DEMONS ON CHURCH STREET: EPISODE SIXTEEN

Adam opened his eyes and looked around as he tried to remember where he was. He was in his office. He had come to the office after dropping Ese and Tola in their houses and had dozed off on his chair. He could not imagine sleeping on his bed anymore, all he could think about was Kate and all the evil things the killer could be doing to her.

He looked at his door and noticed one of the junior detectives standing there.

“Hey, what are you doing? When did you enter?” Adam asked, sitting up.

“I knocked and you told me to come in.” The detective said, surprised.

“What do you want?”

“We have brought in the family of the boy sir.”

Adam nodded and waved him off. He had asked for the family of the boy who Kate had hit to be brought in, one of them could be the killer.

He picked and dusted the jacket that hung behind his desk, it was almost always there, for days when he forgot to pick another from home. He walked out of the office and towards the conference room. The chief was still a suspect, he could not rule him out but he doubted if the chief would have anything against Kate personally. This family had something against Kate but why would they kill the other girls?

He opened the door to the room and entered. Tola was already seated. He wondered how long he had slept for. A bald headed and stocky man sat next to a boy Adam assumed was the one who had the accident. He had a couple of modern and given the way they looked, expensive crutches next to him. He was seated in between his father and mother. The mother was a thin woman, she had a permanently anxious look on her face.

“Good morning, I am Detective Adam Ademola, I’m sorry we had to bring you in this morning, we just need to ask you a few questions.”

“What kind of questions?” The man answered with a smile.

“We want to ask about the accident.” Adam said, nodding in the direction of the boy.

“You should be asking the governor and his daughter…” The woman started.

“Sir, we will answer all your questions.” The husband cut in, he fired his wife a warning look.

“By the way, I leant you have an older son, why isn’t he here?” Adam asked.

“He was not too cooperative.” Tola replied in a whisper. “We separated him from the family, we’ll question him later.”

Adam spent twenty minutes asking them about the accident. He watched as they answered his questions, they were prepared for them. The wife attempted to show her true emotions a few times but she was brought under control by her husband. The husband sounded truly content, Ese’s theory about a payoff was not off point.

“Do you know any of these ladies?” Adam asked showing them pictures of the first two victims of the church street killer and watched their faces for their reactions.

“No, we don’t know them.” The husband replied. “Who are they?”

“They are the victims of the killer.” The son said, barely audible.

“Keep quiet, what killer are you talking about?” The father said.

“No, leave the boy alone, let him speak.” Tola said.

“I saw their pictures on Samson’s phone, he told me about them.” The boy said.

“Who is Samson please?” Adam asked looking at the mother, who looked away.

“His brother, my son.” The father answered, bowing his head and looking away.

Adam removed the pictures and stood.

“Thank you for answering our questions.” He said to the family. “Tola, come please.”

He nodded at the boy and walked out of the room, Tola followed him.

“I’m going to talk to this Samson and I want you with me, send in Benjamin here, make them – the family, comfortable because we might have further questions for them.”

“Okay. The other son is in Interrogation Room three, he had to be arrested and restrained. He hit one of us so be careful with him. I’ll be in in a minute.” Kate said handing him a file containing all they knew about Samson.

Adam walked towards the interrogation room, he glanced through the file, it was a thin one. He was a twenty six year old man, never been arrested, at least there was no record of any. Whatever devil had entered the man, it had not been in for long.

He opened the door of the room and entered. The man looked up at him and looked away. Adam told the policeman who was standing in the room to leave, hung his jacket and sat in front of Samson.

He brought out the pictures of the victims and spread them on the table.

“Samson, why did you kill these girls?” Adam asked looking as concerned and sincere as he could.

“I don’t know them and I did not kill them.” Samson replied without looking at the pictures.

“Samson, I know you know them, you have their pictures on your phone. I just want to know why you killed them, did it have something to do with your brother’s accident?”

He flared up at the mention of the accident. “They had nothing to do with my brother’s accident. The one person who had something to do with it is the one who should have died.”

“Are you talking about…?”

“I am talking about the governor’s daughter, Kate! That useless drunk almost killed my brother and she still drives around town in her flashy cars while my brother lives in pain.”

“Your parents, even your brother don’t seem to be as angry as you are, why are you so angry?”

“You want to know why? After knocking down my brother, some men showed up, paid all the hospital bills and even though my dad denies it, paid off my dad and walked away. The little trash didn’t even show up, neither did her father, they did not even offer any personal apology.”

“I understand your pain, but why take it out on these girls?” Adam asked. He was careful not to mention Kate’s kidnapping in case he had nothing to do with it.

The man looked away.

Tola entered and sat quietly beside Adam.

“Why do you have pictures of these girls on your phone? Give me a good reason and you’re free to go.” Adam said.

“I downloaded them off the internet, there was no reason.” The man replied, avoiding making eye contact with Adam.

“Samson, you will remain here for a long time if you keep lying, you are a suspect, I hope you realize that.”

“Okay, I’ll tell you what I know. After my brother’s accident, I registered a twitter handle, I was trying to use it to get justice for my brother. A few people supported me for a while but after a few weeks, nobody had any interest in the case anymore. Well, until yesterday when I got a follow from guess who, Kate herself.”

“Kate?” Tola asked. “What’s the handle?”

Tola handed him a paper and a pen. He scribbled the handle, Tola brought out her phone and checked to confirm what he said.

“It’s legit. Go on.” She said.

“I was livid and tweeted her a lot of insult but she replied saying she was getting the justice she deserved and sent a link along with the tweet. It was a newspaper article about the church street killer. I downloaded the pictures from the article. They were not the only pictures I downloaded, I saved everything on that page because I believed there was something I was supposed to see.”

“Did you find anything?” Adam asked.

“Nothing important. If there was anything to see, I didn’t find it.” He said, shaking his head. “You know that girl is really lucky she’s the governor’s daughter and her father can pay for all her excesses. That girl once had a liver transplant and still she drinks with reckless abandon damaging an organ that wasn’t even hers in the first place.”

“Did you just say she once had a liver transplant?” Tola asked.

“Yeah, way back when she was younger. Shouldn’t that kind of person be more careful with the way she lives her life?”

Adam stood and tapped Tola beckoning for her to follow him.  He turned to the man and said “I have more questions for you, I’ll be back.”

Adam and Tola stepped out of the room and headed towards his office.

“Obviously the killer tweeted him that page, so there must be something there, don’t you think?” Tola asked.

“Yeah, it’s possible but I’m more interested in the fact that Kate once had a liver transplant. That is definitely not a coincidence. The killer collects livers and he said his kidnap of Kate was personal.” Adam said as he entered his office.

