Wife of the Gods (33 page)

“Do you know who built this?”

“No. And I don’t ask.”

He smiled at her. “Okay. Well, let’s go back the way you went
after you found Gladys’s body. You say you ran?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s do that. Try to run as fast as you did. I’ll follow
you.”

Dawson had to admit Efia could tackle the forest a lot better
than he could. At an all-out run he almost fell twice as he tried
to keep up with her.

They came out on the path again, and both were breathing
heavily.

“Ei, that was hard,” Dawson said, looking at his watch. Four and
a half minutes.

She smiled. “City man, that’s why.”

They laughed.

“I have to go back, Mr. Dawson.”

“I’ll walk with you. Thank you, Efia. You’ve helped me a
lot.”

“Not at all, Mr. Dawson.”

♦

On the way back to the farm, Dawson was thinking of a scenario.
What if Isaac had killed Gladys that Friday evening?

Saturday morning, he returns to the plantain grove because he
thinks he might have left an incriminating clue, or he wants to
make sure he hasn’t. While there, he hears Efia approaching. He
escapes through the bush to the Ketanu-Bedome footpath by a route
that takes him seven or eight minutes. Meanwhile, two or three
minutes pass as Efia enters the grove, discovers the body, and
screams for help. She runs back to the footpath, which takes
another four and a half minutes. Add that up and we get about seven
minutes. Isaac Kutu is emerging from the forest at about the same
time. That’s when Efia sees him and calls out to him
.

“Let me ask you something, Efia,” Dawson said, “and if you know
the answer, I want you to tell me the truth.”

“I will try.”

“Gladys was interested in Mr. Kutu’s medicine. Do you think she
was trying to steal it from him?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why not?”

“Gladys didn’t need Mr. Kutu. She had everything in the world –
what does she need him for? No, it was Mr. Kutu who needed
Gladys.”

“Do you think he was in love with her?”

“Once when she came to Bedome, I saw him looking at her with
desire. I can’t go inside his mind to know whether he was feeling
love or not. Mr. Kutu does that with a lot of women. Sometimes he
has looked at me the same way.”

“And whom else has he looked at in that way?”

Efia hesitated.

“I have to know,” Dawson pressed.

She was quiet for a moment and he waited.

“If I tell you – ”

“No one will find out you told me.”

“He loves one woman from Ketanu.”

“Who? Do you know the woman?”

“Her name is Osewa Gedze.”

Dawson stopped.

Efia turned. “What’s wrong?”

He was stunned. “Osewa Gedze? Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am sure. You know her?”

“How do you know Mr. Kutu loves her?”

Efia visibly squirmed. “I’ve seen them together in the
forest.”

“What do you mean by
together?
”

“I mean they were…”

“Having sex.”

“Yes.” She looked disgusted. “To do that in the forest – it’s
terrible, Mr. Dawson.”

“When did it happen?”

“Five or six days ago.”

“Can you show me where they were?”

“Yes, but we have to be quick or Ama will start to get
worried.”

♦

The spot Efia took him to was a clearing with a light tree
cover.

“How did you find this place?” Dawson asked her, looking
around.

“By accident. I got lost while I was looking for a different
spot to pick plantains.”

Dawson saw a little shelter – four short poles with a roof.

“Is that where they were, Efia? Under there?”

“Yes.” The look on her face was as if she had just chewed a
mouthful of quinine.

Dawson now spotted a bald area on the ground with a pile of ash
and partially burned wood. He knelt down beside it.

“Were they cooking?” he asked.

Efia was slightly amused. “No, that’s not the kind of fireplace
to cook something. It’s not a good fire.” She picked up a couple of
twigs and small leafy branches. “These are green. They don’t burn
well, they just make a lot of white smoke.”

“White smoke,” Dawson said with a sudden smile. “Thank you for
that, Efia.”

She was bemused. “What did I do?”

“You did a lot – in just one sentence.”

He got up and went poking in the bush. He found a small raffia
mat folded in quarters. He opened it out and saw burn marks.

Efia peered at it. “They must have used it to put the fire
out.”

“Eventually,” Dawson said. “After they sent the signals.”

