₦airaland Forum

WRITERS UPDATE


VOLUME FOUR SAINTS AND COPS



HELLO MY DEAR READERS.

So half way through the writing, of my volume 4 titled FROM SOKOTO WITH LOVE i realized its story line carried the elements of my volume 8; which is a three volume pack including the finale (8,9 and 10.) ending season 1 and i had to stop writing it.

However COPS AND SAINTS now billed for volume 4, no doubt will deliver a top notch crime thriller story as expected and should be ready by march, thanks for reading and most importantly for waiting this long.


Thanks- writerX.

crossfm:
You are welcome.
To think you are still new in writing business, and you were able to dish out outstanding works like you did,points to the fact that you are good.

Just keep on keeping on.

thnaks for the kind words, will keep the books coming

crossfm:
Great work you are doing here.

Full of suspense,and unpredictable.
Can't wait for the book 4 to be out.

thank you very much

hey guys i would like your comments on books 1,2 and 3 so far thanks, it helps

DETECTIVE CYRIL WILL RETURN IN VOLUME 4 THIS MARCH


SAINTS AND COPS VOLUME 4



THIS FORTH INSTALLMENT TAKES A NEW DIRECTION AND A NEW TWIST.

AFTER AN UNKNOWN GUN MAN GOES ON A KILLING SPREE OF POLICE OFFICERS, CYRIL MUST BOUNCE BACK INTO ACTION AFTER FAILING TO PROSECUTE A KNOWN DRUG LORD AND FIND THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE SLAIN OFFICERS, A CRIME HE NEVER SOLVED AND A GANG OF BANK ROBBERS AND A SQUAD OF CORRUPT POLICE OFFICIALS TO FIND THE KILLER WHOSE MOTIVES ISN'T REALLY CLEAR.

SAINTS AND COPS GOES DEEP INTO WHAT JUSTICE IS REALLY ALL ABOUT.


TO BE RELEASED MARCH.

CONTINUED



He treated himself to a glass of whisky where he sat before he heard a soft knock on the door, however he knew who it was. ‘come in.’ he said, turning to see Elaina who seemed a bit happy and calm now.

‘you called for me.’ Elaina said taking a seat besides him, she was quick to notice an envelope on the table before them.
‘take the envelope and open it, its for you.’ He said without taking a look at her, though it seemed strange however she was curious to find out what it was.

It would be shock to her when she opened the envelope to find the DNA report of her son inside it.
Her eyes widened as Richmond finally stared at her with a wicked smile on his face.
‘it was you along?’ she asked, trembling with fear.

‘of course it was me, you think I didn’t know about the affair between you and Rolland before I took you off his hands, you think I didn’t know Joshua is his son and not mine?’ he asked.

‘you have been black mailing me over what you knew all this while, taking every penny I had on me, my own money.’ She asked but then she had connected the dot, something she had suspected once the detective had called her about okiye. ‘you wanted me gone, didn’t you, you didn’t want the media on you nor did you want a court case over child care so you decided to take treat me like garbage all this time and when you couldn’t get rid of me quietly you decided to take Joshua from me but why?’ she asked bitterly as tears rolled down her eyes.
He thought about something which gave him a frown.

‘it doesn’t matter, the cops got him back and now my problem is still what it has always been, how do I get you out of my house as quietly as I can, no court case, no scandal, no nothing, you just walk away and never return but I just realized something you see.’ He paused to take a sip from his glass. ‘in fact it has been mystery to me if I have to say an that is why on earth doesn’t he know, he is the boy’s father, you never told him, call me a monster but I think you are worst, you have been with him in this house this long and you never made mention about his own flesh and blood who you parade as my son, but I guess its all about my money isn’t it?’ He asked as she wept bitterly.

‘No, it wasn’t because of your money you bastard, he didn’t want to hurt you, yes he still loved me but he didn’t want to hurt you so he made me swear to bury my feelings for him and move on, if I told him all this time it would kill him because he respects and loves you, you bastard.’ She wept.
‘well isn’t that too late, I mean he did sleep with you didn’t he and fathered your son, you bloody LovePeddler.’ He spat at the ground. ‘take the bags and leave now or else I will personally deliver that letter to him, I will keep the boy, he may not be my son but he is family, you can still keep your promise, save his marriage and save him the scandal, save him his relationship with his big brother, I will take of your son, you will leave and you will never ever set foot or concern yourself with any matters that concerns my family again, that’s my offer, take it or leave it.’
He said sternly.

‘you would do this to me?’ she asked painfully as she stood up.
‘I would deal with anyone who ever crosses my path, you would think after ten years you might have figured that out, now get out before I bring in your lover here.’ He said without remorse, his hand pointing to the door.

She tried to utter some words but failed, with one good look at Richmond she took her leave.
‘cheers’ he said to himself raising his glass up into the air in great satisfaction about how everything had turned out.
He made to stand up only to hear the hammer of a gun been pulled, his eyes widened as he turned to stare at a teary Rolland with his own weapon.
‘what are you going to do with my gun?’ he asked frightened and helpless.

His reply would be a shot to his head, he slumped to the ground, wheezing violently only for a few seconds before he closed his eyes.
Four days later, the news had carried the apparent suicide of former president of Oric oil and gas and billionaire who had been tied to the kidnapping of his own son as stated by his wife and confirmed by his brother.

CHAPTER SEVEN



I think you should let it go, I mean we got the kid back right, its all said and done , let the police handle the rest.’ Mr. Dede said calmly.
‘you know I don’t work that way, we still have no clue about this Elvis cornealis, we saw the conversations , the calls on the phone recovered, this person is still shrouded in mystery and God knows what else he or she has got going, I got to find that who he is.’ Demanded Cyril.
It may have been two days since they got the boy back but still nothing was adding up however the phones did explain the origin of the kidnappers who had been organized by Okiye under the instruction of Elvis cornealis and a further instruction to Morris to eliminate okiye which maryann was able to testify to.

However with all those involved dead, it was a bleak task towards revealing the mastermind; which Cyril wasn’t willingly to accept yet.
‘I can’t , boss. You know I can’t do that, that person is still out there, this Is my case, and not until I get that person its gonna be unsolved, I have to find the brain behind it.’ Cyril swore before he took his leave.

There was really nothing he could do about the detective now, no matter how much he hated his doggedness in issues like this, it was however something worth admiring, Mr. dede thought for a moment before he returned his attention back to the documents he was working on.
Elsewhere, Mr. bright had just returned to his office, grumpy and quiet startled about what he had just learnt, it was the DS oil and gas contract, he got his phone out and decided to call the one person who he could call for clarification.

‘hello Richmond, I am sorry to bother you but I need you to clarify some details for me, I just got hold of the DS oil and gas contract papers, they have my signatures on them authorizing their executions, how Is this possible and I just got hold of my sources back in dubai, they are claiming DS oil and gas is in fact a a ghost company but not a connected to the burst made in dubai, none of this is making any sense.’ He complained hysterically.
‘I don’t know what you are talking about, aren’t you supposed to be in charge?’ The reply came, sending chills to Mr. bright’s spine.
‘you did this.’ He stuttered. ‘this was your plan all along, you did this.’

‘maybe that’s not the only thing you should be worried about, you should have understood Oric oil and gas was mine and mine only and not until I am done with it,no one gets a piece of it, stocks were already declining, oil prices were already going down, Oric was at the verge of collapse and thanks to people like you signing on documents so eagerly you didn’t see you signing your doom, Ds oil and gas is all on you and I also kept a little surprise for you and your company as well, perhaps you should listen to the live talk show about to air any minute from now, it seems you have a lot of questions to answer, Mr. president.’

The call dropped almost in rhythm with bright’s heart beat, who collapsed immediately, too bad his problems had only just began.
Richmond dropped the call with a wicked smile on is face, any minutes from now Oric Oil and gas was going to be singled out by Mr. samir on live TV as the company behind SPID’s toxic waste dump; a mess he had been hiding for long which now had Bright’s name written all over it, but once the company began to fell under the bus, he had began to make his plans knowing ful well Oric would never be able to recover, DS oil and gas was his own scheme to divert billions of investors money to his private off shore accounts.
It was a perfect ending for him, he had been through to ensure nothing of sort would ever be associated to him when the destruction of Oric oil and gas came.

CONTINUED



now I am going to kill you and then kill the rest as well, to hell with all this anyway.’ Morris said with a vicious smile on his face pointing the gun at a frightened chris.

‘morris, we don’t have to do this, listen to me, I don’t think this plan is going to work, we can all leave like George did.’ Chris said frantically.
‘please don’t kill us.’ Pleaded maryann as morris’s eyes settled on her.

‘oh I see why you are doing this, so its all because of her, isn’t it, you would ruin my plans to get rich because of a girl who doesn’t give a damn about you, you could have had her all this time I put you charge and no one would have said anything but you want to ruin my plans.’ He scoffed, releasing the safety off the weapon and threateningly to pull the trigger any moment.

‘please you don’t have to do this morris, please put the gun down, let’s talk about this for a moment.’ Chris gasped as the morris pressed hard the trigger however the gun had jammed, it was a now or never moment to try and rescue the situation.

Chris made the jump on morris, physically morris did have the upper hand but he was more tactical besides he was only a good serial rapist back then because of how good he was at subduing his victims easily however those were memories he wished even now he could erase.
The scuffle was unnerving and seemed to last forever as both men went back and forth, each trying to overpower the other.

‘run, get out of here!’ chris managed to say to maryann as he struggled with morris. ‘run away now, take the boy.’ He screamed out loud again prompting the maid to take held to his advice, she managed to find enough space to run past them with the boy in her hand.
This made morris more furious as he managed to get a finger on the trigger again this time squeezing repeatedly until a gunshot echoed outside the building.

Morris had a grin on his face as chris went to the ground screeching in pain, the bullet had hit him in the abdomen.

‘now I am going to go out there and kill the boy, bring the girl back in here, rape her and then kill her.’ He swore bitterly as he tried to reload the clip but he had no idea about maryann who had returned back with a heavy block of cement and when he did realize someone had crept up on him it was rather too late as she flung the huge block so it hit him hard on his face, sending him to the ground.

He however did try to stand up but that was all he could muster before he heard the deafening sound of a gunshot, he gasped painfully and made one last attempt to look at his killer.

‘you.’ He said dully as he took one last good look at chris who had managed to get the gun off the ground where it laid, it was all over for him now.
All the plans, all the dreams had all come to nothing as he fell to the ground lifeless.

