THE WITNESSES

CHAPTER SIX

Esther Rise offered Hassan a seat, she sat opposite him in a rather seductive manner as she asked him

'So what exactly do you want from me?

He laughed and replied

'What if I desire your life?

She laughed too, he sure had a comic side, she loved that in a man, and she crossed one thigh above another, so her thighs were pretty visible and enticing.

She was about to say something, when she saw the gun, he held it to her head and smiled

''What would you give for your life?'

She was about to scream, he saw it in her face. He held the gun to his lips as a sign that she should keep quiet, he smiled at her again, she was terribly afraid, and he could see the way her legs shook

'I want to play a game'

She continued to stare at him with great fear in her eyes. She was suddenly mute, she couldn't even say a word.

He looked at his wristwatch, it was 2.28pm, he knew Ali had failed again, it was already too late for Ali to show up, he continued speaking I would give you a riddle, you have two minutes to solve it, if you fail, you die.

'I give account of an event and my testimony can either make or mar a person, who am I?

Esther Rise continued to stare at him in fright, she had absolutely no idea of the kind of answer he sought, he was standing now and he still had the pistol pointed at her forehead.

Ali had managed to catch up with Ann, they were jogging together now, they had called Alhaji Hassan over five times already, it rang but no one responded, Ali looked at his wristwatch, it was 2.28pm, they were already at Tafawa Balewa street, but he knew it would still take them another five minutes to get to the hotel and getting to the hotel was one phase, finding her room was another task in itself. He had foreseen an inability to meet the deadline, which was why he had done what he had to do before he ran out of the car, he knew it was risky but he just wanted to be one step ahead of the caller, now all he could hope and pray for was that his plan turned out right.

Esther Rise began to beg for her life, she could already see death looming over her head, but she couldn't understand why she had to die, she had never met this man in her life. Why did he want to take her life?

The man smiled as he spoke again. I think your time is up, you couldn't save your own life but I would tell you the answer though. The answer is...

He was interrupted by a knock on the door, as his eyes moved to the door, Esther saw her chance, maybe it was fear that motivated her, but somehow she suddenly gained a courage that she had never felt before, it must have been the strong will to survive, she suddenly screamed very loudly, the man with the gun didn't anticipate that either, as he turned to look at her again, the door burst open, it was a policeman with a gun, the stranger didn't waste any time he fired and the policeman fired too, but he was faster, the bullet caught the policeman on his neck as he went down, the policeman's bullet narrowly missed him, as he dived for cover. In that split moment, Esther ran for the door, he fired at her, the bullet hit her but she managed to run out of the room into the hall way, he ran after her, as he rushed into the hall way, he saw another policeman with a gun running towards the room, the policeman fired at him, but he was quick to run down the hallway in the opposite direction, two more gun shots followed, one of the bullets grazed his shoulders as he ran away, he rushed down the stairs, went through the back door, there were no policemen in the compound, he sneaked behind some flowers, as he got to the gate, the security guard tried to stop him but two bullets to the stomach silenced him as he ran out of the hotel and made away.

Before the policeman rushed out of the compound, he was gone and at that same time Ali and Ann ran into the hotel compound.

It was all commotion, obviously only two policemen had driven down to the hotel to check out the call that was made by the anonymous caller, concerning a threat to life of a certain Esther Rise that was lodging at Maria Lodge.

Ann screamed when she saw the dead security guard, the policeman was calling for backup, he pointed the gun at Ali and Ann and asked them to remain where they were.

After he had made the call, he led Ali and Ann into the reception room. Most of the hotel guests were out of their rooms now, they all heard the gunshots, and Ali had introduced himself to the policeman as the anonymous caller that had given the tip.

Esther Rise was hurt. She had caught a bullet in her left thigh, she had managed to run and hide in one of the rest room, they had found her lying unconscious there, she had lost so much blood, they had also found the body of Alhaji Hassan in one of the restrooms. He had been stabbed to death multiple times.

Ali and Ann couldn't believe it when they saw the corpse of Alhaji Hassan, Ann couldn't hold the tears from falling, Ali on the other hand tried to comport himself as a man but it hurt so much, he just couldn't take the hurt, his friend and business partner was gone.

In few minutes. The hotel had been cleared, Esther Rise and Alhaji Hassan were taken away in an ambulance, Ali and Ann had to follow the policemen back to the station, there was a lot to talk about.

Ali shared his incredible story at the police station. It was almost impossible to believe, it was only when he shared the recorded conversation that the story actually began to add up to the policemen.

Two detectives were assigned to the case, inspector Usuman and sergeant Fatima. A lot of the progress on the case was tied to Esther's recovery, at least they had a victim that had seen the killer face to face, which was a very big advantage for them. Some policemen were assigned to guard Esther in the hospital till she regained consciousness, while the two detectives kept very close tabs on Ali and Ann in case the caller decided to establish contact again.

Breaking the news to Alhaji Hassan's family was a very difficult task for Ali, the policemen had to help out too, He was buried the next day as his family didn't want him to spend another day in the mortuary.

It took two days for Esther Rise to regain consciousness, immediately she did, the detectives were informed, they picked up Ali and Ann from the house and visited Esther at the hospital.

Esther couldn't provide very detailed information though, she could only recall that the attacker was very handsome and had a rather lovely voice too, she mentioned that he had a mark on his forehead just above his eyes, she also remembered the riddle he had put to her and how she couldn't find the answer to it.

Ali asked her to repeat the riddle, she did

'I give account of an event and my testimony can either make or mar a person, who am I?

Ali repeated the riddle to himself, this was rather easy. The answer was 'witness'

Inspector Usuman provided the same answer before Ali could even say it out loud.