∨
Wife of the Gods
∧

D
awson could not get
through to Chikata’s mobile that afternoon, so he went looking for
him. He tried the police station first and almost collided with
Inspector Fiti as he walked in.

“Didn’t Chief Superintendent Lartey tell you to go home?” Fiti
said coldly.

“No, he told me I was on suspension without pay,” Dawson
replied, “so I decided to take a three-week vacation in your
beautiful town and spend time with my aunt and uncle.”

Fiti grunted and narrowed his eyes with suspicion. “And so what
do you want here?”

“I’m looking for D.S. Chikata.”

“He went to the guesthouse. Do you need something?” He was still
suspicious.

“No, thank you.” Dawson turned to leave.

“And by the way,” Fiti said, “Chikata agrees with me that Samuel
killed Gladys Mensah, so the case is closed and everything is
settled.”

“I see,” Dawson said. “Congratulations.”

He left Fiti and his smugness and walked to the guesthouse. The
sky was setting up dark clouds near the horizon. It would probably
rain by nightfall.

He knocked on the guesthouse door.

“Who is it?” Chikata’s voice.

“Dawson.”

He heard another voice, this time a woman’s, then a lot of
shuffling, and Dawson knew exactly what to expect. Chikata came to
the door shirtless and let out a young woman with huge breasts and
a dress so tight she could hardly breathe. She slipped past Dawson
and quickly left.

“Hard at work, I see,” he said drily to Chikata.

“I was lonesome,” Chikata said feebly.

Dawson waved that aside. “I want to talk to you about the
case.”

He came in and took a seat. Chikata threw on a shirt and sat
down on the bed.

“I hear you’re going along with Inspector Fiti that Samuel
killed Gladys,” Dawson said.

“You have to admit the case against the boy is – or was –
strong,” Chikata replied. “He and Gladys went into the forest
together and he was the last person seen with her.”

“So Auntie Osewa’s version of the story goes,” Dawson said, “but
two farmers who work at the edge of the forest told me that after
his argument with Isaac, Samuel came back to their farm to work and
never left their presence before dark. So how could he have waylaid
Gladys on her way back to Ketanu?”

“Then what about your aunt’s claim? You’re saying she’s
lying?”

“Painful as it is to say, yes. I think she may be trying to
protect Isaac Kutu.”

“Why would she do that?”

“Because she’s been having an affair with him – possibly for
years and years.”

“Are you serious?” Chikata asked, eyebrows up in surprise. “How
do you know that? I’m sure she didn’t volunteer the
information.”

“No, she didn’t. I found out through another channel.”

“Which I can see you’re not about to tell me.”

“Not right now.”

“Then my next question is, Why would Kutu have wanted to kill
Gladys?”

“Rejection. Kutu is the kind of man who gets any woman he wants
– a bit like you – but Gladys was the exception. Her only concern
was how she could work with him on his herbal medicines, but he
wanted much more than that from her.”

“And for that reason he killed her?”

“Crazed lust, jealousy? You act as though those aren’t strong
motives.”

“They are – I know they are,” Chikata said with some
exasperation. “Okay. So now what?”

“I want you to take Kutu in for questioning – not here in
Ketanu, but at Ho Central. I’ll tell you exactly what to ask him
when you interrogate him. I suspect he went to the scene of the
crime just before Efia arrived that morning. I think he can be
bluffed into confessing.”

Chikata looked unhappy. “Ah, Dawson, I’m not at all convinced.
It doesn’t sound right.”

“Your D.I. is telling you what to do,” Dawson said evenly. “He’s
not asking you.”

“Yes, sir, D.I. Dawson, sir – but Chief Superintendent has
pulled you off the case and put me in charge. He outranks you.”

“Come on, Chikata. Stop this nonsense. Work with me. What have
you got to lose? You’re not going to get in trouble over this.
Lartey loves you. You’re family.”

“All right, but if you can’t get anything out of Isaac Kutu, are
you going to go back home and leave these Ketanu people alone?”

“I didn’t say that. Now, get going.”

∨
Wife of the Gods
∧

O
n the way back to
Auntie Osewa’s, Dawson noticed that Elizabeth’s shop door was open.
Peering inside, he was astonished to see who was there stocking
shelves.

“Elizabeth! You’re out of hospital already?”

“Dawson, woizo! Come in.”

