Murder at Cape Three Points | страница 112
“All right. Good job.” Dawson looked at his phone. “They should be back from church by now. Let’s go to Abraham’s house. They’re having us for lunch.”
AFTER A SUMPTUOUS meal, it was time to say goodbye to Christine and the boys.
“Drive safely,” Dawson told her as he saw them off outside Abraham’s shop. He gave her a hug and kissed her.
“When will you be back, Daddy?” Hosiah asked, swinging on his arm.
“As soon as I can. Be good. Don’t give Mama any trouble.” Hosiah smiled with a hint of mischief. “Okay.”
“And remember, Daddy’s going to be fine.”
He kissed Hosiah and pulled Sly closer for a somewhat quicker embrace. The older boy was less inclined to demonstrations of affection, and Dawson respected that.
“Take care of your little brother, okay?”
Sly nodded and smiled.
“While you’re on the way, Mama will give you her phone to call me and let me know everything is all right.”
Sly liked taking on responsibility and being in control. “All right, Daddy.”
Dawson watched as they pulled away in the car, the kids waving at him for as long as he was within sight. He went back inside thinking what a nice time this weekend with the family had been.
HE JOINED CHIKATA and Abraham to watch a televised soccer match between British teams Manchester United and Arsenal. To Dawson’s chagrin, Man U massacred his team Arsenal 3-0, and he had to submit to the taunts.
“Next time,” Dawson said, waving the teasing away, “no mercy.”
His phone rang. It was Sly calling on Christine’s phone. “Daddy, we’re passing Saltpond now.”
“That’s good. Everything okay?”
“Yes, Daddy, everything is fine. We’ll get home soon.”
“Cool, thank you for calling. Let me talk to Mama.”
He exchanged a few quick words with Christine before ending the call. “Cousin Abe, Chikata and I should get back now, so we can prepare for tomorrow.”
“Okay, no problem.”
With Chikata watching, Dawson sat at the small table in the lodge sitting room with a pencil, eraser, and a large paper pad. He wanted to work out what they had so far on the case, what was missing, and what still needed to be done. Sometimes it helped to do that in diagrammatic form.
THE SMITH-AIDOO MURDER
Dawson had drawn a dashed lined between Peter Duodo and Reggie Cardiman because a direct connection between the two wasn’t yet established.
“What do you want to do about Duodo?” Chikata asked.
“Talk to him on the phone tomorrow,” Dawson instructed him. “Find out what kind of business arrangement he had with Charles, if any. Were they on good terms, did they have any disagreements, you know, that kind of thing. In other words, could Duodo be a suspect? Get a feeling for if he’s hiding something. If so, we might have to interview him in person. Also, check if Duodo ever heard of any threats made to Charles or Fiona.”
