CHAPTER FIVE : CLOSE

The silence in the room was choking, Even the walls were uncomfortable with the silence. Hannah's eyes remained glued to the ground.

“That's a lie,” Mide said as a matter of fact.

“No, it's not—” Hannah tried to defend as she made eye contact with Mide for a split second before tearing her gaze away.

“Don't lie to me!” Mide demanded as he paced about the room, Hannah's cries were audible now, Mide grabbed her and held her to his face

“Do I look like a joke to you?!huh?!” He let her go and she fell back on the bed. “N-no—” Hannah's body racked with sobs are she curled into a ball on the bed.

Mide ran his hand through his hair, they were driving him crazy, All of this was crazy! Nothing made sense anymore! If she was the killer, then who called him? They had tried so hard to keep this case under wraps. No one knew, Except his team, The higher-ups, His sister, and Gina.

Whoever the killer was, they were close, But he was sure it wasn't Hannah. She did not have any motive to do so, Besides, what killer kills without a reason? and she was not a psychopath, what was he missing?

“Who told you to lie to me?” He said as he looked into her eyes, “Who?!”

"Nobody!" She cried. "Nobody told me to lie to you," She said as she raised her gaze to him, "It's the truth, I am the murder, I have signed the confession letter too"

"What?" Mide asked exasperated, "when? why? how?" He demanded in disbelief.

"You heard her right," A familiar voice said, Mide raised an eyebrow as Jane came into his line of sight.

"Jane?" Mide asked. He was shocked to see her here, Jane was never one to carry out interrogation, talk less of preparing a confession letter.

"What Is going on here?" More demanded. Nothing was adding up.

"Mrs. Adeyemi here called me a few hours ago, She told me everything she just told you, and she decided to sign the confession. Admitting to the fact that she Murdered Temi Adegoke and pretended to have amnesia." Jane finished. Her hair was tied in a messy bun and her hands were folded in front of her chest, Her gun stayed In full display as well as her badge.

"I can't believe this"

"Here's the Confession letter if you don't believe me, all you need to know is in there," Jane concluded as she handed Mide the letter and left the room. The room went dead silent Except for Hannah's occasional sobs, The girl kept her gaze down.

"Hannah" Mide said as he sat down next to her on the bed, he took her hands into his, forcing her to look up. When she did, he saw it.

Fear.

But what exactly was Hannah scared of? Or better still Who?

what did Hannah know that was so bad, that she admitted to committing a crime she had no clue about? Mide was losing his sanity over this case, or better still, he was becoming sane enough to see the madness surrounding him.

********

"She had a few cigarette burns on her legs, Rope cuts, signs of strangling on her neck and... This" Demola finished as he showed Mide an X-ray.

More had decided to make a stop at their headquarters to gather more information, luckily for him, the head of the forensic department and his best friend, Demola Daniels was more than ready to fill him in.

"What's that?" Mide asked. He looked at Demola for an answer.

The man frowned and replied "Those are diamonds"

"Diamonds?" Mide asked incredulously.

"Diamonds" Demola confirmed as he went back to inspecting the dissected body.

"I don't understand, Why stuff her with diamonds?" Mide thought out loud.

"Maybe that's a message from the killer, Who knows?" A voice said. Mide whipped his head in the direction of the voice and his eyes met Seyi, just great. His luck had never failed him. What better way to end his day than having small talk with Seyi Adams, the man who for some reason he never got along with.

"Hannah claims she's the killer" Mide confessed.

"Um, I think we already knew that?" Seyi sassed. Mide shot him a glare.

"Guys, calm down" Demola spoke up as he got back to work.

"I don't believe her," Mide said matter of fact.

"I am starting to believe you are obsessed with this case, She even confessed! or... Do you have something for Hannah now?" Seyi taunted with a smirk on his face and in a split second Mide was in front of him.

"What did you just say?" Mide asked in a dangerously low tone as he towered over Seyi, Who seemed like he was in the mood to wake up a sleeping lion.

"I said, Do you have something with Hannah?" Seyi repeated. punctuating each of his words with a poke at Mide's chest. Luckily for him, Demola had gotten between them before Mide could pounce on Seyi.

"Both of you need to stop! Or else the door is right there!" Demola said as he pointed to the beige door that was locked in its hinges.

"I cannot work with the two of you bickering over my head!" Demola exclaimed in his deep voice as he headed towards the sink to wash off his hands. In response, both men backed off. Even though Demola was the quiet one, each team member knew not to mess with him.

Seyi huffed and walked out. The sound of the door hitting its frame was more than enough evidence.

Mide sighed as he plopped down on a chair, "I guess my anger management therapy might be working" He joked slightly trying to lighten up the tense room

Demola allowed a small smile. He knew Mide like the back of his hands, He knew he was just trying to relieve his anxiety. And cracking bad jokes, well, was his way. Demola decided to humor him. "Hmm, Go regularly for a week and we'll talk" he joked back.

"Hey, My therapist said I made an effort last month, I went three times, a whole three times!" He said in mock offense.

"You know you are supposed to go thrice a week, right?" Demola countered Mide with a raised Eyebrow and a Stern look. The man never took care of himself, he was either working on a case or supporting someone, Demola was sure his kindness would be the end of him.

Mide huffed. He opened a button on his shirt and watched as Demola washed his hands after taking off his gloves, "You believe me right? You know she's lying, right? it's only logical" Mide spoke after a while.

Demola sighed. He knew Mide was right. But he also knew that Hannah being the killer was best for everyone, Especially Mide, the young man was obsessed with the case. Still, he could not bring himself to lie to the man whom he considered his younger brother.

"I honestly don't know" There, he wasn't telling the whole truth, but he wasn't lying either.

"Someone called me" Mide confessed.

"what?" Demola asked, confused.

"The person... the person claims they are Temi's killer"

The whole room went silent.

"This might sound crazy, so don't tell anyone," Mide said sending Demola a meaningful look

"I think the killer is closer to me than I ever thought" He finished.

"W-what?"