“Out of the blue,” Derek agreed. “Casper Guttenberg is an old friend of my dad’s and for reasons beyond me, my father thinks the world of him. I firmly believe Mr. Guttenberg wants to get a story out of my dad’s ordeal and that he’s the guy who encouraged my father to stay longer in Ghana. That would explain Dad’s odd change of mind.”

“Very possibly,” Sowah said. “When was the very last day you heard from your father?”

“April second,” Derek answered. “I should backtrack a bit to fill you in. When Dad first arrived in Ghana on February fifteenth, he checked in at the Kempinski Hotel and stayed for two weeks.

“Then, around March first, he decided to move to a bed-and-breakfast in Accra called Flamingo Lodge. He said he wanted something more like a home and less like a hotel. I was in touch with him every couple of days until March twenty-ninth, when he told me he was taking a trip to Akosombo for a week’s stay at a place called Riverview Cottage on the Volta.

“He WhatsApped me on April second to say he would be going back to Accra the following day. That was the last I heard from him, but I kept trying to reach him.” Derek shook his head. “Nothing happened until April tenth, when the Flamingo owner called me to say Dad hadn’t returned as expected and she wondered if I knew where he was. He had given her my phone number as his emergency contact.”

“Are you getting all these dates, Emma?” Sowah asked. “Because I’m going to ask you to diagram the chronology.”

“Yes, sir,” she said nervously. Sowah was a stickler for dates and accuracy.

“What’s the homeowner’s name, please?” he asked Derek.

“Poem Van Landewyck. She’s a Dutch woman who’s lived in Ghana practically all her life.” Tilson pulled out his smartphone and scrolled. “I’ve spoken to her, but I haven’t met her in person yet. Here’s her contact info.” He stood up and showed the screen to Emma to jot down the name and phone number. She caught a whisper of the light fragrance Derek was wearing.

“Thank you, sir,” she said.

“Going to Akosombo,” Sowah said to Derek, “is that the sort of thing your father would do?”

Derek smiled. “He loved it there for as long as I remember. When I was a kid and we visited Ghana from the States, Dad always took us up there for a few days. We’d go out on the lake, do some fishing, sometimes just anchor and relax on the water. So, yeah, it’s something he might do.”

“I see,” Sowah said. “So then, when he stopped responding to your texts and emails, you became concerned.”