Before evening, the news about the murdered students had reached the media. The police were currently at the crime scene.
From what the media reported, a female student who was the victim's neighbor in the same compound, had stormed into the room as usual without knocking, to beg them for salt and small onions, when her eyes witnessed the kind of thing that she had only watched in movies or read in a crime book.
The 200 level mechanical engineering student named Kosisochi Samantha Obiano had run out of the room, screaming hysterically and thereby alerting the other tenants who came out to see what happened. Stopped cold by the gruesome sight before them, they had called the police.
The police arrived at the crime scene just as Kosi, who finally stopped screaming hysterically and fainted out of shock, was rushed to the nearest government hospital to be taken care of. The doctors would keep her under observation for the next twenty-four hours.
The Rivers State Police Commissioner was watching the news coverage about the dead students in his office.
The Rivers State police public relations officer was currently having a press conference close to the crime scene with correspondence from several media outlets.
"Yes, we have been able to interrogate all the students in that compound apart from the first eyewitness that has been admitted to the hospital as we speak because of shock," the public relations officer answered the
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correspondent from Wazobia FM. "We are monitoring her progress, and we will interrogate her when she becomes coherent."
The next answer was in reply to the question asked by another correspondent from Silverbird TV.
"We are still investigating. However, from what we have gathered so far from people who know the couple, the two of them have been known for quarreling frequently over trust issues. The male victim had threatened several times to break up with his girlfriend who was the second victim."
A reporter from NTA asked the next question. "What have been the observations of the police so far from the crime scene?"
"As we entered the victim's room, we found both the young man and his girlfriend lying in a pool of their own blood that flowed from gunshot wounds. The gun we saw in the female victim's hand and the residue of gunpowder matches the bullets that killed them," the PRO replied and took another question from one of the Today FM reporters.
"Has the exact cause of the death of the victims been determined?"
"For now, the investigation is still ongoing and thus, inconclusive. I would ask for your cooperation and for you not to make any speculations. When we are done, an official statement will be released to the public."
Reporters from Channels TV, African independent television, Vanguard Newspaper, the Sun Newspaper, the Daily Newspaper and several more kept throwing questions at him like hail. The PRO dutifully answered all of them as best as he could; but the Rivers State Police Commissioner was no longer listening.
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Instead, his mind drifted off to the event that had been taking place for the past three weeks and the last private conversation he had with the person now parading himself as Omotola.
He still remembered that conversation as though it just happened a few minutes ago. He remembered that bone-chilling answer Omotola had given him when he asked about the death of the armed robbers.
"I killed them," he had replied flatly like he had no other choice than to do it.
"Why did you do it?" Abubakar asked.
"I did it for your sake," Omotola replied after a brief hesitation as if he was trying to shield the commissioner from a trouble bigger than him.
"What do you mean you did it for my sake?"
"Please, Mr Commissioner, do we have to go over this?" His tone of voice was almost pleading with the commissioner not to take this far for his own sake.
But instead of yielding the desired results, it exacerbated Abubakar's curiosity.
"Go ahead and tell me. I want to hear it."
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After several protests and persuasions from both sides, the Omotola, finally gave in.
"There is no simple way of softening this heavy blow, and since you don't want the easy way out, I'll just go ahead and tell you; but don't say I didn't warn you."
There was static for a while before Omotola spoke again. But when he did, Abubakar wished that he had not persuaded him.
"They wanted to kill one of your sons. Your fourth son to be precise; the first son from your third wife. Ibrahim Ali AbdulRahman."
The commissioner was shocked at first, but regaining his composure, he asked, "Why? How so?"
"Ibrahim was going to be killed that night by the armed robbers. The two thugs I killed that night were the ones saddled with the task of assassinating your son."
"Surely you can do better to convince me by mentioning my son's name. It wouldn't be difficult for someone who was able to get my private phone number and my private email to also know the names of each member of my family."
"Of course not."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
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"I was just saying that you are correct and that is why I've sent you more proof from a nearby surveillance camera.
"The footage is from an adjacent supermarket, boldly displaying the face of your son, who is secretly a member of Alpha Shadows, and the other criminals as they were running away with their stolen possessions.
"You don't have to worry that the footage would eventually get into the hands of the police because I hacked into their system and deleted that particular footage."
Abubakar logged into his email address, downloaded the video, and watched it. Staring at him was all the proof he needed.
"The reason they wanted to kill your son was because he is the son of a law enforcement officer," Omotola continued.
"Your son is not the only child of a law enforcement officer in the gang. There are other children from police families and other military sectors in the country, and there is an ongoing plan to kill all of them. This is because, although your son and his counterparts joined out of their own free will, Alpha Shadows fears that they are being infiltrated, and thus, they are not taking any chances.
"That is why they are discreetly killing them under so many guises, including the guises of an operation.
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"I got the knowledge of this clandestine operation when I hacked into their database and I've sent the plan to you in a separate file where I wrote down everything verbatim."
Abubakar remembered opening the file sent to his email and reading it in shock.
He finished reading and looked up from the documents with tears in his eyes. He didn't even know when they started trickling down his cheeks, because he had been too grief-stricken to notice.
After managing to put on a strong bravado, he nailed one of the warehouses of Tekena Green who is the current leader of Alpha Shadows, smiled to the cameras as he answered questions from the media, and had returned to his office, numb and distraught.
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