THE WITNESSES

CHAPTER SEVEN

Jason looked straight into the mirror as he stared at his nude body, he was indeed an awesome masterpiece of the creator, he had the kind of eyes that ladies couldn’t resist, everything about his face was lovely to behold, his shoulders stood high and tall, maybe his pride just came naturally, he didn’t have to work hard at it, his body showed consistency at body fitness programs and workout, he didn’t have the perfect physique he always dreamed of, but what he had, ladies totally found irresistible.

He wasn’t always like that, he would have referred to himself as ugly at childhood, his transformation was miraculous, he had grown into a charming young man by a mere twist of fate or as he preferred to call it, an act of God.

His mind drifted to the past, he remembered the night with Aishat, that night probably changed it all for him, he had murdered Aishat and practically her family that night in rage, he was a young boy blinded by lust, he couldn’t calculate, he couldn’t think, all he could do was act irrationally and that was exactly what he had done.

He had woken up a changed boy, somehow the grievousness of his sins had convicted him the next morning when he recalled all he had done the previous night, his mum never asked him and he never told her about it, but on that day, he made a vow, he was never going to kill anyone again, Aishat’s murder did something to him, he was never going to forget about the only girl he had loved as much as he loved his own mother. He had kept the golf stick in memory of her, the golf stick became his personal toy, he treated it like a god, he kept it at a well-priced place in his bedroom, his mum observed his inexplicable fondness of the golf stick but she never mentioned anything about it. He could tell it from the way she looked at him, she was scared of him.

He was a very bright student, he got into the university of Jos, he graduated among the best graduating students, for those five years he was clean, there were many times he would have yielded to his lust for blood, but the image of Aishat wouldn’t stop flashing, he even found it hard to hurt a fly, it seemed she controlled him in a way he couldn’t understand.

Securing a job in one of the best companies afterwards wasn’t a big deal, with his profession and the kind of intelligence that oozed out of him, companies were at his beck and call. He always had a dream of owning his own company, he never planned to work in a firm for long, and five years was enough for him. He was smart, he was intelligent, he was streetwise, he knew the games, he knew how to make money, he applied the rules and he made a large amount of money too. He got his mum a decent house, he had plans for her, she still loved him so much, he was all she had, he loved her so much too, she was all he had, he was never going to be married, and he would do that for her and Aishat. He couldn’t always be with her but he took out time to visit her every other fourth day, he visited her late in the nights and left before dawn. He provided all her needs, he cared for her, he had bigger dreams for her, no one knew about his mum, he was that jealous, he didn’t want to share with anyone, even his so called friends never knew he had a mum, he wanted her all to himself and just when he was at the verge of achieving the big dream he had always dreamed about, just when he was about to kick start the first stage of his entrepreneurial journey, some drunk students ran their van into his mother’s car and killed her.

His world crumbled, he practically died, he couldn’t even show up to receive his Mother’s body, he was devastated and broken, he decided to let the law take its full course, at least he expected the students to do time at least, his mother deserved that but they went scot free, all six of them went scot free.

He had grieved in his loss for the couple of days that followed, he really didn’t have friends that could console him, after all, no one even knew he had a mother, no one did know anything about him, he preferred to live his life that way. The state probably buried his mother’s body in an unmarked grave, he hated that he couldn’t bury his own mum, indeed he longed to identify himself and receive her body but maybe his other evil self, had already begun its first stages of hatching out an evil plan. He spent long hours every day sitting all by himself and staring at the wall, he slowly returned to his old passion of studying deep spiritual books, pornography and horror movies and gradually he returned to his old self. That part of him that longed for blood struggled to be let out every single day as Aishat’s hold on him slackened at a faster rate.

It didn’t take him so long, hibernating in the shadows and dwelling in the deep negativities of his mind unleashed the deep evils that had been dormant in him. His evil self won, breaking the hold of Aishat’s thoughts on him. Now he was free, now he was ready to hit back at those that hurt him and he had plans to add bonuses too.

It took him six months to be prepared, all the money he had saved up for his dream empire, he invested into his plans, he built the fully digitalized cabin house that he needed in the woods, a few millions went in there, his first victims were everyone that knew about the cabin house, contractors, site men, laborers, he took them all out, one after the other. No one had a clue, the police didn’t even suspect a link in the deaths, after all only the dead knew they had a link to a certain cabin house and dead people didn’t tell stories. He built a business for a cover and put people in charge, he built a church too which he donated to a pastor and he also worshipped there, this quickly earned him the title of Pastor, of course that was the perfect cover, He also built a house, another cover, he achieved all these simultaneously, that was where he planned to live, he spent a lot more on his personal training. He spent four months outside Jos in a secret training institute where he built himself into the man he had always wanted to be physically. He also learnt a great deal about weapons at the training institute and when he returned to Jos, he was ready to activate the first stage of his plans.