Maryann had rushed over to chris to check up on him but he too had given up the ghost shortly after he had shot morris.
Such pity she thought to herself as she stared at chris lifeless body however she had to go, it was all she could do now.
Meanwhile Cyril had managed to get Rolland on the line once he, Dencia and a tactical team had arrived at the entrance of the forest.
‘hello mr. Rolland, I want to let you know we are about to start a search on a supposed area we have been able to lock on to from one of the phones, we were able to track a signal from the deceased officer’s number.’ Cyril said.

‘whatever you do, please it will be best you don’t proceed forward.’ Rolland said leaving Cyril confused.
‘what, may I know why is this?’ Cyril asked.
‘because the ransom has been paid, detective, you would or might be putting the boy’s life in risk if you intend to proceed, don’t you think?’ Rolland said.

‘yes, I know but what is the assurance we have got that they aren’t going to harm the boy anyway, we have a tactical team right there, we just need you to give a go ahead.’ Cyril said.
‘I can’t do that, I am sorry, my brother wants you guys off the case, he doesn’t see your need anymore, I am sure they would hold on to their bargain besides who knows they must have left the forest and dumped the phones, I think it’s safe to say the boy would not be hurt.’ Rolland insisted.
Letting a frustrated Cyril end the call without trying any further to convince Rolland, he immediately decided to talk with Elaina.
‘Madam, its detective Cyril, we have a location which we believe the kidnappers may be using as an hide out, please we need to check on it immediately.’

‘but the ransom has been paid.’
‘enough of the ransom been paid, we can get the boy and those responsible for the kidnapping, don’t you want to know who took the kid and maybe find Who or how they are connected to elvis?’ he asked.

‘you promise me, you won’t let any harm come to my son?’ elaina asked thoughtfully.
‘yes, I promise you Mrs. Elaina, we will bring your son home and bring the kidnappers to justice.’ Cyril said.
‘fine, do it, go get my son then.’ Elaina said fearfully.

It was all the authorization he needed, he produced his 9mm and reloaded his clip.
‘we are good to go?’ dencia asked alongside the team of five fully armed officers.
‘yes, we are good to go.’ Cyril replied.

*********************************
Mrs. Elaina had dropped the call before she noticed Richmond walking into her room.
It was the first time in a very long time, Richmond had stepped his feet into her room.
‘what do you want?’ she asked fearfully.

‘No thank you, no you are amazing or something, you know I just paid a lot of my money to get the kid released right?’ Richmond said, grin seemed to have appeared on his face.

‘he is your son for God sake, do you want me to say thanks right?’ elaina said painfully as she struggled to keep her tears back, it was the moments she knew Richmond enjoyed, watching her in obvious despair and torment. ‘is that what you want, then fine, thank you, thank you for agreeing to pay your son’s ransom, thank you for been a father who cared.’ She said bitterly as she drew nearer to Richmond.
‘you watch your tongue, woman or you are gonna get it.’ Richmond said, threateningly.

‘you are going to hit me like you do or what else haven’t you done to me, do it, hit me, I dare you to.’ Elaina said tearfully as she drew nearer, what hadn’t she been subjected to for the last nine years of this cursed union.
‘I don’t have your time, I just wanted to see how the mother of my son is doing?’ Richmond said before he walked away as Elaina went to the ground weeping.

A few hours had passed before the detectives had arrived at the mansion, the mission was a successful, they didn’t have to go far deep into the bush after they discovered okiye’s phone close to the already decomposing corpse of what remained of George who had been attacked by a wild animal; apparently he had been using okiye’s phone as torch to find his way in the dense forest however they would find Maryann and Joshua.
Who led them back to their captor’s den where morris and chris’s body laid.

‘joshua!’ Elaina screamed as she ran down to welcome them, they had done their job.
‘Detectives, my brother would like to say a big thank you to you, please he is waiting for you in his art gallery.’ Rolland said happily.
He led them up to art gallery where Richmond was waiting for them.

‘I just wanted to say thank you to your act of bravery, although I did pay the ransom but its good to know the bureau is working, once again thank you, we will handle everything from here.’ Richmond said before Rolland led them back down stairs and out.
‘you brought him back for me, thank you detectives.’ Elaina said as the detectives took their leave.

CHAPTER SIX



Mr. Richmond strolled out of his car to meet his brother waiting for him at the entrance, his facial expression only spelled disbelief as he walked up to him.
‘is it true?’ Rolland asked.

‘of course its true, I had to sell because it is the only way I could lay my hands on readily available cash for the ransom, which I have paid to the account already, hopefully that woman lets me be this time and bother me about been unserious about getting my son back.’ He said flipping his phone to his brother. ‘those are the transaction statements, 5 billion dollars, call the detectives to back off they were just a waste of time, we should be expecting them to call us soon so we know were to go pick up my son.’ Richmond said before he disappeared from his brother’s sight.
He may have thought about letting the detectives know but his brother was right, in reality, the boy’s freedom did rely on them getting the ransom, any minute they would call to make arrangements for the boy’s release or may have even done so already and just trying to bid their escape or something he thought to himself with a smile.

However at the METROPOLIS LANTERN, Mr. had to practice his speech before he left for his live talk show when X called, this could only mean more good news he said to himself.
‘I am getting ready for the talk show already, the whole world is going to hear it all.’ Mr. Samir said proudly.
‘I have changed my mind on our agreement chief editor, I think we have a good opportunity to sue here, I mean think about it.’ The caller replied but the chief editor was quick to reply on this.

‘I honestly think its better we leave it this way, surely the government will come for him and his company, no doubt about that.’ He said.
‘Think about it, you are talking to one of the most wealthiest men in Africa, do you really think the government won’t back down or ensure he gets away with this, this is our only way we get to bring him down for good, we sue and charge him and oric oil and gas for everything they have got, we have evidence that can’t be denied in the court of law, we have him where we always wanted don’t you see?

‘of course, I would like to sue his ass and ensure he rots in a jail for life but this is gonna cost a lot, I mean a lot because like you said he is rich, he has friends in high places as well, so we will be talking about one of the greatest court cases of the decade, money that I am sorry to say I don’t have and even if I do I am unwillingly to spend.’ The chief editor replied defiantly.

‘I will make all the necessary funds available to your personal account, I told you this was personal for me didn’t I, I will make the transfers once we are done talking, that should be enough for you to start our case against him.’ The caller said.
‘can I ask you one question before I give my answer on your request?’ the chief editor asked calmly.
‘go on chief editor’
‘what did he really do to you?’ he asked.

‘something, something you could even imagine, that’s what that monster does to people, he destroys people and now I will destroy him with your help.’ The caller replied.
No doubt this was personal, he wouldn’t only get his pound of flesh and even more justice for himself but he would be able to help someone get their revenge on Richmond.

‘okay, good enough, I will await the transfer and then proceed to work things out.’ The chief editor said.
‘thank you Mr. samir, you have been a big help to me, I knew I could count on you, good luck.’
The call had ended soon after before his phone rang, it was a bank alert, the numbers however made him gasps for air.
‘750 million naira?’ he asked himself as he settled into a chair, whoever his caller was meant business and now he would have to fulfill his promise.

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


‘do you think this is a trap or something?’ Cyril asked after sam had given to them in good details the active tracker on one of the phones.
‘well whatever it is, we will have to find out, we just have to see this through.’ Dencia said.
‘like I said its been on since yesterday’s night, it should be pretty evident that the tracker is on but if it is not, then there is good possibility for a rescue.’ Sam added.

‘okay, I will put a call through to the orji’s on the latest development and then to the Police anti kidnapping special task force team, to get ready, I will go going with them.’ He paused and turned to dencia. ‘are you coming?’
‘definitely, the boy is the reason why I am here, I have to see this to the end.’ Dencia said.
‘good lets go then, we will give the orji’s a call when we get to the police station, sam I want you on intelligence and communication for the team, can you do that?’
‘that’s my job, detective.’ Sam replied reassuringly.
The detectives quickly made their way out of the office, if everything went according to plans, they could get a team ready in fifteen minutes or even less.

Meanwhile deep in the forest, morris was getting more agitated by the minute, George was nowhere to be seen, had he decided not to return back or had he been captured or worse killed, his mind ran amuck.
‘chris, come here quickly.’ He called out, to which chris answered as he walked out to join his boss.
‘boss, you called me.’ Chris replied.
‘I need you to go to town, go check up on things and see how it is and then get back to me immediately, is that understood?’ morris said sternly.
‘yes sir but.’
‘no buts, I want you out there, George isn’t back yet , something is definitely wrong, i want you to go find out what is wrong and return back immediately.’ Morris responded producing his hand gun and reloading the clip, chris could sense a bit of paranoia in the way he was behaving, perhaps it wasn’t the right to leave to actually consider leaving maryann alone.
‘okay boss, I will go do as you say just lemme check up on the boy before I leave.’ Chris said before he walked back in however once he sensed he wasn’t within his boss’s sight range he scampered with the keys to the barred room, it was now or never, he wasn’t going to let morris lay a hand on her no matter what.

‘can you run?’ he asked maryann as he hurriedly tried to open the barred room.
‘run, what do you mean run?’ she asked fearfully.
‘you have to get out of here, you have to go away, my boss might do something really awful to you if I am away and I don’t want that, I am going to open the door and let you out, you run and don’t look back I will show you the way through the back, do you hear me.’ He said as quietly as he could.
‘but the boy, please I can’t leave him alone, he won’t last long without me.’ She said pitifully pointing to the sick child fast asleep on her lap.
‘he has to stay, he is the reason why we are all here, you have to go on your own, morris won’t harm the boy, I will protect him.’ Chris said as he opened the door.

‘please, I can’t leave without him, let us all go together then, let’s leave here together.’ She urged him.
In truth, she was sincere about chris leaving with them, both had become really closely throughout their uneventful capture, chris was different for her, he was more human with feelings than the rest, somewhere out there he seemed like someone she could be with for real.
‘okay fine, we will go together, all three of us.’ Chris said.

‘I always knew you didn’t have the heart for this.’ Morris voice came from behind as chris tried to assist maryann and the boy up. ‘I knew you were not up for this, you back stabber and

CONTINUED



about it if it absolutely doesn’t need me saying it.’ Cyril said.
‘okay, thank you detective.’ Elaina said before she hung up.

‘she is scarred, I could tell from her voice, I think she knows what exactly she is been black mailed over but I doubt it has anything to do directly with her son’s kidnapping for now.’ Dencia said immediately.

‘I am going to go ask around for okiye’s files, I want to know who he is, something tells me even now this guy knows something we don’t.’ Cyril said just before Sam ran in, obviously excited over something.
‘guys, we got something big, you have to come with me right now.’ Sam said swinging the office door open.
‘what is it, what did you find?’ Cyril asked.

