CONTINUED



out and go make those phone calls , she was seeing someone definitely, am a girl so I could tell.’ Maria said, impressed with herself.

A relationship shrouded in secret with a mysterious partner sounded all the alarming bells in his head but it was going to be a dead end unless he had more details, at least a name could help kick start things.

‘so you know nothing about this guy, nothing at all, a picture, name or something?’ Cyril asked.

‘No, nothing like I said Antonia was a very private person, she says little and expects you to ask little so yeah I have no idea who she was seeing at the time of her demise but I know for sure she was seeing someone.’ An adamant maria replied.

It was getting late now and apart from her supposed confirmation of maria’s mysterious boyfriend which could still be contemplated, she hadn’t offered anything important.

‘Okay, thank you very much, I will take my leave now.’ Cyril replied.

‘will you by any chance be seeing her mom?’ maria asked.

‘yeah maybe tomorrow, I was...’

‘kindly, help me give this to her then...’ she stood and walked up to a cabinet and brought out a book and a pen. ‘...its her music book, she left it here the day before her murder, she used to do that sometimes.’ She stretched the book to him.

‘sure, I can give it to her.’ Cyril said even though he hadn’t actually planned a visit to the victim’s mother’s house the next day.

CONTINUED



The next morning was a cold one, it rained heavily the previous night leaving the detective much more unwilling to do much.

When the body was found, she hadn’t been found with a means of identification, her phone and pulse were said to have been absent from the scene, could this have been a robbery gone bad? He wondered as he got into the car.

He drew a stick of cigarette out from its pack and decided to smoke a bit when his eyes caught the music book at the back seat where he left it.
Sure there was no problem going through a dead girl’s personal item at this minute where clues weren’t forth coming, he was however impressed by how many songs she had written down through a period of right months.

She was methodical in her manner of writing, fixing the date alongside the titles of the music.

‘judas cares not.’ He muttered to himself once he got to the last song she had written, four days before her demise, as usual there was nothing to raise an eye over.

He threw the book back hoping it landed at its previous position but his aim was wrong as the book dropped to the back seat’s foot mat just as what seemed like a card dropped out of the book.

Flipping the half burnt cigarette over the window, he returned to the back seat to pick the card up.

It was a business card belonging to Winning Private Medical hospital and this made me remember maria’s words about the supposed week she hadn’t showed up.

She could have been telling the truth about been sick, another possibility that made him doubt the idea of a mysterious boyfriend.
It wasn’t much but it was something, if she did go to the hospital as she claimed he was going to find out.

He pulled the car into reverse and drove out of the hotel, he found the hospital some thirty five minutes later and quickly noticed the big sign post which made this clue quite interesting.

It had a massive poster at the front of its gate which had both pastor Sullivan’s picture and Antony’s picture on it and now he thought about the name of the hospital, he realized this could actually be a property of the church.

He decided to make a quick search online and found evidences that dated back six months to its commission.

‘An ultra modern intensive private hospital meant exclusively for the members of the winning youth ministry.’ He read out to himself which got him curious even more.

He was however stopped by the security men who refused to let him in.

‘am sorry sir, you can’t get in without your wining youth ministry ID card if you say you are a detective kindly get some form of written authorization from the court sent to the management.’ One of them declared.

There was no time to sit around, this was the first

CONTINUED




time Antonia had a direct connection to the winning youth ministry apart from her brother and if there was, neither mother nor brother had revealed this.

He returned back to his call in hopes of paying a visit to Maureen, Antony had already invoked his rights denying him further access to speak to him except in the presence of his lawyer.

It was when he put the car in gear that he caught sight of a black tinted camry just some distance behind his car for its driver had threw a cigarette through the window before the engines were turned on but it made no effort to move just yet.

It would be ridiculous for him to think he was been followed at this point but he knew the car and the color and was going to keep an eye on it, he thought.

He drove out and connected the main road, with an eye over his shoulders, making some turns and cuts as the journey went, it was easy for him to conclude the car was hot on his trail.

