Dakolo was seated in the back of the ambulance with the doctor and Henry laying in the bed. Ken was seated in the front seat with the driver, leading the way to their destination. Dakolo glanced at Henry’s calm face from time to time and would take a deep sigh of relief after. He was glad that Henry was going to live after all, even though if he didn’t remember anything like the doctor said, he was a young man and still had the opportunity to start a new life. Dakolo made up his mind to help Henry have that new life and have it to the full.
Just after fifteen minutes of driving, Dakolo’s phone began to ring. He took it out and checked the caller, it was from the office.
‘Hello officer,’ he answered the call and spoke in a low voice.
‘Sir,’ the female computer operator’s voice sounded. ‘The profile we got yesterday wasn’t from the hospital in Capetown, the signature and logo have some slight differences. The assassins must have created a fake profile and deceived us with it.’
‘Okay,’ Dakolo replied after few seconds of silence, feeling defeated but not surprise about the report. ‘What about the network provider’s report, where did they say the call was answered from?’
‘They haven’t been able to find the exact location sir but it has been confirmed that the call wasn’t answered from South Africa.’
‘It’s okay officer, thanks, you may now retire for the day and allow the officers on night shift take over.’ Dakolo replied.
‘Yes sir, goodnight.’ Dakolo could hear the happiness in her voice before she cut the call. Dakolo took another glance at Henry immediately the call ended, he stretched forth his hand to the bed and to touched Henry’s fingers. Henry’s hand was warm but there was no reaction made to Dakolo’s touch.
‘For how long is he going to stay unconscious?’ Dakolo asked the doctor.
‘I’m not really sure, only Dr Tobi can give us the most accurate prediction,’ the doctor replied.
‘I wished you were the one to stay with him, I can trust you more. Dr Tobi seems younger, inexperienced and more naive.’ Dakolo said.
‘Dr Tobi is not inexperienced, he’s a professional who has dealt with several other cases successfully, he’s one of the best in Africa and in the world. Even though this case is quite unique, he’s still the best man for the job. I don’t think any other Doctor in the world would do better than him.’
‘Why are you so confident about him?’ Dakolo asked, raising a brow.
‘He’s good, I know him, I’ve seen him perform excellently several times. He has even proved it in this case.’
‘How did he prove it?”
‘You see, in cases like this where the substance used to induce the brain damage and paralysis to the patient is unknown, the only person who would be able to produce the cure has to be the manufacturer of the poison. But in this case, Dr Tobi was able to come up with the cure. The highest point several other doctors in his line would have ever gotten to was knowing that the cure could be derived from that liquid, they would have never been able to know how to purify the liquid and make the cure.’
”Hmm… I see,’ Dakolo commented and took his gaze away. He stared blankly at the wall of the ambulance for sometime.
‘You’ll pick him from his house tomorrow as planned,’ the doctor continued. ‘Now that he would even be left alone with the patient and the patient would be the only responsibility he has, he might be able to come up with several other things to make the patient recover faster.’ Dakolo bit his lips and nodded silently in agreement with what the doctor said. Quick recovery was what he wanted for Henry, very quick recovery. So that they would be able to fly him out of the country once and for all to save him from any other possible attacks.
++++
‘I’ll have to return tomorrow then,’ Tarasha said, stepping into the car.
‘Call me at once Benny is back and also inform him that I need to have a meeting with all of you tomorrow.’ she said and closed the door to the driver’s seat. After waiting an hour for Benny to return, she had no choice than to leave and come back the next day.
‘Make sure you keep an eye on the Senate President, we should administer to him the poison very soon, it’ll take about three days before he finally dies.’ she said before starting the engine. She wind up the window glasses and began to reverse, Cole went to open the gate for her. In one minute time, she had driven out already. Cole and Aisha returned back into the house quietly, still wondering where Benny could have gone to and what could be wrong with him.
++++
Benny kept on walking hurriedly down the streets, he had gone out of Gwagalada already and was on his way to a motor park. He planned on boarding a bus that night or very early the next morning to Lagos, then from Lagos he was going to travel out of the country to another African nation where they would not be able to trace him to. He had enough money in his bank account to settle down there for the moment and maybe take up a responsible job or start a business.
