Death at the Voyager Hotel (14 page)

Oliver had departed, leaving the two women both relieved and
embarrassed.

“I jumped to
conclusions,” Paula said, wincing. “I thought he was saying he killed Heather.”

“So did I.”

“We made a mess
of the interview.”

“I don’t
suspect him anymore,” Gale said.

“Neither do I, and
now I feel terrible that I suspected him.”

“Boss,” Gale
said hesitantly, “this may be a sign that we have to let this go. Maybe we have
this wrong. I mean, I loved and respected Heather, but—”

“But maybe she
did go swimming in the nude?” Paula cut in. She shook her head firmly. “In fact,
I believe I can prove to you right now that she did not do that.”

She picked up
her phone and dialed Mr. Peterson.

“How are you, sir?”

“Frustrated,”
he said sharply. “How does anything get done in this country?”

“Is there
something I can help with?”

“I spent the
whole morning and part of this afternoon just trying to reclaim Heather’s
belongings,” he said angrily. “Why is this so difficult? I went from one department
to the next, filling out I don’t know how many forms. Half the time, people
weren’t in their offices and I kept being told to come back tomorrow. I had to
get someone from the embassy to apply pressure before I finally got my hands on
her belongings.”

“So you have
them now?”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry it
was so vexing,” Paula said. “You shouldn’t have to go through all that.”

He blew his
breath out sharply in exasperation.

“Where are you at
the moment?” she asked.

“Back at the
hotel with a stiff drink. I couldn’t take it anymore. I was sitting at CID
supposedly waiting to speak to the Director-General, and after about an hour
someone decides it would be nice to let me know that he wasn’t even in. Jesus
Christ.
”

“I sympathize.
Even us hardened and jaded Ghanaians go insane over the way we often conduct
business. Did you have a look through Heather’s things?”

“Yes,” he said,
his tone softening. “It was bittersweet. I would never have imagined how even
small items could come to mean so much.”

“So true. By
the way, you may not know this, but Heather had two swimsuits: a black and a tangerine.”

“Tangerine—really?”
He paused as if he was thinking something through. “Only the black one is here.”

“Only the black
one.” Paula gave a thumbs-up to Gale. “Just as I expected. You understand the
significance of that, Mr. Peterson?”

“It’s just
struck me,” he said, as he began to laugh with sudden relief. “It means she
didn’t go swimming naked. I
knew
it!”

“So did I,”
Paula said happily. “Mr. Peterson, we’re going to reclaim Heather’s good name.
I promise you that.”

“Thank you,” he
said with feeling. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your championship of
my daughter.”

“She only
deserves it,” Paula said. “Do you now have a date of departure set?”

“This
Friday—Saturday at the latest.”

She had a
sudden idea. “Before you leave, High Street Academy would like to honor Heather’s
memory. Can you visit us on Thursday afternoon for an event?”

She was already
organizing it in her head: the children could stage singing, traditional
Ghanaian dancing and drumming, spoken word performances, and other tributes to
Heather—perhaps a little theatrical performance as well. Several of the boys
were naturally talented acrobats who loved to put on a show. Yes, it will be
good, she thought. In Ghana, when one honors a person who has passed on to the
next world, it isn’t all doom and gloom, because one is celebrating her life as
well. Paula might even be able to get one of the local Jamestown marching bands
to perform. They would be glad to. Finally, they could screen Diane’s wonderful
tribute. Paula’s heart leapt at these thoughts. “Can you come, Mr. Peterson?”
she pressed eagerly.

“Okay,” he said
a little hesitantly. He probably didn’t know quite what to expect. “Yes, sure,
why not?”

“Wonderful,”
Paula said. “I’ll call on Wednesday evening to confirm.”

As she rang
off, she beamed at Gale. “Vindicated,” she said with satisfaction.

Gale smiled.
“You win, boss. I shouldn’t have doubted Heather that way. And what was that you
were saying about an event?”

“We’re going to
put together a beautiful sendoff for Heather and her father. Get all the staff
in to start the planning. We have two days to rehearse.”

Before Paula left for home that afternoon, she called Jost
to ask if she could swing by his office to learn a little more about solar
installations for the home, and also to ask him another question in private.

“Actually I’m
not in Accra right now,” he told her. “I’m down at beautiful
Cape Three Points
taking a couple days off, but I’ll return tomorrow.”

