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
Looking through the lenses halfway down her nose, she scrolled through her iPhone calendar. “Yes, that’s the date I have. I spoke to him the evening before and he arrived in the morning.”
Derek looked at Emma. “That would match up with what you found out at Kempinski.”
Poem looked from one to the other. “What’s that?”
“Emma went to the hotel—” Derek cut himself off. “Well, I’ll let her tell you the story.”
Emma described to Poem what maître d’ Zeneba had related about Gordon’s apparently hurried departure after a phone call interrupted his dinner at the restaurant one evening.
“I see,” Poem said.
“You live offsite, right?” Derek asked her.
“Correct. Airport Residential.”
“So, you probably wouldn’t have been aware if anyone significant came to see my dad here, am I right?”
“Well, yes and no,” Poem answered. “It’s true I don’t live next door, but I come by the house almost every morning to check that everything’s working correctly. I also touch base with the night watchman before he goes off duty. He would have told me if your father had any visits.”
“He went up to Akosombo on or about March twenty-seventh,” Derek said. “Were you aware of that, Poem?”
“Yes, I was. Actually a few days before he left, he said he was going there to talk to someone about these sakawa boys—someone who lives in Atimpoku, near Akosombo, and he wondered if I’d ever heard of the guy. I said no, but I strongly advised against going to see any shady characters.”
Emma asked, “Madam, did Mr. Tilson give you the name of the man he was going to see at Atimpoku?”
“I think he said Kweku or Kwame Pouncer—something of that sort.”
Emma snapped her fingers. “No, not Pouncer. I think what he was saying was ‘Ponsu.’ Kweku Ponsu.”
THIRTY-SIX
THIRTY-SIX
“Kweku Ponsu does very well for himself,” Yemo Sowah said.
Emma and Derek had returned to the office after leaving Poem. That Gordon might have gone to Akosombo to make contact with Ponsu was significant.
“He’s a charismatic but controversial guy,” Sowah continued, “who often insults conventional clergy and other traditional priests, challenging them to what he calls ‘miracle contests’ where he supposedly pits his powers against theirs. He’s a lot of sound and fury. You either love or hate him, but he gets more than his share of love from his sakawa followers.”
“What does he actually do for them?” Derek asked.
“Supposedly he has an almost perfect record of turning sakawa boys into success stories. Accordingly, they flock to him and collectively they pay him a lot of money.”
Derek grunted. “So, he’s part of all these scams?”
“In that he enables the scammers, yes. But as far as I know, he doesn’t practice the scams themselves.”