Damaged Goods (Part 6)- a short story

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Do you love crime fiction? Then this story is all you ever wanted.

 

Please follow the story from here

CCTV won’t lie.

Oladimeji watched the closed-circuit television (CCTV) recordings on the 30inch plasma screen that sat in the corner of Nnamdi’s office like an unwelcomed mirror. He could make out the images on the screen and it was of Onono as she sat by the pool side sipping from a cup.

Disappointed with the quality of the images on the screen, Oladimeji strained his eyes as he wondered how ten or more years ago that same television was the pride of someone’s living room, the focal point of family evenings and now it was just messing with strong evidence, flickering in the dark room like a dying candle.

He could make out the images of Onono as she sat there drinking a cocktail while looking through her phone. He watched wide-eyed with Nnamdi from his desk controlling the speed of the audio less video.

“Stop!” he ordered.

Someone seemed to approach her by the poolside. Onono is stirred and looked up for a moment conversation while the person stood chatting. It lasted for barely a minute as Onono settled back into the poolside chair. The image of the person was the familiar face of Efe.

“Did you see that?” Oladimeji grimaced, Nnamdi nodded and then they both continued to watch the screen in the dark. Nothing eventful happened afterwards.

He could narrow down the time of death to just after the camera went out. He couldn’t narrow down who the killer was just yet.

There were at least 35 cameras within the hotel premises, each churning out different images for several hours. Oladimeji knew there was no way he could catch up with all the camera positions. He selected only a few and watched only videos around the time Onono arrived till the hour of her death.

He needed Nnamdi to identify his staff or guests as they watched. He had been helpful. Oladimeji took deep breaths to relax his tired muscles. None of the videos explicitly helped his investigations.

The camera at the poolside had shut down a few minutes after Efe approached Onono and it never turned back on. It was looking like Efe had something to do with her death, contrary to what he had hoped.

“Let’s watch the cameras within the hotel corridor.” Oladimeji commanded.

When the video on the fourth floor finally came up after Nnamdi fiddled with several files, it showed Ekpeyong and Efe in a physical confrontation. The camera showed images of Ekpeyong pulling Efe by his uniform roughly to the corner of the corridor, close to the stairwell, before they were out of the camera sight. Moments later, Ekpeyong walked away alone, his clenched fist wrapped into his other hand as he looked around to see if anyone had noticed the altercation. The corridor was empty.

The silence in the room was deafening. You could hear the static of the screen as they watched unblinking with bated breath until Efe emerged from the blind side of the camera, adjusting the creases on his uniform before walking gingerly away towards the stairwell.

“That is something.” Oladimeji announced. Now that was some evidence.

Just as he was about to turn the lights on in the room to end the session, someone else appeared in the video. Stepping out of one of the rooms into the corridor was Glory. She had witnessed the scuffle.

The stunned look on Nnamdi ‘s eyes as Oladimeji flicked the light switch on, told him that there was obviously something else going on with the duo.

“What was she doing in a guest’s room?” Nnamdi didn’t know when the words slipped off his lips.

“Call me the lady in the video. I believe she is a staff of yours. I want to have a word with her”

****

“We can’t find him boss.”

“You can’t find who?”

“The man.”

“You’d better start talking before I bury my foot in that dirty mouth of yours.”

“He has somehow evaded all the officers manning the building and escaped from the premises.” The officer kept a fair distance from his superior. By his estimate, for his famous slap to sting you in the face, you must be at within 1.8m of his slapping radius.

Oladimeji looked at the reporting officer with irritation, his palms itchy, placated only by his fingers as they curled to warm it up.

“Who is this man for God’s sakes?” calmly spoken but with two unsuspecting steps taken towards his officer.

“Her, her hus…hus…husband”

“Something must be wrong with you” Those words were seven bi-directional slaps that bellied his violent rage. He certainly was goading for the slap. The officer stumbled to the floor holding his face in his hands.

“You are in a lot of trouble.” Oladimeji yelled pointing to the unfortunate officer as he scrambled to stand up, embarrassed as everyone in lobby watched the unfolding drama. “Surely someone in this hotel is conniving with the primary suspect in this case.”

He would have loved to take the idiot off the case, incompetence was not a virtue he could tolerate, but he didn’t have enough officers to work with on the investigation at the hotel. He had hoped to close the case quickly, but there was quite a lot more work to do.

“Find him.”

He turned to face the sad look on Nnamdi’s face as he notified him of Glory’s presence at the office.

“She is waiting for you at the office sir.” 

****

Glory looked calm as she sat across the table from the inspector. She wore her hair to the back, packed into a ponytail with a black hair band. There was a steadiness to her, as if all the storms in Oladimeji’s world were a whispering breeze as she sat there looking straight at him.

Oladimeji’s tired eyes asked questions as he placed his elbow on the table determined to prise out details he suspected she was privy to.

He starts bobbing his head slowly as though hoping she would talk without prompting.

“What is going on with you and the hotel manager?” His face was as cold as the question.

It hit differently with the once calm and composed witness that sat across the table. Frisson of fear rattled through her body as words failed her.

“You can tell me. I won’t tell anyone else. But I need you to be perfectly honest with me so I can help you.”

Glory suddenly felt like she was in the dappled light, with chaos married to the sudden whimsical beat of her heart.

“Yes sir. I am in a relationship with Nnamdi.”

“What were you doing in room 408 yesterday afternoon at around four o’clock?”

Glory looked around the room as though hoping there was no one else within ear shot before answering the question.

“My boyfriend was lodged in the room.”

Oladimeji performed another rigorous bob of the head as though listening to Tupac’s “Hit them up.

“I see. I will keep your little secret if you tell me everything you heard at the corridor when you left your boyfriend’s room yesterday afternoon.”

Glory sang like a canary. She had walked into the corridor when the two men were having a go at each other.

**

“Stay away from my wife. Do you get that? I don’t ever want you anywhere close to her. Do not speak to her or have anything to do with her.”

“We were only talking and catching up. Leave me alone please.”

“Are we clear?”

A slap in the face was accompanied by the same question again.

“Yes.”

“Stupid prick.”

**

“That was all I heard.” Glory concluded.

She didn’t tell the DSP that she had served Onono the last drink she had before she died at the poolside. Neither did she mention that Efe had boasted earlier of his relationship with the deceased. She also didn’t mention that she had seen Efe and Onono in the lift cabin having a conversation.

The door to the office knocked again, this time it was another officer who peered in through the slightly opened door before walking in.

“This is urgent sir” he held on to the deceased mobile phone.

“Yes” Oladimeji urged him on to speak.

“We have powered the deceased iPhone on, sir. Someone is making withdrawals from her account right now as we speak sir. So far, half a million naira has been debited.”

“What!!”

Just then another SMS alert chimed into the iPhone.

Both men looked at each other.

“Ekpeyong!!” they chorused.

Please follow the story here.

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27 thoughts on “Damaged Goods (Part 6)- a short story”

  1. Pingback: Damaged Goods (Part 5)- a short story – Akin Akingbogun

  2. Part 6 has left me in a quandary. Will it be a movie soon? A feature length or each part a movie in its own

  3. Pingback: Damaged Goods (Part 7)- a short story – Akin Akingbogun

  4. Pingback: Damaged Goods (Part 10)- the final Episode – Akin Akingbogun

  5. Pingback: Damaged Goods (Part 11) – Akin Akingbogun

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