Tarasha : Chapter 7 – Part 10

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‘Good afternoon your highness’ Dakolo curtsied, after leaving the group of officers studying the dead bodies to approach the King.

‘Officer!’ the king barked like an angry dog. ‘What is this I’m hearing? The Governor was found dead in this river?’

‘Calm down your highness’ Dakolo eyes was full of grief as he talked. ‘It is a very sad occurrence your Majesty, very sad’

‘Oh!’ the King wailed, ‘how can this happen to us?’

Dakolo led the King to the ambulance where the Governor’s body was kept. At this time more security officials were already arriving to escort the body back to town.

‘Eh Oh!’ the King broke down again, he closed his eyes in horror as he saw the Governor’s body laying lifeless.

Dakolo closed back the door to the vehicle, ‘We’ll be leaving now, we have to report to the headquarters as soon as possible’

‘Yes, I know o’ the King replied, him and his entourage looked bereaved. ‘May God be with you officer’

‘Amen, thank you your highness’ Dakolo answered as he took a turn to the right side of the vehicle to take a seat in front.

The Police vehicles and ambulances drove away from the scene not too long after, leaving the villager’s behind in a pile of dust. Several thoughts ran through Dakolo’s mind as they drove back to Port Harcourt, he didn’t like the way the criminal was found dead, he wished to have caught her alive. He felt greatly enervated.

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Cole and Aisha hid under another tree with the villagers and watched as the police vehicles and ambulances sped past hurriedly. They waited till the cars were out of sight before they came of their hiding place and hurried to the point that their car was parked, several of the villagers followed them heading for their various places of abode while some stayed back and still continued to gossip about the incident.

Cole looked like he had just lost something very important as he walked tiredly to the car, the information they had gotten suggests that Tarasha was dead but he still hoped and believed that she could be alive. Aisha was more concerned about leaving there safely, she knew from when Tarasha had announced their mission that it was only a suicide attempt, she secretly thank God that only Tarasha was gone.

The two with their worries did not notice a  woman dressed in a village attire following them until they got to the car, they thought the lady would walk past after they stopped at the car so they didn’t pay any heed to her when they finally noticed. Aisha opened the door to the right front seat and entered in a hurry. Cole was about to open the door and enter when he noticed that the village lady was also trying to open the back door.

Fear surged through his body as his eyes met with hers, shrills were sent down his spine. He was too shocked and couldn’t open the door anymore.

‘Stop staring at me and open the door’ Tarasha slammed

‘Sorry Boss’ Cole said and quickly opened his door first. He released the lock to the backdoor.

Aisha was startled on hearing that voice; she quickly jumped out of the car and stared at her Boss in awe. Tarasha entered into the backseat without giving both of them another look, Cole and Aisha stared at each other in shock for some seconds before they could recover and enter back into the car.

Cole drove off immediately without saying a word, he and Aisha occasionally glanced at Tarasha fearfully through the front mirror. He was full of mixed feelings, he felt happy and at the same time also scared and shocked. Aisha on the other hand was feeling greatly terrified, she already thought that the end had come for their pompous Boss.

‘Take another route’ Tarasha said calmly, breaking the awkward silence. ‘The police just went that way and it’s not safe for us to pass there at the same time’

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**8.30pm**

Dakolo drove home quietly in his CRV jeep, meditating on all that happened that day. In just one day, he dealt with three linked cases. The first was a case of attempted murder, the suspect had escaped after being pursued into an hotel. His investigation had led him to the airport only for him to meet a case of impersonation; someone had disguised as Lovina and boarded the plane in Lovina’s stead.  The third case was one is kidnap which later turned into assassination.

He had thought that the Assassin had died with the Governor when the two bodies were found in the river, only for him to get back to town and find out that the dead lady was one of the flight attendants. That means the imposter who carried out the assassination escaped, only God knew how she did it.

Since he came into the state in the year 2029, the rate of crime had drastically reduced, even petty robbery and pickpocketing had been curbed, so the murder of the Governor came as a big blow to him and to the other top security officers in the state.

He blared the car horn impatiently as he got to the gate, the gate man responded accordingly and he was allowed entrance in few seconds.

‘Daddy!’ his three kids called happily as they scampered out of the house to welcome their Dad. He carried the youngest one into his arms, trying his best to smile as he hugged the two other.

‘Daddy, what did you buy for us?’ The youngest kid whom he carried asked him. He smiled as he stared back into her face, she was a girl of about two to three years of age and was in her first year in Nursery School.

‘Daddy was very busy today dear, the shops had closed when I was coming home’ He replied in a pleading tone. He gave a smile at their mum who was just coming out of the house.

‘Daddy, hope you bought my gift?’ The eldest son asked hopefully. He was a boy of seven years old but looked too big for his age. His big stature and heavy weight instilled fear in his mates and even seniors who tried to bully him.

‘Oh!’ Dakolo suddenly remembered that it was the boy’s seventh birthday and he had promise to get him a good gift when returning from work. He had no excuse to give the boy, or rather, the  boy was too young to understand his plight. ‘I ordered for it already, I don’t know why they’ve not delivered it yet’ He lied, feigning a very serious voice.

