Lagos State Police Department Building, Agidingbi, Ikeja, Lagos.
Lex walked into the LSPD building tired, exhausted. He needed a bath. His body oozed of sweat.
"Welcome. I've gotten all the information I could get on the Late Ayodele," Bob was already talking before he got to where Lex stood. He too smelt like he hasn't taken a bath.
God. Lex held his breath, and I thought I reeked.
"Turns out," Bob continued. "Ayodele's got a criminal record, says our secret archives. He was arrested for robbery at age 19, caught with cocaine by 25, but he later gave his life to Christ and went back to school and completed his higher education. Bagging a degree and masters with honours from the University of Ibadan and University of Lagos respectively."
That's not the information I need.
"You said he turned a new leaf, right? - The church. Tell me about his connection with the church."
Lex didn't seem to be impressed with what Bob dug-up, Bob could sense it.
Bob hesitated for a moment. Then he stole a look around, and said.
"Come with me." he strode towards his office, and Lex followed.
* * *
Bob closed the door behind them, and drew the curtains down. Turning to Lex, Bob's eyes shone in the dimly lit room.
"You won't believe what I dug-up, Lex." Excited, he handed Lex a brown envelope. Lex took snatched it from him and tore it open. The contents fell on the floor. Squatting to pick them up, his eyes fell on the picture before him.
Blast.
"My God!" He he mouthed. This can't be what I think it is.
"It sure is." Bob said. Reading Lex's thoughts.a. He got a call from one of his officers over at Ikoyi who was observing the other family's house. He sent him the pictures on WhatsApp. He too could not believe his eyes when he saw it at first.
He had been right.
"I told you Lex, it's the same killer." Lex didn't say a word. He wasn't worried if it was the same killer.
He knew that already.
It was the accuracy of the message. Exactly like the one at the Ayodele's. Lex thought. Like the killer was trying to pass a message across to someone.
But who?
"Did you type this blood?"
"Yep." Bob was grinning.
"And I'm guessing it was the male's blood that was used. Am I right?" Lex was still studying the pictures before him. He didn't look up.
"How did you know that?"
Lex ignored the question. Bob had lost his touch. It was so obvious. For a moment Lex felt like he understood the Ayodele's. Like he was family.
Reshuffling the prints, he put them on Lex's desk, sat down, and laced his fingers together in a thinking position.
"Well," Bob Began. Taking a seat opposite his favourite detective cum best friend. "Turns out, Godwin has built numerous Catholic Churches. And holds a respectable place in St. Dominic Catholic Church, at Yaba. He probably uses them for electoral purposes. Very smart move."
"Did he have any connection with any foreign church, anything at all?"
Bob's arched an eyebrow in confusion. "Well, Yes. He did. And you won't believe where."
"Rome."
"You've got to stop doing that!" Bob spat.
"Doing what, Bob."
"That," he paused. How do I put this in a nice, polite way? "You keep reading my mind, and I don't like it."
Lex smiled.
"What's funny?"
The smile on Lex's face graduated into a chuckle. He stopped. And looked pointedly at the man opposite him. The man who he thought was his best friend. The man he used to love, look up to. A sudden wave of disgust filled his stomach.
"You've lost it, Bob. You seem to have gotten used to people doing the dirty work for you that you can't even read between the lines anymore."
Bob was furious.
"I won't blame you much," Lex continued. "You don't read. You now find joy in beer joints and the local harem. But that's none of my business."
Lex got up. Arranged his already damp shirt, and walked towards the door. Hold the door knob, he looked back at Bob.
"I'm going to my hotel room to get a shower. I stink. You need a shower too, you know. You seem to be in a more terrible state than I am." Trying to clear the way.
It didn't work.
Lex stepped out of the office, as he was about to close the door behind him, Bob called him.
"Yes?" he looked back.
"There's one more thing you need to know about Godwin Ayodele."
Lex waited.
"He is part of a Secret Society called the Sons of Hades."
Lex could hear a key unlock in his mind. The puzzles seem to arrange themselves within. All the pieces were finally in place for the next course of action.
