Must Read: Demons on church street - Season 1 - Episode 2

Episode 7 years ago

Must Read: Demons on church street - Season 1 - Episode 2

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Ese Johnson stopped in front of
Adam’s office and took a deep
breath. She straightened her
skirt and smoothened her hair,
she was not nervous but seeing
Adam again made her heart
beat slightly faster. Of course
she had made no time for her
heart, today she was a
journalist. Maybe some other
day she could afford to be an
ex-girlfriend.

She was about to knock when
the door swung open. A woman
carrying some files in her hand
stood in the doorway, the
woman frowned when she saw
her.
“Hello, can I help you?” The
woman asked.
“Hi, my name is Ese Johnson and
I’m here to see Detective
Ademola.” The woman smiled,
her name must have meant
something to her.
“Is there a problem?”
“I…” She started.
“Who’s there?” Adam called
from inside, cutting her off.
“You may go in.” The woman
said, moving away from the
door. “Your girlfriend is here to
see you.” She called out to Adam
and left the office.
Adam stood up behind his table
as she walked in.
“I am your girlfriend? Is that
what you’re telling everybody?”
She asked with a smile.
“Don’t mind Tola Dosumu, she’s
my lovely assistant. Married,
unfortunately I might add.” He
replied with a childish grin. “You
are welcome to the CIB
director’s office, please sit. And
wow, you look stunning!”
“I’m back to stunning huh?” It
was the word he had used to
describe her the first day they
met. Stay focused!
“Ese Johnson in my office, to
what do I owe this surprise?”
“You know why I’m here,
Detective.” She said sitting
down. Despite her resolve to be
distant and professional, she
could not help herself, he still
had her swooning.
“The murder? You too? Why is
everyone so interested in this
murder?”
“Detective…”
“Hey…hey, why do you keep
calling me ‘Detective’? Just stop
it, alright? We don’t date
anymore doesn’t mean you have
to become all official.”
“Detective…” Adam threw up his
hands in exasperation. She
smiled and continued. “…this is
a big case. The city has not seen
something as gruesome as this
in years. Everybody is interested;
the government, the cops, the
people, the press…”
“The press? You mean you?”
Adam asked with a chuckle.
“Yes, I am- TBC is interested in
the case and that is why I am
here.”
“Okay, what do you want?”
“We want exclusive interviews
and reports from you and the
CIB throughout the
investigation.” She watched
Adam for his reaction. He just
looked at her, he knew how to
keep his emotions to himself, it
was one of his biggest
problems as a boyfriend. Stay
focused! “Well?”
“I’m sorry, can’t do that.” He
replied pointedly, not breaking
eye contact with her.
“Common Adam…Detective, this
is going to be a symbiotic
relationship, we’ll help you too.”
“You will help me?” He asked, a
smug smile spreading over his
face. “How would you do that?”
“Okay, what do you know about
the girl- the victim, what do you
know about her?”
“She was a prostitute and she…
well, she was…” Of course, he
did not know much about her.
“So you have nothing. Did you
know, she was coming from a
hotel, one she had frequented,
three times a week for the past
two weeks?”
“And you know this how?” he
asked, arching his eyebrow.
“We have a crime desk, we
investigate these things too but
there are doors that a police
badge can open that my press
ID cannot.”
“Do you know who she met
with at the hotel? Was it the
same person throughout the
two weeks?” Now, he was
interested.
“Detective, I came here for
something- something I’m yet to
get and you want to fleece
information from me?”
“You know you have to give me
that info if you have it, it’s
obstruction of justice if you
don’t.”


“Wow, you want to play it like
this Detective?” Adam could be a
hard nut to crack, but she would
get what she wanted one way
or another. “Well, she met with
the same person but we don’t
know who that is yet.”

“Thank you for that info Ese. I’m
sorry I couldn’t help you but I
wouldn’t mind getting a little
help from you now and again.”

His smugness was annoying.

“Why did you leave the NTA
anyway? You had a cool job
hanging around rich and
powerful politicians.”
“Being hit on by filthy corrupt
pot-bellied politicians constantly
is not cool, I’d rather chase
killers, rapists and other non-
political scum of this world.” She
said standing up.
“It’s not a world for the weak,
be careful.” Adam replied
without standing.
“The weak? Is that what you
think of me, detective? Well, all
the best with your
investigation.” Ese said and
moved towards the door.

