Samuel decided to spend the two-week mid semester break in Buea even when his brothers called him on phone and invited him over to Douala. He did it so he would not miss his ongoing doctrine classes at the Molyko Parish, which was a crucial part of his plans.
Beltus, however, went to the village to spend the holiday with his family after warning Samuel to be very careful, especially at such a time when he could no longer tell between friend and foe.
When Samuel informed Sylvia of his decision to stay - despite the odds - she was overjoyed, understanding that he had become so devoted to the Catholic Church that he would sacrifice his own family for his personal salvation. She encouraged him to carry on with the spirit.
All the while, he kept thinkinghard about her: trying to find the answers to the questions that plagued him every day, to put a face on the enemy in the shadows - his own nemesis. Yet, his efforts seemed to be going down the drain.
Sylvia neither made mention of her breakup with Nelson nor made any mention of Elvis; and all of that bothered him. It seemed he was walking right into a wall!
The day after Fabrice met Jennifer at the Parliamentarian Flats Hotel, Samuel finished his domestic chores and had breakfast before lying in bed to have a short nap since he was feeling very exhausted of late.
Yet, he could not find sleep. She seemed to have deserted him at the moment he really needed her to come ease the worries in his mind, and make him think of nothing as he lays his head on her bosom and – for at least a few hours – live in a world void of suffering and persecution.
Instead, anxiety came in her place and put all the troubling thoughts on his mind, mercilessly piling them up like an endless stack of books.
And so he once more ended up thinking about the strange circumstances surrounding Sylvia, and was trying to get past the wall he had bumped into – so to speak - or find a way round it somehow.
All of a sudden, something occurred to him - something he had never before considered. Just the mere thought of it gave him gooseflesh as he earnestly hoped he was mistaken.But then everything seemed to be leading him in that same direction.
He quickly got to his feet and paraded the length of the room, hoping against all odds that he was wrong as beads of sweat formed on his forehead and forearms.
The horrible thought – the very seed planted into his head by anxiety – was taking root fast as he began to feel a frontal headache, wondering what was what, until he realized there was only one way to find out.
A moment later, he dialed Nelson’s number, waiting impatiently for him to answer the call.
Nelson answered on the second ring, and Samuel heard his voice from across the line. ‘Hello, Sam. How are you doing?’
Samuel tried to keep his voice steady. ‘I’m fine. And you?’
‘Not bad.’
‘Are you home?’
‘Yes, I am. Do you want to come over?’
‘You bet. As you well know, my roommate has travelled to his village and it’s so boring over here.’
Samuel knew Nelson lived at Sandpit - a neighbourhood in Buea - but had before gone there to visit him.
He heard Nelson say, ‘Just take a taxi for Sandpit and alight at the entrance to Frankfurt’s Comprehensive College. Call me when you get there; I will meet you there.’
‘Alright, I will,’ he said just before ending the call.
After the phone call, he felt a whole lot better as he went into the bathroom to take a shower, dress up and left to board a taxi for Sandpit.
While in the taxi, he informed the driver that he would alight at the entrance to Frankfurt’s Comprehensive College. When he got there, he got his phone and dialed Nelson’s number again.
Nelson answered on the first ring. ‘Hello, Sam. Are you there already?’
‘Yes, I am.’
‘Ok. I will be with you shortly.’
‘I will be waiting,’ he said before ending the call and waited patiently.
His patience was rewarded a few minutes later when he saw Nelson approaching from the entrance which was quite a wide footpath - wide enough for a vehicle to go through.
Nelson was dressed in an indigo polo shirt over a pair of green shorts with a pair of leather slippers while Samuel himself was clad in a white T-shirt over a long pair of jean trousers with a black pair of sandals.
‘Hey, Sam,’ Nelson said as they shook hands. ‘I’m glad you could take out time to pay me a visit.’
Samuel shrugged. ‘Well, it’s good to know where your friends live.’
Nelson then took him about ninety meters down the road by which he just emergedbefore stopping in front of a two-storey building painted pink all round.
‘Welcome to my humble abode,’ he said as he opened the door to the apartment at the front of the ground floor.
They went in and Samuel saw the usual things found in a student’s room – a bed, a study table, a closet – including a white couch, a small refrigerator, a coffee table and a small cupboard on which were a flat-screen TV, a decoder and a stereo set. “Makossa” by X Maleya was rumbling from the stereo set.
‘Wow,’ Samuel said as he looked round the well-furnished room. ‘I didn’t know you have such a nice place.’
‘Gee, thanks. Please have a seat.’
‘Thank you.’ Samuel flopped down on the couch, enjoying its comfort.
Nelson fished out two canned beers from the refrigerator.
‘Sorry, Sam,’ he said as he set the drinks on the coffee table before Samuel. ‘You have come at a bad time. The food I cooked just got finished early this morning.’
That’s alright,’ he said, grabbing one of the canned drinks as Nelson turned the chair at his study table to face the couch before sitting on it. Samuel then passed him the other drink.
‘So how was the exam?’ Nelson asked as they sipped their drinks.
‘Not bad. We await the results to show whether we were really studying or just playing around.’
‘Indeed.’
After chatting for a while, Samuel said, ‘Could you please turn down the volume?’
‘What’s wrong? Is it too loud?’
When Samuel remained silent, Nelson shrugged and turned the volume down a notch.
Samuel fixed his gaze on him, saying, ‘I need you to be completely honest with me, Nelson. I fear something big is about to go down unless we can stop it.’
‘Wait a minute, Sam. You got me confused here. What are you talking about?’
‘Ok,’ Samuel said, calming his nerves. ‘I know this may sound absurd, but I think Elvis has secretly been making out with Sylvia. By that, I mean I have this growing suspicion that they are secret lovers.’
‘Jesus, Sam!’ Nelson gasped as he nearly dropped his canned drink to the floor. ‘Can you listen to yourself? Why would you say such a thing?’
‘Calm down,’ Samuel implored. ‘That’s why I said you need to be honest with me. Doesn’t it ever bother you that Sylvia was talking with that stripper at Las Vegas; or that she suddenly lost her temper with you that same night when you asked her about it, and all of a sudden broke up with you the following day?’
Nelson was mulling it over now. ‘Yes, I have been thinking about all that ever since. But is that why you think she’s secretly dating Elvis? My God, Sam,’ he chuckled, thinking Samuel was overreacting, making several connections where was none; ‘you have such a rash judgment. You see, I have been Elvis’ friend long before we even met Sylvia. If he and she were together, he would have told me.’
‘Unless they did not want you – or anyone else – to find out,’ Samuel said gently.
Nelson looked aghast. ‘What! What are you even saying?’
‘Now, this is how I came to suspect the two of them are secretly making out. It was the day I met the three of you at that De Maker restaurant on campus just before the exams; the day I found out you once dated Sylvia.
‘That day, Elvis made mention of the fact that I must be feeling bad because Sylvia turned me down. And if you recall very well, he even said I went to get her from the Governor’s Palace with flowers. Now listen, Nelson: no one but Sylvia and I knew about that night; and the only way Elvis could know so much about it was if Sylvia told him herself!Also, the day I first met you three, you told me you were Sylvia’s friends. But when I saw her later on, she claimed none of you were her friends. Weird, isn’t it? Well then, does it not strike you as odd that she would disclose such sensitive information about the night I asked her out to someone she claimed was not her friend?’
Nelson looked all the more confused now. ‘I don’t know what to make of all this.’
‘Ok. Did Elvis tell you and Karl how he found out I had asked Sylvia out?’
