where the sales money are usually kept, He sat there starring at the cash which he drew to his nose to smell , what a nice feeling to be rich and to have enough to throw around he thought , somehow he did envy the girl who accompanied the man because she more than him would be having a whole lot more once they were done.
“Did you see the car , that’s parked out?”
Eric asked as he walked into the lobby with excitement written all over his face.

“It must be the rich man who just lodged in some minutes ago”
Joseph said a bit relived his friend was now around.
“That car looks way too expensive for just a mere rich man , we are talking about lots of cash here, wow some people are just lucky to have everything they want you know”

Eric said before he joined Joseph at the desk and then revealing the content of the small nylon he had brought in.
“here I brought some beans cake and some bread for us , I know you haven’t taken anything since “
Eric continued.

“Thank you very much, you are truly a life saver dear friend, let me go get some water for us before the match starts properly”
Joseph said before he left the lobby and headed out to get some water, a few minutes had passed before he arrived with two sachets of water just in time to see the girl who had accompanied the man upstairs.
“Excuse me , is there anything you want?”
Joseph asked as soon as his sight fell on her.
“Hmmm , can we talk somewhere else?”

She asked much to the surprise of Joseph who passed a stare to Eric and then back to her.
“Okay , we can talk outside the lobby if you want just let me put these down”

Joseph said as she walked outside to wait for him soon afterwards, once at the desk he passed a wink at Eric before returning to entrance of the lobby where the girl was waiting.
“So what is it you want to tell me?”
Joseph asked and for a minute she had kept silent as if thinking if to say something.

“you can tell me anything , if it’s something you need I can get it for you too I don’t mind”

Joseph said hoping to ease her perceived tension and uneasiness to say something.

“I was hoping I could get some….something for the night to help man …”
Joseph chuckled a bit letting her pause for a minute out of curiosity to find out why what she was saying seemed funny.
“…what is it , what is so funny about what I said?”
She protested a bit irritated at Joseph’s attitude.
“Oh no nothing , I am very sorry ,well I may be able to help you with you with that , you know what just wait here , I will be back”

Joseph said before running back into the lobby , it was no secret apart from the fact he was the hotel receptionist , he did personally sell illegal aphrodisiac and performance drugs to customers to make money when the opportunities were there and tonight presented an easy one for him, he searched this private compartment in the desk where he stored his stash of the drugs, picking one of his products he believed was the right one he rushed out to join the girl once more.
“This will do the job ,its in powder form so he can lick it and trust me when he is done , you won’t recognize him any longer, its very powerful and very trust worthy, just a sachet for him is what he needs but there is something I have to tell you about though”

Joseph paused for a minute hoping to let her in on the little side effects of his drug but she hadn’t been able to respond when her phone rang.
“Excuse me , I have to take this please”
She said before talking a few steps away from where they stood although not so much that he couldn’t hear what she was saying.
“yes we are at the hotel…”

She paused again and took a hard stare at Joseph before taking a few more steps away not that it did help her as Joseph continued listening .
“..yes I know what to do , am not an idiot you know..why do you want it now I thought….” She paused again seemed to be angry at something before she continued the call.

“..okay ,okay fine , its 5322,baby I have to go now , I will call you when I am done okay?”

She ended the call and returned back to Joseph ,this time a bit

uneasy about something.

He had wanted to ask her what was the problem but then had waved it off and had decided to just go on with their earlier discussion.
“what is it that you were saying?”
She managed to say.

“Ehmm I wanted to tell you about the side effects of the drug…”
He paused seeing how conscious she had become once he said that.
“..relax its nothing , its just that once the drug wears off , your man will likely fall asleep, it’s really nothing to worry about but if he has some appointment or something to do then you can get him to wake up”
He added.

“Really oh that’s perfect, ehmm just in case I too try to rest a bit and by 12 I am not up please can you ring the room, from the looks of it , your drug could make my man stress me a lot tonight , I have some place to be so can you?”

She asked with a mild smile hanging on her face.
“that’s no problem at all, I will ring up the room by 12”
Joseph said convincingly as he handed it over to her.
“and don’t worry I won’t charge you for this one because it’s your first time here”

Joseph added with a smile as he walked back without waiting for her to reply.

Later on both guys had settled down finally to watch their match and enjoy their meal.

By 2:00am Joseph was forced to wake up and go take a piss when he realized eric was dozing off , curled up in the long chair right, besides the toilet door there in the lobby, he smiled dully and found his way to the bathroom , he was still taking a piss when he heard a creak right in the lobby, he paused for a minute and tried to listen for another which didn’t come , perhaps a rat or something he thought and then again he heard the same creak , this time a bit erring too, was it Eric up to his pranks which he played on him from time to time but listening closely he could hear Eric snore letting him drop that thought dead in its track, he decided to take a look , upon opening the door as slowly as he could , he immediately made out the feet of a someone slowly descending down the steps which were situated right behind his office desk, he held a grin as he waited for the figure to fully reveal himself, definitely it had to be one of the customers who hadn’t paid yet and was hoping to get the jump on him, it did happen in the past a few times so he wasn’t surprised, he passed a glance at Eric who was still dozing and shook his head regrettably , never the less he waited patiently as the feet descended slowly , it was only a minute when the figure had climbed down the stairs totally and was now in the lobby , Joseph realized it was the rich man who had tipped him earlier.

Observing closely before deciding what next to do , he realized how nervous , scarred and sweaty the man was in fact had it not been for his retentive memory he wouldn’t have remembered the face.

Why was he acting all weird and strange , Joseph wondered as the man began to tip toe towards the door , alarm bells suddenly went off in his head before he jumped out of the toilet to catch the man unawares as the man tried to force his way through the locked lobby doors.
“Hello, sir is there anything the matter “

Joseph asked , he could see the fear and confusion on the man’s face once their eyes met.

“Please ,please I swear to you , I didn’t kill her”
The man replied almost going down on his kneels, the sight sent a shock wave down joseph’s spine who found it hard to process what was happening , the slow quiet movement which would have helped him slip through the door without no one knowing , the nervous and scared look in his eyes all made it clear what had happened.
“Eric…Eric!”

Joseph screamed as he gave hard slaps to eric’s back who immediately sprang up a bit agitated and pained by the slaps.
“Oh God what is it now!”
Eric asked as he winced his eyes.

“I think this man may has killed someone”
“I swear , please no it’s not true , I didn’t kill her , I swear on my life”
The man countered on his kneels, sweating profusely and sobbing like a child.

“What, how did this happen ,who, I mean where?”
Eric asked still trying to recover himself fully.
“We have to go call the police now”

Joseph said hurriedly reaching out for his desk phone.
“Please , please, please I am not a killer , I dint kill her you have to believe me , the police will arrest me please ,please..”
“Shut up , ehmm wait Joseph , where is the body ,what if she isn’t dead yet , we could help her , drop the phone first let’s go and check her now”
Eric screamed fully realizing what had happened now.

“yes, please that’s a good idea , please let’s go and check ,she could still be alive , oh God , she could still be…”
“Oga shut up and let’s go check her now”
Eric countered angrily forcing the man up as joseph followed behind shortly ,dropping the phone immediately.

Once all three were up, they went straight for the room and found the lifeless body of the girl right on the bed, foam in mouth, upon a second thorough check by all three , they were able to confirm she was indeed dead.

“Hah, I am finished, I am done for “
The man said in between hot tears once they confirmed she was truly dead.
“Joseph go and call the Police , she is…actually dead”
Eric said quite scarred now.

“you stay here while I go down , let me call others who are still in the hotel so they know whats happening”
Joseph suggested .

“please , please you have to believe I didn’t kill her , I am not a killer , I swear , please ….”

The man hesitated for a moment seeing how little attention the two paid to him before he continued again.
“okay..okay please don’t go yet , I ...I have money , lots of money , I can give you money , anything you want , I swear just don’t call anyone yet please”

He continued again sobbing and crying.
“Are you out of your mind, are you sick or something , there is a dead girl in your hotel room and you want to bribe us ,whats that going to do?”

Joseph replied angrily as he made his way for the door.
“I am sorry…I don’t know what else to say , I don’t want to go to jail , please I am innocent”

The man replied in again in hot tears amidst his confusion and fear.
“Jo…joseph ehm wait first, please wait …”
“Wait what, what are you talking about?”

Joseph asked Eric.

“reduce your voice a bit ,wait we cant do this..we cant do this like this…”
Eric paused for a minute and took a good stare at the body and then the man , he exhaled sharply and shook his head as if to clear a thought before he continued.

“…come with me , I want us to talk about something now”
Eric concluded as he beckoned on joseph to follow him outside ,shutting the door behind the man and the body in the room, once he was able to drag joseph to a good distance from the room , he made his intentions clear.

“Joseph I don’t think the man is responsible”
Eric opened up to his friend.

“And so what, there is a dead girl in his room, if he is innocent then its the job of the police to find that out not us , what we have to do now is to go report the matter now,do you know what would have happened if he had escaped and left the body in that room, I bet you and I would be the suspects of the police”

Joseph replied clearly having none of what is friend was saying, it wasn’t even something to discuss , the consequences of not reporting the case to the police was very serious.

“what if..what if there is another way out ,what if we don’t have to report to the police and we still can sort this out”
Eric replied again.

“what?, what are you talking about ,how on earth ae we supposed to sort this out , we have a body , a lifeless human being in a hotel room where I work ,how do I sort that out eric?”
Joseph asked angrily.

“okay, okay we cant just sort it out but just listen to me , joseph that man is stinking rich, like I can see it in his eyes that he is swimming in money , listen ,listen call me crazy …”
“.you are crazy eric…”

“..wait joseph please hear me out, you are not thinking this straight , if the police come hear ,first of all , they are going to sweep us all to the station, then the hotel is going to be locked indefinitely putting you out of a jo and probably beat the statements out of us , this man is a wealthy man I can feel that , if he is willing to offer us money do you think he wouldn’t also offer the police money and when they do accept, who do you think will take the blame for the murder or have you forgotten you also sell illegal performance drugs here, this people can easily manufacture one story and force you to sign it as a statement and once that’s done , who would want to listen to what we have to say then eh?”

Eric said and a for some minutes Joseph thought hard of what his best friend had said ,truly this was a good and likely scenario , in a country where even judges could be bribed what chance does he , a nobody in the society without money have against someone like this, he didn’t like the outcome and wondered why he hadn’t thought about the implications on his path.

