BooksBarbecue
Back The Missing American Save as PDF
Chapters (109)
  1. Part One
  2. ONE
  3. One day earlier
  4. TWO
  5. THREE
  6. FOUR
  7. FIVE
  8. SIX
  9. SEVEN
  10. EIGHT
  11. NINE
  12. TEN
  13. ELEVEN
  14. TWELVE
  15. THIRTEEN
  16. FOURTEEN
  17. FIFTEEN
  18. SIXTEEN
  19. SEVENTEEN
  20. EIGHTEEN
  21. NINETEEN
  22. TWENTY
  23. TWENTY-ONE
  24. TWENTY-TWO
  25. PART TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. FIFTY-FIVE
  59. FIFTY-SIX
  60. FIFTY-SEVEN
  61. FIFTY-EIGHT
  62. FIFTY-NINE
  63. SIXTY
  64. SIXTY-ONE
  65. SIXTY-TWO
  66. SIXTY-THREE
  67. SIXTY-FOUR
  68. SIXTY-FIVE
  69. SIXTY-SIX
  70. SIXTY-SEVEN
  71. SIXTY-EIGHT
  72. SIXTY-NINE
  73. SEVENTY
  74. SEVENTY-ONE
  75. SEVENTY-TWO
  76. SEVENTY-THREE
  77. SEVENTY-FOUR
  78. SEVENTY-FIVE
  79. SEVENTY-SIX
  80. SEVENTY-SEVEN
  81. SEVENTY-EIGHT
  82. SEVENTY-NINE
  83. EIGHTY
  84. EIGHTY-ONE
  85. EIGHTY-TWO
  86. EIGHTY-THREE
  87. EIGHTY-FOUR
  88. EIGHTY-FIVE
  89. EIGHTY-SIX
  90. EIGHTY-SEVEN
  91. EIGHTY-EIGHT
  92. EIGHTY-NINE
  93. NINETY
  94. NINETY-ONE
  95. NINETY-TWO
  96. NINETY-THREE
  97. NINETY-FOUR
  98. NINETY-FIVE
  99. NINETY-SIX
  100. NINETY-SEVEN
  101. NINETY-EIGHT
  102. NINETY-NINE
  103. GLOSSARY
  104. Acknowledgments
  105. Continue reading
  106. Part One
  107. ONE
  108. TWO
  109. THREE

Around 11 p.m., after they’d watched the late TV news together in bed, Josephine and James switched out their respective bedside lights and slipped under the covers. The air-conditioner was set at a comfortable level for the night.

James always slept better than she did. Nine times out of ten, his breathing would settle into a light snore within a few minutes and he was away in dreamland long before she was. She slept on her side while he was always face up. She watched the silhouette of his profile against the faint light coming into the window from the garden lamps. She could tell he was wide awake instead of dozing off.

“What’s wrong?” she said.

“Hm?”

“It’s my turn to ask what’s worrying you, because I know something is.”

He heaved a sigh. “I received the strangest letter today from an American man in Ghana.”

Josephine lifted her head slightly off the pillow. “A letter? About what?”

“The gentleman is a victim of a Ghanaian Internet scam. He came here to meet the woman he thought he was talking to, and now that he’s discovered what a fool he’s been made of, he’s irate and trying to throw his weight around.”

Josephine’s muscles tightened involuntarily. “What’s his name?”

“Gordon Tilson.”

Her stomach flipped and plunged. She was silent for a moment. “Well . . . but what did he say in the letter exactly?”

James quoted it as faithfully as he could from memory. “I’ll show it to you tomorrow,” he added.

Josephine lay very still. Then she said, “That is outrageous.”

It disturbed her to no end that Gordon had written this letter. It felt like a personal assault, a cannon strike to the walls of her castle, where she was normally snug and secure. But at the same time, she realized she might have staved off this attack. At Second Cup, she had promised Gordon she would bring his situation to James and thereby, she hoped, get CID moving on the American’s case. This letter might not have ensued if she had done as promised. But she hadn’t, because during her meeting with Gordon at Second Cup, something had happened. The moment he launched into that line of questioning over whether top police officials were in cahoots with sakawa boys, her sympathetic attitude toward Gordon had evaporated. His giving credence to Sana Sana had added insult to injury. Had she overreacted? Perhaps. At any rate, now she certainly could not reveal to James that she knew Gordon, especially with the memory of the Washington tryst hanging over her head like a shroud of guilt.

“I spoke to Alex Andoh about it,” James said, bringing her out of her thoughts. “He’ll take care of Mr. Tilson.”

She looked at his silhouette again. “What does that mean?”

“Well, with these things, it’s always good to start diplomatically,” he said.

And then what? she wondered.

SIXTY-FIVE

SIXTY-FIVE