THE DETECTIVE CYRIL SERIES IS COMING TO AN END WITH VOLUME 6 AND 7


i feel happy, i know it could have been more as i hoped i would hit a ten volumes but having so much projects which i am excited to begin work on as soon as i can, i feel detective cyril has made and established its name here , i hope i can write a season 2 soon , because this season has brought a lot out of me , challenged me and my resolve to write and keep writing.

THANKS TO YOU ALL FOR READING, DC'S RUN IS COMING TO AN END.

WATCHOUT FOR CHASING SHADOWS PART 1 (VOLUME 6) AND PART 2 (VOLUME 7)



The first time i read a crime thriller was the first day i realized i was in love with the genre, i am an unpublished writer and would love to use this avenue to publicize my work , i have a lot on ground but this new year i decided to become a full time writer.

so i decided to start with a crime thriller book series . volume 1-7 will be published here to make up season 1.

thanks for reading and God bless.

Concept Art by Unknown

DEATH BEFORE THE PARTY VOL. 1

WILL BE OUT FULLY BY NEXT WEEK VOLUME 1 OF THE DETECTIVE BOOK SERIES.


-SYNOPSIS-

WHEN A RICH BILLIONAIRE IS MURDERED ON HIS BIRTHDAY, EVERY ONE IS A SUSPECT IT IS UP TO DETECTIVE CYRIL TO SOLVE THE PUZZLING CASE AND UNMASK WHO DID IT.

CHAPTER ONE


As the slow jazz music played to the satisfaction of the guests there was no one better at grooving to its rhythm than Chief Charles Davies the celebrant.

With just a few minutes edging to his last speech as the General Overseer and founder of Davies Petrochemical Ltd, he knew he had to make the most of the beautiful evening, besides at 67 years he was his definition of success, having come from a broken and poor home who had to fend for his mother at a very early stage after his father was killed at a shoe factory where he worked, one would think his life’s story would be a total mess by the time he clocked his current age but he had succeeded where many failed, he was an only child yet however he did make sure he stood up to responsibilities when the time came and today his eventful years as a wealthy and influential business magnet, billionaire and owner of one of the most companies in Africa was just about to get better.

‘So the big man himself is throwing in the towels this early.’ Mr. fayemi, a friend and business associate said raising a glass of champagne to him as he drew near.

‘hahahah, you said it all my good friend it’s my time besides my back aches a lot from sitting on that chair.’ Chief Charles said once they got close enough to start a discussion.

‘but you could have just gotten another chair rather than retiring.’ Chuckled Mr. fayemi as they drank from their glasses but Chief Charles needn’t not reply, he knew his friend wasn’t so happy about his retirement just as the majority of his companies’ share holders but it was his decision to make and he was ready to see it through.

‘just look at all of them, with such good smiles and expensive dresses, I hope you don’t break their hearts once you officially announce your desires to step down.’ Mr. fayemi added with some sympathy lingering in his voice which made Chief Charles smile dully for a quick second.

‘oh come on like they don’t know already, I am very sure my speech would taste sweeter than the 250,000 naira birthday cake Lillian made for me.’ Chief Charles said as both friends laughed over his response for some minutes.

‘so who is it going to be Charles or do I have to wait like everyone else.’

Chief Charles smiled. ‘Don’t you worry over my successor, be rest assured that our business agreements will always remain intact and valid as long as Davies petrochemical Ltd exists’

‘hah, always the business man – well done I guess I should congratulate your successor in advance dear friend.’ Mr. fayemi replied raising his glass for a one last toast before he left Chief Charles alone to join other guests.

Chief Charles smiled dully as he sipped from his glass once more, his eyes moved round the guests, identifying all the big names and celebrities, government officials and big media personalities, all expensively dressed, a few looked better than some, he chuckled at the sight of a lady who seemed extremely weird and out of fashion, sitting all alone.

‘who knows what this creeps call fashion this days?’ he thought to himself, but they had all come to grace the occasion, tonight was special for him he had everything all figured out, perhaps it might shock everyone to their spine but it was all set and done, was it the right choice, he hoped so but this was his moment to make it up to himself, he deserved that but just as he drifted into his own thoughts he had a round of applause for no other than his wife Lillian Davies, as she walked over to the stand to give her speech.

Tall, fair and curvy with a such a rich personality, Lillian was such a show stealer as she dazzled the guests with her beauty in fact if he was still a young man he would have a hard time not to ask her out but of course he had, it was how she became his second wife, he stared at the guests from left to right and saw how much the men admired her and how much some of the women gleefully starred at her perhaps some would even wish to be in her position however his smile soon faded away slowly once he realized his glass was now completely empty, a refill was in order but first it was important he go use the wash room.

‘my God-just look at her.’ Mrs. Patrick said to her friend from where they sat comfortably listening to Lillian speak.
‘that dress must have cost a fortune.’ Her friend said.

‘of course it must have, we are talking about Lillian Davies, the same woman who shut down a n entire boutique in Dubai last month, that girl has got guts.’ Mrs. Patrick said, something in her words exposed her irritation and yet her admiration for the young woman.
‘lucky woman.’ Her friend added.

‘I sincerely doubt luck has anything to do with this, she simply played her cards right, from a personal assistant to been a lover, my dear, I think she saw a very clean opportunity once chief divorced his wife and she took it.’ Mrs. Patrick replied with a scoff, her friend seemed to agree before they signaled to James, a waiter for a new bottle of champagne.

‘yes madam, right way’ James said with a smile before he proceeded to go back to check for a champagne bottle but he wasn’t lucky to find any at the cooling stand hence a dull frown once he knew he needed to get back into the house to go look for one, he could however refuse not to go look for but for Mrs. jenny the house keeper by whose hands had he been gainfully employed at chief Charles Davies mansion and had warned them all not to screw up anything tonight he knew he had to.

Away from the party ground he found his way into the mansion and again he had this big smile, the same one he had on his face a week ago when he was employed.

Such beauty and architectural wonder, the house was with interiors and exteriors designs that would mock any presidential suite, he knew this because he had worked in a five star hotel before ,soon he began to walk around the various rooms trying to locate the kitchen.
‘Damn it.’ he thought to himself, he still wasn’t familiar with what rooms was what and which was which and for the lack of any personality within the building at the time, he knew he was in for trouble but no sooner had he located the massive kitchen

CONTINUED


did he hear a loud terrifying scream somewhere inside the house and for a second he froze and then again the scream came and without wasting any more time, he turned around and went searching for the source, opening every door he could find till he got to the visitor’s wash room where a feeling of dread had taken over him, the passage light had been turned off which made him doubt his willingness to see his investigation through however he continued slowly, with each step begging for his retreat but like the horror movies, he kept moving, only stopping once he got to the door, frozen and his mouth set ajar.

On the floor laid Chief Charles in the pool of his own blood , he struggling to say something, the chief’s eyes had fallen on him.

‘help!’ he said faintly abandoning an open chest from which more blood gushed out freely from his chest just to stretch a hand at his employee for help, however that was all the strength he could muster, he had of course been bleeding for long now, slowly his hand dropped to the bloody floor.
‘jesus.’ james screamed in confusion and panic. ‘Oga…Oga.’ He screamed as he drew near, a gore and bloody mess the scene was.

‘Somebody help.’ James screamed again going on his kneel to help the chief, rather too late now for Charles was long gone.

Once he realized the chief was dead, panic stricken and soaked in cold blood he ran out immediately.

By 7 am the next morning, Chief Davies apparent murder had already made the headlines of every media house in the country; the buzz was real and trending.

Elsewhere deep in the northern state of Kano, one of Nigeria’s finest detective, Detective Cyril Odega who was drafted two months prior to supervise a team of young detectives as they cracked down on the activities of an elite gang of kidnappers with much success, he had however yearned for a leave to relax a bit once his assignment was complete.

‘Excuse me sir, no one is allowed to smoke in the hall way.’ One of the hotel workers pointed at to him as soon as he got his pack of cigarette out. He nodded calmly and replaced his cigarette pack back into his pocket and sought to return back to his room much to his dissatisfaction for the so called executive suite lacked a working cold air ventilator and with such hot temperature for an afternoon capable of grilling any sizeable portion of meat one would think the hotel would have a stand by generator once the lights went off but not this one hence his need to lit a smoke was in order but anyways he was leaving the city tomorrow perhaps he would be better off taking a stroll around the town as advised by one of the team members he had worked with.

‘Ring..Ring.’ His phone went on for a few seconds before he took it out to answer the call.
‘Hello sir.’ He answered calmly as he returned back to his room.

‘Dc, how are you doing?’ Mr. salami said in such high spirit that made detective Cyril frown because that damn Assistant Inspector General of police was such a bearer of news whenever he called like this.

‘I am doing fine sir and you?’ Detective Cyril asked for formality sake, of course the damn inspector was doing well and fine.
‘oh I am fine, congratulations by way, we heard about how well you handled the team, I knew you could deliver it is why I asked that you be the lead detective on it, I must say your father would be proud of you.’ Mr. Salami said.

‘thank you uncle, I am just doing my job.’ The detective replied as soon as he found a chair to sit on.
‘now listen I am sorry to be a bearer of bad news but I must trouble you a bit more.’
‘Uncle, I have sent in my letter of…’

‘am sorry boy, orders have been given to postpone that, your vacation can wait a bit, listen I need you on this case, there is not a lot of people who can do what you do the way you do it, I understand your need to take a break and I promise you this time once you are done with this, I will personally hand over your letter to you, what do you think about that?’

Detective Cyril was in no rush to answer his uncle and mentor in the force, he hated his guts but he was a good man who had come to trust in his ability as a high profiled police detective besides he had no choice, his uncle always had his way of ensuring he had little choice over issues like this.
‘When do I get briefed.’ The young detective replied a bit unhappy about the whole situation.

‘hahaha, excellent my boy, the head of your department has been briefed, once you get back you will be leaving for Lagos state , am sure you are going to have a nice time there.’ Mr. salami replied happily.

‘how is the old man, you know we talked about you the other day.’ He added.

‘really?’ detective Cyril said trying his best to hide his lack of enthusiasm.

‘yes of course, hahaha he thinks at 29 you should be thinking of bringing a woman soon to the house’ Mr. salami said.

‘well with the amount of cases you keep piling up on me, I am pretty sure that won’t happen sooner.’ The detective replied.

‘hahaha, am sorry I can’t help it you are one of the best the police detective academy has churned out ever since its inception besides you and I know a young handsome gent like you can always find a woman if he really wants to, so I have to go now, call me when you back.’ Mr. salami said once more before he ended the call.