The roads were already almost empty, there were cars were passing by occasionally. There were also very few people on the road and by the side, most of them were people coming from work who could be seen at the joints of Mallams who were selling late night food to people. He crossed the road to the other side of the junction, he stopped to wait for a cab or a good Samaritan who would be driving towards the direction of the motor garage he was going to.
Not more than two minutes of waiting, the good Samaritan came by. A black car stopped at his front.
‘Hello,’ the windows were wind down and the car reversed a little. A man at the passenger’s side of the front seat waved at Benny. The man’s cap covered his face partly, making it impossible for Benny to see the face properly.
‘Hello, I’m going to the Lagos motor garage there.’ Benny said, approaching the car.
‘Do you have some money?’ the man asked.
‘Yes,’ Benny replied, confident of himself. His gun was in his pocket and he wasn’t scared of entering into a robber’s car. He had received extra training under Tarasha, so entering a robber’s car would even make things better for him; it would give him good enough reasons to snatch the car and use it personally for himself, maybe drive himself to Lagos.
‘Hop in,’ the man said and the door to the back seat opened.
‘Thank you,’ Benny said as he entered and placed his bag beside him. He saw the eyes of the driver peeping at him through the rearview mirror but couldn’t see the face properly. The light in the car was turned off before the car drove off. The driver began to play one of Tupac’s album, raising the volume so high that it could damage one’s ear. Benny did not complain but just used his palms to cover his ears. Twenty minutes later, the car began to approach the point where the motor park was.
‘Can you slow down? We’re almost at my destination,’ Benny said but the driver and his partner weren’t listening, the loudness of the music would not let them hear. Benny tapped the driver on his shoulder gently, the music volume was reduced a little.
‘We’ve passed the motor garage already, please stop and tell me how much you want to collect.’ Benny said. The driver did not reduce his speed, he increased it instead and increased the volume of the music too. Benny took out his gun and wanted to place it on the neck of the driver but unluckily for him, they were close to a police road block. He hid the gun under his legs until they passed the police joint several metres away.
‘Now pull over,’ Benny commanded the driver, putting the gun’s tip at the back of his neck. The driver refused to stop and continued to drive until Benny cocked the gun, he finally pulled over and raised up his hands surrendering.
‘Bro, take it easy.’ the man on the passenger’s side said in a relaxed voice.
‘Hey man, calm down. I’m just playing a late night game with you,’ the driver said in a voice that sounded familiar to Benny. ‘Or would your boss scold you for playing a little, harmless game with me this night?’ the driver added in a mocking tone. Benny was taken aback, his hand began to drop slowly. Then his heart almost failed him as the driver turned back and Benny saw his face. ‘Nice to meet once again, did you miss me?’ Don asked tauntingly.
++++ ~~~~ Monday Morning ~~~~
Tarasha resumed her work in the NSCC that morning, she was given a special office, just like Henry’s. On resumption, she met several uncompleted projects on the table, most which were rolled over from Henry. The last night had been refreshing for her. For over fifteen years of her life, she had not had so much rest like she did, after spending much time with her brother. They decided to suspend all their talks about the past first and talk about the future. Even though both of them still had those past memories haunting them in their hearts, they decided to pretend to be okay to each other.
Jefa still had a wish to see the Inspector General punished but he left it unvoiced, not wanting to stir up bad memories in Omotara’s head again and not knowing that she had it in mind too. One other important reason why Jefa agreed to stop sharing his past was because he did not want to lie to her, which he’ll be forced to do if he continued. There were a lot of things he did which he thought could make her hate or become scared of him when she hears about them.
Omotara on her own part, decided not to go further with hearing about his past immediately, she was going to hear it from him little by little, so that he would not suspect anything when the people whose names he would mention would pay for their sins with their blood. Her next target was the Inspector General of Police. She was going to add him to the Vice President’s job, after killing the both of them, then it’ll be the appropriate time to hear more stories about the past.
Tarasha began her work immediately, she started to go through all the jobs Henry had not completed and check the structure of the softwares. She was able to make quick progress because of the reports she had gotten from the other developers who had been working with Henry, she was going to be meeting with them by 1pm that day. She also had a meeting with the Vice President the next morning by 9am. She, Mr Sylvester and the other developers would be going for the meeting at the Vice President quarters.
