Desperate Moves

9

9

We followed him into a small office with a large table and three chairs. One of the chairs was occupied by a slender looking man in his mid forties. He looked up from the newspaper in his hand when the young man knocked briefly before going in. He gave the man a salute before telling him that we were asking of him. He dismissed the man before turning to us.

“Are you the lady that was r***d?”

I flinched at his bluntness. “Yes.” A big lump was beginning to form in my throat.

“Sit down.” He said motioning to one of the chairs. Then as if noticing Sam, Tosin and Cynthia for the first time, said, “Unfortunately, there is just one chair left, so two of you will have to stand.” Then as if on second thought, added, “Unless I can find some chairs for you.”

He stepped out as he was saying that, but returned almost immediately, bearing a bench. He placed it at an awkward angle and motioned for them to sit. Cynthia had since sat on the other chair that was left so Sam and Tosin sat on the bench. He went around the table and sat back on his seat. He opened the drawer that was made into the table and retrieved a large hardcover note. He dumped it noisily on the table and opened it.

“The officer that called mentioned that the incident happened five days ago. May I ask why you waited this long to report it?

I had heard that line before. I straightened and then responded. “I passed out.”

“You passed out?” he had a disbelieving look on his face.

A lump was beginning to form in my throat. I was afraid that any sound from me will come out like a croak, so I simply nodded.

He looked at me for a few seconds, still having that unconvinced look on his face. Then he placed his left hand on the table before him and supported his chin with it. Screwing his brows, he asked “are you a virgin or should I say, were you a virgin?”

I was thoroughly embarrassed. This is a topic that I had never discussed openly with anyone, except of course Sam. Not that I was ashamed of being a virgin - at least until five days ago- I was actually proud of myself. It’s just that I didn’t want it looking like I was rubbing it on people’s faces.

Even though I had my back to him, I could feel Tosin’s eyes burrowing into my back. Cynthia sat at an angle that made part of my face visible to her. She had her full attention on me.

Working around the lump on my throat, I responded “yes”.

I didn’t miss the alarming look on Cynthia’s face. Mr. John equally looked shocked. I didn’t really understand why they looked so shocked. Was it uncommon to see a virgin? Ok! I get it; it was not common to see a lady who was still a virgin at twenty five.

“Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked nonchalantly.

It was my turn to be shocked. I couldn’t help but wonder what all these questions had to do with this investigation. He was making the situation tougher than it already was.

“What has that got to do with the investigation?” I blurted out before I could change my mind.

“Everything!” he was back to having a business-like look.

I sat waiting for him to explain, silently berating myself for voicing out my thoughts. I was to do the answering, not the questioning.

“There is a possibility that your boyfriend decided to take it forcefully since you refused to give it to him peacefully, or hire men to do it in order to get back at you for refusing him.” He shrugged

“What!” Sam nearly shot out of his seat as I turned to look at his reaction. Tosin did a good job of holding him back. I was equally trying to suppress the rage that was boiling inside of me.

He ignored Sam and turned back to me after sparing him a very brief glance. “Is that your boyfriend?”

“He is my fiancé.” I snapped. “And he does not stay in this part of the country.” I added for good measure.

“I see. Now I need you to get something clear, all of you. Anything is possible, so in a case like this, we consider all the possibilities. Every close person is a potential suspect until proven innocent.” He paused, swallowed hard and then continued. “This incident happened five days ago and it will be difficult to pin down the culprit, because, pretty much all of the evidence is gone. The first thing would have been to carry out a medical examination on you, first to ascertain that you were actually r***d and then to possibly get a sample of the semen of the offender.”

“Offenders.” I cut in.

“There was more than one person?” I could swear I felt pity in his voice.

“Yes.” I croaked.

The stupid tears!

He reached into the drawer and handed me a piece of tissue. I wiped my face absentmindedly. Cynthia reached out and touched my hand. I mouthed a thank you to her.

“How are these two persons related to you?” he asked, motioning to Cynthia and Tosin.

“They are my neighbors.” I said amidst the tears.

“Bring the seat closer.” He instructed, signaling to Sam and Tosin. He pointed at a part of the room, close to where I was seated.

They got up and picked the bench, each person on one end of the bench. They dropped it where he had signaled them to and then sat back. I could now see most part of their faces. They looked worried.

“I will need to take down the full details of the incident.” The officer said, straightening from his hunched position.

Sam and Tosin both gave me sympathetic looks. This was going to be tough, but I had to do it. I slowly and painfully narrated the whole incident. After about twenty minutes, I was finally done telling the officer what happened that night. The officer was patient enough to condone the sobs in between. When I got to the end of my painful story, he wasted no time in swinging into question mode.

“What and what did they pick from the house?”

“They did not take anything.” I supplied.

“Did you check the house when you returned from the hospital; perhaps they must have dropped anything that could help us identify them?”

“I did not see anything.”

“While they were in your room that night, did you see anything about them, maybe tattoos or any other markings on their body?”

“I was too afraid to really take note of anything like that. Moreover, most part of their bodies were covered”

He nodded and continued.

“Can you describe them?”

“They looked tall; one was heavily built while the other looked slim.”

“How did they address themselves? Did they call any name?”

I shook my head and was about responding in the negative, when my memory flashed on something. I had totally forgotten that one of them had called the other by name. I pulled my brows together, trying to remember the name. Everybody’s attention was now focused on me.

“The heavily built one called the slim one by name. It’s the name I’m trying to recall.”

The officer tapped his pen on the book, waiting for me to recall the name. I knew that being under pressure will not help, so I tried to shut out everything around me. I travelled back to that night. It was scary and I wish I didn’t have to do that, but I knew that may be the only lead to unraveling the mystery. After about three minutes of intense thinking, luck shone on me; the name rang. T!

“T, the name he called was T! I was nearly screaming.

“Do you know anyone called T around you?”