(S2): PARTNERS IN CRIME! E6.

To read the previous episode, click Here

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Episode 6 Title: The murderer & the rapist.

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“Why would you need a lawyer?” Tiwa asked.

“Don’t answer that Abraham.” His father said to him. He looked at the detectives. “I think this is the time to leave, please.”

“What are you hiding Abraham?” Genevieve questioned.

Abraham uttered. “I am not hiding anything! I need a lawyer to stop you from harassing me.”

“Abraham, I said keep quiet!” Pastor Simon yelled.

“Maybe you slept with her.” Tiwa said.

“I never slept with Sade! She was like my younger sister!”

“I won’t tolerate such questions and accusations here.” The pastor told her.

“I will do everything I can to know why Sade wasn’t happy with you." Genevieve said. "You must have done something to her and that was why she avoided you in school.”

He looked at her face with anger engraved all over his eyes. “I didn’t do anything to Sade. We had a little misunderstanding and before I could make amends, she was killed.” He swallowed and bowed his head.

“Do you want to cause chaos in my church?” The pastor asked them. “If that is your plan it won’t work. If the devil sent you for destruction and to cause confusion in my family, my God won’t allow it.”

The sound of cry hushed Tiwa and Genevieve from saying anything further. Three of them gazed at Abraham as he cried noisily. As he looked up, tears covered his face. He kept shaking his head as he wrapped his arms around his body as if he was catching cold. The pastor motioned towards him, put his hand on his back but Abraham shoved his hand away furiously. He wiped his face quickly, stood and marched out of the office leaving the door opened.

“What was that all about?” Tiwa looked directly into Pastor Simon’s face.

“What do you mean by that?” He questioned her and moved to the entrance. He peeped at the corridor and saw Abraham resting his back on the wall. He appeared upset and furious.

“It seems your son is unhappy with you. Why?”

“I will not say anything anymore. Go out and investigate the death of Sade. If you want to ask me any more questions, I advise you to contact my lawyer.”

Tiwa smiled.

Genevieve sighed and stared at her. “Let’s go.”

They walked to Abraham who turned away from their direction. He was fighting hard not to cry. He sniffed his nose and folded his arms.

“Please leave me alone. Zach is waiting for you. He is standing outside and you can identify him with the blue shirt and white trousers.

“Thank you.” Genevieve said.

Justine walked up to Abraham. She didn’t acknowledge the detectives but they waited to listen to what she wanted to say to him.

"Abraham, can we see after school tomorrow?" Justine asked him. " I want to discuss something important with you."

Genevieve felt Justine was partially blind for not noticing Abraham's facial expression.

"Okay." He said coldly.

She smiled, patted his shoulder and strolled away with a smile on her lips.

Tiwa made a call to Adebiyi to send her Idara’s number. She called her immediately she received the text.

“Hello, this is detective Tiwa. I want you to do a favor for me. You have between today and tomorrow to find out the residence of Pastor Simon Johnbull. Can you do that?”

“Yes ma.”

“Send the address the moment you find it.”

“Okay ma. How is…?”

She turned to Genevieve. “Something isn’t right. Abraham is hiding something and I must find out.”

“You won’t be invited to the house if you go there and we have no warrant.”

“I am not going to search for anything. I just want to take a look at the floor in the house.”

“Do you think she was killed there?”

“I have no idea until I see the place.”       
                        

“We can ask any of his church members for that.” Genevieve said.

“I don’t want any of them to know I know his place. I will wait in the car while you talk with Zach.”

“Thanks.”

Tiwa introduced herself to Zach. She asked him for information about the women he suspected Jordan asked out or dated in the church. When he refused, she promised to tip him. He mentioned two choir members and an usher's name. She wrote their names on a piece of a paper and thanked him with the money.

***

Tiwa wore her trousers suit on Monday morning and made a call to Genevieve. She informed her she would be visiting Sade’s mother and they decided to meet at the office later. Idara had given Genevieve the home address of Pastor Johnbull. Adebiyi travelled with his private jet to make a quick visit to his future father in law.

Mrs. Akanju opened the front door for Tiwa. She was not surprised to see her swollen face and weary eyes. Both went to Sade’s bedroom and sat on the bed. After Tiwa respectfully refused the water she offered, she started a conversation.

“I know the loss of your daughter is a blow to you and bringing back memories of her can be emotional. I want to ask you some questions about her. Will you be able to answer them?”