Her face was still swollen, but with artfully applied makeup and
one of her elaborate and colorful headdresses, she looked just
fine.

“Are you all right?” Dawson said.

“All right enough to leave the hospital. I was going mad in
there. If Dr. Biney hadn’t released me, I would have signed myself
out.”

“Don’t overdo it, though,” Dawson said. “I know you’re tough,
but…”

“Never worry, I’m fine. We have some new fabrics and dresses in,
so I was just arranging them.”

Dawson took a visual sweep, and his eye lit on something
familiar. He went to the shelf and touched it.

“This is the same as the one you put in Gladys’s casket. With
the Adinkra signs.”

“Yes.”

“It’s really beautiful. I’ll get it for Christine.”

“Oh, wonderful.”

Elizabeth gift-wrapped a full-size length of the fabric and put
it in a bag.

“This time I pay,” Dawson insisted.

She smiled. “All right. Where are you off to?”

“Home – before the rain starts.” He noticed how he had used the
word
home
.

“I’ll be closing up soon myself,” she said. “I heard a rumor
you’ve been asked to leave Ketanu. Is it true?”

“Yes.”

“But you’re still here.”

“I’m still here. When Gladys’s murderer is in handcuffs, I’ll
leave.”

♦

Dawson made it back just before the rain hit, and as he sat down
to eat with his aunt, uncle, and cousin, the first grumbles of
thunder began. The power was out, so they ate by lantern light. The
meal was as marvelously delicious as any Auntie Osewa had prepared,
yet what a difference a day had made. Eating with her just didn’t
feel the same. Dawson kept telling himself that he did not know for
certain she had lied to the police about Samuel. Yet he could not
shake the feeling.

“Why so quiet, Darko?” she asked. “Anything wrong?”

“Oh, no, nothing. Just a little tired today.”

He had an impulse to ask her right now, point-blank,
Did you
really see Samuel walk into the forest with Gladys, or did you lie
to protect Isaac Kutu?
‘ With a shock, Dawson realized he was
seeing his auntie in a different light, or perhaps a new darkness:
lying, deception. It was a horrible feeling.

Not yet
, he told himself. It was not yet time to confront
her.

♦

Togbe Adzima told Ama to cook his soup inside his hut because of
the rain. He was well on the way to becoming drunk. He had run out
of schnapps, but one of his wives had brought him some palm wine.
He was hungry, so he decided to take a break to eat and then he
would have some more to drink.

♦

Everyone had gone inside in anticipation of the downpour, except
Efia, who was trying to secure a tarpaulin to four wooden posts for
the goats and chickens to take shelter underneath. The sky was
black and angry. The first round of lightning flittered softly and
was followed by a rolling, guttural rumble, like a giant cart being
pushed across the heavens. The next was a bright, quick flash that
showed everything in sharp relief, and the thunder that came after
it was a deafening crack. Adzima watched the deluge of water
outside the door and hoped it wouldn’t rise above the first step
into the house. That would mean a flood.

He turned to look at Ama as she spooned his soup into a bowl. He
slurped it noisily and chewed loudly on the goat meat and
vegetables. He chose a morsel from the soup and held it out to
Ama.

“Here. Eat.”

She seemed surprised that he was offering it. He seldom did. She
ate it hungrily, and he watched her. She sat against the wall with
her legs extended and crossed while she watched the storm.

Efia came in soaking wet.

“What are you doing in here?” Adzima yelled. “Get out.”

“Sorry,” she said and went back into the rain.

“Stupid,” he muttered.

“Should I go, Togbe?” Ama said uncertainly.

“Did I tell you to? Stay there.”

When he was done, she held the bowl out in the rain to wash it,
and then she put it back in the corner with the rest. She made a
move toward the door, but he told her to come back and sit down. He
stared at her smooth black skin, the way it glowed in the light of
the kerosene lantern. He turned the lantern off to save fuel, and
it now was almost completely black inside the hut.

“Come here,” he told Ama.

He drew her to him and felt for her breasts. They were lovely.
He had been watching them grow over the last several months. But
Ama was tense and stiff. He pulled at her wraparound skirt, groping
for her flesh. She tried to get away, but he held her fast, and
once she began to struggle, the fight was on.