The Hole in The Wall - Season 1 - Episode 3

4 years ago

The Hole in The Wall - Season 1 - Episode 3

why,Where,…who?

I didn’t like the way the detective looked at me, it made me feel uncomfortable to say the least. Her eyes were impassive and almost expressionless but there was anger in them.
“So you just happened to stumble on the murder weapon?” She asked as she stepped back so Teddy could bag it.
“I wouldn’t have stumbled on anything if you had done your job and canvassed the area properly” I replied with much heat.

She backed down but studied me suspiciously.
Who was this clown? I could see a slim rectangular badge with her name clipped on her breast pocket. M. Dagnet. Whoever she was she couldn’t burst the bubble of elation I was feeling at the moment. The last shadow was dead! The sticky blood splattered on the wall belonged to the shadow, murdered in cold blood but that wasn’t the important thing right?

“Done” Terry stood up straight and held the weapon up so we could see it through the transparent ziplock bag.
“What weapon is that?” I asked him then glanced at Andy
“This is a colt. Colt 45…powerful handdgun” he said confidently.
“Bollocks…that’s a desert eagle” Andy countered.

Teddy shook his head like he was explaining to a confused child. “The deagle has a longer barrel…that is often the beauty and should I say Achilles hill…but this here is a colt no doubt”
“Diggle?” I asked
“Deagle” he repeated then looked at the detective. “Where did these people come from?”

“Go and finish up in the other room and make sure to retrieve the bullet fragments and shell casing..let’s run a match and be sure”
Teddy left the room without a word.
“Can you trace the gun to the owner?” I asked

“If its registered” she replied “which I doubt” she looked at me strangely “so…I’m made to believe you had some kind of peculiar relationship with the deceased”
“There was no relationship…there was nothing peculiar…I exposed his band of assassins, he went into hiding then threatened me”

She scrutinized me further and I was suddenly sick of her bullshit.

“Look..if you want to interview me…go ahead but for now I have a personal interest in this case and I have jurisdiction and approval to investigate what I want…I’d dig up the badge if that’s what you want”

My rant subdued her for the main time and she beeped Terry to sweep the room for finger prints before he left. I pitied the young man and his huge workload.

She looked at me for some seconds then apologised stiffly “I may have been out of line..we need to work together”
“Its alright…you’re just doing your job” I replied readily

“Now that you girls have put away your claws can we proceed with the investigation?” Andy asked cheerfully.

The three of us headed downstairs to the receptionist’s desk.

•°•°•°•

The receptionist was a young man in his early twenties. There was something familiar about him and I became certain I had used this hotel sometime in the past.

I observed his clustered desk as he flipped the pages of a giant book which had to be the registry.

“Make that 48 hours…the last 48 hours…do you remember who lodged in? Room 37?” the detective asked. She was in charge of the investigation and she made sure we knew that.
He scratched his head as he traced the names with a finger. “I’m sure I’ll remember once I see the name” he flipped a page and we waited for him patiently as he traced the name he had registered for the room with the hole.

“Okay…here it is….by 2:30pm yesterday one miss Olivia paid for two days”
“Wait a minute…a woman?” Andy asked surprised. The detective was also clearly shocked.

My brain was swimming. Miss Olivia? What a hell of a coincidence…the same name with my wife although I’m sure it wasn’t a real name.

“That’s it..no surname?” Detective Dagnet asked.

“I’d have to fish out a copy of the receipt..this was just for registry purposes”
“Please you need to fish it out immediately” she replied

Andy spoke up “do you remember anything about her?”

The man paused his hand on the drawer he had been about to open then frowned into space as he tried to recall.

Detective Dagnet sighed in frustration “forget that first, do what I asked you…get the receipt”
I saw Andy glance at her with fire in his eyes.
“For all we know that name is phony!”
The desk clerk snapped his fingers and the detective bit back whatever retort she had come up with. I just looked at everyone in silence the name ‘miss Olivia’ kept dancing round my head. I was uneasy.
“Room 37…she was young…maybe my age, I remember because when I gave her the keys I wondered about the dark shades she had on and joked about it but she didn’t smile.” He frowned and I could tell he wasn’t pleased with the way his joke had affected or should I say unaffected her.

“What else can you remember?” I prodded him.

