DEMONS ON CHURCH STREET (Episode Three & Four)

Adam sighed and mopped his brow as Candy left his office. Candy was a hooker, the eighth he had talked to that morning. Several others were waiting to be interrogated and if they were anything like the first eight, he was in for a great waste of time. 

He would have done all these the night before but after he found the note, he had gone home – after swearing Faruk to secrecy. He eventually fell asleep after midnight after a heavy intake of alcohol. Of course he had always had his problems but the note had given him extra reason for his alcohol indulgence. He had no plan to tell anybody about it. One thing was sure though, he was going to catch the sick bastard.

“Send in the next one.” He said into the intercom.
He looked up from the screen of his computer as the lady came in. She was beautiful and gorgeous, refined, even looked a little blue-blooded.
“I can see you are impressed, surprised, a little intrigued.” She said with a beatific smile, revealing her sparkling teeth. “Hi.”
“Hello.” He replied, with a shy smile. “Please sit down.”
“There’s no need to be embarrassed, I get that reaction from people all the time, even some of my clients.” She said, crossing her legs. It did not make sense; surely she was not a hooker.
“Alright, thanks for the comforting words, Miss…?”
“Tara.”
“Tara, okay. You’ve got to tell me though, how did you become a prostitute? I’ve talked to eight before you and none of them could say a full sentence in correct English. You don’t look like…”
“A hooker? That’s because I’m not one, I’m an escort.”
“An escort?”
“I escort people to parties, business functions, lend my sexy presence. Of course, this also involves sleeping with them but that is not bad, is it?” She waited for him to respond, he did not. “I’m like every other girl, we all sleep with men, I sleep with men and make some money while doing it. You understand? Your girlfriend sleeps with you, doesn’t she?”
Adam shifted in his chair, a little uneasy.
“I understand you knew the victim, how well did you know her?”
“Why did you change the subject so suddenly? Your girlfriend doesn’t sleep with you? Wait, should I have asked about your boyfriend?” She asked with mock disgust.
“No Tara, I’m not gay.” She was really getting him uneasy. “Just answer my question, okay?”
“Hmm, you don’t like to talk. Alright, so I knew her. Not very well though. She was new, been around for just a few months. She was really struggling, you know…”
“Struggling? How do mean?”
“She didn’t really have the assets for this business, you know what I mean? She was quiet, kept to herself most of the time. Well, until a couple of weeks ago when she got more cheerful, that’s when we started talking actually.”
She started seeing the yet-to-be-known client a couple of weeks before she was murdered.
“Do you know what caused the change?”
“I don’t know, like I said earlier she didn’t talk much. I did notice some things though. She bought some expensive clothes, even came home – you see, we live in the same building- one day with a new pair of shoes, expensive shoes. I know, because I have them. She didn’t work every day, sometimes she would even turn down clients. My opinion, she came into some money.”
“Okay. Do you know if she met someone, a rich client maybe?”
“It’s quite possible, I never saw anybody pick her up though. I’ve heard a busy couple of weeks myself, you know with the management conference going on at Kwara Hotels.” She said with a wink.
“I see. Got a last question for you.”
“Is it my number? Of course I’ll give you, you’re a fine boy.” She said batting her eyelashes.
“As tempting as that is, I have a different question.” He said with a chuckle. “Is there anybody who you think can do this? Any client who likes to play out murderous fantasies perhaps?”
“Ooh Detective, you know I can’t break client-escort privilege.” She smiled, again batting her eyelashes. “What I can tell you is this; there are several people who like these fantasies you talk about, but most of them you can’t touch. None of them would have gone for Celestina, like I said earlier, she doesn’t really have the assets for this business.”
“Thank you Miss Tara for your time. We might need to talk to you yet, we will be in touch.”
“By we, do you mean you? Remember, you can use the CIB as an excuse to call me, my line is open to you always.” She said as she stood to leave.
Adam bowed his head as she left his office, looking at her walk out would have broken all the resolve he had not to lust.