“But you know that’s not true, we had nothing to do with the girl , you know that”

Joseph replied dully and quite nervous now.
“listen the worst comes to the worst , the police can charge us even as accomplice to the murder if that’s what really happened, there is no way we are getting off this easily Joseph but I have a plan and you are going to trust me on this if it’s to work and I promise you dear friend if you do we might end up been rich”

Eric said unable to hide the excitement in his eyes.
“okay,what do we do then?”
Joseph replied.
“good, listen we are going to demand some money from him…”
“what,why ….”
“just listen like I said this man has money, joseph I can get rid of the body , listen…”

He paused to see the shock on his friend’s face once he said that.
“listen I know of a place not far from here where a body was discovered last three weeks , its just a road side junction , at this hour I bet no one will be there , see we are going to take some pictures of the man and the body just in case this man tries to act funny with us in the near future , demand some money from him and let him go”

Eric said , he was in fact good with making up plans for whatever situation he needed to handle, a small time burglar and a onetime car thief , it wasn’t hard for him to think of something out of the situation.
“but why do we have to ask money from him , it feels a bit wrong for me”

Joseph said again.

“listen , see let me tell you , this man is desperate I bet if we asked him for his life right now he will give us , he has made us an offer ,what’s so wrong about taking it , besides I am not ready to do anything without getting something out of it neither should you , listen its better this way than the police like I have explain, get your phone , we will take a few pictures as a collateral and demand some money , besides you and I could use some of it , or aren’t you tired of been poor , you know your mom’s condition and your sister , this is a good opportunity to earn something good I tell you”

Eric pressed on his views on the matter.
“I don’t know about this , I really don’t know about this but…”
Joseph paused for a second and took a stare at his friend who seem confident about his plans.

“..but I trust you ,yes I trust you on this”

Joseph concluded shaking his head as both guys then walked back to the room, once inside the room they found the man still shaken up by the scene and was still trying to check for a sign on the body.
“you didn’t call the police did you? , please tell me you didn’t call the police , I swear..”

“It’s okay ehnnn Joseph take the pictures “

Eric said with a straight face much to the confusion of the man, joseph had gotten some good ones and had started recording the scene when the man again began to panic sensing danger of some kind.
“what, what is this, what are you guys trying to do, why are you recording ,what are you trying to do…”

“..listen Mr. man, listen carefully first of all what my friend is doing right now is called collateral okay, I know the likes of you , you can easily sweep this sort of things under the carpet and get others to take the blame for it and even if we help you ,you might come back and start threatening us but now we have proof of what really happened here which we can anytime turn to the public and the police, secondly we are going to help you with the body , I mean we can help you dispose of it but on one condition, we will need some money from you, you give us what we want and you can walk down that door and forget about all this ,you can go on with your normal life then”

Eric replied passing a stare at his friend who seemed unsure about whatever was happening right now.

The man seem to have calm down a bit more having thought through what he had been told.

“you mean you will help me dispose of her, what will you do to Mirah, what will you do to her body?”
He asked still.

“Mirah is that what you call her, nothing we will ride out and look for a place to put the body where she can be found easily and identified that’s all after then you are going to drop us right here and then move on with your life”

Eric concluded, indeed he had thought of the whole plan, he thought to himself.
“hmmm….”

The man paused for a minute as if to think and then stared at Joseph who felt a bit uncomfortable about it.
“..is your friend going to help us too?”
He asked Eric.

“We want 100, no we want 200 hundred thousand naira right here right now , if you don’t have it , we will call the police and you can forget all I have just told you”

Eric said ignoring the man’s question.
“I don’t ..i don’t have that …”

“..then forget it , joseph go use the telephone to call the..”
“..i mean I don’t have that much in cash, I can...”

The man paused for a minute , a bit saddened and sullen as he took another long look at mirah who was still sprawled on the bed lifeless.
“..I can make a transfer if you have an account number here with you”
He said wiping off some hot beads of sweat from his head, he had been sweating so much he didn’t even realize the air conditioner in the room was working, eric offered his account by which the transfer was done upon confirmation of the transfer , Eric passed a dull smile at Joseph.

“I have seen it , that’s very good huh okay here is what we are going to do…” he paused and stared at his phone to get an idea of time for the first time ever since he woke up to the incident.

“..its 3:45am now , we don’t have much time now , Oga we will need to gather her belongings first , there must be no property of hers left in this room, anything that can be traced right back to her must be disposed of immediately “
Eric said.

“she ….she only came with a bag, her phones and everything else is in there , it seems she was preparing to leave when she …”
Again the words were a bit hard for the man to pronounce now , he still couldn’t believe this wasn’t a nightmare of some kind.
“..she died”

He managed to say taking a bag from the floor and presenting it to Eric.
“Give my friend that one , we will dispose of it ,first we have to move this body , go down to your car and drive close to the entrance door …”
Eric paused seeing how nervous the man was again once he had produced his keys from his pocket.

“..if you try to escape or run away , remember we have information that can always point back at you , do as I say and we all can go our separate ways and forget about this night, is that okay?”
Eric warned as the man nodded positively.
“I don’t trust that man”

Joseph said finally taking a look at the man as he made his way out to the stairs.

“Relax, he is not a fool we have him where we want okay, we even have 200 hundred thousand naira ,can you imagine that ?”
Eric said.

“hmm what do we do now?”
Joseph asked hesitatingly.

“come help me with the body now”

Eric said before both guys were able to drag and body off the bed and right into the shoulders of Eric.

“Don’t think this i8s something I have done before with the way you are looking at me , she is dead and gone , there is nothing we can do for her but there is something she could do for us who are still alive and in need of that money, you will have to go down and switch off the lights at the junction box which will help me get across the hallway without been noticed accidentally by anyone, is that okay?”

Eric added before joseph walked out of the room hurriedly , he could feel his heart thump faster , to be sincere he had never seen a lifeless body nor talk less of putting one on his shoulders but he was prepared to do whatever he could to make something out of this for him and his friend , he waited for some more minutes and was now wondering what was keeping his friend waiting before the lights went off , a few murmur could be heard from some of the rooms before they went silent again, though he would have preferred to just run down the stairs but he was a bit surprised how heavy the body was, finally getting out of the room , he descended down the stairs slowly in the darkness until his feet felt the floor of the lobby, he heaved a sigh of relief when he met joseph with a torch light ,once out of the lobby they were able to get the body in immediately drove out of sight right into the darkness in top speed.

Chapter Two


Joseph arrived at the Buchi Teaching Hospital where his mother has been admitted for three months and a half now, a case of kidney failure with need for surgery to sustain her life was needed, with Nneka and Jeffrey , his siblings all out of school and trying to make a living doing one thing or another , it has been however hard for him the senior to do much , many a times he had tried to get publicity and donations but scrupulous elements down the pipeline of such efforts ensured nothing realistic ever came out to meet the 2million price tag for the surgery , thankfully she was a strong woman who would never give up that easily and has held on to life this long.

He made his way through the ward when a message entered his phone ,upon glancing through the message , he gave a dull smile at the confirmation of his landlord receiving his house rent which he had successfully paid in full once Eric had gave him an equal share of the money they got from what he still felt was an unfortunate incident a day ago but Eric had assured him it was the right thing to do and to be honest that money did come in handy , today he had bought some snacks from a nearby eatery for his sister who stayed with his mother most of the times and had a little more for some drugs his mother needed.

“brother hah you came early today”
Nneka said with excitement as she found a chair for him to sit on close to his mother who was fast asleep.

“this is for you nneka , try not to eat everything at once eh”
Joseph said with a smile handing the little pack to her which she collected happily.
“how is mommy, how is she doing?”

Joseph continued seeing how worn out is mother was as she slept , he felt pained to see her like this often but having left university half way through due to financial problems , getting a job that could pay for her upkeep from time to time was impossible, he noticed how cold Nneka had become once he asked her about their mother and felt nervous about it.

“Nneka , I said how is mama doing?”
He asked again.

“Brother hmm , brother , mama hasn’t been doing well recently, her condition was been deteriorating almost every day now and her medicines have long been utilized , she has been off her medications for a long time now because there isn’t much money to get more but the doctor was around to check on her just yesterday and asked for you to see him when I told him you said you were going to be around today, he said its very important he speaks with you”

Nneka replied before her brother nodded, reviewed his mother’s case file which was on the cabinet by his side to identify the doctor’s name in charge of her and the list of drugs his mother needed then stood to take his leave.

“Please eh take care of mama while I go see the doctor and pay for more drugs , Jeffrey will be done at the mechanic workshop by afternoon so he will come help you watch her while you go home to prepare some food , here take this so you can go to the market once Jeffrey comes”

Joseph said handing over some money to her before he walked out of the ward, it took ten minutes before he could locate the office of the doctor luckily he was around and willingly to see him.
“Good Afternoon Sir, I take it your sister was able to get to you?”

The doctor asked as he stared blankly at Joseph who nodded calmly.
“That’s very good now let’s talk about your mother who I would say is one of the strongest patient we have had so far who is struggling with a critical kidney failure, listen I won’t mince words with you your mother is in dire need of that surgery, her system can’t keep up again and the drugs haven’t been steady too….”

The doctor paused for awhile, exhaled sharply and then removed his glasses, truly he did feel sad about the patient’s condition.

‘personally from what your sister have been able to explain to me on your efforts to raise the needed money for her operation, I have been impressed , I know they have not been as successful as you would want but I must say I am impressed but you need to do more , your mother’s life depends on that and am sorry the management may be forced to withdrawn their services from the patients and may ask you to come carry our mother soon…”

“what, why, why would they want to do such a thing?”
Joseph interrupted the doctor alarmed by his words.

“..listen many a times people have been admitted here , I am talking about cases that are far gone and forcing the responsibilities on us , you must understand an hospital where deaths are occurring is no hospital anyone wants to go by the directions of the management , each patient is on a strict surveillance , if your mother case is considered as one which…”

“doctor , how long does she have then?”
Joseph asked with reddish eyes , he knew where the doctor was heading to now and hoped to find something encouraging to hold on to.
“…hmmmm , I cant really say your mother is a very strong woman like I said but if i will give three weeks from now before it goes critical after which I will be forced to report her condition to the management”
The doctor concluded as silence ensured between the two of them for a while letting the tv set to come to life.