‘Well, he said you asked her to be your girlfriend, but she said she would think about it and get back to you.’
Samuel could feel an intense pounding inside his head as he felt his throat go dry. He could not believe what he was hearing. He took a quick sip of his drink to moisturize his throat before saying, ‘You mean he actually said that? Sylvia turned me down flat the very moment I asked her to be my girlfriend!’
‘Then it was all a lie,’ Nelson said calmly, understanding something for the first time since Samuel started telling him all those strange things.
Samuel looked even more fascinated. ‘What was a lie?’
‘I’m so sorry to say this, Sam. Earlier the day we first met, Elvis told us Sylvia was beginning to take a liking to you, and it won’t be long before you two became lovers. So he suggested that if we could get your life all messed up, she would not give you a second glance.So by the time we got you really drunk the second time we met you, we knew it was enough for Sylvia to stop seeing you.
‘But when Elvis told us later on that you asked Sylvia out and her reply was still pending, he proposed that we act fast and ruin your academic career, which he said was the main reason why she had developed a liking for you in the first place. So I sent someone to go get your schoolbag from Amphi 600 that day after I saw you leave the hall from afar. I was tailing you for some time.Elvis figured that without your lecture notes, you would perform so badly in the Continuous Assessment tests and, subsequently, the exams that Sylvia would not even look your way when next you met her.
‘After the Continuous Assessment tests, Elvis said we could return your schoolbag to you since our plan had worked and Sylvia finally turned you down after being disappointed at you for your terrible performance during the Continuous Assessment tests.’
Samuel listened on in silence, dumbfounded and wide-eyed, before saying, ‘Isn’t it obvious that Elvis has been manipulating you the whole time? He knows you still haven’t got over your breakup with Sylvia; that’s why he took advantage of your predicament to get you to ruin my life - all the while distracting you from what has long been going on between them.’
Nelson was seething with rage now, and Samuel took it as a good sign.
After a short silence, Nelson said, ‘You may be right, Sam.I can’t believe Elvis could do this to me. But what could he and Sylvia be hiding from the rest of us?’
‘That’s exactly what I myself have been wondering. But first, tell me: does Elvis possess a gun?’
Nelson froze - upon hearing the question – more from the fact that Samuel thought Elvis had a gun than from the fact that he was actually asking the question. ‘Why would you say such a thing?’
‘Just answer, please. I will explain later.’
After a brief hesitation, Nelson said, ‘Yes, he has a pistol. As you know, he had undergone the B.I.R – The Rapid Intervention Battalions - training in Koutaba before resigning after two years to enroll in the University of Buea. He told me and Karl that all the firearms he was using there were confiscated upon his resignation; so he bought a pistol from a friend there who managed to smuggle it out. When we asked why he did that, he said he wanted to keep it as a souvenir of his time inKoutaba. Now how did you figure out he has a gun?’
‘Just one more question, please. Did you at any time during your relationship with Sylvia tell her that about the gun?’
Nelson was beginning to feel dizzy with all the enquiries, wondering how Samuel knew so much. But then he said, ‘Yes; I think I told her about that while we were at Las Vegas that night. But how is all this related to the matter at hand?’
‘Myworst fears have been confirmed!’ Samuel lamented, and Nelson saw the colour drain from his face.
‘What do you mean?’
Samuel leaned forward on the couch and said, ‘I think Elvis and Sylvia have been the ones killing those Pentecostal Church Pastors.’
Now, Nelson could take this no more. Feeling like he had had too many surprises for one day, he stared at Samuel saucer-eyed as though he had just mentioned an abomination.
He shot to his feet, saying, ‘I think you have to leave my house now, Sam; this instant! I will not take any more of this nonsensefrom you.’
Samuel, too, stood and said, ‘Are you very sure about that? Are you really okay moving around with all those unanswered questions tugging at you from the inside? Please, hear me out. You can choose to not believe me if you want, but at least hear me out.’
Nelson involuntarily resumed his seat and Samuel did likewise, saying, ‘I understand this must be so hard for you, Nelson, but it has not been any easier for me. I think it is about time some things became clear around here.Remember, the media says these pastors died shortly after receiving photos of them making love with unknown women; and that their killer asked them to proclaim to their various congregations that the Catholic Church was the only true church of God. Does that ring any bells in your head?’
He did not wait for Nelson to answer. Rather, he proceeded, ‘Now if you are so sure that Sylvia talked with that stripper that night at Las Vegas, then it can only mean that she must have wanted a number of them to do something for her. Come to think of it, Nelson: what sort of person would agree to seduce a man of God except for a professional – a stripper?Sylvia now had that kind of person at her beck and call. I think all she needed next was a gunman to execute her victims probably in case anything went wrong.
‘So I’m guessing she broke up with you because she had decided right there at the club to go after Elvis who is the one with the gun. And since she could not date the two of you at the same time - lest she attracted unnecessary attention, which she did not want – she broke up with you.’
Nelson was now beginning to make some sense of the whole matter, or so he thought. But he could not bring himself to say anything; so he just kept listening to Samuel.
Samuel proceeded, ‘We both know Sylvia is such a devoted Catholic Christian that she cannot tolerate anything related to the Pentecostal churches. So she must have thought getting the pastors to declare to their own churches the sole legitimacy of the Catholic Church would drive home to them the message she felt they didnot fully comprehend.’
Nelson said, ‘She then gets them killed immediately to keep them from fessing up that they were compelled into saying it.’ He sprang to his feet, terror and apprehension gnawing at him from the inside like termites feasting on wood, and paced up and down, scratching his disheveled hair with his fingers so furiously that Samuel thought he would peel of his scalp. ‘I should have known…I should have seen it coming! I have been with them all this while and yet I couldn’t decipher a single clue!’
‘You couldn’t have,’ Samuel said calmly from where he sat transfixed like a statue, watching Nelson pace up and down like a restless beast, now coated in a fine sheen of perspiration. He, Samuel was still trying to get a hold of himself as he felt a chill descend hi spine. His worse fears had indeed been confirmed, and yet he could not bring himself to believe Sylvia could go to such lengths… if his suspicions panned out. But he could not see the whole thing otherwise. ‘They hid it too well from anyone. It took me a very long while to piece it together. Sylvia must have needed Elvis to kill the pastors. Now I am beginning to think that from the time I first met Sylvia, it was in fact Elvis who has been jealous, fearing she might dump him - like she dumped you - so she could be with me. That must be why he got you to do all those horrible things to me.’
Nelson finally calmed down long enough to face Samuel, though his body was still shivering. ‘Though your theory seems to fit, Sam, it is hardly concrete; there is no direct evidence linking them to the act,’ he said, hoping Samuel must be wrong somewhere, though his gut old him the opposite.
‘I have thought about that, too. That is why I will need you to testify to the police that Elvis in fact owns a pistol. I am sure they must have pieced together the fact that the murder weapon is a pistol.’
‘Are you crazy? Are you really going to report this to the police without proof? Do you realize that you are about to implicate the Governor’s daughter for a heinous crime on a wholly circumstantial basis? There is no way I am going to follow you there, Sam!’
Samuel shot to his feet. ‘There is just no time to start finding any more proof, Nelson. We just have to implicate Elvis and the police will do the rest. After all, how are we sure they are not now looking for that small piece of information that is going to help them close the case?’
‘If you do not seem to understand the risk you are about to undertake, Sam, I do! I had rather let those pastors keep dying till the police gets to the root of the matter. There is no way I am going to stick my neck out on this one.’