‘Oh!’ the boy hummed as he folded his arms and wagged his head back into the house in disappointment.

‘Don’t worry, I promise that it would be here by tomorrow’ Dakolo shouted, trying to console the sulking boy.

‘How are you dear?’ The wife gave him a peck on the cheek as she took his suitcase from him.

‘Fine’ he replied, and dropped the little girl to run into the house with her older ones.

‘A lot has happened today and I know you must be so tired’ she said as they walked into the large and well-furnished sitting room.

‘Come on, it’s not time for TV, got to your beds now’ she scolded the kids who walked away hesitatingly.

Dakolo sank into the sofa, loosening his shirt buttons. His shoe released a stinking stench as he took out his legs, he quickly took the shoes away from the sitting room. His wife had already returned with a glass of cold water before he came back into the sitting room.

‘Take this’ she said as he sat down.

‘Thank you’ he gulped down the water hurriedly.

‘You really need to have a good bath’ his wife said as she collected the cup from him, her eyes searched all over him body. ‘You should go take your bath while I serve the food’ she said and helped him up.

‘What about Lydia?’ Dakolo asked about the maid.

‘She’s feeling sick, so I allowed her sleep early’she replied.

Dakolo smiled as he held her hands, his wife was the loveliest and kindest person he had ever met. He recalled when he first met Angela. He had been chosen to lead a security team for an event for which she was the head caterer. Her natural beauty and simplicity had attracted him and he didn’t waste time in approaching her to get her contact although he told her at first that he only needed the contact for business.

Dakolo and his wife paused as his phone rang, he took it out from his pocket and checked the screen. He mumbled inaudible words before he picked the call. ‘Hello Officer’ he said

‘Hello sir, John Obiano just came out of his unconscious state’ the officer announced. ‘It seems he knows the person who is Samantha Osman’

‘Yes’ He responded excitedly, motioning his wife to go on with his bag into the room, he sat back into another sofa. ‘What did you find out from him?’

‘He couldn’t really talk to us and the Doctors advised against it, so we couldn’t really find out much ’

‘Okay then, we should be able to get vital information from him by tomorrow’

‘Yes sir’

‘Alright, just make sure that he is safe’ he said before cutting the call. He was happy with the recent development and his mood became livelier. He was about o get up from the seat when he remembered something, ‘James’ he mumbled under his breath.

James was one of the most competent officers that Dakolo had trained and worked with. He recalled that James had called him to tell him about a certain case in Lagos which involved the same name ‘Samantha Osman’. He dialed James number to confirm.

‘Hello, Good evening sir’ James voice came through

‘Good evening Officer James, how are you doing?’ Dakolo replied his greeting.

‘Fine sir, how is your family?’

‘Thank God, they’re all doing fine’

‘Thank God’ James said cheerfully before changing into a more serious tone. ‘We saw in the news all that happened in Rivers today’

‘Hmm, Well’ Dakolo continued after letting out a deep breath. ‘That’s why I’m calling you, concerning the Governor’s death’

‘I’m all ears sir’

‘Okay. Erm… You called me last week and mentioned a particular name “Samantha Osman”, am I correct?’

‘Yes sir, Samantha Osman’

‘Well, that name just came up here also’ Dakolo continued, ‘we found her ID card in the plane’

‘Her ID card? What type of ID card?’

‘Her office ID card, we were able to decipher that she was a journalist but the name of the news media and her passport had been scrapped off’

‘Hmm… I think that is still traceable’

‘Yes it is, I only want to find out if you have similar information concerning her’

‘No sir’ James gave a negative reply. ‘The Samantha here was a fake, she used a student ID card to get information from the pharmacy’

‘And what else have you gotten about her?’

‘Nothing yet’ the reply came slow, James envisaged that Dakolo would be disappointed. ‘There’s no matching records in the school’s portal’

‘Okay, thank you. I’ll update you when necessary’ Dakolo concluded and cut the call, his wife was already standing before him.

‘I think you should allow me keep your phone for now’ she said, giving him a serious look. ‘At least they should let you rest’

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Benny stood out on the corridor, patiently awaiting the arrival of the rest of his colleagues. The news that day had been confusing. It started with a report of the Governor’s kidnap, then changed to rumors of his death. Later that night, the news media had reported that the body of the Governor had been found dead with the perpetrator. Benny didn’t believe that Tarasha could be caught, he was very sure she wouldn’t be caught. If she could give him clever ideas to escape the police then she couldn’t have been caught by the police herself, so he thought.

His face lit up as he saw signs of a car coming towards the house. In less than two minutes, Cole had driven in and parked with Tarasha and Aisha. Tarasha was the first to come out of the car, she walked into the house after greeting Benny with a pat on the shoulder and a smile.  Benny smiled back hut his smile was short lived; after he remembered that he  failed at his mission. He was expecting her to scold him.

Cole and Asiha walked wearily to Benny and paused. They stared at each others faces in silence for a minute before walking into the house.

END OF CHAPTER SEVEN