“....the new purchase is considered an aggressive takeover strategy by Specto Oil and Gas Manufacturing industries own President Mr. Macaulay .K. Bishop as he prepares to launch the companies off shore exploration campaign this coming month which is estimated to be about around 1.2 billion naira …”

“hah the rich and the mighty in the society , they have no idea how lucky they are sometimes to be able to afford the things they afford”
The doctor said taking his stare away from the TV and breaking the silence between them, Joseph was far deep in thoughts when he heard the doctor’s voice and realized he hadn’t spoken a word since, he managed a dull smile and took a look at the TV , his surprise expression got the doctor curious.
“Are you okay , hmm is there anything the matter?”
The doctor asked.

“Erhmm no, nothing , nothing at all , I must take my leave now”
Joseph said quickly before exiting the doctor’s office, once out he stood there for a minute and tried to comprehend what he had just seen on the TV, no it couldn’t possibly be, his mind must have been playing a trick or two on him, he made for his phone and decided to clarify his suspicions and after a minute or two on the internet , he was suddenly left dazed and confused.

Two nights ago had seen him lodge a strange man with a girl who happened to have dead mysteriously in his bed on the grounds of been accused and fingered as the killers , he and his Eric had decided to get rid of the body and evidence , letting the man go free after he did part with some money , now he realized who the strange man was, it was indeed clear as crystal to realize this same man who was televised some just seconds ago was no other than one of Lagos’s multi-billionaire and business tycoon , how could he have missed that one detail , of course he hadn’t seen him in appearance before two nights ago but he had seen him on various media outlets from news to entertainment gist, how could he have missed such , he asked himself again as he shook his head bitterly , he decided to go get the drugs for his mother first and pass a call through to Eric to tell him the news , he wondered what scrupulous idea or plan Eric would think of it but whatever it was , he knew he wanted to be a part of it this time .

Miles away from the hospital , Detective Ahmed squeezed the butt of his cigar before flinging it away, his face was sweaty and the sun was high up above the open skies, he wondered why the patrol team was finding it difficult to evacuate the body off the scene, could the latest body be associated to others that have for a month now been found dumped at strategic locations within the state or was this another random case, he wondered while this was not an official investigation , he was however bent on finding some answers though he wondered why hadn’t the police responded to the emergency hotlines when a body had been reported to have been dumped at the popular Ole junction where another body some weeks prior was also dumped at, though nothing out of the ordinary was found on her , she was still on her red gown and shoes to match except for a bag which he knew she would have with her , the body showed no sign of violence nor a struggle to make a case for a murder except for the thick foam in her mouth which could be as a result of many things including poison and various health conditions unlike the other cases reported which without a doubt were cases of murder.

“Sir we are done , the body has been evacuated off the scene”
An officer came up to him under the shade where he stood at.
“When did you say the first call was passed through concerning the body?”

He managed to say once he got his car keys out.
“Ehn that would be around 9:00 am in the morning yesterday , from what a few people were willing to tell us ,some said they did see the body much earlier say 6:00 am same yesterday”

The police replied promptly, getting a nod from the detective.
“I see , okay let’s go back to the station , once I turn in my findings I will be off , I don’t think this is connected to the case the state criminal investigation department was tasked with investigating”

The detective said , truly he had hoped the case was somewhat connected to the existing investigation of a series of murders that were rocking the state at that time ; something he had been sent down from the headquarter to check out once the nearest division registered the emergency call ,from the looks of things his job was done and wondered how the Division would handle the case from there on wards without a proper investigator , she was quite beautiful and wondered how pained and hurt her family would be once the news eventually get them, perhaps he could buy more time and at least see where this case would lead him ,though this was never his primary assignment but he had convinced himself to stay on it and find out how she died and find who or whatever ever was responsible for her death.

He made his way to the division just in time to find the deputy police officer about to leave , managing to find a parking space he got in touch with the man and introduced himself as the detective that had been sent down to check out the body the division had called in earlier.
“Oh I see , that’s good but I thought you were supposed to wait for the body here at the station , I have been waiting for you for quite some time now and then the police called in saying you had arrived at the scene instead”

The DPO said quite unhappy about the detective ‘s choice of action.
“I am very sorry about that sir, you see most times its important we take a first person view of the scene of the crime before anything else , thankfully the traffic wasn’t much so I got in touch with the corresponding police3 officer over here who directed me to the scene, am very sorry for keeping you waiting”
Detective Ahmed said calmly.

“Well its okay, my job here is to keep this division running , your job is to investigate cases like this so I would say you know better on such grounds …”
He paused and stared at the patrol van which his men had got off and were now attempting to take down the body.

“..I see that’s the body , well I take it your job was to observe the body and see if its somehow connected to the others and so have you been able to establish such connection?”
He asked the detective who nodded negatively.

“ I don’t think so sir , there are no evidence to support the claims but sir I was hoping I could talk to you about it, you see I would like to investigate this case to be exact I cant say if it is for sure or not and if I can get a week or so I can connect the dots and even find answers and bring the culprits to justice once the autopsies confirms it’s a murder , from what I know and have read this is the second murder case your division has recorded am sure you would like to get it solved , wont you?”

The detective asked hoping the DPO see through his offer, he himself couldn’t extend his stay nor take the case except the DPO put the call through on his behalf requesting for the assistance of a detective in the matter.
“Erhmm well …”

The DPO seemed a bit reluctant to yield once he paused but this was something he was used to and have had to deal with in the past plus he always made sure to get what he wanted.

“..you can relax about my welfare which is to be provided for by the division, I will take care of my welfare and if you want I can share an office with anyone, it’s just a week tops plus this might not even be a murder but an health complication so I think you should be okay with our agreement this way”
Detective Ahmed added , this was an offer on a platter of gold for the DPO not to take , it did worked in the past but only on very big cases he wanted which did give him a boost in his career now he wondered if this would do same for him.

“okay that’s fine by me, I will make the necessary call and by the end of today you will get a confirmation response from me but we have a deal here , just one week as you can see this is a very small set up here , we hardly get the attention of the authority in terms of man power and finance and all that however I will try and make sure you are provided with everything you will need for the investigation if it demands one after all”

The DPO said with a warm smile before releasing his number to the detective and driving off the station.

In his four and a half years as a detective, he always had a good nose for the cases he picked, whilst everything looked set he hoped he hadn’t make a mistake on this one.

At 5:00 PM Joseph made for the Manner Bar down his street thankfully he still had time to roam around before heading to the hotel, once he managed to take a seat, he made more research on Bishop , hoping to know more about the multi-billionaire who they had helped cover a possible murder.

“you said we needed to discuss?”
Eric said as he approached joseph who offered him is phone.
“take a look and tell me what you think”

Joseph said just in time to catch the Eric’s attention flare up almost immediately once he too realize who he was starring at on the phone.

“Jesus Christ…”
Eric took his seat a bit agitated and excited as he returned joseph’s phone back to him.
“…I don’t believe this”
Eric said with both hands on his head as he starred at Joseph who seemed more calm now.

“It’s him, Eric , he is the same person, I have checked ,searched and made some findings , the pictures and even the video are still intact on my phone , its either he has an exact twin brother or he has a clone , eric I can assure you this is the man”
Joseph replied.
“No wonder it was so easy for him to dish that much to us and not worry over it , and to think we were asking pennies from him when we could have asked for more hah ….”

Eric paused for a moment , everything happened so fast that night and he hadn’t had a proper thought about it since but knowing what he knows now he felt somewhat angry and pained to have missed on an opportunity such as that.

“you know….we can still get more”
Joseph said hesitatingly as Eric’s eyes lit up once more with excitement.

“How ,what do you mean we can still…”

Eric paused as his mind did the calculation, they still had the photos and video which are strong evidences pointing Bishop to be the prime suspect , such evidence which cannot be easily discredited by any authority ,such that was perfect for a blackmail.
“..are you suggesting we …."

“we blackmail him for some cash ,just a little and after then we are done with him, just a little cash as you can see this man has a lot of money and I am sure a few millions won’t do him no harm besides he has a lot to lost if this information leaks out , think about it , one thing I know for such is that people like this try as much as possible to stay away from the eyes of the public and the media , he may not be scarred of the police but I bet the media will ruin him as a business man , now I think about it , this could only be the reason why such a high and mighty of the society would want to take a girl to an hotel that isn’t all fancy or glaring like my work place, the thing is I cant do this alone , you and I helped this man dispose of her and its only right we two get to work this out together”

Joseph countered letting Eric think about it for a while.

“..hmmm I see you have thought through everything but I have to know something before I give my answer , why are you doing this because the Joseph I know might sell illegal performance drugs and be willing to assist help some stranger dispose of something he doesn’t want to but you actually trying to convince me on this , feels strange because I consider you to be a good guy maybe not so good but you are a lot better than I and a lot of the crazy people out there in the streets , so what made you think this through?”

Eric asked, never in his mind had he thought of Joseph trying to convince him on doing something criminal or illegal as this ; something he admired in secret about his friend.
“hmmm…”

Joseph hesitated for a minute or two , while his friend was indeed telling the truth he wondered if he should reply in kind or make something up.

“..it’s my mother Eric, she is dying gradually and I don’t want her to at least not this way , you know me and how things have been really rough for me, my siblings and my mom, I had to pull out of school as did my siblings , if crime is the only way out for me to change the lives of my siblings and help my mother recover then I am willingly to do it , I don’t care about the consequences plus its guys like this in the society that makes everything hard for us down the food chain , cost of living , job opportunity ,everything is on a hike because of them so why should I care about them it is not like if I ever ask him to give me 2million if one day I happen to see he would so why not I use this opportunity to take it from him, its just a one deal thing , after its done I delete the pictures and the video and we are done , so don’t see it as a black mail cause its not a job , just this once , you can have a enough to start a business or do whatever you want likewise myself”

Joseph concluded as his friend nodded his head quite impressed by his explanation.
“I believe you joseph and I am with you on this plus I am very pained right now all I could ask for was 200 hundred thousand naira, so how much are we asking for?”
Eric asked letting his friend to think for some minutes about the perfect ransom.

