Sergeant Kunle Francis was the man who had led the two detectives upstairs, and as he watched Uche cry over Sharon’s lifeless body, he wondered why Uche could not remember his face. Was he not the guy who almost killed him that night?



‘I’m sorry, Mr. Uche,” Detective Ade broke the agonising stillness of the room. “Your friend is dead, but we still have a serial killer on our hands. And as it seems, she believed you know the killer and that you can help us find him.”

Uche stood up, his eyes red with tears. “I think I know the guy she’s talking about. But first, you need to tell me what really happened.”

“Okay,” Ade started, “ a mystery man, whom we suspect is involved in several other murders too, broke into the house. He killed a woman, branded her with the sign of the cross and the words ‘hell’ written underneath. Amazingly, he found your friend too but did not kill her.”

“So,” Musa chipped in, “the theory is, the killer must have had a very good reason to keep her alive.”

“That reason is why we are talking to you, Mr. Uche.” Ade finished the thought sequence.

Uche started pacing the length of the room, thinking. The sign of the cross branded on her chest? The imagery made him remember the man from the Toyota car. He felt there was more to their fleeting encounter. Though he was not a detective, he also felt the detectives were asking the wrong questions.

“Who called the police,” Uche stopped pacing and looked at the trio who were standing distinctly apart.

Ade and Musa’s gaze fell on the Officer who had led them upstairs.

“Yes Officer,” Musa said, “speak up na!”

Sergeant Kunle Francis kept mute. What if Uche could recognise his voice? That could spell doom for all his plans.

“Officer, are you deaf?” Musa thundered.

Seeing he had no choice but to speak, he gambled with fate. “I do not know, I think it was the woman.”

Immediately, Uche’s memories of that night came streaming back at him like a wind. It was the same voice which had pleaded for mercy under his blows. It was the same voice which had cried for God’s help when he broke his jaw.

“Sorry, do I know you?” Uche moved closer to get a closer look at his face.

“No, you don’t.” He tried to alter his tone by adding a dint of baritone.


To his greatest surprise, Uche realised he could recognise the face. It was the same as that of the man from the Toyota. He stood in front of Kunle, awestruck with electric winder. “I think I saw you about an hour ago at Ojota. You are the guy that came out of the Toyota car. What are you doing here?”

“Which Toyota car?” Kunle’s heart skipped a beat. Had he seen him this morning? “I’ve been here all day.”

“Liar.” He turned to face Ade. “This guy is the person we are looking for; he’s the killer.”

“Mr. Uche,” Ade said, looking disappointed, “One hour ago, Sergeant Kunle Francis was ushering us into the building. I’m sorry, but your theory is wrong.”

Kunle breathed a huge sigh of relief, and caught Musa staring at him. He quickly cut the mutual gaze, and turned to look at the ground.

Uche fell silent. He was sure he had sighted the same face at Ojota that morning; but if the detective was saying that the same man he saw was with them at the time, then there must have been a mix-up. He stepped back, and walked towards the window.

“The guy we are looking for is a psychologically disturbed fellow,” Uche started to speak, walking towards the window, “who has come into contact with occult religion.”

“Occult Religion?” Musa laughed, “Which one bi dat one again?”


Uche stopped at the window. “Occult Religion is a branch of knowledge that deals with the secrets of world religions. Different people at different periods of history have come into contact with it. Men such as Nostradamus, Budha, Hitler, Newton, and even Jesus.”

“What!” Kunle exclaimed, “how can you group Jesus with such people. That’s blasphemy.”

Uche was not surprised; in his mind, he was getting somewhere. “I’m an academic, officer, my studies do not entertain the inclusion of beliefs in the art of reasoning.”

“So, you don’t even believe in God, do you?” Kunle asked.

Uche pondered the question for some seconds. “I think that’s a wrong question. Whether God exists or not is not a debate in itself.”

“You think so?”

“I know so,” Uche turned towards the window, backing the room. “Anyway, mentioning Jesus in that group was meant to illustrate something: just like most things in the world, Occult Religion is not a good or bad thing in itself; what makes it good or bad is the character of the man who comes into contact with it.”

Silence fell on the room.

“Our target is a disturbed guy who has come into contact with a part of occult religion known as eastern symbology.” He stepped backward from the window, “Everything is facing the east, even Sharon, before she died.”

‘What does that suggest?” Ade asked

The question triggered a thought in Uche’s mind. Eastern Symbology was a set of violent meanings attached to Christian symbols. That was why the Killer was obsessed using the cross as a signature for his killings. But, the most important question had been asked: what does all these things suggest?

“I think it means everything he has done is intentional,” it was beginning to become clear to Uche. “And just like Sharon said, he is here with us.”

“Where is he?” Musa said, drawing out his pistol. “Where im dey, make I blow im head comot.”

“This is not a joke, Musa.” Ade signalled him to drop his weapon with a violent, quick wave of a ahnd in the air. He turned towards sergeant Kunle, “quickly, go check downstairs and see if we have any unexpected visitor.”

Kunle was already at the door when Uche spoke. “No, don’t go.”

“Why?” Musa raised an eyebrow, gripping his pistol more tightly than ever, ready to pull the triggrt.

“I’ve found the killer,” Uche said, turning from the window and facing the room.

“Where is he?” the two detectives spoke at once.

“He is the one at the door,” he pointed towards Kunle, “and we are all looking at him.”

In a split of a second, Kunle gripped the door’s handle, and made to escape. But Musa was ready. He aimed for his leg, and the sergeant fell at the opening of the door.

“How’s that possible?” Ade gasped, reading guilt into Kunle’s action.

“There was a reason why Sharon believed I could solve this whole shit. I know what I know.”

And he was right.


19

Scorpion sneaked into the house on foot. His pulse was rising. He knew it was almost time for him to end what he had started.

He checked the device tied to his wrists like a watch. She was still lying unconscious, he realised. The device was operating on a Bluetooth technology and he was using it to monitor Sharon’s internal body system. Just some seconds ago, he had heard her trying to tell Uche the secret of the whole mission using the illustration of light and darkness, words which could not triggrt the automatic knife he had made her swallow that morning.

Fortunately for the mission, before she could finish, her brain could no longer cope with the pain he the device inside her body system was inflicting. The American who sold the device to him had warned him that the device had side effects such as brain ischemia. Unknowingly to the seller, scorpion had purchased that particular product because he loved the agony of the side-effects

In medical terms, brain ischemia is a condition in which there is insufficient blood flow to the brain to meet metabolic demands which lead to unconsciousness, weakness in the body, and impairments in vision, body movement and speaking.

He stood at the foot of the stairs, waiting in anticipation for the right moment to commence his journey to redemption. To concentrate, he closed his eyes and said the Lord’s Prayer as it was written in the gospel of Mathew.

This was the final moment, and it had to be perfect.

He had not prayed for more than twenty minutes when he heard a gunshot fired from abovr.

Something had gone wrong.

But Scorpion had learnt over the years, never enter a building with only one escape route.

He simply shifted to plan B.


TO BE CONTINUED


The writer of this story has informed the EKUS team that he is not happy with the size of audience the page is offering his stories. We therefore plead for every reader of this series to LIKE and SHARE this post, in order to grow our audience.

Share your views in the comment box.