:::DEMONS ON CHURCH STREET:::

>>>EPISODE 1<<<

Story by LORDJOSH
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The night was cold and windy, it
was a good night to kill. He had
watched her for two weeks and
he knew she was coming, she
always did. The road was
straight and clear, he would see
her long before she came close.

He held his palms against his
cheeks, holding his trembling
lips with his thumbs. He was
standing under a tree just after
the bridge he was sure she was
going to cross. He smiled, it was
very cliché; the boogie man
always came from behind a tree
in the dark. No cars were
passing, he did not expect any
to, he could not afford any
witnesses and he would have
none.

A shadow crept into the
horizon, his heart skipped a
beat; she was coming. The cold
was gone and he began to
sweat. His lips still trembled and
now his teeth were joining in
the freak-out party. Calm down,
she’s just a woman – a girl. He
pulled his hood lower, he could
not make any mistakes, it had to
be that night, he had waited
long enough.

She was getting closer. He
shoved his hands into his
pockets to keep them from
falling off, he could not scare
her away. She was getting
closer. He inhaled deeply as the
wind blew the scent of her
cheap perfume on him. She was
very close now, her heels clicked
as she moved towards him.

She was four feet away when
he stepped out from behind the
tree.

“Hello babe.” He whispered
trying his best to hide the
tremor in his voice.

She jumped when she saw him.

“Hey, why na? You scare me,
wetin you want?”

“You know what I want, the
question, do you have it?” He
answered, moving closer to her.

His heart was racing. It is
happening!

“See you, do I have it?” She
staggered backwards, he could
smell the alcohol. It did not
matter, she would do. “If you
get the money, you fit get
anything you want.”

He brought out a wad of cash
and waved it, she stumbled
forward to take it but he pulled
back.

“Nope, not until your job is
done. Let’s go.” He held her by
the arm and led her to the bus
he had packed not far away
from his pick up point. She
climbed into the bus and
slumped into the seat. He closed
the door behind her and locked
it. He went round the vehicle
and climbed into his seat.

It had taken many years, but the
night had come; Diana would
have her sacrifice.

The light stung his eyes as he
opened them, Adam Ademola
shielded his eyes with his right
hand and pulled himself up from
the sofa with his left. He rubbed
his temples, they banged in a
way he had never experienced
before. He was used to waking
up with headaches, but the pain
he felt at the moment
threatened to split his head. He
reached for the television’s
remote control, the sound
coming from the television was
going straight into his head. He
put the television off and threw
the remote on the table.

He stood up and knocked over
an empty bottle as he staggered
towards the refrigerator. There
were a number of empty bottles
around the sofa, the splintering
head was not a surprise. He
reached for the top of the
refrigerator, grabbed a bottle of
aspirin and popped three
tablets into his mouth. He picked
a bottle of water from the
refrigerator and gulped the
whole bottle.

He had promised himself he
would not wake up like this
anymore, but he had kept the
promise for all of three days
before he picked up the bottle
neatly tucked away in his car.

Idiot! He had no idea what time
it was but it did not matter, he
was going to bed.

His phone rang and he jumped,
stumping his toe against the
table. He cursed and snatched
his phone from the table.

“What?” he screamed into the
phone.

“Sir, you need to come to the
office now!” Who is this fool?

“I don’t need to do anything.

Who is this? Whoever you are,
know that you have lost your
job.”

“Sir, this is serious, you need to
be here.”

“Look here, nothing serious
happens in that office. Whatever
it is, it will have to wait.” He
ended the call.

He sat heavily on the chair
making it squeak. He placed a
finger on a vein that was
threatening to pop on his neck,
it was probably a foolish idea
but he needed some scotch.

His phone rang again.

“Why are you disturbing me so
early in the morning?” he said in
a barely audible whisper.

“Adam Ademola, it is Eleven
A.M.” What! “Are you hung-over
again? Anyway, you need to be
in the office. You have any
doubt, well turn on your TV.

Your girlfriend is on.”

He threw away the phone,
picked the remote and switched
on the television.

“This is the first murder of this
kind that this city has seen.” She
was still pretty even when she
was reporting a murder. She
was not his girlfriend, they had
had a brief relationship but it
had ended for years. “It looks
like a ritual killing but the police
are yet to comment on the
murder. We will come back with
an official police statement in a
few minutes.” The reporter said
and her pretty face gave way for
a bank commercial.

He switched off the television
and headed for the bathroom,
he really needed to be in the
office.

One hour later he drove into
office of the Crime Investigation
Bureau of the newly formed
Kwara State Police Department.