“So what do you think happened?”

“That’s the problem, we‘ve found a connection but we don’t know how the connection matters. Another thing bothering me is why he contacted the brother of the accident victim. I’ll find out from the governor but the liver transplant happened a long time ago because I didn’t even know about it, so what does it have to do with this accident?” Adam asked.

“We need to find a connection between the two events. Right now, Mr. Samson in there is the one connection we have.”

“He didn’t do it.” Adam said.

“He didn’t?” Tola asked, surprised.

“The killer is smart, smart enough to have eluded us for this long while keeping in contact with me. Mr. Samson in there, cannot do that.” Adam replied.

“We should keep an eye on him though, the killer might contact him again.”

“We keep him here for now. Call Faruk, give him the phone from earlier this morning and inform him about the twitter post, find out if there’s a way we can trace any of this.” Adam said.

Tola nodded and left his office.

Adam leaned back in his chair and sighed deeply. He had to call the governor to ask him about the liver transplant but he was not sure he wanted to talk him. The governor had given him an ultimatum, an ultimatum he was trying his best to ignore. If the killer was true to his word and killed Kate before the end of the day then it was the end of him, not even catching the killer would make up for the loss.

He sat up, picked his phone and dialed the governor. It had barely rung when he picked it.

“Do you have my daughter?” The governor asked.

“No sir, we…”

“Then why are you calling me for Pete’s sake!”

“Sir, did your daughter have a liver transplant at any time?” Adam asked.

“Yes, she did, it was a long time ago. Why are you…?”
“Sir, we think…”
“Wait, the killer collects his victim’s livers, right?”

“Yes sir, he does.”

“What does this mean?”

“I don’t know yet sir. Was there anything that happened at the time of the transplant? Anything that could have angered somebody?”

“I don’t know…” The governor’s voice trailed off. “Is it possible that this is political? You know we never found the person who shot my wife, maybe they have come back to finish the job. Take my wife, take my daughter and I have nothing to live for.”

“Sir, I can assure you this isn’t political. The other victims had no political connections, this is just a crazy nut-job who will be stopped sir.”

“You know, I never understood why my wife didn’t come back the day before she was shot. I keep wondering if she would still be alive if she had returned when she was supposed to.” The governor said in a whisper.

Adam shut his eyes tight, trying to block memories of the assassination.

“Sir, we cannot dwell in the past right now, and I promise you we will find Kate sir.” Adam said, his eyes still shut.

“You have to Adam. The chief of police just left my office and he suggested I bring in the federal people into this, he said they’ll do a better job than you are doing right now.”

“He said that!” Adam said snapping his eyes open. “Sir, I’ve been on this case for long, anybody coming now will be starting afresh. The chief… well, I’m sure he meant well but sir, I will find Kate.”

“I know this isn’t just a case for you, you care about my daughter, please find her Adam.”

“I will sir. Last question sir, was the transplant done here in Nigeria?”

“Yes, it was done in Lagos.”

“Send me the contact of the doctor who handled it and anybody I can talk to about the transplant.” Adam said.

“I will, just find me daughter.” The governor said and hung up.

Adam sighed, closed his eyes and said a short prayer, first for Kate, then for himself.

***

Adam looked at his watch, it was after seven pm. He was starting to get scared, he was not any closer to finding Kate that evening than he was in the morning. He had called the doctor and even though it had been a long time since the transplant, he remembered Kate. According to him, quite a number of people could have been offended by Kate and her family. They were rich and had gotten a lot of favours but he did not see why any of those people would go on a killing spree because of that.

He relaxed his back in the chair he was sitting on. He was viewing surveillance footage taken from cameras outside the CIB gate. The camera showed Kate come out of the gate and the taxi pull up in front of her. The plate number of the taxi was not covered, so it was safe to assume it did not belong to the killer. The camera did not capture the driver of the bus at all and he disappeared from the range of the camera after going forward a few metres.

His phone rang in his pocket and Adam brought it out. It was Faruk.

“Hey man, where are you?” Faruk asked.

“Still at the office, going over some surveillance footage. Did you find anything?”

“Phone, completely clean, nothing in it except for one number;  the one that called Tola. My guy tried to get some stuff, even the deleted ones but we found nothing. The twitter thing was a dead end too.”

“The day’s almost over, I am so confused Faruk.” Adam said.

“Yeah, I feel you, especially now that the kidnap is all over the news.”

“What did you say?” Adam said, jumping up from his seat.

“Guess who broke the news…Ese’s station.”

“She promised! I’ll call you back.” Adam said and hung up.

He dialed Ese and started pacing.

“What the hell Ese? You promised.” Adam said, as soon as she answered the call.

“I didn’t break that news Adam, I swear I didn’t. Someone else did, Richard did.” She answered.

“How on earth did he know about the kidnap? Did you tell him?”

“No I didn’t. I have no idea how…” Ese started then stopped.

“You have no idea how? Ese, I said you guys have a snitch here and you denied it, well I don’t have time for you now. Whatever comes out of this publicity you have created for this killer, you are going to bear the grunt of it.” Adam said and hung up.

He turned to leave the room when his phone rang again. It was Faruk.

“Guess who I just saw driving down your street?” He said.

“Who?” Adam asked.

“Your police chief. He was once again driving himself. What’s he looking for on your street?”

“It’s a free world Faruk, he can be anywhere he wants. Question is what are you doing on my street?”

“Are you serious? I’m on my way to your house, I’m crashing with you tonight.”

“Sorry pal, but I’m not sleeping in that house till Kate is found.” Adam said, and added quietly. “I doubt I’m going to be sleeping at all.”

“No problem, I stole a key off your bunch last time I was at your place. Are you coming in in the morning at all? Should I leave something for you to eat?”

“Something to eat? Looks like you don’t understand what’s… goodnight Faruk. Call me if…” Adam said but was cut off by Faruk.

“Adam!” Faruk yelled. “Get down here now!”

“What? Why?” Adam asked feeling a sudden dread at Faruk’s voice.

“I just saw a body, a frigging dead body.”

“Holy crap! Where?”

“Your front door.”

DEMONS ON CHURCH STREET: EPISODE FIFTEEN

Grrrrriiiing!
Adam jumped out of bed, the phone sounded so loud in his brain it could have been a bomb exploding. He crawled out of bed and picked it up, it was the governor. It was twelve A.M. he wondered why the governor would call him so early.

“Hello sir, good evening.”

“Good morning Adam and just so you know I’m taking you responsible for this.”

