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| Scarlet Blood by Mahmud Sufiyan |
The killer with many crimes would killed intentionally. He was stained with much blood; many innocent souls had been taken away. Why? Let’s go on a journey.
PART 1
You could see the police everywhere, every corner in the City of Lagos. This would sooner get out of hand if nothing was done. The Neighbourhood was awake. Everybody was murmuring with deep, low ‘don’t get me implicated voices’. Downtown somewhere in the City, the killer had done it again. This time, he had killed a young pulchritude lady. She had been stabbed twice and dumped in a dark alley around 9:45 pm….according to investigations.
The police had come immediately they were alerted. They searched everywhere but couldn’t find the killer. How could they when he was as smart as he was wicked? He left no trace on the scene, not a fingerprint, not a strand of hair! The body was taken for examination, one autopsy after the other, still all they could deduce was that she indeed had been stabbed…nothing less and definitely nothing more. The police knew they had a tough one on their hands, not just some amateurish one timer. The integrity of the police force stood at the brink of disrepute. Something had to be done…something had to be done now! Investigations were set in motion, but still no good news. The killer was a sly one. As a detective who was involved in the case, I was called by the General. ‘These killings are getting too much in this city’, he said. ‘And we have to act quickly before the killer kills yet another one!’
he added.
I sighed and went out. I intensified the force with which I pushed myself to unravel the mysteries
before us. Sleep eluded me. Then the very essence of synergy became appealing. I called an old friend in the game-John by name.
‘Hello!’
‘How are you john?’
‘I am fine and you?’ replied John.
We exchanges pleasantries but being both men of the gun, it wasn’t long before we got down to business- serious business!
‘Can we meet at the coffee shop near main street bank?’ I asked. And then it was all set. We met and discussed about the serial killer. Of course, John had heard of him. Was there anyone who hadn’t? With my hand on John’s shoulder, I said, ‘This is getting serious. We need to act fast, very fast’.
‘By all means’, John affirmed. With that clearly established, we went our separate ways.
Meanwhile, at a bar in Lekki, the serial killer was set to add yet another chapter to the already gruesome history he was making! He was boiling with so much restlessness for blood-more blood! And girls, young, beautiful girls, were his specialty. He was in the bar drinking when a girl approached him asking ‘Are you alone or do you have a partner?’ Talk about the prey shaking hands with the predator! While she stood awaiting a favourable reply, he had set everything up in his mind. He could see her wriggling to death already!
For a few minutes he was quiet, and then he spoke to her and led her out. Far away from activity, with the obvious excuse of getting his car, he took her farther away from where eyes could not follow….and before one could say ‘Jack Robinson’, he dragged her to a silent, dark place and While they are walking. Terror gripped the young lady and her very life flashed before her eyes. Bringing out his knife, he wrote yet another chapter …with blood. I was in my room resting, suddenly my phone rang and a voice said ‘quickly! Come to Lekki. We have another victim!!’
Oh! How my head hurt. I hurriedly picked up my shirt, fastened my gun and ran to the crime scene. The murders followed the same pattern and without a doubt, we believed the killer had hit again.
The body was taken away for yet another round of autopsies. The scene was cleared and we set out investigating. We started questioning everyone in the bar and I met someone who said ‘the girl went to meet someone while he was drinking, but I couldn’t capture his face clearly’. Saying the police worked hard to unravel the mystery would be a terrible understatement. Thing is, nobody could sleep. Who knew where he would strike again? We continued investigations. We had a lead. All that remained was to nail the coffin. Then one day, it seemed like that would very much be the fate of the faceless murderer. We had been trailing our lead suspect. We knew he was in a hotel and we had it surrounded. ‘Now we’ve got him’ we thought to ourselves but little did we know that not only was the demon a murderer, he was also a mass destroyer!
Everything was put together, not even the earth stood against us …but…he came prepared… All was set. With much confidence did I lead my team.
‘Attention everyone’, I said;
‘We have to be really careful here because the killer’s smarter than a rat’
‘Copy that sire’ Came the curt reply. ‘On your guard’ said John. ‘On the count of 3…
One, two, three….
‘All units take your positions’, I commanded. We smashed the door forcibly.
‘Unit 1, can you hear me?
‘Rogue sire we are clear’.
‘Let’s take him down’ John ordered
The killer had it all mapped out. How could anyone think he was ordinary? Out the window, he went. Everything was set that he planned.
‘Unit two, are you clear over there?’ ‘Yes sire, we are’. We opened all the doors. Only a door remained. All units were clear except unit 3. We were waiting for their response.
‘Unit three can you copy me?’ enquired John.
‘Yes sire’
As unit 3 smashed open the door…off went the timed bomb!!!
Watch out for part 2…