She heaved a sigh and smiled faintly. “I will try.”

“Detective Genevieve and I already know who Abraham is. Why didn’t you want me and my partner to know Abraham was your pastor’s son?”

The smile left her lips. “I saw you at the church yesterday but I thought you were busy with the pastor that was why I and my husband didn’t call you. After what our pastor did for us? How could you expect us to involve his son with my daughter’s murder? We already know he has nothing to do with it and bringing into it would damage the relationship we have with our pastor. Is there a problem?”

 “There is no problem,” Tiwa said. “There are some questions I want to ask about pastor Johnbull and his son. Where is his wife?”

“She travelled.”

“For how long?”

“It’s been a month. She travels a lot because she is in charge of the other church in Ghana.”

“Abraham revealed that Sade used to go to their house to spend the weekend whenever his mom is not around.”

Mrs. Akanju nodded. “That is correct. Sade goes to keep Abraham company. They are like siblings.”

“Whenever she comes home after the short holiday, does her attitude change?”

“Her attitude?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

“Did she leave here happily to the house and came back unhappy and become cold towards you and her father.”

She blinked her eyes before she replied. “Yes, sometimes. I never asked her why because if there were a problem she would have talked about it to me. She never hid anything from me.”

“You would have asked her.”

“I thought she didn’t want to come home and stay back with Abraham because she enjoyed her stay there. Does it have to do with her murder?”

“No.” Tiwa lied. “What does your daughter think about Pastor Simon Johnbull? I want you to think first before you answer.”

Mrs. Akanju let out a slow sigh and rubbed her laps gently while she thought deeply. “Sade didn’t say much but a year ago, she asked me why our pastor was still paying her fees. She felt he had done enough for the family. That was the period my husband decided she would be spending weekends and holidays at the pastor’s residence.”

“Did you say a year ago?”

“Yes. Although she used to spend a night or two before until her dad made that decision.”

Tiwa rose and adjusted her jacket. “Do not worry, Mrs. Akanju just know me and my partner will find your daughter’s killer and rapist.”

Sade’s mom stood. “I can’t believe she is gone. Whenever I close my eyes to sleep, I see her.”

“I am deeply sorry for your loss. I will leave now.”

She escorted her to the door and Tiwa drove away to the office.

***

Quincy called his sectary into his office. The skirt length on her body was below her knees. He warned her several times to dress appropriate but she heeded his advice. He wasn’t happy with her but decided not to say anything.

“I called you here because of the wine and card you gave me on Friday.”

“You didn’t like them?” She asked.

“It was okay but I thought they were from my wife but it wasn’t. The wine is still in the fridge. You can take it home.”

“And the card?”

“I threw it away.”

“Oh!”

“Can you describe the delivery man that came to deliver them?”

She stammered before she made a sentence. “I can’t remember what he looked like sir.”

“Gina, you can’t remember?” Quincy appeared surprised.

“No sir.”

“So there is nothing you can tell me that can help me locate this delivery man?”

“No sir.”

“You can go now.”

“Yes sir.” Gina moved to the door and halted. She turned back to face him. “Sir, even if it’s not from your wife, I don’t see the reason why you don’t want to drink the wine.”

“I have a reason because this person has ulterior motive towards me. I am a married man.”

“Okay sir.” She rotated and left the office.

***  

“I need to talk to you at the lab.” Tiwa said after she knocked on Genevieve’s door and opened it.

“Me too,” Genevieve said and rose on her feet. “I just came back from pastor Johnbull’s residence. She came out of her office and they walked towards the direction of the lab. “Were you allowed inside?”

“I wanted to go in and try my luck but I stayed back in the car when I noticed a bus with an inscription on it.”

“What was written on the bus?”

“Customtiles Limited.”

She widened her eyes. “What could they be doing there?”

“Probably getting new tiles or filling the broken ones.”

“You can say that again.” Genevieve knocked on the lab door and they walked inside. Omoni and her assistant were there. They exchanged pleasantries. “We don’t have a warrant and the boss is not around.”

“Even if he was around, we don’t have tangible reasons that we suspect pastor Johnbull.”

“The pastor?” Omoni asked in a stunned tone.

Kevin opened his mouth in shock.

“It’s a guess until we have evidence or even a witness.” Genevieve said.

“Witness?”