The guards saluted as he drove
past the gate, he ignored them
and pulled into the carport.

Reporters had gathered and
were waiting for him, they
identified his car and were now
rushing towards him. He had
taken a couple more of aspirin
pills before he left his house. His
head still throbbed and he had
difficulty looking at anything for
more than five seconds before
he felt dizzy. His sunglasses
covered his sunken red eyes, he
had to hide them, the journalists
would have a field day if they
knew he was hungover.

He stepped out of his car,
supporting himself with the
door of the car. Immediately
microphones were shoved in
his face.

“Mister Ademola…” a journalist
started

“Detective please, Detective
Ademola.” He corrected the
reporter.

She smiled and continued.

“Detective Ademola, do you
think this is a ritual killing?

Should the people of the city be
worried about this?”

“I would normally not comment
before full investigation has
been conducted but I would like
to say this, the fine people of
this city have nothing to worry
about. Whoever did this will be
found very soon and he… or she
will be brought to justice. We
don’t care if it is a ritual killing,
we will put an end to this soon.

Thank you very much.”

He turned, picked his I-pad from
the car and closed the door.

A ritual killing? He had not had a
serious case of murder since he
became head of the CIB. He
would take his old job back with
a huge ‘thank you’ but no one
was offering it to him. His head
still ached, he had planned to
drop in, make his appearance
for the sake of the press and
pass the case to the nearest
deputy. It did not look like he
could walk so easily.
He entered into the office
building feeling like a stranger.

People were huddled in offices,
the murder was making the CIB
agents go bonkers. Adam
smiled, at least they were going
to work for their pay. He
removed his sunglasses as he
entered his office, followed
immediately by his assistant. He
had reassigned four assistants
before he had found the perfect
combination of angel and devil
he wanted in Tola Dosumu

“Are you crazy Ademola? A
murder like this happens and
you decide to sleep in?” She put
her balled fists on her waist like
a mother scolding her ten year
old.

“Dosumu, you do realize I’m
your boss right? I can fire you
anytime I want.” He answered.

He set his I-pad on the table and
sat on the edge of the table.

“Who got killed? Why is
everybody going crazy?”

“You know what Ademola?

Maybe you should fire me, I can’t
put up with this. You realize I
am not your secretary, I am a
cop who is unfortunate to be
your assistant. You are the head
of the CIB, yet you come to work
anytime you want, usually
drunk.”

“I’m not drunk.” He replied
looking away from her. His head
still pounded, the sooner he was
done with the murder
nonsense, the sooner he could
return to his house and his sofa.

And my bottle. “Okay, I had a
few drinks yesterday, I’m sorry
Mom. Can we move on now?”

“Yes, we can. That file…” she
pointed to the blue file on his
table. “is a summary of all we
know about the murder. I’ll be
in my…”

“Dosumu I said I’m sorry.” He
jumped from the table and
grabbed her hand. “Come on,
why are you so angry this
morning?” They had a weird
relationship, he knew they did
but he was content with it. She
had saved his butt more than
once, while he had done all that
was humanly possible to drive
her crazy. “You know it’ll take all
day to read that file, just give me
the main points.”

“Okay, I don’t know why I do it
but I forgive you. First, you need
to take something for the
terrible headache I’m sure you
have right now.” She said,
walking towards his
refrigerator. She opened it and
brought out a bottle containing
some kind of green liquid. She
poured some into a small cup.

“Drink this and let’s go meet the
pathologist.”

He squeezed his face as he
drank the liquid. He had no idea
what it was but he knew Tola
would not poison him. God
knows he deserved it, but she
would not hurt a fly.

“Alright, let’s go see the
pathologist, hopefully he has
something to tell us. You need
to see the body also, some crime
scene pictures too would help
you understand what everyone
is freaking out about.”

Okay, ten minutes at the
pathologist’s then I’ll go home.

He had never been in the
coroner’s office, it was new, one
of the last additions to the CIB
building. It was very unlikely
that he would be visiting the
office or the lab very often, he
was the boss, he could read all
their findings in a file – or have
Tola read them to him.

He sneezed; the smell of fresh
paint irritated him.

“Bless you sir.” The coroner
said. He was a queer one, the
coroner. He had learnt a few
things about the man a few
minutes after meeting him. He
was young – too young, eager
to please and knew his stuff.

“Thank you Doctor. How about
we move to the lab? I prefer if
you showed me instead of
telling me all these stuff. I have a
tendency to forget, something
Dosumu is always eager to
remind me.” The coroner smiled
nervously, Tola just rolled her
eyes and looked away. She
definitely has respect issues.