Her phone beeped twice, a text message had entered. She picked it up to read. The sender was one of those numbers which was usually used to send spam messages by the network providers. She wanted to ignore but the first word of the message caught her attention, she opened it to read more.
‘Henry E.G moved from the hospital by the police, rumour has it that he was taken out lifeless… read more on pobsonline.com.’ She clicked on the link to get more details of the news.
‘Our sources have gathered that the intelligent programming expert after being attacked was moved out of the hospital that same night. Whether he was moved out dead or not, we’ve not been able to confirm. All efforts to reach the hospital authorities have proved abortive but we were able to reach one of the nurses who was present while he was being moved out. Nurse Titi (real name withheld) spoke to our correspondence, explaining details on how he looked lifeless on the night he was being moved out from the hospital. Only one of the senior doctors in the hospital (name withheld) went with the police in the ambulance and returned to the hospital the next morning, this would mean that there is no Doctor from the hospital who is presently with Henry.
Reports also has it that the doctor who was previously in charge of Henry’s case may have been suspended or sacked by the hospital management as his name has been removed from the duty roster and all other patients he was previously in charge of treating has been assigned to it other doctors…’
Tarasha stopped reading and dropped her phone on the table, she wondered why the police was hiding the news of Henry’s death, why they had to take his body away from the hospital and hide it somewhere else. She picked up the phone again and dialed Benny’s number, it still wasn’t going through. She dialed Cole’s.
‘Hello Boss,’ Cole answered in a lively voice.
‘Hey Cole, how are you this morning?’
‘Fine boss, you?’
‘Excellent, how about Aisha and the Senate President? Have you poisoned the man already?’
‘Yes, the poison was added to his food last night.’
‘Okay, the effects will start to show tomorrow. That means you’ll take him out of the lodge tomorrow after inserting the microchip in his hand.’
‘Yes boss, I’m still very aware of the plan.’
‘Okay, any news from Benny yet?’
‘None yet.’
‘Conduct a search for him, I’ll send you the data for the cameras in that…’ Tarasha paused suddenly, remembering that the street cameras were not present in some parts of Gwagalada, including the street where their lodge was. ‘Well… Just begin a search for him, make sure that he hasn’t gotten himself into trouble.’
‘Okay boss,’ Cole replied and the call ended.
++++
He sat quietly on the bed, resting his back on the headboard. He stared at everything in the room which he was. It was a very neat room painted white, the door was a transparent glass door which allowed for people in the room to see those outside. Occasionally, he would see one or two people pass through the corridor. Who they were he did not know, neither did he know who he was. Soon, a young man dressed in a doctor’s coat came in leaving the door opened. He recognized the Doctor’s face as the person who had been administering drugs and injections to him since the day he had found himself there. He didn’t know when he got there or how he did, he also did not know how many days he had spent there as he never left the bed since when he found himself there. He never saw darkness too, the room was always brightened by the florescent bulbs placed at strategic corners of the ceiling.
Two other men entered after the doctor and closed the door. They were dressed corporately in black suits and white shirts, he wondered who they were. They came closer to his bed and stood at his front with smiling faces.
‘How are you?’ the doctor finally broke the silence. He didn’t reply, he wasn’t sure of what to say. He didn’t even know if he could speak. ‘Hope you’re feeling better?’ the doctor asked again.
‘I’m fine,’ he said, not knowing where the words came from. The doctor smiled on seeing his tensed state, he placed a hand on his shoulder.
‘Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. We are your friends.’ He looked at the faces of the two other people to see if he could find friendship there. The men were nodding their heads in consent to the doctor’s words.
‘I’m Doctor Tobi,’ the doctor started the introduction, ‘and this Agent Dakolo and Inspector Ken.’ Henry took another quick glance at the two other men, he didn’t like their faces and he wasn’t sure he could trust them, the Doctor’s introduction made them look more dangerous to him.
‘What do you want from me?’ he asked in a frightened tone. Agent Dakolo moved closer,
‘Henry, we are your friends. We don’t want anything from you, we want to help you.’
‘Who is Henry?’ he asked looking back to see if they were referring to someone else.
‘You,’ Dakolo gave a brief chuckle. ‘You are Henry and we are your friends, we’ve come…’ Dakolo’s phone rang interrupting him. He stopped and stepped back. He brought out his phone and checked the screen. He silenced it and stepped forward again.