“Errr, I’m sorry, responsible…?”

“Kate is yet to get home, again! You know she should be in Senegal already, but no, you had to plead on her behalf. She did not wait for a whole week before going back on her promise.” He sounded upset, angry.

“I thought you said one of your drivers would pick her up, how did she make the driver stay out this long?”

“Adam, she’s smart, smarter than you give her credit for. She did not call the driver, she just snuck out on her own.”

“I don’t understand, she sounded really sincere. Have you called her sir?”

“Of course I have called her and like every other time when she goes partying her phone is switched off.”

“I’m really sorry about this sir. I’ll talk to her in the morning.”

“Oh you will not be doing that. Immediately the day breaks, I’m putting her on a plane to Lagos and on the next flight to Dakar. I called so you wouldn’t worry when she doesn’t come in tomorrow. Good night Adam.”

He ended the call before he could reply.

Adam rubbed his sore eyes, he had just fallen asleep for about thirty minutes when the governor called. He was tired but he could not sleep without making sure Kate was alright. Tola had been with her when he left the office.

He dialed Tola’s number and waited. She did not pick up the phone, he tried her again. He waited till he heard the dial tone, she did not pick. He should have known better than to call a married woman in the middle of the night, a lot could be happening.

He set the phone on his bedside dresser and stretched on his bed. He had just closed his eyes when his phone rang. He picked the phone, the number was hidden. Adam sat up on his bed, he had a bad feeling about the call. He looked at the phone till it stopped ringing. It rang again, he answered the call and put it on speaker.

“Hello detective.” A voice said over the phone. The voice was edited and it was a machine voice but he knew it was the church street killer. He did not reply. “Detective, this is not the time for games, it’s pretty late and I’m sure you need to go back to sleep.”

“What do you want?” Adam asked.

“I just want to say that as a concerned member of this society you are not taking your job serious. How many people have died on your watch now and still you just float around like nothing is at stake.”

“If I needed a sermon I would have gone to church and if you know me like you claim to, you would know I’ve not been to church in a while. So, cut the crap, what do you want?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying, you are not taking this seriously. Who has a killer loose on his street and does not go to church and pray, especially when he is supposed to catch the killer?”

“I’m hanging up now, this is more fun for you than it is for me. If you have nothing to say, I have to go.”

“Alright, you’re no fun at all. I have some important news for you though, one that will make you take this case more seriously. I saw that the stakes have been too low for you, so I have increased them.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Adam asked, his temper was beginning to rise.

“Kate! Is that name familiar to you?”

Adam jumped from the bed, his phone almost dropping. “What are you talking about? Oh my God!”

“Yeah, I thought you might react like that, I was counting on it.” He said with a chuckle.

“What have you done to her, you bastard? She’s not one of your toys or preys…” Adam started, starting to raise his voice.

“Shhh detective, we don’t want to wake the whole neighbourhood, do we? By the way, why is she different from the other girls? Oh yeah, she’s the governor’s daughter.”

“Yes, she is. You kill the governor’s daughter, you cannot imagine what’s coming to you.”

“That is exactly my problem with this justice system, nobody cares about…”

“The justice system is fine. You are the one with the problem and your problem is with me, not Kate. Let her go, I will do whatever you want, just let her go for God’s sake.” Adam said, pacing in his room and wiping sweat from his face.

“Aww, that is so sweet detective but I’m sorry. Contrary to your belief, this isn’t just about you. Kate is a part of this as much as you are, that’s why I can’t just let her go. She’s not as innocent as you think, you know. Although your promise to do anything is springing up a lot of ideas in my head. So, you have your information, you can go back to sleep.”

“Wait…wait, there’s got to be something you want. This is the governor’s daughter, the state will provide anything you want.” He sat on the edge of his bed, tapping his heels on the ground.

“What do I want?” His voice went cold. “I want her liver! I can’t get it with her alive, so somehow she’s going to have to die.”

“No, you have to….” The call disconnected. “Jesus Christ!”

Adam stood from the bed, ran towards the wall and punched it. His head was empty, he had no idea what to do.

Grrrrring!

He grabbed the phone, he sighed disappointed, it was Tola.

“Adam, what was so urgent you had to call this late?” She said.

“He’s got her! Tola, he’s got her!”

“Who’s got who?” She asked.

“Kate, the killer has her.”

There was silence for some seconds then Tola said “Did the governor tell you…did she…are you sure about this?”

“Tola, he just called me, the bastard just called me.” Adam said, sighed and moved towards his wardrobe. He picked a shirt and a pair of trousers.

“What are you going to do? It’s the middle of the night.”

“I’m going out now, I don’t know where yet but there’s no way I’m sleeping in this house with Kate kidnapped.”

“And the governor?” She asked.

He had not thought of him. “Of course I’ll have to tell him at a point, but I don’t know if telling him now is the best. Tola I can’t think straight while I’m in this house. We’ll talk in the morning.”

“Okay, Adam is this serious.”

“Tell me about it.” He said and ended the call.

He stuck his feet in a pair of shoes, grabbed his wallet and his car keys and left the house. He entered his car and drove out his compound. His windows were down as he drove, the cold wind blowing on his face and soft purring of his car soothed his tense body. Losing Kate to the church street killer would be the end of him. He had lost her mother to a bullet and now he was losing her to a killer’s knife. He had thought different times of what he would do when the killer was caught and he had always chided himself for the sinister thoughts that came to his mind. But now, he knew they were not sinister enough, this killer was not going to jail, he was going to die. Painfully.

His phone vibrated, he dug his hand into his pocket and brought it out. He looked non-chalantly at the phone. It was Ese. The night was getting weird. Calls from the Governor of a state, a killer, a partner and an ex girl-friend in the middle of the night, the same night, things could not get weirder.

“Hello Ese.”

“What is happening Adam, I just got a strange email.”

“Email from whom?”

“From Kate, the governor’s daughter.” She said.

“I’ll be in your house in a few minutes.” He was wrong, things could get weirder.

***

“Is there something going on that I should know?” Ese said as she opened the door. “By the way, you got here incredibly fast.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t very far away when you called.”

“You were driving around at night? Or you were headed here already? What’s going on?”

Adam sat down and told her about the calls, from the governor and the killer.

“You are not allowed to use any of the information I’m giving you here.  I’m telling you this as my friend or whatever it is you are to me. You understand that?”

“Yeah, I understand but you’re telling me the killer has been talking with you?”

“Yeah, he has. That’s why I have policemen at all churches, I’m sure you must have heard. Wait…oh my God!”