‘I just locked signal on one of the three phone’s GPS signal, it’s the dead man’s phone someone has it on and didn’t turn the gps tracker off, you have got to come see it.’ Sam said in sheer excitement.
‘what, that’s incredible!’ dencia said as they hurriedly left the office with sam.

CONTINUED



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

By the next morning came with shocking news which settled in a cloud of disbelief and confusion for Mr. bright, the vice president of Oric. Oil and gas.

In fact it was so confusing, he hadn’t know what yet to make out of it except to go confront Mr. Richmond in his office.
He made the walk down to the president’s office only to find Richmond clearing his office.
‘what is this, what are you really doing?’ Bright asked.

‘so you are not only a back stabber but you are also a blind back stabber, what does it look like I am doing, I packing up my stuff, I am done, isn’t it what you and those greedy bastards want?’ Richmond replied choosing not to bother looking at his vice president at the moment.
‘and you want me to believe that you of all people is just going to cut and run all of a sudden, the same man who usually would rather bleed than see himself to be taken down by anyone? , I mean come on how stupid do you think I am, I know you are up to something, it’s in you, its your nature.’ Bright said almost as if he relished the opportunity of having to go up against him.

‘oh thanks for knowing me that well but like you said you don’t feed a lion not to know how to avoid been eaten, you certainly have thought of everything I can think of, its only a matter of time before you get what you want, I have a son to worry about, clearly I messed up with the DS contract and the executive board members are gonna demand their pound of flesh no sooner than later so yeah I am taking your offer and stepping down.’ Richmond said.

Bright stood there in silence as Richmond continued clearing out his stuff unable to think past Richmond’s words, was he really been truthful, however he knew there was one way to be certain.

‘sell it to me.’ Bright said as Richmond paused to stare at him for the first time. ‘sell your stocks to me, I will buy at double the price, sell every bit of it to me, if you want out of the company and you want me to believe there is no grand scheme behind your exit then sell all your stocks to me now, I will have the papers and everything ready, this way I am certain you have nothing in here to haunt me nor the executive board.’ Bright said sternly.
Richmond seemed to give it a thought for a little while before he chuckled. ‘always the serious one, aren’t you? Okay its settled, I will sell my stocks to you this way you have over seventy percent of the company to yourself but I want it for triple the price not double, as you can see I need all the money I can get but I don’t want you to publicly announce my exit not just yet, I want to get my son back before you do that.’ Richmond said.
It was a hard bargain, tripling the price would amount to a huge financial strain on him and the company but however it was a good deal, this way he owned Oric oil and gas, this way he could finally claim what was now his without looking over his shoulders.

‘fine, triple the price of your stocks value, but I want it before the end of the day, no side plays, no tricks, no nothing, we are going to seat and sign those documents of stock acquisition and then you can get out and never come back again.’ Bright said before he made to leave.
‘Sure, and congratulations to your new position as the executive president, hope you make better choices than I did.’ Richmond said to which bright paid no listening ears to as he walked himself out.
As for the duo of detectives, they were still weighing their options on their next move however even now, there was one thing that seemed strange to Cyril.

‘I don’t get it, yesterday when I got back I went through the witnesses statements on Okiye, he was a former military and an ex police chief warden with good combat experience, he had his full security regalia on, armed with a steel plate bullet proof vest, army issued dagger, a smoke grenade and two extra magazines of armor piercing rounds which they say is his usual operating outfit and he dies with just a single shot to the head?, I mean I have been in the military before and I think I would want to fight and not go down so easy you know?’ Cyril said thoughtfully at his desk.
‘are you thinking there is something else at play here?’ dencia asked.

‘I mean, I don’t know but hey here are some photos I took on the car, just tell me what you think from your observations, kidnapping isn’t sort of my field to be exact but okiye was killed, now that’s a murder and something I am good at solving and his murder doesn’t make a perfect picture for me.’
He paused and moved over to dencia’s table handing over his phone to her as she observed the pictures.

‘look at the vehicle, I have solved fraudulent insurance claims by vehicles who usually want to feign accident or something terrible happening and this car seemed like nothing that got into a terrible situation, no scratch, just nothing, I think you might be on to something here.’ Dencia said.
‘and now I think about, he has a good motive, his boss treats him like trash , owes him money and all, I mean and he is about to retire and he seems to be the only one apart From Elaina who knows Elvis.’ Cyril added, letting dencia think for a moment.

‘then let’s call her, let’s tell her what we know, perhaps Elvis could be some other person or something but we need to first clarify the identity of elvis, who is elvis and what was his dealings with Elaina, I mean she has been paying huge sums of money to this guy over something, am sure she knows more about this person, if we know who elvis is, then we could connect him with okiye and possibly the kidnappers.’ Dencia said.
Sure, it was a great idea but it had its risks, privacy violation for instance where the NCIB could be sued for unlawful hacking and use of personal and private data with no due authorization but it seemed the most promising at the moment.

He got his phone out and took the nearest seat closest to dencia and decided to make the call, optioning to answer the call on loudspeaker so dencia could listen as well, it did ring a good number of times before Elaina picked.

‘I was hoping you would call my brother in-law rather because I don’t think I know anything that can help you get the kidnappers nor my son.’ She replied cautiously.
‘madam, I am sorry to disturb you at the moment but I need to ask you just one question, we believe that a previous associate of yours who we found out from your call log a certain Elvis cornealis was in talks with the deceased security operative okiye and may know about your son’s disappearance.’ Cyril said, his heart in his mouth as he wanted for a reply.

‘you know about the black mailings?’ she asked fearfully.
‘well uh, we do know that you were constantly sending a huge sum to this individual over a period of eight years, madam we don’t have a clue who this person is but we found that the late okiye might have been in constant communication with him perhaps he was killed for this reason, we just want to know if you have got any idea who this person was.’ Cyril said.

‘I really don’t know who he was but you must understand whatever he is black mailing me over was something that happened in my past, I didn’t really know what the person had on me but when you are young and you have got money, there are a lot of ugliness that goes with it so I thought it must have been really bad so I kept playing to his tune, paying him until a year ago he stopped calling or texting, I thought he may died or something bad might have happened to him but if you say he has been in talks with okiye then it means he has been around, oh my God, does it mean I am responsible for my son’s disappearance?’ she asked frightened by the thought of it.

‘No, not at all, you must relax your mind madam, you are not responsible for this, okay so can I ask about okiye then, I mean we may not know about elvis but okiye you and the family do know, how long has been around?’ Cyril asked.
‘I don’t really know I think he has been around for like four years now.’ Elaina replied.
‘so you have been in talks with this black mailer even before okiye was around, is that correct and there has been no previous engagement with okiye before he was employed back then?’ Cyril asked again.

‘yes detective, you think okiye might be elvis?’ she asked.
‘well its hard to say right now but thank you very much for the assistance, we will surely get back to you if there is any new information.’ Cyril said.
‘Eh, detective please can I ask you of a favor then, please this would mean the whole world to me right now.’ Elaina hesitated.
Cyril starred at dencia unsure of what to say but dencia did reply with a nod of approval urging him to approve her request.
‘okay what is it?’ Cyril asked finally.

‘please, can you not tell anyone about the black mailing part, please I beg of you, I have tried to put that behind me all this years, I would suffer more if anyone else knows of this, I could be ruined for life so please?’ she begged.

‘its hard to make such a promise madam, if this elvis is directly responsible for the kidnapping of your son, I mean I may not say it but it won’t be hard for anyone to connect where all this started or at least where I think it all started which is the black mail but I will tell you what, I won’t say anything

CONTINUED




‘what, what are you blabbering about woman?, its Richmond, give the phone to Rolland, I can’t seem to reach his phone at the moment.’ The caller replied letting her realize that this wasn’t the kidnapper but her husband. ‘Eh, oh I am sorry.’ She said disappointedly, letting Roland have it phone before she returned back to her seat.
‘hello sir, its Rolland.’

‘I need you to go get the clearance documents for me in my private library for the portrait at the airport, they just arrived some minutes ago, I will send a driver to come pick them up soon, I will text them to you now.’ Richmond replied.
‘Alright sir, I will handle it.’ Rolland replied before he cut the call.

‘you all will have to excuse me for now, my brother’s paintings have arrived at the airport, he needs me to help sort out the documents on ground, if I am needed back here, I will be here.’ Rolland said before he disappeared leaving the three in the lodge.
There was a bit of silence in the lodge but however Cyril had decided to try his luck to speak with Elaina, there was little chance she would speak to them on any other time that of course is if he was given the opportunity, this was a rare opportunity.

‘madam, I can assure you we are doing everything possible to get a trace on your son.’ Cyril said.
‘and when you do find him what will you do, huh? Put my son under a cross fire, endanger his life because his father would rather not spend a dime to get the boy back? My son has been kidnapped for God sake, do you know how that feels?’ she asked painfully. ‘I want my boy back, I want him back, he is all I have got left don’t you understand that?’ elaina continued, this time a bit teary.
‘we understand how you feel and we will do all we can to bring him back.’ Cyril said.

But it wasn’t enough to keep Elaina waiting, she stood and proceeded to leave.
It wouldn’t take long before Rolland returned, hie eyes did searched for Elaina but had decided not to bother go checking up on her.
‘If you don’t mind we will like to ask you about one of your employees here at the mansion.’ Cyril said.
‘sure, anything, just go on.’

‘it’s about a certain Elvis, its my believe he is a friend of the deceased security detail, he is a recent employee I believe.’ Cyril continued.
‘I am afraid that will not be possible.’ Rolland replied blankly.
‘and why is that?’ Cyril insisted.

‘because we don’t have any employee with that name, detective but I can take you to see everyone, maybe you might want to talk with them if you may.’ Rolland replied.
He did seem to be telling the truth as did the widow of the deceased so who really was this Elvis? Cyril did ask himself.
However their luck on getting the kidnappers to call back would prove disappointing as they got no further calls.

By 6:35, George had decided to leave the comfort of his girl friend and head back to the den with the items, to be sincere he would have wished not to go back to that scary jungle once more but he knew the consequences of not returning back in time.
‘Damn it’ he said to himself once he got out of the taxi at the spot and realized how dark it had become suddenly perhaps he shouldn’t have given in to his girl friend’s advances to spend some time with her before he left for what he told her was a special camp gathering.
However he had the rifle parked in his bag and could use the charged phone’s torch to light up his path.