Tola watched Adam walk out of his office, she knew something was up with him. They had not worked together for long but she knew him too well, well enough to know he was troubled by something he was not going to talk about. She had learnt what to do in such situations – don’t talk about it and he will talk at his own time. She needed him to solve the murder, it might get him interested in the job.
“Why are you looking me like that?” Adam asked, standing in front of her. She had not realised she had been staring at him. “Are you doing one of your psychoanalysis of me?”
“Am I? You tell me. How did it go with the hookers?”
“Why ask me? You left me alone with those girls, what if one of them raped me?” He asked squeezing his face in mock indignation.
“I would be there with my phone to record it all and sell it to your reporter girlfriend.” She answered laughing hard. “What did you learn? Do we have a suspect?”
“Do we have a suspect? Yes, several suspects –  we don’t have their names though due to client-escort privilege.”
“Due to what?”
“Do you believe that crap? Hookers have privilege now? Anyway, how did it go at the hotel?”
“Well, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news – the manager of the hotel left us the records, videos from their security cameras, everything we asked for.”
“That’s good, if we can identify the person she visits, we have a solid suspect and I can get finally have some  head way in this case.”
“Remember I mentioned a bad news, right? The tapes, the records – they are all empty. Everything!”
“What?!” Adam exclaimed. She had been shocked to find the tapes empty too. “Who could have done that? Who had access to them?”
“Well, according to the receptionist, only the manager has that kind of access. Of course any other person could have sneaked into his office to erase them.”
“What are you telling me Dosumu? We have no suspect?” He was not reacting well to the dashed hope of a quick resolution.
“Well, the manager should still be a suspect, he had access to the tapes and the records.”
“Maybe he was the one seeing the victim, I’ll call Tara, maybe she knows something about this.”
“First excuse you have and you’re calling her already? She’s barely left your office.” Tola said with a laugh.
Adam smiled and went into his office to get his phone. He came out with the phone, dialed the number and put it on speaker.
“Hello Tara, this is Detective Ademola, I need to ask you a question.”
“Detactive, I knew you wouldn’t stay away for long. The answer is still yes, and you don’t have to pay a dime.”
“Alright, I’ll keep that in mind but I have a different question for you. Do you know the manager of Clear Springs Hotel?”
“Of course, I do. Why?”
“Is he one of the guys who love to experiment? Do you think he had anything to do with Celestina?”
“Ooh, this is so cool, is he a suspect? Do you think I might end up as a witness?” She was having way too much fun.
“Would you answer the question please” Tola said, cutting into the conversation.
“That must be your fiesty deputy, alright I’ll answer your question. Did he experiment? I don’t know. I’ve never worked with him. I don’t know if he had anything to do with Celestina that way. But I remember he once came to see her but he didn’t meet her.”
“That’s interesting, maybe he’s our unsub” Adam said, talking to Tola.
“Your friend is still on the phone, remember?” The girl must be enjoying the attention she was getting.
“So what are you going to do Detective? Are you going to turn the screws to him? How about you turn the screws to me instead?” Tara’s husky voice said over the phone.
“That is just disgusting.” Tola said, taking the phone from Adam and disconnecting the call. “Forget the girl’s looks, she is as terrible as the other prostitutes.”
“Tola, are you jealous?” Adam said with a wide grin. “You’re married, okay? You can’t have your cake and eat it.”
“Let’s just go see the sleazebag”

