The top of the skull was removed like a cap, and the two doctors examined it.
“Anything?” Kwapong asked Prempeh, gently testing him.
“No fractures that I can see.”
“I agree.”
She wrestled a few seconds with the brain, and it came free with a sucking noise.
“No hemorrhages or signs of trauma on the outside,” Kwapong said, putting the brain down on a cutting board. “Would you section it, Dr. Prempeh?”
He sliced it with a large, sharp knife, and Dawson feared for how close it came to his fingers. “Nothing,” he said.
Kwapong transferred her attention to Bao’s neck. “No ligature marks, gentlemen. The hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage are intact. Very unlikely he was strangled. Which is not to say he didn’t suffocate.”
She picked up a scalpel and made a straight, sharp incision down the windpipe in one clean motion, and then spread the cartilage open. “Clumps and particles of soil in the trachea,” she said grimly.
Dawson looked up at Dr. Kwapong and met her eyes. “So that means…”
“Correct, Chief Inspector,” Kwapong said. “That means your victim here was buried alive.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Buried alive,” Chikata said, shaking his head before taking a swig from his bottle of water. “That is pure wickedness.”
Dawson savored a sip of Malta that he had bought during a sudden and intense attack of craving for the rich drink. They were back at Obuasi headquarters to discuss the case.
“Wickedness, fury, sadism,” Dawson said. “All those things. A desire not just to kill Bao, but to make sure he suffered in the process. To me it points to the people who had the most reason to hate Bao-Yaw Okoh and his father. So how could either one of them, or both, carry out this murder? You start.”
“Yaw Okoh,” Chikata began, “adores his brother Amos, whose death leaves a terrible void in his life. He wants to avenge Amos’s death by killing Bao Liu. He knows that the Chinaman is going to be at the mining site that Friday morning around four to fix the excavator. Yaw waylays him there around four twenty-five or so, just after Bao has tried to call his brother, ties him up in that terrible position, and then with an excavator, he scoops up large piles of soil and dumps it on him.”
“How did he know that the excavator was out of order,” Dawson challenged, “and that Bao was going to come in at a certain time on that particular day to repair it?”
“He asked one of Bao’s galamsey boys, who told him all about it,” Chikata answered.
“Ah, how can Yaw have asked one of them when he has been mute since the death of his brother?”
“He’s only pretending to be mute, though. It’s a subterfuge, because the man is guilty.”
“Okay, that’s a good comeback, but where would he obtain the excavator?”
“He bribed Chuck Granger’s guys to give him the key to one of the excavators so he could use it that night.”
Dawson shook his head. “Too dangerous. He would be exposing himself.”
“Okay,” Chikata said without blinking, “then when one of the excavator operators was taking a break, Yaw stole the ignition key.”
Dawson laughed. “That’s stretching it a bit, but your point is good. We need to go back to Granger and also question his security guy, Godson.”
“What about Mr. Okoh?” Chikata asked. “How would he be involved?”
Dawson picked up. “Mr. Okoh feels as much pain over the loss of his son as Yaw does, maybe even more. Amos was his favorite son. Okoh hates this Chinese man, the same one who drove the Okohs off their farm and reduced his plot of land to a pittance. And now the Chinaman has killed his son. To not avenge his son’s death would be a dishonor to Mr. Okoh and his family.”
Chikata nodded. “Okay, go on.”
“He wants to kill Bao in a way that will cause maximum suffering, but he needs Yaw’s help. Together they plot Bao’s death, but they need the opportunity to carry out the deed. That’s when Yaw goes to one of the Lius’ galamsey workers and asks if he can let him know when Yaw is planning to come in early.”
“Yes,” Chikata said uncertainly.
“You don’t look happy,” Dawson observed.
“Yes, because we don’t have a link between Yaw and Bao Liu’s workers.”
Dawson thought about that for a second. “We should question Kudzo Gablah again. Maybe he has conveniently left out some facts.”
“Could Kudzo have helped Yaw?”
Dawson shook his head. “I’ve ruled him out. I just can’t see him doing it and he has an alibi. This is the way I see it. Watch.”
He reached for a pencil and piece of paper and made a quick list.
Established alibi
Kudzo Gablah – with friends Ekaw & family overnight till 0530 Fri
Wei Liu – with friend Feng overnight till 0600 Fri
NO ESTABLISHED ALIBI MOTIVE
Yaw Okoh Revenge for bro Amos’s death
Thompson Somehow profits from Bao’s death?
SUSPICIOUS 1QUESTIONABLE ALIBI MOTIVE
Mr. Okoh: What time did he Revenge for son Amos’s death
really wake up Friday morning?
Granger Get rid of uncooperative Bao
Mine more gold through Wei
“Do you know who isn’t on there but should be?” Chikata said, after gazing at the diagram for a few moments.
“Who?”
“Bao Liu’s wife. She has no alibi because the man who could have vouched for her being at home while he was being murdered is obviously quite dead.”
“So well put,” Dawson said dryly. “But what could be her motive? He is the money earner, and apart from him and Wei and perhaps one or two Chinese friends, Bao is her connection to her culture. Besides, this signature is that of a male.”
Chikata tilted his head side to side as he considered it. “Okay. I think you are right on that one.”
“So, our only loose ends now are Yaw, Granger, and Thompson.”
Chikata looked bothered. “Boss, seriously, this thing Akua Helmsley has cooked up is not credible. The PMMC or Director Thompson having Bao Liu killed because he won’t accept a low price for gold? Come on. Who is Bao Liu? He’s small fish in a big sea. PMMC doesn’t care about some little shit guy like him.”
“I’m skeptical as well,” Dawson said, “but we can’t let something like that go when it’s sitting right under our noses. There might be a wider picture to it. So here is what we need to do. Call Thompson and set up a meeting in Accra as soon as possible and then go down to meet him face to face. It shouldn’t be anything confrontational, but you’ll be watching for his reaction, body language, tone of voice, and so on.”
“Yes.”
“Let’s try and get through some more of this mess,” Dawson said, looking around the office, “and then it will be time to go down to Dunkwa so we can catch our man, Yaw Okoh.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
By four thirty that Friday afternoon, Dawson and Chikata were at the Dunkwa Police Station with Constables Kobby and Asase. Dawson was glad to see they were both prompt. It was a good omen. For about thirty minutes, Dawson outlined the plan and answered any questions they had. They would split into pairs-Asase and Chikata, Dawson and Kobby-and leave Dunkwa by different routes fifteen minutes apart to avoid attracting attention. It was best that no one got wind of a police operation.
Dawson and Kobby left first, taking the route he had followed with Adwoa and Queenie to Fallen Tree Bridge. The sun was in the finishing stretch of its journey across the sky, but it was still hot and humid, and by the time the pair of them had reached the rendezvous, Dawson and Kobby had worked up a healthy sweat. They found some shade to wait for Asase and Chikata while keeping in touch with them by phone.