THE WITNESSES

(PART TWO) CHAPTER THREE

Ali returned to the bar at exactly 10.45pm, he couldn’t believe that he had practically run out of Becky’s house, the choice between good and evil had become so difficult for him but somehow his love for Ann continued to jam his frequency. He knew if he had stayed even a minute more, he would have fallen for the temptation and more importantly maybe he would have lost focus on the job he had to carry out that night.

It was obvious, the rat was going to strike at that bar that night and the late sleepers were going to be the target, his job was to make sure the late sleepers were kept away from the rat and he was determined to do his job because Ann’s life depended on the success of his job that night.

He quickly cleared thoughts of Becky from his head even though mental images of her body kept popping in his head at intervals, he knew how to handle Becky, he was going to call her the next day and apologize, he knew he could think up an excuse and he knew he was going to make it up to her one way or another.

He sat at a vantage position at the bar and waited, true to Becky’s words, the bar was already crowded with all kinds of people, and it was quite difficult to even get a seat at a vantage position at the bar that night.

The man with the face cap and the shades saw Ali when he came back into the bar, he had a bottle of beer in his right hand. He knew what he had to do that night and he knew exactly how he was going to get it done.

Ali had sat for close to an hour, he had looked at his wristwatch continuously at different intervals, it was already past the time that the late sleepers were meant to come up on stage, yet they hadn’t showed up, he could feel the tension in the crowd, everyone was anticipating.

Ali felt something was wrong, somehow he knew he had to be on the move, maybe the rat was already on the move , Ali stood up immediately, he needed to get some information, he walked straight to one of the bar attendants, a rather fat one, she appeared rather knowledgeable and Ali assumed she could give him some information,

‘Hello, Pretty’

She turned and smiled at Ali, then her facial expression changed, she suddenly became defensive and Ali could understand her thought pattern, she didn’t know this guy, so she wondered why he was trying to be sweet to her.

Ali smiled and introduced himself, he needed to break the ice, and he knew how to get to people. That was part of his job, after all he was a journalist

‘Okay, my name is Ali, I work with the daily tidings newspapers and I have taken great interest in this bar, I would be doing a story on it soon, and I was considering featuring you on our pages too, you seem a rather dedicated and committed staff of this bar’

She smiled very broadly now, Ali knew he could get whatever he wanted from her now, she had lowered her guards and she was open to him.

Ali didn’t waste time on frivolities, he broached around a few questions about the bar even though he had to practically shout at some points for her to hear him. He pushed on steadily and gained her confidence, then he enquired about the late sleepers, that was when he discovered that the late sleepers were already at the bar, they were lodging in a special guest room that the bar provided them and they were meant to go up on stage anytime from then.

The bar attendant would have concluded Ali was mad, with the way he practically ran away from her as she mentioned the room where they were lodged.

Ali burst into the passageway, he hoped he wasn’t too late already, he knew he had slipped, he was truly becoming rusty. What was he thinking? He should have known the late sleepers would definitely be at the bar before the time they were meant to be on stage. He had been carried away with thoughts about Becky. As he ran towards the room, he hoped he wasn’t too late.

The late sleepers couldn’t understand why the man in the room had a gun pointing at them, all he kept saying was

‘Am sorry, I have to do this’

The man kept looking at his wristwatch at intervals as if he was expecting someone, the late sleepers had their hands in the air as he commanded, they were all standing together at a corner of the room as he had told them to.

Just then they heard the footsteps, the man suddenly nodded strangely as if he had been waiting to hear that, just then he pressed the trigger, it was loud and deafening, four quick shots and four bodies dropped on the ground. He was a professional, he had made them stand in a way that would be easy for him to register head shots. Just then the door burst open, Ali was just in time to see the fourth body drop to the floor lifelessly, as he made to move forward, he felt something hit his head from behind and next he saw was total blackness, which was the last thing he saw before his body hit the floor totally unconscious of his environment.

Ann tried hard to have a clearer picture of her environment, she knew she certainly had to have been under the influence of a very powerful drug. The last thing she could remember was running after a young boy into an uncompleted building and the feel of strong hands with a handkerchief over her face. She knew whatever it was that she had inhaled had to be very strong, because she had continuously slipped in and out of consciousness from the time she inhaled the substance,

She opened her eyes again and struggled to keep it open this time, the effects of whatever she had inhaled was slowly beginning to wear off. She tried to have a look at her immediate environment, it was faintly lit by a single red bulb and it was a rather small room. She was bound to a chair, both hands and feet. There was a chair directly opposite her like it was meant to be an interview session with her. The room was so hot, she could feel the sweat dripping from every pore in her skin, and she observed she was still in the same clothes that she worn when she ran after the young boy.

