Detective Tom Onyemaechi is a tall, solidly and athletic built man of 37 years. He has dark, fleshy face, the usual flat nose of a boxer and the eyes and mouth of a shrewd, ruthless cop. But beneath that look, lay a very considerate and compassionate mind. A mind that could be said to be Christ like and imbibed with a bible trained conscience that seeks to remedy the ills of the society in its own little way.
As a teenager, Tom has had his own fair share of the ghetto life and all the ills usually associated with it. In fact, he was in prison three times before he turned twenty and it was on his third confinement that he met Christ and his life took a turn around. He came into inspector Uhuru’s office a few minutes after 9:00 pm, and closing the door behind him gently, he took off his cap and paused momentarily for an invitation to sit down. 
The inspector pushed aside a file he was working on. “Hello sergeant, you may sit down, any news?” 
Sergeant Tom sat down heavily. “Take a look at this,” the Sergeant said, pushing a photograph of a young woman across the table to him.
The inspector picked up the photograph and examined it uninterestedly. “So who’s this? What’s the idea?” he asked, looking up.
“I picked it up in his apartment.”
“It doesn’t mean a thing. He’s got thousands of girlfriends, so what’s the idea? How is she connected with this case?”
“She could be an important lead.”
“Yes, but how? Look, I’m not going to waste tax payer’s money on another fruitless jamboree. We should do well to forget about that young man.”
“I don’t think so. This girl could lead us to him.” 
“Why do you think so?” The inspector asked again, his small pig’s eyes alert with suspicion.
Sergeant Tom pushed a newspaper cut out across the table to him. “I found this with the photograph.” 
The Inspector examined the newspaper cut out carefully. “It’s the same girl. You don’t think he is blackmailing her, do you?”
“Your guess is as good as mine, sir.”
“But… but I had the place thoroughly searched. How… how come I …I, well, where is this girl now? Do you know where we can we find her?”
“I have no idea, sir. But I will try.”
“Good. Do that and let me know if there is any development, okay?”
“I will,” Tom promised and stood up to go. “Well so long, sir.”
“Eh…just one more thing,” the inspector said, stalling him. “I don’t want anybody else to know about this development. I will like to spring some surprises. You know, no publicity.”
“Do you want me to bring her to the headquarters if I find her?” 
“No, no don’t do that. Just find her and I will fix her, okay?”
“Okay, sir. I’ll be gone.”
“Don’t worry about your expenses, I will make sure you are adequately compensated.”
“That will be very kind of you, sir.”
Several minutes after Tom left the office, Uhuru sat starring at the ceiling. This could be the big break he’s been waiting for. Grinning from ear to ear, he began to dial Chief’s number. 
“Hello Chief, it’s me,” he said as soon as the line went through.
“Yes Uhuru, any news?”
“Yes Chief, the net is closing in.”
“Good, good. What’s up in your angle?”
“We have found one of his girl friend’s and in a couple of days, we hope to nail him.”
“What do you mean by that?” he asked, his countenance changing. “Have you found the girl?”
“No sir, but I’ll soon have her.”
“Then you have nothing to report. Look, find this girl and bring her to me. I want to talk to her personally. I want to fix her myself, do you hear me?”
“Yes sir, will do, sir.” 
The line went dead.
Meanwhile, Tom couldn’t fathom the look in the inspector’s eyes. He knew the photograph has shocked him out of his wits but what he couldn’t understand why. Then his mind went back to sergeant Ajayi’s mysterious death, and he felt a cold chill run down his spine. He knew Senator Nnamani was poison and that whoever messes with him gets hurt. But the thought of making it, unraveling the case and probably being crowned the best investigative cop ever, over rode his survival instincts. He must get to the bottom of it all, he vowed as he picked up his car keys and went in search of the girl. 
On the 3rd day of hearing, eye witness number two, the hospital gateman, was in the witness box.
“Ebi dat kind of 2 o’clock in the affunoon way I see am dey run come fast like say devil dey pursue am. Then I come see Chief and madam dey run dey come after her shouting ‘catch am, catch am’. As the girl dey run come near the gate, na him she come run jam pastor Okechukwu like tipper wey fail brake. She come scatter his papers for ground.”
“Did they catch up with her?”
“No.”
“So what happened next?”
“Chief come dey blame his wife for not looking after the girl. So na him dey come dey fight. Chief come waka wit him motor. He come leave madam waka, drive go fiam. He nearly jam another man as e dey go so. Na me, …” he said, beating his chest twice. “Na me, as you dey see me so, come find taxi for madam.”
“Thank you sir, for coming.”
“Thank you.”
“Any question for the witness?”
“I have no question, your honor.”
On the 5th day of hearing, the IPO, Detective Tom Onyemaechi was brought in to testify.
“Officer, you are the IPO who arrested the deceased suspects, now can you tell this honorable court what happened on the day in question?”
“I was at my duty post at the state headquarters when we got a call from the security guards at pastor Okechukwu’s residential home that they have apprehended some armed robbery suspects. Quickly, we drove over to the Pastor’s house at Queens and King’s crescent.”
“Yes, when you got there what happened?”
“When we got there, we arrested the suspects and brought them down to the headquarters for further interrogation and investigation.”
“When you arrested them, did they make a statement?”
“Yes, of course, they did. In fact they made an unconditional confessional statement under the full glare of the camera and witnesses.”
“Were they under any kind of duress to make such statement?”
