ENOUGH TO KILL 7

 

          JOY knew something was happening to her. Something was moving her head but she didn’t feel any pains. Then she concentrated all her remaining energy into opening her eyes. It took her sometime but she finally opened them. She didn’t see the person’s face but saw the intruder’s shoe and she knew who it was. Was the person trying to help her? Was he moving her to safety? She willed to talk but she could and then she felt it. She felt warm liquid getting into her eyes and blurring her view. Suddenly her sense of smell was working again and she knew what the warm liquid was. It was blood. She was being killed all over again! She felt double betrayed. If she could turn back the hands of time, she would handle things differently. A tear rolled down her eyes and mixed with the blood.

As she drew her dying breath, her thoughts were with her son. “I love you…”

          HE was restless. Joy was dead! At least he was free to get his son and some money too but he had just committed murder! He didn’t want to go to jail so he needed to make the crime looked like a crime scene. He began to stage the house to look like a burglary. As he exited the door, he looked back at his handwork and felt he had done a good job.

          IT was very hard for Detective Ola to sleep. She was battling the first stage of insomnia. In her line of duty; as a detective in the Nigeria Police force, she often got called at odd hours. Most crimes were committed in the dark but it seemed that night would be different. She would get to rest tonight, insomnia or not. She recalled her childhood memory, the one that never failed to bring smiles to her face and took her to sleep. It was the memory of her parents racing with her and her younger sister on the beach. She closed her eyes and could feel the soft sand tickling her feet. She could also hear the melodious sound of her younger sister’s giggle as they were being chased by their parents.

‘Run! Run! Run!’ She said, urging her younger sister Toyin to increase her speed. Toyin tried to run faster but fell into the sand. Ola scooped her up and she ran to the finishing line beating their parents to it.

‘We won! We won!’ The two girls jumped with happiness.

‘Tatty! Tatty! Wheit oor canty?!’ Toyin demanded from her father who had promised the girls a candy each if they won the race. As the father was about handing the candy to the little girl and her elder sister, Detective Ola was called back to reality. Her phone rang.

‘Oooohhhh! Who is that now?!’ She asked aloud. She knew the answer before she saw the caller ID because it was her official line. It was the chief calling, it couldn’t be good news!

‘Yes boss!’ She said into the phone.

‘There has been a crime at 10, Adegoke Crescent, Lekki Phase 5. It’s a 414! Get your ass here!’ He said and the phone went dead. Typical of the chief, no hello, no goodbye! 414 meant there was a dead body involved in a burglary case, adrenaline rushed through her veins. She jumped and quickly put on her clothes. She strapped her holster to her shoulders and picked up her car keys. She went into the bathroom and rinsed her mouth with mouthwash, then dabbed her face and armpit with a wet towel. She set the house alarm, closed the door and rushed out of the house. No sleep tonight after all!

         OLA drove very fast, following the directions on her G.P.S. She needed to get to the crime scene as soon as possible because of the detective wannabes who could contaminate the crime scene while pretending to look for clues. She raced through the red lights and she saw the flash of the speed camera. The traffic police had reported her countless of times but nothing could be done! She was the law and she was racing to a crime scene! Besides, It was two in the morning! She combed her hair as she drove and applied lip gloss to her lips. She was a police officer but she didn’t joke with the way she looked. She never took her looks for granted. Ola believed in the school of thought that said; “looking good is good business.”

          SHE saw lots of prostitutes hustling on the streets but she wasn’t out for them that night. Besides, she usually wasn’t after the girls because they were just trying to survive and they were good informants. She usually went after the men that patronized them, the pimps who maltreated the girls and the criminals who sold them drugs! She hated them with passion and she pursued them with vigor.

‘Turn left here. Turn left here.’ The G.P.S notified her and she followed the instructions till she heard;

‘You have reached your destination!’

          POLICE caution tapes were everywhere. Nosy neighbors were peeping from their houses, some brave ones had gathered in front of the victim’s house. Ola jumped out of her car grabbing her camera and went past the caution tapes. She answered greetings from her colleagues as she walked. As she suspected, some police officers were already playing detective but she was relieved to see her deputy there. He would have controlled the scene. Most of her colleagues feared her. Detective Ola popularly called D.O was a no-nonsense officer! She saw the chief standing in the middle of the room and she went to him as she put on her gloves.

‘Morning chief.’

‘This is a burglary gone bad,’ the chief inspector started filling her in without acknowledging her greetings.

‘The thief came in through the window,’ he said pointing at the window.

‘I think the thief was stealing when the victim woke up and tried to stop the thief who then killed her and quickly exited through the front door. The crime took place here.’ He said.

Detective Ola studied the scene. Most times things were not the way they looked at crime scenes. There were many photos on the wall, most of them; photos of a woman and a young boy. She pointed to the nearest picture to her which had the victim and the young boy in it and asked her deputy;

‘That’s her son?’ The deputy nodded.

‘Where is he?’ Her heart skipped a bit in fear as she asked.

‘He sleeps over at his dad’s every last Thursday of the month.’ Well, it was a Thursday!

‘How did you know that?’ She asked her deputy.

‘The neighbors told me and I called the ex-husband who confirmed it. He saw the victim tonight and he said she was alive when he left her. Seems he is the last person to see her alive.’

When his deputy was transferred to her department, he didn’t know anything about investigating a crime but she had taught him well and was proud of her accomplishment.

          OLA went over to the broken window and examined it. She took some pictures at different angles, went to the broken door and turned the lock. It worked fine. She took the picture. She took pictures of the boot mark left on the door, where it appeared the suspect had kicked at the door.