“Abraham is hiding something and protecting someone.”

“His father?”

“Well, something like that.” Tiwa faced Kevin. “If there was a struggle between a girl and a man, and mistakenly they hit an award plague and it fell on the floor, is it possible for it to break tiles on the floor?”

“It is very possible considering the size and the make of the plaque. It could also be an artwork.”

“I saw some award plaques in the pastor’s office. I am thinking he would also keep some in his home. It could be his living room or bedroom.”

“That man I saw at his church is egocentric.” Genevieve said. “If he kept such in his home, it would be in his living room where people would notice it. The Customtiles vehicle didn’t stay long because three of their workers left ten minutes later after I got there.”

“It means the murder might have happened there.” Omoni said. “And the rape. Oh my God.”

“We can’t conclude yet. We already know the pastor is a client of Customtiles limited.”

Tiwa moved forward to where Omoni sat. “I saw the victim’s mother and we talked. You mentioned there was a scar on the left arm of Sade which was likely a year ago.”

“That’s true.”

“Mrs. Akanju stated her daughter started spending more time at the Johnbull’s home a year ago.”

“And that could give whoever she was sleeping with enough room and time to molest her. Christ! She must have refused the first time. He hit and gripped her hard on the arm to cause such scar."

“Remember Sade’s friend mentioned she heard her say ‘my father is the cause of it’.” Genevieve said.

“And it was the father who made the decision for her to spend more time there.” Tiwa said. “He didn’t know it would endanger the life of his daughter. The pastor’s wife is hardly around.”

She looked at Tiwa. “It is obvious Abraham is not her killer.”

“No. Is either he knew about it and chose not to do anything about it or he could be an accomplice.”

“What if Sade found out he knew, was disappointed and they quarreled about it.”

“Considering the reaction of the pastor at his office, he didn’t know Abraham and Sade had a misunderstanding. This is not a coincidence you saw Customtiles limited bus in front of their house. The pastor must have repaired it to cover up his act.”

Tiwa sighed. “Abraham said he was with his father between five and seven on the day Sade died. He is either an accomplice or he is covering up for his dad. He shoved his dad's hand off his back at the office and there must be a reason for that. When he looked at his father before asking him to get a lawyer, I didn’t see fear or grief in his eyes, I saw anger.”

“We need to have evidence to prove Pastor Simon is a killer and a rapist.”

“What if Abraham is only a witness?” Omoni asked.

“Then he would have to testify against his father and that is exactly what he does not want.”

Genevieve asked. “How do we persuade him to do that?”

“I have no idea and it makes me mad.” Tiwa said in an angered tone. “Let’s see the corn seller.”

“Okay.”

They drove there and the first thing the woman selling corn did was frown when she sighted Tiwa.

“It seems you remember me.” She said to her.

“Why I no go remember you. Wetin you want?”

“A girl was killed and raped by someone we are searching for…”

“How does that one concern me?” She didn’t allow Genevieve finish her statement.

“We are begging you in the name of Almighty God. If you saw something on that day, please let us know.”

“I no see anything!” She looked at her children playing with toys on the ground. “I no want trouble with police wahala.”

“We will protect you if you are afraid.” Tiwa said.

“Madam, I no need your protection. Make una leave me alone, abeg ooo.”

“The mother of the girl that died is still grieving. She is sad and need us to find the killer of her child. As a mother, please have pity on that woman.”

“So I be bad person abi?”

“No way! We are ready to do anything you want, just tell us what you saw on that day.”

The corn seller sighed. “I no want anything. I no really see the man wey drop her for ground.”

“You saw a man?”

“Yes but e dey dark.”

“Only a man?” Genevieve asked.

“Yes.”

“There was no boy with him?”

“No. I no see e face but I remember sey the car wey he drive na white pickup. He quickly come out of the motor and open the boot. He carry the body put for ground and drive commot.”

“Can you explain what you mean by pickup?”

“That motor wey get big boot for back. Na only front seat e get.”

“Oh okay.” Tiwa said. She brought out her phone and surfed the internet for pictures. She showed it to the woman and she pointed at a white Hilux.

“There was a white Hilux parked in front of the Akanju’s house the first day we went there.” Genevieve took Tiwa a bit away from the woman. ”The pastor was there too.”

“This can’t be a coincidence again; pastor Johnbull is definitely the killer and the rapist.”

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To be continued…Sunday.