She couldn’t understand any of what she saw, there was nothing else in the room other than the chair on which she sat, the chair opposite her and the single light bulb dropping down by the means of a cord from the ceiling at the middle of the room. She kept on wondering why she had been held hostage and who had decided to hold her hostage. She was still lost in her thoughts when the door opened. It opened rather slowly and her heartbeat increased steadily as she didn’t know what to expect.

Just then a man entered the room, he appeared rather muscular and heavily built, He wore a black and very long kaftan that got to his feet, and he also wore a hood over his face with small holes on it for his eyes and nostrils. Ann shuddered in fear as he moved slowly towards her. She had a strong urge to shout but she knew better than to shout, she understood that the moment she began shouting, the next decision would be to gag her and she certainly didn’t want to be gagged.

The man stood in front of her for a few minutes, regarded her for a while as if he intended finding something in her eyes, then he sat on the chair opposite her. He continued to stare at her through his hood.

It was 200am, he had been waiting for over an hour for the drug to wear out, it was obvious he had given her an overdose. He had returned from his second mission over an hour before then and he had watched Ann through the secret hole on the door at different intervals until a few minutes before when she had opened her eyes and kept it open.

Ann continued to stare at the hood covered face, she scanned the man quickly with her eyes, probably with the thoughts of observing anything that might be worth remembering if she ever got out alive, but it seemed to her that the man sitting in front of her had done a thorough job. The long sleeved kaftan covered his whole body, he wore black gloves on his hand, and the hood that he wore over his head, reached down to his neck. She tried to look down but the man had that covered as well, he wore long black socks too, it was obvious, he didn’t want to be recognized.

As she continued to stare at him his voice broke through her thoughts

‘Hello Ann’

She was quick to observe that he was masking his voice too, all her observations were beginning to create certain thoughts in her head but she couldn’t accept it just then she needed to be sure before arriving at deductions.

The man continued to speak as she stared at his hood covered face

‘Ann, I understand you have been kept here a while against your own will but you must understand that everyone is a prisoner, the only difference is that some are willing prisoners and some are kept against their will”

He paused for effect, he observed her face, and he could tell she was listening, then he continued

‘Let’s just say, your boyfriend or fiancé or whatever you chose to call him has to make a choice between you and the task that lies ahead, let’s just say at a point he would have to make a decision between saving you and saving the world and that’s where you are going to be needed Ann, you would have to convince him to choose you rather than the world. If you can, you win but if you can’t let’s just say ‘the cost would be in lives’

Ann continued to stare at the hooded face she was making strong efforts to hold onto something about the masked man, she had a strong will to escape, her survival instincts had kicked in, she was quite sure she would escape and she needed to have something that could help her track the masked man if she ever had to.

The masked man observed she wasn’t concentrating hard, he knew she was smart, he knew exactly what she was thinking, a part of him felt sorry for her because he knew she wasn’t getting out of this alive, the plan was a master plan, it had no happy ending because at the end of it all, Ali, Ann and probably anyone that tried to get in the way of the plan would be dead. That was the master plan and it had been perfectly scripted, every single detail had been thought out and the plans had worked out seamlessly so far.

Ali sat in his bedroom, his head hurt terribly, it was more than three hours after the unfortunate incident at the rising moon bar, he couldn’t be calm, he had sat there for hours anticipating the rat’s phone call, he knew he had failed, he also knew that Ann’s life was in serious danger, it was obvious, he couldn’t save the late sleepers and he clearly recalled the rat’s warning that if he failed, the cost would be in lives.

Now he was really scared for Ann, and it was all the more scary as he heard nothing from the rat. His thoughts took him back to the room at the rising moon bar and how he had escaped a few hours before.

He recalled how he had slipped into unconsciousness when he felt a bang on his head from behind him, he had opened his eyes a few minutes later to observe that he was lying on the floor but he felt something in his right hand, his head hurt so badly, he realized he had hit his head on a piece of furniture that lay carelessly in the room, that should have happened when he had fallen face down after the hit and he was quite sure that was why he had slipped out of consciousness quickly.