“I will say let’s ask for 20 Million naira, we each get 10 million when its done plus its merger compared to the cost of his latest acquisition worth over 1.2 billion naira”
Joseph replied.

“hmmm I think its very fair and safe for a ransom, so when do we call him or wait a minute how do we even contact him in the first lace , its not like we have his number somewhere we can use”
Eric asked.

“I still have her cell phones and her purse with me...”
“..you didn’t dispose of it too?”
“..i thought I could make a quick sale after I found out the phones were quite expensive”
“Joseph that’s stupid of you , do you know that phone or the purse could be tracked back to you at some point , anyway where are they now?”

“..Am sorry I was hoping I would do that at some point , the purse and the phones are still at my place , I will switched them on and see if I can get the number if I cant get it I will dispose of everything and see if I can get it online maybe the social media channels can also help too”
Joseph replied.

“Please do get rid of those items soon , trust me you don’t want the police or anyone finding those stuff with you , that will completely turn everything around ,okay?”

Eric said clearly worried about his friend’s inability to pull through his original plans for those items.

“I understand I will do that as soon as I get home then you can come see me at the hotel later on say 10: 00 pm tonight to pass our demands to him, is that okay?”

Joseph replied before both friends took their leave from the bar.

Chapter Three



Igue Peter made his way for the elevators which took him directly to the top floor of the building, once there he met with Stephanie at her office desk after which they both exchanged pleasantries.
“He is in there , he asked you meet with him as soon as you came right up”

Stephanie said calmly pointing Peter to the office of the President and Managing Director of Specto Oil and Gas Manufacturing Company and personal friend of his.
“you made it ,hah that’s very good please take a seat , there is urgent matter to discuss”

Bishop welcomed his friend inviting him to one out of the two vacant executive chairs before his desk.
“hahah Bishop what has got your feathers ruffled up this beautiful day that you had to send your personal driver to come pick me up from the bank …”

He took his seat finally and continued.
“..you know some of us aren’t multi-billionaires and we do have to work to earn our money right besides …”

“forget that Peter , I am in a lot of trouble right now , I am really messed up right now”

Bishop interrupted his friend hurriedly, he was sweating profusely again and seemed nervous but why wouldn’t he, after three nights ago he escaped a nightmare which he hadn’t quite gotten over and the received call which brought his fears into reality last night.
“..what is it , why are you….”

Peter paused for a moment upon realizing how nervous and agitated his friend seemed which was quite a strange one for a man he believed was always cheerful.

“Bishop what is it , are you in some kind of trouble, talk to me come on”
Peter pressed on for more details.
“Peter I am finished , I am in a hot mess that is going to ruin me , I am really done for this time”

Bishop lamented much to the disappointment of peter who was looking for more information on the what the problem was .
“Oh come on don’t say something like , hah Bishop please enough of that talk , you tell me the problem I believe you brought me all the way from my working place for a reason so tell me , I could just be able to help you out you know like I do, did you get into some trouble with the law or is there a stockholder or…”

“its mirah , peter something bad happened..”

He rubbed his face gently with his palm for a brief moment.
“Mirah , what happened to mirah that reminds me she wasn’t at work today , I had to cover up for her when the a supervisor from the headquarters wanted to see her ”
“..Peter , she is dead”

Bishop said painfully, he held his head in his palm to hide a tear or two that had been threatening to flow down for some time now.
“what , how, when, where , jesus , bishop what happened , I mean how did this happen ,when?”

Peter questioned his friend confusingly, the news came as a bit of a surprise to him once bishop dropped .

“I..I..I..dont know what happened really, it all started three days ago after I secretly planned a night out with her , we were supposed to be at my private suite unfortunately I had some minor renovation and work still going on there honestly I had thought the work would have been done by that time but it wasn’t so she insisted we go to her place but I couldn’t risk it so I suggested we go to some quite place for the night not that I couldn’t take her to one of the big hotels but more eyes means someone might recognize someone of my caliber hence a media outburst so we go to…to this hotel I searched online that fits what would draw non attention to us ,we go there and take a room while she wasn’t too happy about the set up , we made love and then I decided to rest a while , she seemed in a hurry to leave not that it mattered to me but then I felt her body collapse on the bed and I didn’t even take it as anything , it was some minutes later I felt an erring sensation about how quiet she had become that made me wake up to check on her and then I realize ….”

He couldn’t hold himself any longing as the tears rain down his eyes freely.

“Its okay bishop , its okay but I have to know what happened then”
“..yes ,yes of course”

He sobbed a bit more before managing to pull himself together.
“…I realize something was wrong when all my attempts to wake her or get her to respond to me was in vain then I checked for her pulse which had suddenly gone mute it was then I realized she was dead, i was sent into deep confusion and panic Immediately , it wasn’t looking good for me at all, I thought of calling the police but then if I did , I will be exposed as well, I couldn’t imagine someone of my status been in the next day news for murder of his lover in some local hotel ,that would be the end of me…”

Again the emotions threatened but he did manage to continue his story as he explained the events that ensured afterwards.
“My God, I almost cant believe this bishop , you mean the two guys helped you dumped her body on some road side after you parted with some money and they took pictures and video of what happened ,oh my God , bishop…”

“that’s not the only thing peter , the boys called my line yesterday demanding 20 million naira from me which they want paid to some account or they would expose what happened, I am really in a big mess now am I not?”
Bishop asked painfully.

“I knew this was going to happen , I just knew it , who takes pictures of a body just to protect themselves from persecution they practically had the whole thing figured out , but first of all have you heard anything so far about the body?”
Peter asked.

“I don’t know I thought you will be the first to know , assuming she is your co staff at the bank , the boys did dispose of her purse and her phones so identifying her might take some time , the body might still be there in the streets as we speak”
Bishop replied.

“Hah this is quite unfortunate Bishop , mirah is dead and now you have people who want to blackmail you on top of it , I know you might be considering giving this people the ransom but bishop they wont stop until they take away everything you have worked for and earned that’s how blackmails work its like one of those spam emails that keep flooding your computer even when you are clearly not interested in it….”
Peter paused for a moment and made his way for the portable executive wine cooler which held some bottles , selecting a good whiskey and two drinking glasses he returned to the table.

“..first we are going to have a drink then I am going to tell you what we are going to do and you are going to have to listen to me on this one”
Peter said stretching the half filled glass of whiskey to his friend who reluctantly takes it, both men had taken a drink or two which did help bishop calm down momentarily.

“..you look better , now this is what we are going to do or rather what I am going to do , I am going to have to track down this guys and convince them to hand over the information they have on you , clearly this guys are amateur I believe I think I can get them scared enough to make them give up those files on you”

Apart from been a banker he was no stranger to this kind of shady stuff in fact it was a threat to life on one occasion a year ago he had handled for Bishop that had opened the door for their friendship, had he not been the one who introduced mirah to him two months when he came around the bank to see the managing director , he did know of the extra marital affair and so many others before this ,for he was the kind of guy bishop trusted with his secrets and once more he intended to stand up to the problem his friend was faced with.
“Can you really do it?”

Bishop asked quite uncertain of his friend’s ability to help him with the problem at hand.

“yes I can , just gimme me the details , the hotel where this boys work , if I am certain the fools wont bother to go into hiding making it easier for me to get to them in time, I promise you I am going to find these people , am sorry about mirah , she may have suffered an health complication you know but then again the idea of been found out in a hotel with your side chick is enough to make you lose a lot including your marriage which you have sacrificed so much for”
Peter said.

“hmmm please don’t put your self in danger because of me , if things don’t go as plan maybe they will keep their word if I send them the money after all but just so things don’t work out the way you have said I will make the payments immediately and hope for the best”
Bishop added.

“you need not worry dear friend , I have never failed you before and I don’t intend to fail you now , I will get them it’s a promise, I don’t want you to worry anymore , what has happened has happened , people are going to discover the body , the police will eventually identify her and get to her family in good time , just relax okay , I hate to see a boss man like you whimper and sob this way , I am going to take care of the problem”
Peter said reassuringly before both men drank a few more glasses.

Detective Ahmed made his way to Sergeant Chirstopher, he walked briskly in hopes to catch up with the sergeant who the deputy police officer had assigned to him to help him out with the investigation , today he was welcomed at the courter by one of the constable with a message , which he hoped to confirm.
“The autopsy result came back?

Detective Ahmed asked as soon as he found himself a vacant chair in the office .
“Good afternoon Detective , yes we finally received the soft copy , I intended to send it to you but ….”

“let’s forget all that now ,can I have the results?”
He asked impatiently snatching the envelope that contained the result from the sergeant who let him have it.
He took his time to go through the document, reading carefully the medical analysis, the results were not what he had been hoping for.
“inconclusive, what do they mean by that?”

The detective stressed angrily dumping the letter on the desk as the sergeant looked on.
“Sir, is there anything the matter?”

“They said she has toxic substances in her guts believed to be key components of a sexual performance drug which she was allergic to, she died from the allergic reaction , its inconclusive because they can’t tell for sure if she willingly took it or not, apart from the bruises in her genital area there was nothing else to indicate a foul play”
Detective Ahmed replied reluctantly.

Sir, what was the last thing you mentioned just now?”
“The report said there were little abrasions …..”

Detective Ahmed paused for a minute , he hadn’t quite thought of the minuscule observation the medical analysis had made until now.

“…bruises around the genital areas , a good indication that the victim had sexual ….”
He paused to confirm what he was saying , surely if what he was thinking was right , the medical analysis must have some suggestions concerning it.
“.. I don’t believe this, miniscule traces of semen where also discovered …”
He dropped the letter calmly with a smile now , the possibilities of this new discovery were numerous now he thought about.
“..our victim dead during or after a sexual encounter with someone , the fact that the body was found alongside a road could mean something else , right now I can’t say much she may have died on her way from this encounter or so but hmmm…”

It was quite a challenge as more possibilities opened up to the seasoned detective , whilst it could be an health complication as observed by the medical analysis , the circumstances surrounding the death itself was a mystery of its own, he had no time to wait to revaluate his choice of sticking around and finding out the answers he seek, optioning to treat the case as a murder case he proceeded to inform eh sergeant on what next to do.

