Kenneth waited for almost an hour for his wife to return with the doctor whom she had gone to fetch. Mr. Daniel regained his composure as was already having small talks with Kenneth, feigning a weak smile when appropriate. His wife on the other hand was far from okay. In fact, which mother will be okay after seeing her only daughter hanging naked on the wall in the most horrifying way possible?
It seemed like a switch had flipped in her head. She kept mumbling incoherent words to herself. One minute she was laughing and the next she was sober.
"We need to take your wife to see a doctor," Kenneth suggested, after throwing another look at Daniel's wife.
Mr. Daniel turned to his wife, the hollowed look in her eyes made tears well up in his eyes. "I think so too, but your wife, didn't she go to get the doctor?"
"Yeah, she did. But she isn't back and we can't wait any longer. Let's just go." Kenneth said and rose to his feet and added; "I'll go get the car"
Kenneth left and Mr. Daniel walked over to his wife who was still seated at the same spot.
"Sweetheart," he called and rubbed her hair fondly, "We have to take you to the hospital."
"No! I'm not going to any hospital," she sniffled, softly. Wiping the snot that dripped down her nose, "I'll sit here and wait for Bianca to return home" she added and drifted away from his touch.
His lips parted to say something, but only air escaped his lungs. He wanted to tell her that Bianca won't be coming home to them anymore. To tell her that their lovely daughter had been gruesomely chased aware from this world and probably she would be in a much better place, maybe beside the god everyone has been talking about. But at this moment, he couldn't bring himself to believe in a god that sat there and watch his innocent daughter die. She moved closer and then curled his hand around his wife and spoke softly;
"Bianca would be waiting for us at the hospital, so we need to go now so as not to keep her waiting."
"Really?" she asked, turning her gaze almost immediately to him, wide-eyed.
He nodded. His eyes prick with tears at the thought of giving her false hope.
She jumped up to her feet and he took her outside, to the car that had been waiting for them.
*********
The recent murder had thrown the whole station into a frenzy. A gruesome murder had just taken place under their very noses and they had no clue whatsoever to track down the perpetrator.
This kind of Murder of this sort doesn't usually happen in a country like Nigeria. A murder in which the killer was so careful not to leave even a fingerprint on the body of the victim. Here in Nigeria, everyone dies na die, as it is popularly said in pidgin.
The detective kept staring at the pictures from the scene. This was the fourth time he was going through it, checking to see if he missed anything, even if it is a tiny detail.
The knock on the door distracted him from the pictures a bit; "Come in!" he said after the knock sounded again.
"Good afternoon, sir." Fred, an officer from the forensic team greeted.
The detective sighed and relaxed back in his seat. Lines of stress were visible in the way his brows curved.
"The report from the autopsy just came in. Another person's DNA was found on the dead girl's finger." Fred stated as he handed the folder over to the detective.
He unwrapped it and took at the papers, taking a good look at them.
"It's obvious that during the abduction, she struggled and scratched the person," Fred added.
"Did you run the DNA in our database to check for a match?" the detective asked.
'Yes, but there was no match."
The detective let out a long sigh on hearing Fred's reply. Mr. Daniel was a popular Judge in the country and the news of his daughter's murder already made the first page of almost every newspaper. It will be a feat for them to catch the killer…
********
Tunde pulled off his clothes and walked into the bathroom. He had been outside all morning clearing the overgrown grasses in his compound.
He turned on the cold shower and let the water take its course down his body.
The cold water was refreshing. He closed his eyes and let the cool feeling ease his raging nerves.
As soon as the water reached his arms, the piercing pain made him flinch. He stepped out of the shower. Raised his hand to his gaze and stared at the scratched wounds on both hands.