Check out my completed short story HALLOWEEN WAR.

“How did you know Mrs. Shittu was the murderer? I would have thought it was Mariam Shittu because of her anger towards the painter,” Usman, an officer, asked as they all gathered around Bayo.

A few police officers were in the office, gathered around Bayo and trying to get the gist of what had happened the day before. They sat on tables around, surrounding Bayo.

“Dotun told me David had a girlfriend and Mariam didn’t like the girlfriend. Then Mrs. Shittu didn’t want David to accept the job and told him not to. Mariam helped a lot. She called him a home wreaker and she didn’t really like her mother. That got my interest. Then when David fell, Mr. Shittu was in the parlor, Mrs. Shittu was washing clothes and Mariam was in the room opposite the place where the crime took place-"

“That would have even made Mariam the main suspect.”

“True and I thought so too but Mr. Shittu said the last time he went to the room was to drop his dirty clothes on the bed and Mrs. Shittu was washing clothes. She would have had to go to the room to pick his clothes to wash. Apparently, when I interrogated her later she told me her husband also left his newspaper there so she went to get it for him.”

“Why would she kill him? I thought she warned him about her husband. Personally, I would have thought Mr. Shittu killed him because there are rumors he is dangerous and he gets jealous easily,” Ebuka said.

“I thought that too but you know the saying. It is the quiet ones that are the dangerous ones.”

“Not all quiet people are dangerous,” Rita, a quiet lady and the only female officer in the unit said.

The officers laughed. “You attack like a tiger when any one tells you to do something.”

“That is because I wouldn’t allow any of you men to boss me around,” She said and they chuckled.

“So why did she kill him?” another officer asked.

“She was having an affair with David. She was always fighting with her husband so she had an affair with the painter. I suspect Mariam knew about it because she hated her mum and the painter and she thought her dad, Mr. Shittu would kill him if he found out. Mrs. Shittu didn’t want her husband to know about the affair that was why she was against David's employment. She was shocked to see him when her husband presented the painter to her. When I interrogated her I found out that David was going to tell her husband the truth. He didn’t know she was married until Mr. Shittu hired him and he saw her. Between David wanting to tell her husband and her fear that her daughter was going to expose her secret, she had to do something. When I interrogated her she pretended to not know David but she was saying his name with familiarity later on. She decided to kill him to keep her family.”

“I heard Mr. Shittu is a rich man. I am sure she was more concerned about his money. If she left him for David, she would move from a rich man’s wife to a painter’s wife”

“Unfortunately or maybe fortunately she is being charged to court for the murder of the painter, David and the attempted murder of Dotun, his friend.”

“You really are a good detective, Bayo.”

He shrugged. “It was just a case of understanding whether it was an accident or not.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Finally we are at the end of the story. Was it difficult to solve? Bayo solved it in an hour.

Watch out for accident or not series #2

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©Fekoya Jesutofunmi