“..we need to send a memo to other branches about cases of missing females reported over the week , identifying this lady is our top priority and how We can get the answers we need , I will call one of my sources in the media and get them to spread the news , lets see what happens”
Detective Ahmed concluded before walking out of the office , once out he stood to comprehend the details a little bit closely , clearly there was lack of distinctive information concerning how she had died , from his personal assessment she seemed more of a middle or upper class citizen meaning she must be a worker or own some business , she must at least have people who are looking out for her by now , what was she doing at the junction and if she was found in the early hours of the morning it only meant she must have found her way there by night , but a roadside such as that was no place to catch a ride at night especially at night for a lady like that , he wondered.

He got out his phone and decided to place a call to a friend who works in the media to assist him on his case , after passing the information he retreated to his office which he shared with another officer and see what he could find online.

Thirty minutes passed before his big breakthrough came in as the Sergeant joined him at the office quite excited.
“You have good news for me, sergeant?”
He asked with hopeful eyes.

“I just received a call from lekki division, after I put a call out for missing females within that timeline, they rerouted a call to us from a certain Alice who filled in a missing report on her sister a day earlier, a certain Mirah Okoubi , I called her and asked for a picture to help us check and this is was the file she sent shortly…”

The sergeant said stretching his phone with an image on the screen to the detective who took it quickly for closer observations.
“..the profile are a match sir , for physical verification I have asked her to come down to the station though I didn’t disclose anything yet to her I did tell her we might have some useful information about her sister”
The sergeant concluded with a dull smile much to the satisfaction of the detective who felt the sergeant had done a professional job at identifying the victim.

“Excellent job sergeant , this is indeed our victim…”
Returning the sergeant’s phone back to him.
“..Please make sure the first person she sees when she gets here is me , once she can identify the victim I will have to ask her some vital questions”

The detective concluded as the sergeant nodded and took his leave.
Once he settled down , he went online to check out what he could find on social media . surely such a girl would have some account online , which he believes would be active and as such could help him establish her last active hours and maybe even her last location.
Just minutes into the search, his findings came back positively , he was able to construct a timeline which followed up to the evening of the day before her body was found indicating she was alive, her last activity online was tagged at 7:15PM three days ago,

although whilst her activities gave no clue to where she was or who she was with , he knew for a moment her phone was last used at that time ,a further more search revealed she was a banker with one of the new generational banks up in lekki where she lived in a recently acquired property of hers , images he could see online also gave a detailed account of her luxurious lifestyle with two highly expensive cars which she acquired almost simultaneously , in fact her latest activities indicated she may have been in the process of acquiring a new one, a more deeper search revealed she either kept her relationships out of her social media channels or didn’t have any at the time.

He scribbled important details into his small notebook which he produced from his coat and then replaced it back , as his mind began to go through the details , a lot of things were not adding up at the moment , her luxurious lifestyle was something that definitely couldn’t be supported by her job as a mere banker , what’s more was the rapid or almost instant nature of the acquisitions and her move into her new apartment in one of the most expensive places in lekki, was she involved in some dark deeds or was this the work of some secret lover , why would a lady with two expensive vehicles be found dead , was this some car theft gone wrong but what about the sexual performance drugs found in her system or the bruises which indicated she did have intercourse shortly with someone , could this be a rape case gone wrong?

He wondered as he sat there , now he thought about it , the case seemed pretty interesting and mysterious , he took a look at his watch and hoped the sister would be able to help him put in the missing pieces to all he had uncovered so far.

By 1:00 pm when the sun was blazing high up the sky, his short sleep was abruptly interrupted with a firm knock on the office door.
“yeah , its opened “

He managed to say before the sergeant and a girl in her early twenties , fair and looked a lot like the victim walked in, from her appearance it would appear she was quite upset and shaky about something.
“Sir, this is Martha , she was the one who put the call through”
“where is my sister , I was told you people had information about my sister ,.where is she?”
She asked hurriedly.

“Please calm down and take your seat first, sergeant please you too…”
Detective ahmed replied calmly, it was important he went through this process as calmly and slowly as he could, he reached for his file on the desk and continued.

“..We specifically asked for all calls relating to a missing person or missing persons reported within the last five days , ehmm can you tell me when last you saw or talked with your sister ?”
“Three days ago sir , she said she had some outing and she might stay over the night although there was something not particularly right about the whole thing?”

She replied prompting the detective to ask her why .
“She never goes anywhere without taking one of her cars along well that’s ever since she bought them, when she said she wont be taking her car , I did ask her why but she told me someone was to come pick her up”
“did you see who picked her up then?”

“No but please why this questions , did something bad happen to my sister , what happened ,why are you asking me all these questions?”
“Hmm please just bear with us for a moment , I will let you know of what we found okay?”

“okay sir , i..i didn’t see who came to pick her up because I was in the bathroom by the time I was out she had already left the house sir”
“Did she take anything along?”

“She did , her pulse and her phones were with her , some little fancy pulse she bought from her recent trip to dubai”
“really , she has travelled out to dubai , was this some business trip or what?”

“Oh not at all , although she keeps her relationships private and away from me but my sister has been seeing someone really big with a lot of money for the last two months , I don’t know who this person is , I haven’t met him in person and my sister has never talked about him , although I have eavesdropped on some phone calls and chats to know , she is seeing someone”

She replied , her disclosure seemed quite right and truthful so far.
“Please just one last question , is there anyone who you would suspect this person could be , if you were to take a wild guess?”
He asked once more.

“Ehmm I would say Peter Igue he is a colleague of hers at her working place , they have been on dates before in the past but then again peter is just another banker and from what I know I don’t see him as someone with that kind of money, my sister’s lifestyle has drastically changed within the last two months maybe he suddenly jackpot I don’t know”

She said , both men passed a stare at each other as if to decided how to break the news of her deceased sister to her.
“…I did promise to tell you what information we had concerning your sister , well we were called to a scene where a body had been…”
“..A body, jesus , is my sister dead?”
“..I am really sorry..”

Her scream cut her short as he stretched the pictures taken of the body to her , thankfully the sergeant had held on to her such that she cried bitterly on his shoulders for minutes.
“Please sergeant , do take her home now….”

He starred sympathetically at her as she wept uncontrollably .
“..I am sorry for your loss ma , we will get the necessary details to you soon enough , for now please do make the necessary arrangements you need to make ,the sergeant will fill you in on everything else”
The detective said before the sergeant managed to get her out of the office, while he produced his little notebook once more to write some more details he could see hear her wailing down the hallway of the station , he felt angered and even more determined to get to the bottom of the case.

At 8:02 PM , Joseph made himself comfortable over the bed in his one room apartment , he had taken a sick leave as advised by Eric for extra security measures , while he couldn’t help been nervous as each day passed after asking for the ransom which he demanded to be paid before the next four days , he however wondered if he had given too much time to such a wealthy person over a ransom as menial as that ,surely they were going to get paid big time , he wondered off thinking about a good business he could invest his share into once they get paid, he was beginning to dose off when he heard a knock on his door.

“It’s Eric , joseph open the door “
Eric voice got him up , once he managed to open the door , he was suddenly pushed to the ground by Eric who fell almost on his face too by someone else who followed Eric in immediately, shutting the door behind them.

His instinct were to make for a door or something but Eric who had sat upright with both kneels on the floor had given him a second thought about it ,finally taking a good stare at their unwanted visitor who brandished a gun anchored with a silencer at the mouth scared him so much he almost let out a scream.
“shut up and go on your kneels!”

The Peter said with a grin , he finally had the both of them were he wanted , after an hotel worker was much too happy to disclose where Joseph and his friend Eric lived for a few change , he had easily gotten to the workshop where Eric was just closing from and offered him a ride home , now he thought about it , they were indeed amateurs , the kind that he needed to execute his plans.
“where is it, give it to me…”

Peter said as both boys starred at each other for a minute.
“..i mean the pictures and the video , where are they?”
He continued angrily.
“Joseph , your phone give it to him please”
Eric pleaded as Joseph hurriedly produced his phone and handled it over to peter.

“is this the only copy of the media of files , where are the rest?”
He asked again.

“Oga sir, that’s the only phone we used , its not on any other phone , please we are very sorry , don’t kill us ,please we ….”
“shut your dirty mouth up …”

Peter paused for a moment , he seemed a bit angered by something as he paced to and fro the room momentarily.
“..it wasn’t supposed to be like this , you fools just ruined everything for me you know…”

He paused again , truly he and Mirah had a much better plan that wasn’t going to be blackmail, one which they had recently devised before her demise , one which could have made him rich beyond his wildest dreams , the situation at hand wasn’t how he had imagined it would be like, this two amateurs were now in the picture now , if what they were saying was true , he could easily just kill them both and destroy the event just as he had earlier promised but then he would end up the biggest loser , having lost two good opportunities to make his money, mirah’s demise was an unfortunate one , if things had gone as planned she would have gotten pregnant for him or worst fake it a demand for a huge payout from his girlfriend would certainly have settled him for life.
“please sir , don’t kill us , we are sorry sir , if it’s the 200 hundred thousand we …”

“I said shut up your mouth and let me think , you fool!”
Peter replied angrily.
“..you are going to ask for 300million naira”
Peter said finally as he found a chair to sit on while both boys starred at each other confusingly.
“Sir?”

“You heard me right , you are going to Bishop , tell him that the person he sent who failed to catch you guys has made you up the ransom to 300 million naira and this time to a different account which I am going to provide ….”

H exhaled calmly and starred hard at the two boys for a while.
“..i could kill the both of you right now and do this on my own but I wont , I and the girl whose body you two were so happy about dumping for a chicken change were going to try a different means to get that money but she is out of the picture now , you too are going to do as I say , you want 20million naira right, is that not what you asked for?”
Peter asked.

“Well no sir, I mean yes sir”
“That’s really low for a guy who is worth over 12billion naira , anyways I will keep the end of your initial ransom and give you two 20 million when this is all said and done…”

He threw the phone back at Joseph who managed to catch it.
“..call him right now and tell him what I told you earlier , this time 300 million naira within the next three days and then you are going to send this image to him along with the new account number to let him know we mean business, mincing of words , you are going to say it just the way I said it , is that understood?”
Peter warned.

Joseph hurriedly took the phone and a piece of paper peter gave to him shortly where he scribbled the details of an account.
He made the call shortly much to the satisfaction of peter, indeed his initial plans may have been foiled by his girlfriend’s untimely demise but this was proving quite efficient as well , one he could use anytime and every time he wanted, he had the perfect set of puppets he could use in blackmailing his dear friend without ever been suspected , the type he could do away with anytime he wished without drawing any sort of suspicion to himself.

