Episode 17

Alice had been arrested and sent to the Lagos state police headquarters were she was being questioned. Since Cyril was no where to be found the whole police department had focused their attention on poor Alice.

She was devastated and shattered beyond repair, she had been the one who did good but now she had received evil in return. "Where did i go wrong?" she thought to herself. Cyril has led me into the lions den and now I am doomed. She lamented so deeply and would cry so loud the policemen would become furious.

She has only seen misfortune for the past two years, her child's father died tragically leaving her alone with her boy to cater for. Times had been tough but they survived but now she is done for. Her son was all alone. "Who would take care of my boy?" She'd ask herself.

Tears ran down her eyes, her dress was soaked in it. No one cared to listen or comfort her, they all were doing their jobs.

On the second day of her arrest, the detective came by the station and asked to interrogate her. She had been placed in a cell room, it was a rectangular block with bars for doors. It had only a single window, the window was a very small one and had bars on it, so no one could escape through.

She had been kept with other arrested fellows who may or may not have committed the crimes allotted to them.

When she appeared at the interrogation room, the detective felt sorry for her. She was looking pale and numb. Her body was weak and white lines ran down from her eyes to her jaw - she had been crying through the night.

He asked her to sit and then ordered that she be given food to eat. She would need her strength in the interrogation.

After about 5 minutes, her food was brought to her. The detective asked her to eat so she can be strong, she ate as much as she could.

After the meal the detective came inside to ask his questions.

"Miss Alice, I would like you to answer every question I ask truthfully and maybe I can help you."

She nodded faintly, in agreement.

"Do you know Veronica Olumide."

"No I don't." She replied

"Where I your cousin now."

"I don't know where he is."

The detective was distressed at the way she answered the question and it infuriated him.

"Miss Alice, I'm giving you a chance to come clean and save yourself. If we are able to find your cousin then you will get a pardon if truly you have nothing to do with the kidnapping."

She said nothing but kept her eyes down, she was embittered by the situation she was in and the condition of her child.

After much attempt to get her to talk, she was sent back to the cell until investigations are over.

The detective had made a breakthrough on the case by getting Alice into custody but without a clue as to where Cyril was made the case even more difficult. He searched his mind once more, trying to think of a way to get to Cyril but there was none that proved useful. After about 20 minutes alone in his 'mind search' he decided to try something unusual.

He called together his team and relayed the new development to them.

"Listen up everyone, it may seem that we have reached a dead end to this case but I am not one to relent or give up easily. We shall close this case by getting our hands on he culprit."

"Detective but we have exhausted every idea we have." A police man retorted.

"I know that but there is still one thing we can do." He replied.

"Listen carefully as I narrow it down. I want a map of this city. We shall take about 10 search and rescue (SAR) dogs and then will search over a 30 kilometre radius from the hotel to the hospital closest to the hotel. If they took the victim that night and didn't visit a hospital. Then they may have stopped somewhere on that road. A team of policemen with 5 SAR's will be on either side of the road. You must search everywhere within that radius. Do you understand?."

"Yes sir!" They responded in unison.

"Now let's move. The clock is ticking."

Well the detective has finally thought outside the box. It was definitely a long short and a difficult decision to make. The chances that something would be found anywhere around there was 0.0008 percent, but even that ratio could affect the case significantly.

The policemen had readied themselves, everyone knew what their duties were and what it required. They had brought with them 10 search and rescue dogs and a dog is keen to smell about 20 kilometres away and 40 feet underground.

They started the search first at the hotel. The dogs were led through the entire hotel building but nothing was found and so they faced the road. A team of nine policemen and five rescue dogs started on the left and 10 policemen and five other dogs started on the right - the search had begun.

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Their various task had finally been revealed to them, Cyril never wanted to return to Lagos but this task had demanded it, neither did Nonso want to return to his family after what had transpired but the Oracle had demanded for something unusual back home - they had to travel back.

Nonso thought about his mother and sisters. The disappearance of Nkechi must have left them broken, but he was sure no one could find her body even though it wasn't buried properly.

Cyril sat beside him in the bus, he was also lost in his thought. Fear gripped him and a sense of danger lurked behind the shadows of his countenance but he knew where he had laid Veronica - no one could find her.

He was not going to pass by his house to avoid meeting Abiola's dad. He was going straight to the task at hand.

He comforted himself with the thought that it was only about a few days left and he would be rich and nothing would matter. He would relocate and find a different country to recline. He smiled as the thought waved through his mind.

He looked out through the window and they were already in Lagos.