A police van pulled up in front of Wilmour's High, six police officers swiftly disembarked from the vehicle. They approached the school hallway, and two senior inspectors separated from the rest and headed towards the vice-chancellor's office while the rest kept moving in locomotion. The students were left discombobulated and utterly confused by what is happening. A few minutes later, the police officers had apprehended three students who were suspects in an ongoing investigation, these suspects included a male and two female teenage students in school uniforms. While they approached the two senior inspectors, the vice-chancellor was adamant about seeking clarifications on the state of the current situation as to why the police officers are reprimanding students from their school premises.
"Officers, would you mind explaining to me what is going on? Why are students of this prestigious school being reprimanded in such a perturbed manner?" The middle-aged woman in a long skirt spoke with uneasiness.
"We have a warrant for the arrest of four individual suspects that currently attends this school." Inspector Sunny said while he flipped open a document to the eyes of the woman as he continued. "Three of which we have just apprehended. However, we would appreciate it, if you can easily direct us to the location of our fourth suspect. A male figure that goes by the name Thomas Atkins" he added.
"Thomas!" She exclaimed. "Wait a minute officers! You can't just..." Inspector Sunny cuts in and signaled to the remaining officers to disperse around the rest of the school premises in search of the fourth suspect.
A few minutes later, Thomas was spotted at the school gym house. Three officers approached with speed, and as soon as Thomas saw them approaching, he fled in what seemed to be a shun from the fast-approaching policemen. They hurried after him and chased him around the corners of the school premises like a dog's pursuit before they were finally able to subdue him as he was about to jump over the school fence. His hands were handcuffed to his back in an attempt to stop him from making any sudden moves. The police dragged him outside the school towards the police van where the rest of the suspects were being held. The entire school watched along with the staff teachers and students as the police van drove off from the school premises.
An hour later, a phone call came through the reception office of Senator Atkins, a young lady in her late twenties attended to the call. "Senator Atkins's office, how may I help you?" She said. There was a response on the other end of the call. "I'm afraid the Senator is very well busy, if you could just...." she paused alarmingly. "Oh. Well. Yes, thank you. I'll relay the message right away" she dropped the phone call and stood up towards the door entrance to the Senator's office space. She took a slow breath before she managed to knock politely, she opened the door and let herself in. The senator was having a phone conversation with someone when she stepped in. He made a gesture with his right hand while still talking on the phone to ask what the issue might be for the lady to have interrupted him. She took a step forward.
"Sir, a call just came in for you," she said briefly. The Senator rolled his eyes at her and mouthed So what "It's about your son" she said. He then placed a hand on the speaker of the phone by his ear before he spoke with a shrug of his shoulders:
"What about him?" He asked
"He..he is in police custody sir," she said tensely. His brows raised, as he ended the phone call. "Shall I put a call through to the line sir?" She asked.
"Yes. Please do" Said the senator. She turned around to her post and put a call through the line that called earlier, she then transferred the call to the senator's office. For about five minutes, the senator had what seemed to be a heated conversation on the line with the speaker on the other end, before he dropped the call.
"Benny!" He called out. The secretary came running back into his office. "Put a call through to Lawyer Banks right away" He demanded.
"Okay sir" she responded while she headed back to her post to put a call through to the lawyer.
Lawyer Bankole is a big-time representative for a big law firm in the city. He pretty much has a reputation for winning high-profile cases regardless of how formidable they might be. He had represented the senator in some build-up cases in the past.
Banks was sitting on a couch at the far corner of his private office by the time a phone call came from his assistant at the reception. He had his legs crossed over the other and was smoking a cigar, and the room was filled with thick smoke in the air. One can hardly see anything through the fog, the ventilation system in the room was blocked to prevent the smoke from escaping through. He does that once in a while whenever he feels the need to relax. He tries to get as high as kite before appearing in a court tribunal. But who can judge him, he lives his life to the fullest and is not the type of person to be bothered by anybody's opinion about him. It's one of the reasons he was so good at being a lawyer, he can get his way around any situation. He was brilliant and absolutely intelligent. He has a not-so-common way of reasoning when it comes to his intellectual dispositions, and that way he was able to excel in everything does. He was a hotshot of a lawyer, he was once nominated as one of the most eligible bachelors in Lagos city, but also, he was popularly known for his extravagant lifestyle and his susceptibility to social media paparazzi. He was young and rich, and he had a very appealing appearance to women.
Banks puffed a thick hard smoke when the telephone rang on his office desk. He shifted from where he was sitting and picked up the phone.
"Hello," he paused.
"Yes, put him through " the line was switched to another receiving end. The conversation didn't take longer than five minutes, banks stood up to pick his jacket from the hanger before he looked at his wristwatch. "It's about time," he said, as he stood in front of the mirror standing in front of him. He put a mischievous smile on his face and said gently, "Let's dance ". He left his office building a few minutes later before he drove off in his vehicle.
At the police bureau, the four suspects were held together in a cell. One of the suspects, a dark skin boy kept pacing in the small cell room. Sweats were secreted from his forehead as he kept panicking through the room while the other two girls sat next to each other on the floor of the cell block. He kept dragging his feet across the floor until it started making disturbing noises. Thomas was getting impatient and couldn't hold back his irritation at the fact that his best friend was about to spiral out of control.
'Will you just calm down Pete?" He shouted "God. You make my ears burn" he rolled his eyes
"Do you think they know?" Pete said shakingly "What we did do. Is that why we're here? I mean, why else would we be here. Oh my God! I'm going to jail. I can't believe what is happening right now" he cried.
"Nobody is going to jail, Pete. So stop panicking and just relax before you get the rest of us in trouble" Thomas said
"Get us in trouble? What's that supposed to mean? Who put us into this mess in the first place? I told you we should have gone back to check if..."
"Shut up your mouth, Wll you. And stop spewing nonsense you don't know " Thomas said with a hard grin on his face.
The two females were still sitting next to each other holding each other's hands. One of them spoke; "I think you both need to chill. At least, till we know what we are here for" the prettiest among them said.
"Why else would the four of us be here? Together. Locked up!" Pete said, making a hand gesture. "Isn't it obvious? And would you two please stop frolicking with each other's hair and get a sense of what is happening." He added
Just as the other girl with braces in her mouth was about to utter something, the door to the cell block opened. Inspector Sunny and two other officers came in. They lined up the suspects in another room for questioning. An interview was made separately for them to collect their statements, and each of them gave the same reaction, they said nothing.