He already had the full details of the six students that brought him so much hurt, he never for once abandoned his golf stick, which was why he included the golf stick in his plans. He was doing this for the love of Aishat and his Mum.

His first week of return to Jos was spent tailing his victims, in one week, he knew everything about them, where they went, what they did, he even knew their favorite friends and favorite foods, he had a game plan, he didn’t want the murders to be too quickly linked to the accident case that happened a few months before then, so he had a plan. He sure was going to be popular, he already suspected how the police would tag him, ‘the golf stick murderer’ that was why he left a new golf stick at the scene of every crime, which was his own signature.

He had the perfect personality, he could enter into any place at any time, he had the money, he had the skills, he was super smart too, and he had the perfect cover, no one would ever suspect him, he intended playing the game for long, in the long run all six students would be dead but there would be many bonus kills, the bonus kills would serve to lead the police far away from the prime reason for the killings, he was only going to let them know when he wanted them to know.

That was why the first reported death on the golf stick murders was Andy Chuks.

Andy Chuks knew nothing about the accident that took the old woman’s life, but he had schooled with Jason and Jason had hated his guts back then in school, that was enough reason for him to lose his life, Jason tagged Andy Chuks as a bonus kill.

After he started off with Andy Chuks, his confidence returned, that was the first time he was taking down a victim in the victim's own house since after Aishat.

When he began to strike his prime targets, he took them out almost consecutively, he didn't want any excessive time lag so no one would begin to connect the dots, he repaid them in their coin as he loved to see it within the space of one month, no one even had a clue, no one could connect the dots, the police couldn't either, the best they all could come up with was that there was a pattern and all the murders were classified under 'the golf stick murders'

After he had murdered the six students and even added eight bonus kills equating a total of fifteen murders in the space of two months, he found it harder to stop, his lust for blood couldn't be satisfied, he sought for more reasons to continue as he suddenly became famous. 'The golf stick murderer' became a dreaded name in the city of Jos, he watched it on television and read it on newspapers too, he fast became a lover of newspaper and magazines as he loved to read what people thought about him, how people tried to guess his next moves and how the police continued to be totally clueless, it was his love for newspapers and magazines that drew his attention to a special publication that seemed to for the first time know something about him. It was an article and the writer had written so much that for a split second he had cause to wonder if he hadn't gone sloppy.

The writer had mentioned that the killer had to have had a very abusive childhood possibly from an irresponsible step dad, he also mentioned that the killer had to be grieving over something, maybe the loss of a very dear one and this was his own way of taking it out on the world.

Jason had found it hard to believe that anyone could even come so close to knowing the kind of person he was.

He had taken special notice of the newspaper then, it wasn't even a popular one, and it was 'The Daily Tidings Newspaper'

He had taken note of the writer too, he seemed a brilliant journalist, and the name was Ali.

Jason had paid them a visit at The Daily Tidings newspaper, that was where he had met Alhaji Hassan For the first time, He had met Ali too, He had visited them under the disguise of having them help him out with a certain research but his true aim was to meet Ali and probably understand how he knew so much about the golf stick murderer.

After the meeting, he had afterwards convinced himself that Ali was nothing to worry about, the young man was only acting on thoughts and nothing else.

He had a grand plan, his aim was to murder every single person that was connected to his mother's death and the subsequent release of her killers. In the weeks that followed, he murdered the lawyers and the presiding judge but he always added bonus kills so the real connection wouldn't be easily made and maybe he might have continued to succeed if the Journalist didn't continue to make things complicated for him, his thoughts about the killer were becoming more and more accurate, Jason knew that if he continued with his murder spree, the police would soon connect the dots and might just be able to save the last set of victims.

He thought about murdering the Journalist but again, he thought against it, if he did, it would all the more draw the attention of the police to the journalist and, this would make things worse for him as it would make them concentrate some more on the Journalist's articles and at the end, they would still connect the dots before he was done.

Jason knew what he had to do, it was the only option, he had to take a break on the killings for some time, he had to leave his last set of victims for another time but firstly he knew he had to be caught, yes, the golf stick murderer had to be caught and prosecuted that was the only way, he could have a free pass to come back for his last set of victims.

He hated them as much as he hated the six students, he tagged his last set of victims 'The Witnesses' they all witnessed in court against his deceased mother and their testimonies gave the students a gate pass out of the jail he had hoped they would end up.