If only he knew what awaited him in the dense forest as he proceeded to go in, perhaps he would have given more thought to the strange growling he could hear each night in their den, however his fate had already been sealed.
‘that bastard might probably be at some girl’s house, I am gonna kill him when he gets back.’ Morris said angrily checking the phone’s time.
They only had two day’s worth of food if they were to ration it once daily, their water supply had already been depleted with just three cans of the fluid left.

His personal phone and the one through which he was able to establish contact had already shut down In fact it was why he couldn’t try to reestablish connection with the orji’s when he decided to call earlier that day on maybe this was happening due to the fact he was new to this sort of crime, though he had been charged with various crimes from ranging from burglary to other crimes but kidnapping was his big step into the big leagues of criminal acts and if he was lucky his last because of what he had hoped to gain, the same reason, he thought it was necessary he took okiye out once the boss asked him to do it.

Although the man didn’t deserve to meet his end this way but it only meant more money for him and the others, well that is if he gave them a chance to have a part of it.
‘George is not back yet, what could have happened?’ chris joined him in the dark where he sat.
‘I don’t know but I swear when he comes back I am going to deal with him.’ Morris swore bitterly.
‘clearly he overstayed in the town, I am sure he will be back by tomorrow morning.’ Chris said.
‘the boy, how is he?’

‘he is there, maryann says the boy needs urgent medical attention.’ Chris replied.
‘maryann?, hmmm so you now refer to the victim by her name, that’s interesting, is there any other thing you would like to tell me about?’ morris asked with a straight face which made chris uncomfortable for morris could be unpredictable and unhinged when things weren’t working for him, in fact it was how they all met back then in prison.
‘No, nothing boss, there is nothing.’ Chris swore.

‘then good, go inside and bring her out for me, it wouldn’t be fair if I let such a beauty die without enjoying what I have to offer.’ He said with a mischievous smile on his face. ‘and maybe if you want, you too can get on the action as well’ he added.
‘Eh, boss why don’t we wait till George is back I mean you know how George gets when he is left out on things like this plus I just checked on them a while ago, that child needs her to help keep him calm , she may not be the same ago if we touch her.’ Chris replied, hoping to quench the raging danger.

Morris didn’t seem convincing this time around but for some reason, he had decided to laugh it off, smacking chris on the back.
‘hahah, look at you talking about how or what to do with a woman anyway I will take your word for it , you been the repeated sex offender you were, I think its best we save her for tomorrow like you have said.’ Morris said before he readjusted into what he felt was much comfortable position to sleep. ‘go get some sleep, tomorrow we will have a piece of her to make up for the time we have to spend here.’ Morris added finally.

Chris took his leave and returned back to his post where he watched maryann and the kid asleep, he wasn’t going to let this happen, it was true he had been convicted as a sex offender, thankfully he did change while in prison, this was his real chance at true redemption, he would have to do all he can to stop morris and George from getting what they wanted.

CHAPTER FIVE



‘you should take it with you.’ Cyril said as dencia made a move to leave her firearm in the car once they pulled over at a corner right in front of the house, Rolland had visited earlier on.

She nodded and produced her fire arm which she then slid into her pulse before coming out.
Unsure of who they were heading out to see, they made the walk up to the gate.
‘what are we going to say?’ dencia asked a bit agitated now.
‘just releax, it should be easy.’ Cyril said letting his knuckles hit the gate repeatedly.
‘who is that?’ a male voice could be heard asking.

‘we are federal detectives, we will like to speak with you.’ Cyril said.
There was no immediate reply but thankfully the gate was swung open by a man, tall, black and probably in his early fifties, he seemed unsure or confused once their eyes meant.
‘did he send you because I want to assure you we were only joking you know.’ The man said.

‘who sent us?, no, nobody sent us, we need to talk to you about your friend who visited you this morning.’ Cyril replied.
He could see the confusion written all over his face at the moment.
‘my friend?’ the man asked thoughtfully. ‘Oh, you mean Mr. Rolland, is he in any trouble of some sort?’ the man asked.
‘well, he depends by the way can we come in and talk to you?’ Dencia chipped in.

‘sure, no problem but please, my sister may not be at her best if you are here to ask about her husband, its been a very sorrowful and painful experience for her you know.’ The man replied paving the way for them to come in.
It was only when they were led inside, they quickly realized that this was the home of Okiye, the deceased security chief that was killed, the wall frames and pictures which were used to decorate the living room affirmed his identity.

‘I know you might want to talk with my sister over the threats, she made, please she is sorry and means none of those things she said, Mr. Richmond refused to compensate and we need the money.’ He said before the wife of the late okoye walked in. with her baby.
‘good afternoon to you all.’ She said before she sat down.
‘good afternoon madam.’ Cyril and dencia replied still unsure how to go on after their recent findings.
‘they are detectives, it seems they got hold of your threat, I told you not to send that at least not at a time like this now they are here.’ His brother said panicky.

‘madam, eh about the threat, why did you send it and what did you say exactly, we have to get your view on what we found so as to be sure on what to do with it.’ Dencia said thoughtfully as Cyril heaved a sigh of relief.

‘please am sorry I sent that message.’ She said pleadingly. ‘ I only said I was going to tell people about how bad he, Mr. Richmond has been treating my husband and other officers at work, that man is very wicked you see, do you know my husband hadn’t been paid his three month’s salary before he eventually was killed, not a dime out of that money has been accounted for as we speak.’ The woman lamented bitterly.
‘and Mr. Rolland, why was he here?’ Cyril asked.

‘he came to beg us not to telling us to exercise a bit of patience that he will find a way around it, he was saddened when he heard about the maltreatment Mr. Richmond had been dishing out to my husband, I told him to leave this job alone, even elvis had advised him to leave the job, it wasn’t worth it anymore.’ She continued but for the detective, she had suddenly become interesting.
‘did you say elvis, who is this elvis?’ Cyril asked prdocuing his pen and jotter out.

‘Elvis?, elvis is a work colleague of my husband.’ She paused to think for a minute. ‘well I really don’t know, he tells me about him but I haven’t seen him once before but My husband said he is also a security guard at the mansion, a junior colleague and good friend of his.’ She replied.
The duo stared at each other, this was huge and did make a lot of sense if the alleged black mailer could be from within the house, could this same person be responsible for the kidnapping, possibly yes.

‘madam, is there any other thing you can tell us about elvis?’ dencia asked.
‘No, nothing at all, he told me elvis was a new employee at the mansion and they have been good friends, that’s all knew.’ She responded.
It was more than enough and if they were lucky they would find their man maybe not the kidnapper but definitely a black mailer who may know more than the others, they took their leave a few minutes later and returned back to the car.
They didn’t get a chance to discuss about what they had found out before cyril’s phone began to ring, the identity of the caller indicated it was Mr. Rolland.
‘hello Mr. Rolland?’

‘hello detective, please report to the mansion immediately, the kidnappers are attempting to reach out to us, they called but it wasn’t clear this time, I think it will be best you hurry along so if they do call again, you can be present.’ Rolland said.
‘yes, sure, that’s true, we are on our way right now, if they call before we get there just try and stall them as long as you can, is that clear?’ Cyril said.
‘yes, I can try.’ Rolland replied before the call ended.

‘Mr. Rolland, he says the kidnappers called and they are to call again, call sam, tell him to be at his station that we might be getting a call soon.’ Cyril said before he brought the car to life and drove out in high speed, certainly there was no time to lose.
They arrived at the mansion soon enough and joined Rolland and Elaina at the lodge, she was calmer than usual however she wouldn’t give notice to anyone or anything else apart from the phone which was placed on the table.

‘We think it’s a network problem over there, was your operative able to get anything on it?’ Rolland asked the detectives.
‘For now that will be no, he has the call log, he says it was up to a minute and may prove difficult to track due to the network problem which might bounce off the signal around various communication mast as the call comes in, in other words we might track but it may not be from the original mast.’ Dencia said dully.

‘Oh, I see.’ A disappointed Rolland said however the phone would soon begin to ring again, this time elaina had snatched it off the table to answer.
‘hello, I want to speak with my son, please let me hear my son.’ Elaina said pitifully.

CONTINUED



for life, he did however believed this person was on his side and well aware of what was at risk.
‘you know they are going to ask how I got that information once I do this, right?’ he replied.

‘and that is why I choose you, you have the sources, you have the connection and certainly you have the guts to see this to the end, I have signed contract documents, employee’s statements, everything that was covered up and shed away from the light, Oric oil and gas can do little to nothing on this one that I can assure, so do we have a deal or not?’

Perhaps this was his fastest reply he had ever to any news any editor or publisher thought was headlines worthy but it was a resounding nod of approval from him, now this was personal.

For four years ago, the metropolis lantern was at the verge of collapse and bankruptcy when he published the article about SPID toxic waste which was dumped in a local community’s river source, poisoning the waters and killing majority of the people, SPID had been identified and they had pointed out their partners in crime as Oric oil however no evidence was ever found and admitted against Oric in the end.
This would mark his fall in the tabloid world after which he stopped publishing anything relating to Oric but this was his ace, his trump card to right the wrong that was done to him four years ago.

But for the trio of kidnappings lodged deep In the forest with their victims, things were starting to look worrisome, the kid’s condition had gotten a lot worse, which none could pretend over, even their food supply was running very low which spelled even more problem for them at the time.
‘what do we do now?’ George asked, the third member of the gang as the trio decided to strategize for a moment.
‘it’s obvious one of us has to go and get more items and get some drugs for the kid, the boss wants him alive until he says other wise.’ Morris said where he sat.

‘fine, that’s a good idea but who is going to go, obviously I can’t, I am supposed to handle the calls.’ Morris said thoughtfully.
‘why not chris take a break from watching over the kid and the girl and take a stroll out.’ George replied morris.
‘No, I can’t, I am not too well, I will only slow the journey down.’ Chris protested.

‘Then it is settled, George you go, I will write out a list of all we need, you must be back by the day’s end, follow the path we came through, do not deviate or try to find an easier or quicker way, this forest is dangerous, is that understood?’ morris said.
‘yes boss.’ A disappointed George said who apparently wasn’t happy about the decision. ‘I will need the rifle then.’ George added.
‘we have only the rifle and a pistol here, you can have the pistol, the rifle stays with me.’ Morris replied.
‘but boss, that gun jams like hell, I wouldn’t want to be in a life and death situation and all I have with me is that weapon, this forest scares the hell outta me already.’ George was fast to react.

‘fine, you hold on to the rifle and be back before sun down, you know how it is over here at night, is that understood?’ morris said, choosing not to push his claims any further than he had already done, besides George was right.
‘and take the other two phones along with the power bank with you, they are down for now.’ He added once George was ready to leave.
It wouldn’t be for long now before they wouldn’t have to risk their lives, morris assured himself once more as George took his leave.

