"Oh, my God!" Dorathy exclaimed. "What do we do now? How do we tell Clara?"

Motun did not realize how attached she had been to the case until she was told the identity of the dead body. Her legs could barely carry her. "I-I don't know." She said and sat down.

After a few minutes, she finally pulled herself together and stood up.

"I'll handle everything, Dora. This guy- or lady- whoever it is, will pay dearly for this. I'll go over the cases and merge them before proceeding."

"Now, that's what I'm talking about. I wish you the very best then." Dorathy said, relieved to see her back to her usual self.

Motun smiled inwardly as she left the office, Dora had never been the emotional type, so she understood how awkward she felt.

When Motun sat at her desk, she desperately flipped the pages of the files she had opened for both cases, merged them together and updated the new file. Now where was James?

"You don't look like someone who got scolded." As if on cue, he appeared in front of her. He was about to tease her again when he saw her face. "You look like someone whose cat died- are you okay? What's wrong? Did Dorathy say something that hurt you? That woman can be-"

Motun gave a not-so-convincing laugh. "Well I didn't get 'scolded'-."

"-Stop beating around the bush. Why is your face this white?" He looked irritated by the fact that she was trying to avoid his questions

"And I don't own a cat."

"Motun!"

"Well, the G.R.A. case, yeah?"

"Yeah. What about it? You have a suspect?"

"No. The coroner called. The ID came in."

"Oh okay. Whose body is it?"

"Stella Coker."

"Hmm- Wait, that name sounds familiar. Stella Co- Stella! F-ck!" His face turned sour. "H-h-how?"

Motun shrugged. "Beats me." She flipped through the report. She got to a page and something caught her eye. "The address!"

"What address? And is there any other thing I'm supposed to know that you have not told me? You know you are keeping me in the dark about so many things, right?"

Motun searched her purse frantically for the card in which she wrote the address.

"Clara gave me the address to the restau- Ah! Found it!"

James folded his arms. "What. Are. You. Talking. About?"

She wasn't in for any kind of argument but this guy definitely didn't know when to stop talking. "Okay! Chill. The only reason I'm telling you is because Dorathy ended up officializing our partnership."

"She did? That girl can be a darling if she wants to. I'm-"

She didn't want to hear what was coming next. "Well, during my investigation, I went to Stella's house."

"You went to Stella's house without telling me? What else have you done without telling me?"

Motun rolled her eyes. "We weren't officially partners then. Plus it happened so fast."

"And what else have you done without telling me? Spill, I can hear you."

If she stood there exchanging words with him, they could be there for hours. The clock was ticking.

"Consider it payback for what you did at G.R.A. and stop being such a cry baby."

She carried her bag and headed for her car. James followed suit.

"It's not the same!"

"Can we focus on the case? I don't know what the fuss is all about. If you don't trust me, then be my guest. You can always go back to check things out for yourself."

"Stop trying to turn the table. You know I hate touched scenes."

"How's that even an issue? The fact that I was there doesn't mean I tampered with evidence. I'm not a novice." Motun was getting frustrated.

"You owe me for this."

She didn't like the sound of that. Owing James was like owing the devil. You would pay ak full-grown turkey in exchange for an egg. She unlocked the car doors and got in.

"Now, you can continue your talk."

"Well," she adjusted in her seat when she heard the seatbelt click. "Stella's house was in a mess when I got there."

"How messy? Dirty-girl-dirty-dishes messy?"

"No. It looked more like the I'll-clean-up-when-I-get-back messy."

"Oh? For her house to be messy four days after her date..."

"Exactly, she didn't get back from the outing. Whatever happened at that outing is a major lead. I got the address to the restaurant Stella's outing was booked. Clara said she wore red."

James gave a quizzical look. "How can she be so sure?"

"I saw the label myself."

"See why I need to visit the house? I probably look like a lost sheep."

Motun glared hard at him and started the engine. "Whatever."

"What do you say we have a nice lil' dinner. Just us."

They just had an argument and he could still hit on her? Nice try. "The restaurant should be twenty minutes away. We should be there by 12:30."

* * *

Duke's palace was a highly expensive restaurant. It definitely was not for every body. Apart from the fact that it was situated in one of the expensive parts of Ikeja and that the food was very delicious, it had so many features that not every restaurant had. There was a valet at the gate to help with packing the cars and the mantrap booth at the entrance to the main hall prevented entry with as little as a pen, let alone more deadly weapons. You are bound to feel safe and you could worry less about your car.

"So if something criminally inclined happens here, there will be no form of protection. So much for top security." James rolled his eyes after the second door closed behind them and they were allowed entry.

"Stop being negative."

"Right."

The general hall was highly furnished and homely. Motun wondered what the VIP room would look like.

"Let's go to the counter."

"After you."

Even the waiters and bartenders looked expensive.

"Just how much do they pay these people?" James whispered.

"Stop being so rude," She whispered back. Then she smiled at one of the waitresses. "Hello, I'm Detective Motun Banks and here is my partner,"

James flashed his badge. "James Maduka. We'd like to ask a few questions."

"Hi, I'm Deborah." The waitress smiled back at them.

Motun brought out her phone, brought up Stella's picture and showed it to her.

"This lady here, did you see her around? She came here for dinner on Sunday."

"Oh, sorry, I wasn't on duty on Sunday. Please speak to Veronica. She's the lady at the bar."

"Thanks Deborah."

They made their way to the bar.

