Inspector Osbourne thought briefly as he sat on his desk. The hotel had mentioned that the guest paid for a month, and that information hadn’t been divulged in the press release. He didn’t see any more reason to doubt that Princewill Jackson knew something. He looked up at him, and asked, “Are you suspecting that the real lovers could be the killers?”
“No, but I believe that the real lovers know what happened. Why? Because I saw the doctor and Desola Ogunba enter the hotel, then I called Enitan Umanze and told her what I had seen. I stayed at the parking lot until she showed up, then I left after she headed for the main entrance of the hotel, which was clearly to confront her husband and his lover.”
“Can you confirm that she met her husband and his supposed lover there?”
“I don’t know. As I said earlier, we were meant to meet this afternoon by 2:20, and she didn’t show up. I would have found out more if she had.”
“Hmm.” Inspector Osbourne sighed. It sounded plausible, but without proof, he didn’t have anything.
“Check this,” Princewill Jackson continued. “I called Enitan Umanze when I got to the meeting location and her phone rang out. I called her again and it rang maybe two or three times, then the call was cut off. When I called the third time, it was switched off.”
“You called her by 2:20 p.m. today?” Inspector Osbourne asked.
“Yes, and it rang.”
“She was dead long before that time, and we didn’t find her phone at the crime scene.”
“Well, someone had the phone, but now it’s switched off. I’ll place my bet on the doctor. I can call it again.” Princewill Jackson pulled out his phone even before the inspector could give the go-ahead. He redialled the number and put the phone on speaker.
To their surprise, the phone rang. And before they could react to it, someone answered.
“Who is this?” Princewill Jackson asked, without greeting.
“My name is Anu. I’m at the Lost and Found section of the Lagos Star hotel. I just heard the phone ringing and pi—”
Princewill Jackson hung up before the man completed the sentence, then replaced his phone in his pocket.
Inspector Osbourne immediately sprang up from his desk, and as he headed for the door, he said, “The killer and the thief might still be in the hotel.”
“I think you should bring in the real lovers,” Princewill Jackson countered. He was not in line with Inspector Osbourne’s plan of going back to the hotel. “I’m sure they’ll be willing to confess if you tell them that someone saw them at the hotel this morning.”
“I will, but first, I’ll stop by at the hotel to collect the phone. Whoever took it before might have gone back to drop it after your previous calls, and it could be just about anybody,” the inspector pointed out.
“You’re right,” Princewill Jackson eventually agreed. “Mind if I join you?”
“I don’t. Let’s go.”
***
They both left the office and headed outside for the inspector’s car in haste as if things might change if they didn’t get to the hotel at once. Before they got to the car, the inspector’s phone rang. He looked at the screen and saw that it was his boss calling. He also checked the time and it revealed that he still had about an hour to the deadline to provide an update.
He raised a finger to Princewill Jackson indicating that he needed a few minutes, then went to a corner to answer the call while Princewill Jackson went to the car to wait.
“Commissioner,” Inspector Osbourne said, when he answered the call, which was more of a greeting than any other thing.
“You sent out a press release? Appealing for the public’s help?” The commissioner sounded displeased. “On whose instruction?”
“It was needed, sir. Besides, I did what I thought was right given the situation I was in, with no single lead.”
“Do you have any idea of what you have just done?” the commissioner breathed. He always did that during a conversation he deemed frustrating. “You just told the whole Nigeria, particularly all my bosses, that we have nothing going for us, especially after I told them to expect something positive by 6:00 p.m.”
“You can even get something good now,” the inspector replied. “Because the press release yielded a positive response.”
The commissioner relaxed, then said, “I’m listening.”
“I’m here with Princewill Jackson, a private investigator and Ikoyi station contractor.”
“And?”
“He recognised one of the victims, who had paid him to watch her husband. It has now led us to believe that both victims didn’t know each other, rather their spouses are the lovers and possibly the killers.”
The commissioner didn’t say anything. He understood what the inspector was saying quite all right, but at the same time, he didn’t understand. “When you say ‘possibly’, you mean that it has not been confirmed, right?”
“Right.”
“What are you waiting for then?”
“We’re going over to the hotel to get the female victim’s phone, which was previously missing. We have a feeling it would lead us to the killer, or killers.”
“Okay. But I still need my update by 6:00 p.m. I will call my bosses now and tell them about this new development.”
The commissioner hung up without saying anything else, then Inspector Osbourne joined Princewill Jackson in the car, and they left.
***
Same day
Thursday, 22nd November 2018
5:15 p.m.
The duo got to the hotel and the receptionist took them directly to the Lost and Found section. It wasn’t a room, just an area not too far from the reception where a few labelled boxes were laid in open shelves nailed to the wall. The tackiness and banality of the place still looked quite expensive because it blended perfectly with the surrounding glitter and luxury of the hotel as a whole. Inspector Osbourne thought the section was ridiculous, but he was not there to review their internal structure.