He was indeed right about the fact that it wasn’t his job that was affecting his need for a romantic companion but however he never had such needs, he was a dedicated officer of the law and needn’t no form of distraction especially the kind associated with relationships.

He sighed briefly and wondered what new case awaited him, a murder, an undercover or a sting operation, anyways it didn’t really matter now he was going to do his best to work it out.

Three days later, he had found his way out of the Lagos airport and right to the state’s divisional command where he was

CONTINUED


asked to report to once he got to the state.

The taxi had dropped him right in front of the station’s entrance and as soon as he paid the driver off he found his way in where a small group of media personalities flocked around the Deputy police officer in charge for a media briefing over its latest case; The murder of Chief Charles Davies.
He grinned at their sight for he was never a fan of the media and did his best to keep his cases low profiled but once those files which he had been given to at his command revealed the nature of the case he knew this might be hard to avoid.

‘Sir, is it true that the police now have a suspect?’ one of the young reporters said stretching his micro phone.
‘hah, a suspect this early?, well not right now.’ The DPO answered.

‘so does this mean that the police haven’t started an official investigation into the murder of chief Charles?’ another fired back.

‘Ehm, that would be all for now, thank you.’ The DPO said quite aware of the consequences of slipping out any other information but in reality there wasn’t really any, this was unlike any other case due to the victim involved and a number of top superior officers who were interested in the case, it needed a specialist and with the absence of obvious suspects he had thought it early to ask for help.

‘but I can assure you that we will get to the bottom of the case.’ He added once more before he walked back into the station where detective cyril was waiting for him.

At close he seemed more of a lawyer than a detective even more was the fact he seemed quite different from what was in his file, tall, slim, dark with piercing eyes and dark lips, probably he was a smoker but his black suit was a perfect match for him, he was probably an athlete to have such a body that made the suit fit that good, the Deputy police officer thought as detective Cyril walked closer to him for a handshake.

‘Good afternoon sir.’ The detective said as both men shook hands for a brief moment.
‘there is no time to waste detective, I was told you preferred to find your way down to station all by your own so I decided not to bother the boys to go get you, now we must discuss a bit more, please right this way.’ The deputy said a bit excited and relieved same time, leading the way to his office.
Once both men settled in the deputy’s office, the slightly bulky middle aged Yoruba man had decided to pour a glass for the detective, he had heard so much about the young detective, a protégé of his father a veteran detective who lost his legs in the line of duty and didn’t want to drop the intense pressure of the case on him just yet, well at least not before a glass of drink.

‘now you must understand that I don’t do this for everyone’ the deputy said as he tossed a half filled glass over to the detective who acknowledged with a nod.
‘This is what we have gathered since the past four days, it contains witnesses statements, I am sure you will find them handy.’ The deputy continued, sliding a file over to him but the detective needn’t not open the file to know there wasn’t really much to start with.

‘since you are new here, I have taken the liberty to talk with one of my top sergeants…’ the deputy paused once he noticed how unappealing his words had began to sound to the detective, he didn’t bother to ask why perhaps this was due to the fact that he had been clearly instructed on the detective’s decision before hand not to work with anyone on this case however he needn’t to try to ensure he got some of the glory once the case was solved by volunteering one of his own to aid the detective.

‘…he is actually among the first respondents on the crime scene and the one who collected the little information in that file and since you are new in the state I am sure you are going to need someone to help you get around.’ The deputy added as he starred anxiously at the detective for a good response.

‘I will be fine on my own, thanks.’ Detective Cyril had thought to reply the deputy, he really needn’t no one to work out the case once he realized his uncle had ensured he made the heavy decisions on how the case was going to be handled in fact the only person he was charged to report to was his uncle however the deputy seemed nicer than a lot he had come across during his four years as a high profiled detective.
‘that will be no problem, thanks.’ He said finally.

‘splendid, I took the liberty of arranging a space for you to work out the case, eh…’ the deputy paused to chuckle a bit.
‘…it’s not all that luxurious but it will do, my boys here are at your beck and call.’ The deputy said before a cool knock hit his door.
‘come in.’ the deputy added with a smile as Sergeant Dennis walked in.

The Nigeria-Lebanese born was a young, short, fair, handsome guy probably mid twenties with a big smile, seemed friendly as the detective observed.
‘Serge, this is Detective Cyril from HQ, the one you were briefed on, who will be handling the case of chief Charles Daniel, you are to assist and provide him with any and every thing he needs to solve the murder case, is that understood.’ The deputy said.

‘yes sir, of course sir.’ The sergeant said with a smile as he turned to the detective who nodded in approval with a smile.
‘please, do show him to his office and also around the station.’ The deputy added once more with a big smile.
‘yes sir.’ Sergeant dennis said before opening the door for the detective.

‘you both can go now, if you want to start working on the case immediately please feel free.’ The deputy said once more before both men left the office.

Once outside both men were silent for the longest as they strolled through various corridors and halls before eventually they got to an office that was obviously labeled ‘STATIONERIES’.

‘damn it, they ought to have removed that damn sticker by now.’ Thought Dennis as he bit his lips out of embarrassment.
‘I have seen worse officer, you can relax, I won’t be staying for long.’ The detective replied as he opened the door

CONTINUED


having sensed how embarrassed the sergeant was.

‘hahaha, no problem sir.’

‘just call me Detective or Detective Cyril.’ Again the detective added hoping to help the sergeant relax around him, he may not be the favorite to tag along with for a case but he hated the perception that he was a strict, hardened no-nonsense detective who didn’t care about anything or anyone else.

‘I am Dennis, sir.’ The sergeant said once they got inside the officer.

With barely enough space to fit in two chairs, the formal space used to store stationery had been fitted with two plastic chairs and a wooden table and a rusty old file cabinet thankfully it had a fan was working and a little window for ventilation, normally he would write a petition and ensure that the deputy had questions to answer over the lack of funds for the procurement of something a bit standard other than this but he was going to let this slide actually he was going to let a lot of things slide for this case, in all honesty this was his first big murder case and with his uncle involved, he knew where his focus ought to be.

‘well, that’s that, if you need anything at all just let me know, here…’ sergeant dennis said handing over a piece of paper with his phone number on to the detective.

‘…my number, sir.’ The sergeant said as the detective collected it.

‘thank you but I need you to sit down for a minute or two, I have to review what you have been able to gather on the case so far.’ The detective said making himself as comfortable as he can in his plastic chair.

The sergeant seemed a bit nervous but there was really nothing to worry about, it was not unusual especially for the younger officers.
‘sure, no problem sir.’ Dennis replied taking his seat as well.

‘I am guessing, breakfast may have to wait.’ Dennis said with hopes the detective got the joke he was implying.
‘well if I am able to solve this case right now, you won’t have to miss out on breakfast.’ The detective replied before he opened the file, there was much to understand, much to do and much to see however this was a necessity for him.

CHAPTER TWO


Barrister Edmond kalu sat up in his chamber, going through a host of documents scattered around his desk, something he never thought he would do any time sooner.

‘poor chap.’ He reminded himself about the painful ending of his old friend and client, Chief Charles Davies.
Now he had to get that will out and await for the date of the burial once the body was cleared and released back to the family then again he became a bit disturbed over a number of things.

‘could it have been?’ he wondered for a second, it was not one of those thoughts which he easily rebuked, this was real before he became Chief Charles Davies personal and family lawyer he was once a prosecutor handling some of Nigeria’s worst criminal cases from murders to kidnapping and so many others, his friend had all the right reasons to be murdered in cold blood but who was it he wondered.

‘Ring…Ring!’ the intercom buzzed, he needn’t take it because he was busy but however he need some sort of distraction from his own thought at the moment.

‘yes!?’
‘Sir, Mrs. Claire is here to see you.’ His secretary replied over the intercom.

Speak of the devil he thought to himself, it was Charles’s ex-wife.

‘send her in, right away.’ He said before clearing out his table, his search for the will might have to wait.

‘You know, you don’t have to always wait for the secretary to buzz you in, you can just walk in anything you like.’ The barrister said with a welcoming smile at Mrs. Claire once she opened the door.

‘nonsense, that would be rather rude and simply unpleasant, this is your office of course.’ Claire said as eloquently as she always sounded.
She was still a beauty even at forty one, she was one of those who held themselves in high esteem of course she had been born into royalty and wealth, an only daughter of one of Charles’s business associates, she was tall, fair, slim with such a good body shape she could pass for a run way model but then again she had been a model during her more youthful years before Charles met her.

There were a lot of things, he and Charles never agreed on but the women he chose to share his life with were always nothing short of the best in terms of beauty, somehow he envied the old friend but not anymore.

‘is that how she does it?’ Mrs. Claire said with a dull smile hanging on her face as she took her seat.

‘by her, you mean-‘
‘by her, I mean that gold digger of course.’ She said quite casually but then again she never hid her displeasure over her replacement once Charles and her had decided to part ways over some personal differences just as Charles had put it but anyways their union had yielded a son, Philip the supposed heir apparent of Charles.

From his point of view, she never did quite move on once she found out that Charles had started dating his personnel assistant, he had remembered the day of his friend’s second supposed marriage and how Claire had graced the occasion, quite a stare she had caused among the invitees but Charles saw nothing wrong with it, however marriage was just another a whole level of trouble for the women involved in his friend’s life.

Charles never did abandon communications with Claire and never denied every now and then he still preferred her company over his new wife which however placed the seeds of discords between the women.

‘so tell me what brings you here to my office.’ The barrister said warmly.

‘I need a favor from you, Edmond.’ She said calmly with eyes that could appease even the gods if they were to be angry.

‘of course you can ask me of anything, I am here.’ The barrister replied however he could sense her hesitation to say anything further.
‘Claire, come on tell me, what is it?’ he urged her to speak.

‘I need to see it, Edmond.’ She said almost embarrassed with herself for saying that.

‘you need to see what, what is…’ the barrister paused once he suddenly realized what Claire was talking about.
‘…God, no!’ he replied quite unsettled over the thought of it.

‘please Edmund, I have to know for sure.’ She beckoned on him pleadingly.
‘it’s very important I see it before you get to read it out there, before everyone else.’ She added.

Edmund needn’t not look at her eyes to know how serious and how much she wanted this but he was sworn to an oath of confidentiality and moreover Charles was no ordinary client to him, he was a good and excellent friend, he wasn’t going to betray his code of conduct for anything.
‘Claire, whatever this is, I can assure you that it can wait, I mean we all know who more than anyone should be in or that will. it’s going to be Philip definitely, your son I mean –‘

‘1 million naira.’ She replied sternly, she hadn’t come this far to be talked down about what was and what was not to be, she was quick in life to understand that money was always a good leverage to get whatever you wanted.

