Red eye

The stench of blood is everywhere. I hold a handkerchief closer to my nose as I walk deeper into the room. I freeze as the scene in front of me unfolds. There’s a head on the dresser, the body is neatly dressed on the bed with the blood still slowly oozing out of the neck. I feel the bile rising in my throat. I gulp to swallow it back down. I can’t throw up here. I can’t throw up now. I take some pictures.

‘’No sign of forced entry’’ My partner, Zero says to me. ‘’Looks like whoever did this knew this lady.’’

‘’Ajoke’’ I say her name, as I look at the photo board on the wall with large inscription Ajoke and Kunle forever. ‘’Where’s Kunle?’’ I ask Zero as we walk out the bloodied room.

‘’We don’t know right now. The neighbour says they saw his car leave the house around 8:00am on Monday.’’

Eight in the morning, I think to myself. The case was reported around 3pm on Monday by a thief who had initially come to rob the Adeniyans but upon seeing the mess had decided to call the police instead.

‘’Where’s the thief?’’

‘’Femi? He’s downstairs, still being questioned.’’

I walk downstairs and see Femi. His bald head drooping down, clearly regretting his decision to make the right choice.

‘’Sorry officer, Detective One, I’d like to ask Femi a couple of questions’’ I say. He grumbles under his breath then gets up to leave.

In Lagos, the officers are basically sent in to maintain the look of normality. They do nothing but ask questions and write statements then show up on the news and spout nonsense. That’s why we came to be. We are called detectives, but we are much more than that. Signified by our Red eyes and golden hair. We are the embodiment of justice. Unfeeling and detached from all the corruption that makes up the police force.

‘’Femi, what time did you say you broke into the Adeniyans home?’’

‘’ I no remember. I just know say sun dey shine.’’

‘’Why would you decide to rob a place in broad daylight?’’

‘’ All the English you dey speak, you think say I no go school too, abi? I don tell your officer everything before, make you go ask him’’ He says, aggressively.

I sigh. Then I take off the wrap around my eyes and stare directly into his. He stiffens and suddenly there’s a change in his posture and his disposition.

‘’I walked into the house around 2pm. The house was quiet so I took the chance to take as many things as I could, thinking no one was home. I decided to go up to the room to gather more things as I knew that that was where Mrs Adeniyan kept her jewels- in her bedroom. I went upstairs quietly to go get them, that’s when I started to smell it. The smell of blood’’

‘’How did you know no one would be home and why did you use the front door instead of the back?’’

‘’ I had been watching the Adeniyans for a while now. Long enough to know Mr Adeniyan left for work everyday by around 6am and Mrs Adeniyan stayed home till 12pm after which she left for the cooking school down the road’’.

I feel a tap on my shoulder.

‘’You’re going kill him’’ Zero says. I close my eyes and I notice that Femi’s heart is beating faster than it should and he had begun to bleed from his nose. I had used to much power on the count of his inability to speak proper English and the level of cunning in his spirit. I take a deep breath and stop. If I continued, I’d lose our only suspect and possibly the criminal.

‘’Take him to the hospital’’ I say. The officers don’t move at first, probably out of fear that just by touching him, they too might also spill their guts and bleed out. That’s what we are. We are that which see without seeing. That when it sees, can only be told the truth. Because of this, I forgot that even we make mistakes, even we see the truth we want to see sometimes instead of the truth that is there.

He did it. I say as we drive back to the headquarters.

‘’What?’’ Zero says.

He killed the Adeniyans. I can feel it just by looking at him. He’s probably hidden Kunle’s body somewhere already.

‘’You’re really good one but you need to stop jumping to conclusions and follow the right processes.’’

I say nothing. I know it’s Femi. He’s the only one who knew the Adeniyan’s movement patterns. The only one who had been in such close distance to the Adeniyans within the time range that they were found dead. The only question now was what could he gain by reporting his murder to the police?

We get to headquarters and I remove the wrap around my eyes and take a breath. The power of the red eye works not on those who have been blessed with the curse. Sitting on the chair at my cubicle, I begin to write my report. I’ve only been wrong about the real killer once. I know I’m right on this, so I don’t waste time on this report. I write it quickly and start getting ready to move on to the next case.

‘’I heard you made a guy bleed today’’ The boss says as he looks down at me from the top of my cubicle stand.

‘’Only those with something to hide bleed.’’

‘’What if what he’s hiding isn’t what you think?’’

‘’I’m never wrong.’’

He stares at me for a while. He knows something I don’t. he drops a file on my table and leaves. I sigh and keep the file in a drawer, I’ll go over it later.

I submit the report I have on Femi and His name is put on the death sentence list as all evidence points to him. Another day, another case done. I look at all my other task for the day. All menial work. I leave for home.

Two days pass and two days are left till Femi’s sentence. I decide to pay him a visit.

I walk into the visitor’s room at the prison and take a sit. Femi walks in a moment later dragging his feet. He looks at me and I feel the rage in his body rise then dwindle. Like he’s controlling it. Like he knows I can sense it. He sits down.

‘’I just realized you never completed your story.’’

Femi looks at me. For a second, I sense tears but that also fades. I can tell that he knows my power. My ability but how? I look at him, questioning the killer I think he is.

‘’Femi, who told you about my curse?’’

He says nothing.

He won’t say anything, not when he knows he’s about to die. Not when he knows nothing can be changed when it has been decided.

I get up to take my leave.

His spirit clings to mine and begs. He says nothing but his spirit is not as strong willed as he is.

I choose to ignore it. I am not wrong about Femi. I say to myself because if I am, I have killed an innocent man. The words of a red eye once written cannot be taken back.

I go back to headquarters and get the file from my desk. In the file, there are different articles.

THE STEPSON OF THE ADENIYANS.

THE BAD EGG.

THE EVIL ADOPTION.

As I read, I see that the Adeniyans had adopted a son without knowing he was a red eye. They found out later and treated him as though he was evil. The stepson left and never returned. As I read article after article, I soon come across a picture of a young boy. This young boy has a familiar spirit. I can sense it through the picture.

‘’Have you figured it out, One?’’ Zero says as he sits in his cubicle opposite mine

‘’Why did you do it?’’

‘’I made a mistake. I got drunk and went into rage mode.’’

‘’Did Femi see you?’’

Zero says nothing.

‘’Did you make him forget he saw you?’’

Zero says nothing.

I burn the files with a lighter.

‘’Next time handle your mistake yourself and don’t make me cover your shit’’ I say, part in rage, part in disgust.

‘’I didn’t make you do anything One. This was due to your carelessness and arrogance.’’

I stare at him and he stares back then grins knowing a red eye cannot use its power on a red eye.

‘’I’ll leave you to your thoughts.’’ He says and leaves.

I watch the files burning in the bin. This will be the second time I caught the wrong criminal.