‘Ok,’ Samuel said, seeing Nelson already had his mind made up. ‘Promise me you will cooperate if the police choses to hear us out.’
Nelson looked round the room as he contemplated the question before saying, ‘Ok. I promise.’
‘And don’t do anything stupid,’ Samuel cautioned him. ‘I know you must hate Elvis now for a lot of reasons, but you must not confront him. Let’s leave that to the police. Besides, if what we have just now come up with is correct, he could be a dangerous man, armed with a pistol.’
‘I understand that,’ Nelson said.
‘Very well then,’ Samuel said. ‘I have to get going now. I will go and see the police first thing tomorrow morning.’
‘All right then. I wish you all the best of luck.’
‘Thank you.’
Nelson went to see him off at the roadside and waved goodbye as the taxi Samuel had entered drove off.
***
When Samuel got home, he feltlike an unbearable burden had just been taken off his shoulders. He had finally got the answers to all his questions, and put not just a face but also a name on that dreadful enemy in the shadows – Elvis! This made him recall Jesus’ invitation in Matthew chapter 11, verse 28 for those who are heavily burdened to come rest their loads in his and carry his own yoke which is lighter.
Muttering a prayer of thanksgiving, he flopped into bed feeling so fagged out. It was not long before sleep finally came full of apologies and decided to make amends by giving him a long, sound rest with a very beautiful dream.
***
Samuel woke the following morning feeling reborn, like all the havoc had never occurred. The sun felt warmer, the day livelier. In fact, he was now even enjoying the chirping of the birds on the trees in the backyard.
He went about his domestic chores, ate, bathed and got dressed. Hewas about to leave for the police station when he heard his phone ring.He felt goose bumps form on his arms as he saw that the caller was Elvis.
Calm down, Samuel, he told himself. Elvis doesn’t know you have found out about him. Just calm down and play it cool. Taking a deep breath, he answered the call.
‘Hello, Elvis.’
‘Hello, Sam. How have you been?’
‘Well, I have been holding up. And you?’
‘I’m fine.’ There was a brief silence. ‘You are smart, Sam; I’ll give you that.’
Now, Samuel was lost. With a shy smile, he said, ‘Well, to what do I owe the credit?’
‘Let’s not pretend you have not been saying things to Nelson.’
Samuel could feel his heartbeat accelerate as he flopped down on one of the chairs at the table.
Has Nelson sold me out? He wondered.
He said to Elvis, still maintaining his cool, ‘I’m afraid I don’t know what you are taking about, Elvis.’
‘Well, you can deny it all you want, but I want you to know that Nelson came over to my place last night saying rubbish about me backstabbing him and making out with Sylvia. I was surprised! Then he said you and he knew, and that he was going to testify to the police that I was involved in the murders of those pastors.’ He chuckled. ‘Like that’s ever going to happen.
‘Anyways, the message I have for you this morning is that if you love your life, you would think twice before saying a word about this to anyone, not to talk of the police. If you do’ – another chuckle – ‘you would not be alive to testify what I would do to you.
‘But if you still stubbornly cling to telling the police your pathetic story, I want you to know that it has just got even more circumstantial: Nelson is dead.’
And with that, Elvis ended the call.
As Samuel put the phone on the table, he felt his throat constrict as a wave of terror enveloped him. He instantly became mad at Nelson for not keeping his end of their bargain. He had warned him, yet he had not listened.
And now, by going to confront Elvis, he hadgot himself killed,put a bull’s-eye on Samuel’s back, and thirdly, he had indeed made their plan more circumstantial. With no direct witness to corroborate that Elvis possessed the gun used to kill the pastors, Samuel’s hypothesis was reduced to mere speculation.
He equally became mad at Sylvia for undertaking the heinous task of executing those men of God. It then occurred to him that had it not been for her, the Rev. Ayuk Peter would still be alive. He tasted bile as he brimmed with pure rage.
It was in that state that he stormed out of the house and headed to the police station to make his report, however bad it had just now become.
***
Inspector Tata Timothy dropped the receiver of the emergency line back on the telephone in the Inspectors’ office at the police station and turned to look at the four other Inspectors seated behind their desk, anxiously waiting for him to tell them who had turned up dead this time. The emergency line didn’t ring nowadays without news of a recent murder.
With a frown on his exhausted face, he said, ‘A young man was just discovered dead this morning in his room at Sandpit with a single gunshot wound in the forehead.’
As the other Inspectors murmured to one another, InspectorNgobiDieudonne – the fifth Inspector, who was an Orocko man from Ndian Division in the South West Region – stood and said, ‘I will go check it out.’ He got his phone and bunch of keys from his desk before walking out of the office with quick, long strides.
As Timothy returned to his desk and flopped down on his seat, InspectorIssaDauda turned to them and said, ‘I don’t understand what this town is turning into. Are you sure this is not some kind of punishment wreaked by Allah upon us all?’
‘I no longer know what to make of it,’ Gladys chipped in.
Fabrice just sat still at his desk, lost in thought.
After Jennifer dropped to the floor at the hotel and burst out crying the other night, he waited until her cry subsided before stooping next to her and assuring her even more that she was not going to be arrested. Rather, the police needed her help to track down Pichichi and – in the process – save her life.
She agreed to help out. So he took her to his house for safekeeping just in case Pichichi went rogue and tried to track her down. However, he said they had to stop by her house first to get the printed photos and a few things since he said she was going to stay at his place for quite some time.
When the got to her place and she started getting her things, Laura was alarmed; so Fabrice just told her that they feared Jennifer’s life might be in danger, so he was taking her someplace safe until it was all over. However, he did not tell her what the matter was, feeling it would be safer if fewer people knew about it. Before they left, he warned Laura that if anyone came asking where Jennifer was, she was to say she did not know.
On the way to his house, he asked Jennifer to describe Pichichi.
She said, ‘He has a good body build, he’s dark in complexion and has some kind of compelling presence about him, like you just couldn’t stop yourself from listening to him.’
The description did not ring any bells in his head.
‘Did you ever meet him anywhere else other than at Las Vegas?’ he asked.
‘No, I did not. We always met at the club.’
When they got to his house, he formulated a plan with her and assured her that she was safe there. He then told her to switch off her phone just in case Pichichi called.
Before leaving for work the previous day, he went out to buy some ingredients so she could cook something to eat, since she could not leave the house for fear of being made out.
And so he came to work this morning leaving her in his house with instructions to not open the door or go outside for any reason whatsoever.
He told Gladys and Timothy everything, and they hoped his plan will pull through successfully.
And now, almost an hour after InspectorNgobi Dieudonne left the office,Fabrice saw a young man being escorted into the office by a female Police Constable who saluted the Inspectors before leaving.
‘Good morning, Inspectors,’ the young man said as he regarded them one after the other.
‘Good morning, young man,’ Gladys said. ‘How may we help you?’
The young man rubbed his face with his hands before saying, ‘I think I know who has been killing those pastors.’
The Inspectors stared at him in stone silence as if it was a dream. They could not believe what he just said. Fabrice felt his heart miss a beat as adrenaline surged into his bloodstream and the throbbing in his head came on out of the blue with an alarming intensity that made him murmur painfully as he held his head in his hands.
Timothy quickly asked Samuel to take the seat before his desk before fetching a blank sheet of paper as Gladys and Fabrice dragged their seats to either side of Timothy’s desk.
After scribbling something on the sheet of paper before him. Timothy looked up and asked the young man, ‘What is your name?’
