Desperate Moves

10

10

Then it dawned on me. Could it have been Tosin? He fits that description. I involuntarily turned my eyes to Tosin’s direction, only to see that Sam and Cynthia were already giving him a heated stare. It must have also dawned on the officer because he glanced back at the notes he had been taking, and then also shifted his eyes to Tosin’s direction.

“Are you Tosin?” he asked, resting his elbow on the counter and supporting his chin with his hand.

“Yes. What? Why is everyone staring at me?”

“Because you are now a prime suspect in a r**e case.”

“What!” Tosin exclaimed, looking from the officer to me and back to the officer. He was alarmed and very furious.

I silently chided myself for forgetting such an important detail until now. What if the delay was detrimental to the investigation? Tosin had been very caring, especially since after the ugly incident. Was he innocent or the care was part of the ploy to cover up or divert attention from his possible involvement? I was confused. I didn’t exactly know what to think. I was buried deep in thought and didn’t see the anger boiling on Sam’s face until he dashed past me and grabbed Tosin by the collar of his T-shirt.

“How could you?” he said menacingly, giving his opponent a violent shove.

The officer quickly stepped in to quell the ensuing brawl. Two other officers who were hanging idly around moved close to the scene to ascertain the reason for the hostility.

As soon as Sam let go of him, Tosin straightened the now rumpled clothe with a scowl plastered to his face. He turned to me, opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. He turned away, but not quickly enough to hide the tears that were pooling in his eyes. I was devastated! Tears had been my companion for the past few days and so didn’t need an official announcement before visiting. My cheeks were soon wet. The officer turned his attention to me.

“Crying will not solve the problem. Pull yourself together so we can wrap up for tonight; it’s late already. I involuntarily looked at my phone to see that it was already well past eight pm.

“He is innocent.” I heard myself saying before I realized.

“You can’t be sure of that. For now, he is the only lead we have so he is the prime suspect. His profile fits the description of the guy referred to as T. We will have to keep him here.” The officer explained.

“Keep him without any evidence? You can’t do that!” I shot at him.

“Yes, he can!” Sam shot back at me. He looked like he was going to explode the next minute.

“This is a sensitive case. If you want this case to be solved, you will have to step aside and let us do our job.” The officer said, with a note of finality in his voice.

I turned to look at Tosin. His head was lowered and he appeared deep in thought. I slowly made my way to where he was seated and placed my hand on his back. He pushed himself up and removed my hand to my side. His eyes were bloodshot. I felt a pang of guilt bite at me.

Up until now, Cynthia had stood silently watching everything that transpired. She moved close and lowered herself on the bench next to Tosin. She had confusion written all over her as well. She sat for a full minute before she spoke.

“Tosin, I’m sorry.” Her voice was just a little above a whisper.

“You don’t have to be sorry, you didn’t do anything. I’ll be fine. I’m just a bit disappointed that they could even think I did that to her.” He said, with a slight shake of his head.

“Tosin...” I called out, stepping close to him.

“Edidiong, don’t worry. Someone has to take the fall for what happened. I just hope the truth comes out soon.” He cut me off.

Inspector John then moved close and urged him to stand up, which he did without any hesitation.

“How long will I be here?” he asked, looking at the policeman.

“Till we are able to proof that you are innocent.” He responded before turning to me, “You will have to return to the station by tomorrow. We will assign people for the case. I need you to take your mind back to the night of the incident and think of anything, no matter how small, which could possibly help in this investigation. We will get to the root of this matter. For now, go home and rest as much as you can, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow.” He ended, with a low sigh.

“Thank you, officer.”Sam said

“You are welcome. Please call me John.”

“Thank you Mr. John. We will be here tomorrow morning.” As he said that, he took a hold of my hand and led me towards the entrance. I didn’t miss the cold stare he sent in Tosin’s direction. I also shot him an apologetic glance and mouthed a quick “I’m sorry” before passing. Cynthia got up from her hunched position, patted him on the back and came behind us. We made our way home in total silence, each engrossed in deep thought. I was sure of one thing. I have been sentenced to a night of total sleeplessness!