‘Claire!’ the barrister replied, this tone is tone was high such that showed his irritation and anger.
‘For God sake, are you trying to bride me or what?’

‘oh come on, like you don’t get to look the other way round for some of the cases you have handled for Charles?’ she replied quite unimpressed at his response.

‘Not this one am afraid, Charles specifically asked me three months ago when he walked into this office to officially write his will which is sealed, to not open the damn envelope until he was laid to rest whenever that was, me doing this would be the biggest betrayal I can possibly think of, please whatever this is, I can assure you, what you are asking of me isn’t going to work it’ Edmund replied firmly.

He knew when he had to stand his ground and this was such a time and for a brief minute there was silence between them.

‘well then, I guess I will be seeing you at the burial, that gold digger wants to make it a huge public affair once the body is released.’ She said quite irritated at the thought of Lillian’s plan to make a huge deal out of it.

‘I guess so.’ The barrister replied before she stood to take her leave, he watched her get to the door before she stopped and turned to stare at him once more.

CONTINUED


‘perhaps there is some other way I can pay for your kind gesture if you let me see it.’ She said, this time she was as seductive as hell letting cold shiver run down the barrister’s spine who gulped down a ball of saliva.

He almost felt a bit ashamed of himself for thinking about the possibilities of sleeping with her, not that he didn’t secretly admire her beauty and on any good day he would have said yes but this was different, he sighed horribly and wiped a bead of sweat that had found his way down his fore head.
‘I am sorry I can’t do that.’ He said one last time before Claire walked out quite unhappy and disappointed in his choice.

‘Phew!’ he sighed, quite relieved once she was out of his office.

What really was that all about he wondered and could this be the reason for his friend’s private visit just five days before his death to make some changes to his will, any ways whatever it was, it was going to have to wait for now.

By 3:15 PM Detective Cyril and Sergeant Dennis had gone through over the witnesses report and were now on their way to Charles’s mansion to see the wife and the staffs who had given their statements.

For the Detective, the case seemed straight forward, at 7:15 PM the chief was seen in the company of his friend talking and having a good time and then at 7:37 PM a male servant discovers the chief has been stabbed multiple times in the gents and left for dead, each staff had given their statement which included their alibi at the supposed timeline the murder could have happened, now his mission was to corroborate those alibi thoroughly and find out the odd ball.

‘sir you know, we could have just given them a call for them to come by to see you.’ Sergeant Dennis said quite oblivious of facts that accompanied his thoughts such as huge media follow up and delays even more he preferred it this way, in his line of duty ensuring that the suspects or his person of interest or even just an eye witness is not in any sort of duress was vital and having understood how uncomfortable people get once they stepped their feet into a police station it was only proper he go to them.

‘well, the family and everyone is still in deep shock and mourning, am sure they have a lot on their plates right now, plus its vital I take a look for myself, the scene of the crime.’ The detective said before popping out a cigarette out of his pack for a quick smoke just as the police patrol car veered off into the road.

The drive was far deep into banana island, however they got there in record time according to sergeant dennis.

‘wait here.’ The detective said as soon as the serge had found a good parking spot outside the massive building.

Probably millions had gone into the building of such architectural beauty he thought however there was less time to marvel about such things, he had a case to solve, once he made his way to the gate and was identified by the gatemen, he was led inside in the compound where he followed what he felt was half a mile foot path decorated by flowers on each path, another thing worthy of admiration he thought, bright green lush fields stood at each sides, well mowed and neatly dressed so that the sun reflected a clean green color even the air smelled expensively sweet owing from various flowers.

Multiple relaxation spots filled the entirety of each sides whilst the massive structure almost the size of the American white house stood at the center.
Finally he made his way to the entrance of the building, and almost immediately he could recognize a CCTV camera at on of the top corner where a door man ushered him inside.

‘just the middle hall way, sir.’ The door man said.

a long hallway fitted with various expensive art works led to another entire section of the building which, had held three more hall ways that had various doors fitted on both sides however he walked straight through the middle one , a few hand maids and male servants walked to and fro its entirety all corporately dressed in white and red but once he got to a large open sort of relaxation spot fitted with massive glass windows and expensive curtains that swayed at the cold air, his eyes fell upon her, young, probably just approaching mid thirties, well dressed in black gown, dark, slim and quite a beauty she was, she had some sort of mystery in the way she looked where she sat, she seemed lost in her thoughts.
‘Good day madam, my name is detective Cyril, I am working with –‘

‘I know who you are, I am Miss. Jenny, the house keeper, madam will be joining you within a minute.’ She replied beckoning on him to take a seat as she stood to take her leave.

‘thank you.’ The detective took his seat as Miss. Jenny walked out.

Exactly a minute later, Lillian had walked in, quite the spectacle she was, beautifully dressed in a gold satin material which brought out her killer curves out, she seemed dull and quite sober as supposed for someone who was grieving.

‘I hope I didn’t keep you waiting.’ She said dully as she took her seat opposite him but of course there was about 20 feet of good space between them.
‘certainly not, madam.’ He replied calmly as he brought out his little book and pen with which he usually wrote down whatever findings he was going to make but almost then did a maid walk in with a silver tray filled with assorted drinks.

‘Please make yourself comfortable and take whatever you like.’ She said closely observing the detective who just nodded in silence and searched out a clean sheet to write on.

The maid placed the tray on the long table before unlocking some handles from the side of the table which held the drinks and pushing that part gently to where he sat.
‘this was my idea.’ She said dully with some sort of satisfaction.
‘Its also quite expensive, charles thought it was crazy but I knew it was a perfect fit for the visitor’s parlor.’ She said thoughtfully.
‘anyways what can I do for you detective Cyril, I hope I got that right.’ She added.

CONTINUED


‘yes you did madam, I would like to confirm your statements and your alibis on that night as well as other workers in the house if you don’t mind.’ The detective said.

'nothing to be worried about, just routine stuff.’ The detective added.

‘oh I hope so, detective.’ She said dully which seemed odd for her to say, for a grieving wife who has just lost her husband, she seemed less eager to help at the moment.

‘can I ask you about the CCTV cameras installed, they weren’t tendered in as-‘

‘oh those, anyway Miss. Jenny had insisted they were a good touch for the house recently so we had decided to install them unfortunately they were defected and didn’t work, they are scheduled to be replaced by the company this week.’ She said calmly.

Damn it, he thought for the CCTV cameras could have worked like magic for him.

‘I would like to know where you were between 7:15 – 7:37 that evening.’ The detective asked quite focus on her reaction, eye contacts and body language that would give him the slightest clue to some sort of deceit on her path.

‘I was where I needed to be, right in front of our guests, you see I was supposed to prepare the stage for Charles’s speech, of course I didn’t like the idea but the party had started 5 minutes rather late –‘

‘how so?’ the detective asked, picking an interest in what could have gone wrong, he hadn’t been around a lot of rich folks but one thing he understand about them was how valuable their time were.

They must have had weeks to plan and work such an important occasion, so what could have gone wrong he wondered.
‘oh that,’ she paused, her countenance had changed briefly, somewhat irritated she continued.

‘that was entirely on me, I had decided to handle the cake and not bother jenny about that unfortunately those idiots didn’t come on time with what I ordered and…’ she paused realizing how hysterical she was beginning to sound.

She sighed and put up a smile once more, a bit more calm and comfortable, she continued.

‘…and when they did they forget to –‘ she paused again and sighed heavily.

‘just forget about that anyways Miss. Jenny took care of it and we were back on schedule.’ She said finally.

‘I see, how would you describe your husband business relationship, from the guest list I obtained it seems there were a lot of guests invited.’ The detective asked again scribbling down whatever he thought was important.

‘if by a lot of guests, you are trying to insinuate if he had any enemies come by then yes there were a lot, I mean my husband happened to be one of the most successful and wealthy business man in the country, of course he had enemies who came, that’s why we rich people organize parties but-‘ she paused again, this time the detective could see some sort of sadness in her eyes.

‘but none that I think could have done such, they may not like him but he was a respected business man.’ Lillian said.
‘I see, the days prior, may I ask how he sounded, was he unhappy, disturbed, troubled or –‘

‘oh no, no, no , you see Charles was excited, he was over the moon, if he was unhappy or so I don’t think he showed it to anyone.’ She cut in quickly.
‘madam, have your husband been threatened or was in any argument with anyone, maybe recently or at some time by a friend, business associate or a worker within the house?’ The detective asked again.

‘Not that I know and even if he did, I doubt I would be the one he would discuss such with and no one would even bait an eye on him within his house if not Miss. Jenny would straighten them up immediately.’ She said again, this time her eyes rolled over her gold watch.
Somehow she had given him the heads up that she was close to the end of her interview.

‘although you might…’ she paused again and sighed almost as if she was hesitant to say it.

‘look i don’t want to be the bad wife here but if I don’t say it certainly Miss. Jenny would so here it goes, there was a mid chatter between Philip and his father a week ago and since then Philip hasn’t been seen around the house.’ She said which was a huge deal for the detective.
Dennis had told him about him but the late chief’s only son with his first wife.

‘oh I see, when you say mild chatter I mean does this happen every time and do you have any idea what this was about?’

‘of course not, Philip is a spoilt rich brat backed up by his mother who wants it all, his father doesn’t buy his nor her ideas so yes they are always going to be in disagreement every now but he did come by during the party and left early, the boy stays on his own, has a whole well furnished duplex to himself at just 18 years anyway Claire wasn’t around as I already guessed.’ Lillian added.

He sure was expecting some sort of bad blood between both women over something at least, so this was no surprise, he decided to enquire more.
‘So I am guessing your relationship with Philip and his mother isn’t as rosy as I should believe?’ the detective added.

She seemed to smile for a bit moment, somehow the detective could sense her unwillingness to say anything on that.

‘I see no reason why my relationship with my late husband’s ex-wife should concern this investigation but it’s no secret, she hates my guts as much as I hate hers, what do you expect?’ she paused and smiled dully, a feeling of satisfaction the detective could sense crept in on her smile.

‘Two years ago I was just another hustler happy to work with a generous man who offered me a six figure paying job and then things didn’t go so well for her and they split, of course she hates me, she thinks I am some Gold digger who doesn’t deserve what I have got anyway, detective I think you should pay her a visit too, you know what they say about us, women. The things we

CONTINUED


can’t have usually don’t last long in the hands of others, I wouldn’t be surprised she knows something that I don’t.’ she said.

Could Philip be his suspect he wondered or could his mother, both had motives, money, jealousy, hatred, who knows plus it was no news to have murders carried out by family members or even closer ties such as one’s own children or jilted spouse any way he was soon going to find out, he scribbled their names down with an inscription ‘POI’.

