Lurking

t she was seeing. TO HELL WITH THAT, she thought to herself. She never liked her reflection anyway. She was

of doing so than because it was necessary. "Maybe better than regular sessions." She looked down at her book

Rig

, did you sa

he could wear anything she liked, she w

r thoughts, "And dress

WH

uarters, baggy joggers, gloves, especially not those things you call pop socks and

decided against it. That would have meant extra therapy time tha

bout the number o

alize she had sa

did," Clar

d I say that too out loud or you'r

o return a case file. Stella's. "Are we clear?" S

l." She had r

a doll gone wrong. But what could possibly go wrong, right?

y reporters who found it difficult to stay off the yellow tapes, neighbourhood busybodies who 'heard and came' and every other person going back and forth. She yawned again, loudly

that this, whatever it was, was more important than anyone

ime now, people passed every route in G.R.A. Ikeja almost every time of the day. It had to take a lot of courage- and shamelessness- to kill someone here, unles

ner. J.K., her partner was away on leave and since this happened in her absence, she had to work with another partner and she kn

all. Since her partner did not deem it fit to notify her of his or her lateness of absence, she was going to carry

ime of the dea

guy who she recognized to

ns, she asked, "How long ha

t three

She uncovered the body

"N

x tall. The skin of the face, neck, upper and

ions. It also looks sloppy and messy. This was not done by a professio

ith one section before moving to the next. "It looks messy but he was not in a hur-" Who was she

for duty, ma'am." James ga

sappoint and had given her just the perfect person she did not want, not just because he was always late, but for other reason

alone stay here a minute longer. The best we can do is wrap things up ASAP and your lateness did not help doing that." With that Motun bent to

rry," Jam

. And here co

as about to leave the house. I had to

ter that everyone knew of because he would not stop using her as an excuse for his regular incompetence. Although, Motun had a feeling it was not as bad as James always made it out to be, it was the cold

r chose to ignore it because James' Dad was a higher-up and he

my kids. And I definitely do not have a stay-at-home husband." All these were the words Motun wanted to lash out but "I'm sorry about Cassie" was all she said. She knew if she began to lash o

Tha

er he used was sharp enough to scrape the top layer but meticulously, he almos

victim? The scraping definite

ly had not lost his touch. Probably

't," she repli

ers in 24 hours. Nobody crosses these tapes unless I say so." Motun reeled o

es, she said, "I

On

ing why someone cruel enough to commit murder would also be c

any job at all- seeing as he had time to go from table to table answering stupid questions about the body found earlier that day. She could not help but notice that the 'tables' were ladies' tables. James had always been a lady's man, every single lady in the PD had a crush on him.

was all she needed but she obviously could not get even

t had been a while since someone called that line. It was almost as if it didn't exist anymore and Peter, the gu

Ikeja. This is Motun Banks. What i

officer Motun. I

, Miss Adichie. H

to report som

pen. "Okay, and w

t, Stella. S

ur pa

"Y

e wanted to make. "How would you desc

ve-foot-seven. Dark skinned. Some

ected something younger. "When wa

y to confirm her Wednesday appointment. She did not show up

o, you know, go off

be reporting her missin

Motun loved being extra sure. She asked for Cl

. I'll be with you shortly

" James asked as he

said I-owe-you-no-explanation

to do with the call from

Oh, so you he

ting stare than with the call that came in earlier. Then h

to fil

ignored her accusation.

rtner?" He said as if

ch, how about we start from where I asked you to write a case profile and you screamed 'on it' onl

, easy,

e hated being interrupted

s in surrender "I'm sorry. I'll

snapped. "Would

een. Can you at l

so far, including the unusual fact t

been over forty-eight hours. For all we know, may be more.

one way to find out. I already opened the case. It's

based on a hunch?" James

ed the ladder fast. She was one of the few people Dorathy still trusted when things came to a

aying 'I'll get back to you once I confirm the thirty-one year old wom

be bothered to exp

it turns out she is n

she was doing things against protocol. And it def

e the blame for somethi

if this turns to be a missing case indeed and they- she-

she isn't missing,

He made an air quote. "You are doing a good job trying to get me to fol

have lost its break and the goosebumps tha

the passenger d

fore and it was not for anything good. She turned towards the road to Clara's office