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
“So, clearly, we had a common interest, Tilson and I, and we agreed to meet somewhere around the fifth of March, I think it was. But before that, I spoke to Tilson on the phone and advised him to move out of the Kempinski Hotel.”
“Ah,” Emma said. “We wondered who it was. Why did you advise him as such?”
“Kempinski is a high-visibility place with extraordinary security in place. I call it a political hotel. Unless you’re a harmless tourist, I wouldn’t recommend a journalist, detective, or any kind of investigator stay there. I suspect in some cases the rooms are bugged. But that’s just me.”
“Interesting,” Sowah said.
“Yes. So, at the time we met,” Sana continued, “I had expected Gordon to be concerned mostly with catching the person or persons who had tricked him, and he had already gone to the police about it. What surprised me was he asked if he could help me in my goal to name, shame, and jail the sakawa big wigs, as I call them.”
“What role did he want to play?” Sowah said. “I mean, what could he do?”
“That’s exactly the point. He was overeager—like a sprinter off the starting block too soon. I have a method of working and I use my own people. I didn’t want a co-investigator, I only wanted to know what had happened to Mr. Tilson and take it from there. He said he had a possible contact who could give him access to top-ranking officials in the police service. I told him, if you start at the top, you have nowhere to go from there. Start at the bottom and work your way up. For example, I told him about Kweku Ponsu, the fetish priest, who has contact with both sakawa boys and powerful people. No one will admit it, but MPs, commanders, commissioners, and CEOs alike go to Ponsu for spiritual guidance to make money, get promotions, destroy political opponents, and so on. Ponsu has a foot in one world and the other foot in another. He is the kind of player we want to engage and court, but it’s a slow process.”
Sowah exchanged a glance with Emma. “Now we know how Mr. Tilson found out about Ponsu. What was his response to your recommendations about Kweku Ponsu?”
“Something to the effect that he wanted to work as fast as possible,” Sana said. “That he didn’t want to stay in Ghana ‘forever.’ Americans are very impatient, you know. They always want to do things fast. So, when they come to Ghana, they don’t understand why things take so long.”
“Were you aware Mr. Tilson went to see Ponsu at Atimpoku?” Sowah asked.