Detective Clement meets up with his team in a neatly organized sitting room. His partner, Eseohe was studying some files with her study face and glasses on.
Dr. Gideon was on his laptop, punching in a few keystrokes and studying the outputs.
"What do you guys have for me on the Odia's case?" Clement inquired as he entered the room.
"We got two hypotheses." Dr. Gideon said, "One, there was no real sign of struggle or increased brain activity before death"
Clement looked at them with this intense deductive seriousness. "Ok" He muttered.
"Multiple stab wounds, a clot in the brain, no increased heart activity before death, autopsy showed that the cause of death was not from the stab wounds, but from the trauma to the head" Eseohe read from the report in her hand.
"So the first guess would be, he was killed before or after the stab wound." Clement suggested.
"Exactly, I have sent for the detailed analysis on the cause of death." Gideon said.
"The second guess would be that the assault and murder was done by someone relatively close" Eseohe continued.
"Elaborate" Clement requested.
"With that guess I pulled up a list of family, friends, rivals and colleagues that Mr. Odia kept around and worked with, and came up with a really long list." Eseohe explained.
"I was able to narrow the list down to 5 suspects."
"Is there a Mr. Alfred Uba on the list?" Clement asked in curiosity.
"Uhmmm. Yes? How could you possibly know that?" Gideon asked
Eseohe smiled.
"I want everything on Mr. Alfred Uba, down to his calls, account transactions and all." Clement demanded from Gideon.
Gideon immediately dived into hacking while Eseohe drew closer to Clement.
***************
THE ODIA'S HOUSE
In the Odia's house, Madam Isiramen of the Odia Business Dynasty, is seen in her elegance with Chucks by her side.
She had just lost her son, but she wasn't bothered at least, it was not displayed on her stern face.
Mrs. Odia walked in and on noticing the presence of Madam Isiramen, her countenance changed. Her mourning black gown flowed and she so was her majestic curves and shape.
"You look calm for someone that just lost her husband, Eunice. Pray that my suspicions are wrong." Madam Isiramen commented.
"I should say the same about you, mother-in-law." She replied, still composed.
A brawl between two strong women. The looks in their faces was intense, their stare could start a fire in the room. They were at this for sometime, easing into the whole tension.
"So your plan has worked abi?" came the accusation from another young lady who entered the room holding a bible. "You have successfully killed my brother, right?" She accused further. Turns out that she was Mr. Jonathan's younger sister, Linda.
"Oh, please!" She scoffed.
"You are telling me to please abi? The God that I am serving will expose you and all your wickedness."
Madam Isiramen just looked away. She wouldn't want anything to spoil her poise.
"Please, please! Not today!" Felicity entered. "I do not want any of you talking to my mother in that manner." It was Felicity Odia, the daughter of Mr. Jonathan Odia. She had similar boldness with that of her grandmother.
"Small witch, they have possessed you too abi?" Linda quarrelled.
"Aunty Linda, please mind the way you disrespect me."
"Osenobla! God of heaven and earth. You have grown wings abi? I will pluck them off. Just wait and see."
"Be careful how you speak to my daughter, Linda. Are you not ashamed?! Your mates are married, you are not." Eunice spoke
"Oh! My mates are married, right? And your mates are killing their husband's abi?"
"Who told you that I had a hand in my husband's death?"
"I do not need to be told, stone cold killer. I know."
Madam Isiramen became impatient and infuriated. "I want you all to leave my presence this instance." She commanded.
They were all quiet and started finding their way out of the sitting room. They all went out in different directions and quickly too.
She stretched out her hand and Chucks immediately put her phone on her hand. She made a call.
"Mr. Johnson, I made you commissioner of police and you can't even deliver. What is the latest on the murder of my son?" She inquired with her much calm and command in her voice.
"You are working on the case, you say. You have your best people on the job, you say. Jonathan was my only son, the only reasonable child who could lead the Odia's Empire to soaring heights. He is dead and all you can tell me, is that you are working on it. You went down on your knees, five years ago, asking me to put in the word for you to be commissioned for the task. You begged like a dog, and you fail to render the services you should be able to afford. What will it take you to find my son's killer? I have pumped in donations and supports to the police force and no results so far so good." It was her monologue. She lashed out on the commissioner on the phone but retained her calm and pride.