‘I want to be alone,’ Henry said, he laid flat on his back and used the blanket to cover his whole body including his face. Dr Tobi signaled to the officers that it was time to leave. Slowly and without making noise, they marched out of the room. He took the blanket off his face after the three visitors had left.
‘Henry,’ he muttered to himself. ‘What does the name mean?’
**********
‘Please Dr Tobi, ensure you do not make calls to anybody. Keep your line switched off completely.’ Dakolo warned.
‘I’ve heard you Agent, you said I can only make calls when I go into the town.’
‘Yes, but never from this location. We would reach you on the landline provided whenever we want to.’
‘Okay Agent,’ Dr Tobi said.
‘Thank you,’ Dakolo concluded and marched away with Inspector Ken. He had several officers guarding the house, they had also introduced military personnels to the job. After their meeting with the Vice president that day, Inspector Ken would return to the location to monitor the doctor and keep an eye on other security officials. ..
****
2pm They were all seated at a round table, Mr Sylvester was sitting at the middle, Tarasha, Frank and the second guy who worked with Henry were also there.
‘She’s Kimberly Evelyn Alexander, but I love to call her Evelyn because my first daughter is Evelyn too.’ Mr Sylvester introduced her to her colleagues, smiling.
‘Nice to have you Kim,’ Frank was the first to speak, offering her a handshake.
‘Kim or Evelyn, I don’t know which to choose.’ The other guy joined.
‘Choose Kim, I prefer to be called Kimberly.’ Tarasha said politely, receiving the handshake from the other guy too.
‘Okay, Kim it is.’ the guy replied.
‘I’ll choose Kim too, since it’s what you prefer,’ Mr Sylvester continued. ‘Some… I mean most of Henry’s jobs have been rolled over to her,’ he said to the two guys. ‘So she would need the coperation of the both of you to work well.’ The guys nodded in satisfaction and agreement to work with her.
Frank had met with her before and was sure of her abilities. The other guy had also heard about her exploits from Frank, so he had less reasons to doubt the lady’s ability.
‘Miss Eve… Kimberly,’ Mr Sylvester faced Tarasha. ‘I know you must have gone through the documents and reports on your table already. Do you have any question now or you would like to leave it for later?’
‘Thank you sir,’Tarasha adjusted her seating position to address them properly. ‘I have questions, so many but I don’t think I can ask all now rather do I think it’s the appropriate time for questions.’
‘Well, you may do it anytime you want. They are gentlemen and would always be willing to help you.’
++++
Like students who had just broken their parent’s rules and were being reprimanded, Dakolo and Ken stood before the Vice President and the Inspector General of police answering questions and making explanations of their recent movements. Dakolo felt awkward having the Vice President question them always, he wondered why the man could not just collect and read the monthly reports that was sent to the IG. As far as he was concerned, the Vice President had never made why meaningful contribution to their investigation, but he had no choice, he had to always answer because he was under the man’s authority.
‘So no news has been heard about the Senate President yet?’ Chief Elvis asked.
‘None sir, we’ve not been able to make any reasonable conclusion yet.’ Dakolo replied.
‘Rikau, these your boys are just messing up and wasting time,’ the Vice President turned to the Inspector General. ‘These assassins are gaining more grounds everyday and getting bolder, very soon they may come for me and then the President himself.’ Rikau was silent, he didn’t know what to say. He also had not been able to make reasonable contribution to the case himself, so he could not chastise the officers. ‘Please, you guys should leave my presence.’ Chief Elvis said angrily.
The officers bowed and walked out of the place silently, happy that they could now leave finally. Dakolo’s happiness was mixed with a little unhappiness though, he didn’t like how he was made by the IG to reveal Henry’s new location to the Vice President, he was of the view that the man wasn’t supposed to get that information yet. But he consoled himself on remembering that the Vice President was once a police officer and a very respected one at that, with several of the new innovations and successes of the day’s police force to his credit.
‘That girl is coming after me soon, something has to be done quickly,’ Chief Elvis said to the IG after the officers had gone out.
‘But what about the guy you said you’re ordering for?’ Rikau asked. Chief Elvis sighed,
‘he’s coming. He’ll come but he may not arrive very soon, even when he arrives, he still has to take some time to study the area and understand the country.’
