"Why aren't you talking anymore? Huh?" Ashley asked. "What should I know?" Her eyes swept from Thelma to Stella and then back to Thelma.

Stella sighed and then casually shifted her weight to one leg. Thelma was visibly shaken. The bell had stopped ringing and everywhere was still. If one listened carefully, you would hear the slow chants of the rosary at the far end of the court. It was repeated like a mantra- one verse for ten times. A thin voice would call out and the multitude of others would respond in a loud inarticulate voice.

"Ashley there's something that happened," Stella began, her voice was low but clear. "I'll let Thelma say it." She looked into Thelma's downcast expression.
Thelma moved closer to Ashley in slow steps like a lamb approaching its death. Ashley had rolled her hands to a fold and widened her eyes with interest. "Ashley something bad happened. I did something bad," Thelma said.

"You killed Mary," Ashley said and Thelma froze. Her legs stopped jerking, she could feel it. Her heart sank and in a whisk of wild imaginations, she wished the grounds opened while wondering how many others knew.

"Wait! You knew?" Stella asked, moving closer. Ashley nodded slowly. "How?" Thelma had relaxed her weight on a seat, supporting her head with her hands.

"Well at first I never knew why she was so shaken and scared. I thought it was something I did. Then I realized if it were something I did, she should show resentment and not fear. When I asked, as always, she said it was because she missed Mary. It didn't seem right that you'd miss someone so dearly after death when you barely crossed paths in life. Of course it was a part of my random guesses but I just confirmed it."

"You can't tell anyone," Stella said.

"Let's go for the rosary," Ashley replied, turning to leave. Her hand squeezed her pink rosary beads that appeared crystalline with a soft light pink handkerchief she had drawn out from her bag.

Stella held unto Ashley's arm. "Ashley! I'm serious," Stella said. Thelma looked wearyingly towards Ashley as though her verdicts were final.

Shrugging off Stella's soft grip, Ashley replied, "I've had my suspicions for long enough up until I was very sure. Have I told a soul?"

"Thank you!" Thelma said.

"I haven't told a soul so you could do the telling yourself. Martins can end up in jail for a crime you committed and I will not allow that. If you don't tell the detective in a week's time, I'll tell her myself."

*****

Detective Uju sipped from another mug slowly. Her lips burned from the heat but she preferred the pain to the cold bland coffee most people preferred. She was absorbed by her jottings that she hadn't realized when Dayo stepped in. He sat opposite her leather office chair and watched her scrawl on a white board which was supported on a wooden frame.

She moved repeatedly from the desk to the board and suddenly the image on the board was becoming lucid. They were stick drawings surrounding a rectangular sketch which Dayo understood to represent the dinner night orientation of tables and chairs and the supposed occupants of each space.
She turned swiftly and was taken aback by Dayo's presence. His pecan brown skin and tiny sweat beads that popped out glowed under the light. Then she laughed. It was entirely inappropriate and long. She was drunk, he could tell but drunk on many warm mugs of hot coffee because the coffee maker still bubbled with more caffeine.

"Don't mind me," she said finally, slumping on her seat. "You're Dayo right?" She asked and Dayo nodded. "Where were you between the hours of eight to ten?"

"At the party just like everyone else." His answer was intended to dispel any thoughts of him being the murderer.

"It was you and your friends who connived the scheme to rape Mary," she intended asking but spelt it out like an already known fact. "Do you know the gravity of this offence? Do you know you can end up in jail like your friend Martins?" The mention of jail jolted him and he began to sweat the more.

"I'm sorry Ma!" He said quickly.

"You snuck in an inbuilt camera in a pen. Dear Lord science is becoming euphoric! Everything is practically creatable. A pen camera?" She asked and Dayo bent his head in guilt. His offences were too much. He had been tagged notorious many numerous times and he knew for sure that he would be locked up in in prison like Martins. "Lucky for you, your school will handle the offences as deserving. I'm here on the account of the missing girl." He didn't seem to quake like the several others when she described Mary as missing. She sat back, watching him readjust more comfortably and after a piercing look at her dark eyes, he settled it on his fingers. "What do you like doing?" She asked.

