Alter Me

5

I'm sorry I took forever to update 🙏 got stuck up in reality duh...

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  Detective Apata led his team into the hotel room, Room 205. They cut through the yellow tape that had been put around the entrance to prevent anyone from coming near the crime scene. It had been like that since the day of the incident and a small sign which read Out of bounds, keep away was placed in front of the door.

  He swiped the key card on the lock an the door opened. The manager had given them the key card earlier on, before they left her office.

"Guys, put on your gloves before touching anything, we don't want to leave any fingerprints ", he said quickly.

They all did as told before they proceeded to inspect the place. This wasn't their first time there as they had come to inspect the room a day after Sameer's death. They were more than this that came then and they had found some clues.

There was a bottle of liquid on the floor beneath the dresser which they later discovered to be poison. They had taken the bottle to the lab for further inspection but only the fingerprints of the deceased were found on it.

It was either he took it himself out of his own free will or the person who gave him did well to prevent leaving any prints. Or perhaps he was forced. But why would he poison himself ? And even if he did, could he have also chopped off his own body parts and shot himself?

Also, his cellphone was missing and when they tried tracking it down, it couldn't be found. Perhaps it had already been destroyed or something.

Regardless of the fact that they'd already searched the place before and that it had already been cleaned, the team continued to look around, hoping to find something that'll lead to the killer. After an hour of vigorous searching and awkward silence, they found nothing. Disappointed, they left the room and walked back to the reception.

                               * * *

" Why did you go into the hotel room of the deceased on that fateful day, and who let you in? " Chuks asked the young lady.

She was the hotel attendant who had raised an alarm the night Mr Sameer died. She was small and frail, probably in her early twenties and she seemed really scared. Who wouldn't be? After all no one loves police wahala.

She finally opened her mouth to speak, " He ordered food about two hours before then but I told him we didn't have it yet that it'd be available in some hours. He said he didn't mind that whenever it was ready I should bring it to him, that he wanted it fresh and hot. In the meantime, he asked for an appetizer which I took to his room ".

She began to sob quietly in an attempt to hold back her tears.

" When the food was ready, I took it there and knocked but no one responded. The door locks automatically when you close it and can only be opened with a key card so I went to the receptionist on duty to get one." She paused briefly and then continued.

" When I finally opened the door, I didn't see anyone. I put down the food and was about to leave when I noticed a trail of blood. My curiosity got the best of me so I followed it into the bathroom and it-tt w-was there I s-s-saw the body ", she stuttered and began to shiver.

" I-i didn't know what to do so I called the police. I now ran downstairs and met my fellow colleagues, we all informed the manager and she called an ambulance. That was all that happened s-sir ".

Chuks switched off the voice recorder and told her to make a written statement of all she just said. He then dismissed her on the note that she would be summoned if she was needed for further questioning.

He walked off to Detective Apata's office to give him feedback. On getting there, Apata offered him a cup of coffee and together they drank, each drowning away his exhaustion.

" What did you get off her? ", Apata muttered through his teeth as he took his last sip of the instant coffee.

Chuks handed him the recording and he listened to it. Crease lines form on his forehead as he was rather disappointed that there were no leads.

" How about you, did the CCTV footage capture everything? ", Chuks quipped in, trying to revive some hope.

" That damn thing ", Apata spat out in anger." It had footage of every other day and time excluding the day of the event. There's no record - video or audio - for that day at all. It continued at 5:00am the next morning ". Apata looked utterly confused and defeated.

" Does that mean it was erased? ", Chuks asked innocently.

" No, they probably just flew out of the system ", Apata answered sarcastically.

" Of course they were erased, but the main question is who erased it and why ".

" Emm, isn't that obvious, so we won't be able to see what happened ", Chuks added feeling proud.

" Not only you can be savage after all".

Apata rolled his eyes.

" But on a more serious note, we have to find out who erased the footage and how ", Apata said matter-of-factly.

Chuks had always been the playful one, ever since they met at police academy. That was about 12 years ago. They often got along well, so they remained good friends.

Not long after, a call came in on the intercom. Apata picked it up and listened.

" Hello, is this Defective Apata from the state CID?" , the voice on the other end of the phone said.

" Yes "

The voice continued, "I am Dr Nasir from the forensics department. Please can you come down to our department, we got something we think might be of help".

"When?"

"Maybe tomorrow or the next, we're almost closed for the day ".

"Okay, that's fine ".

"We'll be expecting you, bye", the caller said before hanging up.

Apata returned the receiver to it's place and gently tapped the screen of his Casio wristwatch. 04:50pm. He rearranged his desk and headed out of his office.

                               * * *

     Author's note :

Thank y'all for sticking with me even when I disappeared (literarily 😂) Sorry for taking too long to update 🙏 I was really busy sorting out somethings 😉. Now that you've made it this far, be nice and click that little star at the bottom of your screen. Yes! that white one. Thanks to you it's now orange 💃💃 and please leave a comment. I'll really love to hear from you.
                                                Xoxo 😘