CHAPTER SIX

The only thing Kemi could think of now was the saying that went "if you are confused all you have to do is go back to the scene of the crime".

Kemi had been on this case now going to two weeks and she had no lead what so ever to the death of the nineteen year old girl. The things she had done so far weren't much of a help. She had questioned the deceased friends and nothing came out of it. She had also gone through the parents and it had nothing to sure for it. Her room had been searched even her roommates had also been searched but all to no avail.

All she had to do now is get someone who might have seen Liza that night. Someone who knows something. Someone who had heard something strange....or anything useful. So her only hope was getting to her old room and ask questions from there or around to look for someone who might have seen something once and didn't take notice of it.

Kemi made her way towards the Porter's lounge and flashed her card and was allowed to enter. As she stepped into the hostel...it reminded her of her years as a college student.

Not as if she harbored any bad thoughts from long ago....but things had been ugly during her time too. There were no killings but there was certainly bullying...and she got that a lot.

Because of her height, it played against her and all what the other females could see was someone they could trample on. She fought for freedom but to no avail. Almost everyday she had gone through the same ordeal and had no rescuer. And for some reason she decided to become a police officer. Why she made that decision was beyond her...but still it was a decision she has not come to regret.Kemi took a look around and tried to recall where block S2 would be.

She stopped a girl that was passing by and asked for directions and was directed to you the field. She started her way up the hostel and smiled as she saw the little ladies in shorts and a memory of herself in shorts talking to a friend of hers came to mind. The hostel looked the same even though it had been nineteen years ago.

The buildings were built in a way that each long block faced each other and were like ten feet apart. And also each block had ten rooms and where numbered one to ten. Each block also had letters to differentiate them. So it was possible... definitely possible that someone she knew in the hostel or someone she was acquainted to had seen or heard something once, and also it was possible someone saw Liza that night. And that was what Kemi had come to find out.

She didn't immediately enter the deceased's room and instead went closer to a shop were many girls were buying stuff from, knowing from experience that that was where most of the gossip radiated. And also hoping that one of them would know or had seen her that night.

Fifteen minutes....and she was still on it. No one she had asked so far had any idea of Liza. Well it was possible since there were over three thousand girls in the hostel. There was no way everyone knew each other.

"...you guys always close very late or early. It's like you already know that we want something on that particular day and decide that you would rather close early... "

That was what Kemi heard then it came to her. She made her way to the shop and looked around. The girls didn't even seem to notice her and were just doing their thing. She was looking for someone.

Ahhhh....

Kemi moved closer to where the voice was coming from....where a group of girls were bickering at each other while some others where giggling.

"Excuse me-"

Eight pairs of eyes turned to stare at her. They were looking at her with expression of "we know you don't belong here" . She couldn't help but smile at their scrutiny and asked for the owner of the kiosk.

When one of them raised her hand up, Kemi was at last glad to have someone on the train.

"Can I talk to you alone?"

"And who are you?" the girl regarded her with a guarded expression. Kemi brought out her badge. "Just a few questions will do".

"Is this about the dead girl?" Well anyone with enough brains could figure that out. Kemi only nodded in answer.

"Follow me". She led Kemi to the back of the kiosk which was free of noise and devoid of girls bickering.

"We can talk here". The girl said as Kemi was pocketing her badge.

"Thank you", the girl nodded her head in an adequate fashion and had her full attention on the older woman standing in front of her. "Your name?"

"Fatima".

"What?".

"Korede".

"As a seller here I'm sure you must have met a good deal of the girls that frequent your shop?"

"And you are going to ask me if the dead girl frequented my kiosk?" Kemi nodded....the girl was quick to catch on.

"I know her. She came here to buy most of the things she could think of", she stalled as if to think for a while..."I know her as per buyer and seller relationship". She finalized.

"So is it possible you saw anyone around her being suspicious ....or if you saw her that night?"

" No to both questions".

"Did she have a clash with anyone lately?"

"None I can remember".

"Do you at least know her friends or anyone you might have seen around her?"

Kemi knew she had her there. With enough experience to go around, Kemi knew that the kiosk girl would know a lot than all other people combined. They always had the gist in their fingers.

******************

"She hardly had fights in the room. Though I find it normal for one to have a clash once in a while but still I don't think it could have led to murder". Chidinma, a roommate to the dead girl was whom Kemi was with after having spoken to all of them.

