The Devil Wears Okrika

Chapter 8

A voice was heard in Ramah,
Lamentation and bitter weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children,
Refusing to be comforted
Because they are no more.
-Jer 31:15

"The pastor found her body"
"What of her father?"
"He had a stroke and died when he heard"
"How did he hear?"
"No one knows"
"Why does God allow this kind of thing to happen?"
"Who is this demon?"
"Chimoooooooo!"

There were many questions plaguing the land of Amaife. The double tragedy had shaken the villagers to the core. Chinaza had been their daughter. Beautiful and hardworking, she took care of her father and was known to be a very serious minded and determined girl.
For her to be killed in such a gruesome manner had been almost too impossible to fathom.
When her father went into stroke and died few hours later, everyone lost it.
The women ran outside the streets, weeping and wailing, half naked and tearing their blouses and wrappers.
The young men held bamboo sticks, broke tree branches and marched round the village shouting. But there was no one to vent their frustration on. The devil was in their midst, not just a needle in a haystack but a unique kind of straw amidst the hay.
In Pa Kenneth's compound, there was plenty shaking of heads and sighs. The village was in a state of turmoil and it was up to them to find a solution but the elders were just as confused and clueless as the villagers.
Osi and Pastor Bartholomew were present. Osi sat on a bench staring blankly at a lizard on the wall as the image of the dead body kept on replaying in his head. Pastor Bartholomew paced before a group of women. Their hairs were scattered, their clothes were torn, their eyes swollen and their feet bare. They sat on the floor. Some cried, some wailed, some cursed, some shouted incoherently while some just stared, looking lost into space.
They were the mothers of the victims. Three of them: Mama Ozioma, mama Chinyere and mama Chisom. They mostly stared into space, lost in their world of grief.
The remaining women had accompanied them, breaking off from the rest to join the march to their leaders.
Their leaders were clueless. Dé John had tried speaking parables after parables but had soon given up. He was as lost and as bitter as they were.

Pastor Bartholomew had done the talking, quoting scriptures and prayer points to calm the women. He paced the compound, his bible in his hand and a painful look in his eye as he spoke. He looked at Osi for backup but he was still in shock and was lost in his own world.
Someone tapped Osi on his shoulder causing his eyes to finally leave the lizard sunning on the wall. It was Dé Nwachukwu.
He gestured with his head that Osi follow him outside.

.·.·.·.·.·
"You're pastor Osi aren't you?"
"Yes...yes I am"
Dé Nwachukwu shook his head sadly "as you can see we have a tragedy on our hands...its very unfortunate"
Osi nodded, that was the only reply he could think off.
"I know my people...they are getting more agitated by the second, they need someone to vent the anger but they can't...no one knows who is behind this..."
Osi nodded again, he didn't know what the old man was trying to say.
"The thing is, it would be better if you lay low...maybe if you leave, as a stranger you could become an easy target. The youths are frustrated, things are escalating, there's just too much pressure"
Osi took a deep breath. "I understand sir, thank you for your thoughts...however I can't leave until he who brought me here tells me to leave"
Dé Nwachukwu looked surprised "pastor Bartholomew?"
"No...I mean God sir...the God I serve"
Dé Nwachukwu shrugged indifferently. "This your God...anyway I'd advice you to be careful when mixing with the natives...you need to thread carefully.

.·.·.·.·.·
The girls conveyed in Dé Nwachukwu's compound. Oluchi and two other girls: Maama and Ezinne as well as Joy and all her friends which numbered almost a dozen.
Amara and the three girls (Oluchi, Maama and Ezinne) sat in Dé Nwachukwu's favourite spot: under the pear tree while joy and her friends had gone inside the house.
"I can't believe Chinaza is dead" Oluchi said in disbelief.
"And her poor father...May who ever killed her never know peace" Ezinne said with much chagrin. She had been quite close to Chinaza.
"The thing is, I saw her last night and Paul and I even walked her close to her home safely, I don't know why she went back" Amara said sadly
"Eeya...I remember she used to like Paul, always asking about him all the time and telling me to greet him" Oluchi shook her head sadly "Paul hardly even remembered her, talkless of to ask about her!"
"Where is your brother by the way?" Maama asked
"I think he's with the youths rioting in the market square" Oluchi replied.

