Two security guards stood on duty at the gated entrance of the Kempinski Hotel, which looked like a fortress. Emma went in the pedestrian entrance and nodded at the guards, who responded with a look of only passing interest. She had no backpack or object of potential suspicion. On the inside of the gate, the wide driveway branched like a “Y” to a large parking structure on the right and to the left around the decorative fountain in front of the hotel. Several black limousines stood in a neat line to one side of the entrance. Emma raised her eyebrows at the sight of several uniformed police officers clustered around two marked vans. Armored vehicles belonging to the Panther Unit’s SWAT team were stationed in a cul-de-sac off the driveway directly opposite the hotel. Emma noticed a sniper in black keeping a lookout from the roof.

Emma gave all this a wide berth as she approached the entrance, but she turned as someone called out her name. Standing beside one of the intimidating vehicles, a heavily armed SWAT guy was waving at her. “Me?” she asked by gesture. He nodded. Emma wondered if she’d done something wrong, so it was with some tentativeness that she walked over where the man stood with two similarly black-clad colleagues. She didn’t recognize any of them.

“Do you know me?” he asked.

She squinted at him. “I don’t think so.”

“We should change that, then,” he said. He was in his early thirties, and absurdly handsome, Emma thought. She tried not to melt somewhat under the deep gaze of his smoky, long-lashed eyes.

“Why, you know me?” she asked.

“I’ve seen you at CID before. I’m Dazz Nunoo. And you?”

“Emma Djan. But I’m not with CID anymore.”

“Ah, okay. You left us?”

“Yes. Now I work for Sowah Private Investigators.”

He nodded. “Nice. How is it over there?”

“I really like it.”

Dazz gestured at his companions. “Meet my mates—Edwin and Courage.”

Edwin was tall, angular, and unsmiling. Courage was heavyset and more jovial in appearance. Must be Ewe, Emma thought. They loved names like Grace, Charity, Marvelous, Hope, Peace, and so on. She sized Courage up. Not bad looking, really. He wore his weight well.

“How long have you been with the SWAT?” Emma asked Dazz.

“Like three years.”

“What’s going on today?” Emma asked, looking around. “All these police guys and SWAT?”

“President of Gabon arriving for some kind of international conference,” Dazz explained. “And what brings you here too?”

“We have a case—a missing American man.”

“Oh?” Dazz said with mild interest. “Name?”

“Gordon Tilson. Ring any bells?”

Dazz turned the corners of his mouth down and shook his head. He looked at Courage and Edwin, who indicated the same.

“His son Derek has come down from the States looking for him,” Emma continued. “On arrival in Ghana, Gordon first checked into Kempinski, so that’s why I’m here.”