Kemi thanked the whole lot of them and left the room. There were no leads and it was stressing her out. There was no body in the whole school that could give her something new. All she had been hearing for the past few weeks had been the same story told over and over and she was sure that by now she would be getting rotten ears.

Taking a swing from her drink, she started heading for the gates to have a little rest and decided against the idea of waiting till she gets to the office. Instead she made a quick call to her assistant to help pick her son and she was sure as hell not ready for one of his tantrums today. Immediately she was done with that call she found a place where they make photocopies and decided to clear her head before heading home.

At that particular time she put her head against the arm rest, using her arm as a pillow and within seconds she was out. She was tired. The weather was just not in a her favour and she was growing tired. The cold drink in her hands was not even doing enough justice to her plight but it was better than nothing.

"Give me my phone!" a woman's voice woke her up from her sleep as she jerked awake. She looked about her and she saw a girl of not more than six years being yelled at by her mother for taking her phone. Kemi smiled as she remembered a certain somebody that also does the same thing back at home.

"I'm sorry madam", the woman was saying as she saw that Kemi was wide awake due to her daughter's tantrums.

Kemi just smiled in good gracies. The woman moved to seat on the bench beside Kemi holding her phone.

"I don't know why technology is even affecting kids nowadays" Kemi smiled she knew she had thought about that several times before she had seen her son push some buttons she had never even known existed on her phone.

Kemi listened and even joined in the conversation as the woman went on and on explaining the reason why she would never understand the way young minds work now.

Kemi laughed when she was supposed to and even commented when necessary too. The woman was still on the phone deleting some stuff her child seemed to have acquired without permission.

When she got to her gallery...in the name of privacy, Kemi kept her eyesight far from it as possible but as the woman scrolled on there was a picture which seemed to have multiplied. The intriguing part of the picture was that it was taken in the dark but still clear enough to see the color of the cloth the person was wearing.

As Kemi took a closer look at the picture...she recognized one thing... the colour of the sweater and the logo on the side pocket as the person was walking with her hand at the side of her head to show that she was on the phone with someone. That face she could never forget.... scratch that she meant the sweater.

And the girl in the picture was no other than...

Liza.

The dead girl. The woman's hand was about to hit the delete button when Kemi's hand was fast enough to stop her.

The woman had no idea and just stared at Kemi's dazed form. In the state she was in, she handed the phone to the policewoman and stared at her in with a confused look. Maybe her daughter was not the only crazy one around. The six year old however didn't share in her mother's state of mind....instead happy that a stranger had taken hold of the phone she moved nearer to the other woman in black.

"It's me," at first Kemi didn't understand the little girl.

"It's me" the girl repeated herself.

Kemi kept checking to see if it was really the girl she suspected it to be. She slid to the photo info on the phone and checked the time the picture was taken and also the date.

3:36am

Thirteenth of May.

That only meant one thing....

"It's me", Kemi turned to look at the little girl beside her she asked the question that made her heart slam against her chest.

"What did you do?"

"I snapped the picture" surprisingly for a girl that young her words were very clear. The girl took the phone from Kemi and turned to another photo of the same girl.

"I know her",

"You do?"

"She comes here to do photocopy", but grammar...not so good. "With her friend". Kemi could think of the friend she was talking about.

"When did you take this picture?" Kemi asked the girl as the little hand handed the phone back to her.

The six year seemed to think a bit before answering. "I was playing game when mummy was charging her phone....so as I was playing....I just heard someone passing and talking so I wanted to on the light", Kemi took note of that mistake, "but I did not find the lamp so I just on the torchlight on mummy's phone"

Kemi got the whole thing...it was possible she didn't actually put the flashlight on but instead had done it for the camera instead and had snapped the passerby.

"Was your mummy here?" The woman was still watching the whole thing in awe. Kemi smiled, the woman had no idea how her daughter was helping greatly in this case.

"No...my brother".

"I think I know the day she is talking about", the mother said catching Kemi's attention. "isn't this the girl that died?" the woman gestured to the phone Kemi was holding.

Kemi nodded twice.

"The girl was here the day before the incident", the woman started checking a pile of files she had on a table, then after finding what she was looking for she pulled a particular book out.

"What's that for?"

"This is for any student who comes here to photocopy and also this one", she pulled a slim paper out of the pile and nodded "Yes I remember....he was also here ".

"Who... what's his name?"

The woman spared her a look and read out a name...