Igniting

Lexington sat Bob down at a table outside his beach house and gave him a glass of wine.

Bob Andrews looked at the pleasant wooden house. A product of mordern achitechture. "I tried calling your house in Benin," he said. "Nobody answered. It seem to be avoiding my calls."

"I don't want your calls, Bob. To be frank with you I never wanted this visit. But you're here, so let's get this over with. Just don't show pictures. If you brought any pictures, leave them in the briefcase - Funke and Ayo will be back soon."

"Is that right? How much do you know about it?" 

"About what?"

"The Ayodeles."

I knew it. Lex thought, always so straightfoward. Lex hated Bob for this. Relentless Bob.

"What was in The Punch and Vanguard." Lex said. "Two noble families killed in their homes, weeks apart. Ikeja and Ikoyi respectively. Thier killings were in a similar style. Probably the same killer."

"Not similar. The same. Same murderer."

"How many witness confessions so far?"

"Over 4 when I called the station this afternoon," Bob said, visibly enjoying his drink. "Damn. None of them knew deep. They didn't give details. This killer uses a very weird metal, a blade probably to cut them up and stitch them back later. None of the witnesses knew that."

Lex cracked his knuckles. Using his thumb to press the fingers till they mde a sound.

Lex looked straight at Bob, "What else did you keep out of the press?"

"He's probably well-built, left-handed and really strong, wears a size forty-seven shoe."

"Huge feet."

"Yep." Bob concured. He let out a belch. Lex arched his head.

"But you've said that in public."

"He is probably rich." Bob said. "There was Six Thousand Dollars in the Ayodele's bedroom, in the open. Nothing touched. All intact."

Lex crossed his arms around his chest, right hand massaging his rough beards.

This isn't going to be easy.

"Oh, Lex, his blood is AB positive."

"Somebody cut him?"

"Not sure. But there was probably a struggle. We typed him from saliva. He seems to have a defect." Bob looked at the bull dog passing where they sat. It walked with an air of regality.

"Lex, I want to ask you some questions. You saw the pictures in the papers.  The Ayodele's murder was all over the net. Did I ever cross your mind to give me a call?"

"No."

"Why is that?"

"The first murder wasn't well detailed. It could have been anything, anybody, maybe a vengeful relative or those touts from Fela Shrine."

"But after the second killing, you knew what this was, didn't you?"

"I'm not sure. It could be a homocidal lunatic. Or probably their enemies in high places, for these families are deep into the political --"

"Don't try to act like you don't know what I asked you."

A smile greased Lex's lips. 

At that moment, Bob had a feeling that Lex had an Idea of who it is behind the killings.

Atta boy.

Bob got up, "So I guess I'll be expecting you in Lagos soon?"

"I don't think I'll be of any use to you in this investigation, Bob. I don't think of a comeback anymore."

"Is that so? You have caught people like these before, Lex. But these symbols, it's new. But there is nothing you cannot do. After God, I believe you, son."

"Save your sermons for your rookies, Bob!"

"I need you, Lex."

"You don't need me. You have smarter officers. I'm not that important even if I got *lucky* with those cases."

"That's not entirely true, Lex. It's the way you think."

"I think my thinking is bullshit."

"There as so many things you did, so many jumps you made that you never explained."

"The clue was right there, Bob. You guys didn't just see it. I did. And I made good use of it." Lex said.

"Sure. Sure there was. Plenty of it. That only YOU could see. After two weeks of intense research from the best researches Lagos had to offer, from the best of the best saw nothing. But you saw it." Bob said. Sarcastically.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence. But I still don't think I'd be an advantage to you and your team. I came here to get away from all that. It's peaceful here." Lex closed his eyes, Indicating content, peace of mind.

Eyebrows furrowed, Bob let out a sigh. Lex is one stubborn motherfucker, he thought, but I need him.

"Well," He said, adjusting his belt, and then his collar, "I will see you soon."

"Don't get your hopes up." Lex said, Bob already walking towards the gate, as he unlocked the locks, Lex called from behind.

"Bob?"

He turned. "Yeah?"

"I'd advice you give up this investigation."

"Why's that?"

"666."

Bob's features changed. He stepped outside the gate, tilted his hat. 

That was when he realised that he's not leaving Benin just yet.

•••

After locking the gate, Lex returned to the table. Mixed with feelings he couldn't decipher, he was afraid that this was how he would remember the end, his last days in Benin - the ice melting in the two glasses of wine and paper napkins fluttering off the crafted wooden table in the evening breeze and the loud giggles of Funke and Ayo from inside the house.

