Hotel Room Murder

by C. M. Okonkwo

  “So you both got into a fight?”

  “Not really. He was trying to strangle me, but luckily I reached for a glass bowl on the coffee table and hit him on the head with it.”

  “Luckily?”

  “He would have killed me. It was either me or him.”

  Inspector Osbourne raised an eyebrow. “So what happened next?”

  “I hit him a few more times, then he let go of my neck. Blood began to trickle down his head, so I quickly dragged him to the bed and covered him, then I put Enitan on the bed and covered her as well. Afterwards, I washed the glass bowl of any traces of blood, then wiped it with a towel in the trolley before replacing it on the coffee table.”

  “When did you decide to kill them?”

  Doctor Umanze looked at Inspector Osbourne strangely.

  “The medical examiner mentioned that they died of suffocation,” Inspector Osbourne pointed out. “And up until this part of the story, you hadn’t decided to kill anyone yet. When did you decide to?”

  “I was about to leave the room, then I remembered what my wife had said. That she would make it her life’s mission to ruin me. I knew that I would lose everything if she exposed me. My license, my career, my family, and my affair; everything. I couldn’t live with that. I didn’t think I could survive in a world where I had nothing. So I thought fast about how I could finish her, then I saw the pillow on the floor.” Doctor Umanze stopped, then lowered his head as if he regretted his action.

  Inspector Osbourne wasn’t buying his sudden show of remorse. “Go on,” he prompted.

  The doctor exhaled. “I picked up the pillow and placed it over Enitan’s face. She was passed out, but her body shook mildly as it got deprived of air. I held it over her face until I was sure she was dead. I checked her pulse to confirm that, then I did the same thing to Kamar. I could have let him live and let him take the fall for my wife’s death, but it could have gone an entirely different way with me still being exposed. It was a risk I wasn’t willing to take.”

  There was a moment of silence.

  “There you have it,” the doctor concluded.

  Inspector Osbourne shook his head at how the person he had least expected to be the killer turned out to be just that. He hit Stop on the recording device, then looked at Doctor Umanze, and said, “You are hereby charged with the murders of Enitan Umanze and Kamar Ogunba. I will keep you in a cell here until the court processes you and a judge sentences you.”

  “I don’t get the death sentence, right?” the doctor asked.

  Inspector Osbourne stood up, then went to take Doctor Umanze by the arm. “That would be up to the judge to decide.”

  “But you said I would get a milder sentence if I told the truth.” The doctor struggled to break free. “You said I would get to see my kids again.”

  Inspector Osbourne didn’t respond. He was too angry to say anything to the doctor. He only kept pushing the doctor until he got to one of the cells in the station and threw him in.

  “Wait, inspector, please,” the doctor said, stretching his hand to hold the inspector’s arm.

  The inspector moved his hand. “When I came to your house, you pretended to be sad and distraught, when you knew what you had done. It was the same way you acted worried that there was no functional camera in the hotel when in reality, you were relieved.”

  “Believe me, I got home and went to bed, but when I woke up, it still felt like a dream. It was only when you came that reality dawned on me and I remembered my children.”

  The inspector shook his head again and left, then went to take care of Desola Ogunba in the interrogation room where she was waiting.

  ***

  “What exactly is going on?” Desola Ogunba asked, immediately she saw the inspector walk in. “You left the room before I could finish my sentence and you have been gone for hours.”

  “Doctor Umanze went back to the hotel room.”

  “He did?” Desola Ogunba was genuinely surprised. “Why?”

  “He changed his mind about keeping the access card in his house and wanted to keep it at the hotel instead. But while he was looking for his wife’s handbag, she woke up.”

  “And he killed her?” Desola Ogunba shook her head, refusing to believe it. “No.”

  “Ultimately, he did.”

  “This is hard to accept.” She sighed. “But why would he kill his wife? Just like that?”

  “They got into an argument first, and he was afraid of losing everything.”

  Desola Ogunba sighed again. “And Kamar? He killed him too, right? Why?”

  “He wasn’t sure at what point Kamar had woken up, or what he had seen and heard, so he knocked Kamar out and suffocated him with a pillow after suffocating his wife.”

  “My goodness. I never knew he could kill anyone.” Desola Ogunba held a hand over her mouth. It was as if the mention of her husband being dead had just become real to her, maybe because she never expected it to have been executed by her lover. She looked up after a few seconds, and blurted, “He is a doctor for heaven’s sake. He saves lives, not takes them.”

  “You know what baffles me? Why you would intentionally not want to cooperate when it would have helped us figure this out ever since.”

  “I didn’t believe he was dead.”

  “And after you identified his body?”

  “I didn’t believe Patrick had anything to do with it. I thought that if we didn’t say anything, you would find the killer without involving us.”

  “And saying that you suspected your husband was cheating, that he worked late hours, and received calls, which he always said was work, I guess none of that was true.”

  Desola Ogunba couldn’t respond to that.

