“Well, I will do my best to bring you together again,” Andoh said, “but only if you are honest with me and you don’t waste my time. You understand me? In other words, if you and Clement tell the truth, all will be well, and you will be with each other again. Otherwise, we will have to keep you apart and keep questioning you.”

“Yes please.”

“Clifford, I want to ask you about last Saturday night. Where were you and Clement?”

“Please, we were at Kweku Ponsu’s house.”

“Where? In Accra or Atimpoku?”

“Accra.”

“But we know you also went to the house of one Nii Kwei on Saturday night.”

Clifford stared at the ground and didn’t reply.

“We don’t want Clement to get hurt,” Andoh said. “Some of my men are not as kind as I am, so I don’t know—they might beat him or something like that. But if you tell me everything, I will order them not to beat him or harm him.”

Clifford flinched with visible pain at the possibility of causing the infliction of pain on his brother. “Yes, we went to Nii Kwei’s house,” he confessed.

“You and Clement and who again?”

“Mr. Ponsu.”

“And what were the three of you going to do there?”

Clifford searched Andoh’s face, appearing unsure what to say.

“I’m here to help you,” the commissioner pressed gently. “I know that you and Clement are good people. You always do what your boss tells you, so no one is going to blame you and Clement for doing what your boss said. Probably he was even shouting at you and telling you he won’t pay you anymore if you don’t do what he says. Do you think he won’t try to blame you for everything? He will! So you better tell the truth before we catch him and he gets a chance to tell lies.”

Confused, Clifford rubbed the back of his head.

“Would you like some water to drink?” Andoh asked. “Constable, bring Clifford some water.”

“Yes, sir.” The constable left.

“Relax, okay?” the commissioner said, smiling at Clifford. “Let’s wait for the water first before we continue.”

Clifford drank down most of it. “Thank you, sir.”

“You’re welcome, my friend,” Andoh said. “So, you were saying you and your twin brother and Mr. Ponsu went to Nii Kwei’s house, and then what happened?”

Clifford cleared his throat. “Mr. Ponsu told Nii to call that girl, Emma Djan, to talk to her. At first, Nii didn’t want to do it.”

“So, how did you persuade him?”

“Well, Mr. Ponsu said by force, Nii had to do it.”

“Did you beat Nii to convince him?”

Clifford squirmed. “We just made some rough-rough on him.”

“Like you pushed him around? To scare him?”

“Yes please.”

“And then?”

“Then Nii called the girl, and she came to talk with him.”