“Come,” his voice called from the other side of the door.
I opened the door and stepped in. “Good morning, sir.” I thought of saluting but decided against it-he would think I was being sarcastic.
He looked up at me. A file folder was in his hand. “You contacted Barrister Howell Osamu yesterday.” It was a statement, not a question. “Captain Akpan has brought me up to date. Which is more than I can say for you, young man.”
I realized Captain Akpan was standing over to one side. His eyes met mine without flinching.
“I did not step out of line, sir. Not at all. I had a suspect. I wanted to know his address and his attorney had it.”
He flipped through the pages of the folder, exchanging a glance with Akpan. “And afterward you followed him to Borikiri, where he met with someone in a black Ford Expedition?”
I was surprised and had no quick response. Chief seemed to know everything.
“Well, detective?” he asked.
“Yes, sir. I did.”
“Who was in the Expedition?”
“I don’t know, sir.” I felt not only challenged, but also incompetent.
“Hmmph. And why did you follow the attorney?”
“I thought there was a solid connection between the attorney and the bombing, given his clients.”
“I am listening.”
“Sir, if someone wanted to eliminate Okpara, it would be Dr. Puene. For reasons we all know. The guy Osamu took on bail was a suspect in the murder of Judge Karibi’s wife. And Osamu is Puene’s lawyer.”
“Do you have any proof of Puene’s involvement, detective?” Chief asked me.
“No, sir. Not yet.”
“You’re going after Osamu with no proof at all? That’s beyond weak. We know next to nothing. Osamu is not a good person to harass. His clients include some of our most powerful individuals. If you are going to mess with him you had better be certain you can prove your case.”
“Of course. You are right, sir.”
“We don’t know who was in that Expedition. It could have been one of his clients, it could have been his mistress. There is no way to know if it has any bearing on this case.”
“Right now, no.”
He rested his hands on the desk. “Right now, it’s all just sounds, just you mouthing off. You can’t say who was in the Expedition, much less that it was Dr. Puene. No proof of any kind. Just guesses. You do not make the rich and powerful uncomfortable unless you have a good reason.”
Chief’s eyes were steady.
Akpan cleared his throat to break the silence between us. “So what do you think, detective? What do you really think?” Akpan asked. I was surprised at his support.
“My bet is that Dr. Puene is our man.”
“Hmmph,” Chief responded. “Detective, this is the most ridiculous casework I have heard this year. You are talking about powerful, highly placed men. They do not have to resort to murder to get what they want. That is what money is for. Money works much better than murder.”
He sounded confident but I did not believe him. I looked at Akpan, who did not look back.
“Chief,” I continued, “the doctor wants the statehouse. You can never tell what a desperate man will do. The higher the goal, the more desperate. Governor is a high goal.”
“It’s a long shot, detective,” Akpan said.
“Agreed. In the end, it’s just a hunch,” I said. Even with support from Akpan, I was alone-his support could only go so far. Whether Chief had career worries, whether he knew something I did not know-I was on my own. I turned back to Chief. “All I need to do is to get ahold of this Thompson character, sir. He’ll prove me right.”
“Good luck with that. There is more at stake than you realize, detective.” He leaned forward, eyes grim. “There is a lot you do not know. I will not have you jeopardize our investigation into Osamu’s activities with the Duncan gang.”
“Investigation?” That caught me up short. “I don’t understand.”
“Tell him, captain,” Chief said simply. He leaned back, watching me.
“Detective, we have followed Osamu’s dealings with the Duncan gang for close to eighteen months now after the Barigha Duncan case. We have put a lot of resources into the investigation.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Very few people can know. You were not supposed to be one of them. That is why the investigation has been successful-so far. The real problem is, this is not just the Okpara bombing. The stakes are high. We can’t have you jeopardize our operation to break the Duncan gang by alerting Osamu in any way. If he realizes you are watching him, if you make him suspicious, his guard will be up. Even if he does not know about our investigation, our work could be lost or seriously damaged. We believe the Duncan crime family uses Osamu for their money laundering. Osamu has to be in the dark about our investigation for as long as possible.”
“Detective,” Chief said, his voice changing to something resembling friendly, “you are in the middle of an interagency task force operation involving the police and the National Drug Law and Enforcement Agency. We are trying to break the Duncan gang and flush out Barigha and others. Police Commissioner Ahmed Abdullah put me in charge. Now you may have put Osamu on alert, and we had to bring you in. Osamu is not to be rattled. Not now. We need enough evidence to put them all behind bars. Do you understand?”
“I do, sir, but. .”
“No buts. Stop seeing him. You’re not going to ruin a year and a half’s work against these criminals by playing the hero.”
“Isn’t it in your operation’s best interests that he thinks the police are after him-not about your investigation, but mine? Would that not throw him off?”
Akpan scratched his chin. “He has a point.”
Chief chewed on it. “If I let you proceed, detective, what would you do?”
“Get Dr. Puene, using Osamu. If I get enough dirt on his hands, maybe he’ll turn over Puene.”
“Out of the question,” Chief said after a moment. “We don’t know if it’ll work. Maybe he’ll think you’re somehow our point man on the Duncan gang. Maybe he’ll shred his papers and skip town. Then our operation is in the toilet. I am not changing my plan. You’ve already done enough damage, just going to see him.”
“If I don’t see him again about Thompson, Osamu would get even more suspicious. He doesn’t expect me to back out easily.”
Akpan nodded in support when Chief looked at him.
“Very well,” Chief said reluctantly. “But report every detail to me. And you are now part of the interagency Special Ops. You will report directly to me and no one else. No one else. Are we clear?”
“Yes, Chief. Perfectly clear.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
A few minutes later, I was out of the cool air and back into the heat, although Chief’s office had been hot enough. Forty minutes later, I parked across the street from Osamu’s office and went upstairs to the top floor, the envelope of photos under my arm. I walked up to Carol’s desk. She recognized me and pressed a button. A red button.
I smiled. “Good afternoon, lady. Is your boss free?”
The door to the office opened, revealing an unsmiling Osamu. “Again, detective? Leave before I call security.”
I smiled again. “Good afternoon, counselor. I came by to drop this off,” I said, handing him the envelope.
He opened it. The photos slid out onto his open palm. He took one look and his eyes narrowed.
“Carol, hold my calls,” he said.
“Do I call security?” she asked rather sweetly.
“No need for that. No need.” He walked back into his office. I winked at Carol. She frowned.
I followed Osamu into his office, closing the door behind us.
“I assume the headless man is me?”
“Doesn’t he look better?”
“Detective, your point is what, exactly? That I drive in my car? That I walk in the streets?”
“We know all about his plan. We know Thompson works for him. We know Thompson killed Mrs. Karibi, too. Mrs. Karibi saw Angus Sekibo. I need to find Thompson and the murder weapon; he’ll be going down. Counselor, if you’ve moved past being an attorney and into being an accomplice, you can still save yourself. Throw in with us. Tell me what you know about the bombing and the plot to take political control of Port Harcourt.”