“All part of the investigation. You may decline to answer, if you wish. No one is forcing you.”

“You know, Mr. Sowah,” Ponsu said, acquiescing, “the boys come to me to ask for powers—powers to perform their work successfully.”

“And you help them even though they are involved in illegal activity?”

“Oh, yes!” Ponsu said, grinning. “I don’t pass judgment, you understand me. We all have our work to do, not so? If you are bringing the correct sacrificial animals and some money to me, then yes, I will help you.”

“And none of these boys has ever mentioned the name Gordon Tilson to you?” Sowah persisted from a different angle. “Or maybe brought you a picture of the man?”

The priest shook his head. “Never.”

An awkward silence followed. Sowah cleared his throat. “Thank you for your help, sir. May I keep in touch with you?”

“But of course,” Ponsu said, and recited his number.

“Thank you,” Sowah said. “I also will flash you our contact info. In case you remember anything that could be relevant to the case, please call us.”

“And you too,” Ponsu said, “if any of you have any spiritual or physical needs, feel free to get in touch. You can also go to my website, PonsuPower.com.”

Over my dead body will I use your services, Emma thought, but still, it was useful to have his phone number. With another round of handshaking, they thanked the priest again and left.

Emma waited until they were well out of earshot before saying anything. “Do you believe him, sir?”

“No, I do not,” Sowah said without hesitation. “All that braggadocio talk is just a front.”

“Ponsu is famous for that kind of language, though,” Labram pointed out. “Watch his YouTube videos and you’ll see that’s his MO. I don’t mean I necessarily believe him, just that his style of language might not point to his lying.”

Despite conceding Labram could be right, Sowah remained doubtful.

“So then, what next, sir?” Emma asked.

“We’re not letting Ponsu off the hook, but what we need is another approach. We must find some kind of leverage to use against him. As it is, he’ll just continue to deny, deny, deny. So that means we must dig up information on him. What is one possible link to him? The sakawa boys, of course. I know some of them, and I know people who know some as well. That’s what we need to work on in the next few days.”

Now I’ll have to tell him about Bruno, Emma thought. She didn’t want to bring her family into the investigation, but here, she had no choice. Since her stepbrother was hanging around sakawa boys, Emma had a potential connection to them. She would tell Sowah, but she wanted to wait until she was alone with him.

She noticed he was limping. “Sir, what’s wrong? Did you hurt your foot?”