THE MURDER AT CANDIORA

Detective Ismaila was awakened by the sound of his phone ringing; he picked it up from the bedside table. He looked at the caller ID and said “hello”, the voice of Eghosa Imade the Public Relations Officer of the Edo State Command was unmistakably clear ” Detective Ismaila don’t tell me I woke you up” Eghosa said over the phone knowing Ismaila was probably cursing him . Ismaila cursed silently shaking his head no I was awake, but he did not say that to Eghosa rather he simply said “yes you woke me up Eghosa It is 3am I was fast asleep before your call came in’’. Eghosa responded by informing him there had been a murder at the popular night club at Aiguobasimwin and he was needed at the scene of the crime.

Ismaila got up went to brush his teeth and changed into his tee shirt and black trousers. He took his gun from where he had kept it and locked up his house. He got into his car and drove to the club Candiora. He looked at his watch the journey would take him at least thirty minutes; he put on the radio and tuned to Vibes Fm to listen to music. His phone rang again and he could see Eghosa’s number turning the volume of the music down he told Eghosa he was on his way to the club. He did not like driving and speaking on the phone at the same time. Ismaila was a graduate of the University of Lagos, having studied Political Science. He completed his National Youth Service Corps, a year after graduating and later got a job working as a personal assistant to the commissioner for youth development in Lagos State. It was not until after he had completed his masters in criminology from the University of Lagos that he decided to join the police force. It was a decision that had shocked everyone including his immediate family who had thought he would be interested in politics. Ismaila was brilliant and graduated top of his class from the police college, where he had met Eghosa and they had become very good friends over the years.

He had been instrumental to solving the ‘’Red cloth case’’. The case which at the time was rumored to be the work of ritualistic killers or kidnappers. He believed at the time that there was a serial Killer and that this was not a series of ritual killings he had studied the case file and looking at the victims he had tried to build a profile. It was difficult at first because the murders did not seem to be connected at a first glance but upon a careful observation he realized that all the killings had a similar element: the victims were bound with a red cloth and their tongues and fingernails were removed.

It had taken almost six months but Ismaila had a big break in the case when a lady had requested to see him. She said she had recently started dating this guy and that he suddenly started acting strange, he would scream at her and speak about voices. Then a few nights ago he woke her up at night and began shouting at her accusing her of infidelity. When she tried to deny his claims he hit her on her face and then tied her hands with a red cloth to the bed. The lady said he suddenly changed and spoke in a different voice to someone who apparently was not in the room. She pleaded and begged him to release her and he had released her telling her that she was pure not like the rest. Ismaila had put officers to watch the house and a few nights after that the killer had left his house unaware he was being followed and had picked up a lady and drove to a remote location along the Benin- Sapele Express way. When Ismaila had gotten to the location, the lady had been bound with a red cloth and had been beaten. The killer was caught and duly prosecuted and was sentenced to death by the trial court. He had filed a Notice of Appeal at the Court of appeal but his appeal had been dismissed and he made a further appeal to the Supreme Court.

The case became front page news with major news outlets and analysts discussing the case and praising the police force. Ismaila had been hailed as a model policeman and had been promoted. He had countless requests from journalists and blogs for an exclusive interview but he had turned all requests down. He was not a celebrity and he wasn’t interested in taking pictures or granting interviews to bloggers or even the renowned blogger Gigi, whom he was not sure how she had gotten his phone number.

He got to the club and saw that a crowd of people had gathered there, he knew that in no time the media would be at the scene requesting for interviews and asking questions. He would not be surprised if they were not around especially with the advent of social media and camera phones. He looked and saw Eghosa standing with some of his colleagues he walked right to them and after exchanging pleasantries he asked the relevant questions, to ascertain what had happened at the night club. Eghosa led him inside the club and informed him that four people had been shot dead. ‘’The manager says he was in his office when he heard a loud noise; he rushed downstairs when he saw three men who were heavily armed. He was ordered to lie down on the ground facedown and then one of the armed men asked him where the VIP section was to which he pointed to the left and the man went towards the VIP section’’. ‘’ He heard screaming and then more gunshots and then the men left he later got up and called the police and then went to the VIP section and saw the dead bodies.’’ ‘’ Ismaila walked to the VIP section and saw that the bodies had been covered up he said to Eghosa “what about the people in the club did anyone see anything, or hear anything?” He said looking at Eghosa “well I have spoken to some of them but most of them are scared and shaken by what happened’’. Who were this people and why would anyone want to kill them”? Ismaila asked Eghosa replied “it is Rave the musician turned real estate- turned business man, and his right hand men”.
Ismaila looked at Eghosa and was shocked everyone knew Rave the most successful musician in recent times who had singlehandedly built a successful business empire from his music and had invested in real estate as well. Who would want to kill him and why? Walking to where the manager was he said to Eghosa “I am going to talk to the manager and then some of the witnesses and the people who worked at this club, we need to get the security cameras this is going to be a long day’’………..