He struggled to sit up and that was when he recalled exactly what had happened, he saw the dead bodies on the floor and a quick look at his hand registered the pistol in his hand. It immediately became clear to him, he was going to be framed for the murders, he had watched too much of action movies to not understand a set up when he saw one, he did his calculations, he knew the pistol would definitely bear his finger prints, the murderer had to have worn gloves, as he sat there contemplating, he heard footsteps approaching the room, the footsteps were accompanied with voices, it had to be the police, he knew he had to get out at that moment.

He moved quickly and slipped into the bathroom, he still had the gun with him, his head hurt so badly but he knew his life depended on that move. There was a rather small window just above the toilet seat, he observed there were no protector bars on it, he knew just how the police worked, they were going to barge into the room, he had to wait for the perfect time so that the sound of his breaking down the window would synchronize with the police kicking in the door.

Bang!

That was it, he got the timing perfectly, by the time the police eventually got into the bathroom after spending a few minutes in the room where the dead men lay, Ali was long gone. All the police observed were shattered window panes, their efforts to find the murderer proved abortive, the murderer was long gone as well.

Ali’s thought returned to his room, he had applied some first aid and put bandage over his head, the last few hours had been so fast for him, he sat on a chair and continued to replay the events in his head. He continued to wonder why the rat wanted to set him up, he certainly couldn’t understand the new twist. There was sure more to this than he could see, this was one of those times where he really needed a partner, he was slowly losing it, he couldn’t even think straight anymore, he was still in thoughts when he drifted off to sleep.

It was the loud tap on his door that woke him up, he opened his eyes, his eyes flashed to the wall clock, it was 7.30am already, and he had fallen asleep on the arm chair. The knock persisted and was louder this time. He forced himself up and moved slowly to the door, he hesitated and the knock sounded again, this time much louder, he opened the door and there stood Becky smiling at him.

‘Rise and Shine, pretty boy’

She smiled as she spoke the words, she pushed his bare chest softly and walked past him into the room as Ali stood at the door very confused.

‘I would advise you shut the door, the police would be here anytime soon, obviously someone fingered you as a suspect at the bar yester night’

The words took Ali by surprise, he heeded her advice and shut the door as he walked into his sitting room. Becky had already sat and crossed her right legs over her left, Ali was quick to see her beautiful thighs but he took his eyes off her thighs as quickly as he had looked.

‘How do you mean the police would be here anytime soon?’

He asked Becky as he stared into her eyes expecting answers

‘Apparently, they think you are the murderer, during their investigations and interrogations, one of the bar attendants mentioned your name and insisted that you enquired about the late sleepers and she also confirmed that you acted rather suspicious after you got information on where they were lodged’

Ali’s heart began to pound heavily, he thought he had escaped but it began to seem to him that his nightmare only began

He was about to say something to Becky when he heard the sound of a car outside his compound, Becky winked at him

‘I guess your guests just arrived, go ahead and speak to them’

Ali suddenly had goose bumps all over, it suddenly dawned on him that he had become involved in a murder case for the first time in his life.

He put on his professional face, ran into his room to grab a shirt and wore it as he anticipated the knock on his door, he opened the door at first knock but just before he opened the door he was quick to notice that Becky exited the sitting room.

‘Good morning, Mr. Ali, please can we come in?’

There were two detectives standing at his door, they didn’t look familiar to him, the one that spoke wore a grin and flashed his Id as he spoke, His name was Detective Hafiz. Ali allowed them into the house and shut the door

‘Good morning Sirs, please how can I help you?’

Detective Hafiz smiled and responded

‘Maybe you can begin by telling us, where you were yesterday, between the hours of 11.30pm and 1.00am?

Ali was about to speak up when he heard the voice from behind him

‘He was with me in this house and I can assure you we had the nicest time ever, I bet you two have never had that kind of pleasure in all your lives’

Ali turned swiftly as did the two detectives and it was Becky, she had just entered into the sitting room from one of the rooms, she walked slowly and seductively towards them, she should have been nude except for the towel that hung over her chest and rested just above her knees, ample portion of her thighs and cleavage were left wickedly uncovered. Ali could sense that the detectives lost their power of reasoning as they continued staring and couldn’t respond for the first few seconds, their eyes couldn’t drift off this breathtaking beauty that stood before them.