He found a good parking spot in a secluded space away from the main roads and heavy traffic, where he patiently waited for the black camry with his fire arm already drawn out however the camry merely drove past him and sped off once it rejoined the main road once more giving the detective no chance to follow it.

There was no plate number to tag the vehicle with either but it did give the detective a lot to think about definitely he was been monitored.
He connected the main road even more cautious this time but quickly found out the camry was nowhere to be seen, perhaps they had figured out he had noticed them.

*******************


Martins was still contemplating about what he felt was his only option after leaking details of his attack to save his skin the other day.

Still a bit sour and bitter over the attack, he had figured out a way to get at the junior pastor.

‘Hello, Am I speaking with the general overseer of winning youth ministry? ’ He asked once the phone connected.

‘you are speaking to the father and shepherd of the winning youth ministry, who are you and what can I do for you?’ Sullivan replied in a low pitched voice.

‘well sir, you really don’t need to know my name...’

‘then clearly we have no reason to talk.’

‘wait no, am sorry my name is barrister Martins, I know you don’t know who I am but, there is a video I have sent to you right now, it shows how your so called second in command would abuse the powers vested in him, assaulting a unharmed civilian and threatening the lives of other people in the process, I mean what would people think about such acts been perpetuated by a pastor, your pastor for that matter.’

Martins stressed bitterly.

‘Thank you for bringing this to me, I would assume you have made this confidential and haven’t made this public, have you?’

‘Oh certainly not, I would never think of doing that.’ Martins lied.

‘Be rest assured this will be taken care, thank you for coming forward with this.’

Sullivan replied before the call was dropped.

He may have been able to blackmail the junior pastor but he was sure as hell satisfied he was going to be severely dealt with.

By 11:12 am the detective had arrived at the residence of Maureen okeke, in hopes of clarifying a few new details he had picked up.
‘madam, was your daughter a member of her brother’s church?’ Cyril asked.

‘would it be weird if I told you she hated the church?’ Maureen replied queasily.

For her it was just answer to his question but for the detective it was a huge clue.

‘do you have any idea about Antonia’s movement two weeks ago, my sources tells me that she wasn’t at the record studio and might have opted to go to the hospital instead.’

In a twinkle of an eye, Maureen had become hesitant and somewhat stiff where she sat.

‘is everything okay?’ Cyril asked in hopes she might have remembered some details she had previously missed.

She stood up and walked out hurriedly leaving the detective before appearing as quickly as she had left.

‘I was trying to do the laundry two weeks ago when I found this amongst her clothes.’ She said stretching a pregnancy test strip at him. ‘its unused though but obviously I wasn’t the one, I didn’t think much about it...’ she paused obviously tormented

CONTINUED



by her thoughts at the moment. ‘...could it be that she was...’

‘madam, can I see the autopsy reports and this time I don’t mind waiting or helping you search for it.’ Cyril asked desperately.

‘I don’t know where it is, I have searched for it but I can’t seem to find it anymore.’ She frantically explained.

‘which morgue was she deposited madam and do you have any idea about the hospital that carried this autopsy report?’ Cyril demanded.

‘the body was deposited at the winning private medical hospital, I think that’s where the autopsy was carried out as well.’ Maureen stated which almost made the detective chuckle out of disbelief.

‘madam, there is something else I would like us to discuss about, I need you to tell me the absolute truth about this.’ Cyril replied quite intently.
Meanwhile Pastor Antony had been called right away to the general overseer’s office where he was pleading frantically over the revelations of his assault on martins.

‘father, I can explain what happened that day, you have to believe in me that I did this to protect the name of the church.’
Pastor Antony pleaded.

‘The price of heresy against the church is punishable by flogging, you did what was commanded.’ Sullivan smiled cheerfully.
‘so you are not angry about what I did?’

‘No but it seems this martins is a lot more than you can handle, he is threatening the church and myself, would you let this happen, would you let an unclean person point accusing fingers at you and me and most importantly the church?’ Sullivan asked starring dully at Antony.

