JIJI NDOGO: The plain truth laid bare

Presented with the evidence collected — Sophia had left a cryptic letter, lipstick in bed and her uniform button was found in Mwamba’s quarters — he has agreed to speak to Inspector Noklu “off the record”. That means he’s acting as a witness, not a suspect.

“This is not fair,” I complain to my boss Inspector Tembo. “He’s guilty as hell and we’ll just let him walk?”

“Son,” says Tembo, a term he usually doesn’t waste on me, “what’s the most important thing here, getting Sophia back or incarcerating Mwamba?”

“Both are important.”

He scowls. “I said ‘most’ important. You have to learn to choose your battles. In life, you can’t always get what you want.”

I’ve heard this before in the corridors of law. A prosecutor will only present a case he’s sure to win even if he knows a culprit is guilty as hell. This doesn’t sit well with me, but like my boss said, I have to take what I can get.

Something else bothers me.

“Why can’t I be there when Mwamba is being questioned?” I ask.

This time Tembo even affords a short laugh. “You’re a sergeant. You think you have any place in the interrogation of an Inspector General? You must live on Mars.”

“But it’s off the record, right? It’s like an interview, not—”

Noklu comes over and interrupts me. “We’re about to begin. As per your request, Inspector Tembo, I’ve set it up so you guys can listen in another room.” He gives me the same harsh stare he’s given me since the beginning. “Sergeant, I hope you’re right on this. Otherwise, you might as well pack up your stuff and go find a job in Gikomba.”

He leaves me with knees turned to jelly, my heart galloping like a runaway horse. But I have no time for feelings.

“Let’s go,” Tembo commands.

I follow him to a small room in Central Police Station and sit on one of two chairs next to a table. A speaker sits on the table.

“Thank you, Inspector General, for agreeing to lay this matter to rest once and for all,” Inspector Noklu’s voice says from the speaker.

Once they exchange assurances that Mwamba can’t be held accountable, he begins to talk.

I had been right to suspect that Sgt Sophia had been kidnapped for her role in the trial of three policemen who executed an entire family of four. Sophia testified, the cops were tried and sentenced to lengthy terms in jail. But since the trial was still in the repeal process, her testimony would still be crucial to make sure the bad guys stay in jail. But if she went missing, so would her testimony.

“But these people are in jail,” Noklu pressed. “How are they able to orchestrate her kidnapping?”

Mwamba laments in a thin voice, “Do you know why the family was killed? Land.”

“Land?”

“Hundreds of acres of prime land. They were the only remaining heirs and someone very high in the government wants it. Now that they’re gone, the door is open. Save for one tiny last detail. The rotten apples who carried out the deed have threatened to spill the beans if they end up doing time.”

“What about you, Inspector General, how did you get entangled in all of it?”

Slight pause. “They threatened to kill my family if I don’t help.”

“Who did?”

“I don’t know them, but they know me too well.”

“So, where’s Sophia now?”

“She’s being held somewhere in Shimo la Tewa prison.”