“What is it?” Ese asked, shifting forward in her chair.

“He said he would kill again in three days, that was three days ago. Today is the last day. Kate! Oh my God!”

“But why did Kate send me a picture? Of course she didn’t, he did. I’m not sure if he sent this to me personally or he sent it to all other journalists out there.”

She showed the picture to Adam. Kate was seated on a wooden chair, it was old, the type that would break if you shook it too much. Her hands were tied behind her back and to the chair. She was unconscious but she looked like she had not been harmed. The picture had been taken in a jungle, or at least in the midst of a lot of trees.

“So he’s not just talking to me now, he’s sending pictures to journalists?” Adam said. “He’s getting cocky, he thinks he can’t be caught.”

“What did the governor say when you told him?”

“I’m yet to tell him, I don’t even know if that’s a good idea. I would wake him up to tell him his daughter has been kidnapped by the worst killer this city has ever seen?”

“It’s better than he calling you in the morning, you’ll still have to tell him then. He would want to know now.”

“Okay, I’ll call him now.” He dialed the governor’s number and waited. He picked at the first ring.

“Adam, is she at your place? Tell her not to bother to beg, you cannot get her out of this, okay?” The governor said.

“Sir, about that…” He paused and looked at Ese, she nodded. “Sir, I have some terrible news. Kate is not at a party, she was taken.”

“Taken? What does that even mean? Wait a minute, she was kidnapped?”

“I’m sorry sir.”

“By who? How do you know this? She could just be at a party, I’m sure she’s just at a party. She’s a young girl and she’s doing what all young girls do; party.”

“Sir, she was taken by the church street killer, he called me.” Adam said, squeezing his eyes shut. He could not imagine what was going on through the governor’s mind.

The line was silent for a while then it went dead. Adam looked at Ese, she opened her mouth to say something but she stopped. The phone rang again, it was the governor.

“Sir?”

“I want you and your partner in my house, right now!” He said and ended the call.

Adam stood. “He wants me at the government house immediately and he wants me to bring Tola.”

“I’m going with you.” Ese said.

“No, you are not. He asked for me and Tola. I don’t want you getting too deep in this, he’s already sending you pictures, I don’t want him getting to know you too much.”

“I can handle myself.”

“Ese, you realize you cannot go public with this kidnap, right?”

“I can go public with the picture, I did not get that from you, did I?”

“Ese, you will not go public with this story, not yet.” Adam said and headed for the door.

“If you want me to keep quiet about this, take me with you.” She said, standing up and crossing her arms across her chest.

“I cannot…” He started but he looked at her, she was not bulging. “Okay, but if you are stopped at the gate, you are on your own. Now I have to call Tola again.”

***

“You know something just came to my mind, you said the Church Street Killer said this was about Kate too, not just about you, right?” Ese said. They had just driven into the government house.

“Yes, so?” Adam asked.

“Do you remember the major news on TV before the first body was found?”

“No, I don’t watch TV.” Adam said with a scoff. Then he quickly added. “I watch you though.”

“Whatever, but the major news was the accident involving Kate. She hit a boy, remember that?”

“Yeah, I remember that, she was drunk. The family of the boy didn’t sue.”

“Yes, they didn’t sue but they were very angry. Her father is the governor so of course they would have been paid, bullied or something to stop them from suing.”

“Are you saying somebody from the family of this boy could be doing this?” Adam asked as they pulled in front of the governor’s house.
“It’s a good lead.”

They walked to the house where Tola was waiting. Her husband was standing with her, he had a tie on.

“Dr. Dosumu, I’m sorry for having to drag your wife out of bed, the governor asked for her. And you are dressed up too.” Adam said, shaking his hand.

“I just got back from the hospital when she said she was going out, her eyes were literally closed as she dressed up. I decided to bring her here, it’s your job to get her back home now.” He said, pecked Tola on the cheek and left.

“Nice guy.” Ese said, watching the doctor drive away.

“What’s she doing here?” Tola asked, she still looked drowsy.
The governor came out of the door before he could reply. “Come in now!”

***

They were seated in a large office inside the governor’s house. The governor sat at the end of the table clearly disturbed, and Adam knew he would be at the receiving end of the outcome of that disturbance.

“Adam, you let this go on for too long, now he has my daughter?”

“Sir…” Adam started but he was cut off by a ringing phone. It was coming from Tola’s purse.

“I’m sorry about that.” Tola mumbled as she dug into her bag, she brought out a small flip Nokia phone. “This isn’t mine.”

She looked at the phone and passed it to Adam. Adam opened it, the caller ID read “CSK”

“CSK?” Adam asked, looking at Tola then at Ese.

“CSK as in church street killer.” Ese said.

“How did that phone even get into my purse?” Tola asked.

“Just answer the call!” The governor said. “And put it on speaker.”

“Hello.” Adam said, putting the phone on speaker and setting on the table.

“Hello Ese, Detectives and his excellency. I’m sure I need no introduction.” A voice that sounded Asian said over the phone.

“How does he know who is here?” Tola whispered.

“Is he Asian?” The governor asked.

“No sir, I am not Asian. My voice has been edited by a computer software I’m using. If you Google voice edit software, you will find some amazing options. But I know you are not really interested in that, right your excellency?”

“What do you want?” Adam asked, shifting forward in his chair.

“What do I want? I want the governor to resign and I want a million dollars in cash.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Adam said turning away from the phone.

“No, no, Adam let’s hear him out.” The governor said. “Why do you want me to resign?”

“Because, errr you have… you know, you have not…nah, who am I kidding? I don’t care if you are governor or not, I was just playing with you. But seriously now, I don’t want a what, I want a who.”

“What are you talking about?” Adam asked.

“I want Adam to resign; I want him hung at the gallows for disservice to the people of the state. That is what I want.”

“You know that is impossible, is there a way we…” The governor started.

“Yeah, I know it’s impossible. I guess what I’m saying is there’s nothing I want, Kate is going to die and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“Yeah, except catch you and kill you, very slowly.” Adam said, his eyes red with anger.

“I love that spirit. So until you do that, I’ll be having fun with Kate. Bye.”

“Wait!” The governor shouted, jumping out of his chair.

Adam picked the phone, the call had been disconnected. He would give the phone to Faruk, there had to be a way to trace the caller.

“Adam, you have twenty four hours, find my daughter!” The governor said and stormed out of the room.

—————————————————————————————————————-
Happy Easter Everyone. Jesus is Alive, means everything in the world to me.

