It is shocking by every stretch of imagination. But good old nature has its own way of softening the impact of devastation on life generally.

For the eight generations and over that the bald old man has tasted salt, nothing that has been seen or heard in our part of the world, compared to the kind of animosity that existed between the occupant of the Castle and his former boss, as the bell begun to toll for the exit of the Agya Atta.

Ten days before the Law Professor was called to his maker, he had an audience with his one-time boss. The former military junta head visited Agya Atta at the old Slave Castle, for what was said to be a frank discussions on government policy direction, and the fortunes of the party, as the 2012 Presidential and Legislative elections’ date got nearer.

The final communiqué is still shrouded in mystery. The Boom version though, pointed to the harm Agya Atta’s continued leadership was bringing to the party and its government. Ten days later, Agya Atta was pronounced dead in a maze of confusion at the medical facility, which is constantly under invasion from those animal-birds flying about without the benefit of any eye-sight.

This is just by the way. The flying bats remind me of a hunter’s encounter once with those invaders. The hunter had been rushed down for bullets to be removed from his abdomen, after he had been mistaken for a game on a hunting expedition.

When he was released after nearly a month in intensive care, he came out and saw the bats having a field day on and around the trees at the front entrance of the hospital, initially constructed for those wounding themselves in combat operations.

“Ei, enam nie,” he screamed in Twi, and asked his son where his gun was left after the expedition that brought him to hospital. When he was told that it was forbidden to shoot at those flying animals, his response was that Accra was not a good place to live. “Meat is everywhere, but residents are under obligation not to touch the bats,” he explained.

“Take me away before I think of committing a crime,” the hunter pleaded, his voice dropping suddenly. What is playing out about the Castle and Agya Atta’s death is beginning to take on an Agatha Christie crime novel.

Tomorrow, Mother Earth will receive the remains of one of the two persons who ferried Agya Atta from the old Slave Castle to the 37 Military Hospital on his last day on the earth.

The body of Sampson is to be put to rest. This though, is not the Sampson who lost his eyesight from the treachery of his wife. This Sampson was working to the instruction of Julius the Pathfinder. How, he is going home without Julius, or any leading member of the Staff at the graveyard, is what is fuelling the rumour.

If the Bearded Old Man got the family spokesman right, that town in the constituency by the river, represented by one of the ‘Babies with Sharp Teeth’, may not be invaded by the political elite today. Those with inside knowledge insist, what amounts to a Fatwa on Oga Kwatakata and all his men and women, is potent enough for them to take it seriously. It is strange to record that those who could pull in the cash are being physically prevented from attending the funeral.

Already, tongues are wagging. Like the dilemma surrounding the death of Agya Atta, the Lance Corporal is going into his grave surrounded by the mystery of his death.

There are those who swear by the various Trokosi shrines behind the big river that someone at that Staff might have facilitated the early exit of the former soldier.

While we are at it, the bearded old man is investigating the link between that Lance Corporal, who escaped mysteriously from prison after masterminding the murder of three judges and an army officer three decades ago, and the other person with the same surname.

The head of the murder squad at the time is now nestling in comfort in Cote d’Ivoire, his rather comfortable lifestyle, allegedly being oiled by facilities advanced from that Junction separated from the Physicians’ quarters by one street.

Want to know how? A name keeps popping up. At my age and disposition, putting a finger on it is a major struggle. The courier of cash in foreign exchange to the fugitive from justice is a brother with the same surname. Emmanuel is said to be the junior brother of Samuel the Lance Corporal.

Some say that the millions of the Queens’ currency that were initially denied has become the cornerstone in this transaction. Snag is that, junior has himself taken flight, according to those who have followed the trail. Meanwhile, the rumour mill is very busy of late on the death of Agya Atta and its link to the junior brother without a military title.

The last I checked, the vineyard of the Italian Peninsular is harbouring the latest fugitive, which is why Agya Atta’s death would continue to mystify those seeking answers to the various riddles.