The alarm went off in Ali's head, he asked Esther, 'why would he give you a riddle that relates to a witness, do you have any clue?'

Esther still felt very weak but she realized the importance of speaking to these people, she knew she had to provide any information that might help them get the killer, she began to think hard, she really couldn't find an answer.

They decided to allow her rest for a while, she was advised to get back to them as soon as anything helpful turned up in her head.

Detective Usuman continued to repeat the word 'witness' to himself, he was a hundred percent positive, this sure had something to do with this case, he called Ali aside and spoke to him privately

'The other two victims, do you have any information about them?'

Ali nodded

'At least I know where they worked'

The detective replied

'I think that would be good enough for a start, maybe we should visit those places, somehow someone might be able to connect the dots, I have a feeling that these murders are related, witness here seems to be a keyword.

The beautiful mall was the first location on their visit list, the four of them, Ali. Ann, Inspector Usuman and Sergeant Fatima hit the road, they were going to make a stop at the beautiful mall where Blackie had worked and afterwards they would visit St Mary's high school, where Bloody Mary had worked. It was high time they started connecting the dots.

Meanwhile somewhere deep in the woods, 'Jason' for that was his name, was recuperating.

He had suffered a shoulder injury from the police bullet. It wasn't really so bad though but he was fuming with anger, this was the third day, he could take care of himself, he didn't need a doctor, he was his own doctor, he had learnt a lot from his mother. His shoulder didn't hurt so much anymore and he knew in a few hours, he would be ready for a counter attack.

He had a special cabin in the woods where he always retreated to whenever he wanted to be away from the world. Now he hated Ali with so much passion, Ali had broken the rules, he had involved the police, now he Jason was going to retaliate, and he was definitely going to kill Ali and Ann, which was certain. He needed a new plan, he wasn’t going to follow the scripts again. Ali had spoilt the original plan. He remembered how he had also had to cut short the episode on the golf stick murders, it seemed there was always someone out there with intent on spoiling his plans.

He knew with the police now involved in the case, they might connect the dots and understand that the victims weren't just a bunch of random victims, indeed there was a connection. He had hoped they wouldn't connect the dots till he was ready, that was the original plan but now Ali had messed up his plans, he was simply going to jump to the last page of the script now.

He hated everyone, he hated Ali, he hated Ann, he hated the police and more importantly, he hated Esther Rise, he smiled as he remembered a popular line from his mentor 'Saw'

'So many people are so ungrateful to be alive, but not for you, not anymore'

He could say that for Esther Rise, but he knew that wouldn't last for so long, he knew that before the end, Esther Rise would also meet her end, she had to pay for her sins, he was the punishment of God upon her, he certainly couldn't forget all that happened three years ago, he quoted a verse from the bible

'Though hands joined in hands, the wicked shall never go unpunished' he smiled, he still knew the bible. He was supposed to be a pastor after all.

He hated them all, every one of them that had played a role in the painful event, he hated everyone that had contributed to his hurt whether directly or indirectly, he wouldn't rest until every single one of them paid for their sins.

The visit to the beautiful mall was rather productive, the manager of the mall, Sir. Alex was able to provide details of Blackie's elder brother.

In another thirty minutes, the four of them were at the address. When the man opened his door and saw four strange faces with two of them flashing police ID cards, he was rather scared, he immediately became defensive but Ann was quick to calm him down with her infectious smile.

In a few minutes, they were able to get all the basic details they needed, the police required some basic details and with those details they could check their data base if anything helpful would come up.

The visit to St Mary's High school was also very productive, the school admin was able to provide them with the basic information that they required.

They already had the information they required from Esther Rise, now it was time for Ali and Ann to allow the police carry out their own investigations and connect the dots surrounding the killings.

The next day was a Wednesday, Ann had to return to school, she had already missed two days of school as it were and her exams drew really close, Ali tried to talk her out of it, he was scared for her but Ann really didn't care, she wasn't going to be hiding all her life because of an insane killer, she assured Ali that she would be fine and she left for school that morning.

Later that day, Inspector Usuman called Ali on the phone, they had finally connected the dots, indeed it had been staring at them all the while, the two murdered victims and the last victim that narrowly escaped death had been witnesses in a particular case of manslaughter three years before.

It had been an accident, it involved a minivan and a Toyota Camry, the occupants of the minivan were six university students, four guys and two girls, and the driver of the Toyota Camry was a middle aged woman, the woman had died on the spot, two of the students were badly injured while the others sustained minor injuries. The police intervened, the woman died but no relative of hers came forward to identify her, the case was however taken to court, as the police probably sought to teach the young stars a lesson, however it turned out that the woman had been in the wrong, Witnesses came forward to testify that the woman was actually mentally nuts at the time and some other witnesses had confirmed she had been having seizures prior to the time.

No one knew much about her. They only knew she lived alone in a very big house and that some nights someone actually came to see her, no one had ever seen the person but it was obvious that the person took care of her and provided her basic needs.

Ali listened with rapt attention, indeed he could already connect a few dots, somehow he had already begun to see where the killer came in, and then the inspector gave him the major highpoint of it all.

'Ali, we have been carrying out some investigations and trying to dig into the past, now, guess what?

Ali responded

'What?'

Inspector Usuman replied, 'the six university students, all six of them were murdered one after the other and can you also guess the murder weapon?'

Somehow, Ali already knew the answer, he responded

'Golf sticks'

Inspector Usuman replied

'Yea, you got that right'

A sudden cold broke upon Ali, now he knew why the caller had picked him, he had been dealing with the golf stick murderer all this time and he never knew it, now he knew he really had to be scared, his hands couldn't hold the phone anymore, he began to tremble in fear, to him, the story just got super real