"I give you three days to get the culprit. At the end of that three days, I will do so myself, by any means necessary."
***********************************
THE DETECTIVES
"Was that the lead you told me you were following up with?" She asked
"Nope. Divine providence hooked me up with this Intel."
"Let me take a clumsy guess, gossip, yes?"
"Usually, one of us should be the smart one, turns out that we are more alike in this business."
She humphs "Tell me about the lead you were chasing".
"Well, the lead was a dead end."
"Who were you investigating?"
"One Prof. Alli Daniel." He said. This invited a sudden surprise to her face. But she clearly controlled her face to an extent, but Clement noticed. "Do you know him?" He inquired.
"Well not really." She replied trying to recollect where she had heard the name before "I heard he is friends with Prof. Littlefinger and that he retired 5 years back before becoming the president of the True Palm Foundation." She added.
"Indeed."
"Does he have anything to do with the murder of Mr. Odia?"
"Not really. I had a hunch, and that's all"
"And that hunch is because Mr. Odia was a stakeholder with the True Palm Foundation, yes?"
"True."
"All 5 suspects are related to the True Palm Foundation"
"What was Mr. Uba's relationship with the True Palm Foundation?"
"Chairman of the Finance division" Gideon entered into their conversation with his eyes wide open in surprise. His stare was still on the laptop.
"Elaborate" Clement said while Eseohe was trying to piece the fragments of Information in her head.
"Turns out that Mr. Uba and Mr. Odia were the only candidates for the position of Chairman in the Finance Division." Gideon explained
"And Mr. Odia had more chance of winning the election" Clement added.
"Actually, Mr. Odia would win by landslide." Gideon disagreed.
"So we have a motivation for the death of Mr. Odia, but it still does not explain much" Clement said.
"Not from what I have here."
"What is it?" Eseohe asked
"20 million naira was transferred to Mr. Uba's personal account the same day Mr. Odia was murdered." Gideon said.
"It could be any transaction from anyone, he's the chairman of the finance division afterall." Eseohe poked
Not when the transfer is from a Swiss account, and he became chairman the day after the murder."
"Who transferred the money?" Clement asked.
"The transfer came from an unknown account user."
"And I am guessing you can't know who for sure because of 'firewalls' and 'classified' nonsense, yes?" Clement noted.
"Yeah, something like that."
"This further spreads the possibilities all over the place." Eseohe included.
Clement remained seated and stared into thin space trying to think and put his deductive skills to use. "We shouldn't rule out other suspects. Do similar tracking on the other suspects, especially that Chief Richmond Dike, chairman of the Human Resource Division of the True Palm Foundation." Eseohe instructed and walks out.
"Where to?" Clement asked.
"Going to pay the Chief a visit".
"Be careful with these rich folks. They have a lot of strings to pull."
"Don't worry partner, I intend to pull those strings myself."
"Just call me Detective Clement for God's sake."
"Whatever bro. Be back in a bit". She walked out of the room, leaving the guys to do what they do best.
************************************
Linda is seen at the back of the house talking to herself and pacing ridiculously. She was mostly in tears and proportionately sad.
"Joe-Joe! Dearest Joe-Joe. Who kill you?" She mostly asked.
(Thinking aloud and very emotional)
"Joe-Joe, You didn't tell me it was going to be like this. Hmm. We had beautiful and sweet moments together. We were virtually everywhere and even the talk of the town. Brother and sister when nobody fit separate."
"Our love for each other was envied by everyone and a lot of people envied us." (Trying to calm down but continued in the grieve) "Questions plenty when I for ask you. But they all seem wrong at this point I time. Who will console my grieving soul? How do I get over this?!" She asked herself while crying out her heart.
"Oh. Death! Death!! Why take our loved ones away? Why not leave them to stay with us?" She took a deep breath and cleaned up her tears. "I am sure it is that witch of a woman. I told you nor to marry her. But you wouldn't listen. My mind no dey fail me, and I know say na she kill you."
"My God will avenge your death brother Joe-Joe!" She assured herself and walked back inside.
The fire just started. We can do better. Read more. A few monologue lines above just incase you need to practice for that audition. Lots of love.