CHAPTER FIVE

the buzzing of her phone woke her up, she sat up on her bed sleepy and picked the call

'hello team leader" she said with a low voice

"hello officer Stephanie"

"good morning sir" she greeted

" morning, you have to come down to the station now"

"is everything alright sir?

"yes , we need to meet up with someone"

"okay sir " she said , hung up the call and jump out of bed, "I wonder who we are meeting "she said to herself ,and dance and twirled"I hope it is the president"she muttered to herself and laughed at her own silly imagination. She showered and put on a nice jean trousers with a matching polo top. She looked at herself in the mirror and chuckled"I really hope it is the president" she said to herself and dashed to the living room.

"Good morning aunt"

"Morning my dear

"good morning aunt Steph" her cousins greeted

"morning sweethearts"

"you seem to be in a very good mood this morning , why don't you share the good news with us"her aunt said

"it seems like am going to meet the president today"

"why would the president want to meet an ordinary officer like you?"

"ordinary, am hurt"

"what makes you think that the president want to meet up with you?"

"our team ,not just me"

"what makes you think so?"

"my team leader called this morning and said I should come to the station now, because we need to meet with someone"

"ah Steph maybe it is the commissioner of police you want meet with or the IGP "

"with the way he sounded I think it is someone more important than those two, let me take my leave am running late"

"bye be careful"

"bye"she said and hurriedly left

It took her an hour to get to the station.Her team was already outside, waiting for her arrival.

"sorry am late" she said

"let go" officer Mike said and they left in the patrol car

"who are we meeting?" Stephanie asked as they drove

"the governor"

"the governor"Stephanie said, almost shouting" the governor not bad at all" she thought and shrieked with joy.

"you seem to be very excited about the news" Delight said

"are you sad?" she asked and he laughed

"you are something"

" how? I only replied to your question"

"that was not an answer ,it was a question"

"I used a question to answer a question"

"okay then" he said and chuckled.

They got to the governor's home and marveled at the sight of the building " am I in a drama series?" Walter asked

"This house is really something" said Delight

"I will tell my grand children and great grand children about this house" James said " if the outside is this beautiful, how would the inside be?"

"if you are not dead by then" Delight said and they laughed

"house that was built with embezzled money"

"Stephanieeeeee"the four chorused

"must you be negative, everyone said something positive"officer Mike said

"whether positive or negative, I spoke the truth"

"what am saying is that you should learn to be

positive"

"yeah there is nothing in this world that does not have a negative side, we humans do, no matter how perfect someone is, the person will have a negative side"Delight said

"whatever"she said.

They went through some protocols and was led inside by a lady. The lady took them through an hallway and the officers opened their mouths in awe.On both side of the hallway , painting of popular and legendary artist was hanged neatly on the wall. their jaws dropped when they saw works with names of legendary artist like, Leonardo Da Vinci, Aina Onabolu and Ben Enwonu written under it.

"I strongly agree with Stephanie this governor has embezzled all of Nigeria's money"Walter said

"talk gently because of that lady" James whispered and pointed at the lady that was leading them

"how was he able to get these paintings , I don't want to imagine how much these paintings cost" Said Stephanie

"I wonder which year this paintings were painted"Delight said

"your great grand parents were not yet born as at then"

"you are talking about his great grand parent,am not sure his lineage had began then" Stephanie said and they laughed.

"the paintings are not the works of those artist, their names was just written underneath it"the lady leading them Said

"don't mind them, they can't contain their excitement" officer Mike said

"we are here" the lady said and knocked on the large door that stood before them

"yes come in"a voice said from inside. The lady opened the door and lead them inside" they are here sir, she said and left closing the door behind her. "Good morning sir" the officers greeted

"morning have your seat" Governor Ronald Richard said and stood up from his seat"feel free" he said and shook hands with them. They were expecting to be taken to a big living room but here they are in an office , the office was not really beautiful or stylish, it had paintings of the president hung on the wall with armchairs and a table and a big shelf, loaded with books. They each took their sit on the armchairs.

"Nice to see you again Officer Mike" governor Ronald said and sat on his own personal armchair

"have you met him before?" James whispered to his ear

"have been here thrice" he replied

"oh pardon my manners, what can I offer you?"

"we are fine sir" officer Mike replied"

"okay then I heard you are the team leader of the new recruits so I asked you to come with them so I can chat with them, so your names?"

" officer Delight Williams"said Delight

"officer Walter Peters" Walter said

"officer James Adams" James said

"officer Stephanie Swagger"Stephanie said

"wow nice names, so officer Swagger why did you decide to become an officer?" asked the governor

"to give Justice sir" she replied

"that's a bit complex, but you have a point, Justice needs to be served to the wrong. Officer James?"

"I had passion for it sir"

" passion" he said with a strong voice"I love the sound of that.Officer Walter you?"

"I loved it"

"wow nice, finally officer Delight?"

"I loved and had passion for it"

"wow interesting.I hope you all will carry out your duties very well,I love your responses so much. You all need to carry out your duties diligently and accurately" he said and stood on his feet " as a police officer you have to put everything on the line to protect the citizens you were trained to protect"he said and stamped his feet on the ground and the officers shrieked in fear

"why did he stamp his foot?, That scared me , I hope he doesn't hit his head on the ground" Stephanie thought

"Don't take bribes" he continued," don't convict an innocent person, do your job with joy and make Nigeria proud, be bold and courageous and above all, be brave" he said and sat down back" I hope you don't disappoint me" he said and the door banged open, followed by the entrance of a young man. " Learn to knock" the governor said

"okay "the young man replied

"nice to see you again Officer Mike" the man said and shook hands with him

"nice to see you too sir"

"This is my son Lucky Richard" the governor said and pointed at the young man

"hi"Lucky said to the officers

"hello" they replied

"so officer Williams, Peters , Adams and Swagger....