The room was scattered. The center table was upside down and the CD player was gone. However, the car key and the victim’s purse was on the shelf beside the DSTV decoder. The chairs at the dining table were scattered too but some few feet away from the dining area sat a laptop that was plugged into the socket. She took pictures of it. Just as she was turning, the medical examiner came in.

‘I’m sorry I’m late chief. I got here as fast as I could.’ The old man said dropping his briefcase beside the dead body. He sent a small smile in the way of Ola who acknowledged it with a big smile.

          OLA left the doctor who was examining the corpse and wandered into the kitchen, the chief and the deputy detective in her wake. She saw two cups in the sink. They had been washed. She brought out two evidence bags and bagged the cups. She gave it to the deputy detective who labeled them. Ola looked at the pot rack. All the utensils were facing the wall except a heavy looking frying pan which was facing the opposite direction. She took pictures of the rack and took the frying pot down from the rack and she bagged it, handing over the bag to her deputy again.

Ola looked at the room again. The napkin rack had four napkins on it. The center was empty and napkins were haphazardly arranged. One napkin was definitely missing and looked like it was grabbed in haste. She took pictures. The kitchen table appeared to be too clean at a particular spot. She took a closer look, taking pictures from different angles. Though the table was clean, it was dented. She took more pictures.

          THE chief was tired and wanted to go home. He had paid his dues and didn’t need this midnight hunting. No doubt detective Ola was the best in the department. She was better than the best and could see what others couldn’t but he was sure this crime scene was exactly as he had interpreted it; a burglary went bad. He decided to hasten her.

‘Ola, what are we doing in the kitchen when the crime took place in the sitting room? We know this is a B.G.B!’ The chief said. Detective Ola smiled.

‘No chief, this was not a B.G.B? It was a homicide and I think the crime took place here!’ The chief’s and deputy detective’s jaws fell from their mouths but they both recovered from their shock quickly.

‘Hmmmm! You mean this was a murder? How did you get to that conclusion?’ The chief asked.

‘I will tell you that as soon as the doctor tells me the cause of death but if he can’t tell me, I will give you my theories.’ She said, heading for the sitting room where the doctor was with the victim’s body.

‘Hey doc! What’s the C.O.D?’ Ola asked. The elderly man bent down beside the body and beckoned on the officers to come closer. He pointed at the gunshot wounds on the victim’s body.

‘Well, she was shot thrice at close range but I can tell you she was already dead before being shot. Look at the wound, no flesh trauma, and the blood is not much from the gunshot wounds because the blood was already clotting. These are three entry wounds but there are no exit wounds,’ he said turning the dead body.

‘The bullets are still in her body and she was shot lying down here.’ The forensic doctor moved to the head of the victim and turned her head.

‘She was smacked with something at the back of her head here and here.’ He said pointing to the head wounds.

‘She was hit with a heavy metal that has a flat surface. Look at the way her skull pressed in from here. I can’t say if she was already dead before being hit until I get her to the lab. Also, look at her face, she was lying face-down on something when she was hit over the head. That’s why she has a broken face! Another interesting fact is this,’ he said opening the victim’s mouth.

‘Can you see that her lips and tongue are purple? Can you also see the white substances grazing her gum? What does that tell you?’ The doctor asked looking at the officers listening raptly to him.

‘She was also poisoned!’ Detective Ola said.

‘You mean this woman was poisoned, smashed, and shot? Someone really wanted her dead!’ The chief said.

‘It appears so.’ The doctor confirmed.

‘So what’s the cause of death and time of death?’ Ola asked.

‘I can’t confirm the C.O.D now until we open her up but the T.O.D is around 9 P:M. This woman has been dead for about five hours!’ The doctor said packing his equipment. He then summoned to his protégés to carry the body.

‘See you in the lab later detective Ola. I will get out of your hair so you can carry out your investigations.’ The doctor said leaving the room and as he left the room all eyes turned to Ola.

‘So this is my theory. This woman knew who her killer was. She opened the door for him or her. They had a drink in the kitchen where the person poisoned her drink. Then the suspect smashed her head with the frying pan against this table to make sure she was dead, after which he took her body to the sitting room, scattered everywhere, but didn’t take anything! Her purse, car keys and laptop are all still where she placed them. The suspect then shot her to make it look like a B.G.B. Look at the broken window, it was broken far away from the latch the person supposedly needed to open to get into the house. Also look at the window’s broken frames, it’s in the room. This means the window was broken from inside. The boot mark was also an afterthought kick against the door to make it look like a burglary. He was already in the house and could open the lock to leave. Besides, the lock isn’t broken. Finally, if it was a burglary gone bad, the thief would have been quick leaving the house but look around. Can you find the fired shots casings? The suspect had time to pick them up know we need it to match the bullets and the gun they were fired from! This is a pre-meditated murder.’ Ola told the chief and her deputy. The chief sighed, “I’m getting too old for this job!” He thought to himself.

‘Well done Ola! That’s why you are the best. I will leave you to do your job.’ He smiled at her and waddled out of the room.

Detective Ola clapped her hands and all the CSIs stopped what they were doing. She said:

‘Okay guys! This is not a BGB, it’s a homicide. Let’s look for prints, blood and anything that will give us clues or a clue at least! I want this place naked by daybreak. This bastard has robbed us of our sleep, let’s rob him of his freedom! Get to work!’

…to be continued…

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Written by Olatorera

Edited by Kevin

Edited by Olatorera .

© 2016 by IBIOLAT communications.