‘you must excuse me now, I have a lot to attend to, Charles death has left me with a lot with to think about in the mean time, if you don’t mind if you want an interview with me again we can always reschedule, Miss. Jenny will help you with the rest of your interview, you are free to drop your card with her as well.’

She gave no chance for the detective to object as she stood and took her leave, she seemed concerned over something, there was just something in her voice and her eyes that told more than she was say.

The detective took a quick look at his watch and realized the interview had lasted over twenty minutes, he grinned dully when he checked his list and realized there was still over 45 workers within the house he needed to interview.

‘Madam, told me you will be interviewing the staff, I have gone a step further to help you group them into those who were around and did give statements and those who weren’t around that day.’ Miss. Jenny said quite the professional she was, she bore no expression on her face only that which reflected the nature of her job, calm and composed.

‘thank you but first I would like to ask you some questions as well, as the house keeper it is essential I can corroborate every other employee’s alibi with you and also hear what you know’ the detective said once again finding a clean sheet to begin his second round of interview.
‘of course, certainly.’ She said with a nod before taking her seat.

‘thank you, now may I know where exactly you were within 7:15 and 7:37?’
‘well I was busy ensuring my employees don’t screw up anything, especially the new ones who still haven’t figured out their way around the house.’ She replied.

‘your employees?’ the detective said a bit unsure if that was the right word to use by someone who was still an employee.

‘yes of course sir, you see I was the first to be employed when this house was built and Chief Charles has always trusted me to handle the employment of every other person in the house, they answer to me and I answered to him and madam.’ She said.
‘oh I see anyways who can confirm your alibi for me?’ the detective asked again.

‘Oh everyone of them can, I am good at my job and of course they are my job.’

‘I see, is there anyone who was around that day and you think would want to hurt or harm the chief?’
‘not that I know, you see my job requires me to mind my business so I hardly dabble into the late chief’s personal affairs although I can say for sure that his son’s behavior that day was quite erratic.’ She said.

And once again the chief’s son was becoming an interesting subject to him.
‘why do you say so?’

‘He was upset and a bit drunk, he wanted to see his father but I insisted he needed to be sober and calm before I could let him join his father, I wasn’t going to let him make a scene on such an important day for my employer, I was later informed, I think around 7:05 that he had left the building.’ She said.

‘was it confirmed that he actually left?’

‘that I can’t say, you must forgive me, I was quite busy overseeing my employees.’ She replied a bit disappointed in herself.

‘hmm, that would be all for now, thank you, I would like to talk with the eye witness now, I believe he is an employee by the name james?’ the detective said quite unsure if he had got that right.

‘Oh yes, james is a newbie here, he was the one who found my…’ she paused a bit and cleared her throat in such a way that seemed odd to the detective.
‘my employer, the late chief, he found him in the visitor’s wash room and if you don’t mind I could seat with you and ensure they cooperate fully with you.’ She added.

‘that would be nice, thank you.’ The detective said with a warm smile, whilst she was younger than most of the employees he had seen so far, it was quite obvious why she was the boss here.

At first observation, james seemed nervous and withdrawn but well for someone who witnessed a grown man lying in the pool of his blood it was quite expected.
Witnesses had recounted seeing him running out to call for help, blood soaked, he had been taken in for custody immediately where he was made to give his statement after which with no evidence or probable course to hold him back, he was released, he avoided eye contact as much as he could as he stood before the them, still shaken about the accident or was there something else he was hiding.

‘please sit.’ The detective said calmly as james obliged sheepishly.
‘I am going to ask you a few questions about your routine that day and the hours that led to your discovery, is that understood?’ the detective asked.’
‘yes sir.’ He replied almost unsure of what he had heard.

‘now can you run me through what you wrote down as your statement once more?’ the detective added, it was no mistake he was asking his key witness of this, not that he doubted what he had written down but rather to see if he had remembered anything new and even more if he had lied his way out when he first wrote his statement, the mind was a tricky thing, deceit and lies hardly stuck for long as much as the truth does, if he had lied the first time, this was the time for him to know.

‘james, the detective wants you to tell him what you did all through that day especially the hours leading up to what happened.’ Miss. Jenny said sternly.

CONTINUED


James nodded and began his story, he seemed quite truthful in terms of sticking to his original statement however his demeanor bothered the detective, a bit shifty, his body language gave a good description of someone who was deceitful, was there more to this employee’s story, he asked himself.

‘that was it, I found him on the floor and he seemed…’ he seemed hesitant to say anything else.

‘…he seemed terrified and pale.’ He added sympathetically.

‘you never saw anyone back there with him?’ the detective asked again.

‘no not at all sir, I believe at that time everyone was at the party.’ He replied.

The detective nodded calmly as he scribbled something down in his note quickly, once he raised his eyes once more, he had caught james starring at the little book and for a quick second james realized the detective was now starring back which startled him.

‘did you kill chief Charles?’ the detective’s word sent shivers down james spine immediately and for a quick second Miss. Jenny’s eyes widened.
‘God forbid, no, not at all, I would never do that, I swear!’ james replied hysterically almost standing to his feet.

‘where you an accomplice to the murder then?’ again james was hysteric, this time he had stood up, agitated and almost angered.
‘james!’ Miss. Jenny called out to him quite sternly, she needn’t say anything else for her employee to realize he needed to compose himself.
‘hmm, that will be all james, thank you.’ The detective said undisturbed by james action, surely it was certain this employee had something to hide but whether it concerned the case or not he was sure to find out sooner.

‘you can go now james, the detective is finished with you.’ Miss. Jenny said calmly.

James stood still for a brief moment unsure of what to do next, he soon sighed and nodded before he took his leave, three hours and forty five minutes had passed as detective Cyril interviewed everyone else, there really was not much to go around however he had decided to go around the scene of the crime.

‘you must excuse me now, I have a few matters to tend to but be rest assured I will be seeing you off when you are done, please take your time and do what you have to, I have instructed the employees to help you with whatever you need as directed by madam.’ Miss. Jenny said once they had arrived at the wash room.

She had been really patient with him through the time however he was happy to be alone at the moment.
Of course the place had been wiped clean as he had expected but there was still a lot the scene could tell him.

A long hallway had led up to the wash room, once he was inside, he realized how lavishly well done the wash room, the windows were located at the top end which made it an impossible exit or entrance point, whoever killed the chief came in through the door but then again there was the dilemma of what he felt made no sense.

Why in the first place was the chief in the visitor’s wash room, from all he had reviewed, the chief’s chamber was closer to access even though it was up on the second level perhaps a quick pee or perhaps something else.

He walked up to the door and checked up the handle and the edges, nothing seemed out of place indicating there was no forced entry, didn’t he lock the door behind him or was he attacked on his way out the weapon was never found on the scene and when the police did search around the kitchen , they had found nothing out of place yet again he was going to check, his work as a detective was finding some little discrepancies that fit in to the case.

CHAPTER THREE


‘how is it so far, my boy’ Mr. salami asked over the phone once Cyril had unpacked his luggage at the hotel where he was lodging at.
‘its been okay sir, it seems there are top people who are really interested in the case for me to get your call this soon.’
The detective replied quite aware of his uncle antics.

‘hahaha, you are just too smart for yourself boy, anyways you are right about that, there are people, business associates, friends of his who want answers and they know people who know people that know us, we need answers ASAP detective.’ His uncle replied.

‘its why you picked me, uncle’ the detective said taking a cigarette from its pack.
‘that’s good my boy and don’t kid yourself over the fact that you have to answer my call because you are on a job, I worry and I care about my cousin, if you had some fine chick or some babe somewhere I wouldn’t worry this much, hahaha.’ His uncle replied before the call went dead.
He sighed and lit the cigarette up, he was going to take a quick smoke, take his bath and then get something to eat before he slept off.

He had already asked dennis to come pick him up at 7:00 am tomorrow, there were a lot of discrepancies but none which was still a fit to the murder, he needed to talk with Philip and then of course his mother as well and perhaps go see the doctor and maybe return to the mansion to conduct a bit more interview with some of the workers again.

‘you are five minutes early’ detective Cyril said as soon as dennis pulled the patrol car in front of him where he stood.
‘Good morning sir, I thought I would rather come early to wait for you, seems I am right on time.’ Dennis replied as he opened the door for the detective.

‘where are we heading out to?’ the sergeant asked.
‘Philipp Davies, he is one of the few whose statement was never taken.’ The detective replied.

The sergeant nodded and set the car in motion towards their destination, after an hour’s ride with his first taste of the state’s morning traffic, they arrived at Philip’s house.

No doubt it was built for luxury, its transparent low fence gate was state of the art.
‘who are you and how can I help you?’ a young man asked the two police officers once they approached the gate.
'If you don’t pay me my money the next time I come here, I swear to God, phil you are going to get it hard.’ A loud coarse voice could be heard from inside the house,which diverted their attention away from the young man at the gate.

‘Eh, excuse me sirs, you still haven’t told me your names and how I can help you’ the young man replied again.
‘young man, can’t you see I am on uniform here or doesn’t that tell you that I am a police officer.’ Dennis said angrily.
‘And so?’ the young man replied undisturbed over what he considered was a rude response.

‘Am sorry my dear friend, my name is detective Cyril, I am here to see Philip Davies over the death of his father, if its okay by him we just need to get his statement and ask him a few questions and we will get out of his hair in no time’ the detective added flashing his badge at the young man who nodded.

‘wait here.’ The young man replied again before he turned to leave and once more a fat bulky, dark fellow in a white t shirt and shorts walked out angrily and closely following behind him was Philip, looking quite agitated and confused, they all starred at each other, there was a bit of shock in the fat bulky guy’s eye sort of agitated it would seem, even Philip seemed to have seen a ghost as soon as their eyes met.

The young man had joined Philip and his supposed friend and soon after Philip held a dull frown and seem to whisper something into the ear’s of his friend.

‘I will be taking a taxi back to the station, I need you to trail the other guy, get me a name and a location.’ The detective said discretely to dennis as Philip and his friend drew near to the gate.

It could be something or nothing but it was worth a shot, the guy seemed like a criminal already, his eye contacts, body movement were giving off the right signal.

‘can we reschedule this interview for another day, I don’t think this is the right time for it detective.’ Philip said once they reached the gate.
‘of course we can but I might have to ask you to come down to the station and –‘

‘fine but we have to be fast about it clearly you are wasting your time on me but if it is what you want, no problem them.’ He said.
‘chris, I guess we talk on the phone later.’ He said again to his friend who nodded and walked out.