He chuckled a bit and gave a very sadistic stare at the two of them .
“..if you ever think of crossing me on this , I promise you , I will find you two and finish you off , I will be constantly monitoring you and your families, I have the resources and I have the means , you do as I say none of you get harmed and at the end you get your 20million , is that understood?”

Peter asked the both of them who nodded positively, he stood up and took some time to stare at them and then asked for the phone once more after which her transferred the files to his own personal phone and then deleting the originals from Joseph’s phone.

“right now the two of you have nothing , you go to the police , you would only successfully finger yourself into the jail for life for aiding and abetting murder , I hold the aces in this game now not you , I know where you live ,where you work and soon I will know more about the both of you ,I will always be watching you so don’t think I am stupid , you try to run I will find you like I have done and there will be no mercy for the both of you but play this game like I want you two to and I promise you both will have you money …”
He paused again and seemed to remember something.
“….where are mirah’s phones?”
He asked.

“We disposed them long ago sir”
Eric said quickly.
“okay then , I guess we will be seeing soon enough then , I will keep in contact then “

Peter said before he shot twice at the ceiling which seemed to scare the two out of their skin so much they whimpered in fear .
“that could be any one of you if you try to cross you , I promise you I wont hesitate to put a bullet in your head , goodnight “

Peter said finally before he took his leaving the two alone to absorb the events that had ensured moments ago, he was certain they wouldn’t do anything , he had them in a tight corner , one that boxed them so much they had no means to escape.

Chapter Four

The next morning was colder than usual , Detective ahmed had slipped out of his hotel room and right into his blue sedan once he had had a good breakfast and a smoke , today was a good day he thought to himself , he had two hours of sleep through the night whilst he tried to work his case out , he did call a number of family friends of the deceased and a few other associates , however she did keep her relationship private and very close to her so much a few friends didn’t have a single clue about any mysterious man in her life at the point of her demise although a few who had given a hint or two came up with a name he was now familiar with , Peter Igue, while his social life seemed to be quite active and notably were his presence around the high and mighty of the society , as depicted by his media files posted in his social channels at various occasions and ceremonies where he had taken a picture or two with various business moguls and political personalities.

He sped off through into the highway in hopes to reach Her working place early , been early was a good thing , people were always calm at that moment with little to think and do such that it did make his job of questioning quite easy.

There were a lot of questions he needed to ask him , if he indeed was seeing the deceased that could either mean he was the one she was going to see or there was someone else in her life.

The drive took thirty minutes before he killed the engine and walked up to the bank just across the street, once inside he was directed to his courter, quite a gentleman he was, great smile , a good body, probably around 6feet tall, dark and masculine , his blue long sleeves and tie to match fit him properly , he even smelled nice too, his cubicle was quite neat and clean except for some picture frames he laid around strategically for others to see, he was forth coming during the introduction after which Peter took him to an empty office where they could talk properly.

“We all are still in shock over what happened in fact we are to see her family by 4 today , all staffs of the bank , you must understand Mirah was a hardworking employee and quite a nice person to be around , we will all miss her”

Peter said calmly as the detective produced his notebook and seem to be going through some vital information.
“Indeed, so does everyone keep saying, uhm Mr peter ….”
“please call me Peter”

“…Oh okay peter , I would like to ask you a few personal questions if you don’t mind , just so you know we have ruled out the possibility that this is some suicide or hence a need to investigate the circumstances surrounding her death and this includes those who we feel may have a personal relationship or were closer to her in some way or manner , am sure you understand …”

He stopped briefly to observe any changes in peter’s countenance which he didn’t get and so decided to push on.
“..Peter can you tell me what was your relationship like with the deceased ?”
He asked.

“Relationship? , I don’t understand like work relationship or what?”
Peter asked in a tone that suggested he didn’t understand what the detective might have been hinting at.
“I mean where you two seeing each other at the time?”
“Oh no definitely no sir …”
He chuckled briefly and continued.

“..sir, I understand a lot of people might have thought that of us but we weren’t , we were just close friends and I can assure you the only relationship between us was just work based “
Peter concluded , his eyes seem to tell the truth but then he wouldn’t be the first who was good at lying besides the deceased had mentioned of both going on dates at some time.

“is that so but according to the deceased sister , she said the both of you had gone on dates in the past”

He was quick enough to catch the flare in his eyes , a flare he could recognize whenever he did question someone who was lying , what was he hiding , why did he need to lie, he wondered.
“Oh…”

Peter chuckled again then readjusted himself on his seat under the watchful eyes of the detective.

“..well you see , well we did go on a couple of dates back then but it was nothing more than that in fact I wouldn’t even call it a date like a date , we sometimes just went for dinner and all that whenever we could and that was just it”

Peter said as silence filled the office for a while which did make him feel very uncomfortable at the time.
“Do you still have more questions , you must understand I have a job to do just as you too have yours, detective”
Peter added .

“Oh am sorry to keep you waiting , that would be all for now ..”
Peter had stood to take his leave before the detective decided to ask just one more question.

“..ehm sorry can you give me a break down of what you did four days ago between the hours of 7:00PM and 6:00AM the next day?”
“I ….I was at home all day , I had a headache so I decided to stay in door and rest it off , is there any other question you have in mind to ask me?”
Peter asked again.

“Oh no , that will be all if I have any more questions , I can come by and ask you…”

The detective stood too and offered his hand for an handshake which peter took after which they both went their various ways, back in his car he wondered if Peter was been truthful with anything he had said , a quick search online had showed him his various social media account , nothing in fact did point to any existing relationship between the two but also he was able to get his house address , a flat alongside three others in a wide compound surely someone should be able to know if indeed he was home all through that day and prove he was telling the truth, he brought the engine back to life and sped off.

At 11:13 AM, Joseph and Eric reached the hospital , they walked hurriedly through the ward until they got to his mother, The call had came through very early in the morning while he was still trying to work out the circumstance he and his friend were now faced with .
“Mama!”

Joseph said sympathetically as he joined her sister at his mother’s bedside who looked even worse than she had seemed previously.
The call had been from his sister telling him how critical their mother’s situation had become which almost claimed her life a night ago.
“welcome brother…” Nneka said offering her chair to his brother whilst eric stood by to watch.

“…the doctor was able to stabilize her , he said it was by the intervention of God as mama’s condition has become a lot worse than he had thought of before and the need for the operation soon if her life was to be saved, brother what ar we going to do now?”
She managed to say In between tears.

“its okay, I …I… am thinking of something as we speak …..”
He paused to wipe a tear away from his eyes.
“…Mama will soon go for the operation oh, don’t worry someone has planned to give us the money , mama is not going anywhere , do you understand me?”

Joseph said reassuringly , both friends sat for an hour or so before Eric had convinced his friend they needn’t to go tend to go, once they made it out of the hospital they began to discuss their next plan of action.
“We cant run , not anymore”

Joseph said with a sullen expression on his face.
“I know we can’t, this is the only place I know , even if I do where will I go to , what do I have to start a new life , its no good, our backs are against the wall in this mess”
Eric stressed.

“I am very sorry for bringing you into this , I shoud have know better…”
“don’t say that for all I know you saved us , think about it , if we hadn’t started the whole thing , he could have just killed us and do the whole thing himself , the fact that he kept us alive to continue the deal is because we had already started it, I mean there is still a chance he is going to kill us once he gets the money but…”
“..he wont “

Joseph said calmly , their was something reassuring in his voice that made Eric to question his statement .
“how do you know that, that guy put two bullets in your ceiling , that could have been the end of us , how do you know he is not going to kill us?”
Eric asked.

“I did something , it was a mistake at first but now I think about it I think it might be our way out of this mess you know”
Joseph replied.

“what did you do joseph?, tell me , what is it that could save our lives?”
“the new account number he gave for the renegotiation , I didn’t use it , I was tensed up and scared to death , I thought I used it but I realized I simply sent the former account again, whilst I am scared he is going to find out soon enough , I am hoping he does when the money is already sent….”

“..and if we have the money , don’t you think that’s even more reason to kill us?”

“Oh come on , he won’t if he does he can’t get the money , he is going to need us to get the money out whichever way it is , giving us enough opportunity to find our way out , this can buy us time Eric , apart from this , I don’t see any other move for us , we have now become pawns in his game for now and now more than ever I really do need that money for the sake of my family”

Joseph said finally , there was indeed no going back now he thought of it, seeing this out to the end was the only way out.

The trip back to the station was a lot quicker than he had expected , finding a gateman who was able to give precise account of how and where a tenant was at a particular time was quite helpful although he did lose a thousand naira to get that information , it did turn out Peter wasn’t in fact telling the whole truth, he had left the compound around 10 in the evening and came back at to 12 according to the gateman he seemed quite angry at something when he returned back.

Perhaps he had gone for a drink or something and didn’t remember to tell him however he did took it upon himself to write out the little detail in his notebook.

Once he came out of the car , he noticed a police pickup truck drive also coming to a stop right in front of the station, it had a number of young adults ,many who were partially unclad handcuffed in the back who the sergeant and a three other armed officers dismounted and walked into the station.

He soon joined them at the station and exchanged pleasantries with the sergeant and then sought to know people’s offences who were pleading to be let off.

“Sir, you shouldn’t worry yourself about this people, they were caught in some hotel engaging in drugs and activities of the sexual kind , you can imagine , how young they are”

The Sergeant said disdainfully starring at them.
“Really? , that’s really bad and what sought of hotel allows young kids like this to lodge in a room to commit such acts?”
The detective asked quite concerned about the standards of such a place.

“Oh that’s even a normal thing oga , this idiot here…”
The sergeant paused pointing to a much older male handcuffed separately from the others.

“..that idiot there didn’t only lodge them in but also sold illegal relaxation and performance drugs to them too, you can imagine that!”
The sergeant stressed although none of that did make any sense once he heard the word performance drugs, the same thing responsible for the death of his victim .

“you said performance drugs were also sold by the same person who lodged them in…..”