  Inspector Osbourne went to take Desola Ogunba by the arm.

  “So what happens next?” she asked, unsure of her fate.

  “You’ll be kept in a holding cell in the station until the court processing and sentencing.”

  “Okay, but what happens to me?”

  “You’ll be charged with attempt to blackmail, frame and defame another, to kidnap—”

  “Kidnap?” Desola Ogunba interrupted.

  “You held two people against their will, in other words, it’s kidnapping.”

  “Fine.” Desola Ogunba knew that she couldn’t argue any points. She was lucky to have been cleared for the murders, so she let things be.

  “You’ll also be charged with intent to cause bodily harm to another by inviting your husband to be knocked out by the doctor, and for obstructing justice by providing false information to law enforcement.”

  Desola Ogunba sighed for the third time and wondered if there was hope to an end to all the charges against her. What interested her more was the total of all her charges combined. “So for how long would I be going away with all the charges you have heaped on me and those you might have forgotten?”

  Inspector Osbourne understood the sarcasm. “You would know when the judge decides.”

  Desola Ogunba rolled her eyes. “And Patrick?”

  “He’ll be charged with both murders, of course, and I believe that covers for all the other possible charges that we have against him. Whether he gets two death sentences, or two life sentences for his confession depends on the judge.”

  With that, Inspector Osbourne took Desola Ogunba to a holding cell and left her there.

  ***

  The next stop Inspector Osbourne made was to the interrogation room where Titilayo Lawrence was waiting. He didn’t have much to say to her, so he knew it was going to be a curt conversation.

  “How much longer do you intend to keep me?” she asked, as soon as the inspector opened the door.

  “Up to seven years,” he replied, as he walked in.

  “What? Seven years?”

  “Yes. That’s the maximum number of years of imprisonment for stealing. You’ll also be charged with obstruction of justice for providing false information to law enforcement.”

  Titilayo Lawrence di
dn’t respond.

  “You’ll be processed by the court and sentenced by a judge, but until then, we’ll keep you in one of our cells.”

  Titilayo Lawrence still didn’t say anything. Nothing she could say would change a thing, so she accepted her fate. Inspector Osbourne walked up to her, lifted her by the arm, then led her out of the interrogation room and took her to a holding cell.

  ***

  The final stop Inspector Osbourne made was to his boss’s office to provide him with an update on the case before the report was ready. The man was surprisingly still on seat and buried in tons of papers. He looked up at Inspector Osbourne as he approached his desk.

  “Why are you here?” he asked, sounding worried. And without waiting for a response, he added, “Please, tell me that it’s good news...”

  “It’s over, sir,” Inspector Osbourne said, as the commissioner continued talking. “The news of the arrest will go out tomorrow.”

  “Because it’s not three days yet and you have no report with you,” the commissioner kept going, but when he realised what Inspector Osbourne had just said. He paused briefly, then asked, “Did you just say that the case is over?”

  Inspector Osbourne nodded. “The doctor killed both victims. It was actually—”

  “That’s all I need to know, Tunde,” the commissioner interrupted. “Thank you. I’ll read the rest in your report when you hand it in. I need to speak with the governor right now.”

  The commissioner picked up his phone, unlocked it, and only pressed a button, indicating that he had the governor on speed dial, or on redial. The inspector took the cue that their conversation was over and headed for the door. As he opened it to leave, the commissioner spoke.

  “And Tunde.”

  He turned around.

  “Good job.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Inspector Osbourne remembered something, and added, “Sir. I couldn’t have solved this case without the help of Princewill Jackson, the private investigator and contractor with the Ikoyi station.”

  “So?”

  “I think he deserves some kind of compensation for the work he did, considering what he has lost in return in terms of time and money.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  “I don’t know.” The inspector shrugged. “It’s your call.”

  “I’ll see what I can do and get back to you first thing in the morning.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Inspector Osbourne smiled, as he left the office. He then called it a night and went home.

  Postlude: Closed

  Next Day

  Saturday, 24th November 2018

  8:30 a.m.

  Inspector Osbourne strolled into the Ikoyi Divisional Police Station and was directed to the office of the person he wanted to see. He knocked and immediately entered without waiting to be asked in. Princewill Jackson had been on the phone, but as soon as he saw the door open and the inspector walking in, he asked the other party to ring him back by noon, then he ended the call.

  “Inspector Osbourne,” Princewill Jackson said, as he stood up. He glanced at his wristwatch, and added, “I wasn’t expecting you, and not this early.”

  “I know, and sorry to interrupt your call.”

  Princewill Jackson looked at the phone in his hand, then placed it on his desk. “It’s not a problem at all, Inspector. I can always call the person back.”

  “All right, and please, call me Tunde.” Inspector Osbourne took a seat, then pulled out an envelope from the inner pocket of his jacket and handed it over to Princewill Jackson.

  “Did something happen?” Princewill Jackson collected the envelope.