He thanked Bob and left the building. As he walked down the driveway, his car in sight, all his doubts cleared, his next destination was Ikoyi.
He exeeded the speed limit as the music blared from the car's speakers. The chilled air purged his lungs, and little tears clung on his eye bags, begging to be freed.
But he was not crying, It was the air that got into his eyes, producing this salty water. He did not clean his eyes. He liked the fact that he was visibly crying. Even though these tears were not real, were not the result of heated emotions. He never cried. All his life..
He came into this world smiling. The doctors feared him, his mother was puzzled by his being. His father loved him. He told them all that he had the heart of a warrior. That he was going to turn out to be a very brave lad. Too bad his father was never fortunate to lay his brown eyes on his greatest specimen.
How right was his words!
This baby. This boy. Became one of the most unfathomable thing. An enigma. He was different. He knew that. He saw things that kids of his age group never saw, never dreamt of seeing... And understanding.
Yes, he could understand them. He was never puzzled. Confusion and uncertainty were feelings alien to him. He felt pre-programmed to these things. Like the knowledge came with him, from birth.
He never questioned his knowledge. It never freaked him out. For with Jupiter and Venus, he knew he was different.
* * *
Lex sped on, overtaking other cars. He was a great driver. He knew he had exceeded the speedlimit, but he didn't care. He wasn't going to die, that he was certain.
The pieces were finally together, the missing pieces to his little puzzle. Now, he is heading to the next murder scene. From his calculations, the killer will strike soon. The two families were killed two weeks apart and it's already over a week since the Ayodele's murder. Lex could still taste the water he had taken at the Ayodeles', everything seemed blurry to him now. His time at the Ayodele's, his encounter with the blood inscription.
Music blared from his car radio. The cool, soothing tunes of Halsey could be heard. Her song: Now or Never was played. Lex liked the song. Very alternative. Unscrewing Lex's nuts, filling him with nostalgia, giving him gooseflesh,
he sped on.
Clover Milverton, Ikoyi.Driving through the streets of Ikoyi, the interlocked roads and the beautiful trees by the sidewalks screaming with colourful produce. Kyosks were everywhere, making Lex wonder if the Lagos government never pass these places. This was the rich man's town, he thought, they ought to see these ugly contraptions and they out to be destroyed.A sudden breeze of self-disgust hit him. What am I thinking? How can I be this heartless? People live from the services of these little establishments! When did I become to ruthless?Shaking his head, Lex drove on. When he got to the house, he looked through his passenger window.The house cound not be seen from the outside. Beautiful trees and flowers blocked the main house, like other personal houses in Ikoyi.This time, Lex parked directly opposite the house. Surveying the building, his jaw dropped by what he saw.The hou
Faculty Of Criminology, University Of Benin, Ugbowo, Benin City.Sitting on a pavement, legs improvised as a table for his laptop, Byron typed away. On his laptop's screen showed the gory pictures of the Ayodele's bodies after autopsy. What Byron had discovered was breathtaking. Literally. It had taken his breath away.Byron was sending an e-mail to someone who he thinks he can help. The one who's in-charge of the investigation, being a master of psychology himself, Byron loved a good mystery. And from the expression on his face, this appeared to give him mysterigasm. A term he made up.Clad in a white long sleeve that was damp with sweat, fitted jean trousers and an Adidas palm to match his Student look, Byron was a first-class undergraduate who was sadly a social outcast. The funny thing was that he didn't care. Friends were distracting, they'd make you lose sight of your goals, he always said."Done." Byron said
The air around Lex seem suffocating. Even with the cool, evening breeze, he grasped for air.Funke. Is being abducted as we speak!His mind reeled to when Bob told him about Funke's flight to Lagos. Never in his wildest imaginations, would he ever think this would happen.The pendulum that swayed in the vast darkness that was his thoughts, translated faster. Lex's panicked. He had to get to the airport, and he had to get there fast!* * *The phone on Bob's desk rang. He had sent an officer to pick Funke from the airport. It has been over an hour since the plane touched down, he had sent the intern immediately. He had been feeling a little uneasy. Like something bad was about to happen.O! How right he was!As he held the receiver to his ear, he spoke in a gruff tone."Speak." he said."Sir?" the young officer sounded breathless. L
