DEVIL’S PAWN: Madman On The Lose... Here Comes Officer Judd

...

Jane yanked the door open and ran into the room panting. The door banged shut behind her.

Random loud noise filtered into the room as other doors banged shut around the hostel. She was not the only one running scared into the female hostel.

The rumour mills were running. Everyone now knew there was a cult war going on, and no one wanted to be caught in between bullets.

The gunshots that felled James still echoed in her brain.

She caught her reflection in the large mirror. She looked like someone who had seen a ghost. One of her ears had lost its earring, and James’ face cap, which she had on her head, was gone.

Surprise replaced the scared look on her face when she realized that the room she shared with Cynthia was empty. She dropped her bag to the floor, and dialled Cynthia’s number again.

She had spent the night with her boyfriend in the male hostel, and had expected to meet a worried Cynthia. Her phone had been switched off until a few minutes ago, because she knew Cynthia would not approve of a night out.

A night out with a boyfriend who was now dead…

James, the boyfriend with whom she spent the night, had just dismissed the rumours of cult fight a while before the loud bang of the first shot reached them. They were standing at the entrance to the hostel, and she had not known the shots were fired at them, until James fell to the ground, clutching at his chest.

The second shot put life back in her limbs, and she had started running.

Jane dropped her bag on the bed, and redialled Cynthia’s number for the umpteenth time. She got the same ‘not available’ tone from the operator. The Nokia C3 phone Cynthia used for night calls was on the reading table, so there was no point in calling her HiCell number.

Jane became apprehensive when she noticed the plate of left-over spaghetti she had left unfinished. Cynthia had not returned to the room. She was certain. Cynthia was a stickler for hygiene and wouldn’t leave a plate of food open.

She checked her time. It was almost 2 pm.

Something was definitely wrong. Cynthia had no boyfriend she knew about.

Could she be at home? She had complained of a slight headache the day before, and she could have gone home, since her mum also lived in Buscan City. But again, there was no way Cynthia would leave the campus without saying anything about it at least a day before.

Or had there been an emergency call from her mum? Had she tried calling? Jane thought it over briefly, and decided to call Cynthia’s mother. The call went through at the first dial. It rang only for a few seconds before it was picked.

“Hello ma…”

“Hello Jane. What happened? I have been calling your line.”

Jane took her time before answering. She could sense concern in Mrs. Preston’s voice and did not want to make her more apprehensive.

“Are you still there Jane?”

“Yes ma. I actually called… I called to ask if Cynthia came home last night.”

“What do you mean?”

“I… I returned to our room this afternoon and met her absence.”

“I thought you shared the same room. Did you not sleep in the same bed last night?”

Mrs. Preston’s was almost shouting.

“Yes… I mean no. I stayed over at a friend’s place last night, and my phone was off. So, I haven’t seen her since last night. I tried calling her line, but I keep getting an error mes...”

A beeping tone came over the line. Mrs. Preston had terminated the call.

…

50 cents’ I’ve Been Hit song was on replay as Emeka drove towards the university gym. Ne nodded his head in time with the beat. He was not going there to train. He just wanted to drive.

Emeka was smoking. The windows were all wound up, so the smoke swirled around in the car. The song ended and started again.

If what Skulls told him was true, six of the bastards who killed his brother were dead already. But six was not enough. He wanted more.

Oche’s life was worth more than six of the fuckers.

Panicked members of rival cult groups had sent in messages indicating that they had no hand in the deaths, but Emeka had only ordered a few more killings. He wanted to make a point. As long as they dared to remain on campus, he would hunt them down.

Emeka neared the T-junction leading to the gym and slowed down, ready to turn. If he had not lifted his eyes to see if there was incoming traffic he would nt have seen the figure strolling casually ahead.

But Emeka did, and he recognized the lanky figure immediately.

Nobody on campus had that body build. It was Mark. Mark was a Blade. The Blades had almost as much influence as the Black Cats. So it was more than likely that they carried out the execution.

The car was already half turned, so Emeka turned back to the right and killed the engine. He opened the door and stepped out of the car. The area was deserted but for himself and Mark. The corner of his lips creased up as he smiled.

He returned into the car and started the engine. He clamped his foot down on the accelerator, and the car shot forward in a burst of speed. The needle of the speedometer reached 210, and Emeka still kept the pressure on the accelerator. Meters away from Mark, he shifted gears.

Mark heard the approaching car and turned back. It was rather a few seconds too late. The car hit him from behind, lifting him bodily, and he landed on the turf across the gutter. He tried to get up, but a sharp pain in his spine kept him from standing up.

