I stayed up all night waiting for Mike's call but it didn't come in until around 8am the next morning.

"Once again your instincts came through. The fingerprints on the phone are a perfect match to the previously unidentified ones from the site." He successfully made my morning.

I wasted no time in sending men out to bring in Theodore. We met him at the station and at the first sight of him, I yelled.

"Corporal!"

James Ayang who was at the front desk rushed into the interrogation room.

"What happened to the suspect?"

Theodore Enun who was cuffed to the table had a swelling around his left eye and a busted lip.

"He resist arrest ma." The officer said, puffing out his potbelly that was barely contained by his fading uniform.

"I did not." Theodore hissed at the officer who caste him a death glare. Ayang was popular in the area as a bully and self-serving egomaniac.

"The order was clear; bring the suspect in for questioning, unharmed."

"Sorry ma." He grudgingly said.

"Just go. Take the cuffs off will you?".

He did as he was told and Theo rubbed his wrist while glaring at the retreating man.

"So I'm not under arrest." He glanced between Charles and I.

"Not yet." Charles said.

I sat on the chair he had already pulled out for me.

"It's nice to see you again, Theo."

"It doesn't feel so." He scowled.

"Where were you on the night of July 24th?"

"At home. Where else would I be?"

"I don't know, some hotel? Cheating on Sade. Again."

"Are you kidding me? I'm here so you can carry out some feminist vendetta?" He looked crazed, angry, still aggressively rubbing at his wrists.

"You are here, eranko because you are a valid suspect in an ongoing murder investigation. So bros, behave yourself."Charles warned.

"How am I a suspect?"

"Where were you on the night of July 24th?"

"I told you, I was home."

"Your neighbors said they saw you leave sometime before midnight."

"My neighbors also said they saw Davido at Marian market."

"Since your neighbors are odes, tell me how your fingerprints ended up in Mrs. Coker's bedroom." Charles placed both his hands on the table.

Theodore looked between us for a few seconds before he began laughing.

"What's the joke, Theo?" I leaned back on the seat and watched him, trying not to let my annoyance be seen.

"The joke us you guys, you two are the joke. I was in Mrs. Coker's room once, she wanted to talk about Sade."

"And she couldn't have done that in the living room?"

"The girls were there and she needed privacy."

"I think that house has a few more private spots aside the woman's bedroom. What do you think Charles?"

"I think son-in-law here isn't telling us the truth." His voice was casual.

"It's true I swear, it happened just a few days before she was killed, you can ask the girls. Sade was just starting to get over the miscarriage and she wanted me to assure her I was going to take care of her daughter."

"Miscarriage? Why was this not mentioned before now?"

"I'm guessing because it's not a pleasant topic and is unrelated to your investigation? See eh, I fucked things up with Sade and I'm not the nicest guy out there but everything I've told you guys is true. I did not kill Mrs. Coker."

Charles took his hands off the table and let them drop to his side as he paced slowly.

"Tell me one thing Theo. Why did you ask Sade to marry you?"

He licked his busted lip and relaxed.

"Because I love her."

**********

       I left the station feeling more enraged than I had felt all week. I had placed a call to the officer at the Coker house and spoke to Funmi. She confirmed Theo's story. He had been at their home a few days before their mother passed and Sade had lost a baby she hadn't even known she was carrying after learning about her fiance promiscuity.

Funmi believed it had something to do with his students. We had to let Theodore go.

      I stormed out of the station towards my bike, I had been so hopeful when I got here, I forgot to ask someone to watch it for me.

"He said he loves her." I turned to face Charles who sighed tiredly, maintaining a decent distance from me.

"That son of a bitch said he loves her, can you believe it?" I heard myself laugh.

"Oh the balls on some motherfuckers. He made her lose her child all for what? Some secondary school cunts?"

"Listen Kay, the guy is a dirty player and the humanitarian in you wants him punished but we can't let him pay for a crime he didn't commit. We just lost the only thing that connects him to the murder, even if you want him to be our guy, we don't have proof."

"Then let's find one."

"No, let's find who killed Mrs. Coker."

"My instincts say it's him."

"That is anger, not your instincts Kay."

He was right, I could feel the anger eating through me.

"Why not take some time to clear your head?" He placed a hand on my shoulder and stared at me with concern.

"I can't just bail on the job."

"You are no good to the job right now. Give yourself a few hours."

"Fine." I conceded. "Let's go to my granny's. I promised to see her this weekend anyway."
He grinned.

"I missed her. I'm driving." He snatched the keys from my hand and got on the bike, handing me the helmet.

"Can't risk that explosive head of yours." He smiled and brought my baby to life."

      Charles was a more reckless rider than myself but when I was riding with him, he always kept it down a bit. We rode through the maingates of the university of calabar, inevitably gaining the attention of malabite and malabresses. Even on a Saturday, the population was decent.

Charles maneuvered his way through potholes, bumps and campus shuttles, eventually bringing us to the staff's quarters. There wasn't a lot of difference between the unical's staff quarters and any other government quarters. There were the dilapitating houses, a few renovated ones and the heavy silence that hung around them.

     I knocked twice before my aunt opened the door.
"Kaima." She gave me a pretty smile and a brief hug.

"Mama said you were coming tomorrow."

"Change of plans. What's the difference between Saturday and Sunday?"

"The pounded yam and egusi that will be made tomorrow."

"Then we'll just have to come again." Charles said, coming up behind me.