‘Hmm, we just have to take extra security measures then. Let’s study the cases of the past victims and see how the assassins got them, that way we won’t work into any trap or be deceived by anyone.’
‘I’ve started that already,’ Chief Elvis cut in. ‘I already began to study the cases of the past victims and I’ve discovered a lot. She always comes to them with something like a business proposal and ends up gaining their trust before killing them.’
‘Did she come with a business proposal to Chief Nasiru too?’
‘Come on, why are you asking me that? Are you not the Inspector General? I should be asking you.’
‘No, I just want to point out to you that it wasn’t really a proposal for business.’
‘Yes, but it was a proposal of a kind.’
‘Yes, you’re correct.’
‘What I’ve decided now is not to start any personal deal with anybody, even if I receive an international body, I’ll ask one of my boys to handle it somewhere far away from me.’
‘Hmm… That’s a good protective measure. One thing I think you should add is that if anyone comes with a proposal, no matter how harmless or innocent it looks, investigations on it should start immediately.’
‘Yes, you’re correct.’ Chief Elvis said, he paused and took in a deep breath. ‘I’ll be traveling soon.’
‘Traveling? Is it an official trip?’
‘No, it’s personal. I’m not feeling too fine and I’m going to the United States for medical treatment.’ Chief Elvis replied.
‘Oh! You’re not fine sir? Since when has the illness began?’
‘Come on, I’m not sick.’ Chief Elvis said, shaking his head in disgust of Rikau’s response. ‘Don’t you understand what I mean?’
‘I don’t understand what you mean sir?’ Rikau replied. ‘You just said you’re not feeling fine.’
‘It is you who is not feeling fine,’ Chief Elvis slammed and got up, Rikau got up too. ‘I’m going to the United States to hide for some weeks and my excuse would be that I’m not feeling too well, I hope I’ll be permitted to stay as long as I planned.’ he said and began to walk away slowly.
‘Hmm… But sir, wouldn’t they question your decision not to stay in Nigeria for treatment?’ Rikau asked, following after Chief Elvis slowly.
‘No one won’t, what happened to Henry E.G last week is enough excuse not to want to stay in Nigeria for treatment.’
++++
Dakolo was quiet as he drove in the car with Ken back to the officer. They had people who were lined up for questioning, one of them was the bold journalist who was replying Agent Dakolo on the day the attempt on Henry’s life was made. Dakolo was more determined to nab the assassins now, they were really getting bolder and dangerous as the Vice President had said. There was no day that passed by that he wouldn’t wonder and ask himself what kind of person the leader of the assassin group could be. Whether it was Samantha Osman, or Aisha Bello or even Henry’s girlfriend Evelyn, she must really be a genius, he thought. But no matter how genius she was, he was going to bring her down one day, that he was sure of.
They got to the office after twenty minutes drive and went straight to the interrogation room to question their invitee who had been waiting for them. The journalist appeared to be seated patiently in the room, waiting for them. There was an untouched bottle of soft drink and a glass cup on the table.
‘Sorry for keeping you waiting man,’ Dakolo apologized as he walked towards the man with Ken and another junior officer behind. ‘Why are you not taking your drink?’ The journalist have a crooked smile and raised his brow, giving Dakolo a stern look.
‘I can’t take the drink Agent, I’m not aware that the Nigerian Police now entertain those invited for interrogation.’ he spoke calmly, his voice showed that he didn’t trust the source of the drink.
‘Well, that means you’ve not been invited to the police office for quite some time,’ Dakolo said, taking the seat directly opposite the man. ‘Police officers are humans, so they are sensitive to the feelings of their invitees and other citizens.’
‘Go straight to your questions sir, I’ve wasted about an hour here already.’ the journalist said impatiently, in contrast to the way he appeared.
‘Okay, I’ll just like to ask some more questions about those two who came to alert and gather the rest of you to the hospital.’ Dakolo began his questioning, he rounded up all in thirty five minutes.
‘Thank you so much for your clear answers, as I said earlier you may have to return tomorrow, so that you’ll try to identify the both of them from the pictures we would show you. We may also require you to describe both the male and the female to an artist that would be present here tomorrow.’
‘But how am I going to be able to describe very well people I’ve only seen once?’
‘Don’t worry, the artist has his way of getting what he requires from you.’ Dakolo replied.