“Alright sir.”

Five minutes later, Adam was
standing in the lab waiting for
the body to be rolled in. Tola
had bailed, he was on his own
she had told him. From what he
had been told, he knew the
body was cut up really bad.

“Here goes sir.” The coroner
annouced as the body was
rolled in. Adam stepped back
and held his breath as the
covering sheet was removed. He
swallowed, even though the
body had been cleaned, it
looked worse than it did in
print. The face had been
untouched, the limbs had not
been touched either but the
torso had been cut. The cut
started from the navel and
ended in between the breasts.

The flesh had been uncovered
revealing the inner organs,
according to the reports Tola
had read to him as they moved
to the lab, the liver was missing.

“Well, I have seen it now“ He
stilled his stomach, he was a
detective now, he had to get
used to mutilated bodies. He
looked at his watch. “What can
you tell me about this? Sick
bastard cut her alive?”

“That was my first thought but
then when I opened her up, I
caught the distinct smell of
almonds.”

“Almonds? Wait, that’s cyanide
right?” The course in
criminology might not be
wasted after all.

“Yes, very good sir, very good.

The scent made me check for
other signs of cyanide
poisoning, it wasn’t difficult as
the body was already open. Her
blood – what was left of it was
bright red and her organs had a
reddish hue. So my guess is, the
killer poisoned her first and the
cut is postmortem.”

“Wow, the killer is really a sick
bastard. Have you seen this kind
of stuff before?”

“No, definitely not. I’m hoping
this would be the last.” Adam
nodded and looked at his watch
again, the dead body had not
helped his headache. “Will you
be running this investigation by
yourself sir?”

“That’s a good question, I
don’t…” His phone rang cutting
him off. It was State Chief of
Police.“Hello sir.”

“Ademola, are you still at home?

You cannot afford to maintain
your old habits in times like this.

You realize how important this
case is, don’t you?”

“Sir, I am at the coroner’s office
and I do realize how important
this case is.” The old man was
just as freaked as everybody.

The press no doubt would be
on his neck.

“Okay then, you must realize
with the attention this is getting
from the press, you are the lead
investigator. We need to assure
the public we have our best
people on it. You, Ademola are
our best people.” The old man
sighed.”God help us.”

Adam looked at his phone,
shook his head and slid it in his
pocket.

“Looks like I’m lead detective on
the case after all. I hope this is
just a stupid careless killer who
can be caught easily. I have no
intention of seeing you again,
no offense.”

“None taken.” The coroner
answered and bowed his head,
he looked hurt. Sorry, seeing
dead bodies isn’t my idea of fun.

The sooner the case was closed,
the better. If the criminology
professors were to be believed,
the crime scene was probably
the next place to visit. But first
he had to get Tola.

“What are you watching?” Adam
asked leaning into Tola’s office
through her open door.

“Come in if you want to know.”

She answered without taking
her eyes off the television.

Adam walked into the office,
pulled a chair and sat next to
her.”What is this?” He pointed at
the television.

“Remember the accident
involving the governor’s
daughter? It happened about
three months ago, well the
press is digging it up again.”

Adam looked away from the
television, his throat felt dry, he
needed a drink.

“Are you okay?” Tola was
looking at him with her
penetrating look. He had seen
the look more times than he
could bother to count.

“Yes I am. The chief just called
me, I’m lead detective on the
case, that means we – you and I
have a lot of work to do. Work
that is not fixing my life, actual
police work.”

“You think I’m trying to fix your
life?” She chuckled. “That’s not
even remotely true. I would love
to, but it’s impossible. No mere
mortal can fix your life.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t
hear that. We’ll be going to the
crime scene, there might still be
some clue left, something
spectators have not destroyed.

But let’s go over what we know
already.

“Okay, we know that the victim
is a young woman, probably
early or mid twenties. We don’t
know who she is yet, but she
doesn’t look like a rich girl, she
hasn’t been reported missing
too, that’s got to mean
something”

“I like the sound of serious
Adam. You’re right, she’s not a
rich girl – well she might be but
get this, she was a commercial
sex worker.”

“A prostitute?” He groaned and
held his head in between palms.

“That’ll make this even more
difficult. You know where she
plies her trade?”

“Coca-Cola road, that’s where.

You realize you are going to be
speaking to a lot of hookers,
right?” She laughed.

He did not find it amusing, he
had to forget about going
home, he would be talking to
hookers instead. He could
postpone that though, the crime
scene would be less depressing.

“Where was the body found?”

He asked as he walked out of
the office.

“St Andrews Anglican Church”

“Say what?”