Let Justice Prevail
Moses A. Orang'o
Written by Moses A. Orang'o
Edited & Revised by Ilona Gracia
Chapter Nine
Section 1
Patrick picked up Miss Nelly Barasa at her three-room flat where she lived with her parents and two siblings - a boy of about thirteen years old, and a sixteen-year-old girl. Even though, Nelly's parents ordered Patrick to bring her home early, Nelly told him that it was not a must for her to come back that night. He took her to Toni's nightclub where they ordered roasted meat with Ugali. Before the meal was served, Patrick ordered beer, made from barley, while Nelly took Fanta, a soft drink. A while later dinner was served and they chatted over the loud music. After dinner, they moved from the dining area and went over to another room, adjoining to the dance floor, so they could sit on a sofa and have some more drinks. This time, however, Nelly did not take a soft drink, but instead she ordered Reds a mild beer, of which she managed to consume four by the time they left the club. They had been drinking and dancing throughout the night. Patrick noted that Nelly was quite a good dancer. She was also very talkative; she was exactly what he needed at a time when his mind was so consumed with his work. He tried hard to keep up with the conversation, though, and at times, he wondered as to what it was that would await him. She talked and talked, and she never even realized how very little of her conversation was being processed in his mind. Later that night after they left the club, they booked a hotel room nearby, and they spent the night together.
Section 2
In the morning when he arrived at his office, he thought about the previous night and he had to admit that he loved every bit of it. For as long as he had been married, he never felt that anything he did in the line of duty was against the stipulated norms. To him, it did not amount to cheating on his wife by all means. His belief was that his work came first, even before the planting of his seeds, which had always been his driving force. For instance, at the time when he befriended Miss Nelly, it had been within the line of duty and it was very vital to the case. To crown it all, he received information that was of great importance. For starters, Patrick had found out that Mr. Bob Manday had concealed his reservation over the phone that actually could have been done from anywhere, including from Miss Eleanor's suite. He had called on that Thursday afternoon at about two o'clock and he stated that he cleared out of his room, which had been booked for a total of three nights. He had told the receptionist, who happened to be Nelly that day, to keep the refund of his stay for herself. When Patrick parted with Nelly, she assured him that she would call him if his friend ever came back. He did not stay long in the office. He picked up the videotapes he wanted and headed to the police headquarter. Upon his arrival, he was directed to Mr. Sirma's office. As he walked over there, he hoped that there was some good news for him. However, as soon as he entered the office and saw the stern look on Sirma's face, he knew he had not scored a match.
"You wasted my time," Sirma echoed without even offering Patrick as little as a greeting.
"No I did not, and to be honest, I did not expect your guys to find much anyway. If they had looked at this tape and found nothing, then looking at the rest of the tapes would have yielded to nothing either," Patrick said, knowing very well that this annoyed Sirma who must have been present during the viewing of the tapes.
"Why then did you ask me to waste my time?" Sirma grumbled back at him.
"You did not waste your time; I want us to look at this tape together," Patrick replied as he handed him the tape, "Let's check it again; I want to show you something."
"This better be good, follow me to the control room," Sirma instructed.
When they got inside the control room, they inserted the tape into the VCR and played it.
"Now look at this carefully," Patrick advised Sirma while he froze the image on the screen. After awhile, he pressed the play button again and let it play for about a minute, then froze the image again for the second time. Patrick asked the detective if he had noticed anything.
"There seemed to be a change of scene. It had a slightly darker view from the first one. What's the relevance of this?" The detective inquired.
"Now, let's rewind and zoom in to the clock on the wall and check the time between the different shades of light," Patrick instructed. After awhile he asked, "What did you notice?"
"The clock jumped from two-thirty a.m. to two-thirty five a.m.," Mr. Sirma observed. "Alright, somebody tampered with the tapes, so what. This still does not place anybody in the room," he quickly added.
"Did you take surveillance tapes from the lobby? That is, for the last two days before the incidence?" Patrick asked.
"Yes we did," Sirma responded.
"Have you looked at them?" Patrick questioned him.
"Not yet, we thought that the ones at the corridor were more urgent," Sirma commented.
"It's ok, so let's check them now," Patrick directed.
"Sergeant Oboswa, bring the tapes now," Sirma ordered Oboswa, his deputy, who had been witnessing the development.
"Alright," Sirma exclaimed, "What will we be looking for?" He asked Patrick.
