Hazel’s POV
“Owen.” I called.
But there was no response. I was still sleepy so my eyes were closed.
I stretched my hands to reach out for him. But, after touching the bed for a few seconds, I realized the bed was empty.
I quickly opened my eyes and scanned around the room, but Owen was not in sight. I only saw a piece of paper on the bed side table and a pen was holding it down.
I picked it up and read it “Trust you slept well. Something came up and I had to leave. I didn’t want to disturb you that’s why I didn’t wake you. Will call you later, I love you.”
I was a little bit sad after reading the note he left for me, because I thought I would spend the day with him since it was my day off and it was our first day as an official couple.
Since I had nothing to do, I decided to do a general house cleaning. I cleaned every nook and cranny of the house but I was still very bored. My day off was supposed to be a holiday but it turned out to be torture for me.
After a while, I finally decided to go to work because it was a better place than being home, alone and bored.
Lizzy was the first person I saw when I entered the station.
“Babe what are you doing here? Isn’t today your day off?” She asked, surprised.
“Well, I was bored.” I said, as i twitched my nose.
“Workaholic!” She teased.
I rolled my eyes and said “whatever.”
“Hazel, what are you doing here?” I heard chief’s voice say from behind. I turned around to look at him, then he continued. “Aren’t you supposed to be vacationing with your lover or something?”
“Vacation? It’s just one day.” I reminded him. He seemed to have forgotten that he gave me just one day off, for him to have brought up vacation.
But a vacation wouldn’t hurt anyways, I thought.
“Anyway, thank God you are here. A 25-year-old female, named Anna martins was murdered in cold blood at cleverly hotels last night. Before her demise, she was an accountant at Jumbo intl, and lived alone at number 62 Aluba street Ikoyi. The case has already been assigned to Tunde, but I want you to join him. Make sure you find the culprit.” Chief said.
My face went blank after he finished talking. The news I just heard was so devastating.
I have been in this field for so long and I have seen many deaths but I never get used to it.
The lady was in the same age bracket as me and her life was cut short by God knows who and for what reason.
Just as I was about to respond to chief, Tunde came to where we were standing and said “I’m going now chief.”
He didn’t notice my presence at first, but when he did, he furrowed his brows and asked. “what are you doing here?”
That was like the 1000th I heard “what are you doing here” in just 30minutes. I didn’t bother to respond to his question. Instead, I brought up the murder case.
“I’ll be working with you on Anna’s case.”
“Yes, she would be working with you on that.” Chief confirmed.
“cool. I was about to head out; I’m going to the hospital where her autopsy is being done.”Tunde said.
I nodded my head and we went out together.
When we got to the hospital, the doctor made it known to us that her throat was slain with a sharp knife and there was a s****l contact before her death.
“Any traces of semen?” I asked.
He shook his head and said “No.”
I was a little bit disappointed when he said, no, because, that would have helped us to get hold of the culprit without much hassle.
We thanked the doctor and left for the hotel, where she was murdered.
When we got to the hotel, we showed the receptionist our police badge and requested to see the manager.
The manager came few minutes after and he led us to his office.
“Have a seat.” He said, as he gestured at the seat in his office.
We sat down and brought out our notepad and pen, to jot down necessary information.
“So, Manager. What time did the deceased come to this hotel?” Tunde started the questioning.
“According to our records, she booked a room around 3pm in the afternoon” The manager answered.
“Did she come alone?” I asked.
“Yes, she was alone.” He said.
“Did anyone come looking for her?” Tunde asked.
“No one.” The manager said.
“How did you find out that she was dead?” Tunde asked and raised his eyebrows.
The manager scratched his head, then said. “The cleaner was the one who found out first.”
“Can we speak with the cleaner?” I asked.
“Sure.” He said, then he dialed a number on his telephone and asked for the cleaner’s presence.
Few minutes later, a young lady that seemed to be in her early 20’s entered the office.
“She’s the cleaner.” The manager said.
We nodded our heads, then asked her to sit down. We started questioning her, afterwards.
“We have just been informed that you were the one who found Miss Anna’s dead body. How did you find her?” I asked.
“I knocked on the room’s door but there was no response. Then I noticed that the door was not locked, so i decided to enter and clean the room then leave. But when I entered, I saw her cold body lying on the bed. I dropped the mopping stick and the bucket full of water that was in my hands and ran to the manager to inform him.” The cleaner narrated and I could still see the shock she went through in her eyes.
I turned to look at the manager, then asked. “Can we see the CCTV footage of this hotel?”
“Unfortunately, we tried to check the footage earlier, but it has been tampered with.” The manager said.
“What? Tampered with?!” Tunde exclaimed.
‘The culprit must be a really smart person.’ I thought.
“Can we see the room?” I asked. Hoping we could find a lead in the room.