“We just called a phone and you picked up,” Inspector Osbourne said, going straight to the point.
The attendant took a few seconds to understand what the inspector had said, then nodded. “Yes, I did. I’m Anu.”
“Where is the phone?”
“Is it yours? I would need some sort of proof of ownership.”
The receptionist replied, “He’s with the police and he’s investigating the incident from this morning in the room upstairs.”
“Oh,” Anu said, then pulled out a drawer from under his desk and took out the phone. He gave it to Inspector Osbourne, pointed to the wall, and added, “It just rang from one of the boxes over there.”
Inspector Osbourne and Princewill Jackson looked at the phone, surprised. They couldn’t tell what brand the phone was, but it couldn’t have cost more than two thousand naira.
“Was this your client’s phone?” Inspector Osbourne asked, looking at Princewill Jackson.
“No. She had a smartphone when I saw her this morning. And unless she has several phones or she swapped her sim card, then that isn’t hers.” Princewill Jackson collected the phone and observed it. “Seems like this one was newly purchased. I would say today. It looks quite new and still has the default screen protector on.”
“I assume we are working with a thief then. Your calls from earlier today must have rattled them. They definitely took the original phone and replaced it with this one, just in case.” Inspector Osbourne looked at Anu. “Do you know who brought in this phone?”
“No, sir. I don’t.”
“What do you mean by that answer? Is it that you don’t remember who?”
“I wasn’t aware when it was brought in. That’s what I mean.”
“How is that possible?”
“Our Lost and Found section is accessible to everyone, and I’m the only person manning the section. People either drop the items they find on the desk, and I take them to the designated boxes, or they just put them directly in the designated bo
x if I’m not here.”
“I don’t think I understand what you’re saying. You mean no one covers for you when you want to go on break or for lunch, or whatever?” Inspector Osbourne asked.
“No, sir.”
“So it means people can steal stuff from here?”
If Anu had been brave and confident before, it wasn’t the case now. The more questions the inspector asked, the more intimidated he became, especially as he wasn’t sure if he had done something wrong. He lowered his tone, almost to a whisper, as he said, “There’s never been theft of lost items here, sir. Once items are dropped, I log them in on my system with their status, and so far, nothing has been missing.”
“What of items that are dropped in your absence? How do you monitor them?”
No answer.
Inspector Osbourne sighed, then continued, “Was there any other phone brought in here today?”
“No, sir.”
“You wouldn’t be aware if someone dropped it in your absence, so why don’t you go over there and look through your boxes?” Inspector Osbourne suggested, waving his index finger towards the shelves. “We are looking for another phone. Probably a similar one.”
Inspector Osbourne and Princewill Jackson stepped aside to allow the attendant to search through the boxes. In the meantime, the inspector asked the receptionist to get the list of vehicles that came in the morning and left before he arrived, and she dashed off at once to get it.
***
A few minutes later, the Lost and Found attendant completed the search and didn’t find any similar phone. In fact, there was no phone at all. Inspector Osbourne thanked him and headed for the reception with Princewill Jackson. When he got there, the receptionist was just coming back, and she handed the list of vehicles he wanted over to him. He thanked her, and they left.
Inspector Osbourne gave Princewill Jackson the list when they got outside, and as they walked towards the inspector’s car, Princewill Jackson brought out a note from his bag and glanced through some scribblings. He replaced the note, then went through the list. There were over seventy cars on the list, and one by one, he checked through.
When he had completed the exercise, he looked at Inspector Osbourne and shook his head. “As expected, the doctor didn’t come with his car. His plate number isn’t on the list. I can’t tell for the woman. My job wasn’t to watch her per se, she just got on my radar because of the doctor.”
“I’m pretty sure the doctor didn’t walk over to the hotel. Both of them,” Inspector Osbourne commented. “You didn’t see them come in?”
“Enter the main hotel, yes. Drive into the parking lot, no.”
“We need to figure out who brought them and where the cars were parked when they were here.”
Princewill Jackson nodded. “You’re right.” He returned the list to Inspector Osbourne, as they got to the car.
Inspector Osbourne tossed the list to the back seat once he unlocked the doors and they both entered. Before he drove off, he unlocked the screen of the cheap phone and clicked on the call history. Nothing came up other than the call the P.I. had made. That would make sense if the phone had been newly purchased, he thought. However, when he opened the messages, he saw tons of them, then he figured that they might have been saved on the SIM card.
The last message had been sent in the morning by 10:20 a.m. to a phone number, but not a saved contact. Inspector Osbourne also figured that all the phone contacts wouldn’t be saved on the new cheap phone either. He opened the message and read through it.
From a look of shock to that of confusion, Inspector Osbourne asked, “I thought you said the victims didn’t know each other?”
“I’m sure about that.”
“Then how do you explain this?” Inspector Osbourne handed the phone over to Princewill Jackson.
