THE STORY 2 EP. 3

 EPISODE THREE

THE STORY 2

BY PRAISE UMORU

Jeremy and Malia have officially been added to the crew. They were both fond of coming to the Centre at their leisure time and also told about the progress of any trivial story.

 Although Jeremy and Malia never came together except coincidently, but they tried to put out their differences whenever they all were working together, but it was always clear they wanted their distance since they still weren’t in talking terms.

Just like every other recess, the crew assembled together at the Centre to work out their next move, but today seemed a bit different as they had unexpected visitors

Jeremy and Eli were startled as they were the first to sight the unexpected visitors

“Good day ladies and gentlemen” a young man that looked like he was in his late twenties greeted the crew, as the crew fixated their eyes on two men at the doorstep that accompanied stares from some of the students at the hallway

“I’m detective Nazil and this is my partner” Although the crew couldn’t confirm his identity on the ID card he exposed but they dimmed it authentic

The school counsellor, Mrs. Star, immediately appeared at the door talking to the detectives. The crew were still mute and just fixed their gaze, watching. Mrs. Star seemed to be asking the detectives some questions. Hands from both sides kept wavering to and fro and at last Mrs. Star nodded to something detective Nazil said.

Mrs. Star drew closer to the crew’s silent bodies, “they just want to talk about Frank” she tried clearing the air with an assuring smile that all was alright

Mrs. Star ordered the eyes outside the Centre to clear out.

“Could the rest of you step out” detective Nazil’s eyes rotated round the crew except for Quinn who was a bit distant from the others “I’ll like a private talk individually” he finished

The atmosphere seemed tensed for some reason. Tony gave Quinn a slight nod before heading out last

Detective Nazil took the only wooden four-legged chair in the room, taking a seat opposite Quinn who sat on the sofa. He placed his recorder on the stool beside him. His partner seemed like he preferred to stand with his hands folded. He held a strong expression. He made it look like laughing was a sin. He was the complete opposite of his colleague who talked softly and made her feel a bit comfortable

With some crime movies Quinn had watched, she presumed they were trying to play the good cop, bad cop game.

(Quinn)

“What is your name?” he asked intertwining his fingers and placing them on his laps

“Quinn Chaka” she said plainly

Her full name seemed to be some sort of amusement to the standing detective but he quickly restrained himself from showing it

Quinn knew her surname has always sounded weird especially when it was always pronounced together with her first name. It was a rare native name according to her father. Quinn began to remember scenarios back in high school, when she would be teased, mocked and most times mimicked mainly because of her surname. She had begun to hate the name, which forced her into asking her father to change her surname. Her father should have been furious for his only child to ask of such a thing, but instead he told her the meaning of Chaka which either means royalty or king. He further explained to her and convinced her, that if someone called her full name, it either meant, Royalty Quinn or Queen Quinn.

Quinn remembered her face lit up with a smile at the sound of Queen Quinn. It didn’t sound odd any more to her, instead her name just sounded more unique…

Detective Nazil on the other hand didn’t want to seem rude even after he chuckled, so he complimented and continued

“What’s your relationship with Frank Ambrose?”

“I don’t have one, I don’t even know him… never have I met him before” she spoke without a sense of nervousness in her voice

“But you are one of the students that brought out his story. How can you meddle in the life of someone with so much interest and seriousness that you claim to be unknown to you?” his question seemed more like a statement than a question

Quinn looked at him with a ridiculous gaze. She fought the urge to answer him in a sarcastically rude way, but she didn’t want to see herself in jail because of an act of disrespect

“With all due respect sir, I doubt you know all the people you have ever investigated” she gave an expression including herself to the list of his investigates “I’m a school reporter, I write about everybody, and even if I don’t know you sir…” she emphasized ‘sir’ to remind him she wasn’t being disrespectful “I am going to write about you”

The detective fought with an embarrassed, yet more impressed look. His partner on the other hand, gave a smirk but he quickly coordinated himself

The detective hesitated in order to reincorporate himself before he continued “so what story did you find about Frank other than his death”

“We couldn’t find much, we only got to know he was friends with two of my colleagues. And that he was diagnosed with Melanoma.” Quinn tried to be careful with her words in order not to give the detectives a glimpse of her knowledge about the real cause of Frank’s death.

“And what are the names of these friends of his?”

“Jeremy and Malia”

He looked at her with distrusting eyes but decided to let her off the hook for the meantime

Quinn stepped out and was replaced by Malia

(Malia)

“What is your name?” he begun with her

“Ma…Malia Williams”

Malia seemed tensed with her response, making the two detectives gaze at each other

“What faculty are you in?”

“Faculty of la…law sir”

“What is your relationship with Mr. Frank Ambrose?” 

“He…he was my…my friend, my…best friend”

The detective’s partner had shifted his entire body towards Malia as he placed an intent gaze on her

“And…” his partner signaled for Malia to continue like she had something more to say

Malia decided to think of her words well enough before speaking as her nervousness was giving her away

“We were just friends; we would study together… we did things together… I would never hurt Frank I swear…”

The detectives became suspicious

His partner decided to take charge of the interrogation as he began to move around her

“We never asked if you could hurt Frank” the partner said in a strong but weirdly calm tone

“I…I… I have just never been interrogated before, I’m… just nervous”

“Your nervousness might only expose your guilt… maybe you are guilty of something… maybe you are trying to hide something” the detective was now in front of her 

“I am not, I swear” Malia tried defending

“When was the last time you saw and spoke to Frank?”

“I… the last time we spoke… was when he told me how he felt about me. That was the last time” Malia could feel the warm sweat drop like a drawn line from her head down her cheek

“And what did he say about how he felt?”

“He…” she looked at them with her nervous eyes before she continued “he told me he loved me, regardless of the fact that I was in a relationship…”

“And what was your response?”

“I didn’t give him one. I just stood silent and dumbfounded. I tried to tell him I was happy with Jeremy but he…he…” 

Malia restrained herself from letting the rest of the words out

“He did what young lady!” the detective yelled

“He didn’t care” Malia responded calmly not meeting her gaze with that of the detective “so I stormed out and left.” She hesitated “that was the last time I saw him. I regret not sorting things out with him before he died” Malia’s tears began to support her words “I hated myself so much. The guilt of me being part of his death still haunts me every day.”

Malia looked at the eyes of the detectives who didn’t seem to buy her tears “I would never hurt Frank. He was always there for me; he always saw the good in everyone especially me. Frank taught me about forgiveness even when hate seemed inevitable, he taught me about laughter even if there was no reason for one…” she wiped her tears slowly as she sat up right “and even if I killed Frank, why would I be here? I should have eloped or not come out publicly if I didn’t want to be caught”

Malia gazed at them both. The two detectives tried to read her eyes but it was blank…”

To be continued…

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