THE WITNESS

Chapter 9

TWO DAYS LATER:
Detective Samuel and his partner were still pondering on where Ben could be when a corporal came and said there was someone wanting to see him.
Samuel was not in any mood to see any visitors.
"who is it? ", he asked,
"he says his name is James,sir", the corporal said,
"James? ", he didn't know anyone called James, so he decided not to see him.

"tell him I am not in", he told the corporal,
"he says he has something to tell",
"did he say what it was? ",
"he said something about a murder or something like that",
Samuel looked at his partner and she nodded at him,
"bring him ",he told the corporal,
And the corporal went to carry out the order,

While their subordinate went out, Samuel turned to Jane and asked,
"who do you think he is?"
She shrugged,
Moments later, the mystery man was brought in.
Looking at him, Samuel recognised him.
Or he thought he did. He thought he looked like one of the people pictured in the recording.

They offered the stranger a seat. They began talking Jane still seated while Samuel chose to stand.
"who are you and what do you want?", Samuel started questioning.
"my name is James. I came to turn myself in." he said with a PokerFace.
Samuel looked at his partner then back the man in front of them.

"for what offence?"
"the murder of John Mayowa."
The name hadn't released to the press. Only they at the station that knew of the victim's name.
"how did you kill him?" Jane asked him.
"after he was beaten up by me and my gang, I shot him."
Everything he told them aligned with what they had already known.
And Samuel's suspicion was confirmed. He was one of gang members.
Why did he turn himself in? was a question on their minds.

TWO DAYS EARLIER;
The gang members were having a discussion about the next step for them. They had the witness with so the police had nothing to use against them.
Or so they thought.
"one of us has to surrender." their boss was saying, "Who is it going to be?"
He looked at all of his subordinates faces. They didn't answer.

He decided to volunteer.
"I will do it." he said since there was no person saying he would.
They all were shocked. He waited to see if there would be an objection - objections.
"I guess it is......." he was saying when he saw a hand was raised.
"yes anything the matter James?"
James stood up and said.
"I will do it instead"

They were even more shocked this time.
"why would you do that?" Olu asked him.
"what do you mean?" he asked.
"it's just like you delivering yourself on a platter." Wale said.
James thought about it but he was still going to do it.
"even knowing what could happen?" their boss asked.
"well....they have nothing to prove the murder only the battery"

"you would take the blame for that?" Wale asked surprised.
He just shrugged.
They noticed that Olu was smiling.
"what is so funny?" James asked.
"nothing. I remembered something." he said simply.
They ignored him and continued with their meeting.
***
PRESENT DAY;
Ben was still tied to the chair in the room he was held. He hadn't seen anybody or nobody had revealed themselves to him. All they did was to bring him food and water. That was the only time his captors had come inside the room. And the only time his blindfold and binds on his hands were removed.

But the person that comes in doesn't show himself. The room was he was kept in had only a light faced at him. There was no way he could have seen him. But the voice he heard everything was what he couldn't forget.
The voice of the person he heard the day he awoke there. Who it was, was a mystery.

Still seated there, he heard the door being opened.
He pretended he was asleep. Why he chose to do that, he didn't know himself. Still pretending to be asleep he felt the person walk closer to him. He was shaken but he didn't move.
"hey!" the person said.
It was the same voice; the same person.
He didn't move not even his finger.

"hey wake up!" the person said shaking him.
He still didn't move.
He put his fingers under Ben's nose to see if he was still breathing; most likely.
When he saw that Ben was only sleeping he said:
"everything has gone in my favour. Someone else has taken the blame"
Blame for what Ben wondered.

"it wasn't easy pulling the trigger and killing the guy"
Ben realised that the killer was in front of him right then.
But he wondered if he would recognise him if he saw him.
"well everything is done and I am free. I am thinking I should kill you"
Ben became very frightened but still didn't move. He tried his best not to give himself away.

He heard him start walking away. When he was sure the 'killer' was gone, he breathed out.
His heart was beating frantically. He knew he had to get out of there.
But how he was going to do that was a puzzle for him to solve; a puzzle he probably would never solve.

***
Now that they had a confession, Samuel had one less problem to solve. But he wondered if they really had the killer now or not. And besides they only had his confessions to go on with. Nothing to prove he really committed the offence.
They really could have the wrong person.
Wrong person or not he committed a crime he had to pay for, Samuel concluded.

And there was also the search for Ben. He still hadn't been found.
Then Samuel recalled that Ben was witness to the crime. He wondered if the gang had him.
He had to ask the guy that turned himself in.
He was about to the cell he was kept when he heard a commotion and decided to check.
Getting to the where he heard the noise from, he saw a man and a young woman arguing with one of the officers.

"we have reported his being missing two days ago." he heard the man say,"you guys still haven't told us anything yet."
he went towards them to try and settle the issue.
When he got there, the officer saluted him which made the two visitors to turn around.
"what is going on here?" He asked.
"they reported a person missing a day ago" the officer referring to the man and woman.

"And.....?"
"we still haven't found him"
"and who is this missing person?"
"A certain Benjamin......"
"did you say Benjamin?", Samuel said shocked.
The officer and the other two were confused and surprised at his reaction.
"why do you know him?"
He didn't answer but instead asked for their names.

"I am Malik" Malik said "and this is Adriana. We are friends of Benjamin"
"I have questions to ask you two" he said to them.
He then led them to his office.
On the way he thought of what he could possible get from them. They were also looking for Ben. How they would be able to help the case. He wasn't sure.
And there was still the question he had to ask James.