‘My name is Bekindaka Samuel Ekoko. I am a second-year management student at the University of Buea.’
‘And you say you know who the killer is?’ Fabrice asked as he felt the throbbing dwindle.
After a momentary pause, Samuel said, ‘I do not have concrete proof, but I believe my statement will somehow be of help to the investigation.’
‘Go on,’ Gladys urged him.
He fished out his phone and showed them a photo of Elvis, saying, ‘That’s him. His name is Ndong Elvis Muh; he is a final-yearmechanical engineering student in my school. And guess what: he has once been to Koutaba for the B.I.R training for two years before resigning and buying an unlicensed, smuggled pistol from a trainee there at Koutaba.’
As he said this, the Inspectors squinted at the phone to see a young man in his mid-twenties standing in front of the University of Buea library with a wide grin on his face and a toothpick dangling from the left side of his mouth. He was dark in complexion and had a good body build, clad in a skin-tight floral short-sleeved shirt over a brown pair of shorts. The photo did not extend beyond his thighs.
Fabrice then turned and asked Samuel, ‘How are you sure he is the killer?’
Samuel took a deep breath before narrating to them the hypothesis he and Nelson arrived at, including the fact that Sylvia was the Governor’s daughter, and showing them her photo in his phone. He further added that the only person who could connect Elvis to the crime had just been murdered, and that he himself had been threatened by Elvis.
After the narration, the Inspectors themselves took a deep breath and remained silent for a while, trying to assimilate what Samuel had just said. They were fascinated by the fact that he alluded to the employment of strippers in Sylvia’s plans since that specific piece of information was still beyond public knowledge.
That, along with the logical coherence of his statement, was what made them buy his story. It may be circumstantial, but then it carried some weight.
‘So Pichichi isn’t the one at the top of the chain – assuming Samuel here is right,’ Timothy finally said. ‘He’s just a footman for this Sylvia you speak of.’
‘Who is Pichichi?’ asked Samuel, a quizzical look on his face.
It was Fabrice that answered. ‘He is the person who employed the strippers to seduce the pastors, and the same person who has been killing the pastors and the strippers. Now, from what you have just told us, we are guessing that this Elvis is in fact Pichichi. “Pichichi” must be a pseudonym.’
For a moment Samuel felt his entire body grow numb except for the raw awe that engulfed him. He never knew Sylvia and Elvis had gone to such heights with their mischievous plans.
But before anyone could utter another word, InspectorNgobi walked into the office with a digital camera in his hand and sat at his desk after glancing at those gathered at Timothy’s desk.
Producing his jotter from his pocket, he flipped it to a page and said, ‘It turns out the victim is a third-year Journalism and Mass Communication student of the University of Buea by name Mbong Nelson Che; aged twenty-five.’
‘That’s Nelson!’ Samuel exclaimed, shaking with apprehension. ‘He’s the friend I said was going to testify against Elvis before he got killed.’ He even showed them a picture of Nelson in his phone.
As they looked at it, Gladys said to Dieudonne, ‘Could we have that camera, please? We want to see the snapshots taken of the body.’
He conceded.
‘Jesus Christ! Timothy gasped as the three of them went through the snapshots in the camera. ‘This is the same person found in Samuel’s phone.’
Knowing Samuel could not have been at the crime scene that morning – since Dieudonne would have recognized him by now – the fact that his mention of Nelson’s death, as part of the statement he just gave, tied in well with the ongoing investigation was what gave the Inspectors even more reason to believe him.
As Timothy dropped the camera on his desk, Fabrice turned to Samuel and said, ‘We believe you may be right about all what you have just said., Samuel You have made mention of things which are very similar with what we have come up with so far in the investigation.’
Samuel gave a sigh of relief and made a silent prayer of thanksgiving. He asked the Inspectors, ‘So what do we do now?’
It was Gladys who told him how far they had gone with the investigation as well as the plan Fabrice had put in place.
Taking a deep breath, Samuel said, ‘You think it’s going to work?’
‘You bet it will,’ Fabrice said with a smile. ‘By the way, show me Elvis’ phone number in your phone so we can see whether it is the same one that Pichichi has been using to call the strippers.’
As Samuel did so, Timothy wrote it down. Fabrice then checked his phone for Pichichi’s number which he had saved; he then compared the two phone numbers. ‘They are not the same,’ he said.
‘I thought as much,’ Gladys said. ‘If Elvis is indeed Pichichi, then he must have used a different phone number – just as he had used a pseudonym – to get to the strippers.’
The others agreed.
‘Please send the photos of Sylvia, Elvis and Nelson to my phone,’ Fabrice implored Samuel.
After Samuel complied, Timothy said to him, ‘Thank you very much, Samuel. You may go now. We assure you, it won’t be long before we get Sylvia and Elvis.’
The utterance sent a chill down Samuel’s spine as adrenaline shot into his bloodstream. ‘Didn’t you get me well when I said Elvis threatened to kill me? I can’t go back to my house unprotected, especially when he knows where I live!’
‘Very well then,’ Fabrice concurred.‘You can stay here for now. I will take you to my house after work.’
‘Thank you, sir.’ Samuel gave a sigh of relief.
***
After work that day, Fabrice took Samuel to his car before driving to his house at Dirty South where Jennifer was waiting for him.
When they got to the house, they found Jennifer lying on the couch watching TV with the volume so low that Samuel wondered whether she could hear a thing.
Looking round, Fabrice saw that she had given the house a thorough cleaning. He felt a pang of guilt for having brought a lady into his house in a shabby state.
The sound of the door opening startled Jennifer to near flight, for she had locked thedoor from inside with the spare key Fabrice had given her. She only gave a sigh of relief when she saw Fabrice enter; and a frown when she saw the newcomer – Samuel.
They entered and Fabrice locked the door from the inside before turning to Jennifer. ‘I hope you did not leave the house.’
‘No, I did not.’
‘Your phone is still switched off, I hope?’
‘Yes, it is.’
‘Good. Now, I want you to meet Samuel – a victim of circumstance like yourself, though in another way. He’s a UB student. Samuel, meet the Jennifer I told you about.’
‘Pleased to meet you, Jennifer,’ Samuel said with a broad grin as he shook hands with her.
‘The pleasure’s all mine,’ she said with a tight smile, wondering how Samuel had been victimized.
When they got seated, she asked Fabrice, ‘How is he a victim like myself?’
‘I’ll tell you that later,’ Fabrice said. ‘Now, Samuel, show her the photo to see if she recognizes Elvis - just to be sure.’
With a nod, Samuel got his phone and showed her Elvis’ photo.
She froze in her seat when she saw it, and they noticed the paleness of her face which was now completely drained of colour.
‘This is him - Pichichi!’ she gasped as she looked from Fabrice to Samuel, and back to Fabrice, wondering how Samuel had come about the photo. ‘How did you get this?’
Both men exchanged knowing glances with triumphant grins. They had just made a major leap in the investigation.
As Jennifer regarded them with confusion and fear etched on her pretty face, Fabrice told her, ‘Just one more.’ He reached for Samuel’s phone, flipped through it and gave it back to her with a photo of Sylvia on the screen. ‘See if you recognize her.’
Jennifer frowned hard as she looked at the photo. Then slowly, she began to look surprised as something seemed to occur to her.
She quickly looked up at the men and said, ‘I think I have once seen her.’
‘When was that?’ Fabrice asked. He and Samuel bolted upright on their seats, their eyes gleaming with fascination.
