Chapter 6: The Ones Who Notice
The campus movement was off. Usually, students hung around the kiosks to argue, but today everyone was walking fast. Two police Hilux vans were parked by the Senate Building. The officers were in their normal black uniforms and berets, going in and out of the offices to talk to the staff.
Detective Anyi stood at the start of the shortcut behind the old lecture block. She wasn't wearing a uniform. In her jeans and jacket, she looked like a staff member, but she stayed perfectly still while everyone else moved. She didn't have a notebook. She just stood there watching the foot traffic.
"Femi, get the security logs from the back gate for the last fourteen days," Anyi said.
Femi wiped sweat from his face. "Ma, those boys at the gate are useless. Sometimes they're sleeping or buying food. The log won't be accurate."
"Then find the food vendors," Anyi said. "If a guard bought suya at 11:00 p.m., he wasn't watching the gate. I want to know every vehicle that passed through between midnight and 4:00 a.m. for the last three Fridays."
Anyi turned her head, scanning the courtyard. Her eyes passed over the students and the boy in the wheelchair under the flamboyant tree. To her, he was just a detail—a student with a textbook. She didn't stop. She moved her gaze to a group of girls by the lab.
George watched her movement using the reflection in the glass door of the lecture hall. He noticed she wasn't shouting. She was quiet. She was looking for a break in the pattern.
"You," an officer said, pointing to a girl by the railing.
The girl had her arms crossed. She looked tired, her eyes a bit bloodshot like she'd actually been crying or just hadn't slept.
"You were in the same lab group as Amara, right?" the officer asked.
"Yes," the girl said. "Lina. We were partners in Anatomy."
Anyi stepped closer. "Did Amara mention anyone bothering her? Did she change how she acted last week?"
Lina looked at Anyi, then at the shortcut. She looked genuinely exhausted. "Amara used this path every night. But three nights ago, she stopped right here." Lina pointed to the concrete. "She stood there for a while, just looking into the dark. I asked her what was wrong, and she said she felt like the air was too heavy. Then she just shook it off and kept walking."
"Did she see anyone?" Anyi asked.
"She didn't say. She was just... uneasy. We all are."
Lina's eyes drifted away from Anyi, looking around the courtyard the way everyone else was—with a bit of nervous energy. Her gaze landed on George for a brief moment, the same way you'd look at anyone else sitting nearby, before she looked back at the detective.
"Lina?" Anyi called.
"I'm sorry," Lina said, rubbing her face. "I just keep thinking that if I'd stayed with her five minutes longer, maybe she wouldn't have gone down that path alone."
Anyi softened her expression slightly. "Don't do that to yourself. Just stay available if we have more questions."
Lina nodded and walked toward the Science labs, her head down.
Anyi watched her go, then looked at George. He was just a guy in a wheelchair, holding a heavy book.
"Femi," Anyi said.
"Ma?"
"Which hostel is that boy in?" She pointed at George.
"Engineering block, Ma. Right behind these halls."
Anyi watched George for a moment. "Get the names of everyone in that block. I want to know who was signed in on Friday night. I don't care if they are in a wheelchair. If they live near this path, I want to see them."
George rolled his wheels away. He headed toward the main floor of the library, the busiest area on campus. He wanted to be surrounded by three hundred witnesses.
He found a seat near the reference desk. He opened his Engineering notebook and began working on his actual bridge assignment. Every calculation he wrote down was correct. Every diagram was precise.
Across campus, in the Anatomy lab, Lina was at her locker. She pulled out her lab coat, folded it neatly, and sat down at her desk. She spent the next hour highlighting notes for the upcoming midterm, looking exactly like a student trying to bury her grief in schoolwork.
Anyi remained at the shortcut for another hour. She watched the way students avoided the exact spot where Amara had stopped. She noticed how some people looked at the police with fear, while others looked with curiosity.
In the library, George checked his watch. It was 5:10 p.m. He stayed in his seat, solving for tension and load-bearing capacity.
He knew that if Anyi was as good as she looked, she was already checking the library's exit logs. He needed to be the most boring, predictable student in the building.
He turned a page in his notebook, as he kept studying, and keeping an eye on Anyi.
George looked out the library window at the setting sun. He was just a boy in a wheelchair, finishing his homework before the curfew.
Anyi walked away from the path and headed toward the security office. She had a list of names from the Engineering block in her hand. George's name was on it, but it was just one of forty.
George gathered his things and prepared to head back to the hostel. He had to be inside before the soldiers started the patrol.
As he rolled toward the exit, he saw Lina standing by the library notice board. She was reading a flyer about the funeral arrangements for Amara. She looked small, her shoulders slumped. When George passed, she didn't look up. She was just another student lost in the tragedy.
George kept moving. The campus was about to go silent, and for George, that was when the real work began.