CONTINUED



if I could trace an active call I was like okay I can do this, its all down to programming and computer stuff which is my thing and I created this tracking program and gave a few touches.’ He paused to stare at the detective, hoping to catch a glimpse of some curiosity or eagerness to hear him say more however none seemed like it. ‘anyway, it appears I didn’t just create a tracking program but It was able to recover and read calls and message data from the phone.’ Sam said overly excited with his works.

‘okay I am sure that wasn’t what we asked for and I am also sure that is creepy and a violation to her privacy which the bureau can be sued for.’ Cyril said unimpressed at the moment.

‘yes, yes I know and I swear you have nothing to worry about, this job is my dream job detectives and I think this might piece of information I have with me which I did collect from the phone could help you.’ Sam paused and produced a bunch of documents which he handled over to Cyril. ‘those are call logs, messages from one particular person over the last eight years, the messages and calls stopped a year ago, same person, same number.’ Sam said.

On closer observation, the documents detailed call logs and text messages , whilst the call logs only showed consistent communication between Elaina and the mysterious caller who could be anyone it was the messages that accompanied the some of the call logs that showed this was no ordinary caller.

“ELVIS CORNEALIS 0222656565654, 20 MILLION BEFORE WEEKEND” Whilst many others carried a variety of dates attached, the sum or the bank accounts were same.

‘I think this is black mail of some sort, it sounds like it, I mean she is one of the richest women in the country am sure she has a secret or two that someone somewhere knows about and is using it against her.’ Sam explained.

‘yeah, I think so too but who is this person and what has Mrs. Elaina been hiding?’ Dencia asked.
‘the messages and the calls suddenly stopped last year did, what happened?’ Cyril asked thoughtfully.
‘Certainly this person has been living off on her all this years and couldn’t have just stopped for no reason, think something happened to him or somebody did something to him?’ sam asked.

‘we will have to find out who this person is one way or another, sam, I want you to find out what you can on that name, anything at all will be helpful, just check it out we will be back later, good job.’ Cyril said.
Before the duo walked out and returned to their office shortly.

‘so Mrs. Elaina has a secret to hide so what?’ dencia still unsure of what to make of it.
‘think about it this way, Mrs. Elaina refuses to give her blackmailers any more cash and then they decide to kidnap her son, maybe get a big pay off, I don’t know for now but its something we should look into while we can.’ Cyril said going through the documents again.
‘you think we should go ask her about it?’ dencia asked.

‘definitely no, we can’t afford to spoke her, right now the little we know can be our advantage, we will slowly figure things out on our own.’ Cyril replied.
Elsewhere in the city, Mr. Samir ahmed had just received some good news based on his paper’s publication.
He was scheduled for a live talk show on the city’s most scandalous moments some days from now even profit wise, his tabloid had seen an impressive raise in the industry over the week, all thanks to his articles on the orji’s.

Perhaps for a minute he could give himself a part on the back and relax but he cancelled the thought immediately when his phone began to ring on his desk, his eyes widened with apprehension as he realized it was X; a name he decided to call his mystery caller who had promised to help him take down Mr. Richmond.
‘hello.’
‘hello chief editor, are you ready for your next article?’
The chief editor thought about it for a second, he still wasn’t okay with his dealings with this unidentified caller perhaps it would be nice if he stops now and avoid been a pawn in someone’s game.

‘having cold feet?’ the caller asked having gotten no response to the question.
‘No not at all, what is it this time?’ he asked.
‘remember the SPID scandal?’ the caller asked letting the chief editor to gasp in sheer disbelief.

‘I was right, wasn’t I, please tell me I was right all along when I published an article about Oric’s oil, been the ones responsible for the transportation and dumping of SPID’s toxic materials illegally, four years ago?’ the chief editor asked consumed with anxiety and excitement.
‘you were right all along, Oric’s oil and gas ltd were responsible for that disaster that almost wiped that community but of course you lacked evidence and hence your company was sued for over a quarter of a billion naira but I have the evidence you needed four years ago, interviews, documents about SPID contract with Oric Oil and Gas, which will ensure that oric oil and gas is pinned to that disaster once and for all.’ The caller said.
‘this is huge, it will reap apart oric’s oil and gas status and the government will have no other option than to come for him, we are talking about bringing Oric’s oil and gas down to his kneels you know.’ The chief editor said excitedly.

‘I doubt this will be final blow to Mr. Richmond, he is quite resourceful as we both know already, he ensures that none of the blame ever comes near him but this is a good start.’ The caller replied.

‘a very damn good one, you will be sending them over immediately right?’ the chief editor asked anxiously yet again.
‘yes but this time, I don’t want an headline just yet, it has come to my notice you are scheduled for a live interview some days from now, I want this information out there on live TV.’ The caller said.
A bit uncomfortable with this arrangement it would seem knowing full well this could wreck his tabloid and his repetition

CHAPTER FOUR



‘joshua.’ Maryann called out softly, tapping the little boy as gently as he can.
He was already running a high temperature and seemed feverish, Morris had complained about it yesterday once they couldn’t get the boy to talk what they wanted to put in for a record they needed for their call, even now the night rest hadn’t done much to ease the little boy’ suffering.
‘how is he now?’ the voice came from outside the barred room where they were kept.

It was Chris, the youngest of them probably around her age and the only one who seemed like the odd ball out of the trio.
By now she had not only known their names but also their characters and chris seemed more accommodating and less of a threat to her than the others.

‘he is getting worse.’ Maryann said frustratingly. ‘please, we will need medicines for him, talk to your boss.’ Maryann begged.
‘I can’t, he won’t listen plus its going to take almost a day’s walk out of here to get to the nearest road.’ Chris said.
‘the boy can’t go on like this if we don’t get him some medicines am afraid of what is going to happen and surely I know your boss doesn’t want neither me nor the boy dead yet so please talk to him, I can’t bear to see him like this.’ Maryann urged chris once more.
He did think about it for a while before he walked away choosing to stay silent.

He had other things to do, like burying festus who didn’t wake up that morning, it was what he wanted to tell maryan but now that had to wait.
He wasn’t comfortable with her stare , it made him feel guilty than he already was, however he knew why he was doing this, just a week and some days and he wouldn’t have to worry about anything, he wouldn’t have to be reminded about what happened to him or the others, he would finally have all he wanted but then again at what cost he wondered as he walked away.
‘are they awake?’ Morris asked as he walked past him.

‘No, not yet boss.’ He said, hopefully morris would take his words and not go check on them because of what he feared morris might do especially now festus was done for.
He had heard Morris talk with Okon about missing the feel of a woman’s body, no doubt he would have to try and protect Maryann from morris’s hands, it was all he could do now, she might not make it out alive after all was said and done but he would ensure no harm came to her.
Meanwhile Cyril had parked into the hotel’s park where he was waiting for Dencia, he had had a wonderful lunch and then dinner which he hadn’t planned for and lost a truth or dare game to her which is why he had to pick her up at her hotel but they had a rather interesting yesterday, discussing about everything they could talk about over a half filled pack of juice and two plastic cups and now he thought about it, she would have made a perfect girl friend and maybe more if only he had the time.

He opened a compartment in his car and produced a cigarette pack and decided to smoke a cigar, it was cold and still very early so it seemed alright but he soon noticed dencia had made her way out of the hotel’s lobby and into the car park, he sighed as he replaced the cigarette pack back into the compartment and blared the car horn so she knew where he had parked after which she came trailing.
‘Sam called me yesterday, he says there is something he wants to show me.’ Dencia said as she slid into the car.
‘Wait, he called you and not me?’ Cyril asked dully.

‘Relax detective Cyril, he asked me to tell you, but I am guessing he took more time complimenting me on how I looked but I thought it was cute of him.’ Dencia said with a beautiful smile hanging on her face which Cyril noticed.
‘what’s that for, you seem to be in a good moment, did your boyfriend call?’ Cyril asked.
‘oh no not that at all, its just I never work with anyone, its why I am the best but all this so far has been quite great if I should say.’ Dencia said as she wrapped her seat beat across.

Cyril gave a dull smile, indeed she was quite like him in very bit of the way, if only he had the time to spare for a relationship he wouldn’t mind asking her out now he thought about it.
‘where are we headed, we go check on the orji’s, it seems it’s the only place we can keep poking for now, then when we get back, then we can go see your crush at the cyber intelligence department.’ Cyril said turning on the ignition so he rode out of the car park.
They made their way into the mansion, this time lucky enough to have seen Richmond who was just about to leave, closely behind him stood Rolland who upon sighting the detective decided to introduce his brother to the detectives.

They walked up to where both men stood and were duly introduced by Rolland.
‘Oh so you two are the detectives that are going to help rescue my son.’ Richmond said in a way that made Cyril shiver inside. ‘anyway, I have a ransom to sort, you two go on in, my brother here and my wife will see to it that you all are welcomed and well taken care of.’ He said quickly dismissing the detectives as he walked away.

‘he is quite a busy man these days.’ Rolland said seeing how the detectives stared at him soon after he had walked away. ‘please, come in.’ he continued, leading them inside the mansion and up to the lodge where they sat.
‘unfortunately, we were unable to get a call from the kidnappers as they had promised which has made the lady of the house even more disturbed and unease, she has been feeling under the weather since yesterday night so I will have to refuse on her behalf any sort of questions for now until she is better.’ Rolland said once he had taken his seat.

‘its quite understood that attempts are been made to get the ransom money, may I ask what has been done so far?’ Dencia asked quite frankly.
‘Well I myself can’t give you an answer to that right now but I can assure you my brother is doing all that he can at the moment certainly he understands the need to get the ransom ready within the stipulated time.’ Rolland said like a true believer.
Cyril had wanted to ask another question before rolland’s phone had began to ring.

‘Excuse me for a moment.’ Rolland said excusing himself so he could answer the call , he reappeared shortly a bit unsettled which was easily noticed.
‘anything the matter?’ Cyril asked, eyes latched on to Rolland closely.
‘oh nothing, nothing really.’ Rolland said however the detective could easily tell this wasn’t the truth.
‘please, I have some where urgently to go to, so if you don’t mind, the servants are around they will see to it that you are well taken care of.’ Rolland said.

‘actually.’ Cyril said standing up as fast as he could. ‘actually, we only just came to check up on the family see if there is anything new about the case, we have other things to attend to as well.’ He said, quickly giving a discrete nod to dencia to stand up as well, luckily she seemed to have caught on pretty quick.
‘Oh is that so?’ Rolland asked in disbelief, he turned to stare at dencia.

