Wasting no more time, Officer James quickly dispatched as many other officers available to go search for Margret and Veronica. June had told him earlier that she had warned Margret before turning herself in and he was not likely to find her at her house. Still, James decided to head there first not just because it was the best place to look and trace Margret, but because he wanted to be the one to break the news of what was going on gently to her mother.
He went with his partner, Officer Ade who was reading James the entire time they drove to the house.
"You don't know what you're going to say, do you?" Ade asked just as James was about to knock on the door. James held his hand back immediately Ade spoke, his only response being an awkward silence which seemed to put a naughty smile on Ade's face.
"You're crushing on the woman! Oh, I must see who she is today--"
Embarrassed by his partner's words, James spoke back in a harsh whisper.
"Stop it! I am neither a child nor a teenager that I would be crushing on someone--"
"Crushing, liking, whatever you call it, you are starting to feel a little something for this woman... Abi am I lying?"
"Arrgh!" James grunted in frustration. Even though Ade was a reliable and diligent policeman, he could be very annoying too. "Please, I'm begging you. We came here for serious business, act like a policeman for Christ's sake!"
Meanwhile, Maryam who was wondering what was happening on her doorstep decided to speak up.
"Who's there?"
Immediately, the two men put their serious faces back on as Officer James cleared his throat to speak.
"Good afternoon Mrs. Ajayi, it's Officer James from Ketu district."
Officer James? Why was he here? Did he go-ahead to investigate Sylvester's death after I told him to drop it? Has he found Sylvester's killer?
She was about to feed Stanley when she heard the bickering at the door but finally dropped the spoon with the bowl and head to the door.
"Good afternoon sir," She said to James looking a bit shocked. "I can't believe you came to my place, I don't remember giving you my house address."
"Yes, you didn't."
"So why are you here? I mean how may I help you?.. Where are my manners, please come in." Maryam said finally after realizing she was talking too much. She opened the door wider and let the two men in.
Maryam shut the door after the men walked in then rushed to pick up baby Stanley who was already reaching for the bowl on the center table.
"So what's going on?" Maryam asked the two men with the baby in arms. James seemed lost as he was busy looking around the room so Ade decided to speak.
"It's about Sylvester's case madam, more specifically about your daughter."
Maryam immediately wore a perplexed look on her face.
"My daughter? What does Margret have to do with anything."
This time it was James who spoke.
"This might sound a bit confusing... Your daughter has a hand in Sylvester's death but--"
"Oh my God!"
"No no," James said, trying to calm her down as he gestured with his hands. "I'm not saying she is the killer, she isn't. But Margret and her friends are deep in something dangerous with a psychotic killer and I would love to explain everything right now but there's no time... We need to find her."
James' words only seemed to throw Maryam into more confusion. Nothing he was saying was making sense. What did Margret get into? Who was this psychotic killer? Did he kill Sylvester?
"Maryam, can you hear me?" James beckoned, calling back her attention.
"I don't understand what you are saying."
"Your daughter and her friends played a game two weeks ago and now there is a killer on the loose, targeting and killing the people mentioned in the game," Ade said but it didn't seem to change the confused expression on Maryam's face.
"Look here, we will explain everything in detail as soon as we can but first we have to find Margret," James added. "Where is she?"
"I don't know either," Maryam answered, looking completely shell-shocked. "She just left the house, she told me she was meeting up with her friends."
"She was lying," Ade replied, looking at James. "June is currently in our station, Joana has been kidnapped and the last Grace is not in town."
"Except the last girl," James added. "Veronica."
** ** **
"So what's the situation now, tell me everything that happened from last weekend after I left," Cassandra said to Margret.
They were both in Veronica's room now. While Margret took her sitting position on the bed, Cassandra decided to lean on the makeup table.
"After you left, Bros Efe decided to take Grace with him and so Grace followed him. John also wanted to do the same with Joana but I guess the killer found out somehow and decided to kidnap Joana--"
"And now John is in the hospital and June decided to turn herself in... Wait a minute, why was I not informed about all of this in the first place?"
"I-I don't know..." Margret stuttered in defense. "The truth is we didn't trust you anymore... We thought you were either the killer or you were the one giving out our information to the killer so we decided to leave you out of it."
Cassandra scoffed.
"You must feel stupid right about now, don't you? Calling me to help you against your best judgment that I couldn't be trusted."
"Yeah, I know, it's pretty messed up and I have no other choice added to the fact that we are running out of time... So please, what do we do?"
"Hold on, let me think," Cassandra said as she began to weigh her options.
First of all, Veronica choosing to stay away from the girls seemed to have paid off as Margret trusted her enough to te her everything. But what was the way forward now? No matter what June told the police, she knew they would still be clueless about her being the killer- and that only depended on if they would believe her. Grace was the only one who knew who she really is. Grace was her only problem now and she had to act fast. It was no question, Grace had to be eliminated.
But How?
'Calm down Cassie,' She thought to herself. 'All you have to do is draw her back to town. And you have good bait right in front of you and one more in the other house... She would definitely come to you.'
And just like that, it was settled. She had her plan!
"Okay, I've got a plan." She said with a clap. "But first we have to leave here... The police could be here any minute."
"Wait, where?" Margret asked.
"To our other house. My dad has other properties in this town too." She sensed a little reluctance from Margret and spoke again. "Come on, I'll explain along the way... We have to leave now."
** ** **
Grace tried calling Margret's number a few more times before giving up. There was no time and she had to act fast so she figured the next person to call was her brother Efe. He wasn't answering his phone so she decided to leave a message.
"Efe, listen to me, I think I know who the killer is but there's no time and my friends need me... I'm on a bus right now heading back to Ketu town. I'll report what I found out to the police and help them catch Cassandra... No matter what happens, I'm ending this once and for all."