‘Um…’ She cocked her head backwards as she tried to recall something. Her face suddenly lit up as she looked at them, saying, ‘I think it was sometime in April last year. I was performing onstage at Las Vegas when she came up to me – I was at the left end of the stage – and nudged me on the left thigh.
‘It was odd, you see; only men came up to us at that time to take us to their houses or hotel rooms or book appointments. So when I dismounted the stage and asked her what the matter was, she asked me to keep it low.
‘She leaned close to me and whispered that her name was Lucy, and that she wanted me “and some of my friends” – as she put it, nodding at the other strippers onstage – to do something for her. She said it was going to pay like nothing we had ever seen before. So I thought someone had sent her to hook us up. She then took my phone number, saying she was going to call me later.
‘I received a phone call from her the following day. She said she needed the names and phone numbers of four other strippers. When I asked her where she wanted us to perform – because people hardly took the contacts of five strippers for just personal encounters, you see – she shocked me by saying she had something else in mind for us. When I asked what it was, she asked me to send the names and numbers first.
‘So I told her to end the call so I could send her the details through SMS. After doing that, I waited her to either send me a text message to indicate she had received them or call me back to say what she needed us for. But strangely, she didn’t do either of them. So I dialed he number but I could not get through. That was the last I ever heard from her.’
Both men had been listening attentively, and now they both gasped, looking so excited as though what she just said had brought something else to their minds.
They both started talking at once before Fabrice turned and said, ‘You go first, Sam.’
Samuel looked at him and said, ‘I told you Nelson had thought he saw Sylvia talking with a stripper while they were at Las Vegas, right?’ Fabrice nodded. ‘There is no doubt that Jennifer here was that stripper she talked with! Nelson took her there in April last year, and I doubt she ever went there again. It makes perfect sense now. That must have been how she got the stripper’s contacts!’
Jennifer looked even more confused now. ‘Wait, what’s going on here? Who are Sylvia and… Wait a minute! Are you two saying this girl’s name is Sylvia, and not Lucy?’ She squinted at Sylvia’s photo again, regarding it differently now before casting the men a confused look.
‘Yes!’ both men replied in unison.
‘I think that was how Pichichi – whose real name is Elvis – got you all into the deal,’ Fabrice told her.‘From what Samuel here told me, Sylvia later broke up with Nelson and became Elvis’ girlfriend and they both concocted the plan to start getting these pastors killed after making that confession.
‘But it seems Sylvia did not want to get herself fully involved in the whole thing. So she must have blacklisted your number and given your contacts to Elvis who then recruited you all individually some months later, so you would never even think of linking him to her!’
Raw fear now consumed Jennifer like a raging fire. Her face blanched and her lower lip began quivering spontaneously as everything began to make sense to her.
‘Jesus!’she gasped. ‘You are right. Now I remember! I gave Lucy - I mean, Sylvia - the phone numbers of Amanda and Blandine, who are now dead, and those of Melanie and Eposi. That explains it now: Pichichi - I mean, Elvis – recruited Amanda, Blandine and me already without any of us knowing about the others!’
She slumped back on her seat, feeling numb with fright.
It was more than Samuel could bear. To think Sylvia and Elvis were doing all these things in secret.... He had never imagined they could go to such limits. Then he remembered what Sylvia had told him when they just met. I am a genius of a kind myself; I just don’t let people know.A genius, indeed, Samuel had to admit.
‘In that case,’Fabrice chimed in, ‘I don’t think Elvis hasgot to Eposi and Melanie yet. If he had, they would have fessed up. We need to warn them to not answer any phone calls from him.’
He got a pen and paper on which he wrote down Elvis’ phone number as well as the one he had used to contact Amanda, Blandine and Jennifer.
After that, he got his phone and called Eposi and Melanie, sternly warning them not to answer any phone call from any of the numbers which he had written down and recited to them over the phone. He also added that in case a different number called and the caller introduced himself as Pichichi, they were to end the call immediately!
When they asked why he said that, he told them what they had just found out about Elvis.
He ended the call, saying, ‘They are clear on it.’
Jennifer still looked really frightened, as though she just could not fathom the depths of the plan she now found herself in. She started crying. ‘That means I unknowingly led Amanda and Blandine to their deaths. Were it not for me, they would still be alive.’
Fabrice sat on the arm of her chair and caressed her shoulders, saying, ‘Hey, don’t blame yourself. You just didn’t know what Sylvia’s intentions were back then. But now you do, and we have made sure Eposi and Melanie are safe. Tonight, we are going to make things right. Now, let’s set the plan in motion. Are you ready to make the call?’
She dried her eyes with a handkerchief and nodded. ‘Yes, I am.’ She then got her phone and dialed Pichichi’s number.
***
That same day, Elvis was in his room in his hostel dressing up to go see Sylvia when he started recounting how his relationship with her had all begun.
When Nelson told him and Karl that same day that Sylvia broke up with him just after they had gone to Las Vegas the previous night, they were taken aback, especially when he said she had been enjoying herself back there.
They did their best to console him, though they knew Nelson was a very sensitive person who could get really depressed even over the slightest disturbance of mind. They feared hemay never recover from the pain.
Just a week later, Sylvia started making advances at Elvis on campus in a strange way. Whenever he saw her from afar, she would give him a seductively inviting look with that enchanting smile of hers, as though she wanted him to join her. But just before he could walk up to her to ask what she thought she was doing, she would frown at him and then walk away.
That really bothered him as he kept wondering whether she wanted him to ask her out, or she just hated him. Her sudden change of mood really got him worked up as he could not understand what her true intentions were.
Yet, as she kept putting up the same show over the next few months, he could not help admitting that he had madly fallen in love with her! That very realization shocked him to his bones like a massive volt of electricity had just passed through his body. He kept chiding himself that she just recently broke up with his friend, so it wouldbe preposterous for him to be with her.
So he tried hard to avoid her by looking away whenever she looked his way from afar. But it was not an easy task, and – fumy as it was – he told neither Nelson nor Karl about it. He feared that Nelson might take it some other way, since he was still grieving over his loss like it were just the previous day.
He feared Nelson might think Sylvia broke up with him just so she could be with Elvis. Elvis was aware of the implications, which was why he kept his friends out of it.
But after four months of her making advances, he decided that enough was enough and – one day in August – he boldly walked up to her on campus before she could walk away and said, ‘Hello, Sylvia. Have you no modicum of shame? How could you be making advances at your own ex’s friend just after breaking up with him?’
‘I don’t recall making any advances at you, Elvis,’ she said with severity in her eyes, and any passer-by could have sworn she was telling the truth.
‘So what’s with all the enticing looks you have been sending my way for the past four months quickly succeeded by such frowns like I have never seen before?’
But she did not answer; rather, she just walked right out on him.
Then something occurred to him.
My God, Elvis! He thought to himself. Do you really expect a girl who is in love with you to actually say so? Were the advances not enough proof of her feelings? Come on, act like a man! Ask her out for dinner and overwhelm her with charms of your own before asking her to be your girlfriend in a most romantic fashion.
And so when next he met her, he asked point blank to take her out for dinner. After eyeing him suspiciously for a while, she accepted, and they agreed to meet at a posh restaurant in town by half past seven that evening.
Over dinner, he tried impressing her with the grey suit he wore and played well with his words to make her laugh nonstop, just before proposing to her there over the table in such a whisper as not to attract the attention of the other diners.