“You know this doesn’t look good for you right?” Ese asked the bewildered manager.
“I said I didn’t erase the video. Why would I do that?” He stood from his chair and started pacing.
She had gotten information that the CIB had gotten access to the tapes and had found nothing on them. The manager sounded genuinely confused when she had called to confirm as he was the only one who had access to the records, especially has they covered two weeks. She had taken advantage of his panic to get an interview with him. He obviously did not know he was being interviewed.
“Why would you do that? So we won’t see you on tape with the victim.”
“Even if you saw me on the tape with her, it doesn’t mean I had anything to do with the murder.”
“Are you saying we would have seen you on that tape with her? You knew her personally?”
“I didn’t know her personally.” He replied, wiping sweat off his brow.
She was not sure what to make of the manager but she was sure he did not commit the murder. Well, except he was smart enough to put up this front. He was guilty of something though even if he was not the murderer. He could know who the murderer was.
“Mr. Nicholas, did you ever meet the girl?”
“Well…you know, I don’t think so.” He stopped pacing and sat on the edge of his table. He was lying.
“Mr. Nicholas, it’s better you tell me the truth now before the police get here. They won’t listen to you patiently like I am.”
“Well, I met her once. It was just for a few minutes.” He got up and started pacing again.
“Mr. Nicholas, did you sleep with her?”
“What? Listen, I did not kill that lady. I did not even know her name until I read it on the papers.”
“You didn’t answer my question, did you sleep with her?”
“Oh my God! I knew I would get in trouble the day that girl came to my room. It was only one time, and she came to my room herself, I didn’t even pay her.” The chair squeaked as he sat heavily on it. He held his head between his hands. “I promise you I did not kill her. Do you believe me?”
She did believe him, but the police would not. He slept with the victim, he was in charge of the now erased evidence of whom she was meeting the night she was killed. He looked really good for the crime.
“The police won’t believe you, and that’s all that matters. Do you know who she was supposed to be meeting before coming to your room?”
“No, we did not do much talking. She was all over me before I knew what was happening.”
“Alright then. One last question, where were you the night of the murder?”
“I was at Kwara Hotel, for the management conference going on there. The director wanted me to hustle for customers.”
“You have anybody who can prove that?”
“Yeah, I went with the secretary. Some of the men I met that night are still here.”
“Where can I find these…”
A lady bust into th office, cutting her off.
“Mr. Nicholas, the police are here.”
“They are? What am i supposed to tell them?” He looked at Ese, eyes pleading.
“Just tell them you have an alibi for the night.” She said picking her bag as she stood to leave. “If you are innocent, you have nothing to fear.”
She left him in his office still looking dejected. He looked like a boy who had been caught in his first attempt at stealing. He was not the murderer but she had not ruled out the possibility that he knew who the killer was, maybe without even knowing he did.
“What are you doing here?” A voice called from behind her as she entered the lobby, it was Adam.
“Hello Detective. Hello Ma’am” She said, greeting him and his no nonsense assistant.
“Ese, what are you doing here?”
“I told you i would investigate this case on my own. You can go in and do your own thing, i won’t get in your way.”
“I’m sure you won’t.” Adam replied and turned away.
“Hey Detective, he didn’t do it. No easy end to this for you, i’m sorry.”
“Who? I don’t know what you’re talking about. We would like to do our own investiagtion too. Thank you.”
Ese smiled and left the building.

He woke up with a start. His bedsheet was wet again, he had been sweating. He removed his soaked underwear and threw it on the floor. He had woken up sweating for the third consecutive night. He did not have any nightmares but he would wake up with a start covered in sweat.
He rose up from the bed and walked out of his room. All the lights were off, the darkness suited him. He dragged his feet as he walked to the refrigerator. He knew why he could not sleep. Diana. She had taken over his mind. He could barely wait to get back into his house, back to her anytime he went out. She loved his sacrifice, but it was not perfect.
He opened the refrigerator and brought out a bottle of water. He opened the cap and poured the water on his head. It felt good.
He knew what he had to do. Diana deserved another sacrifice, a pure sacrifice and she would get it. Soon.

It had been two weeks and he had hit rock bottom. He had thought the first six months of his job as Director of the CIB was rock bottom, but two weeks after hitting a dead end with his case, he had a new understanding of rock bottom.

Everybody was out to get him. It was exhausting. The people were more relaxed, but they still wanted answers. The government was silent, that was even more threatening. The Chief of Police had skillfully evaded any press attention and was letting him take all the blame for the lack of movement in the case. It was his case so maybe he did deserve the blame but he had taken it for as long as he could and he had reached his limit. He was allowed a two week break every year and it was the right time to take it.

He was in the office of the Kwara State Chief of Police, he was the one who could free him from the torture of his job, even if it would be temporal.

“Ademola, how are you? Have you lost weight or what?” Chief Adeyanju said as he rolled into his office.

“I believe I have sir.” Adam replied standing to his feet and saluting.

“That is good. Nobody wants a fat cop.” He said and laughed hard, his pot belly showing exactly why nobody likes a fat cop. “Sit down. You’ve never come to my office without me having to force you”

“Well, I would not put it like that. I believe you are a busy man, I usually don’t want to disturb you sir.” He was rarely busy, almost all his work had been delegated.

“I hear you Ademola. So why are you disturbing me today then?”
“Well sir, I need you to approve my two-week vacation sir.”

“Vacation? You’re traveling somewhere?”

