TARASHA Episode 16 Pt 3 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
~~
‘Can you zoom it a little?’ Dakolo said to the officer seated in front of the computer. He and Ken were behind and viewing the screen. ‘It’s okay,’ he said and bent to have a good look. ‘Alright, next.’
‘Looking at Henry in the picture, I don’t think he was involved in the crime. He doesn’t look like someone who had just murdered the Chief.’ Ken commented.
‘He looks somehow distraught in the video, his eyes were wandering around like someone who was in search of something there.’
‘Maybe he was really there to search for the car that brought him like he told us.’
‘But the range Rover was nowhere to be found. How could his friend that had brought him along to the party leave without him?’
‘Hmm… That’s only explainable by him.’
‘There’s nothing to explain there,’ Dakolo said, biting his lips. ‘That girl is Samantha Osman and she only used him to fulfill her aim.’
‘True but…’ Ken paused for a while to think. ‘There’s still something fishy about his response to our questions, I feel like he’s hiding something.’
‘He’s definitely hiding something,’ Dakolo agreed. ‘You know he may be feeling guilty of the part he played in the crime and may not want us to find out.’
‘But why should he still hide it? If he was used, he should open up to us so that we can all nail the assassins together.’
‘Hmm…’ Dakolo pondered deeply on Ken’s words. ‘What is he hiding and why is he still hiding it?’ He muttered to himself. ‘You know he may be scared of the consequences that may follow.’
The junior officer seated on the chair turned to listen to the conversation without making his own contribution, he had been following the details of the crime from the first day.
‘Only God knows what he could be hiding,’ Ken said to himself, but still loud enough for the others to hear.
‘Sir…’ The junior officer finally joined in, facing Ken. ‘Is it not the lady that came in with Henry E.G on the kidnap case for interrogation that’s the suspect here?’
‘Yes,’ Ken answered, staring at the officer in surprise of the excitement in his voice.
‘I can’t really recall her face, but I remember that the camera in the interrogation room was on then, we might have captured her face.’
‘My goodness!’ Ken exclaimed with a gasp. ‘Do you have the videos here?’
‘Yes, I’ll search the video out in two minutes.’ The officer said and turned to the computer. Dakolo and Ken positioned themselves at his back to look at the screen. After a minute, Dakolo dragged a chair from the front of another computer and sat on it. ‘Here’s it,’ the officer opened a folder of several videos. ‘These were all the videos recorded that day.’
‘Let’s see the exact one,’ Ken urged the officer.
After three minutes of playing and stopping videos in search for the exact one, they finally found one. Henry could be seen walking into the room behind a uniformed officer who was ushering then, then he was followed by Evelyn Alexander. She had an unkempt hair on, some part of her attachment were covering her face.
‘Damn!’ Dakolo cursed under his breath. ‘Why the hell is she looking down?’ He threw a question impatiently, to no one in particular.
As they proceeded to the seats prepared for them, Evelyn Alexander raised her head up but at the same time began to rub her palm on her face, like someone who was just getting up from a deep slumber and couldn’t remember where she was.
‘Wait!’ Dakolo shouted. ‘Rewind,’ he said, pointing at the screen. ‘Pause!’
Her face was lifted towards the camera now, her left eye was seen partially but the right eye was covered with her palms and a part of her face, she continued to scrub her face with her palm as if her eyes were itching her until they got to the seat where the officer ushered them to. Henry sat first, but she carried her chair and turned it to the other side of the table where she could sit and back the camera. The video showed the officer trying to ask her why she changed the seat positioning but she answered by pointing to her eyes and the bulb in the room. The officers watching could decode that she was complaining that her eyes couldn’t accommodate the light.
Evelyn Alexander sat backing the camera all through the interrogation.
‘Take it back again,’ Dakolo ordered. The video was rewound again to the point where her face was lifted towards the camera. ‘Pause,’ Dakolo said. ‘Can you see where she’s looking to?’ He asked Ken.
‘Yes, she’s facing the camera directly.’ Ken answered.
‘Look at her pocket,’ Dakolo continued, pointing to the screen. There was a blinking red light seen on her pocket. ‘I’ve heard of camera detectors, I’ve never seen one but I believe that that must be one in her pocket.’
‘It is,’ Ken affirmed, keeping a serious look on his face. ‘That’s how it works.’
‘Take it back a little,’ Dakolo ordered the junior officer again. ‘Pause… Play.’
Dakolo stared at Ken’s face and gave him a “I told you look”. She started rubbing her face immediately the blinking started, she then took a glance at her pocket and traced where the light was pointing to.’
Ken shook his head in agreement. They were now more certain that the lady was Samantha Osman or another lady who was part of the assassin group.
‘Did you see her face that day?’ Dakolo turned away from the video to Ken who was still trying to watch the video.
‘Yes sir…I can’t picture how she looks like but I’m sure I can identify her when I see her.’
‘Are you sure? With the way she was unkempt?’
‘Ermm… Not too sure sir,’ Ken scratched his head. ‘But she wasn’t really unkempt except for her hair, the excuse she gave that day was that she had to hurry out of the house and couldn’t comb it properly.’
Dakolo took in a deep breath and rested his forehead on his palm tiredly. He glanced at his wristwatch, it was 7.35pm. They were supposed to have left for their various homes by that time. He got up and started pacing around.
‘That girl used Henry, she’s one of the assassins.’ He said in a thoughtful manner, though loudly.
‘It’s very obvious that he was used sir,’ Ken added.
‘That means we may have to change our way of investigating and interrogating Henry. He’s very important to us, now that we know he had a close relationship with one of the assassins.’
‘Yes sir, I agree.’ Ken said. He placed a finger on his lips as he thought deeply, silence took over the atmosphere for some minutes.
