Chapter 22

"No. I'm fine all by myself." He replied to him again.

"Aren't you bored living all alone?" Officer Doyin asked as he chipped in.

"I'm fine all by myself." The old man replied.

"Why are you here?" The old man asked them again.

"Sorry to interrupt. I am detective Henry Larson, this is officer Doyin Dimas while that is doctor Charles Paul. We are from the police department of LCPD, Maiduguri, while Dr. Charles is a forensic scientist and doctor at the lab and police hospital." Detective Henry introduced himself.

"Okay." The old man replied.

"And you are?" Detective Henry asked, hoping to know more about the man.

"Thomas." He answered detective Henry's question.

"Thomas Eddison?" Detective Henry asked.

"Must have known about me." The old man said as they already got to know about him.

"Yes. I have seen some of your videos and pictures on your page. You keep animals." Detective Henry said to the old man as he commented on him.

"Okay." The old man replied as though he was feeling less interested in the conversation.

"So what is your profession? What do you do for a living?" Detective Henry asked him again.

"You just answered yourself, why asking me again?" The old man replied.

"Oh…yeah…sorry about that." Detective Henry apologized as he opened the bottle of swan water that was brought to them and poured out some into one of the glass cups that was kept there as he gulped it down. Officer Doyin and Doctor Charles did the same.

Detective Henry used that as a way of giving the old man some space and to know if he would tell him something else but he was just quiet as he watched them. They all stared at each other as the old man, Thomas Eddison, took a long sip of his coffee, drinking up all the contents of the mug. They found it strange how he gulped down the hot coffee in a few seconds.

He thought that it must have cooled down when they were discussing as that was the only reasonable explanation that could be given of what he did and how he did that.

"Okay sir…thanks for your hospitality. As to why we are here, we came to see the animals as I said to you earlier when we came." Detective Henry Larson finally gave out a reason as to why they were there which also answered the old man's question.

"What animals do you want to see?" Thomas Eddison asked them.

"All the animals that you have. But we are more interested in the bigger ones…so you have those too?" Detective Henry asked as he now did all the talking to the three of them while officer Doyin Dimas and doctor Charles Paul remained quiet.

"Are you here for adoption?" Thomas Eddison asked.

"No sir…we just came to take a look at the animals." Detective Henry replied.

"Then you can't see them." The old man Thomas replied.

"But why sir?" Detective Henry asked.

"I only show my animals to people who want to adopt them. If you are not here to get any then you can't see any." The old man replied.

"Oh…hahahaha…that's not a problem then. I will get one for my friend, he loves animals a lot especially dogs. I'm sure you have that one here?" Detective Henry said to the old man.

"I'm not giving out any of my animals if it's not you that is adopting them." The old man said clearly.

Thomas had so many protocols that must be followed and Detective Henry had to okay it smartly with him in order for them to get what they want and leave. Detective Henry hated animals with so much passion but had to fake a love and affinity for them.

"Can we see them please? I mean the animals." Detective Henry requested.

"Follow me." Thomas Eddison replied. They went out through a back door that led into a shade opening which looked more like another part of the house.

"Woah…" Officer Doyin Dimas exclaimed as he admired the animals and where they were kept. The environment was very neat and we kept it as one would think of it as a magnificent sight.

"You did this all alone?" Detective Henry asked the old man as he surveyed and admired how beautiful and beat the place was. The birds had a cafe at the last shelf towards the roof on the four sides of the walls of the room. The partoe had a very large cage that was divided into sections as the cage was hung on the roof at the center of the room.

The creeping animals were kept below at the center of the room wall while the larger animals were kept at the lowest part of the floor. Thomas had different kinds of animals such as tortoises, horses, chameleons, rabbits, ostriches and different kinds of creatures and birds of different and beautiful colors.

"Yes. It was the dream of my wife that we run an animal shelter because she loved them. We never had enough money to start it up but we kept on hoping to get rid someday." The old man replied.

"Then when did you start it up? Did you later get the money to start up the animal shelter care?" Doctor Charles asked the old man.

"I didn't get much money but I started it anyway. My little daughter and our only child gave me the inspiration and wisdom to start up one. She always loved playing with animals that went astray or were found in the gutter. She would also pick up the sick animals and buy some medicine for them and treat them.