  Inspector Osbourne nodded, then said, “Open it.”

  Princewill Jackson scrunched his eyebrows, then tore the envelope open. One look at the content, he raised his eyebrows, surprised. “What is this?”

  “It’s a cheque.”

  “Of a million naira, yes.” Princewill Jackson raised the cheque. “And it’s addressed to me.”

  “I spoke to the commissioner, and he agreed to compensate you as part of the balance for those photos you shared with me. For without you, we would have never been able to solve the case.”

  “It’s solved?”

  “Yes.” Inspector Osbourne paused. “But just as you thought, Doctor Umanze alone was behind it all. Well, the murders, that is.”

  “Really?” Princewill Jackson was surprised. Yes, he had his suspicions, but he expected the doctor and his lover to be behind it. Maybe the doctor on the driver’s seat, but not just him alone.

  Inspector Osbourne nodded. “He had gone back to the hotel to drop Desola Ogunba’s access card in his wife’s handbag, and the wife woke up, threatening to ruin his life.”

  “So he had something to lose after all.”

  “Yes. His license, his career, his hospital, his family, and his affair, in that order.”

  “That’s everything to lose. No wonder he would want to kill her. And Kamar Ogunba?”

  “An unfortunate kill. He was just in the wrong place and at the wrong time.”

  “Because he was deceived into being there in the first place,” Princewill Jackson added. “So I would rather say that he was where they wanted him to be.”

  “You’re right,” Inspector Osbourne responded. “And it depends on the angle you’re looking at it from. Wrong place and time for him, but right place and time for the perpetrators.”

  “You’re also right,” Princewill Jackson concurred. “So what happens to them?”

  “I got word from the State Attorney before I got here. Luckily for Doctor Umanze, he will be charged for manslaughter, instead of murder, because he didn’t plan to kill both victims, and he was provoked. So he would get two life sentences instead of two death sentences.”

  “Lucky him.”

  “He also gets time for attempt to blackmail, frame and defame another, kidnapping, causing bodily harm to another and obstructing justice, but all that would have to wait until he is done with his double life imprisonment.” Inspector Osbourne smiled. “You know he tried to run?”

  Princewill Jackson had a surprised look. “Did he?”

  “Yes. When Desola Ogunba confirmed that she had given him her access card, I went to his house and he was gone. My first instinct was to call the airport and I was told he was already onboard a flight to Istanbul where he would then connect to London. Airport police had to stop the plane and bring him out.”

  “Incredible.” Princewill Jackson’s mouth hung open. “And his children? Don’t tell me he left them behind.”

  “Unfortunately, he did, but they were not at home. I have no idea where he sent them to, but I believe they’re with his steward or maybe other family members. I don’t know. Wherever they are, though, I’m sure he would be sending for them shortly before he goes to prison.”

  “What of the lover?”

  “She will get fifteen years for attempt to blackmail, frame and defame another, kidnapping, causing bodily harm to another and obstructing justice, while the cleaner would get a reduced sentence of seven years for stealing and obstructing justice.”

  “Oh, the cleaner, too. I forgot all about her role.” Princewill Jackson sighed. “Glad this is all over.”

  “Me too. And it will be on the nine o’clock news. They will announce all three arrests in connection to the murders, but nothing more until we officially involve the judiciary on Monday.”

  “We should celebrate.”

  “Celebrate?” Inspector Osbourne looked at his wristwatch instinctively.

  “Yes. You closed a double murder case in two days. We should celebrate hard work and long nights.” Princewill Jackson raised both hands in surrender. “And I wasn’t talking about drinks.”

  Inspector Osbourne laughed, and for the first time in two days.

  “I know this place down the road where they serve the best cheese croissant and espresso. My treat.” Princewill Jackson swung his cheque around.

  “What are we waiting f
or?” Inspector Osbourne smiled.

  Acknowledgments

  Many thanks to my ever-supportive family, for continuing to endure my unending writing craze. And as always, a big thank you to my editors, my beta readers, and all the pre-release reviewers for their valuable feedback and input. You all are the best.

  Cover art courtesy of Laybels UCL.

  Editing by Rukky Dan-Egua and Laybels UCL.

  About the author

  C. M. Okonkwo is a Nigerian author who grew up in Lagos and moved to France to study, where she obtained a B.Sc. in Business Administration and Management, an M.Sc. in Personnel and Employment Management, and an advanced M.Sc. in International HR Management and Development. A lover of travel and tourism, her writing ideas and style are inspired by experiences gained in different countries she has lived in and visited.

  Author’s Note

  If you wish to keep in touch with me or give me some feedback on my book, please use any of the links below. I’ll be happy to hear from you.

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  You can read about Private Investigator Princewill Jackson in my short story titled ‘Finding Love’.

  Other books by C. M. Okonkwo

  Novels:

  The XIth Hour, Thriller/Suspense, 2013

  Thirteen Suspects, Erotic/Suspense, 2014