“And you’re
leaving for Amsterdam Wednesday morning?”

“Correct.”

“I see,” Paula
said. Tuesday, the following day, would be packed with meetings for her, including
a dreaded one with her boss. “What if I come to the hotel tomorrow evening?”

“Yes, that
would be perfectly fine. I’ll be back by then.”

She spent the
next few minutes revising the list she had started on Friday night.

It had expanded
considerably:

1.
    
Heather
– A little wine/beer, but not intoxicated when she drowned

2.
   
 Homicidal
death, not accidental

3.
   
Black
swimsuit with her belongings, but not the tangerine => Heather was probably wearing
it when she went for a swim => she was not naked

4.
   
Where
is the tangerine swimsuit—murderer took it?

5.
   
Pool
lights out—murderer switched off the inverter?

Suspects

1.
    
Amadu—motive?
– knows how to switch off lights

2.
   
Edward:
spurned lover? Also knows how to turn off lights

3.
   
Oliver
– more and more doubtful as a suspect

4.
   
Diane
– jealousy? Disgust for “jungle fever”? Doesn’t seem a likely suspect

No. 1 & 2 know about the solar system,
inverter, etc.
prime suspects??

Her phone rang, and she was surprised to see that it was
Chief Inspector Agyekum calling.

“Good
afternoon, Chief Inspector.”

“Afternoon, madam.”
Long pause.

“May I help
you?”

“Yes, please, madam,
Mr. Djan called me today to inform me that you are very concerned about the
investigation of Heather Peterson’s death and that you still believe there has
been foul play.”

“Yes, that’s
correct,” Paula said. She was thrown a little off balance by the unexpected
call, but she wasn’t going to squander this opportunity to reinforce her case. “As
I explained before, Heather did not drink. Dr. Biney has explained to my
husband and me that a falsely elevated lab test could have been created during
the decomposition of Heather’s body, so that’s why it
appeared
that she
had been drinking heavily when in reality she had not. And now we know that one
of her two swimsuits is missing; it is almost certain that she was wearing it
when she went swimming—not naked as previously thought.”

“I see,” he
said blandly. “That’s interesting. However, our forensic lab is quite confident
that the obtained result is correct. Anyway, no problem—as your husband said, when
Dr. Biney returns, he will discuss all these things with us and then maybe we
will take it to the Director-General for his input. So, don’t worry, we will
handle it.”

“So, you’ll
reopen the case?” she said hopefully.

“Like I said,
Mrs. Djan, we will handle everything, so don’t trouble yourself to try and
investigate the case. For your own safety and the public interest, we don’t
advise that. Am I clear?”

“When can I
find out whether the investigation has been reopened?” she persisted.

“We are looking
into it. Madam. I must advise you not to interfere any further with the
procedures of the CID, or there may be problems.”

His voice had
turned hard and flat, and now Paula understood he wasn’t reassuring her. In
fact, he was warning
her away.

“Interfere?”
she echoed in astonishment. “You can only interfere with something if it’s
actually being done, Chief Inspector. All I see CID doing is a whole lot of
nothing.”

“Thank you, madam.
Please, we will handle it.
Okay
?”

He hung up. She
was angry as she speed-dialed Thelo’s number.

“So, you had
Agyekum call me to threaten me, is that it?” she asked him as soon as he came
on the line.

“What are you
talking about?” Thelo said, sounding bewildered.

“He just spoke
to me and warned me not to ‘interfere’ with CID’s work. Did you ask him to do
that?”

“No, of course
not,” Thelo responded indignantly. “I only told him about your concerns, that
you had obtained new information from different sources, and that Dr. Biney planned
to look into the facts of the case and possibly request it be reopened. I
wasn’t asking him to call and threaten you at all. Is it my fault that he did
that?”

“I guess not,”
she said sullenly, calming down. “Sorry.”

He sighed. “Paula,
what’s gotten into you?”

“Do you believe
Agyekum is really willing to take a second look?” she asked, ignoring his
question.

“I don’t see
why not.” Thelo sounded preoccupied. “Listen, I have a meeting. I have to run.”

For a while,
she sat thinking about the two conversations she had just had. It was tempting
to be reassured, but she knew better. Agyekum was simply stalling her. He
wanted her to go away and disappear, but she wasn’t going to. Instead, she would
keep probing until she found her answer, and no one—not Agyekum, Biney, or even
her husband—would hold her back.