‘I hope we didn’t get him to leave earlier than he wanted to.’ The detective said.
‘No, not at all, come in.’ Philip said before Dennis left the detective to pursue his assignment.

‘your police friend, where is he?’ Philip asked once he turned around and realized dennis was out of sight.
‘he gets to wait in the car, I am sure our meeting shouldn’t take long’ the detective said noticing a bit of panic in philip’s voice.

‘there is a relaxation spot for us, we can do the interview there, my house is a mess inside right now.’
‘how so?’ the detective asked.

‘I held a party last night, it started outside and ended inside, I hope you won’t arrest me for that, detective.’ Philip replied dully as they sat down, at closer observation, he could see why Lillian didn’t like the boy, sort of the young, rich, proud arrogant kid.

‘so what do you want to know detective.’ Philip asked bringing his phone out.
‘there are multiple reports which said you left early after attempts to speak with your-‘
‘let me guess, these multiple reports would be Miss. Jenny, isn’t it?’
‘that is not question here, I need to know when you came and when you left exactly that day.’ The detective said firmly.
‘oh she was thorough enough to tell you that I came and left but couldn’t tell you I was drunk because I was and so I don’t even know how I got home, I woke up to hear my father had been brutally stabbed and murdered.’ He said, almost angry at the thought of what had happened.
‘may I ask why you wanted to see him so urgently that day?’

‘nothing really, I just wanted to wish him a happy birthday celebration, I mean he is my father of course, I can see him whenever I want to.’ He protested.

‘There were said to be some mild chatter between you and –‘
‘look detective, I didn’t kill my father, he is not the best in the world that I can tell you but I didn’t, yes we haven’t been on some good terms recently but I hope the person who did is

CONTINUED


caught and made to face justice soon.’ Philipp said.

There was something in his voice that the detective couldn’t nail yet as he spoke more and more however he was quite aware of his rights and was smart enough not to say anything that could implicate him yet.

‘may I ask what is your relationship with Mrs. Lillian?’ the detective replied.
‘what relationship do I have with her?, of course she is the lady of the house its why I packed out, she hates me and I like to pretend she is a nobody as well, end of story, am sure you will understand how it works.’ Philip said dully.
‘is there anyone who you think might want to hurt your dad?’

‘I don’t know really, I can’t say for sure who is and who is not, you could ask Miss. Jenny, she knows everything that happens within the house, I am sure she would have a long list of suspects for you.’ Philip said before he began texting on his phone.
The detective had no more questions and so decided to take his leave.

‘Ring..Ring’ his phone went on and on until he picked the phone, it was a strange number but never the less he picked it as he walked himself out.
‘hello, who am I speaking with?’
‘is this detective Cyril, the one who is in charge of chief Charles davies?’ the caller responded quite unsure of who he was talking to.
‘yeah its me and who am I –‘
‘I am barrister Edmund, I am a friend of the late chief and his personal and family lawyer, I would like to talk to you privately.’ He replied.
‘Sure, are you intending to come down to the station or –‘
‘I will send you my address, I hope you don’t mind coming down to see me instead.’ The caller said.
‘of course not.’ The detective said.
‘please be around by 2:00 PM, I will be waiting.’ He said before the call went dead and a few seconds later , he received a message with the address.

He sighed and wondered what the sergeant might have found out by now, anyways he decided to go back to the station and check up on his findings in the mean time.

‘Your boy is a drug user!’ Dennis said as he walked in on the detective two hours after the detective had arrived at the station.
That was certainly interesting, it was no news for the rich to dabble into drug use and other hard illegal substances.

‘the guy today I traced him back to his club, his name is Chris Oliseh, apparently he is philip’s best friend and he has done time before for several minor offences, he now runs a club but I was able to milk some people around, of course some only spoke when I parted with some money but it turns out about two months ago, oliseh started doing drugs and Philip was his number one buyer because he always bought in large quantity.’
The detective nodded, this could explain his angry outburst earlier and why they both seemed freaked out when they met.
‘people say Philip always paid very well until about a week and a half ago when he stopped paying but he still collected the drugs and now, oliseh has been on his neck, threatening him.’
Dennis added.

‘I see, perhaps this could explain the little mid chatter with both father and son during the week, I don’t know but I think his father cut him of his money.’ The detective said almost to himself.

‘so he realized he wasn’t getting any of the goodies any more and decided to kill the old man, hmmm.’ Dennis said with a nod, it was a good story, the motive was there and the worst kind of criminals to do anything are those who use drugs.
‘should I call it in, I could arrange eight boys right now to arrest him’ dennis said.

‘not yet, there is a motive but there are no evidence to back it up,there is someone I need to see first’
‘okay sir, I will await for your orders, I will take my leave now, I have to go file in theft case.’ Dennis said with a nod before leaving.
By 2:00 Pm , the detective had found his way to Barrister Edmund’s office.

‘please, have a seat.’ The barrister showed the detective a seat which he took.
‘I am going to make this as fast as I can, you must know Charles was a good friend of mine and I want to help in any way.’ The barrister said, his demeanor seemed calm at the moment.

‘Mrs. Claire , the ex-wife came to see me the other day and she was asking to see charle’s will.’ The barrister added.
‘did she say why?’

‘of course not but she was willing to offer me money for it and even something else…’ the barrister paused quite uncertain of how best to put in his next words.

‘if you know what I mean.’ The barrister continued, the detective nodded calmly, what was happening here, could there be a plot here he thought to himself.

‘I have known Claire for a long time detective, this is completely out of character for her but I can’t tell why she is asking for this, the will is sealed with charles’s own seal so it can’t be broken till the due date.’ The barrister said again.

‘may I ask what was their marriage like, claire and Charles, do you have any idea what really happened?’ the detective asked hoping to learn more.
‘it was okay, she was beautiful and the toast of the town, she comes from a wealthy family who charles back then had business dealings, I personally believed Claire was one of thos business deals Charles had to secure.’
‘so you think it was arranged.’
‘don’t get me wrong detective, Charles loved her as I felt she did, but Charles filed in for divorce, I don’t know why, Charles is one hell of a secretive man, he keeps his personal affairs only to himself, you really don’t know what goes on in his mind.’ Mr. Edmund said, a true fact that had stood the test of time, he himself admired the billionaire for that.

‘and Philip?’ the detective asked, he could see the unwillingness in the barrister’s facial expression not to say anything about the boy.
‘he is-‘ he paused and scoffed before dropping his glasses down.
‘he is a handful and you shouldn’t blame Claire, she tried to straighten the boy earlier but Charles, he loved the boy of course he was his son, Charles would do anything for that boy but its almost a curse for the rich folks not to have problems associated with wanting the good life for their kids and I think its one of many reasons why they divorced.’

‘I don’t understand what you mean.’
‘well Charles suddenly stopped liking the kid, he didn’t show it but I could see he didn’t like the kid anymore and this was around the same time he filed for divorce, Philip stayed with his father until Lillian came into view and he bought a house for the boy.’
‘so philip and lillian weren’t doing so fine after all.’

‘hahaha detective, Lillian is just a few years older than Philip and to know that is the woman your father chose over your mother of course they weren’t doing so fine, Philip might not be a mama’s boy but he doesn’t do so well with Lillian either.’

The detective nodded, there were a lot of strong indications that Philip might in fact be his suspect, in fact for just the use of hard drugs the boy could face a lengthy time in jail but for the sake of media attention he knew he needn’t to be careful.
‘do you think the boy did it?’ the detective asked.
‘that I am afraid I can’t answer detective.’ The barrister

CONTINUED


said.
‘thank you very much for your time barrister, I would like to talk to you abit more some other time if you don’t mind.’
‘of course you can, anytime detective.’ The barrister as they both shook hands.

Once the detective was outside, he had decided to go back to the mansion before dennis ringed him.
‘hello sarge.’

‘hello sir, the doctor wants to see you, the autopsy results are out, I also got some other information on philip’s boy’
‘thanks, I will be in the station within the next 15 minutes.’
He replied quickly before he managed to stop a taxi.

CHAPTER FOUR


‘believe what you are looking for, is a jagged edged weapon, something like a bread knife or some sort of miniature or handy saw but me and my colleagues believe it has to be bread knife, the sharp entry wound points to it.’ Doctor Ngozi said dropping a file on her desk as both men sat in her office.

‘the chief was stabbed over seventeen times, three at the back, with one lethal one to his spine which we believe would follow a pattern for someone who was attacked from behind, natural response is to turn around and we get one to the neck and the rest are buried deep in his chest, whoever did this gave no time for the chief to put up a fight, it was fast, powerful and lethal, he would have died less than 10 minutes after the assault, he was discovered still struggling to live, my best thought body was that he was attacked approximately 7:25 or 7:27 PM.’

The detective went through the file, it was just as she said.

‘so what now, doctor?’
‘there is still something else we want to confirm, we have asked for his previous medical records to corroborate some other things and after then his body will be released to the family.’ The doctor said once more.

Once they were done there, they returned back to the station to discuss a bit more.

‘I need to take a closer look at the house, within ten minutes a lot of things can happen, I could be in one place and the next, I need to scrutinize the alibis of every one this time, those who we can’t verify, we take them in immediately for further questioning, I need eyes on Philip 24/7 and how is the tech department doing with the chief’s phone, I need to know if there is something that could give us any slip on our suspect.’ The detective said.

‘yes sir, do you want me to come along?’

‘no, I think I can get around and don’t bother calling them to let them know of my arrival either.’ The detective said before leaving the office.
Once he arrived at the mansion, Miss. Jenny had taken him to the party ground just behind the house where the celebration was held that night.
The detective had walked around the entire building soon after, a maze or a labyrinth of rooms and hall ways the house was however there was just one long hallway that went straight from the back yard to the visitor’s wash room, the second hallway however had two other hallways leading to the second floor and a base compartment, he found his way to the base compartment with the help of the house keeper.

‘I can assure you no one was here, there are only two set of keys that open the doors of this house, I happen to be in possession of one and the other stays with my employer.’ Miss. Jenny said.

‘okay, I would like to see both set of keys and has any of the employees reported any missing items in the kitchen.’
‘that can be arranged but first you will have to seek permission from madam and as for any missing item, that is a no.’
She replied again.

It was a dead end here, nothing seemed out of place so he moved over to the next hallway which led to the second floor and a massive kitchen, the size he had never seen, there was nothing there to worry about so he decided to go have a talk with the security head personally who was on ground that night, the interview was short however he did find out that Mr. adeyemi was probably the last person the chief spoke to.

‘can I speak to madam?’
‘Am afraid that won’t be possible, she is not feeling all too well at the moment.’
‘oh I am sorry about that then.’ The detective said.
‘I am going to need the employee’s personal application details if you don’t mind.’ The detective said.
‘you still think that one of my employees did this?’
‘somebody did this that’s all I know and I am going to find out who.’

