Tarasha - Chapter 68

~~~~

‘You may need to see her, she’s the lady who sent in the

last CV’ Sylvester explained.

Tarasha turned her face down, patiently waiting for

Henry to turn to her front and probably take a look at

her face. He wondered what his expression would be, but

whatever his would be, she was ready for him, she

already kept a straight face for him.

‘Oh!’ Henry paused. ‘You invited her for an interview

already?’ He gave Sylvester a look of disappointment.

‘No’ Sylvester objected. ‘I didn’t invite her’ he tried to

explain but Henry turned back already.

‘No need to disturb your interview, I’ll come back later’

Henry said as he opened the door and stepped out.

‘I didn’t…’ Sylvester got up from his seat to explain better

but Henry did not wait to listen. Sylvester felt deeply

angry with Kimberly, she had got Henry to believe that he

invited her for the interview after which they had

planned together to work with those available first and

not employ for the main time.

He heaved a sigh and turned his gaze to her, the

expression on her face showed that she was sorry for the

misunderstanding caused.

‘Just get out’ Sylvester said calmly, his anger reduced a

little by the remorse shown on her face.

‘I’m sorry sir’ she pleaded. ‘I didn’t mean to…’

‘Leave please’ he insisted, his voice sounding harsher.

‘I’m…’

‘Leave’ he slammed angrily, trying his best not to raise his

voice.

Tarasha picked her bag and got up hurriedly, she

proceeded to the door. Sylvester sat back into the seat

and began to shut down the computer system.

‘When should I return sir?’ Her voice came softly again

after he thought she had left.

He looked up and heaved a sigh of frustration, staring at

her face coldly. She stepped stepped out and closed the

door.

Sylvester got up after the computer was completely shut

down. He noticed a file on the table and picked it up.

‘Kimberly Alexander ‘ the title read. He hissed and

dropped it.

++++

Dakolo was silently reading to himself the result of the

test by the forensics team, Ken was seated in the visitor’s

seat behind the table. The test report proved their claim

positive, the substance used by the assassin group in the

USA was the same used by Samantha Osman’s group.

Other details apart from the substance sample was also

sent. The other details included the report from the CCTV

camera system control point and medical reports on the

bodies of victims.

‘It’s confirmed. A deadly group of assassins have been

unleashed into the world. Only God knows where they

are from’ Dakolo said after he was through reading it.

Ken only glanced at his face and sighed in response.

‘Make you do send every detail we have also to them’

Dakolo said to Ken, handing over the paper back to him.

He took out his phone and dialed the NSCC office. ‘Hello

Mr Sylvester, I’ll be in your office in the afternoon time, I

need to get a copy of the reports on all you’ve done on

rectifying the breach problem.’

He ended the call and stared at Ken’s face. ‘Let’s go see

Mr Debo’ he said and got up from his seat. Ken also got

up immediately.

Mr Debo was the personal assistant to Chief Jubril Lawal,

the one who was sent to the NSCC to rectify if the

Canadian number was original. He had been invited for

questioning by the police.

Debo was ushered in to meet the agent and Ken in the

interrogation room. He was dressed casually, looking

somehow distressed.

‘Good morning sir’ Dakolo greeted cheerfully after the

man was seated comfortably.

‘Good morning Officer’ Debo replied, sniffing in. He used

his handkerchief to wipe his face and his nose. He looked

at Dakolo in the face, they were about the same age so he

felt no need to be timid.

‘Thanks for honouring our invitation’

‘You’re welcome’

‘Okay, let’s go straight to the point.’ Dakolo adjusted his

seat in readiness for the real business. ‘I’m hundred

percent sure that you are aware that investigation on the

death of Chief Jubril, your late boss is still ongoing’

‘Yes’

‘I know you’ve been questioned before but I also know it

was a brief one and it only happened on the day of the

assassination at the events centre’ Dakolo paused to look

at his face for a confirmation. He continued talking after

getting one. ‘We’ll like to get more details from you since

you were there on that day. We are also aware that you

were his personal assistant and that means you were very

close to him.’ Debo nodded slowly to confirm Dakolo’s

assertion as there was a pause again. Dakolo continued.