++++
‘Ben, Ben’ Don called slowly and softly. ‘What did she give you to make you this loyal to her? Tell me so I can give my my boys too.’ Benny was seated in a wooden chair while Don was seated directly opposite him in leather settee, his two legs were on a footstool and his cigar was in his hand. The room was dark and filled with smoke, there was only a small window in it which did not allow for proper ventilation.
‘She didn’t give me anything, I was loyal to you also, remember?’ Benny answered him.
‘But you ain’t loyal anymore,’ Don countered. ‘You ain’t loyal to me anymore, the girl has turned you to a dog, a very loyal one at that.’
‘I was loyal to you,’ Benny corrected, ‘I can’t be loyal to you anymore because you’re no more my master.’
‘Hahaha,’ Don laughed hysterically, he got up from his seat and moved closer to Benny. He placed a foot on Benny’s seat beside his laps and lowered his face, blowing smoke from his mouth at Benny’s face.
‘So a girl is your master right?’
‘She is more than a girl, she’s a man, more capable than you are.’ Benny said boldly to Don. Benny’s words earned him a resounding blow from Don. Benny fell off from his seat and rolled on the floor. Don followed up with more blows on Benny’s face and belly. Benny tried to resist for a while but when the blows were getting too much, he used his feet to push Don away and quickly struggled to get up. He had never attacked Don before, Don had been his master from the beginning and Benny was no match for him. But he knew Don’s secret, Don was a drug addict which had over the years continued to make him weaker. Benny was sure he could beat up Don now, especially with his new experience and tactics learnt.
Don staggered back and struggled to maintain his balance. After standing properly, he stared straight at Benny, amazed that Benny now had the effrontery to attack him back. He rolled up his sleeves, picked up the footstool and charged towards Benny in anger. Benny waited patiently for Don to make the attack with the footstool first, he bent down and the footstool passed over his head while he swiftly pulled Don’s leg with his two hands. Don fell backwards to the floor, his head hitting the wooden chair Benny was previously seated on.
Benny pulled Don up immediately and attacked him with jabs in his belly. Don tried to defend himself and attack back but all his moves were countered excellently by Benny. Don finally landed on the floor, weak. Benny rose up and climbed over him, placing his strong fingers around Don’s neck, he fastened his grip and began to squeeze life out of Don. Don was hitting his fists on the floor in his struggle to escape death but his struggle was not enough to save him, his strength continued to reduce as his struggle increased. Benny continued to tightened his hand on Don’s neck, though not with the intention of killing him. He was about to release Don’s neck and stand up when something hard hit his head. He blacked out. Don was gasping for breath, his eyes still closed in readiness for death. Then he suddenly felt a relief on his neck and then his body felt free, he managed to open his eyes slowly. Then he saw Stainless standing behind with the butt of a gun in his hand.
+++++ **Tuesday Morning, 11am**
Inspector Ken had just arrived from his new place of primary assignment, the secluded area where Henry was. Dakolo had left him there the last evening after they both visited Henry, Henry refused to talk or even look up. He remained covered on the bed till they left. They had also involved Dr Tobi in an interrogation where they asked him to tell them everything the lab scientist told him, he was also asked describe the nurse who deceived him out of the lab. That Tuesday morning also, Dr Tobi was connected to the office via a video chat where he described the nurse’s face to an artist who interpreted it on a drawing sheet. The artists was also made to interpret the interrogated journalist’s description of his unknown male and female colleagues who led them to the hospital.
After taking down all the sketches, they couldn’t match them with any in their memory. Agent Dakolo and the other officers began to take out pictures they had in the archives. They took out all of Don photos and Facebook pictures that they had and compared it to Benny’s, there was no resemblance in any way. It was when they took out Aisha’s pictures and compared it with the sketch of the unknown female journalist that it began to make sense.
Being black and white, the sketch did not really show the complexion, but some of the facial features on the sketch was the same as Aisha Bello’s. But a notable difference was that Aisha Bello never had her hair cut in all the pictures that they had, but the person in the sketch had a low cut.