DEMONS ON CHURCH STREET: EPISODE FOURTEEN

Adam looked at the empty, boring faces in front of him and sighed. “Yes we believe the third lady wasn’t a victim of the church street killer.”

He was in a meeting with all law enforcement agencies in the state under the strict orders of the state governor. The NSCDC, FRSC, NIS, NPS were all represented, even KWATMA sent a representative, it was ridiculous. It was a complete waste of time as far as he was concerned. He was supposed to be meeting with the heads of all these agencies but apparently they all thought the meeting was a waste of their time too and had sent their deputies. The deputies trying to assert some sort of authority had been firing him with questions, most of them silly repetitions of what another person had asked.

Kate sat to his right, her eyes darting here and there following the conversation but her fingers never leaving the keyboard of her laptop. Tola was seated next to her, her eyes begging him to endure the meeting.

“If you said there was somebody watching the lawyer, how did he get murdered without one of your people there to prevent it?” The representative of the NPS asked. Adam looked at him and wondered if he should answer the question. He did not understand why the Nigerian Prisons had to send a representative, they had no help to offer the investigation. Except maybe keep the killer in jail when he was caught, until he was sent to the noose.

“I mentioned earlier that he eluded our officers and they were not with him when he was killed.” Adam said as firmly as he could without being rude.

The chief of police was supposed to be a part of the meeting but had not shown up and had not even sent a representative. It was two days since Faruk told him about his suspicions and even though he was not was not convinced the chief could be the killer he had told Faruk to tail him.

The message he got from the killer had put more pressure on him. If the chief was the killer, he needed to be stopped and fast, another dead body would be the straw that would break the camel’s back. The people were already tired of his silence and there were already talks of vigilante groups trying to go after the killer.

“You have deployed policemen to all the churches in the state, that is a lot man power, how long do you hope to keep this up for?” The prisons guy asked.

“As long as we need to.” Adam said. He knew it was too much, but he had to do all he could. If the killer was going to dump the body in a church then he could not do it without being caught.

“Are you serious? There are other crimes being committed in the city, who will solve those?” The man from the NSCDC asked.

“Did you really put men in every church? Every single one?” A man whose upper lip was swallowed up in his mustache asked. He represented the Road Safety Corps.

“Okay, we are not keeping them there forever. We have information that there might be a murder soon, and so far the killer has dumped his victims in churches, so we are watching them.”

“Don’t you think he’ll change his dumping site when he sites your men?” Mustache lips asked.

“We are not stupid, you know.” Adam said, starting to get annoyed. “They’re not wearing uniforms standing in the open and wielding AK-47s.”

Adam continued for another forty five minutes telling them all he could and answering their question. He was tired, talking for so long while also fighting to keep his temper under check had drained his energy.

“I’ll take one last question.” Adam said, hoping nobody would ask any.

He was not so lucky, the man from KWATMA who had been quiet throughout the meeting raised a hand.

“Yes?”

“Who are the suspects you have, do you have a list?” He asked.

“Well, yes we do.” Adam started uncertainly. They had suspects – the pastors, Solomon Alonge who was now dead, the chief and pretty much everybody who worked at CIB. But he could not tell them that.

“Can you share the list with us?” The man asked again.

“Well, unfortunately I cannot at this time. We will get them to you at a later time, when we are sure of their status as suspects.” Adam said and looked Tola who shrugged.

“Do you have a profile of the killer?” The man asked again.

“I’m sorry I said that was going to be the last question.” Adam said trying to cover for his lack of answer to the question.

“No, I think you should answer that question.” One of the men said, the others murmured their agreement.

“No, we don’t have a complete profile yet, we’re still working on it.” Adam answered, starting to feel the heat on his face.

“Do you have any solid leads then? Any angles you’re working?” The KWATMA man continued

“Are you even making any progress on this case?” Mustache lips added, looking at the others for support, they all nodded.

“What the heck is this?” Adam shouted, hitting the table with his hand. “You think we are playing around here? You think we just stand on highways checking permits or sit in our offices issuing passports? No we work, go out in the sun and lose sleep to rid this city of scum. You have the nerve to come here and question me?”

He packed the files in front of him and stood. “This meeting is over.”

He looked at Tola who had bowed her head during his rant, Kate sat still, her hands frozen over the keyboard. He had blown his top again. He looked round at the shocked men and walked out of the room.

Nobody followed him out of the room, Tola would probably make an attempt to clean his mess, save face as much as she could. Adam wondered why it did not take long to get him angry. Even though the questions asked were legitimate, he was not handling the case right, he was only jumping from murder to murder without a plan. He did not have much faith in profiles but it would not hurt to have one. They also needed to map out all the plausible suspects and leads and pursue them till they uncovered some other lead or became dead ends. But first, the killer had promised to kill another person, that had to be stopped.

His phone rang just as he stepped into his office. He picked it from his table. It was Faruk.

“Faruk.” He said.

“What the hell man, I’ve called you like one-fifty times.” He sounded anxious.

“Sorry, I was in a meeting.” Adam replied rubbing his head, his never ending headache was starting to act up again.

“I was made Adam, I was made.” Faruk said.

“You were what? Calm down and talk to me. You’re still watching the chief, right?”

“That’s what I’m talking about, he saw me.”

“Oh my God, how did that happen?” Adam dropped his voice to whisper and sat quickly.

“Alright, so I followed him around town for a while, then he dropped off his driver at home and drove off on his own. So I figured something interesting was about to happen so I followed him closely. I told you the man isn’t stupid.”

“Go on Faruk.”

“He drove out of town towards Ganmo, that got me even more interested. You know that’s where the three men were killed, right?”

“I was there Faruk, continue please.”

“Alright, he turned into the road that led to the settlement where the bodies were found, I was still behind him. This time we were the only ones on the road, no cars in between us. All of a sudden he stopped opposite the store where you said you found blood splashed on the wall, so I stopped too. That was my mistake.”

“He saw you then?”

“Well, not exactly. He started towards the house and was about to enter when he suddenly stopped and looked at my direction. I immediately dropped low in my seat but it was too late, he had seen me. He started walking towards me.”

“Crap! Did he see your face?”

“Nah, he didn’t. Immediately I saw him walking towards me, I started the car, turned around and sped away. I doubt he even saw the colour of the car I was driving.”

“That’s a relief.” Adam said with a sigh. “But why was he there? And why go alone?”

“I have no idea man, but does this confirm him as a suspect or not?”

“I don’t know, but there’s something going on.” Adam heard steps approaching his door. “I have to go, we’ll talk later. Stay away from the chief, okay?”