Miss. Jenny nodded calmly before she brought a paper from one of her pockets and handed it to the detective.
‘this is the original lists of party attendees in total there were 50 guests, what was printed out and used to attend to the guests was from this list.’
The detective observed the list closely, what was given to them had just 49 guests, who was the fifth guest?
‘I made that list on orders of my employer, number 15 happens to be my employer’s ex-wife sir.’
‘but she wasn’t in attendance, was she?’

‘I thought so too, I personally was asked to deliver her invite to her but she declined and turned it down so my employer had told me not to expect her and hence make changes to the list which is what became the party attendees list of 49, but I can confirm from multiple employees so far that 50 people were on ground that night.’ Miss. Jenny said.

‘so there is a possibility that mrs. Claire might have been around or someone else who was not invited.’
‘yes sir, that is what I believe but I would take the formal over the latter, I think Mrs. Claire came around sir.’ Mrs. Jenny said.

The detective thought about it for a while, Philip had come around that night and had left early with no clear alibi to back up his story of leaving early, he could have laid around and waited for an opportunity but however Claire seemed more like the perfect suspect, she was an ex wife whose claim to the chief’s wealth was at stake, she could have came around that night and probably saw an opportunity to let her anger out on the man or where both mother and son together on it?

The murder sounded premeditated, did she come to the party with the intent of killing him he wondered.
‘do you have any idea why she must have declined the invite in the first place?’ the detective asked.

She had paused for a while to think of her response before james walked in on them, quite unease with the presence of the detective.
‘excuse me madam.’

‘what is it?’ miss. Jenny asked.

‘madam wants you up stairs immediately.’ James said before he hurriedly took his leave as the detective watched on.
‘you must excuse me now, I rarely get a break off my job but you should speak to Claire, she is quite out spoken in things like this, do not worry over the employees information details, I will have then sent over once I can confirm madam is on board with it.’ Miss. Jenny said before leaving the detective where he stood.

There was something really off james which he couldn’t figure out

CONTINUED


just yet, was he in any way connected to the murder he hoped not. He brought his phone out and rand dennis, it was time to bring in his first two suspects in.

By 2:30 pm the media had stormed the station and once again the DPO was at their mercy, inside Philip and his mother had been put in two different waiting room for interrogation.

Detective found his way to Mrs. Claire’s waiting room, his uncle had rung him earlier but he had declined to pick the call, he had a lot to work on at the moment.

Once he walked in, their eyes met for the first time, she was calm and well composed, she seemed like one of those times who didn’t care about anything.

‘sorry for keeping you waiting, Mrs. Claire.’ He said as he sat down but she hadn’t replied but rather sighed and readjusted herself.
‘I would like you to know, right now you have not been arrested hence no handcuffs were used, there are a lot however for me to bring you and your son in and not until I can clear them out, I am afraid we would be spending a lot of time here.’ The detective said.

‘if this is about me sneaking in on the party that night, detective then you are only wasting your time, I just wanted to see him once more before I travelled out for good this time.’ She said dully.

‘so your presence was just to see him and…’
‘and nothing, I have been trying to get out of this damn country for long, say three months, Charles was one of the few things that held me here in the country all this time, so I decided to go see him, I think he was angry that I had initially declined his invite.’

‘may I know why you declined initially if you knew you were leaving for good’
‘of course why not, he sent the invite through that bitch jenny of course, forgive my use of fowl language but I don’t like her one bit.’

She seemed truthful and as jenny had said quite open about how she felt.
‘so you only declined because you don’t like Miss. Jenny’
‘charles knows better than to send her to me and I know you must be wondering why I don’t like her, well it’s the same reason I don’t like Lillian.’
The detective eyes widened for a moment.

‘what do you mean by that?’
‘that bitch can pretend to the world she is just some house keeper, loyal , faithful and trust worthy but do you know what I think , I think she was way too close to Charles, she might have been obsessed with him if I should say, its why we fought back then amongst other things.’ She said.

The words of a jealous woman or what he thought, it seemed quite clear now she wasn’t going to share Charles or let him be even after they split.
‘how did you get to the mansion, mrs. Claire, your personal driver has been interviewed and he is quite sure he didn’t take you to the mansion so how did you get there?’
‘oh that, I used a friend’s car’
‘name and address, madam, we will have to check and confirm that.’ The detective said sliding a clean sheet to her and a biro.
‘did you know your son was also at the party that night, they said he was drunk and wanted to see his father, his accounts of when and where he was is unaccounted for, is there anything I need to know?’

She stopped to think for a quick second and then put up a dull smile on her face.
‘philip is a man of himself, if he has a case to answer in his father’s death then that’s his to case, detective.’ She replied.
‘are you saying the two of you never came across each other that day?’
‘ I am saying that I don’t care if you have my son locked up in the next room, I have nothing to do with him in regards to his father’s death.’ She said blankly.
The detective’s phone rang again, it was his uncle still trying to talk to him.
She didn’t seem like the killer, the motive was there, the opportunity was there, in fact he needed only to find a connection between them that day and they could be charged for murder in fact if he needn’t do much to go for a death penalty for premeditated murder.

However he wasn’t done yet, Philip on the hand had much to answer as well, chris had also been brought in and search warrants to raid Philips house had already been signed and his house ransacked by dennis and his men, if there was as much any evidence connecting him to the murder, he was going to go in for it.

He excused himself and walked out and headed straight for philip’s waiting room but however he stopped and made a u turn to chris cell who was arrested on the charges of hard drugs possession as directed by the detective, Chris was nothing more than a bargaining chip for him against Philip, no man wants to do time its why they always ready to betray even their parents for the chance at freedom.

‘bring him out, I need to talk to talk’ the detective instructed one of the constable who brought chris out who seemed terrified at the sight of the detective once he realized who he was.

‘ take his handcuffs off.’ The detective instructed again as did the constable.

‘you will be tried and found guilty of possession of various illegal drugs and substances ranging from heroin to cocaine, if you are lucky you will get 40years if I want I could double that digit, your banks account, houses, cars, everything you own will be confiscated, we are also going to tell your buddies who are been tracked right now that supply you your shit that you sold them out cheaply, I am very sure you won’t last long in the prison cell before they get their hands on you and also your family.’ The detective paused to see chris reaction which was what he had expected, frantic, agitated, and helpless, he was

CONTINUED


cornered and needed any opening, if he wanted chris to squeal like a pig he would do it gladly.

'but I can guarantee you a way out, 20years top in prison, you get to keep half of what you have earned and a safe place to do your time.’
‘what is it, tell me, I will do it.’ Chris replied helplessly.

‘good, I have a few questions for you to answer.’ The detective said calmly with a smile.
By the time he was down with chris, he had all he was looking for, he joined Philip soon after.

‘detective, you are making a big mistake , I swear I will sue you for this public-‘

‘the chief froze your assets, didn’t he?’ the detective said calmly as he took his seat, he didn’t have to look at Philip to see how stunned and shocked the boy was.

‘you see your friend told me everything I needed to know, he was quite to help out, your father had one simple rule for you, you could do any shitty stuff you want to, you were a billionaire’s son but he hated drugs and never wanted you to be a user, you started collecting kilos after kilos, more than what your personal budget could carry, then chris as the good debt collector he was decided to do what he knew he could do to get his money of course and he decided to give the old man a call a week ago except he didn’t get his money but you got locked out, your assets, your money everything was frozen, your house has been searched out, there is still enough kilos of cocaine and other illegal substances to charge you with, good evidence and I don’t think your mother is willing to help you out, so you are going to tell me what happened that night.’ The detective said sternly, he could see the look of helplessness on the boy’s face, he was doing his best to hold on to his emotions as his eyes became sore and reddish, he had finally cracked.

‘I swear…’ he sobbed bitterly like a little child.

‘I swear detective, I didn’t kill him, yes I was mad and angry at him but I messed up, he even knew before chris had told him about my drug use but he was hoping I would change.’ He paused for a moment weeping and sobbing.
‘he wanted a good life for me, the life he never had but I swear-‘

‘you are lying Philip, what did you do to your father!’ the detective pressed angrily.
‘he is not my father!’

The words came as a shock and surprise to the detective, he managed to compose himself quickly.
‘am sorry, what did you say?’

‘chief Charles davies isn’t my father but he treated me all this time like a son even when he knew and broke up with my mother, he never stopped loving me or calling me his own, please look at me detective and tell me I would kill such a man’ Philip replied, he may not be good at telling who was lying but he could tell when someone was been truthful, Philip wasn’t the killer.

‘I came that night to see him, I wanted to ask for his forgiveness, I messed up and I was sorry, okay miss jenny wouldn’t let me see him because I was drunk so I left, you have to believe me detective.’ He continued.

The more Philip spoke the more he realized he had the wrong person, he stood and took his leave, once outside he took out a cigarette and lit it up, nothing was making any sense, the kid was still in trouble but not his trouble, not for the reason he was arrested.
‘Ring..Ring’ his phone went on again, this time he had to pick when he realized it was his uncle once more.
‘hello sir.’

‘I don’t think mrs. Claire is your person, boy’ the uncle said, he hadn’t reported anything yet concerning the arrest to him.
‘how did you-‘
‘the media has your arrests all over the news, they think you have caught the killers but I don’t think that’s right’
‘how so?’

‘because the people who knew the people that know us and asked us to get the best detective to help solve the case was apparently no people, I did my own little investigation, she asked for this investigation to be conducted by the best we could find so except she is some criminal master mind who wants to be captured I don’t think she has anything to do with the case.’ His uncle replied.

She already knew she was never in any serious trouble, she knew who he was as well, she was just another play along character in this whole thing.
‘what a waste.’ He thought as he ended the call. He walked back to join Mrs. Claire, she merely starred at him with a smile of satisfaction on her face.
‘you are free to go for now, I am very sure we still-‘
‘no we don’t detective, I want to know who did this to Charles as much as possible, Philip is a lot of things as well but –‘
‘was it why you went to see Mr. Edmund the other day?’

If there was any time she raised an eye brow or lost her usual calm and composed nature, it was that moment, he could see it in her eyes, Philip was right, she had posed a kid who wasn’t the Charles’s own for long and when he found out they separated, perhaps she blames Philip for letting her lose Charles to Lillian.

‘I may not like the boy but he is my flesh and blood, I was only looking out for him especially when he had decided to screw up the man before his death, Charles has a big heart but if that man gets angry at you, you are nothing more than a piece of worthless rag in his face, the only exception he made was always for me not Philip or anyone else.’ Mrs. Claire said.