Emeka jumped out of his car with his adze clutched in his hand. He pounced on Mark and lay his chest open with two strikes. Then he spat into Mark’s face as he straightened up.

“You fucking idiots think you could fuck my little brother and get away,” Emeka spat.

Mark choked on his own blood as he tried to talk. He coughed.

Emeka wiped the blade of the adze on the dying man’s shirt and walked back to his car. He picked up his phone and dialled Skulls’ number.

“I got one of them near the gym. Let’s meet up at my place as soon as possible."

…

FIVE

Death in not far, He is near;

Where shall you flee in his lair?

Look, his eyes gleam,

Ready for the trip across the stream.

Judd Manulife was no stranger to Buscan University rival cult fights. As a senior detective, he had handled five such cases, and every single time the pattern was the same.

Someone killed someone, and another someone avenged the first someone by killing the original someone. It would go on and on, until all the someones were dead or just tired. As the days pass, the bodies would pile up with no headway in the investigations.

As he drove through the university gates, he wondered why the department even bothered to investigate the cases. Investigation never yielded results, when it came to Buscan University cult murders. They were hopeless.

It was annoying.

But even more annoying to Agent Judd was the fact that he was always called up each time there was such a case. The other officers on the team even made jokes over it.

It wasn’t merely annoying, it was a disgrace, and he would make a point of it to the Captain, if he could. But he couldn’t. The Captain was nice to him, even as his superior. Complaining would mean abusing the relationship.

The blare of a siren invaded Judd’s thoughts. It was coming from the second Hillux behind him. He hissed. He had categorically told his men not to use the siren on campus. It achieved nothing and may scare potential sources.

He picked the radio.

“Will you shut that thing off?”

The siren went off immediately.

Judd’s thoughts strayed again. The call had come through while he was interrogating a suspect accused of raping his mother-in-law to death. The Captain had told him to drop everything and get on to it immediately. He had had to grit his teeth to prevent a hiss from escaping his lips.

He was the best brain of his department, if the award plaques and ribbons filling up his cabinet were anything to go by. Yet, he got the shitty assignment no one else would touch.

Judd glanced away from the road to the file of the last Buscan cult murders case which lay open beside him. That time, two people had been shot in broad daylight. Within twenty four hours, another three bodies were picked up. Two suspects were arrested, but he had had only circumstantial evidence to work with.

The people who witnessed the shooting denied seeing anyone. The case failed, and the suspects, both final year students and sons of powerful politicians, were released for lack of evidence. Their parents even got a gag order from the courts.

Five minutes later, Judd parked in front of the female hostel. Even before he killed the engine, he knew there was a body waiting for them. There was a small crowd of students gathered around something. He knew it was a body.

The crowd thinned out, leaving a few handfuls of students watching from the distance. Two university security officers were on the scene. One of them waved at him, and he waved back.

Judd did not come out of his vehicle. He let the boys do the sniffing around. It was not typical of him to show such negligence, but he was still angry. And he wanted to get home to his wife.

He had been spending too little time at home lately. She was not complaining yet, but he wanted to make up for it before she did. Cases like this were not worth losing time with his wife, not a wife like Martha.

He sighed at the thought.

Not for a dead case.

He watched, amused, as an officer tried to get information from one of the students. The student back-stepped as if the officer had a gun pointed at his face. Then he turned and walked away briskly. The officer shrugged; the frustration showed on his face.

Judd laughed.

Dead cases…

Judd remembered the only time someone had offered information. The fellow, a first year student, had turned up on his table as another body on the plate before he could say anything.

That was almost four years back.

It was long ago but fresh in his mind.

After snooping around for a while and getting nothing to hold on to, except bodies, Judd was fed up. It was already a quarter to seven. He called the officers together and asked them to get ready to leave. They had already cordoned off the murder scenes.

He sighed.

He had five corpses in the ambulance and no information to work with. There was no point in wasting more time, he thought. He detailed three officers to stay back on campus in case the violence continued. A few others would join them later.

Tomorrow, he would start proper investigations with the university’s security Chief. They had already fixed a time to meet. It would be a familiar meeting. The same things would be said all over again, and the same files would be read again.

He sighed again.

He dreaded tomorrow already.

“What a bad day,” he thought, as he drove off the campus.

The thought ended with a yawn.

…

TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEDNESDAY... (Please leave your comments if you enjoyed this).

Click Here To Read