“Well, not really sir. I just need a break.” Adam replied him, feigning a smile.
“Detective, you need a break? A break from what? You’ve done almost nothing since you became the Director at CIB, now you need a break when you eventually have something to do.”

“I have something to do? You think so? I have hit a dead end with this case and you know it.”

“No Ademola, I don’t know it. Why did you let the manager of the hotel go? He was a good suspect.”

“He didn’t do it. We were either going to charge him or let him go. There wasn’t enough evidence to charge him. He had an alibi, remember?” He knew he was probably being rude to his boss but he was getting irritated by all the pressure on him.

“Somebody deleted those records. Are you saying the person can’t be found?”
“Sir, we have tried our best. Maybe the person involved in this is one of your politician friends, people with too much power to be touched.”

“That is your excuse now? Ademola, I thought it was a bad idea to make you director of CIB and I told the governor but he insisted you be made the director. He made me swear I will support you and I have supported you, despite all your flaws. I will not take this though, ride out the storm, you might be lucky and this is a one time thing, people will forget soon enough.”

Adam kept quiet and stared out of the window. The chief was right, he was giving up on the case too soon. He was not going to drink away the rest of his life. He had to do this one thing right, if it was all he would do. And then there was the note. The bastard had taunted him.

“Sir, I am sorry. You’re right, I have no right to give up on this case. I’ll look for new angles, I’ll have my top detectives work on it till we get a lead.” Adam said and stood.
“You go do that Ademola. You should also remember that the governor will finish his term one day and no other governor will leave a drunk as Director of the CIB.”
“Alright sir. I’ll take my leave now sir.”
“You were talking about politicians right? Well, you’ll get a chance to quiz the topmost politician in the state today. The governor asked to see you in the government house by 12 pm.”
“You said what sir? When were you going to tell me this sir? Did he tell you what it was about?” He had not spoken to the governor in years.
“No he didn’t. You will find out in…” he looked at his watch.”…one hour and fifteen minutes, if you hurry. Tell him I said ‘hello’”

“This is not working Ese”
Ese looked at her boss and it took all the mental strength she had not to jump across the table and slap the woman. She was a round woman. But her rotundness never stopped her from stomping into everybody’s offices and yanking their heads off. Everyone called her the grinch. Ese was having her head ripped off and she did not like it. True, she had hit a brick wall with the case she was supposed to investigate, but even the police did not have a new lead. It was worse that she had to sit through the lecture with her partner watching. He had run the crime desk alone for years and he had told her in clear terms he was not happy she was employed. He was even more angry when she was given the prostitute’s murder case.
“I told you from the beginning that this is a bad idea.” He said with a huge grin.
“Keep quiet Richard.” The only consolation she had was the grinch disliked Richard as much as she did.

“This is not fair ma’am. I have been here only a few months and I’m being transferred because I’m having a little challenge with the first case I’m working?”
“You’ve got nothing for two weeks, that’s more than a little in my books.” Richard said, the grin becoming wider.

“I said you should shut up, Richard.” The grinch fired Richard a stern look. “Ese, he’s right though. You haven’t gotten anything in two weeks, it might not be your fault. People don’t like change, Richard already knows the people of the state, Maybe he should continue as our crime’s desk reporter.”

“What are you saying? I never said he should quit his job but you cannot remove me from this unit. You know my reputation at NTA…”

“I know your reputation at NTA, and that is why we employed you. Maybe you are better suited with the politics unit.”

“If i wanted to stay with politicians, i would have remained with NTA.” She realised she was raising her voice but she did not mind,they were toying with her.
“Ese, you are not hearing me, this isnt discussion. Richard takes over the crimes desk fully now. Report to the politics unit tommorow.”

Ese picked her bag and stormed out of the room, she would remain in the crimes unit if it meant she had to kill somebody to get a story.

The government house was once second home to him, but not anymore. Adam looked at the familiar lay out of the building as he moved towards the waiting room. He had been an aide to the governor and could have considered him a friend but he was smart enough to know better. They had a great relationship until the first lady was shot. There was nothing he could have done about it, he had told himself a thousand times but he could not let go of the incident. Neither could the governor. He had been sent out of the country for a course in criminology and he had come back to head the CIB.