The detectives didn’t see this coming. Detective Hafiz appeared to be the spokesman, he turned his eyes to Ali and again back to Becky, and it was evident in his eyes that he didn’t believe Becky, but Becky’s raw beauty was fast making him lose control. He managed to speak

‘So how do you intend to prove that when an eye witness, precisely one of the bar attendants testifies that Ali was seen at the bar within the hour that a crime was committed and the testimony points to the fact that he enquired about the victims just minutes before they were murdered

Becky smiled as she walked closer to the detective, she intentionally allowed her body brush against his as she went behind Ali and hugged him from behind

‘Let’s just say it would have to be our word against hers and by the way, who believes the words of a common bar attendant, you should understand that bar attendants shouldn’t be trusted’

Ali marveled at the way Becky handled the situation, he was sure he would have been in very big trouble if Becky hadn’t showed up

The second detective, Detective Umar spoke this time

‘We would have to search this place’

Ali’s heart froze at the mention of a search. The murder weapon was lying carelessly inside one of the drawers in his bedroom, he knew the detectives wouldn’t even have to search for long before they found it and if they found it, it was over for him, he had no explanations whatsoever even Becky wouldn’t be able to deliver him then, he was still busy with his thoughts when Becky came to his rescue again

‘I do believe that you require a search warrant to carry out a search in this premise’

Detective Hafiz looked up at her, he had hate in his eyes now and when he spoke the anger was evident

‘Listen to me woman, this is a murder case, I can carry out any search anywhere and anytime, you can’t obstruct us from doing our jobs’

Becky smiled broadly and had the detectives staring at her for a few seconds before she responded

‘Maybe you can try that with people who don’t know their rights in this country but certainly not with a journalist and a barrister, I can assure you, you might lose your badges for that’

Ali slowly freed himself from her hug so he could stand at a position where he could see her face, the mention of barrister took him by surprise, he couldn’t tell what she was playing at but it sure had an effect on the detectives. Ali could observe two confused men that were stuck with making a decision between going ahead to search the place without a warrant with the risk of losing their jobs if they found nothing or leaving the place in shame with intentions of coming back.

They obviously picked the second option when detective Hafiz responded

‘You think you are smart right, we would leave now but I assure you, we will be back and trust me you won’t be so smart then’

The detective looked intently at Becky as he spoke, Becky looked into his eyes too, she wasn’t scared of him, she knew she could take him out as easily as a lizard would take a butterfly, she paid little attention to what he had to say, he was of very little relevance to her, her mission was Ali and she wanted him for herself, she wasn’t going to allow any other person take Ali out, certainly not the police.

The detectives turned to leave, indeed Ali felt victorious, he could see disappointment written on their faces, he knew they would be back, he knew they would return back with the bar attendant that had fingered him, he knew his problem only began and for a split second he found himself wishing the bar attendant would just disappear into thin air or even drop dead. He had to catch himself from delving into deep wicked thoughts.

The detectives walked out of the house, got into their car and drove off. Ali knew their next point of call, he knew they would be visiting the bar attendant, he knew but he could do nothing about it, all he had to do was wait and prepare for what was ahead.

He got back into his sitting room, Becky wasn’t there, he turned to lock the door and just as he turned around again, he saw Becky standing in front of him, for a few seconds he lost his voice, because the Becky he saw at that moment was a Becky he had never imagined even in his wildest imaginations. She had purposely dropped the towel now and she left nothing to his imaginations. He knew he had fallen for her even before she walked towards him and put her arms over his shoulder, he certainly couldn’t resist the temptation, even before they hit the bedroom and hit his bed he knew he was going to cheat on Ann, it was inevitable, He didn’t even try to fight it, maybe he had always wanted it to happen all along, the last thoughts he had in his head before he finally succumbed to the temptation was that ‘men will always be men’

Just as Ali had predicted, the two detectives hit the rising moon bar immediately they left Ali’s house, they knew what they had to do, The bar attendant only had to point Ali out as the man that had spoken to her and that was all they needed to arrest him. Detective Hafiz already had terrible plans for Ali, he hated journalists, he only needed an excuse to arrest Ali and the bar attendant was going to help him with that, his own principle was that a suspect was guilty until proven innocent.

Talks with the manager at the bar and other workers at the bar didn’t yield any results for the detectives, No one had seen Angela that morning for that was her name. She had failed to report for duty and her phone line had been unreachable all morning. The detectives obtained her house address from a friend of hers and headed for her house.

The visit to her house wasn’t productive either, she lived alone in a one room apartment, in a building that contained eight single rooms, one of her neighbors confirmed she had gone out to work that morning. The detectives did the best they could, they made several enquiries, made several calls but all efforts to reach Angela proved abortive, she had suddenly disappeared into thin air, it was quite probable that God had answered Ali’s prayers after all.