Ex Vivo (#2 EX TRILOGY)

Chapter 19

The following morning, Akoma received a phone call from Ender instructing her to vacate the hotel and head to an apartment to spend some months there, followed by a quick money transfer to her bank account accordingly. Akoma realized she did not respond to this because she was under a spell, but merely because she believed Ender knew something that she probably felt was dangerous for Akoma to find out at the moment. She had not forgotten how their last conversation had gone after reporting the incident about the freak who attacked her. By now, she was so sure that Suzy's boyfriend was both dangerous and weird, having allegedly killed Amuzu at the night club the night before. She tried calling two Snitchers who knew about this case, but none of them seemed to recognize her, and she ended the call after figuring out that Ender had probably dismissed them from duty. By the time she arrived in the neighbourhood where the apartment was located, she found a crowd on the streets and outside someone's home. She unpacked her luggage from the new car she had to buy after discarding hers after a previous ex gratia and shut the boot before drawing nearer to the scene. As she approached, she could hear a woman wailing. One of the onlookers bumped into Akoma and apologized, but Akoma seized her arm to stop her before she could walk away.

"What's going on?" she asked.

The girl, about 19, frowned and threw a final glance at the crowd at the gate of the house before replying, "The woman's son is gone. She left the house for two weeks in his care. I remember seeing this pretty busty white lady walk into the house with luggage almost a week ago. I never saw her leave the house. The woman's son was always going out to buy stuff for both of them, I guess. The woman arrived last night to find his son and the lady missing."

"That's why there is a crowd all over the place?"

The girl shrugged. "The woman happens to be the District Chief Executive. The scene is awful. People had to come to her aid." She shook her head sadly. "It wouldn't have been that bad if not for the barbaric video someone left behind."

Akoma blinked. "Barbaric video? Have you watched it? Who left it behind?"

The girl shrugged again. "I don't know who left it behind, but it seemed to have come from a secret society or something. I am surprised you have not seen this video. Are you in Ghana at all?" The girl chuckled in an annoying way that almost provoked Akoma to hit her in the face. "You amaze me. Can you let me go, please?"

"I haven't seen the video. Is this on the news?" Akoma asked. The girl beckoned to Akoma to follow her and she let go off her arm as they drew closer to the crowd. The girl pointed at the midst of the crowd and Akoma saw a TV crew and a dozen radio journalists attempting to gather some information from the DCE. A police vehicle arrived shortly afterwards. Akoma raised an eyebrow in surprise. "So I can find it online right now?"

The teenage girl nodded. "But people are wicked o. Hmmm. I don't know what they will get out of these things."

"You said it's a secret society. Does the video mention the name or show anything about it?"

The girl bit her fingernails and got briefly lost in thought, and then she finally said, "I didn't really check the details well."

"Not even a name? Or the letters involved?"

"Errrm – let me see." The girl smacked her lips and furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to remember. "What I remember is – um – "

"But you can check the video now, can't you?"

"I am out of data bundle. If you will get me about 500MB, I will be your housemaid. I promise." She grinned sheepishly.

Akoma snorted. "Seriously?"

"Yes. Mmm."

Akoma sighed and waved her off before walking closer to the crowd near the gate of the house, and she got a clearer view of the DCE blowing her nose in a napkin. This woman who appeared to be in her late fifties looked very miserable as she managed to say something to the media crew for their reportage.