He disconnected the call. There was a knock on his door and Kate entered. Adam tried not to look her in the eye, he had embarrassed himself in front of someone who looked up to him.

“Uncle Adam…” she said, standing in the doorway.

“Yes Kate?”

“I just wanted to thank you for talking to my Dad, I would be on a plane to Senegal now if it wasn’t for you.”

Adam sighed, she was not talking about the meeting. “It’s okay. But he’s putting you on probation for a month, please stay out of trouble, okay?”

“Yes sir.” She said and saluted.

She left the room and almost immediately Tola entered.

“What was that Adam?” She said, her eyes blazing.

“What was what?” Adam could feel himself getting angry too. Tola was always the cool one, never getting angry. Seeing her angry made him angry at himself.

“Do you know the rubbish those men said to me after you left all because you could not manage your ego?”

“I did not ask you to stay there and listen to them, did I?”

“Oh, I should have stormed out of there too? What would that make us?”

“Dosumu, I am your boss, I can do whatever I want.”

“Of course you can, boss.” She said and stormed out of the office.

Adam stood up from his chair and held his head in-between his palms. He had never seen Tola so angry, apparently the case was taking its toll on her too. She had been right though, he had put her in a bad position. He picked his phone and left his office.

He stopped for five seconds in front of her door before he knocked. She did not answer but he went in anyway. She was sitting with her head on her desk. When she sat up, he saw tears in her eyes.

“Tola, I’m so sorry for shouting at you.” He said, standing by the door. “I shouldn’t have lost my temper there and left you to bear the grunt.”

She nodded and picked a white handkerchief from her table and dabbed at her eyes.

“Look, I know this case has been tough on all of us and I would not object if you wanted a break, even if it’s just for a few days.”

“You think a break is what I need? I love my job and hard as it is for people to believe, I love working with you. When you’re sane. But you had to hear what those men said to me when you left, it just triggered some stored up frustration, I guess.”

“I’m sorry about that Tola. I can get them all arrested if you want.” He said, with a smile. She smiled back.

“As annoying as they were, they asked some reasonable questions. Especially the last guy, the one from KWATMA. Apart from suspects and leads which are paramount, we should have a profile of the killer. Something to help us predict him.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in profiles.” Tola said.

“It won’t hurt us to have one. We should get a professional on that immediately. I’m delegating that to you.”

“What we need to talk about though is our leads and suspects or should I say lack of leads and suspects?” She said, opening up a note in front of her.

“Let’s go over the possible leads we have right now. Let’s start with the last murders, the three who were killed. Despite the killer not admitting that he killed them, I kind of believe he did. What leads do we have on that case?”

“Well, there’s the house where we found blood…”

“Yeah, that reminds me, Faruk just called.” Adam cut in and narrated to her everything Faruk had told him. “There’s something about that house, I think we need to devote a lot of resources to finding who bought or rented it from Garba. Or just find the Garba himself.”

“Then there’s the incense we found at the site. I called the woman I told you I was going to contact, she said she remembered someone asking for the flavour we found. But she said it was months ago and she said she’ll look for his phone number and get back to me.”

“Okay, those are two leads that can yield a lot if they’re not dead ends. We also need to find out who knew about the farm where Solomon was staying. How did the killer find out about the place where he was hiding?” Adam asked.

“If the chief is the killer…” Tola started, lowering her voice. “Then he could have access through the CIB.”

“Yes, but how would someone else know, someone who doesn’t work for the CIB?”

“By the way, I thought we are assuming at least one of them knew the killer, right? That would mean Solomon Alonge could have called the killer himself.”

“That’s right, he could have. We need to get his phone records then. I also think we should talk to his father again, find out if there’s any other person who knows about the farm.”

“Looks like we have work to do.” Tola said, clearing her desk.

“I think you would have to go on your own this time.” Adam said, looking at his watch. He had a meeting with Faruk at Crackos. It was to discuss the case but it had been twenty four hours since he had a drink, he badly needed one.

“Where are you going?” Tola asked surprised.

“I have a meeting with Faruk. Why don’t you take Kate with you for company, it will be fun for her too.”

“Fun? Talking to a grieving father is your idea of fun?”

Adam smiled, gave her a double thumbs-up and left the office.

***

Kate closed the door of the office and walked towards the exit. It had been a long day for her. Her outing with Tola had not been fun like she expected it to be. They had come back late despite not getting much, it was almost six thirty pm. Tola was a nice person and she cared about Adam a lot, it was obvious but she was also very professional. Kate wondered if she would ever really become friends with the woman and relate with her the way she did with Adam.

She stepped out of the building and walked towards the gate. Tola had gone about twenty minutes before she left the office, so she was almost by herself in the compound. She usually drove to the office but after her last episode with her Dad, he had withdrawn her car. He would not allow her take a taxi though and had told her to call when she closed so one of her dad’s numerous drivers could come pick her. But she was determined to show her Dad she could live without all the luxury that came with being the governor’s daughter.

She greeted the men at the gate and stepped into the street. She had not taken a taxi in years and was not sure how to go about it. It was better to take a single one and pay the cab driver any amount he wanted to collect. She dug her hands into her bag to get her wallet when a taxi stopped in front of her. She opened the door and entered. Thankfully she was the only one inside.

“I’m going to the government house please. How much will that cost?” She said to the taxi driver.

“You alone?” The driver asked, he wore a cap that covered most of his face. His voice was strange, almost as if he was straining to talk.

“Yes please.”

“That will be five hundred naira.”

“No problem.”  She said and he started moving.

She knew she was probably over paying him but she did not care, she just wanted to show her dad she was not a spoilt brat who needed hand holding. She looked out through the window, the city looked beautiful in the almost dark night. She noticed that she was not familiar with most of the buildings she saw. It was strange because she always thought she knew everything on her route.

Two minutes later and she realized she was actually not on her route. They had turned into an unfamiliar road and it was getting dark.

“Driver, this is not the road to the government house.” She said, starting to feel uneasy. He did not reply. She hit his seat with her fist, her hands were beginning to tremble. “Didn’t you hear me, I said this is not where I’m going.”

He laughed shortly and began to whistle. The sound of his whistle rang in her head as she scrambled at the door. There was no way to open the door from inside. The window controls too were not functioning. Sweat poured down her face. She began to cry.

“Please let me go, I’ll give you anything you want.” She cried, banging on the windows. There were a few passersby but they did not seem to notice her. She balled her trembling fingers and with a scream punched him. “I said let me go!”

He moaned and pulled the car over to the side of the road and turned off the engine. The street was dark and secluded.