‘Sir, the journalist must be the same with the nurse who deceived the doctor,’ Ken finally noted a huge similarity between the two sketches. ‘Both had their hairs lowly cut and if you look well,’ Ken said and moved to the board on the well where the pictures and sketches had been pinned to. ‘Their nose is the same,’ he said as he touched the noses on the two sketches. ‘I believe that Dr Tobi didn’t see the nurse’s face very well, that’s why he missed other descriptions. You know he also said the nurse was putting on a wig before.’
‘You’re correct Ken, very correct.’ Dakolo commented as he moved closer to the pictures too. ‘People’s descriptions can never be the same but the highest point is that the nurse and the female journalist both had their hair cut and not plaited.’
‘Yes sir, ‘ Ken said and stepped back for Dakolo who wanted to touch the sketch on the board.
‘Now we can also connect this sketch,’ Dakolo continued talking, touching the sketch gotten from the journalist they interrogated. ‘We can connect this sketch to Aisha Bello’s pictures especially the most recent ones, the eye brows, nose and lips look alike.’ He paused and let out a breath, ‘but the cheeks are quite different, the person in the sketch has puffy cheeks.’
‘Yes sir, there’s also a big difference in their jaws,’ Ken noted, stepping closer again. ‘The lady in the sketch also has dimples.’
‘True,’ Dakolo turned and returned to his previous position, he folded his arms and stared at the board for a minute. ‘Go check if the journalist is done writing his report. If he’s done, bring him here to see the pictures.’ Dakolo said to the junior officer with them.
The junior officer left and returned six minutes later with the journalist.
‘Are you done with your statement?’ Dakolo asked the journalist.
‘Yes and I was about leaving,’ the journalist replied with an unhappy face.
‘We’re sorry for taking your time, we just need you to see something.’ Dakolo said with a light smile. ‘Please come closer,’ he said, leading the journalist to the front of the board. The journalist stood in front and folded his arms, he began to stare at all the pictures scattered all over the board. ‘This is the sketch of your description,’ Dakolo brought his attention to the two sketches gotten from him. ‘This guy,’ Dakolo continued slowly, pointing to the male picture now. ‘Does he in anyway look like this?’ He asked, making reference to the place where Daniel’s pictures were pinned.
‘No, not at all.’ the journalist replied in a strong tone, shaking his head to emphasize point.
‘Okay,’ Dakolo moved his hand to the female sketch.
‘Does she look like this?’ he asked, making reference to Aisha Bello’s pictures.
‘Nnn…N.. ermm…’ the journalist stammered for a while first comparing the pictures of Aisha Bello’s younger days with the sketch. He narrowed his eyes when he got to the recent pictures.
‘No,’ he finally said, after a total of two minutes.
‘Are you sure?’ Dakolo asked.
‘Yes,’ he answered with confidence. ‘The girl is the picture is way darker than the journalist and the journalist’s face even looks kind of funny, not as half as pretty as the girl in the picture.’
‘Are you sure you’re not saying this because the journalist was on low cut?’ He paused and stared at the pictures for another two seconds.
‘No, they are not the same.’ He stated with certainty in his voice. Dakolo remained quiet for a while, someone who had had physical contact with the person they were trying to identify just disconfirmed that she wasnt the same with Aisha Bello while he and Ken was just trying to connect them. After some seconds of thinking, he suddenly remembered that a lady on low cut was also one of the abductors of the Senate President, he remembered Fatima, the Senate President’s daughter telling him that the ladies who visited were on heavy make-up.
‘Did you notice if the female journalist was on makeup?’ he asked the journalist again.
‘No, I don’t know about that but it’s normal for ladies to use makeups.’ the journalist replied.
‘Hmm…’ Dakolo sighed, the journalist did not understand what kind of makeup he was talking about, they had to go back to Fatima for more questioning.
‘Well, thanks.’ he said smiling, offering the journalist an handshake. ‘Thank you for your cooperation with the police force, we’ll get back to you if we need your assistance again.’
‘You’re welcome,’ the journalist replied, taking his handshake. With that, Dakolo dismissed him. The junior police officer led the journalist out, leaving only Dakolo and Ken Dakolo turned back to see Ken staring intently at the board. He joined him and stared at the same place.
‘It looks like I’ve seen someone like this recently,’ Ken said, referring to Daniel’s picture, the supposed boyfriend of Aisha Bello.
‘Where?’
‘I can’t really place it but I’ve seen someone like this recently.’
Download Pobsonline Android App For More Stories
Tbc
