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
She wiggled her lips around. “We’re not sure of his prognosis just yet, but I would say he’s stable for now. I mean, you could go home and get some rest, come back in the morning. If anything comes up, we can always call you, but at this point there’s not much you can do.”
Derek nodded. “Thanks. I’ll come back tomorrow, then.”
As he drove home, Derek wondered how and why life had become so sad and grim. Had he been a religious man, he would have asked if God was punishing him. Now Derek recalled something that had been buried in the excitement. Cas had been trying to say something before becoming completely overwhelmed by his coughing fits. “I’ve done an awful thing,” he had said. And after that, he started to say he shouldn’t have . . . what?
SIXTY-SEVEN
SIXTY-SEVEN
June 18, Accra, Ghana
Sowah called Emma into his office after the morning brief. “Have a seat, Emma. I want to talk to you about the Tilson case.”
“Yes, sir.”
“We’ve found Mr. Gordon Tilson as his son requested. This was a classic missing person case with a terrible outcome. We wish it could have been a happy ending. Unfortunately, it was not.”
“Yes,” Emma said. “Very sad.”
“Despite that,” Sowah continued, “we have fulfilled the task Derek assigned to us. The rest, namely finding who actually killed Gordon Tilson, is now in the hands of the police.”
Emma felt her dismay rising as she realized what Sowah was driving at. “You mean we’re not going to keep on investigating?”
“As I said, it’s now in CID’s court. Let them handle it. We are under no obligation to investigate, especially now that DCOP Laryea is overseeing Quaino and Damptey. Laryea is a straight shooter. He will see to it.”
“Oh,” Emma said, defeated.
“Why so downhearted?”
“I promised . . .”
“Promised what?”
“I promised Derek we would find the culprit.”
“And we will. Maybe not you and I specifically, but the culprit will be found.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I can see you’re disappointed,” Sowah said, smiling a little. “I know you would have liked to be the one to bring Mr. Tilson’s murderer in, but I would rather we don’t tangle with murderers if we don’t have to.”
“Of course, sir. You’re right.”
“In the meantime, I have a brand-new case for you.”
At her desk, Emma wrestled with her feelings of profound letdown. She agreed that the flavor of the case had changed: a missing person was now a murdered one, and her boss didn’t want her exposed to some potentially dangerous men, but she felt empty and unfulfilled leaving it at that. The logical next step after finding Gordon so hideously murdered was to find out who did it.
Emma’s phone rang and to her surprise, it was Bruno. He almost never called her.
“Bruno, what a miracle,” she said dryly.