He came out of the taxi and circled round the car till he came to her door , all the time keeping his face hidden below his cap. She hurriedly backed away from the door, trying to see through her tears. When he opened the door she saw that he wore some kind of mask over his face. She screamed and kicked at him as he reached for her. He smelled of mint and she could hear his deep breathing. He stopped and dug his hands into his pocket and brought out a bottle. He pointed the bottle to her and she felt a cold liquid spray on her face.

Two seconds after the liquid touched her face, she saw the man start to fade away, it was like he was being erased. She tried to move but she could not. The space where the driver had stood was replaced by darkness. The darkness seemed to have taken over the car and it was taking over her as well. She tried to fight but she was powerless against it. Suddenly the darkness stopped and she was gone.

DEMONS ON CHURCH STREET: EPISODE THIRTEEN

Previously on Demons on Church Street
“Cat’s got your tongue Detective? Yeah, I knew you way before you worked for the governor. Just in case you don’t understand yet, I’m saying this is personal. Catch me if you can, but until you do, the murders will not stop. And don’t even try your usual way out because if you quit this job, I’m coming for you.”
Adam was silent; he could not process what he was hearing.
“I always knew you were dumb, I just didn’t know it manifested on your tongue too. By the way, your girlfriend just entered her house and I’m starting to have ideas.” The voice said with a hoarse laugh followed by the dial tone.