"I want you to make a note of all the visitors that went to the front desk on Wednesday between the hours of ten a.m. and eleven a.m. Now, freeze on that guy," Patrick ordered after the tapes had played for about twenty minutes.
"Who is that guy?" Sirma wanted to know.
"I want you to follow his movements," Patrick instructed, ignoring Sirma's question.
"There he is, he booked in suite number sixty," the officer who stood by the VCR player said.
"Watch him carefully now," Patrick ordered as they watched Mr. Monday coming in and out of his room. That day, he had spent most of his time at the lobby. Monday was also seen talking to one of the men on the security team, who by then, Patrick knew, ended up dead.
"Wait a minute," Sirma said, "Was that not the man we recently found dead in the forest?" He asked no one in particular.
"Yes, that's him," Patrick stated the obvious, "Now, put another tab on the security man," he instructed Oboswa.
After a short while, Miss Nelly was seen leaving the front desk; she disappeared through a door located behind her desk. Meanwhile, she left Andrew at the desk. He took the opportunity to whirl around the computer monitor, key in some digits on the keyboard and jot down something on a piece of paper. Then he quickly turned the computer back to its original position before Nelly made a return to the desk.
"OK can you rewind the tape and zoom in on what he wrote on that piece of paper," Sirma, who seemed to finally pick up on what had happened, ordered.
"I can't make out exactly what it says without doing further work on it, but it looks like a number," The control officer commented.
"Give it some shading," Patrick, who knew too well on what needed to be done, instructed, "Do you see the outline?"
"Yes, the number is 38," Mr. Sirma observed.
"I hope it's familiar to all of you," Patrick remarked sarcastically.
"What did he do with the number?" Sirma wanted to know.
"Just follow his next move," Patrick informed him.
"He hands the number to Monday," Sirma, who got the name after he ordered another team to do a background check on the man on the screen, said.
"Is the number familiar to any of you?" Patrick quizzed them while waiting for an answer.
"Yes I know," Sergeant Oboswa, who seemed to be happy with his findings, replied, "It's the number to Miss Eleanor's suite."
"Okay," Patrick sighed, "Now let's see what Monday does with his information." The tapes of the next day's recordings of the corridor, Mr. Monday had not been seen at all. "So he was not there," Patrick stated.
"Now let us concentrate on the wall clock, if you notice that just before one p.m. there had been a loss of time on the clock of five minutes, you see detective," Patrick informed him, "This is how he got into Miss Eleanor's suite." Patrick removed the sunglasses that he had carried in a plastic bag; he gave it to Mr. Sirma and said, "These are his sunglasses that I found in the late Miss Eleanor's suite under the bed of the adjoining room to the Master bedroom. The fingerprints on it are his. Also, his prints were on the bed, as well as the cupboard."
"That explains how he hid in the suite. That is, if your information is right," Sirma declared.
"Not only that," Patrick affirmed, ignoring Sirma's last remark while he handed him the photos that Mike took of Monday entering and leaving Mrs. Eleanor's residence, "He was also at her home just after Mr. Abdi left and a few moments before your people arrived."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Sirma asked.
"Unquestionable," Patrick expressed with confidence as he looked around the room on the faces of the few officers, who had gathered in the room to watch their boss and Patrick, of whom most of them he did not know, "There is an inside man to all this at your station," Patrick went on.
"Enough of all this," Sirma declared, "Oboswa, can you organize a team. We have to get this man; check for his current address."
"Here, I have it," Patrick announced in a somewhat amused tone of voice, he could not help but feel some pity for Sirma and his force.
"By the way, who is this man, and who does he work for?" Sirma wondered out loud.
"I think I can help you there," Patrick said and quickly all eyes turned on him.
At that point, Patrick saw no need to continue to work completely on his own. Besides, it was clear that their opponents worked with lightening speed to forge their agenda. It is time they got an equal and opposite force. Though, Patrick continued to work by himself, but now he also worked together with the police on his hands.
"He is a personal bodyguard of Mr. Clement Odhiambo," he told them.
"You mean the president of Port Chem. Industries?" Oboswa asked.
"He is the one, and unfortunately, he is a very close friend to President George Storeman," Patrick, unmoved with the obvious repercussion of his statement, claimed.
"We cannot make up such an accusation." Sirma predicated strongly while he looked at Patrick sternly, "This goes for all of you in this room, none of these claims have been clearly substantiated, hence you know better than to say anything as a detective," he took a short breath, then went on in a soft spoken voice, "this has not yet been confirmed, and the earlier we get this Monday for questioning, the better for us and for the integrity of the force."