Suspects: murder case

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

 A short-lived stillness dominated the room. Spying eyes kept crossing each other, waiting for the first person to speak out. 

Captain Ali observed none of them was ready to break the solemness, as they all kept staring at each other, including John and Susan who were the lead detectives on the case.

 "There are six suspects in this picture," Captain Ali said pointing at the board with a laser pen, "Stella his wife, Nkoli the house help, Daniel his son, Adamu the gate man and the unknown man." he focused his laser beam on the blank page.

They all mumbled unintelligible words, like bees humming about. The seating arrangement was like that of a board room; long table with chairs opposing each other. There were six of them in the room, Captain Ali sitting as the head, Susan and John, the only ones sitted at the left row with a seat left, and, Mike, Nate and Jones, seated at the other side. 

 "Let us start with Stella," Captain Ali beamed his laser on her picture. "Why will Stella want to kill her husband?" 

He scanned around the room, waiting for someone to talk. The hesitation grew stronger.

Jones clears his throat to gain attention and it worked, as they fixed their eyes on him.

 "Yes Jones?" Captain Ali beamed at him.

 "It could be because he is Indian and she wanted to take over his possessions before he leaves for his homeland, fearing she was going to loose him or maybe… ”

"He was having an affair with another woman, and she found out." Nate cuts in with a smirk at Jones. He's always wants things to be about him and him alone.

 Jones was not happy with the way Nate stole his moment from him. Nate is smart, no doubt about it, and everyone in the Bureau wants to be his partner. Jones was the only one who never got along with him.

 "Yes... maybe," Jones said, clenching his teeth in displeasure.

 "But she was with her friends after the party, how is it possible to kill her husband," Mike said.

 "Common! We live in a computer age where there are professional hitmen and assassins who could get in and out in the twinkle of am eye." Nate snapped at him.

 "Okay, that leaves us with an open window," Captain Ali said, shifting his laser to the next picture, "now let us go over to Nkoli. Why will a maid kill her boss?"

 "There are so many reasons," Nate said, raising his brow.

 "Let us hear them then," Jones said skeevishly.

 "Oh I will," Nate went on, "one is that she might want to marry him."

 His words plastered disbelief as well as confusion on the faces of everyone in the room.

 "Elaborate if you will," Captain Ali said with a disbelieving smile on his wrinkled face. 

 "Maybe they have had that discussion many times and she has grown out of patience. Then that morning they had an argument just immediately Stella left the house," Nate sauntered towards the board, drawing a linking line with a red marker, connecting Abby and Nkoli, "then somehow, an accident happened and Abby became the unfortunate victim. This will explain the reason why she was the first person to raised that alarm first”.

 "Very well then," Captain Ali circled Nkoli's picture, "Nkoli is a suspect then." 

He shifts his laser to the next picture. Daniel. "Why will the big headed boy want to kill his father?”

 "The same reason Stella will want to kill her husband. The man is Indian. In Nigeria here, young boys would want to get rich very faster than normal. This one already had the wealth. Probably he will be afraid when he thinks of the fact that his father who knows that he is a rascal can one day decide to share his wealth across orphanages and and other charitable platforms. To prevent that from happening the best thing to do was to kill him!"

 "And the genius king strikes again, one point to him," Jones said sarcastically to irritate Nate, who was really stealing the show from the rest of the detectives.

 "Stop that!" Captain Ali scolded Jones, "very good Nate."

For some reason or the other, Mike has been awfully quiet and inactive. Given to his carefree attitude, Susan could not help but notice his head bowed throughout the whole meeting. Susan signalled the Captain to take a look at Mike.

 "Anything wrong Mike?" 

 He raised his head immediately, "nothing just feeling a little sick," he said faking a smile.

 Captain Ali beamed his laser at the next picture, "what about him, Adamu?" He said.

 "Well, that one does not enter the main house. He is lesser of a suspect than others," Susan said with affirmation.

 "We can't be so sure," Nate objected.

 "Save it Mr smart pants," John charged at him, "you were still on your bed when we moved round the entire estate for questioning."

Captain Ali could not help himself but chuckled aloud. "So this leaves us with four suspects. Stella, Nkoli, Daniel; and an unknown person," he said pointing his laser at the blank page.

 "Alright guys. Let us get back to work!" He dismissed them. The meeting has ended and John and Susan are back to their headache.

 The investigation grew intense and the DNA results were not out yet, after three days. Susan became restless, John calmed her down as he also did.

 Two weeks was the deadline, the President gave them to sort it out and three days gone already, they decided to play the psychology game as their last resort, with the suspects so as to buy enough time for Jake. At least one of them will definitely fall for it, they thought. They would lose their jobs faster than they can imagine and could face jail term. It involves imposing the lie on your suspect, forcing them to admit the crime. Sometimes violent punishment could be used which is against the code of conduct of the Bureau. And the major reason it was banned - hypnosis. You have to hypnotise your suspect to bring out the truth. They were ready - especially Susan - to go to any length to bring down the killer and save their jobs.