The sunset in Benin always goes down rapidly,  as darkness sets in, enveloping the whole earth.

Lex and Funke sat on the old, garden bench, hand in hand, their faces orange from the garden lamp overhead. Their feets buried in the soft, carpet grass. She picked up his hand and squeezed it.

"Bob saw me on his way here. He stopped by to greet me before he came out here," she said.

"He asked directions to the house. I tried to reach you. You ought to be with your phone at all times. We saw his van when we got back and went around the house."

"Did he ask you anything?"

"About what?"

"About me."

"He asked how you are."

"What did you tell him?"

"I said you're fine, that he shouldn't be here. Disturbing us. He really should leave us alone."

Yeah, right.

Lex looked at the sky. It was a beautiful pink.

"What does he want you to do, by the way."

"To look at some evidence." Lex said, noncommitally. Still looking at the clouds.

"I'm a detective, Fun--"

"Was a detective." she corrected.

Lex gave her a long look,

"Anyways," He continued. "Bob needed my opinion on something. He had to see me. My guess is they got nothing concrete on the killer.

Which is probably why he needs my help."

Funke sat up straight to face him.

"If you miss your other life, what you used to do, you can tell me, Lex, but you never do."

"I love it here, Funke." Lex put an arm around her, and squeezed her right shoulder. A gentle squeeze.

"We have a good time, don't we?" Funke concurred.

"Yes, we do, dear. Yes we do." He planted a kiss on her forehead. The wind whistled around them, a hollow wind.

"Lex?"

"Yeah?"

"Why can't Bob find someone else? He's bad for you. He has a lot of other people under him - why you? Why can't he leave us alone?"

"Funke, Bob is a man of results. You know that. Like I said earlier, they probably have nothing on the killer, he thought he could try his luck and get me to see the little evidence they had. Perhaps like I could see something they didn't see. Like in the other cases."

"What are you talking about?"

"Bob thinks this is a Psychopath. That this psychopath's method of killing his victims' very rare. 

And he also thinks that I've had... experience with this kind of things."

"What does that mean?"

"He thinks I see the Supernatural."

Funke said nothing. Lex's shirt was unbuttoned and she could see his broad, hairless chest, six dents running across his stomach and a 'V' line in his torso.

She swallowed hard.

"Do you believe it?"

"Believe what?"

"That you have a knack for the supernatural?"

Lex watched a grasshopper hop by. "I am not a psycho."

"No one said you were."

"I am not possessed."

"No one said that either."

She put her head on his shoulder, and dipped her right hand into his shirt, making a rotational motion with her index finger on his left nipple.

"I'm scared, Lex."

"Of what?"

"I'm scared that you might get hurt.. Like the last time."

"Who said anything about me joining the investigation?" His voice became louder.

Funke said nothing.

"Look, Funke. Bob just came to ask for my opinion. He just wanted to see the whole thing from another point of view."

Funke watched the now crimson sky. And the birds flying by. It looked like a beautiful painting.

Painted by God himself.

Lex loved the way she moved her head, effortlessly and so natural. He could see the pulse in her throat,  and then he suddenly though of the taste of her skin.

He swallowed hard and said,

"What can I do?"

"What you already decided. You quit. You promised not to go back. What if you get hurt?"

"It's part of the job, Funke." Lex said. Making light of the moment.

"But If I were to go back, Funke, what would you say?"

"I'd tell you to stay. Stay with me. Stay with us. Stay with Ayo. He will miss you."

They were silent for moments. Only the sound of crickets were heard.

"I love you, Funke."

She looked up, knowing that he had already decided, she put her head back on his shoulder. Lex caressed her soft, ebony hair.

Soon, Darkness fell, and enveloped the earth around Lex and Funke. Jupiter appeared, high and mighty above their heads.

They walked back to the house with the dubious moon guiding their path, as crickets and other nocturnals sang their nocturnal song. 

***

"You said you wanted to see me?" Bob said as he got to where Funke stood, resting on her car.

"I know whatever I say, doesn't matter. But promise you'd protect Lex over there. Promise me that he's going to be alright.” Funke stared at Bob. 

Bob placed a hand on the petite woman's shoulder. “I promise you, nothing will happen to him.”

The next hour, Lex folded his clothes into a small briefcase. Funky assisted him.