As if she didn’t know. “I’m working on a homicide case, Mama.” What else would I be doing?
“Oh, yes-homicide. That’s right. I remember now.”
Don’t let her get inside your head. “I have to leave now,” he said abruptly.
“Oh, so soon?” Gifty said in fake concern. “I’ll walk you out.”
With Gifty following half a step behind, Dawson returned to the Corolla saying little as his mother-in-law talked about how much she was looking forward to seeing the boys again. Everything about her speech and her manner got on his nerves. How could Christine, a beautiful, loving soul, possibly be her daughter?
“We’ll talk soon, Mama,” he said as he got behind the wheel. He started up the car and sped away without a glance back. He wasn’t going to let Gifty ruin his day.
Dawson’s planned trip to Dunkwa was scrapped again, this time with a call from Commander Longdon.
“Where are you right now?” he asked.
Dawson heard something grave in his tone. “I was on my way to Dunkwa, sir.”
“I think you should come down to the division so we can discuss one or two things.”
“Okay, sir. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”
Dawson was uneasy. The commander had sounded tense. A few minutes later, when he got a text from Chikata, Dawson thought he understood why.
looks like will b joining u. just 1 or 2 things more to confirm.
That must be what this is about, Dawson thought. Chikata’s coming up to Kumasi ran counter to Longdon’s recommendations for Obeng’s replacement. Dawson had the uncomfortable sense he was in trouble, a feeling he knew all too well.
•••
Commander Longdon was on the phone when Dawson entered the air-conditioned office, and he gestured to a chair for Dawson to sit down. After a couple minutes, Longdon hung up and began to jot something down in what Dawson guessed was an appointment book.
“I’ll be right with you,” Longdon said quietly, without looking up.
“Yes, sir.”
The commander finished his notation, capped his pen, and leaned back. “All right, let’s talk. How is your progress in the case?”
Dawson gave him a recap. Motives were appearing in different areas and among different people: mute muscleman Yaw Okoh might have wanted to avenge the alleged murder of his brother Amos by Bao Liu. But Dawson wasn’t completely satisfied that Amos’s father was eliminated as a suspect. The pain he felt over the loss of his son had been palpable when Dawson had spoken to him and his wife, and he had indicated that on the morning of Bao’s death, he had risen between four and six in the morning.
“But would that give him enough time to commit the murder?” Longdon asked. “He has to walk to the mining site, kill Mr. Liu, and bury him under all that soil or gravel or whatever it is.”
“It would be close,” Dawson agreed, “but if he had the help of his son Yaw, and he woke up at, say, three instead of four-just using that as an example-he might be able to do it. Yaw would meet him at the site, and they would lie in wait.”
“Ah, so you’re proposing that Yaw and his father were in cahoots. That’s a little too convenient, don’t you think?”
Dawson didn’t necessarily agree. Plots made between members of a family did occur.
“My point is this, sir,” he said. “If Yaw murdered Mr. Bao, he could have done it all by himself, but if Mr. Okoh took part in the murder, then he had to have the help of Yaw. Why? Because Yaw knows how to operate an excavator.”
Longdon rubbed his chin contemplatively. “Ah, I see. How do you know that?”
“Akua Helmsley has a clear picture her photographer snapped of him in an excavator.”
The commander grunted. “That Helmsley woman. She has her hand in everything. Do we know to whom the excavator belonged?”
“The photo was taken around Dunkwa,” Dawson said, “but so many companies have excavators all over the Ashanti Region. It could have belonged to anyone.”
Longdon nodded. “In that case, a big priority is to find this Yaw.”
Dawson appreciated his grasp of the case. “Yes, sir.”
“You’ll need some men to help in the search. I’ll see what I can do.”
“Thank you, sir.” Dawson was relieved that this was going so well. Maybe he had imagined the tenseness in the commander’s voice on the phone.
“What else?” Longdon asked.
“Well, there is one American guy, Chuck Granger, who has a mining site close to Bao Liu’s.”
“Is it that guy who was in that reality show, or whatever it’s called?”
“Yes, on the Explorer Channel. Granger was living at Four Villages Inn, but when I went there today to meet Mr. Scott, the owner, Granger had already left.”
“To where?”
“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out.”
“Did Scott shed any light on the man?”
Dawson nodded. He liked Longdon’s logical progressions. “Scott says Granger hated Chinese illegals trespassing on his mining site, and they did that a lot, apparently-including Bao Liu and his brother, along with his Ghanaian assistants brandishing pump-action shotguns.”
The commander appeared satisfied. “You have a lot to work with. Good job.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“I’ll get you some manpower in the next couple of days to help you find Yaw Okoh.”
“I appreciate that, sir.”
Dawson was halfway standing to leave, but he should have known this had gone too well to be true.
“One other thing,” Longdon said, his tone sharpening.
Here it comes, Dawson thought.
The commander folded his fingers in front of him. “I’ve received word from Central that Inspector Chikata is to join you sometime tomorrow, Wednesday.”
Dawson’s heart leapt. “Oh, wonderful. Thank you, sir.”
“You are a good detective, Dawson, but your problem is that you are arrogant.”
Dawson was shocked. “Arrogant, sir?”
“Yes,” Longdon snapped. “You went over my head to get your man Chikata here, and I don’t like that.”
“Sir, I did not go over your head.”
The commander wagged a finger at Dawson. “Don’t start denying things, Chief Inspector. The best thing right now is to shut up before you get yourself into more trouble. I will let this one pass, but I will not tolerate this kind of insubordination again. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir. But please, may I say one thing?”
“What is it?”
“The Chikata coming here is not a result of my going over your head. I can assure you of that.”
Longdon took a deep sigh and shook his head. “It’s the end of the discussion, Chief Inspector. You’re dismissed.”
Once he had left the commander’s office, Dawson reflected on the dressing down he had just received. Am I really that arrogant? He thought that was an unduly harsh opinion, one he’d heard on occasion from Assistant Commissioner of Police Lartey as well, but he wasn’t going to worry about it. Right now all that mattered was that he was going to be working with Chikata again. The rest he didn’t care about.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Dawson called Dr. Prempeh at Komfo Anokye Hospital. “Good afternoon, Doctor. Please, do you have any word on when the Bao Liu case will be done?”
“We are expecting Dr. Phyllis Kwapong very soon,” he said. “I will let you know as soon as she arrives and I’ll set up a date for the postmortem.”
“Thank you very much, Doctor.”
On ending the call, Dawson realized that Mr. Scott had just been trying to reach him, so he called him back.
“Chief Inspector,” he said, “I found out from one of my contacts that Chuck Granger is staying with a friend in Asokwa, but he’s at the Dunkwa mining site at the moment, so if you can get down there as quickly as possible, that would be ideal.”