He paused and took a look at the young man and then continued.
“…are such drugs easily sold to people in these parts?”
“Well no not really, but most of this small boys who work in this little hotels around the block tend to sell to their customers and been the fact it’s an hotel , well it makes it the perfect market for such drugs plus this are drugs that are only found in the black market too”

The sergeant replied, this however sent the detective thinking for a moment, could his victim have come in contact with the killer performance drug at a hotel too, could she be some sort of high class sex worker or something , certainly that would explain her lifestyle in terms of her relationship and her taste in luxury , he thought for a minute.

“Sorry sergeant , so can we say these performance drugs are easily accessible at hotels”
“Just the small ones , the local ones so to say , why I can say not all of them but many are dens for such drugs sir”
“I see , hmmm remember where you found my victim , are there any hotels around that place?”

The sergeant paused for a minute to think and then called another officer who introduced himself as bawo.
“bawo can you please help us with a list of hotels around your area, that place we recovered a body from the other day”
The sergeant asked.

“Ehn there is Orange City , that one is too expensive shall there is also the Night Rest Motel and Sterling Hotel , you should try lodging at sterling its easier to access if you are driving through the express by the way and less expensive “

Bawo said after which he provided a description for all three before taking his leave.
“So what are you going to do sir?”

The sergeant asked quite unsure of the detective’s plan.
“I don’t know , I am just going to check up on the hotels , they must have some sort of register or so , if my victim was there that night , I might be able to find out who she was with too” The detective replied , he tried to memorize the description of all three hotels once more before he took his leave, it’s a wild goose chase but who knows what would come out of it.

Three hours after he located the first hotel and the second hotel proved quite unfruitful in fact one had been so equipped it was able to provide CCTV records of that fateful day , once he was able to get a joint which surprisingly served good food and a good smoke to top it off , he brought the engine back to life and made his way for his last destination The sterling hotel although he did have a second thought about going , having wasted his time with the other two however the feeling that his victim may have been to one of this places that night was a lot stronger now.

Once he arrived , he took a good look at the structure and then remembered what the sergeant had said about the type of hotels such stuff were sold , this out of the three seemed likely the obvious one, the compound was huge and quite empty as he rode inside , the gate was unmanned even though there was a gate post, the building itself was a two storey building painted yellow with a huge entrance door , such poor structure he thought as he walked past it and right into the lobby, there was however nobody at the desk prompting him to walk around and take a look for himself.

A hotel with little to no security , where anyone Is capable of going in and out is quite a perfect place for a murder he thought as he

walked up the stairs and then came down , it was then he met a young girl who had taken her seat behind the reception desk.
“hello , good afternoon”
He approached her saying.
“good afternoon sir”

She said faintly putting up a smile for him.
“Erhmm, can I see the owner of this establishment , my name is Detective Ahmed with the state criminal and investigation bureau , am investigating a case and there are questions I would like to ask if you don’t mind”

The detective said flashing his ID card at her just quick enough to notice how nervous she had become .
“Sir, well sir the owner is currently not around for now , he travelled to Ogun state two days ago , but I can give you his contacts to call if you want”

She offered the detective who felt a bit disappointment but decided to take her offer unfortunately none of the numbers did in fact connect he was bent on getting some information.
“Ehmm listen , can you tell me if this lady by any chance was here four days ago ?”
He said waving his phone at her with the picture of his victim at her face.

“Four days ago , oh no not at all sir , I wasn’t on night duty sir , someone else was on duty so I wouldn’t really know?”
She replied.

“where is this other person if I may ask?”
The detective continued.
“Oh he is on a sick leave now sir , our boss let him off so he could recover”

She said quite forthcoming with the details.
“when was this?”
The detective pushed again.
“yesterday morning ,sir”
She replied.
“Okay , do you people have some sort of register or book where details of…”

“We do have a lodge book here although its not compulsory for customers to write anything down and not everything they write can be confirmed to be true, I can bring that for you to check if you want”
She said again moving over to a separate cabinet hung on the wall where a series of books where kept ,taking one out of and returning with it back to the detective.
“Thank you very much”

He replied before going through the content of the book, it was indeed filled with less meaningful words than he had thought of at first , how disappointing he thought as he went through it .
“this is also the lodge book for last book and this one is for the previous month , we try to keep them just in case “
She said producing two more books for him much to his displeasure at the time.

“Oh no , I wont be needing those ones…”
He replied with a smile but then he had thought how helpful she had been all this while and decided to accept her offer after all its not like he had a lot to going for him at the moment , this was his best lead so far.
“On a second thought , let me have then who knows what I may find”
“that’s true sir”

She said happily as she gave him the books.
Again the search was disappointing as he had already expected however it was one name he found on the lodge book dated back two months earlier that had caught his attention.
“Mack Igue”

He muttered whilst the first name was not familiar to him , he did however know who shared that surname in fact he had talked with that same person that morning, could this be a coincidence he wondered , he got his notebook out and scribbled the name and the phone number attached to it, whilst the search didn’t provide what he had hoped for he did manage to get one piece of information that could be vital in his investigation, he returned the books soon afterwards and sought to ask one more question.

“Ehmm is there anyone here who sells some…”
He paused and drew closer to her lowering his voice too in the process.
“..is there anyone where I can get something for me and my lady if I come around to lodge here later?”
He asked.
“I don’t understand?”

“I mean something to help me satisfy my woman more”
He replied again giving her a few seconds to think.
“Ehmm well sir , If you are taking of man power and all that , you should talk to Joseph”
She said.

“Joseph , who is he , is her here ?”
The detective asked.
“Oh no ,he is the other receptionist , the one who was also here four days ago, I think he should be able to help you with some good ones”
She replied .

“Ehmm , can I get his number or is there somehow I can reach him , I might be lodging here tonight you know”
The detective said , she had thought about this for a minute or two before she smiled once more and wrote his number on a piece of paper for him.

“Sir, you are not going to arrest him are you?”
She asked with concern writing all over her face.
“Oh no not at all, my investigation has nothing to do with that , such things are for the police , I have a case on the other hand and a date tonight which your friend can help me make memorable, here is my phone number by the way just incase you remember something or he comes around”

The detective replied reassuringly, he did drop his number and then thanked her before taking his leave.
Now he thought of it , he had a possible theory about how his victim could have died what if she and peter had met here on that fateful day and then purchased the drugs from this Joseph and then somehow she managed to swallow this content leading to her death and then this peter was able to take the body out of the hotel and go dump on that junction, it wasn’t such a perfect theory yet but it was plausible and that alone got him excited a lot more.

Peter made his way out of the director’s office , he had just dropped his resignation letter , he didn’t need to but he swore to reap all his well earned benefits from the bank , besides he after speaking with bishop momentarily who may have felt a bit disappointment in his ability to handle the matter had decided to part with the money after much convincing from him not that his friend had a choice , he slipped into his car and ensured the tinted glasses were up before producing his gun strapped underneath the passenger’s seat, the plan was simple , once he was able to confirm the money had been transferred he would call them to one of his desired location where he would kill the both of them and thereof make his way out of the country before the week ended.

He was still tying out the loose ends of his plans when one of his phones rang, had the money been sent already?
“hello, who is this?”
He asked impatiently in a brisk tone.

“am I speaking with Peter Igue?”
The voice asked. “Yes this is Peter , who am I speaking with ?”
“oh this is detective Ahmed we spoke this morning and I would like us to meet if you don’t mind , say at the station?”
“Ehmm okay, sorry I have to ask how did you get my personal number, I can remember I never did give you this one?”
Peter asked confusingly.

“Oh no, I asked one of the employees for it, am sorry I didn’t ask you directly so can we see or even better you can tell me where…”
“Detective do you have anything against me because I feel I am been focused on for no good reason , do you have anything…”
“On the contrary this is just normal investigation routine, I am sure you understand how this things work but I can assure if you have something to hide then we will have a lot more to talk about”
The detective replied dangerously, making peter to pause for some minutes.

“Erhmnm, you can come down to my working place , am still there , we could squeeze some time to talk and I assure you I have nothing at all to do with this case”

Peter said , he had had enough and decided to end the call immediately , to be honest now he thought about it ,he could sense a bit of danger , if the detective could connect him to the victim then things could turn really ugly, he made a reverse and then drove into the main road, home was way too risky to go now , who knows what the detective may have found out ,however he was this close to getting the biggest pay of his life and no one was going to stop him.

Chapter Five


Joseph made his way to the doctor’s office the next morning who was on a phone call, after waiting patiently the doctor did make time for bopth of them to talk.

“Ehmm Mr. Joseph , good afternoon , how are you doing?”
The doctor asked calmly.
“I am good sir , I came in respect of my mother , I was told by the nurse we have three days to move her out of the hospital as her case has deteriorated significantly…”

“I am very sorry about this but you must understand this is managements policy, we can’t keep having such cases here , its really not good for business at all you see, I am very sorry..”
“Its okay I understand doctor , I came to ask you the procedures for the surgery”
The doctor paused briefly, quite uncertain about the interest of his guest at such information when clearly he had no means but again who knows.

“Well, first of all you will have to pay the needed amount for the surgery , we will make contacts with our personals up in the US who do the surgery , we will also be responsible for her travel documents and also the person who is to come along with her , it’s a bit longer than that but we have been doing this for years and I can assure…”
“can I have the account number then?”
Joseph asked.

“Sure, just meet up with the matron who sits outside my office , she will give you the necessary forms to fill , once you are done with that , you can then go on and do the transaction , you do that and we will take care of everything else , I can assure you that”
“Thank you very much doctor “

Joseph said once more before he returned to see his mother who was conscious and managing a conversation with his sister.

“you shouldn’t be stressing mama with those your petty talk “
Joseph said cutting into the conversation.
“Joseph, your sister has been telling me how you have been taking care of us here”

His mother managed to say.
“Nneka here take this forms and fill them , you will be the one to accompany me for her treatment abroad”

Joseph said happily unable to contain his joy , he beamed a little smile as he handed his sister some documents to sign much to her surprise.
“brother tell me it’s a lie, is mama going for the treatment really , how did it happen , what happened?”
Nneka asked.

“Too much questions, do and fill the forms I have to take them back “
Joseph replied tugging his sister in a playful manner.
“Joseph is this true , how , who has come to our aid , I must thank that person”

His mother replied.
“mama , I really don’t know the person , he got to the doctors who called me to let me know .
Joseph replied , there was a bit of sadness in his voice ,something his mother suspected.
b
“Joseph are you okay?”
His mother asked again.
“yes ma …”
He paused to brighten up his face.
“..yes mama , I am okay , am happy you are going to be fine now and you too Nneka…”

Directing his focus towards his sister.
“..you and your brother are going to back to school too , so don’t you worry , everything is going to be alright?”
“Will you be alright my son?”
His mother said.