‘you are free to go and I hope you don’t press charges’ the detective said calmly.
‘haha, charges you say? I think by now you must have realized my role in this whole big mystery, I started it detective.’ She said before she stood up to leave.

‘and my boy, what about him?’

‘he has a case to answer, he was found with illegal substances ’
She scoffed in such a manner that told him, Philip wasn’t going to jail any time soon.
He was back to square one with no suspects and no evidence, what was next he thought to himself.
‘Ring..Ring’ he picked up the phone quickly.

‘Good afternoon sir, madam wants to confirm if you still want copies of my employees information since you have made some arrest already.’ Miss. Jenny said.

‘yes of course and please tell madam, there have been no arrest if there were she would get an official statement from the police.’
He replied before the call ended.

CHAPTER FIVE


The next day was a bit slower, the media’s attention was all over the detective, he knew he had made a dreadful miss with Philip and his mother, thankfully the employees application forms had arrived and asked for dennis so that they could go through the lot.

‘nothing here stands out, Miss. Jenny picked near perfect people, nothing at all.’ Dennis said quite impressed with what he had read so far.
‘something about the guy james, I can’t quite figure out yet.’ The detective said dully as he gave James’s form to dennis, there was nothing that stood out from his form as well, just another young Nigerian trying to hustle right.

‘Star block hotel?’ dennis said quite unsure of what he had read which captured the detective’s attention.
‘what is it, he worked there previously’ the detective said.

The sergeant scoffed and thought about something for a while and then stood up.

‘there is something I need to go confirm sir, I will be back in a few minutes, I need to make some calls, If you were looking for a bad egg among the bunch I can guarantee you that an employee of star buck hotel is one.’ The sergeant said before he worked out.
A minute after, The sergeant walked back in with a case file, what did he find the detective wondered.

‘five months ago, the star buck hotel was demolished alongside four other buildings in Benin city, it turns out it was owned by members of a kidnap syndicate, who used the buildings for housing their victims, many of the employees were arrested and a few were found out to be accomplices, it was such a big case back then, the list of names is incredibly massive, I don’t have everything here, I need to talk to the branch which handled the arrest and see if I can get the rest, his name should be on one of the list.’ Dennis said quickly getting down to work.

‘good work , in the mean time I think I might have to go see him again’ the detective said before taking his leave, james’s past wasn’t enough for now but he had questions to answer definitely.

By 5:00 pm he had arrived at the mansion where miss. Jenny welcomed him in.
‘I would like to see james if you don’t mind’

‘james is no longer an employee sir, I was to call you earlier to –‘
‘what, why, what happened?’

‘he hasn’t been alright ever since the incident, he dropped his resignation papers with me this morning’
‘and you didn’t see it as been strange, the detective asked before he got his phone out to pass a call through to dennis.

‘dennis, I need you to check up on the address provided by james, he apparently is no longer a worker here.’ He said before ending the call.
‘you must understand I have rules and guidelines by which I can do my duties, I reserve the right of my employees to –‘

‘can you take me through james’s room if he has one and I want to personally as well check out the charles’s room as well?’
‘I am sorry permission to my employer’s room cannot be granted, madam doesn’t want anyone in there, I could however help you with james’s who shares a room with another employee.’ She said sternly.

‘okay I may have to speak with her about that, is she around?’
‘no not at the moment, however I could call her if you-‘
‘that won’t be necessary right now, can we go to james’s room?’

‘Right this way sir.’ Miss. Jenny said as he led detective Cyril in.Some minutes later, they arrived at james’s room, the detective did his search and found nothing.

‘I ensure when one is leaving, they leave for good sir, he left with everything that belongs to him.’ She said.
‘star bucks hotel, did he ever tell you what happened there?’
‘no, I never did check up the place, it seemed like a good place.’ She replied.
‘it turns out your ex employee might be an ex-con’ he said, she was startled.
‘I didn’t know, I didn’t…’ she seemed to be struggling to compose herself now quite shaken by the revelation.
‘will you tell madam about this?’
‘let me guess, your job might be on the line if I guess right.’ The detective said.
‘yes, she is going to fire me once she finds out, I couldn’t do my job properly.’ She said quite disappointed at herself. She became a bit silent as the detective thought hard what next to do, it wasn’t enough yet to say anything at least not yet.

‘we will just have to see about that’ the detective said before he decided to take his leave.
‘please if she finds out about how I messed up, she is gonna get me fired, I am gonna lose my job and that is something I can’t do without.’ she said again at the front door as the detective was about to take his leave.

He nodded dully and took his leave, he needed to relax and get his mind off the case for some time, it seemed like one of those one step forward two steps backward and decided to go to some restaurant, try some of those delicacies dennis told him about.

By morning, he was a bit refreshed, at the station dennis had briefed him on locating james.

‘sir, he is nowhere to be seen, the tenants said he hasn’t been around, I have a man in the area for surveillance if he goes back ,we will get him.’ Dennis said.
‘So what do you want to do now?’ the sergeant asked.

‘I am going to see the doctor, he has made his final report and wants me to sign on the papers before the body is release’ the detective said and by noon he had arrived at the hospital.

‘There is nothing else we could find, he was clean and healthy until his demise’ the doctor said as he tossed the document to be signed over to the detective.

Back at the station as he mulled over what was and what was not, he had decided to give someone.
‘hello mrs. Claire.’
‘detective, what can I do for you today?’

‘I just wanted to ask you something, I was told Charles kept communication with you even after the split, was there by any chance something he mentioned or anything you think I should know about’ the detective asked as dennis walked in with a news paper, clearly inscribed at the headlines was “MRS. LILLINA DAVIES TAKES OVER DPC LTD”.

‘no, nothing really but I will tell you what he did make a big deal about his retirement two weeks before, you see he wanted it to be perfect in fact he started his physiotherapy serious again.’ She said.

‘physiotherapy, I don’t get, what physiotherapy?’ the detective asked.
‘well not really, I think over a month ago he started

CONTINUED


complaining of this aches here and there and in fact one day I met him by chance at D and H private hospital, where he told me all about it, I think he was there with Lillian but I don’t know I didn’t see her, maybe that was for the best.’ She said.

‘how is it so, his autopsy results shows there was nothing wrong with him’ The detective said.
‘well you might have to double check that with your doctor, call me any other time I will be glad to help out, right now I have a big problem I need to solve on my own.’ She said before the call ended.

‘guess who has taken over davies petrochemical ltd, its Lillian, it appears she has been in talks with the major players for a long time to take over even before Charles retired, she happens to have a massive take on the company’s stock all this time’ dennis said.

‘all she bought them secretly and was waiting for the right time to take over’ the detective said thoughtfully.
‘any word on james’s whereabouts?’ he asked.

‘no sir, not at all, there is nothing yet but we will get him sooner or later.’ The sarge replied.
‘Ring..Ring!’ his phone went on, it was Miss. Jenny on the line.
‘madam will like to see you, she will be available at home by 3:00 pm, please be around sir.’ She said before ending the call.
The time was past one already, he decided to get something to eat first before he found his way to the mansion.
He arrived at the mansion and was welcomed by Miss. Jenny at the door.
‘any idea what the lady wants?’ he asked cheerfully.
‘nothing I am aware of, hurry she hates been kept late.’ Miss. Jenny replied before he was led up stairs where Lillian was waiting for them.
‘thank you jenny, you can go attend to other matters now, I will take it from here’ she said calmly.

As soon as Miss. Jenny left, liliian walked the detective to charles’s room and once they were inside she walked him to a beautiful portrait.
‘I didn’t bring you in here to admire a portrait, you see beneath that portrait is a safe…’ she paused to put the frame down, an open steel electronic vault laid behind it.

‘it’s a portable vault’
‘an opened vault to be precise’ she said drawing the handle of the safe so it went wild opened.

‘now you must know that not even I have the password to that safe, I only realized it was opened when Miss. Jenny informed me you wanted to take a look, you see I haven’t been inside since the incident, it feels like…’ she paused to take a look around pitifully.

‘it fills like he is still here with us, its why I haven’t been in here or allowed anyone inside since then, I came in and decided to snoop around a bit and found the safe open and empty’ she said as the detective drew near to take a closer look, it was a CSX 5 modern, expensive as hell but easy to work around for a professional.

‘do you have any idea what could be in there?’ he asked.

‘I don’t know, money, maybe lots of it or some other things, I can’t say really but whatever it is, it is not there.’ She said , a frown crept in on her face.
‘we are currently on the manhunt for one of your ex-employee james, we have new intel to believe he may know more than he is saying, he is currently on the run.’

‘so you have the killer?’
‘no not exactly, well not until we get him and know what he knows, apparently he has some shady past which –‘
‘what, uh that’s strange so Miss. Jenny messed up this time, huh?’ she said almost to herself.

The detective could sense what was going on in her head, poor jenny would have a lot to think about after that evening but he had to do it, it was in the job’s description.

‘he must be found and brought to justice, I want him to suffer for what he did to my husband, I want him to suffer.’ She said sternly, the detective nodded dully and decided to take his leave.

‘charle’s keys are missing as well, I did a recount of all the keys in the bunch, his room isn’t here, I have been so busy I was never able to confirm what was missing or not, I think its how james was able to get in’ she said.

‘what is going to her?’ the detective said quite worried over miss. Jenny.

‘miss. Jenny, oh I think she has served well but she has to pay for it, she messed up big time but you need not worry yourself over this little matters, its my house now so let me do the worrying.’ She said dully before the detective left.

Miss. Jenny wasn’t around to walk him out, had she gotten the message already, he did feel sorry for her though but he had a case to solve and with new revelations, he was certain of the motives now.

A male servant this time did walk him back to the gate, it was a beautiful evening and the flowers competed with one another for his attention.
‘they are always lovely at night.’ The male servant said.
‘yes they are, they are almost perfect.’

‘Miss. Jenny does all the work herself, she likes to think they are perfect.’ The male servant said.
Too bad she wasn’t going to be sticking around much longer the detective thought as he walked out.

CONTINUED


The next morning was cold and chilly, the detective had had a good smoke before he found his way to the station, the success of his investigation hung in the balance, james was nowhere to be found, a press briefing was in order although not necessarily related to the case he knew the media would find a way to bring it up thankfully the DPO was going to handle that, letting him figure the case out for himself.

Dennis was nowhere to be seen either, he made himself comfortable and decided to go through the case from the start, perhaps there was something he had overlooked or hadn’t checked out or verified yet.