“No, not at all. In fact, they could choose to keep mum. It was a plea of absolution.”
“Is this their statement?”
“Yes, my lord.”
Turning to the judge, Barr. Nwaka said, “My lord, I wish to tender these statements as evidence.”
“Show to the defense counsel.”
“I have no objection.”
“Evidence is hereby admitted in court. You may continue, Barrister Nwaka.”
“Thank you, your honor. Now IPO, what time did you arrest the suspects?”
“It was around 6:00 am in the morning.”
“What was their mission in the house of the man of God at that ungodly hour?”
“In their statement, they said they were sent by Senator Nnamani to abduct Frankie, the politician’s daughter.”
“IPO, did you recover any ammunition from the suspects?”
“Yes, my lord. We recovered one Smith & Wesson pistol, three sub machine guns, jack knives, daggers and some hard drugs we later discovered were cocaine.”
“Are the exhibits in court?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Are these the exhibits?” Barr. Nwaka asked, raising the exhibits for all to see.
“Yes, my lord.”
“My lord, I want to tender these exhibits as evidence.”
“Show to the defense counsel.”
“I have no objection, my lord.”
“Evidence is hereby admitted. You may continue.”
“Thank you, your honor.” Turning to the IPO once again, he said, “Yes, go on IPO.”
“Immediately, we went to Senator Nnamani’s house to arrest him but we met his absence. So we drove over to his office, there we met him and we had promptly arrested him and took him down to headquarters for further interrogation.”
“Yes, go on.”
“Two days before the matter appeared in court, the four armed robbery suspects died in custody.”
“Died?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Died as in dead or kicked the bucket?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t know, my lord. I am not the officer on duty that night.”
“Was there a post mortem examination?”
“Yes, my lord. The police doctor examined them and said they died of suffocation.”
“What you are saying, IPO is that there was no independent autopsy?”
“Well, I wouldn’t say that. It is not my duty to do that.”
“Where are the bodies?”
“They’ve been interned, my lord”
“Interned? Why? Before concluding the hearing? When were they interned?”
“The very same day, my lord.”
“This is unbelievable,” Barr. Nwaka cried and turning to the judge, he said. “My lord, you can see from the statement of the IPO, that Senator Nnamani set out with aforethought to murder Frankie. When his mob failed in their bid, he wiped them out so they will not testify against him in court. To prove this point, my lord, I demand a fresh and independent autopsy be carried out to ascertain the real cause of their death.”
“Request granted,” the judge said. “I want a fresh and an independent autopsy to be carried out immediately to ascertain the real cause of their death. The court will also want the result to be ready before the next hearing. That will be all for today. Hearing will continue on June12th.”
“Court!” The court clerk bellowed.
The injunction issued by the court asking for the remains of the four diseased suspects to be exhumed for proper, fresh and independent post mortem examination to ascertain the real cause of their death sent shock waves throughout the length and breadth of the country. 
The entire culture of death flew into a panic and action. Witnesses began dropping dead like fowls in the street. The most daring being the sudden death of Sgt. Kolade Ajayi, the officer on duty the night the suspects died. He was killed by a hit and run driver while jogging one morning. They also made efforts to falsify the result of the autopsy, but it was a near impossible task.
After one week of grueling silence, the result of the autopsy was published, proving beyond reasonable doubt that the four diseased suspects were, indeed, poisoned. The result sent cold shivers down the spines of all and sundry. The populace lost faith in the entire police force and finally caught a glimpse into the real poison that Senator Nnamani was.
Meanwhile, the culture of death was in chaos. The result was like the proverbial handwriting on the wall. It was crystal clear Senator Nnamani was definitely losing the war. Already, the masses were calling for his resignation from the presidential race until the court concludes its hearing.
So, they went back to plan B. They knew that as long as Frankie is alive, they will never win the war on abortion and contraception. They also knew the only way to safe guard their future was to eliminate Frankie immediately.
“That’s the only option left. The dead stay dumb,” the Director of Health, Alhaji Tanko Umar said. “As long as she is still alive, she will forever talk. She’s got a grudge against the society, you know?”
“Exactly my sentiments too,” the Commissioner of Police said. “My job is on the line because of this girl.”
“My only worry is how to get a replacement for your daughter and not how to eliminate her, people will ask of her whereabouts, you know?” the Director of Military Intelligence asked.
“Don’t worry about that, I’ve already taken care of that,” the SSS director said.
“How? I mean, how can that be possible?” the Commissioner of Police asked, sitting up.
“Tina!” he called, raising his voice. After a brief, tension soaked moment, a door opened and a young girl of about 16 years or so appeared. Everybody turned to look at her, including Senator Nnamani, except the SSS director.
“This is Tina,” the director of State Security Service introduced her without looking back. 
They all took turned to assess her and after a brief moment, the SSS boss said. “You can go back now, Tina, thanks.”
“She looks exactly like your daughter, Chief,” the Commissioner of Police said to Senator Nnamani immediately she disappeared.
“Yeah, only a little darker,” chief said, speaking for the first time.
“Her skin can be lightened,” the Director of Health put in.
“Where on earth did you find her?” Senator Nnamani asked.
“Does it matter? No relations, no friends and if very well motivated and compensated, will make a live broadcast that she is taking the case out of court and will be going to America to have her baby.”
“What is going to be the nature of the compensation?” the health boss asked.
“It’s not going to be something you can’t pay.”