Chapters (109)
- Part One
- ONE
- One day earlier
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- PART TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- SIXTY-FIVE
- SIXTY-SIX
- SIXTY-SEVEN
- SIXTY-EIGHT
- SIXTY-NINE
- SEVENTY
- SEVENTY-ONE
- SEVENTY-TWO
- SEVENTY-THREE
- SEVENTY-FOUR
- SEVENTY-FIVE
- SEVENTY-SIX
- SEVENTY-SEVEN
- SEVENTY-EIGHT
- SEVENTY-NINE
- EIGHTY
- EIGHTY-ONE
- EIGHTY-TWO
- EIGHTY-THREE
- EIGHTY-FOUR
- EIGHTY-FIVE
- EIGHTY-SIX
- EIGHTY-SEVEN
- EIGHTY-EIGHT
- EIGHTY-NINE
- NINETY
- NINETY-ONE
- NINETY-TWO
- NINETY-THREE
- NINETY-FOUR
- NINETY-FIVE
- NINETY-SIX
- NINETY-SEVEN
- NINETY-EIGHT
- NINETY-NINE
- GLOSSARY
- Acknowledgments
- Continue reading
- Part One
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
It was at that instant that Kafui’s expression changed abruptly. Apparently, something had struck her with the force of lightning.
“What’s wrong?” Labram asked.
Eyes down, Kafui pressed her fingers to her lips as one gripped by a sudden dreadful thought. “I saw something.”
“You saw something?” Sowah asked. “How do you mean?”
“Early that morning around two o’clock,” Kafui began explaining, “Yao wouldn’t sleep, so I took him for a walk to the roadside. While we were there, I saw an SUV turn onto the Adome Bridge. When it reached about halfway, it stopped, and I saw two men get out. They opened the boot and dragged out something in a long sack. The way they were carrying it, I could see it was heavy. It even looked like it could be somebody inside. They took it to the side of the bridge and threw it over into the river.”
Emma felt chills down her back.
“About how big was the sack?” Sowah asked.
“I’m not sure,” Kafui said. “Maybe from there . . . to there.” She pointed out two spots on the wall about two meters apart—the length of a fairly tall person.
“You’re sure it was the same morning that you went to clean the house?” Sowah asked. “The same morning Mr. Tilson disappeared?”
“Yes please,” Kafui said without hesitation. “I remember it was a Friday and it was also Yao’s birthday. I was planning to go to market the next day. On Thursday, Mr. Labram called me to tell me I should come the next day to do a good cleaning for the next guest after Mr. Gordon.”
Emma exchanged a glance with Sowah. Was this their first real break?
“Why did you think maybe there was someone in the sack?” Emma asked Kafui.
Kafui’s eyes misted. “I saw it move.”
For several moments, no one said a word. Kafui began to sniff and dab her eyes with a handkerchief. Clearly, she was feeling overwhelmed. Emma went to her side and dropped to her knees. “Are you okay?”
“I pray it will not be the white man,” Kafui said, her voice shaking. She had just voiced what everyone in the small group was thinking.
FORTY-TWO
FORTY-TWO
Nii Kwei had his audience of six sakawa boys, including Bruno, in the palm of his hand as he demonstrated brand new software and hardware. The former had been downloaded and the latter was fresh off the plane, brought in by a friend from the US, and paid for online with a hacked credit card account used on Amazon Prime.
“This one,” he explained to his attentive colleagues, “they call it Face2Face. It’s a kind of real time facial reenactment software.”
“Ei!” the youngest boy, Timi-Timi, exclaimed. “Nii, you are killing us oo!”
“Yeah, chaley,” another said, “your words are too big. Come down small for us, please.”