‘No, I can’t, you know I would protect this church with all my life like I have always done, you know that.’ Antony declared.

‘good then I think is time martins understands what happens to those who try to mess with the church, I need you to prove your loyalty to me.’
‘you can count on me, I will not fail you.’ Pastor Antony replied emphatically.

He walked out soon after and came face to face with Zoey who seemed to have been waiting for her, she had this tenacious smile on her face which bothered him.

‘what is it, why are you smiling like that?’ he demanded.

‘Oh no, nothing at all just that I realized something that might once and for all prove that I have been right about you all along.’ Zoey said.
‘what do you mean by that?’ quizzed Antony but Zoey would give him no further answer as she walked out on him.

Whatever that was he was going to have to deal with it some other time but for now, he had something else to handle.

He barely made it out through the gate before he was surrendered by two police hilux van and only took the situation serious when he saw Cyril leap down from one of them.

‘what is the meaning of this?’ Antony askd angrily as he got down from his car.

‘Do you know that Ajesha street is only less than twenty minutes away from here?’ Cyril asked incisively as he dangled the handcuffs at Antony.
‘and so, what does that have to do with me?’ Antony asked frightened by the sight of the cuffs.

‘it means at any point in that day, her brother could have tried to dispose of his sister’s body and still make it in time for the program.’ Cyril revealed.

He could tell the junior pastor was having a hard time coming up with any good explanation, finally he stared at Cyril and seemed to sigh horribly, one could tell he had suddenly lost the conviction to put up any further resistance.

This was his man, the autopsy report handed over to his mother had suddenly gotten missing the very day she had told him of the imminent arrival of a detective, Maureen had recollected him coming around and leaving as soon as he came, he never liked Antonia really due to the fact she was more loved by his mother more after the demise of their father and struggled educationally, socially and mentally having opted to leave his medical practice for his religion after been called up by his class rep two and a half years ago.

‘I want to speak with my lawyer.’ He muttered as the detective handcuffed him.

‘you are under arrest for the murder of Miss. Antonia Okeke, you will have your right to your lawyer but don’t hope of a bail any time soon, there is enough evidence to dump your ass in a prison for long.’ Cyril declared as he led Antony away.

CONTINUED



At Ogbira division, where the junior pastor was been held, Cyril decided to make the most of it, to be precise, he was right about having enough evidences to warrant an arrest but may pose a serious challenge for a conviction, they were substantial in nature and wouldn’t take a clever lawyer to find a loop and attack the case against his client.

‘So why don’t you just tell me what happened really?’ Cyril asked stretching a paper and a pen for a statement to him inside the interrogation room.

‘I have nothing to say, I don’t know anything and you can’t force me to admit anything.’

‘come on, give it up, I know you never liked your sister, you hated her, she hated the church, thought you were wasting your time over there and you hated her more for this, I know you clearly have something to do with this, just so you know a formal request for the medical autopsy carried out on the body has been sent to the church’s management.’ Cyril said but Antony merely scoffed, a “do your worst” expression hung on his face.

‘okay, suit yourself but I have seen the body you know, she was strangled and stabbed, am no doctor but I know she didn’t die from the strangulation but from the stab wounds inflicted on her multiple times, you figured out your hands couldn’t do the job and decided to finish her off with a knife huh?’ Cyril pushed hoping to see a lost of self control which would perhaps lead to the spilling of the beans but Antony merely looked away just as a corporal interrupted the interrogation.

‘Sir, his lawyer and a certain pastor Sullivan just arrived, they want to see him.’ The corporal relayed the information.

For the detective, there was nothing else he could but to take his leave and let his visitors have their way.

He got out of the room just in time to meet Pastor Sullivan and a lawyer been led to the room by an officer.

‘You were the one who arrested my junior pastor for murder?’ He asked calmly. ‘what proof is there to show he actually committed such heinous crime?’ pastor Sullivan asked.