‘I’ll like you to work with us by answering all questions

we would ask you. We may be repeating some questions

we’ve asked you before, please answer them again like

you haven’t heard them before. The reason is that we

want some clear cut answers that you may not have been

able to give us that day, probably because of the panic

caused by the whole disaster’

Debo shrugged, signaling for them to begin with the

questions. Dakolo looked him in the face, he folded his

arms and relaxed his back. Ken clicked open the audio

recording icon on his device.

‘In the past few months, has there been any suspicious

movement Chief Jubril was involved in? Did he make new

friends? Or get involved with a strange friend you’ve but

being seeing him with?’ Dakolo posed the first set of

questions.

‘No’ Debo frowned as he pondered on the question. ‘He

didn’t make any new friends, even those invited for the

party were all old friends and associates which I’ve

always known him to be friends with’

‘Do you know all of these old friends that were present in

the party?’

‘Yes, I was in charge of sending the invitation letters to

the guests’ Debo replied. ‘I have a list of all the guests we

were expecting that day’

‘Okay, was it only these expected guests that graced the

party?’

‘No, some came with friends. Their friends were also

notable people though. Some came with their aides. We

had to prepare extra gate passes’

‘No suspicious attendee was noticed?’

‘None.’

‘Was there a video coverage of the event or how do you

know if an unexpected guest came?’

‘No, the Chief did not want the press in his party, they

were locked out. The only coverage that could have seen

any unexpected person was the security cameras

installed in the hall but there was tight security at the

entrance, so the person that carried out the assassination

couldn’t have been our guest’

‘Are you saying that you’re sure that your guests are

innocent?’

‘No, I’m not saying they are innocent but I’m saying that

the killer didn’t come in through the entrance meant for

the guests because their was a proper system installed to

search and detect any dangerous materials or weapons’

Dakolo paused for a while, still staring straight at the

man’s face. ‘Was the Chief involved in any fight or

argument close to that day?’

‘No, none that I’m aware of’

‘Did he start a business deal with a new person, group of

people or company?’

‘Ermm… Yes, there was this young lady that wanted to

start a deal with the Chief, she was from Canada’

‘A young lady?’ Dakolo asked, Debo nodded in

affirmation. ‘Only the young lady? Which company was

she sent from?’

‘Yes, it was only that young lady recently. She was sent

from her father’s company in Canada’

‘Have you had any previous deal with this company?’

‘No, it was the first time we had anyone from Canada

who wanted to partner with us’

‘Okay, but did you have anyone else who wanted to or

struck a deal with your company recently?’ Dakolo asked,

his tone showing that he disregarded the young girl’s

option.

‘No, that was the only one’

‘Okay, let’s move to…’

‘That girl was suspicious’ Debo put in quickly, a very

serious look appeared on his face. ‘Chief Jubril did not

totally trust her. He asked me to make an investigation on

veracity of her contacts in Canada’

‘Hmm…’ Dakolo seemed more interested now. He bent

forward and placed his hands on the table. ‘Did you

make the investigation?’

‘Yes, I started it. It wasn’t completed before the Chief was

murdered’

‘What investigations did you start with?’

‘I tried to confirm if the number calling from Canada was

really from Canada and also trace it to the company

there’

‘So?’

‘I was supposed to get a reply on it the day after the

Chief’s birthday’

‘And you’ve not gotten the reply till now?’

‘Yes, I didn’t ask for it since then’

‘How were you working on verifying the contacts? Did

you come to the police?’ Dakolo asked with a frown.

‘No, the Chief sent me to his friend at the NSCC, Mr

Sylvester. I was later referred to Henry E.G who was the

only one who could do the job. He…’

‘Henry Ekene George?’ Dakolo cut in to confirm,

wondering why Henry had never mentioned to him that

he once worked with the late Chief Jubril.

