TEN YEARS MISSING

Chapter One - The Discovery

The smell of hot meat pies filled the cramped office as Dapo dropped the steaming paper packet on the table.

“Thank you, my guy!” Tolu Adeyemi said, dropping the file he’d been holding onto the desk. He eagerly tore into the pie, the warm, flaky crust offering brief comfort against the long night.

“Anytime, oh!” Oladapo Akeredolu grinned. They shared the small office, and Dapo was always the one bringing snacks. "You can never go wrong with Mega Chicken!" He said unwrapping the powdered doughnut he got himself.

"Real talk! Their stuff is only very expensive" Tolu answered.
The two bachelors practically knew every eatery and buka around the precinct. They had tried and untried everyone.

They both munched on their hot pastries downing cold bottles of soda. Their small office had two desks, a file cabinet and a ceiling fan that grumbled like it was going to die.

"Maintenance still hasn't come to check this fan? This noise is too much!" Dapo said. The creaky sound irritated him endlessly.

Tolu smirked."Kevin came yesterday and said he'll check it today."

"That guy has been promising for a month. I told you, he no too rate us."

Tolu laughed. Dapo will always be Dapo.

“How far with the case now?” Dapo asked sipping a bottle of 7Up.

Tolu sighed and turned to face him. “I’m tired. I feel this girl is with her father in Ibadan. Her mother said they had a disagreement before she left.”

“Then it’s a cold case!” Dapo exclaimed, shaking his head.
“Why bother? Just put the file in the cold case drawer and move on. At least her mama no call again, means she don reach house.”

He had a point. Mrs. Animashaun’s hourly calls had stopped after two frantic days. It had been a week now.

“Yeah, you’re right. ” Tolu rose and headed for the file room, the weight of the decision pressing on him.

Was he really ready to give up?

The dim lights of the file room flickered as he flipped the switch by the door.
He smirked at the sight, the usually chaotic space was now tidy, files placed neatly in labeled cabinets.

“This is a first,” he muttered, stepping inside.

He found the drawer labeled COLD CASE. He pulled, but it wouldn’t budge. He yanked harder and a file fell out.

He slipped in the Animashaun file and bent to pick up the one that had dropped.
That’s when he saw it.

Something that made his heart stop.

SARAH OMOTAYO
Missing, 2015

Why did the name make him pause? Why was he suddenly sweating?

Then he remembered.

Sarah, buried deep beneath the dust of adolescence.
The quiet classmate. The one who went missing during send-off week.

He picked up the file, his mouth agape. He feared blinking would make it disappear.

“Jesus…” he whispered.

Inside was a photo. She wasn’t smiling, but her eyes held that distant look. The same one she wore in school, always staring out the window at break time.

He hadn’t heard her name in a decade. But suddenly, the past wasn’t done with him.

He flipped through the file and paused.

Only three papers?

A basic incident form.
A handwritten witness statement, barely legible.
And then, the last page: a printed conclusion in bold at the top:

STATUS: RUNAWAY

That was it? Ten years. No follow-up. No investigation. Just a name in a drawer and a stamped label that ended her story.

His pulse quickened. This wasn’t just a cold case. It had been buried.

“Oga Adeyemi?” someone called. It was Adamu, the janitor, holding his mop and bucket at the doorway. “Are you okay, sir?”

Tolu shut the file quickly and cleared his throat. “I’m okay, Adamu. How you dey?” he asked, already walking past him.

“I dey oh,” Adamu replied cheerfully behind him, oblivious to the storm brewing in Tolu’s mind.

"Aha. What's wrong with you? You look like you've seen a ghost." It was Shade, a junior detective from homicide.

"Tolu!" She called again.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he gave a grim smile, "What's up Pepsi?" He greeted sitting at the desk, file still in hand.

She was called 'Pepsi' because of her obsession with the soda.

Shade looked from Tolu to Dapo. "Did I do something wrong?"

Dapo lifted a finger to debunk that. He mouthed 'No.'

"Tolu, my guy. What's up?" He asked moving to stand behind Tolu. He peeked and saw the file on his desk. "No!" He said, stepping back.

This got Tolu’s attention. He turned sharply. "What?"

"Leave this case alone! I promise you, it won't do you any good" Dapo said walking back to his desk.

"What case is that?" Shade asked going to peek as well. "Ah! That Omotayo case. You went to carry case everyone dropped. Use your head o!" She left the office.

"She's right, you could get into trouble," Dapo added. "I've said my own." He picked up a file and opened it.

Trouble? Tolu thought.

What happened to you Sarah?...