‘yes sir, we will come around once we have got something worth clarifying or letting you all know.’ Dencia said.
‘okay then, I will see you two some other time, take care and good luck detectives.’ Rolland said paving the way for them to take their leave.
They found their way out quickly and drove out of the mansion only to stop just a good distance away from the mansion’s gate.
‘why are we stopping here?’ dencia asked.
‘did you see the look he gave us after he answered the call, I don’t like it so I think he wanting to leave is connected to the call, I don’t know but I think we should trail him I mean its not like we got something important to do for the morning right?’ Cyril asked, she seemed to have thought about her options and then gave a reassuring smile to her partner.

‘sure, let’s do it, let’s see what lies beneath glitters.’ She said.
‘what lies beneath the glitters, huh? It sounds like a book title or something.’ Cyril said.
‘sure it is, I have a copy its about some murder case in a rich wealthy suburban family which leads to a Pandora box of secrets unearthed by the sheriff, its quite interesting.’ Dencia said.

They wouldn’t wait for long before A black SUV rode out of the mansion and drove past them apparently, thankfully they hadn’t been noticed.
‘so we are just gonna trail him from a good distance, see where he is heading to, do a little bit of surveillance on the place if necessary till he is back home.’ Cyril said almost to himself as he put the car to gear and slowly drove out.

The duo trailed rolland’s suv over a good distance which seemed more like an hour’s drive through the city before it arrived at an estate’s building.
They got off the vehicle from a safe distance and where able to find a tree shade from where they could get a glimpse of Rolland entering the house through its gates, his visit lasted quite a long time before he reemerged with an unidentified woman carrying a baby on her back and another man by her side, this time he seemed angry and depressed as he walked back to the car and drove off again they made to trail him but this time he drove straight back to the mansion.

‘I wonder who they are, the woman and the man we just saw back there, who could they be?’ dencia said.
‘I don’t know but we will find out soon enough first I think we should held back to the office, find out what sam wanted you or us to see.’ Cyril said making a u-turn.

The duo arrived at the bureau just before the noon and decided to go see sam immediately.
They got to the office to find the operative working on his computer.
‘I have been expecting you both, detectives.’ Sam said once he set eyes on them.

‘over there at that work space is where I have the call transmission program running all by its own, I created a personalized A.I which will log each and every call and message from every cell phone without me lifting a finger, isn’t it cool?’ sam continued with an satisfactorily look on his face.
‘Sam, stick to the point am sure you didn’t call us to show us your newest invention.’ Cyril replied.
‘Oh yeah, so I honestly don’t know what to say, when I was asked

CONTINUED



loss.’ Rolland said which made Richmond to chuckle.
‘do you believe that, so they want me to compensate them for what exactly, for letting kidnappers kidnap my son or getting killed even when he is supposed to be one of the best trained security agent I have got, tell them to go to hell and burn, I will pay nothing.’ Richmond said sternly.
‘yes brother and also we were unable to get a call from the kidnappers today and the detectives working the case asked to meet with you.’ Rolland said.
‘meet me for what, I don’t have time to talk about my feelings or who hates me or hates my guts or other nonsense that won’t help me get my son back, the kidnappers want 5 billion and I am working hard to try and squeeze that money out besides what does she do in the house anyway, isn’t she around to answer the damn police men?’ Richmond replied.
Rolland made no move to answer his brother immediately.
‘let me have my peace, I want to be alone now.’ Richmond said waving his brother off.
He walked out and decided to go check up on Elaina, he would however not go into her room once he heard her crying inside.
Was it this bad all the time, he asked himself as he retreated down stairs, was his brother this monster he tried not to see him to be or was something deeply wrong somewhere which he couldn’t figure out yet.

He bit his lips out of despair as he returned back to his chambers.
‘what is it this time?’ Deborah said, all dressed up in her seductive transparent red night gown, he could see every inch of her body inside of it where she laid on the bed.

‘its nothing to worry about.’ He replied, he could see she wanted him and he didn’t want to ruin the night for the both of them, the warmth of her body was enough to relief him of the day’s stress, he made his way to the bed once he was done to his underwear, wrapping his hands behind her, so her body was against his.

‘I have missed you.’ She said, her voice consumed with strong desire for his touch.
He made to kiss her shoulder softly working his lips slowly to her neck before he turned her over, so he starred into her eyes passionately.
Their union was just three years old, he had met her at a club where he was to sign off a property deal on behalf of his brother with the club owner.
She had this sad look on her face where she sat by herself such that made him feel so uncomfortable he had to go talk to her, it would only take a few weeks for him to realize that her boyfriend had broken up with her that day at the club and she was thinking of ending her life thankfully he was there to cheer her up and make her laugh so hard they had decided to see each other once they went their separate ways that day, Richmond had rebuked him for wanting to get married to a nobody as he called her but he knew what he wanted and stuck with his choice.

Now he was deeply down in between her thighs, his tongue laid waste to her slippery wet walls sending sparks of ecstasy through her body which made her moan softly.
She parted his back letting him know she had had enough and wanted a part of the action, letting him lay back on his back while she found her way to his man.
He exhaled softly once he felt the warmth of her lips tightly round his man, stroking it gently while she worked her other hand around his balls such that felt heavenly to him.

He drew her up so she sat on him once he had had his fill of the sweet intense pleasure, now he wanted to be inside of her as did she.
She guarded him slowly inside of her and pulled herself in sweet pleasurable rhythm moaning deeper each time until he made her lie on her back once more, letting him put his weight upon her just a little bit while he let himself inside her tight walls, each time harder than the previous as his lips played with her nipples until she began to shake in pure orgasm letting him came inside of her.
He rolled over to her side soon afterwards and kissed her on her neck as did she.
She had a big smile on her face such that made him feel strange inside, for he knew she was nothing compared her, the one who made these sweet sensation of love making worth more than anything else.

CONTINUED


concluded, quickly dishing off a sly expression at Cyril before he left the office.
Mike sure knew his way around the ladies he thought to himself seeing her blush when the detective complemented her with a cheap one liner.
‘does he say that to every woman he comes across?’ Dencia asked as she took her seat behind her desk.
‘what, sorry I didn’t get that?’ Cyril asked.

‘that one liner of his about been hotter than the sun, its not a very good one at all, I can assure you.’ Dencia said with a dull smile, this however made Cyril chuckle.
‘oh so what about you, how was it, what were you able to find out?’ She said in a haste once she realized she hadn’t asked about their case.
‘Nothing really although I did find this.’ Cyril said before he brought out the newspaper and walked over to her desk to show her. ‘it would appear Oric oil and Gas is in some financial issues, they got defrauded.’ Cyril said letting her read the headlines. ‘and what about you, how was it, how did it go?’ he asked.

‘oh nothing, they never called so it was a lot boring than you are probably imagining, i was unable to get Elaina to talk with me and Mr. Richmond wasn’t around but I did get to see Deborah.’ She said, her eyes fixed on the papers.
‘deborah, who is that?’ Cyril asked.

‘Mr. Rolland’s wife, she wasn’t much of a talker either but this.’ She hesitated. ‘this information does prove something about the money aspect, this could mean Mr. Richmond wants to cash in on his son.’ Dencia said.
‘yeah but I don’t know I don’t think its enough for a motive, this man has enough money and does a claim on life insurances mean the person must be dead so how does kidnapping and ransoming the little boy come in because we already had one person killed before the boy was abducted , if this was the case then I think the this should be an active double or triple murder case.’ Cyril said.

‘that’s true.’ Dencia said, quite disappointed at the thought of it. ‘we have to speak to Elaina, something tells me she might know something and I really don’t care how emotionally distraught you are, she and her husband should be able to find time to talk with us, I mean they could know something or someone’ Dencia added, quite frustrated about the lack of pace in their investigation so far.
‘you are right, we need to talk to them, they might know more than they think do.’ Cyril agreed.

‘let’s talk over lunch, I hope you still hungry because I am.’ Dencia said, perhaps this may have shown how excited she was about the planned lunch together which she never for once did forget once Cyril had made mentioned of it.
‘oh yeah, let’s do that, I will go grab my keys.’ Cyril said with some excitement.
They arrived at Mummy D’s eat spot, not your ultra modern eatery or fast food restaurant yet the numbers of car parked along all sides of the road did say something good about its patronage.

They made their way inside and were lucky to grab a clean spot thanks to mummy D herself who was always happy to welcome one of her best and loyal customers, even more exciting was seeing him for the first time with a lady.
‘Two wraps of fufu and my usual and for her.’

‘I will have what he is having.’ Dencia cut in with a big smile as mummy d made to go get their orders.
‘you have tasted this before?’ Cyril asked, he already figured this out though since mike had told him about her past relationship with a Nigerian but it was only right he asked.
‘No not really, there was someone who used to talk about it so its only fair I give it a try now I am here.’ Dencia said.
‘someone?, a co worker type of someone or a neighbor sort of someone or just some one.’ Cyril asked dully.

‘just a someone I suppose.’ Dencia said as mummy D arrived with their orders, four wraps of fufu and egusi soup laced with cat and stock fish.
The aroma had done the needful, setting the tone for a wonderful afternoon lunch, which was both enjoyable and satisfactory.
Meanwhile Richmond raced to the executive meeting once he got the information, the whole thing had bugged him off ever since bright had made his plans known to take over, in truth he had underestimated his vice who seemed more willingly to take instructions all this time than to dish them out.

However it would appear that bright had been plotting this all along just waiting for the perfect opportunity to take over and his few days back at the office had revealed why the fraudulent activity of Ds oils was the perfect opportunity.
In fact it was worse than he had anticipated with investors and stake holders money involved, it was indeed going to be a hard one to pull around, even now the company’s stock had detected a slight fall.

He made his way to the meeting which he hadn’t been invited to so of course they were welcome to stare in discontent when he walked in although bright seemed more relaxed and eager to see him.
‘you should read this.’ Mr. augustus said, one of his biggest investors said stretching a newspaper at him. ‘my auditors tell me that the company’s stocks would fall drastically give or take two days from now, what do you have to say to this?’ he added.

He quietly made his way and got hold of the newspapers, his frown at the Metropolis lantern was only heightened when he read the headlines detailing how he had sighed over investor’s money, the details were spot on.
‘the money cannot be recovered and if it can, it will only do the company more damage because nobody wants to do business with a company that can’t be trusted with investors or stake holders money.’ Bright said from where he sat, his eyes fixed on Richmond. ‘since you are here Richmond, why don’t you tell them how they are going to get their money back and stop this company from crashing.’ He added.

‘yes please, why don’t you tell us how you are going to turn this around because Mr. Bright here has indeed explained and offered us a lot of good suggestions which is still why we are here and very calm at the moment so why don’t you tell us.’ Mr. augustus pushed again.