"Good afternoon ma." He greeted.

She gave him a smile too and ushered us in.

Dr. Mrs. Beatrice Agunwa was the second and last child of my grandnana and maternity was the only thing she shared with my mother.

While my mom was a free bird that moved with the wind, aunty Beatrice liked to have her feet on the ground where she was sure of stability. Mom's skin like the setting sun was her greatest asset but aunty Beatrice always wore her melanin coat with the aura of a peacock. Her face wasn't as pretty as my mother's but those high cheekbones and steady eyes gave her a daring stance that intrigued many.

"Mama is in her room, you should meet her there." She said and we proceeded to do as advised.

Grandnana was seated facing her window. Her head, topped off with silver patches of hair was bent a little, sniffing something off her fingers.

"You still haven't given up that snuff." Slowly, she turned to face us.

"It's medicinal, Adannaya. It clears the head."

"Because it is tobacco. It's an addiction nana."

"You've said it all. I'm not going to fight an addiction in my seventies, I already do a lot of fighting."

Charles gave a throaty laugh.

"Hello princess."

"Nna'm. How did you say your people call it again? Oko mi?"

He dropped himself on the bed beside her.

"That's right. You look nice."

"Liar. I look like a bag of bones."

"A sexy bag of bones." She laughed.

Grandnana loved Charles. They always had something to talk about and he always listened with a patience I couldn't build. She said if she had found a man like him when she was younger, she'd have lived a happier life.

She was never married, just had children with the two men she had loved the most. I think she sometimes regretted not settling down but both mom and aunty Beatrice's fathers were dead so there was that.

"If Chikaima doesn't come to see me, you won't either ba?"

"You know how jealous Kay can be. She warned me not to come without her."

Granny looked to me.
"Won't you sit down? You are not on duty."

"Actually, I am. We both are." I said as I sat on the other side of the bed.

She put her snuff away.
"What is it this time? I don't exactly keep up with local news."

"A woman was stabbed in her home."

"Are you talking about Idara Coker? I heard the news on paradise FM." Aunty Beatrice entered the room carrying two glasses of juice on a tray.

Only someone like her still listened to paradise FM, everyone else was hung up on hit FM.

"The hollandis woman?" Granny questioned.

"You knew her?" Charles asked.

"A colleague at the faculty introduced me to her. She supplied materials to a lot of my friends."

No wonder COD was bothered, it didn't take long for a case to blow up when there were a lot women involved and this case already had enough.

"Did you know her well?" I inquired of my aunt.

"No, our relationship wasn't personal. She was a good entrepreneur but she knew to keep her private life out of her business, I didn't even know she had children until the news mentioned them."

I sighed.

        I didn't realize when I had fallen asleep but by the time I woke up, I was alone in granny's room. The time on my phone said 4:33pm and I cussed myself for even sitting on a bed. Everyone was in the living room watching Africa Magic when I walked in. Charles who was having another glass of homemade juice smiled when he saw me.

"Good morning, Mary."

"How could you let me sleep that long?"

"Relax, you didn't miss your wedding or anything."

"We are supposed to be working on a case."

"You needed a break. What was it you said about system breakdown? Don't worry, I told COD we are diligently following a new lead."

"Jesus, Charles." I massaged my temple.

"We had porridge yam, I left some in the kitchen for you. Should I warm it?" My aunt spoke up. They had all been fixating at the TV during our mini argument.

"No aunty, thank you. We should be on our way."
I gave granny a kiss on her head and Charles hugged her before we both left.

    We didn't say a word to each other until I rode us back to the Coker compound where his car was parked.

"Kaima." He started as I got off the bike.

"Don't say anything, I'm so mad at you right now."

"I know but... "

"That was so unprofessional. Do you think this case is just going to sit around and wait for us? We wasted so many hours that could have been used to... "

"What? Pace round your new room and stress yourself out?"

"I could have found something."

"You are still going to but now you won't collapse in the process. I know this case has become personal for you but to crack it, you need to be at your one hundred percent potential."

"Still doesn't make what you did alright."

"What do you want me to say? That I'm sorry? You know I'm not."

I sighed.

"Fine. The wasted day is over, you can go home." I turned and walked inside.

     The house seemed to have gotten eerier. Aside the officers on the standby, no one was in sight. For the first time, I took a slow shower and dressed in joggers and a tee. I sat at the table staring at notes that blurred into one huge unhelpful pile. I was frustrated, the case was moving away from me and I couldn't do anything about it. If only we had a witness or evidence just popped up.

My legs moved on their own to a place I had visited just once. The room looked unfamiliar, Mike said a few articles had been taken into evidence. The bare mattress still had traces of blood on it. I could still smell her cologne, it felt like it would never go away. Despite the pictures on the walk and the skin products lined on the dresser, the room seemed uninhabitable, the air though flowery, was static.

I swept through her closet and felt her headboard. I flipped through her bible and stared at a framed photo of herself, her daughters and her husband. Who did this to you?

    A glistening under the bed caught my eye. I crouched to get a better look without touching it. I smiled and got out my phone.

"Kaima." Charles breathed into the phone.

"How soon can you get here?"

**************************************
Hi!
Sorry for the lack of updates in over a month(still don't think anyone is reading yet)
Anyhoo, as an early Christmas present, I've decided to update this book DAILY, mostly because I wanna be done with it before the new year. Don't worry, I have a few chapters written already😊

So, till tomorrow🖤