Inspector Sunny gently closed the door behind him as he walked into the chief inspector's office. "You asked for me, sir." He said with a slight worry in his tone.
"Yes. Please sit." The chief inspector spoke. "A call just came through from the chief superintendent of police, there's an order to grant bail for the release of the suspects we have in our custody concerning the hit-and-run case," he said.
"Wait...What! But, sir!" Sunny reacted.
"Look Sunny, I know what you're going to say. But hear me out first, it turns out that the suspects are all related to people in high places. I mean, the kinds that are above my pay grade. They must've somehow managed to climb the ladder on top. I keep getting incoming calls from the chief superintendent about their immediate release to be granted on bail" the chief inspector said
"So what, we're just going to throw them off the hook? Just like that!" Sunny said.
"There's nothing we can do about that, I have already gotten the order from above. We're to grant their bail request at 500k per head, that's enough money to compensate ourselves for the past tedious week we've had." The chief inspector said with a crooked smile appearing on his face. "I know you have some financial issues at your doorstep, a share of this can do you a solid to come through this time around ... ehn." He winked at Sunny, trying to appease his mood.
"Chief! Are you suggesting we accept a bribe like that? I can't even believe you would suggest such a thing over a case like this." He exclaimed.
"It's not a bribe Sunny, it's a compensation. For our hard work." The chief inspector explained.
"Compensation for our hard work? Haha, I can't believe what I'm hearing. What about the families of the victims eh chief? What compensation are they getting? Because I'm very sure they won't be getting any because the suspects won't want to risk getting a lawsuit on their heads if they were to be identified."
"Listen to me, Sunny!" He spoke with a change of tone in a condescending manner. "We don't even have enough evidence to hold them. So, stop being so stubborn and move on!" He paused
"Chief, we can at least do a full investigation before you grant them bail. We don't even have their proper statements yet. These kids are well involved, they know what they are doing. None of them would speak up until their representative lawyers came around, they are smart..chief! I'm sure they are involved." Sunny argued.
"I don't want to hear about this again. Just do what I tell you to do, grant them a bail of 500k each and drop the case. Case closed!" The Chief ordered.
"But chief!." He paused. "This isn't right!" He lamented
"Stop giving me lectures on what is right and what is not! Do what I tell you to do." The Chief ordered. Inspector Sunny slowly turn around and left his office.
Inspector sunny was furious at the decision made by the chief inspector. He started to walk down the hallway, and just when he was about to turn left at a corner towards the back exit of the building, that's when a voice called from behind him "Inspector Sunny!!" The voice called out. "Inspector Sunny!" The voice called again.
"What is it ehn!" Sunny said infuriatingly.
"Sorry." He paused. "Someone has been asking to see you since. He claims to be a relative of the victim."
"What? Where?" Sunny said with curiosity. He followed the figure along the hallway towards the reception. A man was waiting to see the inspector, he looked like he was in his early forties. Dark, sullen, and he had a gloomy face.
"Hello, I heard you were looking for me," Sunny said briefly
"Yes, inspector," The man said looking pitiful. "I'm the husband and father to the victims of the car accident" he paused. "Please, I'd like to know if there's any progress regarding the case. I heard it was a hit and run"
"Uhmm.." he coughed. "Yes, according to our investigations. It was indeed a hit and run." Sunny replied
"Did they find out about the driver?" The man asked.
"I can't discuss that as of now. investigations are still ongoing." Sunny paused. "I'm sorry about your wife and daughter" he consoled
"Yeah... I hmmm. I can't believe this happened " the man said as tears rolled down his cheek.
"What about your daughter? Is there any progress on her recovery"
"She's gone!" He cried out. "My little girl has passed. The doctors tried their best as possible as they could" he said tearfully.
"I'm sorry to hear about that. Please accept my heartfelt condolences." Sunny said with sympathy in his eyes.
"Please inspector, I need to know if there's any lead on the case. My wife and daughter didn't deserve to die like that" he cried out.
Inspector Sunny could barely look into his eyes. He wanted to explain to the man that the case had just been thrown under the bus and that they had just released the suspects on bail. He knew for a fact that it wouldn't do any good by ruining the man's hope of knowing those involved in the death of his family. And he wanted so badly to help him but there was nothing he could do for him, so he decided to withhold the information at hand until he has made more findings.
"We have only been able to trace the vehicle, but we are still yet to identify the driver. There's only a little I can disclose to you about the investigation as it is right now, but if I can have your contact, I might let you know once there's any update." Sunny suggested. The man wrote down his contact information on a piece of paper and handed it over to the inspector.
"Thank you very much, inspector. I would appreciate that." The man said. He got up and walked out of the reception.
Inspector Sunny was left frustrated. He wasn't getting anywhere with the case. There was no way to identify if the suspects were actually involved in the accident. However, Sunny needed to find some answers. So he decided he was going to dig deeper, there must be something that could shed light on how to nail the suspects this time with enough evidence. Although, there was something that wouldn't stop bothering him. It was the involvement of Thomas Atkins. The name sounded familiar but couldn't recall where he must've heard the name from. He remembered during his interaction with Thomas, he had mentioned his father to be some sort of powerful person but he was too worked up to have paid attention to his bluff. So he thought, If at all he was going to get some answers, he needed to know the suspects and their backgrounds. There must be more to their story than just a couple of spoilt teenagers involved in a hit-and-run accident. Especially, Tommy, he didn't seem to flinch during his interrogation with him. It looked as if it wasn't his first encounter with the police in such a situation. Sunny thought it would be better to look into him and the rest of the suspects to see if there could be any trace of their involvement.
Sunny approached his desktop computer, he searched for the name 'Thomas Atkins' on their database. He glanced through the displayed information and found out that Thomas Atkins is a famous basketball player and a media figure. Then, something caught his attention on his biography displayed right below the screen. Thomas was the only son of Senator Badejobi Atkins, the current gubernatorial candidate for the upcoming governorship election. Sunny cleared his throat and was left stunned by the newfound information he has. He knew the name sounded very familiar, and now he has confirmed it. The real reason behind the release of Thomas and his associates. His father was indeed a very powerful man and someone who has been on Sunny's radar for a very long time. He was the reason he got demoted.
A few years back, when sunny got demoted from the position of chief inspector of police to a lesser rank which was all down to the involvement of senator Bade in an alleged sex scandal case he had been working on against him which led to the loss of life of the victim at that time. Sunny was unable to nail him as a suspect as a result of inconclusive evidence just like the judge ruled out during the court proceeding at the trial. The case was dismissed against him and Sunny was used as a scapegoat by his superiors who claimed he was an embarrassment to the police force trying to use his vendetta to hinder the reputation of a well-respected political figure.