“Hey Ese, I didn’t mean it like
that.” He said, standing up and
moving towards her. “I’m sure
you’ll do great, okay?”
“Goodbye detective.” She said
and walked out of the office
closing the door behind her.
It had not being her idea to ask
Adam or the CIB for exclusivity,
she knew she could hold her
own against other journalists
but her boss and her douche
bag partner thought she
needed help. She had been put
in her place by Adam but she
was going to shock them all,
maybe even get an award out of
it all.
His mind could not leave the
meeting he just had with Ese as
he stood in front of St Andrews.
She still had an effect on him,
something he had tried not to
show. The crime scene was less
depressing than his time at the
coroner’s or his foolish meeting
with Ese, the church after all
was supposed to be a place of
joy. The body had been found
on the stairs of the church, the
pastor had met the surprise as
he arrived to open the doors in
the morning. The church
certainly would not be having
new comers any time soon. He
walked around the building and
came back to the stairs, Tola on
his heels.
“This is not the crime scene,
right?” It did not make sense, he
had expected a lot of blood. You
could not cut a body open
without leaving a mess- except
it had been cleaned up.

“Dosumu, did this church folks
clean up the place?”
“No, they were told to leave it
plus the police have been
guarding this place. It’s become
a tourist attraction, I’m sure the
pastor would prefer that they
entered instead of gawking
from a distance.”
“Yeah, I’m sure he would.”
Adam stooped to examine the
concrete stairs. There were a
few drops of blood here and
there, but there were no pools
or splatter, things he expected.
“This murder was not
committed here, the body was
merely dumped on this stairs.” It
made the crime scene almost
useless, except that it raised a
question; why dump the body in
front of a church?
“I know what you’re thinking,
why the church, right?”
Tola
asked, he nodded and she
continued. “Come check out the
photos that were taken before
the body was moved. The Pastor
said he did not touch the body
so the killer must have left it this
way.”

He moved close to her as she
opened the pictures on her I-
pad.


“The body does not look like it
was dumped in a hurry, it was
done deliberately. See how he
spreads her leg and rests her
joined hands on her stomach?
Ritual killing is what this looks
like to me.” Tola said, pointing
to the pictures.

“That’s interesting, maybe the
killer is associated with this
church, let’s go talk to that
pastor.”

The parsonage was just behind
the church, seeing the pastor
would not be a problem. Tola
led the way, she had more
experience with Pastors than he
had. The parsonage sat
between the church and a large
burial ground. Adam cringed at
the thought of living with so
many dead bodies behind your
window.

The wooden stairs of the
parsonage creaked loudly as
they climbed. An old woman sat
staring into space close to the
door. They greeted her, she
ignored them and continued
staring like she was deaf and
blind or just could not care less
what they thought.


Tola
knocked on the door and a
woman he assumed was the
Pastor’s wife welcomed them in.
“Wait here, I’ll get my husband.

Can I get you anything?”



“A glass of water please. Thanks
ma’am.” The pastor’s wife
would probably not be willing to
give him a cold bottle of beer, so
water would have to satisfy his
parched throat.


Two minutes later, she returned
with the glass of water and her
husband. He was quite older
than her, probably by ten years.




Adam could not decide if the
wrinkles on his face were due
to his age or what he had seen
that morning.

“Good afternoon Pastor.” Tola
was already on her feet, Adam
joined her. “We are very sorry to
disturb you, especially after
what you saw this morning.”

The pastor shook hands with
both of them and sat down.

“You know, I’ve been the pastor
here for over thirty years and
every morning – except when I
wasn’t in town, I would open
the doors of the church. It was
something that gave me great
pleasure, you can imagine how
horrible it was to find
something like that on our
doorsteps.”

“Yes, I can imagine sir. I’ve been
told you left the body exactly the
way you met it, is that correct?”
Adam asked.

“Yes, I didn’t move the body, I
couldn’t touch it. She was naked
though, so I covered her with
my jacket before I called the
police. Do you think it was a
ritual killing?”


That was what everybody was
calling it, Adam could not decide.

“Well sir, we don’t know at this
point. Do you know the lady by
any chance, was she a member
of your church?”
“A member? No!” The old man
looked offended. “I heard she
was a prostitute, you usually
don’t find them in churches.” He
was definitely offended.