It was quite a structure, Pastor Kola must have been an excellent architect. The church was shaped exactly like a cube with rounded rather than sharp edges giving the building a dice like shape. However the building wasn"t that big, being only a floor high.The interior was designed like any other church with the usual pews, a pulpit, ornamental windows and an a.s.sortment of religious imagery. But what should have been a peaceful and serene place for tired souls to seek refuge now looked like a house of death. There was an eerie silence that roared in your ears and an intense feeling of not being alone- it seemed that the souls of the faithful departed had not really departed at all. Caesar shivered.
Chinenye sensed his discomfort.
"Spooky, isn"t it? You should have seen this place when it was packed full of bodies. It was the most chilling sight I had ever seen."
They walked around the premises, searching the place with their flashlights. However after about an hour they came up with nothing.
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Caesar walked up to an open iron door that had a sign that read "GENERATOR ROOM". He walked in.
The diesel powered generator was a ma.s.sive affair and it looked well maintained.
"Isn"t this generator too big for this building?" asked Caesar. "This could power a whole street!"
"The church is not connected to the power grid for some reason. One of the peeves of Pastor Kola was that he hated power interruptions during his sermons and didn"t want to wait the couple of minutes necessary to switch to generator. Once there is a sermon in progress, the generator is always on."
Caesar peered behind the generator and noticed some elaborately constructed pipes that led to the wall obviously to channel the exhaust fumes out. A dark thought crossed his mind.
"Do the windows open?" he asked.
"I"m not sure. They"re always closed because the air conditioning unit is always on."
"Let"s check it out."
Caesar went to the window nearest the pulpit which, like the others in the church, stretched from floor to ceiling. He noticed they were very thick; possibly bullet proof and crucially, they didn"t open. There was rubber lining round the edges. He remembered that the doors at the entrance were as heavy as h.e.l.l. If they were shut the church will be airtight.
"Let"s go outside."
They walked round to the back of the building and Caesar found where the exhaust pipes jutted out of the generator room. He studied the ends of the pipes with his flashlight. His fears were confirmed.
"Oh my G.o.d" he whispered.
"What is it?" Chinenye said urgently, pushing forward.
"The pipes have been sealed with rubber plugs" he said softly, "The fumes had nowhere to escape to. Those people died of carbon monoxide poisoning. They didn"t stand a chance."
Midnight
"So they were murdered?" Chinenye"s face looked horrified.
"Yeah. Ingenious if you think about it. Pastor Kola designed the building so he knew how to do it. The rubber plugs could have easily being overlooked since you cops were mostly concerned with searching inside the church and providing security. If the congregation had been Caucasians their skins would have gone purple and would be a dead give away. Carbon Monoxide is colourless and odourless so no one would notice they were being ga.s.sed. They would start to feel drowsy and then sleep off, never to wake up again. It actually kills a lot of people every year especially those who sleep near generators in poorly ventilated areas."
"Poor Ejiro" Chinenye whispered and her eyes began to brim again with tears.
"If it"s any consolation she probably died peacefully and amongst friends."
"We were supposed to grow old together, to get married and now G.o.d has taken her away from me."
"Pastor Kola killed her not G.o.d. He is an evil man."
"But G.o.d let him get away with it."
"What do you mean? That"s your evidence right there."
"You don"t get it do you? This is Nigeria. People get away with murder all the time once you are rich and powerful. Pastor Kola has the cops in his pocket and the general public on his side. The Inspector General has already buried the case. No one is going to care because Africans hate h.o.m.os.e.xuals. He is going to get away with it."
"I can"t believe you"re giving up. I"m not. I am going to write this story and expose this to the whole world."
Chinenye didn"t seem to be listening.
"G.o.d always hated our kind. That"s why bad things happen to us and people cheer. What did Ejiro ever do to anyone? She was harmless; she could never hurt a fly. Now she"s dead because of some crazy pastor and the G.o.d she loved failed to protect her."
"Jesus, Chinenye…"
"It"s okay, Edwin, let"s go. You can write what you want."
She turned away from him and walked away while he stood there feeling entirely powerless.