‘well, that is left for the court to decide when this goes to trial.’ Cyril replied with no intent to divulge anything to the senior pastor.

He took his leave and walked out to take a smoke seemingly to ease off the stress, he still had some paperwork to be done before he noticed Maureen drive into the station.

‘damn it.’ He thought to himself once he realized he hadn’t told her much about the arrest just yet.

She rushed out of the car and only stopped from entering the station when she noticed him close by.

‘you, what on earth are you doing, this is madness.’ She screamed frantically as she came close to him.
‘madam I can explain everything...’

‘oh no there is certainly nothing to explain, get my son off those cuffs and release him immediately, how could you suspect he could be responsible for the death of his sister, how on earth could you think so?’ she queried him bitterly.

‘madam, we have some evidences that prove that Antony...’

‘no, it can’t be, this is a lie, this is what you people do, you frame people up for what they haven’t done when you can’t go any further with your job, this is a lie and I demand my son’s release immediately.’ She demanded as Cyril’s phone began to ring.

It was a strange number but yet he felt he needed to pick it perhaps Maureen’s vocal attack was causing him more stress at the moment, a call would be a perfect opportunity to get a breather.

‘excuse me, I have to take this right now.’ Cyril replied taking a few steps away from her, thankfully she hadn’t come after him but rather walked away and this time, into the station.

‘hello?’ Cyril said as he watched Maureen disappear into the station.

‘is this the detective who arrested Antony?’ Zoey asked.

‘yes, who am I speaking with?’

‘I want to help you nail Pastor Antony and I have documents which prove that he is not only a murderer but a thief and a fraud.’ Zoey blasted.
An excited Cyril was quick to listen to what this mysterious caller had to say.

‘okay, how can you help me, what documents are we talking about?’ Cyril quizzed her for answers.

‘I will send a copy each of these documents to you, Antony has been spending the church’s fund on foreign gambling sites, its massive and I don’t know how he has been able to hide it from everyone all this time, I figured out you were investigating him over something once the guys reported to me about your activities...’

CONTINUED



Now it made sense about the black camry and the two guys that had been on his car some days ago.

‘you sent those guys after me?’ Cyril asked.

‘relax detective, I thought you were a cohort or something under the disguise, helping Antony get away with all his illegal activities.’ Zoey replied.

‘well it seems he is still going to get away with it both the murders and the supposed claim of fraud you are proposing, there are only substantial evidence to support he is the murderer and with his senior pastor with him and enough money to go around I think a conviction is out of my cards.’ Cyril said.

The fraud claim had got him thinking about something he hadn’t dared to think all this time, a bait for his caller would possibly give him more information.

‘no,no,no he has to go to prison, it’s the only way the G.O would understand that sort of person he truly is because ei have tried and I have been unable to get through to him.’ Zoey explained frantically.

‘so you mean he knows about the fraud you are talking about?’ Cyril asked.

‘of course I have but do you know what he did, he punished me for speaking out of turn and asked me never to say such but I won’t stop until that disloyal prick is kicked out of the church.’ Zoey replied sternly.

‘okay, okay, I need to ask you some specific questions and help me with one other document, if you can help me with this, I promise you Antony will be gone for good and not even the senior pastor will be able to help him out.’ Cyril replied.

How did he not see the connection, how could he not connect the incidents early on, on what truly must have happened to Antonia, he asked himself.

Forty five minutes later a constable had rushed out to see Cyril.

‘sir, you have to come in quickly, it appears the suspect is ready to confess to the crime.’ The constable revealed.

Cyril returned to the interrogation as pastor Sullivan and Antony’s lawyer made their way out.

‘I did it, I killed Antony and dumped her body, its true.’ Antony revealed as Cyril made his return.

‘May God almighty forgive you of this heinous and atrocious crime you have committed...’

pastor Sullivan said pitifully before he turned to Cyril. ‘...he has refuted his access to a lawyer and will write that statement providing all the useful information, I can assure you of his full cooperation from here on, I honestly don’t want to believe this but it is what it is, good people do bad things sometimes.’ Sullivan concluded.

