Book Excerpt
“I can’t find it!” Ayuba said with a
tremor in his voice. “It’s missing …
it's not where I kept it.”
“Break down the door, Mr. Simpson!”
ordered Mrs. Marshall.
I
looked at Ayuba, who shrugged his shoulders.
So, I put my shoulder to the door. The door was quite good, but my
shoulder was better. The door flew off the hinges, when I smashed into it. We
rushed in and met a gory sight. Maria was lying face up on her bed; her eyes
were open and staring in what seemed to be surprise, at the ceiling. Her mouth hung
slightly open. A butcher knife was
buried deep in her chest and the bedsheets were caked with dried blood. I did
not need a doctor to tell me that she was dead. Ayuba gasped in shock and Mrs.
Marshall screamed and fell forward. I caught hold of her, just in time to avoid
a nasty fall.
“She is dead!” said Ayuba, in a
strangled voice. Shock and dismay were
boldly written on his face. It dawned on me that this was the same room in
which a young lady had hung herself earlier in the year. Was it a room of
death? This was not good for business in
any Lodge.
“Did she kill herself?” asked Ayuba.
“Her door was still locked from inside.”
“I don’t know,” I replied, as I
helped Mrs. Marshall into a chair.
She
seemed to be in a state of shock. Her body was shaking and she kept saying,
“Maria! Maria! Maria!”
I
took some steps closer to the bed and examined the corpse. She had been dead
for hours and the knife was buried to the hilt. A loose, white, square button
lay close to her right hand; I observed that it did not match those on her
dress. Though I did not touch it, I could not help feeling that there was
something familiar about the button. I had seen it somewhere before, but I
could not quite remember.
“Call the police, Ayuba! And get an
ambulance,” I said.
The
other guests had been attracted by the scream and were now crowding the
doorway.
“What happened?” asked Willie, who
led the group. A shocked silence followed, when they saw the body.
Within
the hour, an ambulance and two police vans arrived. While waiting, I had kept
watch by the door of the bedroom, so that nothing would be tampered with. The
others had hung around, too. Mrs. Marshall had been taken to the lounge, where
Amina sat with her. She looked like she was desperately in need of medical attention.
She was still saying, “Maria! Maria! Maria!” intermittently. She was also
crying and shaking.
As
soon as the police came, we were all waved aside. We were kept out of the room,
while they worked, as was routine in such circumstances. Finally, a gurney was
brought out of the ambulance and wheeled into the room. Maria's body was placed
on it, covered with a sheet and wheeled inside the ambulance.
Mrs.
Marshall asked to accompany them to the morgue and they only agreed, when it
was explained that she was the mother of the dead girl.
Ten
policemen were dispatched; they went over the room and asked us all kinds of
questions. They kept nodding to themselves. I introduced myself as an
ex-policeman, thinking that would make them take me into their confidence. I
was greatly mistaken. They just smiled and asked some polite questions about my
career in the Force, then completely ignored me.
But
I was eager to know whether they had found the button, which I had seen. So, I
called one of the policemen aside.
“I don’t know if you saw a white
square button on the bed?” I asked.
“What about it?” asked the
policeman. His eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“I just wanted to know if you took
note of it,” I explained. “I observed that it did not match those on the dress
of the deceased.”
“We saw it and also took note.
Thank you,” said the officer curtly and he left. They probably thought I was
poking my nose into their investigation. I
would have thought the same.
About the Book
Title: Murder at Midnight
Author: John Ukah
Genre: Cozy Mystery
Alex Simpson, an ex-police officer,
decides after a bout of typhoid fever to take a break in a serene and
therapeutic environment. The last thing he expects is to be called upon
to solve a murder at the Kinging Guest Lodge. But that is what happens,
when the delectable and vivacious Maria Marshall is found dead in her
bedroom at midnight.
The gallery of characters living at the
guesthouse and thrown into the mix, do not make his task of solving this
chilling and brutal murder any easier …
Author Bio
John
Ukah is a seasoned banker and Associate of the Institute of Capital
Market Registrars (ACMR). He is a graduate of Business Administration
from the University of Benin, where he was listed as University Scholar.
He also holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration (MBA).Links
Purchase “Murder at Midnight” on Amazon: United States, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Japan, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and India.
It is also available on Smashwords, Kobo, Apple, Barnes & Noble (Nook), Okadabooks, and major online stores.
Okadabooks is mainly for buyers in Africa.
0 reacties:
Een reactie posten