“God bless you, young woman,” Mrs. Akrofi said with feeling, her eyes locking with Emma’s. “Dedicated and gifted youth like you are exactly what we need. People who are not afraid of these beautiful kids who badly need our care. Thank you very much, eh? Thank you.”

Emma felt gratified and somewhat overawed. She would never have anticipated that kind of praise.

Auntie Rose gave the guests a tour of the entire center, in and out, showing the Akrofis what had improved since the last visit and what still needed to be done. The police officers stayed unobtrusively in sight as Mrs. Akrofi interacted with each of the children, giving each one her attention. But she made the most fuss of Kojo, who, after all, had been one of the very first at the Center.

“He’s growing up so fast, isn’t he?” Mrs. Akrofi asked.

“He is,” Rose agreed.

“How about school? Have you been able to mainstream him at all?”

“For about two hours a day,” Rose answered.

“That’s really great,” Mrs. Akrofi said, lightly bringing up his chin so he could look at her, but he didn’t. “Such a beautiful boy too.”

Emma glanced at the female police officer, vaguely recalling her from CID. She was short and squat—almost as wide as tall, it seemed. Once the speeches and ceremony were underway, Emma had a chance to hang back where the officer was. “Good afternoon, madam.”

The officer smiled back, but only a little. “Good afternoon. Haven’t I seen you before at CID Headquarters?”

“Yes, madam. I used to work there. My name is Emma Djan.”

“Ah, okay. I’m DI Doris Damptey. Why did you leave?”

“It’s a long story,” Emma said, smiling with discomfort. She pressed on hurriedly. “So, you are doing special duty this weekend, madam?”

“This is outside work,” Damptey explained. “Not directly connected with CID. You know, some of us moonlight here and there to make ends meet. It’s not easy.”

Emma murmured her agreement, pausing to watch a poised Mrs. Akrofi deliver her address from the dais. “Because of fear and ignorance in our society,” she was saying, looking around at her audience, “autism has been attributed to the devil, or curses, or punishment from God or the lesser gods. But we know that each and every one of these children belong to God just as any other child in this world. It is our duty to educate those who do not understand and those who fear.”

At the end of Josephine’s speech, she presented the four new Samsung tablets to the center to enthusiastic applause and the sound of camera shutters in concert. Auntie Rose then took to the microphone to express her gratitude.

“So where are you working now?” Damptey asked her a little above the volume of the speech.

“Sowah Private Investigators.”

Damptey nodded. “Yes, I know it well. How is Mr. Sowah?”