He had been surprised when the police chief told him the governor wanted to see him and was even more surprised when he got a direct call from the governor ten minutes later asking him to come to the government house.

The room where he was told to wait was one of the several rooms where the governor attended to his visitors, depending on how important they were. If the room where he was meeting the governor was anything to go by, then he was not very important.
“Adam!” A voice called from behind him. He jumped up, it was the governor.
“Sir, I didn’t…”

“Come here my friend, it’s been a long time.” The governor moved towards him and gave him a firm handshake.

“Yes sir, it’s been a while sir.”
“Sit down please. Well, how have…” he stopped as his daughter came in. “You remember Kate?”

“Hello Uncle Adam.” She said, curtsying. He remembered her, she had not changed much. She looked exactly like her mother.

“Hello Kate.” He replied, avoiding making eye contact.

“You want something dear?” The governor said to Kate. She moved towards him and whispered into his ears. Adam looked away. The late first lady had made sure that every room in the house had a picture of their family of three. She stood out from the pictures, she was beautiful and elegant, the kind of wife any husband would be proud of.

“I miss her a lot, you know.” The governor said, cutting into his thoughts.

“What?”

“My wife, I saw you looking at her.”

“Yes sir.” It was an awkward conversation, one he did not want to have.
“I don’t hold her death against you, I hope you know?”

“Thank you for that sir.” Adam shifted in his chair, he was getting more uneasy.
“How’s your new job? You like it?”

“Well sir, I am grateful for the opportunity you gave me sir.” He was glad for the change of subject but talking about his job was not his favourite topic.

“You’re grateful, I see. So I take it you don’t really like the job”

“Sir, I have a good job, a job most will kill for and like I said earlier sir, I am very grateful for it.”

“How’s the case you’re working coming?”

“We are trying to pursue some new leads sir.” There was no way he was going to admit to the governor he was not sure of what he was doing.

“Alright, let me tell you why I asked you to come.” Adam sat up in his chair. “I have asked around and I know for a fact you don’t like this job. I realize you are grateful for it, I don’t doubt that, but it looks like the only reason you are still on the job is because of me. Is this true Adam?”

“Well sir, I am grateful…”

“I know you are grateful Adam. Alright, this is my offer, you can resign from the job, I won’t hold it against you.”

“Sir, I couldn’t possibly…” He was surprised at the governor’s offer, there’s no way he would resign like this even if he wanted to.

“Just to assure you I mean what I just said, you pick any job you want in the state police and you’ll have it. I realize you might not be suited to this detective work and I put you there without your say, so, here is your out.”

Adam looked away from the governor. He was not totally against quitting the job but not this way. He was already a disappointment to the governor, there was no way he was going to do it again.

“Sir, I appreciate this offer but I will have to decline sir. I am grateful for the job I have and I will do my best sir. I am sorry I gave you reason to doubt me again sir.”

“I’m sure you can be excellent at the job if you if you put your mind to it. And you need to ease up on the booze, you didn’t drink when you worked with me, don’t make it a habit now.”

He was shocked the governor knew about his drinking. He felt even more ashamed.
“I want you to do only one thing Adam, make sure this kind of killing doesn’t happen again in this state.”

It was a simple enough instruction. As long has he had any say in it, the city would never experience such murders anymore.

He placed the knife beside Diana’s blonde offering and walked away. She lay unconscious and unaware of the beauty around her. Diana loved him and he loved her. He had experienced her love in a special way and after two weeks of torture in his sleep, he was going to experience it again. She had loved his sacrifice but it had been a random prostitute, this time He was going to satisfy her with an even better sacrifice.

The blondeness of the girl was a pleasant surprise. Diana loved blondes and was a blonde herself. The girl’s hair was fake of course, there were no Nigerian blondes. Diana would not mind though, she was a fake blonde herself.

You dare call Diana fake?
He picked up a knife from close by and slashed his thigh. He screamed as blood flowed from the cut. Diana was a goddess, she was anything but fake.

He looked up at the picture frame on the wall. Diana smiled down at him urging him on. He stripped off his robe and stood naked in front of the mirror standing below the picture frame. His body was perfect. He ran his hand across the cut on his thigh, he felt the pain sharply, it was the perfect drug.

The bottle of cyanide stood where he had left it from the last time but he would not need it. Diana was going to have a living sacrifice.

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