Episode Thirteen
Adam jumped into his car, slammed the door, started the engine and was out on the road as fast as he could. He could not believe that the psycho had made a personal threat to him, and what was he talking about saying he knew him before he worked for the governor. There were only a few people who knew him from his days as a uniformed officer, so few and none of them worked at CIB.  He thought as far as he could remember, nothing came to mind. And even though he had not achieved much as policeman back then, he had not made any mistakes or done errors of note, so what was the bastard talking about?
He shook his head, trying to ward off everything the killer had said. Except the fact that he had his eyes on Ese. He should call her, that’s what he should have done! He brought out his phone and dialed her number while keeping an eye on the road.
She did not answer.
Oh my God!
He dialed again. Still no answer. He swore under his breath and increased the pressure on the accelerator. If anything happened to Ese, he would hunt down the killer and chop him up, limb by limb.
The last time he had driven to Ese’s house, he had been drunk and she had told him she never wanted to see him again. Hard as he tried, he was unable to erase that incidence from his brain, it was one of his worst memories. He silently prayed that the memory he was creating at that moment would not turn to be his worst.
He turned his car into Ese’s street and slowed his car, if the killer was anywhere near he wanted to find him. He looked around as he drove, there were no suspicious cars parked anywhere or people lurking around. He parked a few metres away from her house and walked towards it. He checked, his gun was loaded. He moved as swiftly as he could to the house. The windows were open but the curtains were drawn, there was no way to tell the number of people inside the house, if there was anybody in.
He walked on the balls of his feet to the door. A lot could happen in the next minute but he had no time to think through the possibilities. He knocked on the door. He waited, his hands ready to go for his gun. He lifted his hand to knock again when the door opened.
“Adam?” Ese stepped back in surprise.
Adam let out his breath, he had not noticed he was holding it. She was safe. At least the killer was not in her house.
“What are you doing here?” She said, still standing in the door way.
“I just wanted to make sure you are safe.” He said.
“Safe from what?” She looked at him warily.
“Ermm…” He was not sure if he should tell her about the killer’s call. It would do her no good, it was better she did not know. “I was just checking.”
He turned to leave then stopped. “I’m sorry about what I said earlier, I was…” He stopped and started to leave.
“Adam…” Ese called, he stopped and looked back. “Wanna come in?”
“Yeah, I guess.” He said, trying to stop a smile from spreading across his face but failing.
He followed her into the house. It had a cozy, homey look, a look his house desperately needed. On the wall were her pictures, most of them new ones, they were not familiar. The TV was tuned to a music channel and a lady rapper he had never seen before was performing, quite impressively he noticed. Just behind the TV were a set of plaques – awards she had won.
“Remember that?” Ese caught him looking at a golden microphone sitting among the plaques. He looked at her and immediately looked away. She was standing behind one of the chairs dressed in a tank top and a pair of shorts. He kept his eyes trained on the plaques.
“Hmhmm.” Of course he remembered it. She received the award the night he met her. He had gone with the governor to the award ceremony held for journalists in Lagos and had been completely blown away with her smile, her voice, the way she gestured when she thanked everybody for the award; everything about her had enraptured him.
“That’s my most precious award, you know, it’s the dream of every journalist to get that.” She said. Adam nodded, still looking away from her. “You want me to get you something?”
“Huh, no thanks. I had no plans to stay, just wanted to see if you were okay.” He said. He felt really silly, he was like a school boy on his first date.
“Seriously? You just came to see me out of the blues?” She said, climbing into the chair opposite him and folding her legs on the chair. “That can’t be right.”
“Well, yeah I did. I’m not as horrible as you think.” He said, trying to force a smile.
“Are you sure about that?.” Adam opened his mouth to talk but she continued. “Forget about that, you’re here and I’m grateful. So, how’re you finding your job at CIB?”
“It’s alright, exciting I must admit but not as good as the job I had before.”
“If you catch… when you catch this killer, you’re going to be famous. You know that right?” She said, beaming her angelic smile.
“Not really. If I catch him, the chief of police gets the glory and if I don’t, I get the blame. That’s how it works.”
“I’m sure he’ll squeeze your name in somewhere.” She stood up from her seat. “You know what, I’ll fix you something fast, I’m sure you have no plans for dinner.”
Adam wanted to protest, but she was right, he had no dinner plans. He smiled to himself, he had a killer to catch, one who had threatened him a few minutes ago but he was instead going to eat dinner with this beautiful woman. He relaxed and got comfortable in the chair, nobody would begrudge him a single night of pleasure, however fleeting it might be, not even the church street killer.
****
Adam drove slowly as he returned home, it had been the best night of his life. Probably not, but it was one of the best. He had had homemade dinner for the first time in a long while and had talked for more than an hour with a woman that he probably loved, if he was humble enough to admit it. Romantic music filtered through the speakers of his car stereo, he barely tolerated romantic music but it suited him that night.
He drove into his compound, whistling as he brought the car to a stop. He was about getting out of the car when he noticed a dark figure sitting at his doorstep. He reached for his gun quickly, stepped out of the car and closed the door quietly. The figure stood up and started walking towards him. He crouched low beside the car, his mind racing through the options he had.
“Adam? Don’t shoot me bro.” Faruk? “Faruk here, okay?”
Adam stood and holstered his gun. “What are you doing hiding in the shadows man? I could have shot you.”
“Shot me? I wasn’t even in the shadows, I was sitting at your doorstep, how obvious did I need to be?”
Adam walked to the front door and opened it.
“What took you so long? Surely you were not at the office, and I don’t smell any alcohol on you.” Faruk said.
“None of your business. The real question is what are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here? I’m at my best friend’s house, you have no right to ask me that question. But you have to answer mine. Where are you coming from Adam? Do you have a secret girlfriend?” Adam shook his head as he unbuttoned his shirt, removed it and tossed it on a chair. “Oh my God, Adam, are you sleeping with your partner? She is married for God’s sake!”
“Shut up Faruk! I’m coming from Ese’s place.”
“Are you serious? Bad guy!” Faruk said with a huge grin, punching Adam on his shoulder. “Okay, start talking.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” Adam said with a shrug. “I got a call from the killer…”
“You got a call from whom?!” Faruk exclaimed.
“Yeah, the sicko called me and said he was looking at Ese go into her house. So I rushed over there, didn’t see anything or anybody. One thing led to another…”
“And you slept with her? You sly dog.” Faruk said, throwing back his head in laughter.
“No Faruk, calm down, what’s wrong with you? I had dinner at her place, that’s all and I’ll be seeing her sometime next week.”
“So you didn’t do anything.” Faruk rolled his eyes and hissed. “To more important matters then, you said this church killer guy called you? Did you trace the call?”
“No, I couldn’t, there was no way to. He said he knows me from way back, even before I worked with the governor. He said it was personal.”
“That makes sense.”
“What do you mean it makes sense?”
“I have a theory, a suspect. Get ready to have your mind blown.” Faruk said sitting up in his chair. “The chief!”
“The what?!”
“The chief.”
“The chief of police?”
“No, the chief of your frigging village, of course the chief of police.”
“That’s not possible, I’d sooner believe it was the governor than believe it was the chief.” Adam said, shaking his head. It could not be, the chief was not even on his radar of suspects. “What proof do you have Faruk?”
“Remember what I said about the text coming from inside CIB?”
“That doesn’t mean the killer is a member of the Bureau, anybody good with a computer could have done that. Plus I don’t think the chief is intelligent enough to be doing this.”
“Okay, let’s go over what we know. He was the one who decided you should run this investigation, you could have delegated it. He knows you from way back, we know that. And he’s always been stomping around the case all along.”
“Yeah, drumming up as much press attention as he can for the case. He also said some crap about the killer going down in history.” Adam said. “But there’s no way he’s the killer. Remember the video we saw, he was not the shadow in that video.”
“He could have gotten somebody to drop it for him. And he’s not as stupid as you think, he has a degree in Physics and Computer science. It might have been from way back, but I’m sure he still knows his way around a computer.”
“Come on Faruk, this is a little out there, don’t you think?” Adam said as he stood and started pacing.
“It is a little out there I know, but hear this…” He was interrupted by Adam’s phone, it was ringing. “It’s almost ten thirty, who is calling you at this ungodly hour?”
“Keep quiet.” Adam said and he picked up his phone. It was Kate.” Kate?”
“Hello Uncle Adam.” She said, sniffing.
“It’s almost eleven o’clock, what’s happening?”
“You need to talk to my Dad, I don’t know who else to call.”
“What happened? Are you okay?”
“I went to a party with friends tonight, I had a few drinks and came home late. I know I shouldn’t have but now he’s talking about sending me to Senegal for a six months course in French.”
“That’s not so bad Kate, and six months isn’t a long time.” Adam said, rubbing his eyes, he needed to sleep.
“It’s a boarding house, I won’t leave the school except on school endorsed excursions and field trips. That’s a prison and I actually love working with you.”
Adam quietly contemplated what to say, he had no idea. It was not his business what the governor did with his daughter. If her mother was alive she would have taken care of the situation. It was true and as hard as he tried he could not absolve himself of responsibility for her mother’s death.
“Kate, you come to work as usual tomorrow, if your dad doesn’t change his mind, I’ll have a chat with him, okay?”
“Thank you Uncle Adam, I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”
Adam nodded and disconnected the call.
“What was that all about?” Faruk asked.
“Man, you don’t wanna know. You were about to say something about the chief, what was it?”
“Alright, I was talking about why he’s my main suspect. I happened to hang out at that joint where the second victim was supposed to have been kidnapped, guess who I discovered was a VIP regular at the club?”
“The chief?” Adam asked.
“Exactly! And you want to guess where he took the girl he picked up to?”
“No.”
“Clear Springs hotel.”
“Isn’t that where the first girl was coming from when she was kidnapped?”
Faruk bowed. “You are welcome.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Why don’t you do what every reasonable detective does; investigate.”
“Oh, I will. And don’t get me wrong, I don’t like the man, not at all but a killer? I don’t think so. I’m going to sleep.”
Adam shook his head as he walked out of the room, there was no way the chief was the church street killer. Absolutely no way.
***
He looked at his face in the mirror and turned away. It was contorted with hate, hate he could not explain, hate no therapist anywhere could resolve or take away. He knew it was not good, it would ultimately be the end of him, but he could not control himself. Something inside him needed someone to blame, a face to picture when he slashed with his knife, Detective Adam Ademola was that person. He was not a random pick, he deserved the hate, he was worthy of it.
He closed the bathroom door and walked into his room. Staring at him from the wall directly above his bed was a picture of Diana. It was one of her six pictures on his bedroom wall. He looked away from the picture, even Diana would disapprove of his hatred for Adam. He was her messenger, satisfying her needs, it was not his place to use her to fight his own battles. But he was not fighting for himself alone, he was fighting for both of them.
He walked to his wardrobe and opened a closet, he brought out pictures he took of his sacrifices, the two girls. He dropped the pictures back in the closet and brought out another one; his next sacrifice. She looked innocent but she was not, this sacrifice was not a random one, this one was personal. Diana wanted a sacrifice that would mean something to her, someone who deserved to die.
He smiled and dropped the picture back in the closet. He kicked off his shoes and laid on the bed, if Diana was getting a personal sacrifice, one that meant something to her, he would also make this one worth his while.
He opened the laptop sitting on his bedside table and routed the connection through the CIB network. He was going to have fun with this one, show Adam how stupid he really was. He opened the message box and typed;

Three days and the sun will rise
On another soul who will pay the price.

He hit send and smiled, it was short and even poetic and he had not even had to think for long to write it. He shut down the laptop and stretched on the bed.

Rest, sleep for tomorrow you must work.