Ayuba’s eyes grew very wide andhe opened his mouth in amazement. He looked as if the DPO hadphysically hit him. Then, he looked indignant. “I could never do such athing now,” he said. “I was asleep in my bedroom at that time thatyou mention.”
“Can youconfirm that, Mrs. Garuba?” asked the DPO, looking quite unimpressed by Ayuba’sreply.
“Yes, we werein bed. We went to bed at about 10:50pm and he never left the room after that, untilwe woke up in the morning.” replied Amina.
“Are you alight sleeper or do you sleep heavily, Mrs. Garuba?” asked theDPO,as he flicked somemore ash on the terrazzo floor.
“It is Ayuba!” Ayuba said,testily.
“I don’t understand yourquestion,” replied Amina, wringing her hands. She was sitting nextto her husband.
“Barring the possibility thatyou were an accessory to the crime, if you sleep deeply, Mrs. Garu– whatever, your husband could have sneaked out in the nightwithout you knowing and all these things.”
“Thatis ridiculous! Mr. DPO, you insult me with these claims you aremaking! Icould never have hurt that young lady!” said Ayuba, rising to hisfeet in anger.
“Hold your trousers now, MallamGaruba, why is there a plaster on your cheek? I suspect that youkilled her and that it is your skin and blood that will be foundunder her nails!” thundered the DPO.
“It cannot be mine,” arguedAyuba shaking his head “I cut myself while shaving.”
But evenI began to wonder to myself.
“Ah! Another coincidence, eh?”asked the DPO “No problem, I believe we have got all your bloodsamples? Fine then, within a short time now, we will know who thekiller was. One of you sitting here with me now, killed her. Justhold your trousers, we will know very soon.”
Hestubbed out his cigarette and lit another one. The smoke driftedunhurriedly in the air towards John.
“Mr. Brad, you do not seem to bethe amiable type at all and all these things?” said the DPO turningto John, who got his own whiff of the cigarette fumes. “I wasdiscussing with some of the other guests and it was mentioned thatyou have the habit of moving about in the dead of the night, like aghost. Can you tell me why you do that and all thesethings?”
We allturned to look at John with curious and suspicious glances.Honestly, he had scared the crap out of me, when I came across himwalking around at night in that ghost-like fashion.
“I’m a student of astronomy,”said John, in a flat tone. “I observe a variety of celestialobjects and phenomena. Deep sky objects are usually better seen atnight. I’m a student of a branch of amateur astronomy known asastrophotography. It involves taking photos of the nightsky.”
“Howinteresting!” said the DPO with childlike delight. “I’ve alwaysbeen interested in the study of the stars and all thesethings, myself. As a child, I wanted to be an astronaut, so I couldtravel to the stars. But then, Mr. Brad, if you are really any goodat studying the star patterns and their effect on people andevents, you would have been able to foretell the impending death ofthis young lady, wouldn’t you?” asked the DPO, with an accusingstare. “Is that not what star-gazing is allabout?”
“You’re mixing up two differentfields of study,” said John impatiently. “I said I’m a student ofastronomy, not astrology. Astronomy is the scientific study ofcelestial objects such as stars, planets, comets and galaxies aswell as phenomena that originate outside the earth’s atmosphere. Itis often confused with astrology which is the belief system thatclaims that human affairs are correlated with the positions ofcelestial objects. Horoscopes and zodiac signs come underastrology. Although the two fields share a common origin, they aredistinct. Astrology is not my field. I consider it a form ofdivination or superstition.”
“Thanks for the lecture, Mr.Brad. It was quite enlightening. I sincerely hope that killing ofyoung ladies at midnight is not also in your field?” The DPOflicked some ash off his cigarette. John did not bother answeringhim. He just scowled at the DPO.
We all exchangedglances, aswe wondered who the culprit would turn out to be. The DPO blew outsome more smoke. Now, itwas directed at Mrs. Marshall. This time, the drift and swirl ofthe smoke was even more impressive. It meandered like a snaketowards her, then fanned out in her face as if opening its jaws. She waved her handineffectually in front of her face, to ward off thesmoke.
“I wouldrather you didn’t do that, Mr. DPO,” said Mrs. Marshall “If youwant to smoke yourself to death, it is your private affair. Butyou must not include me. Breathing other people’s smoke is bad formy health. It is called passive smoking. In any case, I’m notparticularly in a good mood for your smokinggames.”
“Mrs.Marshall,” began the DPO completely ignoring her remarks. “I wastalking to some of the other guests before we gathered here and itwas said to me that you told your daughter, just the day before shedied, during a heated argument that you had a mind to killher?”
CHAPTERSIX
MRS. MARSHALL MAKES A CONFESSION
“Andwho told you that?” asked Mrs. Marshall.
I wasquite surprised that such information had reached theDPO.
“That’s neither here nor there,Mrs. Marshall. The person who told me this is quite irrelevant. Thepoint is, did you make such a statement?”
“I did, but I didn’t mean itlike that,” she replied, “I was annoyed with her and the words justcame out like that.”
“Are you then telling me thatyou don’t often mean what you say Mrs. Marshall, or that you oftendo not say what you mean?”
“Mr. DPO, it seems that you likeplaying with words?”
“Far from it!” said the DPO.“Play is the last thing on my mind, right now. I shall find out whokilled your daughter, when the lab results come in.”
“Then, why are you putting usthrough this charade?” asked Amina.
The DPO stubbed out hiscigarette
