CLAD

7

Words couldn't efficiently describe my disappointment on finding out that the driver guy used the hotel parking lot for a fee, every time he had an errand to run that was not in line with driving clients, between shifts. He had a lot of jobs in bid to make ends meet. The company did not want the drivers to overuse their cars. So, they made them sign an agreement to that effect.

The client who made the upfront payment for the vehicle was Modupe, a popular singer and model. Her car had developed a fault. She was lodged in a hotel and was rehearsing all day long for her concert the past weekend on the day of the murder.

Clearly, we were back to square one, no murderer!

Guess who was super furious.

"Do you know how serious this can get if Modupe sues us for damages?"

"It's not like we knew, she hired the vehicle. We felt good about discovering something new after a long while..." I argued.

"Oh, something new and now irrelevant, right?" She cut me off.

For me, I was done. I didn't have the energy to argue with Clara. I was exhausted by thoughts of what life in and after jail would be like.

The door swung open and Bode walked in with a flash drive in his hands. He walked straight to Clara's table, turned her laptop to face him and inserted the flash drive. After some clicks, he turned the monitor back to Clara with his lips tugged up in a shy smile which was soon followed by one from Clara too.

Aisha walked in then.

"I was thinking. Maybe we could just abduct her ex lovers and torture them?" Aisha said thoughtfully staring at the ground while holding her chin.

"No, we don't have that much time and Chief said to find and frame. You almost can't frame someone you tortured. What if they even died?" I answered, hoping that everyone else agreed with me.

"Oh, right!" She swung her arms in the air, an expression of surrender.

" Can you please tell us what's got you smiling?" I asked looking searchingly at Clara and Bode. He was explaining something to her. They exchanged glances and spoke a few more words. I was really getting impatient and their silence wasn't helping. I had just finalized plans to slam my hands on the table which I knew I didn't have the balls to do. I took my first step towards the table.

"Ahem!" Bode stood upright still smiling and said,
"I finally got my hands on the codes and I've been in the Band archives for about thirty minutes now."

"And?" My eyes searched his for a clue as to what the joy was about.

"We have a suspect again. This time one that's most definitely the killer. A certain Bruno had been having an affair with Gloria." Bode continued.

"They had dated before and had only rekindled the flames of their love last year.

"I knew it!" Aisha blurted.

"He had made her a proposition; to double her money if she invested in a business line he just discovered. Gloria had agreed to see Bruno a night before her death to talk more about his proposal"

The tension in my chest dissipated and I could feel my shoulders relax as I let out a huge sigh. I didn't know why I felt like I had just arrived home. We clearly were not finished even if Bruno turned out to be the murderer but finding out that we had another lead in the case had just made my day.

After digging up some more dirt on Bruno and carefully scrutinizing the messages they exchanged we discovered that he was on the run for a murder case which happened six years ago but all of a sudden he resurfaced two years later and the whole matter seemed to have died down. It was as if there was no murder in the first instance. I could smell a dead rat.