He glanced at me “ooh…she was a looker all right” he smiled mischievously.
“Can you bring out the receipt now?” The detective asked through her teeth.
He opened the drawer immediately and buried his nose inside, searching for the copy of the receipt he had given the lady killer.
He rumaged round the drawer then opened the next “it has to be here somewhere” but his desk was a mess, and each drawer was filled to the brim with receipts all with his crab like writing.

I observed the hotel, there was a security camera at a corner facing the door then there was another in a good angle, facing the clerk’s desk. I caught Andy also staring at the camera and I could tell we were thinking the same thing. The detective however had her mind set on getting the receipt and a name to work with, she hadn’t even noticed the cameras.
“These cameras how long do the clips last?” I asked.

He looked up and glanced at me again “I think 24 hours or so…the clips are recorded in the manager’s office”
“Manager….not security?” Andy asked surprised.

“He has trust issues..we have security but they just stand around basically” he replied with a shrug.

“So he’d be able to show us the tape?” I checked my watch..it wasn’t up to 24 hours since the killer had lodged in and from the clerk’s description the killer had spent a considerable amount of seconds at the desk.
“Yes once you flash that shiny badge in his face he’d show you anything” he pointed at the belt on Andy’s hip and I raised an eyebrow.

“What was the joke you told her? Tell it to me” I said and the detective looked at me. I could tell she felt the investigation was getting out of hand and was no doubt about to call for the receipt again but the clerk slid the drawer shut and smiled sheepishly.

“I may have joked that I was the one who needed her shades because her boobs were larger than the sun”
“What a nasty and sexist joke…to a potential customer for that matter…believe me if we were in other advanced countries you would have been charged with sexual assault” the detective spat the words with so much venom, taking a threatening step forward.
“Jeez not one of those bloody feminists again” Andy muttered to me and I rolled my eyes in agreement..

The clerk was visibly shaken and he held out a piece of paper like a sacrifice.
“I’ve found the receipt…here it is”
“What’s the full name?” She asked immediately
He scanned the receipt.
“Olivia Obasi” he said.

Andy looked at me.

My eyes were rolling but this time it wasn’t intentional..

Tonye
When Bami answered his phone and got up she rolled over enjoying the free space. She waited for him to come back or call her for coffee like he normally did but he didn’t.
After what felt like an hour, she stretched awake fully.

“Bami” she called out.
When he didn’t answer she brushed her teeth then went to the kitchen to get her mug. She saw his scribbled note on the fridge when she needed milk.

just got a called to a new scene, call you later.
Of course a new scene.as if she didn’t know it was I] to the last shadow that had everybody running around the last three days.
She opened the fridge and closed it without taking the milk. She stumped back to the room. Her husband was fond of this, they were supposed to be a team but he always seemed to forget she had been an agent before she became his wife and was in fact still one.
She was about speed dialing his number when her phone rang in her hand. It was Olivia. She picked immediately.

“Hello………you know Rex anything about family……..”

“Thanks for telling me about the threat and everything”
“We sisters have to look after ourselves”
When she dropped the call she stood lost in thought for some minutes.

Olivia was her friend. The closest friend she had ever had and when Rex first received the emailed threat, she at first agreed with them to keep the news from Olivia but when she found out Rex had planned for Olivia and their daughter Emma’s weekend trip to the middle belt, she couldn’t hold herself. This wasn’t just any case, where people were vic1 or John Doe, no this was real. Olivia was a friend, her friend, Emma was her goddaughter.

And so she had called and informed Olivia that night and Olivia had been shocked, scared, angry but had agreed the safest course of action would be to travel for the weekend.
After the call with Olivia, she forgot her initial annoyance at her husband and forgot the eggs also. The helplessness in her friends voice had really gotten to her.

She speed dialled another number.
“Hello”
“Kristen where is the report I asked for?”
“I’m with it ma…its on your desk already”
“Why the hell is it on my desk didn’t I tell you I needed it in soft copy sent to my phone?”
“Actually you didn’t but-”
“Must I tell you?”
“I thought-”
“Anyway I’m on my way” She cut the call then winced. That was harsh but she couldn’t afford any slip ups not when her friends lives were at stake. The report was accumulated and collated data on every person alive that had one sort of association or the other with the shadows. With priority on the last two alive. The missing leader and the second one in prison. The report was as you’d expect voluminous. The suspect list was unending. And she was way behind.

She Changed her clothes and grabbed her keys and just like her husband earlier she hurriedly skipped the shower.

At least she brushed.