Hecould remember she did not act like someone who had been giving him a cue to ask her out. Rather, she acted like she did not see it coming; and, for a split second, he feared she would turn him down. She then said she would consider his proposal and get back to him.
When she called him on phone five days later, inviting him over to the Governor’s Palace, he felt a rush of excitement as he kept contemplating the rationale for the completely unexpected invitation.
She was waiting for him just outside the gate that barred the lane leading up to the Governor’s Palace. When he got there, he noticed she was dressed like never before, clad in a very short blue V-neck dress that revealed a great deal of her bosom and thighs. Her hair fell graciously across her shoulders and she wore a low pair of sandals. That intrigued him, since she was always decently-dressed whenever she came to school.
She welcomed him warmly before taking him past the gate and up the lane to the magnificent historical edifice that was the Governor’s Palace. He found himself staring wide-eyed at the beautiful building which he never before imagined he would ever get into. It was like a dream come true.
She treated him to lunch at the elegant dining-table. He was very tense, since everything seemed to be happening so fast. She told him to loosen up, saying her father was at his office and her brother had travelled to Douala.
After lunch, she took him to the magnificent living room where she ordered rich wine for them both. While they drank, she placed her right leg over the left, exposing a good view of her thighs. He could swear she did it for just that effect.
She whirled her wine glass in her hands as she said, ‘I have been thinking hard about your request, Elvis, and my answer is yes.’
He could not believe his ears as his body instantly became charged with excitement; but just before he could get to his feet and jubilate, she had held out her right hand for him to keep still.
‘But,’ she said, ‘The relationship must remain a secret.’
He was aghast. ‘What! Why so?’
‘Because what we are about to do, Elvis, does not warrant any publicity. I hear you have a gun; we might have use for it.’
He was seriously taken aback by the statements she just made like she was telling him it was Tuesday.
‘How do you know I have a gun?’
‘Nelson told me.’
‘And what would you want with the gun?’
She fixed her gaze on him and said, ‘You must tell this to no one. If you do, I will personally have your head…’
That was when she told him about her plan: how she had got the strippers’ contacts and needed him to contract them for the operation and do the other things.
However - she emphasized – he was neither allowed to come to her house uninvited nor meet her in public, not to mention engaging in conversation with her. They were to act in public like they never knew each other until the operation was over, after which they could have a normal relationship.
As for the benefits, she told him she would call him from time to time to come over to her house, and while he was there he could make love to her. Also, she would give him the money to fund the operation, in addition to his own personal allowance.
It was a very unusual kind of relationship; yet, he agreed to all its terms, probably because he was madly in love with her.
To crown all the surprises for the day, she actually asked him to follow her to her bedroom. There, she stripped off her clothes and bid him do same just before they made love.
While they lay wasted in bed, she gave him the strippers’ contacts and asked him to start work as soon as possible. It was then that he flashed on an old adage from early Grecian free divers who hunted lobsters in the coral caves of the Aegean islands. When swimming into a dark tunnel, there arrives a point of no return when you no longer have enough breath to double back. Your only choice is to swim forward into the unknown. He knew for sure that he had reached that point, knew there was no going back on the deal he had just struck with Sylvia.
And so it was that Elvis became a regular guest at the Governor’s Palace. Yet, whenever he went there, the only person he met was Sylvia, who said she could not risk anyone – not even her own relatives – know what they were up to.
By the time Elvis recovered from his memories, he was well past the gate and was making his way up the lane leading to the Governor’s Palace when he heard his phone ring. He got it out and when he saw that the caller as Jennifer, he smiled and answered the call.
‘Hello, Jennifer,’ he said in that casual manner of his as he reduced his long strides into a stroll, hoping to be done with the call before he got to the Palace. ‘How are you doing?’
‘I am fine. The photos are ready.’
‘That’s good. Meet me tonight at nine o’clock at Las Vegas – as usual – and I will be waiting with the rest of your payment.’
‘I want something else, too,’ he heard her say. He paused on his tracks as he heard this; it was an unusual request.
‘What is it?’ he asked with a frown on his face.
‘First, I want you to come with her. By that, I mean Lucy.’
His frown got even deeper as he began to get mad. ‘What are you talking about? Who is Lucy?’
‘I am not a dummy, Pichichi; I have a brain, and I have been using it to piece some interesting things together.’
Now he was inquisitive. ‘And what, pray tell, have you been piecing together?’
‘Like how you got my number in the first place. You see, if my memory serves me right, a certain girl by name Lucy asked for my number and those of four other strippers sometime around April last year, saying she had a deal for us. And after I gave her the numbers, I never heard from her ever again. Then, four months later, you call me and offer me this lucrative deal.
‘Earlier this year, two of the strippers whose numbers I had given Lucy are discovered dead after doing exactly what you had paid me to do. So I need to see her.’
You’re one smart girl, Elvis thought as he strolled on. He then said, ‘Bravo, Jennifer. Honestly, I never thought you could make that connection. However, if you have any message for Lucy, you can best leave it with me; I will deliver it to her and give you her reply. There’s no point in seeing her.’
He could feel anger etched in her voice when she said, ‘Do you think I am a fool? If I do not see her tonight, you are not going to get your photos.’
After a brief pause, he said, ‘Very well then; she’ll be there.’
‘Secondly…’
‘What! You have a second request?’
There was a sharp laugh over the line. ‘Oh, Pichichi, if only you knew. Anyways, my second request is that we are not going to meet at Las Vegas tonight.’
‘What! Are you nuts?’
She laughed again. ‘If you want your photos, you are going to have to play it my way tonight. Else, I am going to burn the photos at midnight. Believe me, they are really good.’
He frowned harder now as a momentary silence prevailed. He then said, ‘Where do you want us to meet?’
Another laugh…
***
Sylvia was seated at the study table in her room listening to something on her phone through an earpiece. There was a furious look on her face as she clenched her right fist, and yet she seemed to be smiling as though deriving some kind of pleasure from what she was hearing through the earpiece.
She was startled by the knock on her door. She pressed a button on her phone, which brought the screen to life, and pressed “pause” on the sound she was listening to before removing the earpiece from her ears and then went to open the door.
She took a deep breath when she saw Elvis at the door with a wide grin on his face.
Without a word, she left the door open and went to sit on the edge of her well-made bed. He closed the door and followed her inside.
As he passed by the study table, he saw from the screen of her phone that she had been listening to the recorded phone call he had made to the Full Gospel Mission Pastor (she had instructed him to record all the calls he made to the pastors, so she could listen to them over and over again).
He kept wondering why she asked for that. He concluded that she somehow derived pleasure from listening to how shocked the pastors had sounded when he told them about the photos before dishing out his ultimatum.
He sat next her and put his left arm over her shoulders. She turned to face him and he kissed her, withdrawing as soon as he realized she did not kiss him back.
Clearing his throat, he said, ‘Why do you keep listening to those recordings? It does little to improve your mood. Whenever I see you listening to them, you do not look happy.’
She said, ‘You have no idea.’
He rubbed his tired eyes with his right hand and said, ‘You told me from the start that this whole operation was the only thing that could give you true inner peace: punishing the very people who have always neglected and insulted the Catholic Church just as your own father has always neglected and insulted you.
‘You said the only way to bring you peace would be for them to admit to their own churches the very truth which you claim they themselves seemed to have trampled upon: that the Catholic Church is the one, true church of God.
‘Yet, halfway through the operation, you still don’t look happy. What is the matter?’