An hour later, dennis had walked in with a big smile on his face and a big file in his hands.
‘we found him, detective.’ Dennis said happily much to the excitement of the detective.
‘what, really, where is he, where was he found?’ the detective said getting up to his feet.
‘he was on his way to Kaduna when a stop and search by the army revealed his identity luckily we had put an arrest warrant out for him, he is been transported to the station as we speak.’ Dennis said.

‘yes, that’s very good’ the detective said, it was such a good news at a time like this.
‘sir, this is the half of the document detailing the arrests at star buck hotel, I figured out it will be here but you will have to excuse me for now, I have to see the DPO,’ Dennis said leaving the file on the desk before leaving.

The detective nodded and decided to go through the files, they hadn’t been lucky to find the document detailing james’s arrest, he decided it was worth his time.
Some minutes into his search he had found the document he was looking for.

A minute later, he found himself outside the police station and inside a cab which took him to D and H hospital.
Meanwhile james had finally been transported to the station where dennis led him to an holding cell only to realize the detective was nowhere to be found.

At about 4:23 pm, the detective arrived at the mansion, he cocked his gun and brought out his handcuffs from his belt holder.
‘Where is she, where is Miss. Jenny?’ he asked sternly as the male servant welcomed him.

‘she is with Mrs. Lillian, they are having a private discussion’. The male servant said but this sounded dangerously wrong which made the detective run past the male servant, with his gun drawn out.

The male servant followed behind as fast as he could until they got to lillian’s private chamber.
‘Don’t try to come in, if you do I will kill her’ the familiar voice of Miss. Jenny could be held inside followed by the muffled whimpering of lillian.
‘I have you surrounded jenny-‘

‘I don’t care, I am not going out like this, this is my life, someone has to pay-‘

‘the way Charles paid with his life?’ the detective said releasing the safety of his pistol and signaling the male servant to back off, it was such a complex situation right now but if he wanted lillian alive he knew he had to play safe.

‘you know, how did you figure it out, you found james, didn’t you?’
‘actually no, it was D and H hospital, they have the records of your abortion’ the detective.
She became silent for a while once the detective said that.

‘I found out what he did to you jenny but lillian has no part in this.’
‘liar, he did that to me because of her, she will have to pay like he did, I am going to kill her’ she replied angrily, it was now or never the detective told himself , flinging a powerful kick with his right leg into the door letting the glass door shatter into pieces.

Jenny had fewer seconds to react, she had bounded lillian’s hands behind her and used her as a human shield with the fancy knife around lillian’s throat, she only needed to squeeze tighter.

‘Gboah!’ and the smell of gun powder filled the air followed by the sound of shattered glasses.
Lillian’s eyes widened as she heard jenny’s hard breath on her shoulder, the knife fell over her shoulder before jenny went to the ground, a single bullet had went through her head and out, she winced miserably as she tried to breath where she laid on the ground.

All she wanted was to bear Charles a son, one that was truly his but that bastard had tricked her into believing he wanted the same thing with her and tricked her into aborting it, even more had wanted to pay her off and send her away so she couldn’t be a threat to his family, but she wasn’t going to let that happen.

‘she planned it all, employing james who had a rough past was her last card to throw the scent of her back, she knew the house more than anyone else, she was always one step ahead of me.’ The detective said as he and dennis discussed about the case, days after charles’s burial.

‘and she could have gotten away with it but she couldn’t leave house, she loved it and lillian forced her hand thankfully you were there’ dennis said.
‘but there is something I still can’t figure out, we were able to discover the murder weapon which happened to be the birthday cake designers knife among her possessions but the looted safe, there was nothing in there, no money no nothing, even her accounts were found to be empty.’ The detective.

‘well who knows maybe Charles never kept any real thing inside, this rich men can be strange sometimes.’ Dennis said.
‘sir, you will have to excuse of course, I have some urgent matters to attend to’ dennis said before he left the detective.

The chief had been laid to rest the previous days, the will had been read out and surprisingly Claire and her son were the big losers, he gave a dull frown and picked his phone.

‘oh detective, I must thank you-‘
‘it was you, wasn’t it?’ the detective said, too impatiently for pleasantries, there was a bit silent and then a scoff from Mrs. Claire.
‘I am not in trouble, am i?’

‘of course I can’t prove anything, everyone thinks jenny stole –‘
‘I wasn’t stealing just so you know he left me and my boy nothing that safe was my insurance, I was just making sure that Charles doesn’t drag us to the grave along with him’
‘so you also knew about-‘

CONTINUED


‘you were good but I had to help out with the D and H clue, charles was a good man and I wish I was a better wife but you can’t always have it when you have money, the Charles I knew died before the party, jenny was always bad news once he got involved with her, anyway detective thank you for your services.’ She said before she ended the call.

The detective smiled dully and brought out his cigarette, by tomorrow he would be returning back to headquarters, another case solved.




THE END VOLUME 2 DETECTIVE CYRIL IN THE CAMPUS KILLER WILL BE OUT SOON,THANKS FOR READING

VOL 2. WILL BE A POV STYLED DETECTIVE STORY, HOPEFULLY YOU GUYS CAN ENJOY AND GET REAL PERSONAL WITH THE MAIN CHARACTER

hey dear readers if you enjoy the crime thriller kindly comment and tag others as well, thanks, volume is already in works and promises to be a beautiful story with a lot of life and characters, thanks .

kindly drop your comments please

campus killer VOL.2 will be done and ready by 20/01/21

thanks for waiting , kindly drop your comments

DETECTIVE CYRIL IN A KIDNAP AND TWO RESCUES VOL.3 IS ALREADY IN THE WORKS AS WELL

DETECTIVE CYRIL IN THE CAMPUS KILLER


SYNOPSIS

The murder of a female student on campus brings the detective to school to try and find her killers or killer, however he soon realizes not everything is as it seems.

Following ur work man. U just need to go to other stories and copy the names of readers and mention them here. Good work.
ann2012 come nd read

PenHub:
Following ur work man. U just need to go to other stories and copy the names of readers and mention them here. Good work.
ann2012 come nd read

Thanks for the invite

PenHub:
Following ur work man. U just need to go to other stories and copy the names of readers and mention them here. Good work.
ann2012 come nd read

thanks and noted.

CHAPTER ONE

The ever prominent black hilux with white and yellow paint straps across the body arrived at the gates of higher field university in Delta state at 1:30 pm that Tuesday, the call had been put to them two days prior by the VC about a possible protest by the students over what the students called mismanagement and embezzlement of funds following his new appointment however Sergeant Mike Aldo and his companions needn’t do much once they realize it was meant to be a peaceful protest.

‘don’t this guys have something better to do?’ one of the officers asked almost to himself as he watched with some frustration at the students.
‘wait is that not Jacob, what in the hell is he doing now?’ sergeant mike said, stretching his head out through the car window at a the protest leader, a fair seemingly short, slim male student.

‘it seems he is the one, that boy is always in one protest or another, I wonder what he gains from it all.’ Another officer replied, quite irritated once he realized the sergeant was correct.

Of course they knew Jacob, a student activist and humanitarian whose popularity fast garnering popularity amongst the students and the media in general.

‘I will go talk to him, they should know we are just here base on orders from above.’ The sergeant replied as he got out of the vehicle to join the students where they staged their protest.

‘officer welcome but as you can see, we are not doing anything that would-‘
‘jacob, calm down besides as you can see we too have kept a good distance off the protest, we know things are under control because you are here.’ The sergeant replied, waving a reassuring smile which went unnoticed by Jacob.

‘No problem sir.’ Jacob said with a nod as he wiped some sweat off his forehead as the sun evaded the clouds in the sky.

‘carry on, we will just be here to relax and watch you guys go on with your protest.’ The sergeant replied as he turned to take his leave not wanting to remain under the scorching sun, if everything went according to plan, the protest wouldn’t last more than four hours and he would be back at the station, in his new office, under the newly installed air conditioner that came with his new office.

He returned shortly to the hilux and joined the other officers to wait the protest out, which seem to go on forever until an hour later where they began to notice some sort of disarray amongst them after one of the female students ran out of the school frantically to join the protesting students after which more students joined her halting the protesting students.

‘what is going on there?’ one of the police men asked as they all watch curiously.

‘I don’t know but.’ The sergeant had stopped and gotten out of the car with his rifle as Jacob and a few students began to walk towards them however it was the expression of trouble on

CONTINUED


jacob’s face that got him.

‘officer, there has been an issue, please come quickly, a student just found a body inside one of the hostel’s gutters some minutes ago.’ Jacob said loudly as he drew nearer to the serge who seemed dazed at the response, apparently that hadn’t been his expectation of course a little destruction could have been the most expected course for concern but a body was a totally different affair for him.

‘what, a body?, okay someone would have to point the way-‘
‘she will ride with you guys if you don’t mind, I am also heading there right now.’ Jacob said instructing one of the students to lead the serge to the crime scene.

Some 554km away, inside the capital state of the country, the Nigeria Investigation and Crimes bureau NICB top detective Cyril ordega was still battling to search for his office keys upon resumption from his one month vacation when he heard the familiar voice of detective fred who had caught sight of him earlier on when he walked into the building.

Cyril gave a slight frown knowing how much of a talker the older detective could be, a month simply hadn’t been enough to totally forget the usual hassles and simply not funny jokes his buddy and his boss usually came up with while they held a discussion but alas it was a job alright with its perks as well.

‘DC my man, look at you.’ Detective Fred said , his eyes moved to and fro Cyril’s body length well tucked in his black coat and black trousers. ‘ you look fat already.’ The detective said flashing his hand for an handshake which he did get momentarily.

‘hey fred, I was just thinking of coming over to see you once I was able to settle down, how is it with you, old man.’ Cyril said with a slight smile.
‘well you know, cases popping here and there, me and the other boys have been busy oh, it feels like crime season all over again oh, you are solving one and two more are talking its place, and you see-‘

‘oh I see, so its been really busy I guess.’ Cyril made his drop hoping to minimize the conversation as much as he could.

‘yes oh and seeing you right now like this I know you are all ready and set for the job.’ Fred replied, to which the detective nodded. ‘anyways dc, good to see you here and I am sure the boss would be ecstatic to see you, you know he has been complaining all this time that your number hasn’t been going during your one month vacation but I am pretty sure it was just his way of saying he missed you been around.’ He added which made Cyril leave a sly expression on his face for some quick seconds because his plans had worked, taking his sim cards out so he could never be bothered by the bureau while he was away was a great idea and unfortunately the only way he could truly have gone on his one month vacation. ‘do you want to go see him now, I am heading there right now, we could-‘

‘I wish I could but I want to try and get my office in a good shape before I try and find out what is bugging the old man besides I am pretty sure he knows I am around sometimes I think he can smell us from the distance.’ Cy said with a smile due to