As Princewill Jackson collected it, he observed the inspector’s face, and from the look he had, Princewill Jackson didn’t have to be a seer to realise that the number the text message was sent to from Enitan Umanze’s phone belonged to Kamar Ogunba.
Chapter Four: Proof
Same Day
Thursday, 22nd November 2018
5:40 p.m.
Princewill Jackson held the phone and read the message for the umpteenth time:
“Hey Kamar, it’s me. I’m at the hotel now. Meet me in room 202. I can’t wait to see you.”
“This doesn’t make any sense,” Princewill Jackson finally said, after reading the message one last time. “The victims didn’t know each other, that, I am a hundred percent sure, so I don’t know how Enitan Umanze could have sent Kamar Ogunba a message.”
Inspector Osbourne didn’t respond. He kept his eyes glued to the road as he drove back to the station.
“I believe this message was made-up,” Princewill Jackson continued. “I don’t think Enitan Umanze could have written it.”
“You only met the woman twice,” Inspector Osbourne countered. “How do you know what she can or cannot do? Maybe she kept you busy following her husband about, while she chased her lover.”
“Then why involve me or her husband, if that were the case? She could have just had her affair and no one would know about it, especially not me.”
“Maybe she wanted to set her husband up in case she got caught, and there was no better way than to follow him about. Maybe you were a part of a bigger plan that didn’t end well.”
Princewill Jackson knew that Inspector Osbourne had a point, but that wasn’t the point. “Inspector Osbourne, your theories make sense, but we are trying to solve two murder cases here,” he said. “So I believe that whether Enitan Umanze knew Kamar Ogunba or not doesn’t really matter for now. All that matters right now is that we find the killer or killers.”
Inspector Osbourne slowed down at the next intersection and waited to make a U-turn, then said, “I’m going back to the hotel to interrogate the cleaner. If I push her and maybe bring up Enitan Umanze’s phone, she might confess. I will also have our tech guy check both victims’ numbers for any link you may have missed.”
Princewill Jackson shook his head in disapproval. “I think what you should do is head to the doctor and Desola Ogunba, and pick them up for questioning.”
“On what basis?”
“You asked for some proof, well here it is.” Princewill Jackson opened the leather bag that hung across his shoulder and pulled out a file.
Inspector Osbourne looked at Princewill Jackson from the corner of his eyes, and when he saw that the file contained photos, he threw the idea of making a U-turn out of the window. He drove up ahead and parked off the road, then collected the file. After looking through it, Princewill Jackson gave him the camera and he saw more photos from earlier in the morning.
After he had fed his eyes enough, he stopped to think, then looked at Princewill Jackson, and asked, “Why didn’t you give these to me earlier?”
“Because Enitan Umanze owes me a balance of 2 million naira for them.”
“The woman is dead. Unless you plan to blackmail her husband, you aren’t getting a kobo.”
“I know that now.” Princewill Jackson sighed. “That’s why the photos are all yours.”
“Don’t worry, Princewill. You’ll be mentioned as a key player in solving the case.”
“Right.” Princewill Jackson shook his head. He was always only mentioned as a key player.
“Also, can you send the photos from this morning to my phone?” The inspector passed the phone over to Princewill Jackson, as he was asking the question, then added, “You can dial your number on it to get mine.”
“Sure thing.”
Inspector Osbourne did an instant detour and drove towards Doctor Umanze’s house.
***
Same day
Thursday, 22nd November 2018
6:15 p.m.
Doctor Umanze was in his study this time when Bassey came to inform him that the police were back. He didn’t waste a second. He sprang up and dashed out of the room, hurryi
ng down the stairs.
He got to the front door and saw two men. Looking back and forth between them, he said, “Inspector, I’m surprised to see you here again. Has there been a new development?”
“Actually, yes. I need you to come back to the station with me for further questioning.”
Doctor Umanze looked at Princewill Jackson, then back at Inspector Osbourne. “How long would this take? I have to go to the hospital soon.”
“It won’t take long,” Inspector Osbourne said, although the duration of the interrogation depended on if and when the doctor agreed to cooperate or not.
The doctor looked at Princewill Jackson again, then replied to the inspector, “Fine, let’s go.”
***
The ride back to the station was a quiet one, with none of them even attempting to comment on the mini pockets of traffic and the reckless drivers they had encountered. Nonetheless, they got to the station in good time, and to his surprise, Doctor Umanze was taken directly to an interrogation room. He didn’t ask any questions, and like a school kid, he went as led and took the hot seat waiting to be told why he was there.
Inspector Osbourne sat across from him, while Princewill Jackson watched from the other side of the two-way mirror. Princewill Jackson had stalked the man for nearly a month, so the man might have seen him at least once. He didn’t want to risk exposing himself prematurely, so he decided not to join in on the interrogation.
“Why am I here?” Doctor Umanze finally asked, when it was obvious that the information wasn’t going to be given to him voluntarily.
Hotel Room Murder Page 5