Dakolo and Ken suddenly glanced at each other as the same thought struck their minds.
“Damn! I hope we’ve not made a costly mistake already,’ Dakolo spoke first, half shouting.
‘Are you thinking the same thing with me sir?’ Ken eyes, his eyes widened in anxiety.
‘We’ve made a huge mistake by letting Henry go. We might have put him in danger that way.’ Dakolo said before sinking into his seat again.
‘Yes, now that he has been invited for interrogation in our office, the assassins may be after his life so that he doesn’t spill out any information that would implicate them.’
‘Damn! I have to warn him now.’ Dakolo hurriedly took out his phone, he was about to dial a number when a call came in, from the Vice President.
‘Good evening your Excellency,’ he answered the call after a little hesitation.
‘Good evening Agent Dakolo,’ Elvis Richard’s voice came through. ‘Where are you?’
‘I’m still at the office sir,’ Dakolo replied impatiently, hoping that the man would rush all he had to say.
‘I want you and Inspector Ken to come and see me now.’ Elvis Richards said in an ordering tone.
‘Sir, we have…’
‘Shhh… I’m supposed to work along with you guys but you made an arrest today without telling me until I found out by myself.’
‘Sir, it’s not…’
‘Just come over with Ken and explain yourself, I’ll be expecting you in ten minutes. It takes less than eight minutes to drive from your office to my residence. I’ll be waiting for you.’ With that the call ended and Dakolo stared at Ken, frustration clearly written on his face.
~~
After speaking with Jefa over an hour ago, Henry had still not gone home. He was seated in a restaurant where he had just taken his dinner. He refused to get up from his seat after he finished the meal but was staring at the television set absent-mindedly. The temptation at first was to go into a beer parlour and try some alcohol. He had heard about how alcohol could help people get rid of their worries temporarily, he was also willing to get his worries off his mind. But he was able to resist the temptation after coming to the conclusion that what he needed was a permanent solution and not a temporary one.
It was until one of the attendants came to his table that he realized he was the only customer left in the place, the restaurant was already being locked up by the workers.
‘Sir, you have to leave now.’ The lady said, rapping her knuckles on the table.
‘Oh Thanks!’ Henry said and took his car keys from the table. He searched his pocket for his phone, it wasn’t there, be remembered he had left it in the car. He immediately proceeded out of the building and got into his car, he drove off few seconds later.
~~
“Why the hell isn’t he answering his calls?” Dakolo murmured on their way to the Vice President house in a car, Ken was driving.
Dakolo ended the call and dialed another number. It didn’t take so much time before the officer answered.
‘Hello sir.’
‘Officer, where is he now?’ Dakolo asked.
‘He just left a restaurant and I believe that’s he’s on his way home now.’
‘Where are you?’
‘Following him behind, but not too close so that he doesn’t notice.’
‘Make sure you don’t take your eyes off him, he may be in serious danger.’
‘Okay sir.’
‘I’ll call you very soon again, you may need to reveal yourself to him and stop him from going home.’ Dakolo added few other things before ending the call.
‘It won’t be easy for the officer to stop him from going home.’ Ken spoke, few seconds after Dakolo ended the call.
‘Yes, that’s why I want to reach Henry first.’ Dakolo replied, dialing Henry’s number again. ‘He’s still not answering.’
‘Maybe you should try someone else who can reach him,’ Ken suggested. Their movement was slowed as there was a little obstruction on the road by a faulty tanker.
Dakolo quickly took the suggestion and dialed Sylvester’s number.
‘Agent,’ Sylvester voice came up tiredly.
‘Mr. Sylvester, you have to reach Henry for me immediately. Try to convince him not to go to his house, he can go to the NSCC staff house or somewhere else where there is better security.’
‘Okay, I’ll try and get back to you sir.’ The call ended and Dakolo let out a deep breath hopefully.
‘Sir…’ Ken called, ‘what if Henry is close to his house already?’
The road became clear at the moment, Ken took a glance at his wristwatch before speeding off.
‘That’s true, I should have asked their location from the officer.’ Dakolo said thoughtfully. ‘Maybe I should just tell the officer to stop him right away,’ Dakolo took out his phone. He sighed as a call came in.
‘It’s past fifteen minutes now, where are you?’ Elvis Richards barked.
~~~
Tarasha covered her nose as sparks of dust were emitted as she drilled in the screwdriver-like metal into the keyhole of Henry’s backdoor. The door gave way and she returned her instrument into the bag. Her phone beeped as she was about to enter into the house. She took it out and put it on loud speaker.
‘Agent,’ she heard Sylvester’s voice.
‘Mr. Sylvester, you have to reach Henry for me immediately. Try to convince him not to go to his house, he can go to the NSCC staff house or somewhere else where there is better security.’ Another voice which Tarasha guessed to be the agent’s voice sounded.
‘Okay, I’ll try and get back to you sir.’ With that the call ended.
Tarasha kept her phone back into her pocket. The information didn’t stop her from proceeding inside. She took a small torchlight from the side of her bag and used it to brighten her path as she walked into the darkness in the house.
After walking for some minutes, she was able to locate a living room, she sat on a stool and took out an Android device from her bag. She unlocked the screen and opened an app. A map displayed, she smiled. Henry was still coming in the direction of the house. But even if he changed direction, it wouldn’t stop her from going after him anywhere he changed direction to, he had to be taken care of that day, no postponement.
She got up and began to walk deeper into the house, searching the walls with her torchlight.
~~
Henry’s was just few metres to his gate when his phone began to ring again. He glanced at the screen, Mr Sylvester’s ID was displayed. He took his left hand off the steering and picked the phone, he switched it off and threw it to the backseat.
