The lounge was filled with the sound of slow music playing softly in the background. Dave, Bianca's boyfriend was seated with Chioma, Tola, and Ayo.
Dave kept gulping down from his bottle of beer now and then. His eyes were red with grief, he hadn't been able to get a hold of himself ever since he lost Bianca that night, on the same night he hosted a birthday for her.
"C'mon Dave, you shouldn't keep beating yourself over this. It's not good for your health!" Ayo spoke up, moving away the bottle of beer in front of Dave.
"Yeah, you really should stop. It's not your fault that we lost Bianca. Shit happens, we just need to be careful." Chioma added.
Dave sighed and relaxed back in his seat. His eyes were misty and welling up with tears that he tried to hold back; "I loved that girl, why is this world so cruel?" he muttered sadly.
"Dave! Look, man, stop acting weak. You have to be strong for Bianca. She won't want you to die from depression." Tola finally added after listening to their conversation for a while.
"Yeah, Tola is right." Chioma concurred, gazing at him softly.
"Guys, the serial killer struck again! It's all over the internet. Even Linda Ikeji's blog posted it." Ayo exclaimed, passing his phone over to Chioma.
She glanced at the screen and yelled out in shock, before sealing her lips in disgust at the horrifying image on the screen.
Tola watched as Dave took the phone, Dave stared at the screen in shock and was about to pass the phone to Tola when he stood up and excused himself to the bathroom.
"Isn't that Mr. Kenneth's wife? Oh, my goodness I can't believe this! We are not safe any longer I think anyone close to Daniel's family isn't safe!" Chioma panicked, shivering in fright.
"I think that all these killing that is aimed at them might be from someone close to them or someone they offended," Ayo muttered calmly.
"I think so too. But who would that be?" Dave added.
Chioma's brows curved slightly as she turned to the door leading to the restroom. she couldn't help but notice how strange Tola has been acting since the day of the incident. She reached out and took Dave's bottle of beer and drank its remaining content in one gulp.
"What's up with you?" Dave asked.
"My head is just giving me crazy thoughts," Chioma replied, dropping the bottle.
"And what thoughts is it giving you?" Ayo asked again.
"Haven't you guys noticed that Tola has been acting strange ever since…" Chioma paused and made a sign with her hands but Dave and Ayo gave her a confused look; "Bianca's murder, ah!" she added in frustration.
"Oh, I thought I was the only one," Dave said.
******
Tola had left the group and made his way to the restroom. His heart raced as he took quick strides further. Ayo's words echoed in his head;
"THE SERIAL KILLER STRUCK AGAIN!
THE SERIAL KILLER STRUCK AGAIN!"
Those words kept echoing again and again in his head until he stopped right in front of the door which had a sign which 'MEN' inscribed on it. He pushed it open and walked in.
His breath was unsteady and his heart kept skipping beats. He rested his hands on the ceramic hand-washer, with his face bowed.
He tried to control his breathing, and when he successfully calmed himself, he looked up at the mirror.
"it isn't my fault that she died, I just had to do it!" he muttered to himself and turned away from the mirror.
After taking a deep breath, he walked out to return to his friends.
"You came just in time; we're going over to Mr. Kenneth's residence to go offer our condolence," Dave said as soon as Tola arrived.
They left the lounge for Tola's car which was parked outside. They got in and Tola drove off.
It would have been a long ride to Mr. Kenneth's apartment if the popular Lagos traffic had decided to come to play, but the road was quite lonely which might lead you to wonder where all the Lagosian went to.
The gate was wide open, too many cars were swarming in to console the lawyers, convoys trooping in and even the Governor of Lagos state arrived. There was no space so he had to park outside, but close to the gate as it was still free.
They got down and they walked in.
Mr. Daniel was there, and so was the grieving widower, Kenneth. The governor alongside the commissioner of police took turns in assuring both men that the perpetrators would be brought to justice. the whole place was beginning to get crowded and the detective could not take it anymore so he walked out to get some air.
He walked past the lines of cars until he was out of the gate. He took out a lighter and a pack of cigarettes from the back of his pocket, taking out a stick and returning the semi-filled pack to his pocket.
He lit the cigarette, drew in heavily a puffed its smoke in the air. He turned and took a few steps to the left and sighted the car by the gate. Seemed like a good spot to smoke he thought and was already walking towards it when he suddenly stopped in his tracks.
He gazed intently at the car. His cigarette dropped from his grip. he quickly took out a piece of paper from his pocket and glanced at the Plate number of the car he caught on camera before looking back at the car.
"Oh, my goodness, it's a match!" he exclaimed.