Joseph kept silent for a while and then nodded his head calmly.
“yes ma , I will be alright ,now I have to go take care of something , I will be back later on..and you Nneka once you are done keep them to yourself , the matron will come for them later , is that understood?”
His sister had nodded positively before he decided to take his leave.
Miles away , the detective rolled his car out of the station’s parking lot , he had a lot to do today , most especially he had Peter Igue to hunt down, after discovering he had put in his resignation letter and hadn’t returned home that day , the all too familiar scenario of a suspect fleeing for safety had sent him into an over drive.

None of the stations he had passed a call or two to look out for his suspect had returned back with anything positive so far , he couldn’t have travelled out of the state already the detective thought to himself so where could he be hiding , none of his numbers were going anymore nor his social media accounts active, indeed the task ahead of searching for his man was going to be tedious but reassuringly he felt ready for the task, he would have to visit every location he could think of his suspect had visited in the past but his phone rang , good news perhaps he thought as he answered the phone.

“this is detective ahmed , who am I speaking with ?”
“Oh sorry sir, hello its the receptionist at sterling hotel”
The detective paused for a moment and soon realized who was on the line, he hadn’t expected her to call back as really not a lot of people did call him whenever he offered his number.
“Oh hello, is there something you want to tell me?”
“Oh not really sir , its just that joseph the one you were asking of came around some minutes ago..”
“..oh is that so?”

“yes sir , he says he is quitting the job , I don’t know why then I told him there was a detective who was looking for him to ask him some questions and then he just ran out hurriedly , he seemed really scarred when I said you were a police man”
The detective paused for a moment , was there any other connection this receptionist could have had , was there something he knew about the death?

“hello, do you have any idea about where he stays ,like some address or something I could use to track him maybe later on?”
The detective asked.

“Ehmm you will have to hold on , let me check the hotel’s employee form he filled am sure it must be there…”
She paused for a minute as the detective waited patiently , eight minutes had passed before she returned back.
“ I found it , I will have to send it as a text to you , I have some people to lodge in right now”

“Please do , I will be waiting for it , thank you very much”
The detective replied before ending the call, perhaps this reception could help him confirm peter’s involvement with the deceased once he gets to find out , why he would seem scared right now only meant he may have actually been the one who sold the drugs to peter.
Joseph was still waiting patiently for Eric , once he called in the transfer had been made he sought to let his friend know , after then they are to plan how best to deal with Peter , his previous plan hadn’t been fool proofed , still peter who had shown more than capable he could kill them could still finish them off at one point in time other than that he also had a detective to worry about now , had Bishop talked to the police already , if he did that would even be more scary for all of them or was this the handiwork of Peter , could he be planning to use the evidence against them as well?

He asked himself ,there was a lot going on his head at the time when he heard a bike stopped right outside, once the knock came he knew who was at the door.
“Eric we have to make a plan now”
Joseph said opening the door for Eric and returning back to his chair where he sat .

“I have a plan but it doesn’t involve you”
Eric said , there was something in his voice that bothered joseph , he made a u turn only to find a gun pointed at him and a stern face.
“what’s this , Eric what are you doing ?”
Joseph asked frantically.
“I am going to have to kill him, joseph…”
Eric said calmly with a grin as he walked closer to joseph who became a bit relaxed.

“..you didn’t think I have it in me to kill my best friend , did you?”
Eric added seeing how tensed his friend was some seconds earlier.
“and I am going to kill the both of you here!”
Peter said announcing his presence with a boot to the door which hadn’t be locked yet but Eric was closer and had a good opportunity to take a shot at peter who hadn’t noticed he had a gun on him.
Eric tightened his grip around the trigger of his gun with a good aim at peter , and just for a few seconds he hesitated for no reason apparent peter had ultimately taken the first shot.
“kwihh!”

Came the quite sound letting Eric clutch to his stomach painfully as he fell to the floor.
“Eric!”
Screamed joseph who tried to rescue his friend but a kick to the face from Peter sent him to the ground. “you are going to join your friend shortly that I promise you , did you think I wouldn’t know you guys were trying to play a fast one on me..”

He asked angrily smacking joseph viciously with the butt of his gun.
“Did you think you can get away from me , I am smarter than you low lives , I promised if you tried to play a fast one on me you were going to pay , now gimme the phone with which you made the transaction now”
He ordered pointing the nozzle of the gun dangerously at joseph’s head.
Dangerously.
“Freeze right there!”

The commanding voice of Detective ahmed filled the air sending peter into a shock who quickly tried to grab hold of joseph up as some form of human shield against the detective but he hadn’t been smart about it , a split decision between taking a cheap shot at the detective and shielding himself behind joseph came with great consequences.
“Gboah!”
The sound of the gun shot was followed by a wide scream from joseph who passed out moment later.

Two days later , Detective Ahmed and the police patrol van arrive at the SAINT OF LIGHT PRIVATE HOSPITAL where they had admitted joseph the previous days, it was going to be his second time of meeting up his prime and only witness or suspect in the case.
The following day had seen him send samples of the illegal drugs found in the house to the lab in hopes to match the key components responsible for his victim’s death.

Although he had hoped joseph’s phone would provide some information but the damn thing had been smashed in the process of scuffle that had ensured shortly before his arrival making it impossible for him to know what information was on it, the deceased peter on the other hand had none of his phones present at the scene .
With two persons dead amid the situation , he wondered what information the boy would give him , was he a likely suspect or a witness, he wondered.

Once they made their move to the ward , they were however greeted with the presence of a strange man dressed in corporate black.
“who are you?”

The detective asked as they arrived on scene.
“Ehmm My name is Barrister John Idoh and my client here has written out his statement for the police , any question you will like to ask him has to go through me first as his lawyer , my job here is to protect my client who happens to have unfortunately witnessed the tragic death of your victim at the hands of the said peter Igue who threatened him to keep his mouth shut once he found out that fateful night, mu client hopes to be fit soon enough for a trail , the doctor has asked that he stays a week more to fully recover ,and I will be enroute to see the deputy to perfect his bail conditions too“
The man said in a professional manner stretching a piece of document to the detective who took it confusingly.

“wait , am sorry how is it that a mere receptionist can afford a lawyer ..”
The sergeant asked starring at Joseph who watched on without saying a word.
“just so you know , your client is a person of interest in an on going murder case and if I am not mistaken he sold the alleged drugs which caused …”

“is that a fact or what detective , whatever you have going ensure you have them for the trial as far as I am concern right now you have nothing against my client ..”
The barrister paused and took a stare at joseph who was listening to the ongoing conversation.

“..my client has had enough for today detective ,as you can see he is resting , the media will be around shortly , my client has a thing or two to say to them also , we wouldn’t want someone saying something false about the case , would we?

The barrister added , it was a move the detective knew all too well , getting the media involved will further more restrict his ability and to make any sort of possible headway now , a smart move he thought but he was a lot smarter, the test would come out and prove those substances found in his apartment where what actually caused the health complication and that was something no one could get away from.

“I see, well thank you very much for helping us get a statement from your client but I can assure we will meet again , very soon”
The detective said before he took his leave , once out he took his time to read through the statement , it seemed all too perfect , cleverly crafted in such a way that joseph would never be put on trial for anything serious, his phone had soon rang ,thankfully it was his one good opportunity to get to the truth.
“hello good afternoon , is it out?”
He asked eagerly.

“Yes sir , we have sent a soft copy to your email and the hard copy down to the station , we simply called to con…”
The detective was much too anxious to continue the call , ending it immeidtaely he realized the mail had truly been sent to him , he downloaded the copy and read carefully.
“what, what is this, what is this , what does this mean?”
He asked himself in disbelief .

“Sir ,what is it?”
The sergeant asked.
“All the test on the drugs found in his apartment came back negative , they said none of the substance matched what was found in her system , ..”
He shook his head sideways more confused as he tried to figure out what had happened, if this joseph didn’t sell out the killer drug could peter had brought his own and used joseph as some cover up , could the statement he was handed be telling the truth, now he thought about it he knew his answers were gone in the wind, he would never know what happened now he thought.
“…I guess the case is closed here sergeant , my one week is almost up , we found what killed the victim and her likely killer”
He said quite disappointed at something , the case had a lot of loop holes that needn’t answers but he knew wouldn’t get any closer now.

“Mr.joseph , I can assure you wont be facing any serious charge that will involve a jail time , your benefactor made sure of it once you agreed to his terms , he wishes to say thank you for returning what was left of the money peter tried to collect from him however he wanted to know why peter only took 30 million ..”

“..well sir he forced us to transfer that amount at first and was in the process of transferring more before …”

“please don’t stress yourself anymore, 270million compared to what he was able to take out is okay, sadly he is dead and we will never know which account or how possible it is to recover that money, once more you did the right thing by calling Mr. Bishop and letting him know of what was happening just in time , before him and your friend arrived, you are going to be okay Mr. joseph and Mr. Bishop wants you to say hi when you get out of here to your mother and siblings”

The barrister gave a reassuring smile much to joseph’s confusion, how did he know about his mother , what did he mean by that .

"Did he really kill her?"

joseph asked as the barristsr was about to take his leave.


"hmm lets just say Mr. bishop knows whole lot than you think you know , enjoy your rest now"

the barrister replied as joseph sat there wondering , coulf he have really killed her , could he have been a part of a plan he knew nothing about , He gave a sigh and rested his head again , he had been through alot now and with 28 million still intact with him , there was much for him to do in life.


THE END.

Interesting
Well done OP

Ann2012:
Interesting
Well done OP

thank you very much for your kind words i am working on my next book MAN EATER i hope you would like it too, thanks again.

Wow.


I have to skip a good portion of the story just to quickly read the ending.



Nice story OP. You did a really good job.

Ayemileto:
Wow.


I have to skip a good portion of the story just to quickly read the ending.



Nice story OP. You did a really good job.

thank you for your kind words , please anticipate my next book MAN EATER , thanks again.

Nice one
Kudos to you

I have read stories but I must confess this is epic