TARASHA Episode 15 Pt 2 – Oyin Oluwatosin Emmanuel
Sylvester was in the ground floor reception leaning with his two hands on the desk when Henry walked back into the office. It was too late for Henry to turn back as he had already met with Sylvester’s gaze.
‘Mr Henry’ Sylvester gave a mischievous smile, aware that Henry had been trying to avoid him since morning time.
‘Good afternoon Sir’ Henry greeted reluctantly, trying to fake a smile.
‘Good afternoon’ Sylvester replied, extending an handshake to Henry. ‘I checked your office and met it locked, I thought you had left already’
‘No I went to get something in the computer store’ Henry said.
‘Alright.’ A lady with Sylvester’s brief case arrived at the scene
Henry looked at him in surprise. ‘You’re going home?’
‘Yes’ Sylvester answered him happily, adjusting his shirt. ‘I’m done with everything I need to do today and I’ve even done part of tomorrow’s work’ he said full of smiles.
‘Are you sure you got the whole day covered?’ Henry’s eyes widened, wanting to know Sylvester’s new source of happiness and speed.
‘Yes, I’ve got all the app processes running. I’ve extended the monitoring time to sixteen hours. So I can monitor from anywhere I am.’ Sylvester handed over his phone to the lady holding his brief case, he turned once again to Henry. ‘We’ll see tomorrow’ he said before walking away.
Henry stood still and watched as Sylvester walked out of the building, wondering if the man knew what he was saying. He shrugged and continued his walk to his office, happy that Sylvester didn’t ask him about the day-before’s event.
++++
‘We are really sorry about the unfortunate incident and we’re trying our possible best to bring to book the perpetrators of this crime. We’ll make sure everyone involved in this pay heavily’ Dakolo said to soothe the woman’s heart in preparation for his questioning. Ken was seated beside him in silence.
Chief Mrs Jubril was seated on the couch opposite them, she was putting on the native black Yoruba attire. A young lady in black was seated by her side, also wearing a black cloth but a very short gown which exposed her thighs with the way she was seated. She was placing her head on Mrs Jubril’s shoulder. With the resemblance on their faces, one could boldly say that the lady was Mrs Jubril’s daughter but she wasn’t, she was Dare’s niece who lived outside the country with Mrs Jubril.
Mrs Jubril sighed and twisted her lips in a pitiful manner.
‘Ma, we need you to give us every information that’ll be helpful to us in our investigation’ Dakolo continued. She nodded in agreement. ‘We’ll ask very few questions’ he said and collected a tablet device from Ken. He turned on the screen and entered the password.
‘When did you arrive in Nigeria for the party?’
‘I arrived just the day before the party’; she answered. ‘With her’ she added, gently stroking her the girl’s hair.
‘Have you been suspecting anything or was there any threat you heard about before coming?’
‘No, we had no suspicions’ the woman answered and tightened her scarf. ‘Why should we have any suspicion? We are not wicked people, so we don’t expect anybody to harm us’
‘What about after you arrived? Did he tell you about anything he was contending for? Or anyone he had a disagreement with?’
‘No’
‘And you didn’t notice anything suspicious? Whether in his behaviour, words or countenance’
‘No, he was the same Jubril, always business minded. Even on his birthday, he was preparing to complete a business deal’
‘What kind of business deal?’
‘Ermm… He talked about a girl from Canada’ the woman paused and squinted, trying to remember correctly. ‘A girl from Canada who was a friend to Dare’
‘He didn’t say anything more about the deal?’
‘No, he only talked about the girl’
‘What did he say about her?’
‘Nothing serious. Except for how Dare was interested in her but was slow in taking steps’
‘Okay’ Dakolo said and quickly typed in something on his device. ‘Do you know if the lady showed up that night?’
‘Yes, she did. She was accompanied by another man’
‘Another man? Was he also invited for the party?’
‘I don’t know’ she shook her head in negative. ‘Except for two of my friends that I personally invited, I wasn’t involved in sending out the invitations’
‘Okay. But did Chief Jubril later get to meet with her’
‘No, he was supposed to meet with her after the programs lined up had ended and after the cake had been cut but he mentioned playfully at a time that Dare was with her and it looked like they were proceeding to somewhere quiet’
‘Dare was with her and they were proceeding to somewhere quiet’ Dakolo repeated in low tones, thoughtfully.
‘Was there any other person who the Chief was supposed to meet with?’
‘I’m not aware of any other’
‘Okay, Dare’s body was found in the security room.’ He said slowly as he stared straight into her eyes, careful not to strike any emotion but he was unsuccessful at it, the colour on her face was already changing. He decided to rush up the questions to get the maximum possible response. ‘Do you know what he went there for?’
‘No o, I don’t know’ she replied, tears already forming in her eyes.
Dakolo turned to the young lady beside the woman. ‘What about you? Do you by chance know how he got there?’
‘No, I didn’t even know he got up from his seat’
‘Weren’t you seated close to your mum?’
‘I was but I got up to take pictures’ she replied, swinging backwards the hair which covered her face.
‘You took pictures?’ Dakolo’s eyes widened in surprise. He took a quick glance at Ken and a smile formed on the lips of the both of them.
‘Yes, I couldn’t wait to get the pictures from the centre’s camera so I began to take pictures and little recordings of the presentations’
‘Did you take pictures of the guests too?’ Dakolo asked impatiently.
‘I took some shots of the whole guest from where we were seated but only personal pictures of distinctly dressed guests’
‘We need to see those pictures, we need to check them for signs of any strange person amongst the guest’
‘I have them in my device upstairs’
‘Alright, you’ll get it and send all of the pictures to me before we leave’ Dakolo said with a stern face. ‘All of the pictures’ he reiterated. He licked his lips and rubbed his finger against his forehead, staring at their faces in the process. He wondered if it was the right time to ask the next question, but he had to do it anyway. ‘Did you see the killer’s face?’
‘The killer’s face?’ Mrs Jubril broke down and began to sob, wailing and cursing the killer.
‘What is happening here?’ A gruff voice sounded. Dakolo and Ken stood up immediately in respect as the Vice President walked in with two of his security officials by his side.
‘Officers’ the Vice President hailed.
‘Good evening sir’ Dakolo and Ken greeted in unison, bowing in respect.
‘What have you come to do here?’ He asked as he extended a handshake to Dakolo.
‘Doing our job sir’ Dakolo smiled as he replied. ‘We’ve came to get some few important details’
‘I see’ Elvis smiled back. He turned to miss Jubril and the young lady. ‘Aduke, bawoni‘ he asked Mrs Jubril how she was faring in Yoruba language. She was already quiet.
‘We’ll be taking our leave now sir’ Dakolo bowed as he announced.
‘Officers, hope I’m not the one sending you away?’ Elvis took a look at them before proceeding towards the couch where Mrs Jubril was seated.
‘No sir, we are actually through with our questions’ Dakolo answered.
‘Okay then, farewell’ Elvis waved them bye.
‘Thank you sir’ Dakolo said and then turned to the young lady who had already gotten up from Mrs Jubril’s side. ‘We’ll be coming back for the pictures tomorrow morning’ he whispered.
The two officers made their way out immediately, Dakolo giving orders to Ken as they moved, they were to visit Debo, Chief Jubril’s PA for more questioning.
