Treachery in the Yard by Adimchinma Ibe Read Free Book Online

chest, waiting until I was completely gone.
    When I returned to our office Femi told me that Okon had been brought in and was waiting in the interrogation room.
    â€œExcellent,” I said. “I’ll tell him hello from his wife.”
    â€œHow did it go with her?”
    â€œShe knows something but I have no idea what. Maybe she just knows enough to tell me nothing.”
    â€œBut she won’t speak, eh?”
    â€œNothing worthwhile.” I shook my head. “I doubt we’ll get anything from Abasi, either.”
    â€œWell then, go ahead and waste your time interviewing him. I’ll stay here to get some useful work done.”
    I gave him a sarcastic grin as I left our office. Femi liked paperwork, while I have always been the sort of guy who wants to shred the papers and go out into the field. This time instead of going out into a field, I walked across the Yard.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    At the main building, Corporal Ogbonnaya Ubani was at the counter. I told him I wanted to see Abasi. He brought up a constable who took me to the interrogation room. Abasi was already there, and looked up as I walked in. I took a spare chair and dropped the bombing report on the table in front of him. It made a loud thump. I also pulled out a pocket tape recorder and pressed Record.
    â€œYou understand your rights?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œYou have the right to have a lawyer present.”
    â€œAm I being arrested? For what?”
    â€œAre you willing to waive your rights?” Sometimes I found it helpful to ignore rights, something of course I’d never want done to myself.
    â€œNo. But that won’t matter, will it?”
    â€œSometimes. Not today. Too much is at stake.” He seemed confident enough. Perhaps he had nothing to hide after all. He was not insisting on lawyering up. “Do you know the man that ran from the bomb scene personally?”
    â€œWho?”
    I read from the report: “About six feet tall. Big man. He drives a white 305 Peugeot.”
    â€œThat guy? He said he was the plumber, that Okpara called him over. It was suspicious, my master asking for a plumber himself.”
    â€œSo you did not believe him?”
    He nodded. I rather liked him. “I knew he was lying. I knew the workers who came to the house. I’d never set eyes on him before. And he was too well dressed for a plumber. But I checked inside. Stephen Wike told me to let him in.”
    â€œWike?”
    He nodded again.
    â€œThis is the truth?”
    â€œYes. Wike told me that they had called a plumber for the upstairs washroom.”
    â€œWas he the one who set the bomb off?”
    â€œI wouldn’t know. I was at my post when the explosions happened.”
    It was easy enough to check. Wike. Interesting. I got up abruptly and went for the door.
    â€œAm I free to go?”
    â€œYes, thanks,” I told him, and told Ubani to have him released.
    I decided to be political. This whole case was political. I needed allies. I decided to call on Captain Akpan, who was waiting in his office. I brought him up to speed.
    â€œReally?” Akpan asked incredulously. “Wike believed the guy was a plumber?”
    â€œMaybe. Maybe he knew all along that this plumber knew nothing about faucets and sinks. I think Wike knows more than he is telling.”
    â€œDid the house need a plumber?”
    â€œHaven’t gotten there yet. I thought I’d pass this on right away.”
    â€œI appreciate that.” He sat back, thinking. “There are six house helps and three relations we could question. They have already been interviewed, but without this new information.”
    â€œFemi and I can interview them.”
    â€œGood. Do that. Right away. What else?”
    â€œI have more questions now than before.”
    Femi knocked on Akpan’s open door. We both turned to look at him.
    â€œOne of the two mystery men at the Karibis last night was picked up by patrol officers.