"Here, put this on." Across the passenger's seat, Gbenga's left hand outstretched while the other guided the steering, on the palm of the outstretched hand sat a black cloth. He could see the quizzical look on Lex's face."We're approaching the headquarters, you can't know where it's situated." He explained.Lex stared at him for a moment, and took the blindfold from him, he raised the cloth to his face, expertly tying it to a clumsy knot at the back of his head.For a moment, Gbenga thought Lex might oppose to the rule and he glad Lex didn't. Protocol is protocol. As odd as it may seem, Gbenga doesn't trust this man totally. He might be a harmless bunny, but even harmless bunnies turn into wolves when pushed to the wall.I hope the Sons know exactly what they're doing.Deep in thought, Lex was perplexed when Gbenga told him to put on the blindfold. Normally, he would questio
Miles away, inside UNIBEN's St. Albert's cathedral, Byron dropped his extremely large headset. Attached to it was a microphone. He heaved a sigh as he clicked his Big Brother Counter engine's shutdown button.CLICK.He smiled at his genius. Tomorrow he will be on his way to Lagos.Time is running out.•••When Barrister Kunle left his office at Kunle & Sons' at noon on Tuesday he was tired and high. He had put together his file on Godwin Ayodele's wealth. Surprisingly, the late democrat had prepared for the worst of the worst, he had laid a backup will if in fact anything should happen to him and his whole family. Kunle was a little bit puzzled at first when Godwin approached him years ago, seeking his help and from the events that followed, Kunle had a feeling the man knew his time, and that of his family was getting near. Kunle shook his head in pity..The things politicians put their hands
Inside the cold cemented room, Lex sat on a wooden chair and sitting across him was the masked man. The smell of incense hung strongly on the air making Lex a little bit dizzy. But he managed."So..." the masked man began."From the beginning, shall we?"Lex nodded..* *Y unlocked the back door of the Venza and made a routine search of his surroundings. He wore a black mask and drew Kunle out of the car. Though he was only semiconscous, he did not slump into the cold cemented floor. He sat upright with his back to the tire of the Venza, his head bent forward.Y lifted this burly man to his broad shoulders and started for the door. Beyond it was an empty room with one chair and a shaky bulb overhead in the middle of the room..The smell of incense made Kunle's nose to twitch, bringing him back to consciousness. He opened his eyes and the first thing that ca
The schedule called for Bob to leave the staked-out LSPD building at 6:30AM, well ahead of the morning Lagos hustle and bustle.A Lieutenant called while he was about to step into his black Toyota Sienna."Good morning.""Not so good, Bob." The man said over the phone. "They got the barrister.""Shit." Bob sputtered. He slammed his fist on the dashboard."He's not dead yet and he's asking for you. He keeps saying the word: JUSTICE?"The early rays of the sun blinded Bob's vision over his car's wind-screen, he shielded his eyes with an arm while the other supported his phone to his ear. Quickly, he brought down the sun-protector.After a short silence over the line, the Lieutenant spoke."Sir?""I'll be right there!"Angry, Bob reversed and cut his steering towards the entrance and was on his way.*
This time, the cloth around his eyes was professionally knotted, his nose twitched, his eye sockets ached terribly. They were in the open again, the sole of his shoes clicked as it came in contact with the cemented ground. A firm hand on his biceps guided him to an unknown place. Gbenga's grip was rough, Lex sniffed the air. Gasoline hung heavily on it.The Masked man had been thorough. Lex was a little bit calm that Funke would finally be free, a little bit. Gbenga stopped Lex abruptly, and released his grip, leaving the blindfold. The next thing Lex's ears picked up were the sound of a car door being opened.Gbenga's Rover. Where is Funke? I thought I will be led to her? Patience Lex, patience.A hand cropped Lex by the arm again, this time, rougher than before."Watch your step." Gbenga cautioned.Fuck this.