‘I am working on it.’ Richmond paused to observe the reaction of the members, he hated that look because he had seen it a lot of times, they certainly had made their minds up but he wasn’t going to lose his company to some bunch of hungry power drunken men just because he messed up ‘what is this anyway.’ He continued in defiance with a big frown. ‘I have worked everything I can think of, for this company and all of sudden you think that I can be replaced, huh, is that it, do you think Mr. bright has the tenacity and audaciousness to do the things that has constantly flooded your accounts with billions of dollars, huh, this company belongs to me and if made a wrong decision and you think its worth pulling out then so be it, take your God damn money and get the hell out, I don’t need you telling me what to do and what not to do, I said I am going to work this out and I will, its not a promise, its what I have been delivering to you all seated here for years, now if you all would excuse me I have got an office to run.’ Mr. Richmond concluded walking out of the office once he had said his mind.

To hell with them all, he had saved his company once with absolutely nothing but guts and he can do it again, he thought to himself as he walked away.
The evening was a little bit cold but maybe for her, it was a lot colder but she made no attempt to get a sweat shirt or retreat into the warmth her room provided.
She was going to sit at the balcony and let her mind keep her company. It was from this spot she sighted Richmond’s car driving in which made her face crumple with a frown and in a few minutes Richmond had joined her where she sat with a bottle of whiskey and a glass, taking the other seat besides her.

They said nothing for the longest as Richmond poured himself a glass after another, irritating the hell out Elaina, who decided to take her leave.
‘So you don’t the decency to greet your husband anymore right?’ Richmond said dully, stopping elaina in her tracks. ‘not that I need it anyway, I mean I would rather be greeted by a beggar on the streets than a woman such as you which I am sure you know by now.’ He added hoping to spite her so she reacted but she hadn’t reacted but rather walk away and out of her sight.

He scoffed and poured another glass for himself, today had gone well, the executives had decided to delay their final decision on his position while he had started investigating the fraud in a bid to find a way out, Bright’s position was still secured thanks to a the executive board but not for long, he was going to deal with that back stabber one way or another.
‘who is there?’ he asked again, hearing the door behind opened.
‘its me brother, I have news sir.’ Rolland said.

‘what is it, this time.?’ He asked sipping from his glass.
‘the okiye family wants some sort of compensation for their

CHAPTER THREE




By the first light of dawn, Cyril had managed to pull what he felt was a personal record for him, getting to the office before everyone else including the non essentials who usually made it their habit of arriving extremely early however he was left disappointed when he realized the office door wasn’t unlocked.

‘there you are detective, Good morning to you.’ Dencia greeted him as he walked in with a disquiet look on his face which he brushed off quickly.
‘Good morning to you, what are you doing here this early?’ he asked as he made his way to his office desk.
‘I couldn’t sleep much, I usually don’t when I am on a case and from the looks of it, it seems you too didn’t get enough sleep.’ Dencia replied cheerfully over her desk.

Cyril gave a subtle smile at the response knowing he did get some good sleep.
‘Did you think he was right about the ransom?’ dencia asked thoughtfully.
‘I don’t know, you know this rich men, they are more complicated than a jigsaw puzzle but isn’t it obvious they have to?’ Cyril asked as he took his seat.

‘she didn’t seem to think so.’ Dencia replied as she recollected Elaina’s little drama the other day.
‘I don’t know, we can’t say what that is truly about which is why we are going to find out when we have a chance to speak with her and the husband as well.’ Cyril said confidently before he heard his phone rang, it was Sam the lead ICT expert who was recently brought into the bureau alongside three others to form it’s cyber intelligence unit.

‘Hello sam, how are you?’ Cyril said, his eyes closely observing dencia for the first time since he arrived office, she was a beautiful thing to behold now he thought about it, her red top beneath the silver coat did little to hide her cleavage and how sweet her perfumed smelt such that made him burn with inside with strange desire.

‘sir, boss asked me to call about our trip to the Orji’s, he isn’t sure how you intend to work that out.’ Sam replied over the phone.
‘just get yourself and whoever is coming along ready, be at my office within the next.’ He paused to check his watch on his hand, it was just 7:20 am. ‘one hour, okay?’ he said before he dropped the call.
‘everything alrght?’ Dencia asked.

‘yeah just the tech guy been excited about the trip.’ Cyril said.
‘oh I see, I was thinking we split up on this, we still don’t have a lead or a clue about who is responsible I mean we could be lucky with the idea of tracking call but maybe we can do something else. Dencia replied.
However was a brilliant idea for the detective.

‘yeah, I think it’s a great idea, we have the car which is still impounded down at the police station, I will go get the address, I can try that while you and Sam and whoever he is bringing along can go see the orji’s, I trust you can handle this?’ Cyril asked.
She gave a quick thought before she responded positively.
‘great, I think I will start on that car now.’ Cyril said as he made to leave the office. ‘and if you have anything you need me to clarify or talk about, you can give me a call.’ Cyril added.

‘okay but I think I can handle it, it’s not my first case, detective.’ She said cheekily.
‘and maybe if this takes more time than expected, we could get somewhere to have lunch if you don’t mind.’ Cyril said as he approached the door and for a second when she hesitated to reply, it seemed his bad luck with women was indeed something to be worried about however it was her soft smile on her face that made him think twice about that.

‘sure, that would be great, the food service at my hotel hasn’t been one of the best I have had so far.’ Dencia replied.
‘then you are in luck, I think I have the perfect spot to enjoy a good Nigeria delicacy, see you later detective.’ Cyril said closing the door behind him with a big smile on his face, this seemed like a good day already, he nodded to himself.

At 9:15 am his arrival at the Egba Police station was welcomed with a serious of long paper works which seemed like they would take forever.
‘you will have to wait for some time before we get back to you, each paperwork has to be reviewed and distributed to the appropriate officer of further inspection.’ A police officer said cheerfully.
‘and is this going to take long?’ Cyril replied frustratingly.

‘well it depends on whether the officers are around or not .’ The officer replied as he collected the papers.
The detective heaved a sigh of frustration, it had become reportedly messy between the NCIB and the police force once NCiB got their independence from its parent body the Nigeria police with relationship strained on how cases were been handled and who eventually was reporting to who and now paper works which required little to nothing more than a phone call were now extremely boring and time consuming and was already threatening to take the whole day hopefully Dencia was having a better luck with the orji’s than he was.

‘you just make yourself comfortable for now, there are a bunch of today’s newspaper on the table over there.’ He said pointing to the wooden table before the detective. ‘while I go work this out.’ The officer said, although every of his words seemed to annoy the detective, he seemed cheerfully and willing to help, the detective thought as he gave the man a nod.

It wasn’t any relief to the detective to the detective but it wasn’t a bad idea as he decided to keep himself busy with the metropolis lantern whose bold headlines caught him off guard.

Bolded on the front page were the words “ORIC OIL AND GAS LTD LOSSES BILLIONS TO FRAUD”, he quickly flipped the pages over to read the news, this was a huge find, could the orji’s be having a money problem, the news had given tremendous details on the business contract between Oric and the supposed fraudulent company however he would hold off his thoughts when the officer arrived all smiles.

‘Detective, it seems you are in luck today, they have been signed and verified.’ The officer said brandishing the various documents in his hand at the detective. ‘so you will have to follow to the back to check up on the vehicle.’ He added.
‘thanks but is it okay I take this piece?’ Cyril asked pointing to the newspaper he had been reading.

‘sure, not that anyone reads them that much, its all yours detective.’ The officer said, letting the detective have the newspaper.
They arrived at the impound and the officer was quick to spot the black suv jeep.
‘yeah, that’s the one over there, take all the time you need with it.’ The officer said handling the keys over to the detective. ‘I can assure you its not been tampered with, everything is still intact because we are expecting it to be returned back very soon since a formal request has been submitted by the owners.’ He added before he decided to let the detective do his work while he took a moment to rest.

The car seemed pretty new and well maintained, tinted black window glasses and custom made plates to march.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as he observed closely, he produced his phone hoping to take a few pictures of the vehicle as well once he opened the car.

Inside shared no further details than the outside did except for the dried blood stained passenger’s seat at the front.
He took a few pictures of it before he decided to check out the back seat, yet again there was nothing suspicious which made the whole abduction hard for him to imagine.

He returned the keys back to the officer and decided to clarify a few more things before he left.
‘is it possible for you to help me with the address of the morgue where the security detail who was killed was deposited in?’ Cyril asked.
‘Am sorry I can’t help you with that.’ The officer replied thoughtfully.

‘oh I get it, another round of paperwork and verification and all of that, right?’ Cyril asked.
‘Oh no, not at all detective, I can’t help you with that because the body has been collected by the family already, I am guessing they want closure as quickly as they can.’ The officer said.
The response was quite disappointing but it didn’t come as a surprise even more the officer was correct.

‘okay, anyway thanks for the assistance, I will be on my way now.’ The detective said before both men shook hands and went on their various ways.
Cyril arrived at the office by late afternoon but Dencia hadn’t returned yet.
Surely they were having a better time than he is, he thought as he settled back in his chair.

‘there you are.’ Detective mike said, with a big mischievous smile on his face as he let the door wide open.
Cyril rolled his eyes away from his visitor, maybe if he didn’t show a lot of interest in whatever the detective had to say, he would leave on time. Because surely mike was only around for little talks he found quite unnecessary.
‘dc, whats the story my man, I heard you got a new girlfriend.’ Mike said, snatching the seat before cyril’s desk.
‘what, who said that, since when does working a case with a female detective become a relationship gist.’ Cyril asked totally unsettled by mike’s words.

‘oh come on, since when did Cyril agree to partner with anyone surely this is a partnership with other ships, I know now.’ Mike said with a wink.
‘its nothing like that, okay we are working on a case and as soon as we are done, this partnership you talk of is dissolved instantly trust me, I would recommend you go disturb someone else over relationship talks.’ Cyril replied.
‘she is single and guess what her ex happens to be a Nigerian, she broke up with him like four months ago.’ Mike said with wide eyes flashing at his detective who seemed a bit lost with the revelation.

‘what, wait how did you know about this and why are you telling me?’ Cyril asked.
‘so you mean you haven’t checked her social media page, wow man see this is the perfect time to make a move, the boys in the bureau know what’s a complete package and let me tell you, they are ready to dive in if you think you are not up for the job you know, I mean we all know how poor of a romantic person you are, this is your God given chance to atone for all that.’ Mike said cheekily.

