"You must be kidding me." Detective Okoye muttered under his breath as Jamaal drove into the all too familiar compound. He never expected to be called back to this same school ever again.

   "I'm starting to think this school is cursed or something. It has not even been six months since the last case." Jamaal complained, parking the car. They had earlier removed the sirens to avoid raising suspicions from the students.

   "I know right?" Okoye sighed as they alighted the vehicle.

   "I'll go and get the briefing from the officer in charge." Jamaal said, jogging off towards the scene of the crime. 

   A few minutes later, Jamaal stalked back to where Okoye stood. His hands shook slightly as he kept his gaze steady on the pictures in his hands.

    "What's it this time? A wronged mistress?" Detective Okoye joked as he saw his partner approaching.

   "You'll wish it was a mistress." Jamaal said giving the pictures to Okoye. In the picture was a ghastly looking human that was disgustingly crushed on the ground. It was hard to decipher which body part was which.

    "Who's the suspect? A teacher?" Okoye asked quietly as he looked at the pictures one after the other.

   "The five teachers present last night were all accounted for." Jamaal replied. He nervously glanced at the pictures from the first to the last before looking up at his partner.

    "So, there's a psychopath student on the loose. How great." Okoye replied sarcastically. 

    "All five teachers were in the senior prep class while the prefects were in the junior classes. There was no footage of the scene because it was an uncompleted building." Jamaal explained as they both headed to the scene of the crime.

   As soon as they arrived, the two officers there saluted and escorted them to the scene. 

   "Sir, we've found a clip from the nearest CCTV." An officer said and Okoye sighed.

   "Let's go."

   They headed to the control room where the laptop was already on standby. The video was played and it showed a girl running out of the building followed by the Dean. A cement block came crashing down on his head. The Dean tried to crawl but the impact on his head was fatal.

   "Is there any camera that captured the top of the uncompleted building?" Okoye asked hurriedly but to his dismay, the officer shook his head.

   Their attention was drawn back to the clip. The car that was parked revved up and drove forward. The detectives and officers flinched in surprise as the car ran over the body of the Dean. The motion repeated over and over again, back and forth, before stopping far from the camera's range.

    "Fuck.." Jamaal breathed as the clip came to a stop.

    "You sure say na human being do this thing." An officer said as a shiver ran down his spine.

    "Should we contact HQ?" Jamaal asked, his gaze fixed on the blank laptop.

   "Let's find out all we can first." Okoye sighed. "Let's call the girl in the video. Maybe she saw someone." He suggested.

   "The camera is quite far. We can't see her face clearly." Jamaal replied. Okoye sighed as an officer started the video from the top. He paused the video and zoomed close.

    "The car has a dash cam. We can see the girl's face from a close range and hopefully, something about the killer." Okoye said and an officer hurried off to get the memory card.

****

    "Whoever did this was clean.. not even a hair." Jamaal commented as they watched the video from the dash cam again.

   "I don't think a student can do this." Okoye said and Jamaal shrugged.

   "You never know what goes on in the mind of these kids." He replied. 

   "So the prefects in JS 1 and 2 said nobody left the class. What about the one in JS 3?" Just on cue, the door opened and a plump girl entered the room.

   "Are you Dorothy?" Jamaal asked and the girl nodded.

   "Is there anything wrong?" She asked sharply. Her gaze went from the detectives to the laptop in front of them.

   "Not really." Detective Okoye replied, "We just want to ask you a few questions." He added. "Did a girl leave the class you supervised twenty minutes after prep started?" He asked. Dorothy frowned in confusion as she shook her head.

   "Nobody." She replied and the detectives almost gripped their buzz cut hair, "Except.." she started.

   "Except who?" Jamaal asked, almost jumping up from his seat.

   "There was this girl. The Dean asked her to carry some books to his office or so." She said.

   The detectives sighed in relief as they absorbed the information. "Can you please call the girl?" Okoye asked.

****

    Amaka shivered in fear under the heated gaze of the two detectives. She bit her nails till they were red and close to bloody.

   "I have no idea what you are talking about sir." She said quietly and Jamaal slammed his hand against the desk.

   "You have to be kidding me. We know you were with him. We are just asking if you saw someone else  there." Jamaal gritted out in frustration.

   "I.. I don't know. Is something wrong? Is the Dean injured or.. or.." she stuttered in fear.

  "I have a feeling you know something." Okoye sighed, "Young lady, everything said within these four walls will remain confidential. Your name will not be mentioned anywhere. It'll be as if you were never here. So help me help you, tell us what you know." He pleaded. He knew they were holding on to straws at this point.

    "You promise?" She said in a whisper and they nodded. She took a deep breath and narrated what happened the previous night to them. She tried to leave out the part where she stabbed the Dean with the pen but she couldn't stop herself.

   "When I ran out, I heard him scream. I.. I thought he was really injured from the stab but I was too scared to tell anyone. More like embarrassed." She sighed. The weight was lifted from her shoulders. She couldn't help but feel a new breath of life flood her lungs.

   "Did something happen to him?" She asked, looking at the detectives.

  "Something did happen but it definitely wasn't because of you." Jamaal assured. "So you are sure you didn't see anyone else?" He asked for the last time and she shook her head.

   "You may go now." Okoye said, nodding his head dismissively. Amaka didn't wait to be told twice before dashing out of the room.

   "It's a dead end." Jamaal sighed, sinking back in his seat. Okoye, on the other hand, had his head in his hands.

   "It is Jamaal, it is." He replied. He rubbed his face again in frustration. He tried to hold onto a clue, something that'll help the case. 

   "Sir.." an officer called, gaining the detective's attention, "I overheard a bunch of kids talking about a strange case. I don't know if it will be in any way helpful." He added.

   "Do we look like we have any other option now?" Jamaal asked.

   "Oh okay." The officer cleared his throat, "An SS3 student died two weeks ago. According to what I heard, she was pregnant."

   "That's news. How come nobody heard of it?" Jamaal asked in surprise.

   "Maybe they wanted to keep it low?" The officer replied in confusion.

  "Pregnant.. pregnant.." Okoye muttered. Jamaal scooted closer to his partner knowing fully well that the latter was brewing something. "It's obvious that it wasn't the Dean's first time when he called that junior student." He added looking at Jamaal.

   "Okay I see, I see where you are heading." Jamaal nodded.

  "Contact the hospital where the student was taken to." Detective Okoye ordered and an officer rushed off instantly.

***

   Detective Okoye paced outside the federal hospital. He hoped his partner would come out with good news, at least something to hold onto. He has never in his life been placed in such a position in his life.

   "Okoye! Okoye!!" Jamaal yelled as he ran out of the hospital. Okoye looked up immediately. He looked at Jamaal's face trying to know what to expect from his expression. "Okoye." Jamaal said as he caught his breath.

   "I swear I'll take you to the ER right now if you don't talk." Okoye warned.

   "Calm your tits." Jamaal sighed, "So I have good news and bad news." He started. "I'm not letting you decide which one you want." He added immediately, "The good news is that the hospital thankfully, has a DNA sample of the unborn baby and we can match it with that of the Dean."

  Okoye let out a breath of relief as the information sunk in. "And the bad news?" He asked.

  "The results will be out in two or three weeks for some reason." Jamaal replied with a frown.

  "At least we have something." Okoye sighed.

******
And... Another chapter is out beautiful people.

This week's shout-out goes to Moroti_Writes and bobbybrownng. To be next week's shout-out, just vote and comment 😊

~Korisa🧡