They were also six in number, he already had their details but he believed in patience, he knew it wasn't safe for him to go ahead with his plans, the journalist had spoilt his plans, he was definitely going to come back for their heads but first he had to die.

He remembered the day, it was December 20th 2006, he had adopted the only sister of Raphael, Raphael was another criminal based in Jos, and they had trained together at the secret institute where he had trained. Raphael's only reason for living was his sister, Jason knew this, he hated Raphael's gut, he had always nursed plans to murder him, but he had then found a perfect use for Raphael, he was going to use Raphael as his fall guy, The same night he kidnapped Raphael's sister was the same night he planted the evidences in his secret hideout, He had given the anonymous tip to sergeant Bello, early that morning and just a few minutes before Sergeant Bello and his men cracked down Raphael's hide out, Raphael spoke with his dearest sister and upon threat to her life had accepted to take the fall for whatever happened to him in the minutes that followed, he never for once knew he would be taking the fall for the golf stick murders, neither did he know that the one who abducted his beloved only sister was the same Jason he had trained with.

Raphael never said anything contrary in the face of the evidences and accusations that were levied against him, not like it would have mattered though as the evidences were glaring, he also had his own crime records with the police, so his words weren't even going to hold in the first place, the set up was perfect, he would have been able to make some good noise though and convince maybe some members of the public that the killer was still out there but he loved his sister too much, he trusted the abductor to keep to his promise, he pleaded guilty in court, he could die for his sister, he was that hardened and that was why Jason had chosen him.

Jason kept his promise, after all he didn't allow her see his face, and she was on blindfolds all the hours he held her hostage. He let her go the same day Raphael was sentenced to death by hanging, she was the first of his victim he had ever let go, he remembered how he had felt like God that day, he also murdered Sergeant Bello a few days later, he just didn't want any lags, he was leaving Jos for a while and when he returned, he was coming for the last set of his victims, the ones he had tagged the witnesses.

He had spent longer than he planned but it was a time well spent, he had developed himself so strongly, he was ten times better than the man he was when he left Jos, he returned about two and a half years later, he had found a mentor in 'Saw' of the movie saw.

That was where he got the concept of the riddles, it intrigued him, and he knew he was going to love the games, he was going to create his own Saw character.

He had his games all planned out, he had come back to get the witnesses, Ali was going to be a bonus kill, he already had plans for Ali the journalist, that was why he had included him in his plans, He wanted him to feel guilty for the murder of the victims and afterwards reveal the story to him and when he had got the message out to the world for him, he would take him out, that was his master plan.

On his return to Jos, it was obvious, the golf stick murders was dead and forgotten news, he loved it that way, he could see the end from the beginning, at the end, he would make everyone see the connections and maybe everyone would have a lesson to learn.

He made his first anonymous call to Ali after he had spent two weeks in Jos.

Jason's mind returned to the present as his hatred continued to rise, his shoulder wound from the police shot didn't hurt so much anymore, Ali had broken the rules, he couldn't get that off his mind, Ali had gone to the police, he knew that the police would be almost cracking the case now, he couldn't afford to have them saving anyone, all the witnesses had to die, that was why he couldn't afford to waste another hour, there were six of them, two were down already, four more had to go, he had twenty four hours to end it all, he had laid down his plans, it would be a grand ending, he smiled to himself as he looked at the mirror, he muttered softly under his breath

'Ali you should never have broken the rules'

He continued to stare at the mirror, it was the third day since after the incident with Esther Rise, he was ready to strike again, he put on his clothes, he didn't turn away from the mirror, he got out his phone and dialed Ali's number, he didn't bother to mask his voice, he didn't care anymore, he knew it was time for a bloodbath.

Ali was sitting at his study table, trying to do his own investigations regarding the information that Detective Usuman had passed on to him when his phone rang, Ali stared at the screen, it was private number, he looked at his wristwatch, it was 9pm, fear seized him but he answered the call all the same.

'You might be familiar with Newton's third law, I would want you to know it also applies to breaking rules?'

The voice on the phone was cold, Newton's third law flashed in Ali's head

'For every action, there is equal and opposite reaction'

Ali knew he had broken the rules, now that he knew he was dealing with the golf stick murderer, he was all the more scared, he tried to speak but no words came out, as he tried to stutter a reply, the voice continued

'I want to play a game,

In vain your bangles cast, charms circle at my feet, I am Abiku, calling for the first and repeated time, you have three hours, you find it, you keep it, finders keepers and the line went dead'