But damn it if this busy body of a detective wasn’t right about his poor attempt at romance, he thought to himself for a minute.
‘hey guys, good afternoon detectives.’ Dencia announced herself as the office door swayed opened startling the men as they turned around to stare at her.
‘hello pretty, I see you are still contesting with the sun over who is hotter.’ Mike said with a wink at her, which made her chuckle. ‘a personal opinion.’ Mike said as he stood to leave. ‘I think you are hotter, anyway I got to jet, later detectives.’ He

CONTNUED




Cyril said as Mr. Rolland halted once the duo got to the exit door.
‘I will see what I can do, detectives.’ Mr. Rolland said before he disappeared into one of the hallways.

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

Meanwhile Deep in the forest, far away from civilization, Maryann had woken up in the night, she hadn’t realized how many times during the day she had passed out but Joshua’s persistent crying had woken the baby sitter up.
Dark, Dirty, Dangerous, the environment had the stench of fright written all over it but for her this was nothing compared to the trauma she has been through in life already.

She flinched once she turned to locate Joshua who was coiled up at a corner crying in the dark; thankfully the moon’s light which passed through the barred window allowed her to see around.

However it was now she realized how badly hurt she was with a injury to the back of her head after she was knocked out at some point during the abduction and a few minor injuries she had obtained while they were led here.
‘joshua.’ She called out to the little boy, who soon raised up his head to look at her.
‘Aunty May.’ Joshua called out, his tone expressed a level of fear and anxiety.

Thankfully he looked alright, she decided to creep over to where the boy was, unable to muster any strength to walk.
She eventually joined him where he sat and cuddled him, he seemed weak, dirty and cold.

‘I am here, okay don’t worry just close your eyes and sleep okay?’ she said as softly as she could ensuring her voices showed nothing of her fears.
‘I want to go home aunty may, I want to go home to mommy and uncle and daddy.’ The boy replied sobbing.
‘shhh, don’t cry okay, we will both go home, I promise you, we will both get home and see everyone, okay but you have to sleep now, okay?’ she encouraged the little boy.

‘I am scarred aunty may, I want my mommy.’ Joshua replied sobbingly.
‘I am scarred too jojo but do you still remember what I said the other day about the dark, do you?’ Maryann asked.
‘don’t be afraid of the dark’ the boy replied with some sense of security now.

‘good plus I am here, I will always be with you, okay? Now sleep and not a word again.’ She said as the little boy nodded in silence.
How she wished she was entirely right this time, the whole day had been nothing short of a nightmare and to think Okiye had played a part in their abduction was as baffling as it sounded however this was the case.

They hadn’t been caught under a cross fire or some high level hijack on the road, it was okiye who pulled his rifle on festus and ordered him to stop where they did before their abductors had arrived to collect them but not evil area atoned for, some get an instant taste of karma, they had killed him on the spot and how relieving she felt deep down amidst her fear and confusion to see him lose his life.

She used her left hand to feel her face, a bit numb though but she had felt her pinch on her skin in hopes that this was one bad nightmare she could wake up for however it was easy to realize the obvious, this was as real as it could get.

She sighed helplessly, wiping a tear off her face, she couldn’t afford the little boy to see her cry, she was going to do all she could to make sure they both survived this horror no matter what came their way.
‘Don’t worry, I am here jojo, I will protect you.’ She said quietly to the sleeping child.

CONTINUED



‘am assuming you will need details concerning the insurance placed on the boy?’ Dencia asked.
‘I think I am good here for now, just read through and get ready.’ Cyril said.

It would eventually take the duo around twenty five minutes before they rode out of the building.
‘So my boss says you are supposed to be working sort of undercover for now until a claim is made on the insurance, so you might want to let me handle some of the questionings, reduce the whole suspicion thing about your accent so to say.’ Cyril remarked while they drove closer to their destination.

‘sure but that won’t stop me from asking the questions I need to.’ Dencia replied, producing a silver desert eagle from her bag for a closer inspection: her personal licensed weapon of course.
‘they let you guys carry weapons? I thought you guys just go around investigating fraudulent claims and then report to police?’ Cyril asked as he starred at the weapon in her hands.

‘and sometimes we get to be the first respondents on the scene, I haven’t used it though but one can never be too sure about these things.’ She replied, replacing her weapon back in her bag once she was satisfied with the weapon.

The journey would however take a deep dive into silence with none of them willing to say any more, thankfully they had arrived at the Orji’s mansion.
A mammoth of a structure anyone would say just merely starring at it from the outside but it was the few who made it in that really had an idea about the size of the building itself.

Once they were directed to the parking spot meant for visitors, the duo got down to be greeted by Rolland who had been told of their arrival.
‘Good day detectives, its good to have you guys here, please right this way.’ Rolland said with a sense of urgency.
They were led inside the mansion and then to a private lounge which had the setting of a luxurious ultra modern living room.
‘would you like at all this?’ Cyril said with an expression of marvel on his face once Rolland disappeared from sight.
‘is there anything I can get for you both, maybe drink or coffee or something.’ Rolland said as he returned back.
‘Nothing for us, thanks.’ Cyril said.

‘actually coffee would be nice, decaffeinated with no sugar if possible.’ Dencia replied with a pleasant smile.
‘that’s no problem at all, I will have one of the servants bring that up right away.’ Rolland replied, taking his exit once again as Cyril stared in mild disbelief at Dencia over her willingness to take the offer however Dencia waved it off, producing her tablet and its pen out, all set up and ready.
Elaina made her entrance some minutes after Dencia had been served her coffee alongside Rolland.

She wore a purple satin, with gold embroideries that made beautiful patterns all over it and though she was probably in her mid thirties , she seemed frail and unsettled, a beautiful fair petite woman she was, graceful to behold as her natural long dark hair moved from side to side on her hips lazily when she walked, however her eyes expressed a high level of intelligence and sophistication such that the male detective admired.
‘I am afraid Mr. Richmond Orji, my brother is not around at the moment but this is Mrs. Elaina Orji, the mother.’ Rolland addressed the duo. ‘I was at the scene where we were able to confirm the first call we received was no fluke, one of our security team, one of the best we have got was killed and two of the house employees, a driver by the name festus and joshua’s baby sitter and care giver, Maryann were abducted with my nephew, her son.’ He said, his words tempting to draw a tear from Elaina’s swollen red eyes.

‘I need to go back to my room now.’ Elaina said pitifully drawing the attention of the others to her, Rolland seemed a bit more understanding about her unwillingness to stay any longer.
‘you must excuse the lady of the house, she is not in a very mood right now, I will take every question that you want to ask, she is not feeling well at the moment.’ Rolland said.

‘why won’t he just pay the damn money so I can have my son back uh? Why wouldn’t he give me my son back, I want my boy.’ Elaina’s voice cracked with tears dropping down her cheeks where she sat, putting her brother in-law in an awkward position as the detectives eyes fell on him.
‘Eh, please excuse us for a moment, detectives.’ Rolland said clearing his throat.

He drew near Elaina and seem to whisper something into her ears after which they both stood up and left the lounge.
The detectives didn’t need to say anything but Dencia had passed a stare at Cyril who scribbled something down on his little jotter, they needed no one to explain what that was.

‘I am sorry about that.’ Rolland said as he returned to take his seat. ‘Mrs. Elaina hasn’t been herself for quite some time.’ He made sure to readjust himself where he sat. ‘now if you have any questions, i will gladly try to answer them as best as I can, I live here with my brother so you can take my word for it.’ Rolland said.
‘When was the last time these abductors called and what are their terms of agreement?’ Cyril asked.

‘we haven’t heard from them again since the boy was abducted, they want 5 billion dollars paid to a swiss bank account before the two week’s time which by today is now a week and five days, we are to expect their call by tomorrow.’ Rolland answered calmly.
‘a swiss bank account, hmm that’s untraceable and shows some sophistication on their par and may we know what steps are to be taken towards securing the boys release?’ Dencia asked causing Rolland to stare at her with some uncertainty; apparently her accent caught him off guard.
‘I believe what my partner is trying to say is that, if there are plans by the family to raise the ransom.’ Cyril chipped in noticing the stare.
‘Ehn, well I can assure you that my brother is doing all he can at the moment to raise the money.’ Rolland said with such dredge in his voice knowing this was still an uncertainty, he did catch the detectives stare subtly at one another over his remarks however it didn’t matter, this was what his brother asked him to say if ever asked.

‘Tell us about that morning, everything that happened leading to the abduction.’ Cyril said.
‘well it was like every other day, I and my wife deborah live here at the mansion with my brother so I can tell you there was absolutely nothing out of the ordinary although it was my brother’s 10th year wedding anniversary and his wife was hoping to celebrate it, so the plan had been for Joshua to come home by break time which is by his school’s standard 11:15, Maryann the baby sitter, okiye the head of security and one of the drivers called festus were supposed to go pick him up from school just like they have done for the past 2 years, the journey is usually about twenty minutes top however after I think forty five minutes we hadn’t seen them Elaina began to worry, we tried to call but none was going through and then we got the call around 12:10 pm.’ Rolland said recounting the entire ordeal.

‘And is there anyone who might have in the past posed a threat to the family in one way or another?’ Cyril responded making sure to write down whatever he felt was worth it and so far, that was scarce.
‘Well what can I say?’ Mr. Rolland said readjusting himself once more. ‘My brother is the executive president and founder of Oric oil and gas and one of the richest men in the country and Africa in general, I believe the family has had its fair share of what I would call strong criticism but nothing or anyone worth losing a night’s sleep over, I can assure you.’ Mr. Rolland replied.
‘okay but what about you Mr. Rolland, any enemies?’ Dencia asked.

This time Rolland had given it a deep thought. ‘Believe it or not, sometimes the people who fall into the problems sometimes are not those it is intended for.’ Dencia added which made Mr. Rolland scoff dully.
‘I doubt I am the target here with the constant rise of security problems and the issue of kidnappings bursting through the roof clearly the reason for the kidnap is quite obvious.’ Rolland replied.

‘okay then we will be here with an ICT team here, who will help work out tracking and locating the kidnappers and if possible identify them, it’s usually not as easy as I say it , this process could the whole time left so it’s also important the ransom is been worked out, we will commence our investigations fully alongside the ICT team, I can assure you we will do our best to ensure the safe release of the boy.’ Cyril said confidently such that garnered a nod from Mr. Rolland.
‘our home is open to you all detectives, I will do my best to ensure I provide you all with whatever necessary information you need.’ Mr. Rolland replied.

They soon shook hands and made their way out with Mr. Rolland tailing the duo.
‘And please, we will be hoping we can speak with Mr. Richmond and his wife tomorrow, it’s imperative we talk to them.’