He came to one that made his scrolling finger stop.
Lawrence Tetteh, 020-156-4676, 19:46 27 Mar
Lawrence Tetteh, CEO of Goilco? Voice mail, a more recent addition to mobile service in Ghana, was not available on his phone. Dawson went to the log of text messages received and scrolled again. He found three sets of messages received from Lawrence Tetteh, all on Friday, 4th May.
The first one said HOW R U
The second and third messages were:
DOING OK, NEED TO CHT WITH U IN PRSON
CALL ME WHEN U R IN WE CAN MEET
Of course, “prson” meant “person,” Dawson thought, smiling at the way he had for an instant interpreted it as “prison.” Too much time being a detective.
He went to the messages sent list and found the corresponding replies:
IM GOOD & U
WILL B IN ACCRA TUE
OK
He dialed 020-156-4676, and it rang repeatedly until it abruptly cut off without any kind of error message. He went through the phone’s menu and found that the provider was Vodafone, which was good, since the company seemed to have an overwhelming presence in Takoradi. It should be possible to find out if this was the right Lawrence Tetteh.
“Are you okay, Inspector Dawson?”
He started slightly. Dr. Smith-Aidoo had returned. “Yes, thank you, Doctor.”
“Find anything of interest?”
“Who owned these phones, do you know?”
“This was Uncle’s before he got his iPhone. The other one belongs to Auntie Fio.”
“Do you know if your uncle knew the CEO of Goilco, a man called Lawrence Tetteh?”
She shook her head slowly. “The name doesn’t ring a bell, no.”
Dawson wondered what Lawrence Tetteh had wanted to discuss with Charles. He had sounded serious and terse in his text. “In person” could have signified that he didn’t want to risk speaking or texting about the subject on the phone for security reasons. Dawson checked his ruminations. Before he began all this speculation, he needed to find out if this was really the Lawrence Tetteh of Goilco. Neither “Lawrence” nor “Tetteh” was an uncommon name, and he wasn’t going to embarrass himself by getting the wrong LT.
“Can I take the phones with me?” he asked the doctor. “I’d like to look through the calls and text messages. I would also like the STMA box. There’s more in there that I need to look at.”
“Yes, of course. Whatever you need.”
“Thank you.” He looked around the room again. “Please, Doc, don’t forget to let me know if you come across your uncle’s laptop.”
“I won’t forget.”
“Do you mind if I look in their bedroom?”