Amara was still trying to recover from the shocking news of the death. But something Oluchi said made her frown. She couldn't put her hand on it at the moment, her mind was on poor Chinaza and her father. May they both rest in peace.

.·.·.·.
Okudili smashed his bottle on a tree and joined the chanting. He tore his shirt from his body (which wasn't that difficult considering the material had low quality)
"Yeee! We no go gree oo!"
Benedict was seen as the youth leader, an unofficial title he carried because he had that leadership quality, in this case: strength, popularity and a penchant for violence.
He owned an abattoir in the market where he slaughtered and sold beef.
He had always liked Chinaza and even though she had turned down his advances, he admired her greatly and had always given her extra chunks of beef whenever she passed by the slaughterhouse.
When the news of her death had spread, it had taken only minutes for him to round up young men in the market square. They would have destroyed some things, they felt like destroying everything they saw and they might have too, if it didn't belong to them and their parents.
"This killer must pay!"
"He must confess!"
"We no go gree o!"
Okudili joined them; the hot gin he had just swallowed burning down his lungs. "My brothers...my people...think very well...we all know who this person is" he said loudly.
They all fell quiet as they looked at him.
"What is it? You drunkard...nobody has time for tricks, speak up or forever remain silent!" Benedict shouted. His eyes had a deadly gleam in them.
"This white man in our midst...the one everybody loves and respects so much...we never used to suffer these attacks before he joined us...I say it! I say that 'baboon' is the killer!"
Everyone was silent...they all liked the man but Okudili had a point. Their chanting broke down as they looked to their leader for direction.
Benedict was heavily influenced by his emotions. Right now he was ready to consider any argument that even painted Pa Kenneth as the killer.
He hit the bamboo stick on the ground and started marching, shouting "we no go gree o..we no go gree...!"
The dozens of young men followed him as adrenaline soared.
Okudili smiled when he realized they were going towards Steve's house.
Good.
He never liked the man.

.·.·.·.
Osi held Dé Nwachukwu's hand when the old man tuned to reenter the compound.
"Sorry sir...if I may ask...was any piece of clothe found at the site of the other...the other girls?"
Dé Nwachukwu looked at him strangely but frowned as he thought hard.
"The very first girl to be killed had been blindfolded with a piece of rag...and there was some kind of clothe around the second girl also...but the third was found in the stream...wait why do you ask?"
"Hold on sir, you say the first girl was blindfolded?"
"Yes she was"
"Can you show me her mother in there? I want to ask her some questions"
Dé Nwachukwu looked at him strangely "are you sure that's a wise path to take? You could easily be viewed as the enemy"
"Please sir...I'd like to speak to her and pray for her, nothing more"
The truth was one didn't just wake up and start committing these kind of crimes out of nowhere. There had to be a starting point and a tipping point, a stressor and Osi strongly believed the first victim could answer a lot of unasked questions.

.·.·.·.
"The crusade is over you know that? It's spoilt! Brought to an early end, at least we had a nice service last night" deacon Oforbuike complained as he attacked his lunch.
They were holed up in the house. The frightening shouts from outside had made the driver bolt the door.
"Samuel hope there's fuel in the bus? We leave first thing tomorrow" the deacon announced.
Bukky spoke up jumping to her feet "speak for yourself sir...I came here to make an impact and I'm not just going to jump and run when they need me the most"
"Hmmm...I'm writing a report about your attitude, all of you...the Reverend must hear of this disrespect!" The deacon threatened as he pushed his empty plate away.
"The least we can do is wait two more days for the communion service" Gregory said helpfully trying to dampen the tension.
"Who are we to be making plans when our leader isn't with us?" Ovie asked.
"Pray, do tell me where your so called leader is?!" The deacon shouted.
"For God's sake he found a dead body today!" Bukky shouted back.
The shouting continued, everyone was riled up. Everyone in Amaife was on the offensive and angry, everyone.
Well not everyone,
Somewhere the devil smiled...