‘well what about you senior pastor Sullivan, it appears that there actually two autopsy results, the one handed to Antony by you and the one you kept away from him and the original autopsy carried at your hospital indicated Antonia was two months pregnant at least...’

‘what?’ Antony muttered in shock.

‘...it also appeared that there were two people missing from the program that day at the church, one came late and the other never showed up till the program was concluded...’

‘she was pregnant? You didn’t tell me my sister was pregnant, you said...’

‘I finally understood why she was strangled half way and then stabbed repeatedly , I use to think the stabbing was the second wave , it appears that she had been stabbed first and then strangled to ensure she was done for , I mean it wouldn’t be the first time you have tried stabbing someone, will it , you did same thing back in the university, your ex got some fatal stab wounds from you but people rallied around you and...’ Cyril scoffed as he finally starred at Sullivan in the face.
‘...and now I see a murderous boyfriend and his loyal accomplice.’ Cyril replied.

‘...you said that she threatened the church and needed to be taken out of the picture, you were sleeping with her all this time behind my back?’
anthony asked in disbelief.

‘I have nothing to say, you can't prove anything.’ Sullivan turned to Cyril angrily ignoring anthony completely.

‘I know but you shouldn’t have lied to him you see because now I am sure he wouldn’t want to bag a possible death sentence alone, you lied to him and he killed her for a secret you kept from him, you just shot yourself in the leg Mr. general overseer.’ Cyril said.

It turned out Zoey had unintentionally spilled the beans and in the process revealed Antonia’s mysterious boyfriend.

Zoey was a much intelligent and resourceful person, revealing details about Sullivan’s movement with Antonia which was one of her many bones of contention with Antony unknowingly to the junior pastor.

The whole incident would have been a secret meeting with Sullivan on that day by Antonia possibly revealing the outcome of the test after which he might have stabbed her in an attempt to kill her fearing the repercussion of whatever that would hold for him and his church and then decided to call Antony to finish off the job, an act to seal his loyalty for the church and him.

The autopsy reports had been provided by Sullivan and once Zoey confirmed the authentic result, there was no doubt something was deeply wrong here.

‘you knew of his gambling and fraud and decided not to say anything for fear of having him turn against you but you forgot about the truth, the one where you were romantically involved with his sister, the same sister he helped strangle for you or should i say the church and as long as the truth is out there, I was going to find it.’

Cyril turned to the constable who seemed dumbfounded at best. ‘arrest him, he is to be charged for first degree murder along with his accomplice over here.’

The following week was going to be a tough battle at the court but there was no need to worry, Zoey had unintentionally provided him with much more than he could hope for to get a conviction, it was over for the both of them and now he thought about he could remember a line from Antonia’s last written song judas cares not ‘she is no beauty but he is a beast, he is judas and doesn’t give a damn.’ How sad though that she was right about him been a beast even more her life had two beasts in it, a brother who gave no damn about her and a boyfriend who was merely using her.

THE END.

DETECTIVE CYRIL IN CHASING SHADOWS: DEEP IN VOLUME 6 COMING SOON



WHEN AN UNDERCOVER NCIB DETECTIVE WORKING WITH NAFDAC IS KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY, CYRIL IS SUDDENLY THRUST INTO A WORLD OF HIGH PROFILE DRUG SMUGGLING BY ONE OF THE MOST SOPHISTICATED SYNDICATE ACROSS THE COUNTRY AND AFRICA.

WITH THE TASK OF UNCOVERING WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DEATH AND FOILING A PLAN TO TRANSPORT A NEW TYPE OF KILLER DRUG INTO THE NIGERIA DRUG MARKET.



VOLUME 6 AND 7 WILL BE ONE HUGE STORY AIMED AT BRINGING THE SEASON ONE TO ITS FINAL END AS I LOOK SET TO BEGIN WORKING ON NATION, ZOMBIE: GENESIS SEASON 1