"Swagger?"Lucky interrupted

"do you have an issue with the name?" his dad asked

"why would I have an issue with someone's name, who among them is Swagger?" he asked

"the female" governor Raymond answered

"is that your name?"

"of course he obviously called me by the name , it is my last name" she said

"wow that's....

"enough of the questions" his dad snapped. "Am expecting good reports concerning you from your superiors, don't disappoint me" he continued

"yes sir, thank you sir for your words of encouragement" they said

" you are welcome" he said. "Oh officer Mike ,seeing my son now reminded me of the favor you, the DPO and your team did for me twelve years ago, I hope this new team would be like the previous team"

" we only did our job sir" he said and chuckled" we would like to take our leave sir"

"wait and enjoy yourself ,eat you know"

"we have work to do sir"

"no problem then , thanks for your time" I will invite you for lunch some other time, have a nice day, "

"thank you sir"

"I believe you know your way out or should I call my secretary?"

"no, it fine sir, take care sir" he said and they left

"God I could hardly breathe" James said as they walked down the hallway that leads outside the building

"for some second I thought he was going to hit his head on the wall" Delight said and they burst into laughter"

"you both are not serious naughty kids" officer Mike snapped

"I could hardly grab a word out of everything he said, I was just watching his gestures, it was dramatic"said Stephanie

"you all are not serious" officer Mike Said

"yeah team leader" Walter called

"am all ears"

"What favor was he talking about? he talked about your team"

"yeah, the current DPO was our team leader then, we were four and we solved a mysterious case that would have sent his son to jail

" what kind of case ?" Stephanie asked

"mudrer case"

"so you solved the case twelve years ago"

"yes, and it took us just one day"

"what !you solved a mudrer case within a day" James said with amazement

"can you explain the kind of case it was" Stephanie asked

" it been 12 years and I don't want to talk about it"

"okay , are your team members Still at our station?"

"it is only me and the DPO , the rest were transferred" he said as they came out of the building.They went over to where their car was packed and drove off .

Stephanie rested her head on the headrest and closed her eyes." feeling sleepy? " James asked

" no disturbance please" she said and adjusted her head.her mind wondered back to Lucky Richard, she is sure she has heard that name somewhere before, someone had mention that name to her before but how come she can't recollect who it was " Lucky Richard" she mummured to herself and that case officer Mike spoke of, she hoped it wasn't her sister's case, "I need to find out about that case" she thought and sighed. The governor and his son cannot probably be involved in her sister's death or can they "it might be another case" she thought. "Lucky, am sure I will recollect who mentioned that name to me think Steph, think"her heart cried".

They got back to the station and decided to go for breakfast at a restaurant close to the station. The four left for the restaurant except from officer Mike. They got to the restaurant and ordered for white rice and chatted as they waited for their food to be served. "So where do you stay Steph?" James asked

"Gate "

"at Ayobo?"

"yes"

"wow we stay at Maryland "

" your house is nearby"

"we rented it recently due to work"

" so you live together?"

"yes"

"it must be fun then"

"do you live alone?" delight asked

"no, I stay with my aunt"

"wow ,what about your parent?"

" I lost my mum and my dad is out of the country". she said .The waiter served them their food along with a glass of water and they sat up.

"am sorry ,are you the only child?" Delight asked and started on his meal

"no ,we were two" Stephanie said and picked up her spoon

"were?" Walter asked

"I and my elder sister but she's late too"

"wow, am sorry for asking you questions am not suppose to ask am sorry for your lost too" Delight said sympathetically

"it ok it been 12 years there is nothing to be sorry about"no she said and started on her meal

"wow that means they have the same death anniversary as brother Charlie, it been 12 years since he passed away too, how time flys" James said and Stephanie freezed ,she dropped her spoon and gulped down her glass of water, then she slowly bent her head,, trying to process the name she just heard. it probably can't be the Charlie she knows, "what is wrong with me today, what exactly is going on with me, it is just a name coincidence or not, he said twelve years" she thought.

"James" she called

"yes" he answered and she opened her mouth but couldn't utter a word, she was scared of what reply she might get from him, but she need to ask anyway.

" you called me?"

"yes, it seems you lost someone too" she said

"yeah brother Charlie"

" what killed him" she asked trying to hide her fear, she grabbed her thigh and waited in anticipation, then he spoke

" he was a 400 level student in the University of Ibadan , and suddenly his body was brought home one particular morning, the police said his girlfriend stabbed him and later hung herself it been 12 years since that incident happened" he said and Stephanie held her breath, her heart skipped a beat and she grabbed her thigh again , millions of thought ran through her heart. "What sort of coincidence is this?" she thought ." Is- -he yo-your- -bl_ood bro- - - -ther" she stammered

"no but he was like my very own brother, I miss him"

"whose brother is he then?"

" mine" a voice said

HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER , PLEASE ENCOURAGE ME BY READING THIS BOOK ,IT MY FIRST BOOK. THANK YOU, LOVE YOU ALL 💓 💓AND ALSO, WATCH OUT FOR MORE CHAPTERS.

AUTHOR 💓 💓

"

"