She was only seven when she started doing that. That was how she began to fill up the house with different animals which she referred to as her let's. That pink car was her favorite and first pet she had." The old man told them as he pointed to s at with pink furs. It looked big as though it was a matured one and not a kitten.

"I've never seen a pink before in my life or rather, in our lives." Detective Henry exclaimed as he spoke the minds of officer Doyin and Doctor Charles.

"Yeah…she dyed it pink. Tha is her favorite color." The old man said to them.

"Oh…I see. But the dye never washed or faded away? Was that how it was since she dyed it?" Officer Doyin asked the old man.

"Hahahahaha….no…that was years ago so it would definitely fade away. I dyed it every year on her birthday." The old man replied. That was the first time that they saw him laugh. He had not even smiled at them since they came in.

"Where is she now?" Doctor Charles asked Thomas Eddison.

The old man didn't reply or say anything as he remained quiet. They also observed that his countenance had also changed as he looked sad.

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to share personal details with us. We can understand that." Detective Henry said to the old man when he observed and noticed that he was quiet and not saying anything.

"She passed away." Thomas Eddison spiked after some seconds of silence.

"Oh…we're sorry to hear that. Please accept our condolences. Did she have a family before she passed away?" Detective Henry asked him again.

"She passed away when she turned ten on her birthday." The old man replied.

"That's sad…may her gentle soul rest in peace." Detective Henry wished as the rest of them chorused an "amen."

"Yeah…thanks. I still blame myself for her death." The old man replied as his eyes began to well up with tears.

"Why did you say that?" Doctor Charles asked him as they moved to the other side of the shelter where animals of smaller body sizes were kept to crawl freely.

"It was my fault. I promised to grant her wish on her birthday but I couldn't." Thomas Eddison replied.

"What did she wish for?" Detective Henry asked with curiosity.

"She wished that I should get her a werewolf baby." Thomas Eddison replied.

"That's ridiculous! What would a small girl be doing with such a creature?" Doctor Charles exclaimed.

"Right. My mum and I thought as much too as we asked for an alternative but she bluntly refused and ran out to cry." The old man explained.

"What then happened that led to her death?" Officer Doyin akses the old man.
"She ran out of the house and saw a wounded kitten by the roadside so she picked it up as she was playing with it. Our neighbor, who worked his car outside just in front of her, didn't see her nor the kitten as he drove away, crushing her and that was how she died." The old man explained how the death of his daughter took place. He felt a tear drop down from.his eyes as he wiped it away.

"We are sorry about that…" The doctor, Charles Paul, apologized on behalf of them.

"It's okay, that's fine. Her death was twenty four years ago so it's a thing of the past." Thomas Eddison replied.

"I'm sure that the kitten that she played with was the one that we saw earlier." Detective Henry pointed out.

"No, it's not. She died two days after her death." The old man replied.

"What about your wife? Where is she?" Detective Henry asked him.

"She is no longer with me." The old man replied to detective Henry's question.

"You mean she traveled?" Officer Doyin asked the old man.

"That's not it. For him to say "no longer" means that they might be divorced or she must have passed away. Am I right?" Detective Henry asked the old man after he had corrected what officer Doyin Dimas had said.

"Yes, she passed on two years later after our darling daughter passed away." The old man replied to the question of officer Doyin and the confirmation of detective Henry's statement.

"We are really sorry to hear about that. But did you manage to keep the shelter running?" Detective Henry asked Thomas Eddison.

"I used to get donations from charity organizations and from people. That keeps the shelter running well." The old man replied.

"From all that I've seen, there is none of our specialty here. Don't you have other animals like the bigger ones?" Detective Henry finally brought up the topic as to why they were there.

"The other ones are the omd and newborns. I don't put them up for adoption." The old man replied.

"What if we want to buy them?" Detective Henry asked the old man.

"Follow me." The old man said to them as they went to another part of the shelter. This section was majorly meant for the wild and dangerous animals as they saw a signboard with a writing on it which read "KEEP OFF. DANGEROUS ANIMALS KEPT HERE!" Detective Henry smiled as he knew that they were soon going to get what they wanted.

Thomas Eddison pushed open an old iron gate that had electric fencing all over the top which must be for security reasons. They Tried to fit into the fenced and reserved area as they saw it sectioned into different rooms.