‘Don’t pretend you have not been there this whole time, Elvis. Yes, the Presbyterian Church pastor did as he was instructed. But the Full Gospel Mission pastor did the direct opposite, setting in motion some sort of counter attack on my Church and making the public see things the way I never intended for the them to be seen. And then there is the Apostolic Church pastor; he did something unlike the first two – hewent home and killed himself.So you must forgive me, Elvis, if I am not satisfied.’
He sighed before saying, ‘I’m afraid that is not the only bad news we have got.’
She frowned hard at him, bracing herself. ‘What is it?’
‘Nelson is dead.’
She bolted to her feet. ‘What! What happened?’
He looked up at her and said, ‘He knew about us, so I had to silence him. He was going to testify against us to the police.’
She massaged her head with her hands as she was beginning to feel dizzy. ‘Wait a minute, Elvis; I don’t get it. I thought you have been covering our tracks.’
‘I have.’
She turned apoplectic now as she barked at him, ‘So how on earth did Nelson get to find out? Don’t tell me you…’
He spoke a little louder now, as though feeling offended, ‘I did not tell him anything; Samuel did. They planned to report it to the police.’
Sylvia was completely taken aback now, feeling like someone had punched her hard in the belly. She just stared blankly at him, dumbstruck.
Then slowly, she found her voice. She stooped a little and whispered, ‘What is this, Elvis?’
She then bloomed into full rage, screaming at him at the top of her voice: ‘How would Samuel not know, when you keep hovering around him all the time! What is he now, your best friend? I see him with the three of you every time on campus! So tell me, Elvis: how would he not know!’
‘Listen, I didn’t tell him anything.’
‘So how did he find out? Why have you even been hanging around with him in the first place?’
Shooting to his feet, he retorted, ‘…Because I was jealous, Sylvia! I was jealous he could freely interact with you in public whereas I had to act like you never knew me. I, your boyfriend, had to be so less privileged while that scumbag from nowhere got all the glory!’
She was massaging her head again, speaking in subdued anger now. ‘You are unbelievable, Elvis! Do you think I was a fool to have it be that way? Besides, did I not give you all you could possibly want: money, sex? I indulged your every whim and…’
‘You think this is all about money or sex?’ he shot back. ‘This is about how I feel!’
‘No, this is about your ego! You are so impatient. I told you to wait until the operation is over; then we could have a normal relationship.’
‘And when would that be, huh? Next year? Two years later?’
‘You listen to me, Elvis: if Samuel says anything to the police, I am so going to deal with you in such a way that you would never forget in a hurry.’
He was calm by now, as though proud of his own vigilance. ‘Don’t worry about that; I already made sure he won’t say a thing about it to anyone.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I warned him that if he ever did, I would kill him.’
She was goggling at him now, as though she could not believe what he just said. ‘If you ever touch a hair on his head, Elvis, I will end you!’
‘You love him, don’t you?’
‘For Christ’s sake, why does it always have to end with jealousy?’
‘And why doesn’t it have to end that way? What is he now, a Catholic?’
‘You know what, Elvis. Get out of my house!’
He was stupefied. He could not believe his ears. Yet, he composed himself and said, ‘Well, I have something else to say: Samuel isn’t the only one who has been making things out. Jennifer has somehow figured out you and I are in this together. So she called me earlier today and said she wants to see you tonight; else, she won’t hand over the photos.’
For the first time since he entered her bedroom, he saw her smile.
She said, ‘She’s a smart girl. I guess we both underestimated her.’
‘You don’t understand, Sylvia. She also made reference to the other girls. That means she knows what fate awaits her, and may fess up to the police.’
After a brief pause, she sighed and said, ‘Very well then. When we get the photos from her, we’ll kill her instantly. And since you have been nagging about publicity, this would be the last pastor we kill. Once we are done with him, everything returns to normal. But we can’t meet Jennifer in the club if we intend to kill her. So tell her we’ll have to meet somewhere else.’
He closed the distance between them, caressed her face with the back of his right hand and said, ‘There’s no need for that, honey. She already had the venue changed.’
He enjoyed the look of shock on her face.
***
It was a full moon that night, and many stars shone; everything in the heavens and the earth was calm, as though the moon and the stars, the breeze that moved softly about and the trees wanted to pay close attention to the events that would unfold in no time.
Around eight o’clock, Fabrice, dressed in his police uniform, eased his car to the sidewalk just in front of the Second District Police Station, which was now closed. Samuel and Jennifer were in the back seat.
Just then, the front passenger door opened and Gladys got in. Then, moments later, the back door to the right opened and Timothy sat next to Samuel at the back. Still, no one spoke. The two Inspectors, too, were dressed in their uniform.
Fabrice then accelerated toward Checkpoint where he took the bend to the right that led up to the Buea central market. But that was not their destination tonight.
When they got to the piece of land to the right where the Divine Mercy Co-cathedral of the Catholic Diocese of Buea was being built, Fabrice steered the car onto the property. As he drove on, the headlights swept across the vast expanse of land, bringing into view a large wooden structure with a fiber mat covering the back (This structure served as a makeshift sanctuary whenever the Christian faithful of the Catholic Diocese of Buea gathered for Episcopal masses with the Bishop).
As he drove on toward the side of this structure, a huge, red shipping container materialized next to the structure. He steered the car toward the back of the container where there was a wooden shed with no roof or coverings for the sides. As he drove on, the headlights brought into view a few buildings to the left side of the property.
The headlights flashed toward the far end of the property as he maneuvered the car to stop under the shed behind the shipping container. The shadows cringed with fear behind the framework of the Divine Mercy Co-cathedral building with its pillars and crossbars as the headlights flashed that way.
Now, when Fabrice asked Jennifer to call Elvis earlier that day, hehad her ask him to come with Sylvia and meet her at the Co-cathedral site. It was all part of his plan.
He switched off the headlights and killed the engine before switching on the interior light. Checking his wrist watch, he said, ‘The time is twenty-eight minutes past eight, Jennifer. Are you ready to go?’
She took a deep breath and said, ‘I am ready.’
Gladys turned in her seat and said, ‘Do you remember what you have to do?’
‘I remember.’
‘Go now,’ Timothy said. ‘And may God be with you.’
She nodded, and then turned to open the back door to her left before stepping out of the car. She walked back to the front, clad in a multicoloured short-sleeved blouse over a matching skirt.
She stopped halfway between the wooden structure and the road, and waited with her eyes fixated on the road.
Meanwhile, the three Inspectors got out of the car and leaned against the back of the container toward the edge, their guns poised for action. Samuel, who had been asked to stay in the car, craned his neck as he tried to see as much as he could from where he was.
The minutes passed like seconds, and the whole place was as quiet as a cemetery. The moon and the stars seemed to have held their breaths as they shone brightly onto the earth surface, not wanting to miss what was about to happen.
From their hideout, the Inspectors saw the yellow glow of headlights from the direction of the road just before hearing the roaring of a car engine. The headlights got brighter as the sound of the engine got louder and closer. The Inspectors clutched their guns tighter.
Fabrice turned to the others and whispered, ‘Ready?’
They nodded.
The shadows, which had crawled forth from their hiding place behind the Co-cathedral framework, retreated again as the second set of headlights sought them out.
Jennifer watched as the car approached her before stopping a few meters in front of her, bathing her in the glow of the headlights. She shielded her face with her right hand, and saw that it was a green RAV4. The engine was still running, and the headlights still on when she saw the driver’s door as well as the front passenger door open at once.