‘Yes, he was working on it and promised that he’ll be

ready…’ Debo stopped as he remembered something.

‘The report was supposed to be ready in three days but

when I went to the NSCC’s office on that day, Henry

wasn’t there. Mr Sylvester mentioned that he had gone to

the police station to make a report on his kidnap’ he

continued.

‘Kidnap?’

‘Yes, he was kidnapped with his girlfriend then, I don’t

know for how long they were with the kidnappers’

‘True’ Ken joined the conversation to confirm Debo’s

words. Dakolo turned to look at him as he began to

explain. ‘I’m in charge of that case. He was kidnapped

with a friend but they didn’t stay up to a day in

abduction’

‘The police stepped in?’ Dakolo questioned.

‘They actually escaped before the police stepped in. The

kidnappers had a disagreement’ Ken answered.

‘So, have the kidnappers been arrested?’

‘No sir, we couldn’t arrest them that day. They escaped

before we got to the place. The place is locked up till

date’

‘Okay, what is being done on that case?’

‘We…’

‘Sorry’ Dakolo cut in to add another question. ‘Have the

files of the kidnap case also been submitted to me?’

‘Yes sir’ Ken answered, Dakolo nodded for him to

continue. ‘I made thorough investigations with my team

last week and the people suspected to own the place are

dead.’

‘Dead?’

‘Yes sir, they are dead but we’ve been able to verify how

they died or the cause of their death but while checking

the citizen’s details on the forum, their names have been

marked as dead’

Dakolo took in a breath and turned back to Debo. ‘What’s

the name of the lady and which company from Canada

was she from?’

‘Her name is Alexander Evelyn from AA, Alexander

Amaechi Ltd’ Debo answered.

‘Can you recognise her if you see her?’

‘Ermm… No’ Debo stated. ‘I didn’t see her face properly,

I don’t even have an idea of how she looks’

‘Huh ho! How is that possible?’ Dakolo sounded with a

note of disbelief.

‘She was brought in by Chief Jubril’s son, so she didn’t

have to interact with me. She had direct access to the

man himself’ Debo explained. ‘And her hairstyle always

made it difficult to see her face from the side view’

‘Hmm… I see. And the son is late also’ Dakolo said loudly,

to no one in particular. Ken and the interrogatee

remained silent

‘We have to reach Henry E.G and find out what his result

on the investigation was’ Dakolo continued. ‘Now, let’s

move to the party day’ Dakolo relaxed back into the seat

again. Debo adjusted himself also. ‘You were seated on

the table next to Chief Jubril’s’

‘Yes’ Debo confirmed.

‘Did you notice anything that was going on with him?’

‘I… Didn’t notice anything strange while I was seated. I

wasn’t seated for most of the duration. Chief was always

sending me on errands’

‘Were you there when the murderer walked into the

Hall?’

‘Yes, I was but I didn’t see anything. I was under the

effect of the gas released. I only opened my eyes after the

antidote was sprayed and found the Chief in his pool of

blood’ Debo began to sound emotional.

‘Hmm…’ Dakolo gave another brief pause, trying to

decide if he should stop the interrogation for the time

being since the man’s mood was already changing. He sat

up and decided to ask few more questions. ‘Do you

suspect anyone?’

‘None, except for the lady from Canada. It’s just

beginning to make sense to me now. She must have been

a party to the kidnap of Henry E.G, maybe in an attempt

to stop him from destroying their plans. I think she was a

fraudster’

‘Yes, but the crime we are talking about here is not fraud,

it’s assassination’ Dakolo said, he stared straight into the

man’s eyes and asked, ‘do you think that lady could be

Samantha Osman, whom the police are in search of?’

There was a twitch on Debo’s face, he stared up and

down again, wondering if he had really come across the

infamous and notorious assassin.