"Hello, Veronica. I am Motun Banks from the Lagos State Police area Command, Ikeja. Here's my partner, James Maduka. We want to ask you a few questions about your shift on Sunday."

"Oh Okay."

"The lady in this picture," Motun brought out her phone. "She came here for dinner on Sunday. Do you remember her?"

Veronica knitted her brows at the picture. "No."

"Her name is Stella." Motun said, not wanting to scare her by using 'was'.

"Stella? There was a Stella who wore red. But she looked nothing like this."

"How did she look?"

"She was darker than this one. She had burns all over her body. She looked uncomfortable because she kept touching her face. She sat over there." Veronica pointed to a table at the corner of the room.

Same person, without makeup. Motun remembered Clara saying it was part of the therapy for Stella to go out makeup-free.

"Did you notice anything strange about her, maybe she talked to someone or went out with someone who looked strange?" James asked.

"No. She left about an hour after checking in. She barely ordered any food. She didn't talk to anyone either."

Motun left James with Veronica and headed to the corner Stella had sat. It faced the fountain that was in the compound. There was nothing unusual about it. Where then did Stella meet her would-be killer? She obviously didn't go home and Veronica had said she didn't spend more than an hour. Did she meet him on her way home? Was he the Uber driver?

Coming to the restaurant had given rise to more questions than the answers Motun desperately sought for. She heard James tell Vera they would get back to her . She quickly gathered her thoughts and walked towards them.

"Anything?"

"No, except at the end of my questions, she kept repeating the unnecessary fact that Stella talked to no one. She's hiding something."

"Or someone." Why does everyone have to be hiding something?

"What about you? See anything interesting?"

They stepped out of the mantrap booth and headed to the car.

"We should head to Clara's office."

"Yeah."

* * *

Motun looked at Clara pitifully. The woman had stayed silent since she heard the news about Clara's death. Although, Motun had been mad at her because she hid something important to the case, she figured out why she did what she did. Therapists do not normally visit their defaulting clients but when Clara didn't hear from Stella, she was afraid she had had a relapse and ended up killing hersel so she went to the house. After knocking countless times and not getting a response, she got more scared and tried opening the door with her hair pin. When she didn't succeed with that, she quickly called the police to help because she knew at a point, they would visit Stella's house and in the worst case, bring out her body. She had not imagined that Stella was kidnapped, let alone killed in such a gruesome way.

"I'm so sorry, Clara. I promise we will do all we can to find the killer and bring him to justice."

Clara said nothing still.

Motun signalled at James.

"We'll be on our way now, Dr Adichie. Please take care."

Clara mumbled something that sounded like a thanks before they left her office.

"Mind if I drop you home?" James asked.

"I don't, thanks.

The traffic to Clara's office had been heavy, so they got there a little after 5pm. It was almost 6pm and traffic didn't seem to have reduced. It was going to be a long ride home.

"Clara looked like she was in shock back there." James noted.

"Who wouldn't? I felt really bad too when I heard." Motun sighed heavily. "God, I can't imagine what Clara is going through. I feel really bad for her."

"I thought you were mad at her for lying to you."

Motun glared at him. "I was, but I'm human too. Plus I guess she had reason to do that."

James scoffef. "What reason justifies lying to the law."

So Motun explained everything to him. James looked surprised because he Ah'ed and Oh'ed as she talked.

"Jeeezzzz... Everybody is walking the streets, yet we don't know what's wrong with who. So sad." He said when she was done.

"Hmm hmm."

"By the way you didn't tell me if anything dropped in your mind when checking out Stella's table at Duke's palace."

"Nothing. It was a nice view of the fountain, though."

James' look turned sinister. "What do you say to a nice dinner there someday? I've seen that look before. I know you want it too." He sighed irritatedly when she said nothing. "What does your husband do in his spare time, though? Sing to files?"

"Leave Steve out of this!" Motun snapped. She hated the fact that he was right. It had been a very long time since she'd gone on a real date and that was because she and Steve had spent most of their spare time fighting about her inadequacy. It was her fault. So, even though she wanted to go on a date badly, she also wanted it to be with her husband despite the fact that her stupid heart seemed to be somewhere else of recent.

"We should head to Clara's office."

"Is that what you do now? Avoid serious talks with work?"

"What do you mean 'now'? You and I know that this- whatever this is- is stupid. It's not going anywhere."

"That's because you're not letting things flow like they should. "

"You're disrespectful James. To my marriage and what I stand for."

"Matters of the heart do not care about what you stand for. And did I hear you say 'marriage'? A marriage you're not happy in? Have you seen yourself? You have bags under your eyes, Motun. You look stressed. I've heard you cry in the restroom a number of times too." He looked like he was about to cry. "You don't know what that does to my heart, do you?" He moved closer to her. "I've seen the look in your eyes Motun. They say something else. Let me-"

"-No, James. No." Motun knew if she sat in the car and allowed him keep talking, they would things she would regret. She looked outside and was grateful they were outside her house. She opened the door and let herself out. "Have a good night, James."

As she entered the house, she checked her watch. 9pm. Steve would be home by now. "Damn!" She entered the house and removed her shoes.

"Where are you coming from?" Someone said from the couch.

*[Hi Laylans

A mantrap booth is a set of two interlocking doors where the first set of doors opens before the second set, causing the user to be “trapped” inside temporarily. You can only be allowed to enter after you have been confirmed weapon-free.]