Elvis emerged from the driver’s side, clad in a red polo shirt over a long pair of blue jeans and a black pair of shoes while Sylvia emerged from the other side, dressed in a short-sleeved blue top over a long brown pair of trousers with low brown shoes. Her hair fell across her shoulders.
They stood where they were - without joining Jennifer in the glow of the headlights – and regarded her as a jury would regard a defendant at a court trial: without the trace of a smile.
‘Hello, Pichichi,’ Jennifer said casually. Turning to face Sylvia, she squinted even harder, as though she could not see her well. ‘Hey, Lucy; it’s been a long while since I last saw… Wait a minute! Are you not Sylvia, the Governor’s daughter?’
Neither Sylvia nor Elvis smiled.
Sylvia said, ‘Why do we have to meet here, Jennifer, when we could meet under more civil circumstances?’
‘Did you just say civil?’ Jennifer let out a sarcastic laugh. ‘There is nothing civil about this, honey. You recruit strippers to seduce pastors and then take photos of them in the act before delivering them to your friend here,’ she nodded at Elvis, ‘who goes and kills the pastors. Or am I wrong, Sylvia?’
Sylvia just frowned hard and swallowed her spittle.
Elvis said, ‘Why did you want her to come tonight, Jennifer? If I remember well, we have always upheld our end of the bargain.’
‘Oh, you have, all right.’ Jennifer rolled her eyes.‘I have a different matter to discuss with Sylvia here,’
Sylvia said dryly, ‘And what is that?’
Jennifer sounded annoyed. ‘Don’t play dumb with me, Sylvia. In case you haven’t been following the news, two of the strippers whose contacts I gaveyou – the same strippers yougot into all this without my knowledge – have been found dead, and I am very concerned for my safety. So I want out.’
Sylvia said, ‘Very well then. Hand over the photos and we can go our separate ways like we never knew each other.’
‘Let me see the money first.’
Sylvia nodded at Elvis. He got into the car and emerged with a large brown envelope swollen with bank notes.
As he reached the edge of the headlights, Jennifer said, ‘Stay there and throw the package on the ground!’
He did.
Slowly, she stooped and picked it up with her eyes still fixated on them. Then she opened the envelope, looked inside and smiled. ‘Ok.’ She stashed it into her handbag from which she retrieved a smaller brown envelope which she brandished, saying, ‘Here are the photos.’
Elvis walked up to her and seized it from her hand.
Just then, they heard a sharp female voice from behind the container: ‘Freeze! This is the police!’
Sylvia and Elvis froze where they were as they saw the three Inspectors approaching from behind the container with their guns poised to shoot. Their first instinct was to run to the car and escape, but they realized they would be shot before they could enter the car.
So Elvis grabbed Jennifer and spun her around so fast that she did not realize what was going on until she felt him grip her neck from the back with his left arm, and felt the cold muzzle of his gun pressed against her right temple.
Sylvia hid behind Elvis, clutching his polo shirt as raw fear tore through her.
The Inspectors were closer now, approaching cautiously. But they could not shoot, seeing that Elvis was now using Jennifer as a human shield; and if they attempted to shoot him, they might end up shooting her, or he might kill her even before their bullets could reach him.
‘Drop your weapons,’ Elvis shouted at the Inspectors, ‘or I’ll shoot her!’
‘Alright, take it easy,’ Timothy said as they stooped and slowly lowered their guns to the ground. ‘Don’t hurt the girl now; we’re dropping our weapons.’
The Inspectors were now seated on their heels and were about to let their guns fall to the ground when Fabrice had a good view of Elvis’ right leg between Jennifer’s legs. In the blink of an eye, he raised his gun and shot Elvis twice on his right leg, just below the knee.
Elvis cried out as he staggered backwards with both hands swinging in the air. He impulsively fired three shots.
Timothy lost no time, firing three more shots into Elvis’ chest as they all watched him drop to the group, convulse and then lie still with both eyes wide open.
Jennifer and Sylvia shuddered with dread as they heard the gunshots. Jennifer then ran to join the Inspectors as Sylvia remained rooted where it was with both arms in the air, shaking with fear a she thought the Inspectors would shoot her, too. All three of them had their guns pointed at her.
She swallowed hard as she felt hot tears descend from her eyes. Is this how it’s going to end? She thought, seeing Elvis lying dead next to her with his chest and right shin bone scattered into fragments by the bullets.
‘Please don’t kill me!’ she heard herself plead as she burst out crying.
The Inspectors lowered their guns and Gladys said, ‘Miss Ndze Sylvia Ekpo, you are under arrest for the murders of the Rev. Maliba John Bosco, the Rev. Ayuk Peter, Itop Amanda, Anthony Naseri and Mbong Nelson. You have the right to remain silent, for anything you say or do will be used as evidence against you in the court of law. Inspector Tata Timothy, please cuff her.’
Timothy walked up to her with long strides and cuffed her hands behind her back.
She heard Fabrice say to Jennifer, ‘I hope everything was being recorded.’
‘Yes,’ Jennifer said as she retrieved her phone from her handbag and played the recording for all to hear.
Sylvia struggled to be free, so she could smash Jennifer’s face onto a stone, but Timothy held her firmly.
‘That’s right, Sylvia,’ Fabrice said. ‘Jennifer here had been recording your entire conversation, and the recording will be used as evidence against you in court.’
Sylvia felt like a sword had pierced her heart when she saw Samuel materialize from behind the container.
‘Samuel?’ she said weakly.
She saw the anger on his face as he walked right up to her and asked, ‘Why?’
‘Samuel, I…’
‘Why?’ He shouted. ‘You killed him, didn’t you? You killed Pastor Ayuk Peter! What did he do to you?’
‘Sam, my father…’ She stammered. ‘He did this to me. He… destroyed me. I had to do something; if not to him, to someone else. I needed to satisfy the bitter yearning of my soul for some kind of vengeance. You can never understand what they say about the Church…
‘But of them all, it was you that I loved. I was going to do away with Elvis after this was all over and be with you, Sam. You have no idea how my heart broke when I had to turn you down. I couldn’t risk letting Elvis hurt you…’
She was taken away by Timothy toward the car. As she turned her head to solicit to Samuel, she saw that he had his back turned to her. That was just when Timothy took her round the back of the container and into the car.
Samuel was crying now, for his pastor and for Nelson. He could not help admitting that since the day they had met at JAMROCK, he had come to like him so much, probably because he himself was like him in a way: they had both suffered greatly on account of Sylvia. And the fact that Nelson had lost his life still on her account made Samuel cry all the more bitterly as he bowed his head on his hands on the bonnet of Sylvia’s car, letting the strong surge of grief get the better of him.
Fabrice walked up to him and patted him on the back, saying. ‘I understand your pain, Sam; we have all lost one thing or another on account of this case. Many people have died; but we have to move on. It may be difficult, but it gets better.’ He held Samuel and took him to his car while Gladys and Jennifer entered Sylvia’s car.
Gladys started the engine and saw Fabrice’s car coming from the back through the rearview mirror. She stepped on the accelerator and the car moved away towards the station, followed by Fabrice’s TOYOTA CARINA.
The shadows returned where they had been, and the moon and stars stayed where they were, satisfied they had not missed anything, though their hearts broke for Samuel.
Some wounds, they knew, would never heal.
THE END
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The Moment of Truth
Mystery / ThrillerWhen the Presbyterian Church pastor dropped dead after making a mind-blowing confession, everyone thought he was crazy. But when other Pentecostal Pastors start dying under mysterious circumstances, the situation becomes alarming as the media emphas...