"Ma?" He heard correctly, but yet again it posed as inappropriate and so he needed to be sure.

"What are your likes?" She paraphrased, dropping her pen and suddenly indicating interest on what he was about to say.

"Well... I like food and music and.."

"Girls?" She asked and stifled a laughter. He did too, allowing his teeth press tightly with his lips.

"What types of songs?" She continued.

"Rap, trap and basically any good music. I form some raps as well."

"Alright, let's hear one," she said and leaned backwards. He was shocked and she knew this. She decided to relax his taut muscles a bit and draw out tiny pieces of information using other means since his body language was easily misunderstood. She didn't want to rule him out from the suspect list just because he shrugged off Mary's topic instead of quiver like every other person.

"Yeah! This is a different vibe, it's our energy. We will form this thing combined, it's called a synergy. Boys with the bills; girls with the chills. So many shoes to choose from and all the fools with booze, gathered around the stools, spilling the drink and-"

"Juice?" She quipped immediately, suddenly letting the evasive thought of Martins' testimony about poisoning Mary's drink sweep her mind. She had listened to him drag some words and then rush the others while he gesticulated with his hand.

"Yes ma, how did you know?" He asked and she smiled. She tapped her fingers on the wooden table, pondering silently and then she sprang up almost immediately towards the sketch on the board. With his help, she was able to identify the sitting positions of all the suspects at the event. Ashley, Kelvin, Martins and Mary circled a table while Stella and Thelma sat on a different table afar off. Dayo hadn't failed to highlight that he had not been glued to any particular chair and when asked, had further stated that he didn't leave the hall that night.

Uju recalled throwing the same question to Kelvin. He admitted leaving the hall, but had been with Ashley throughout. "Martins was the last person to see Mary alive," he said. When Uju asked Ashley, she stared at the brown patch on the ceiling first before saying, "I don't know. I don't recall seeing Martins with Mary that night." Uju stared at her keenly, quite unsure but squiggled her response as well.

Dayo clapped his hands together, feeling special and wondering if everyone had the opportunity to showcase their talents before the detective. She had swiped through the train of pictures in her phone to find the ones that were taken that night. She stopped at the one Dayo took with Mary and Kelvin, noting the time it was taken and the positions of everyone at that time. Martins still held the cup and gawked at Mary's slender self, Kelvin still leaned close enough to Mary and Mary still had the most generous smile. Then she asked him to observe the picture and he squinted deeply into the randomness of the picture and wasn't getting anything.

She swiped again to the other Dayo had taken with Ashley and pointed out that fifteen minutes later, Martins still retained the same position unmoved and without tweaking.

"How does one remain in the same position for fifteen minutes unmoved? He was probably observing the prey for attack and over here," She used her marker to connect the stick drawings with lines. "The tension around the corner of Kelvin's eyes affirmed the testimony they gave of both liking Mary. I can tell Ashley is feeling withdrawn and left out. She probably likes one of them." She watched him dart his eyes around in confusion. He definitely didn't understand how one could decipher all that by just observing a picture.

"Your friend is in prison, but there's a probability that he wasn't the one who killed Mary even though everyone says he was the last person to see Mary alive. I need the memory card that goes into this pen camera," she said, holding the pen up. "There are chances that the answers are there. Which leaves me wondering-" she zoomed the image to display Stella at the background with a knife. "-what Stella was doing with a knife at the party. Do you know what kind of knife this is? It is a dagger." Dayo's face reddened with fear. "Why am I being so free and open to you even though you are also a suspect? I want you to get me the other memory card. There are still secrets that need to be unraveled."

Author's note: Thanks for reading. Please vote by clicking the star button underneath and await the next chapter.

Today's chapter is dedicated to Toluwa_nimi. Thanks for your beautiful comments 💕