“Good morning,” Hammond said dully, barely looking at him.
“Morning, Dawson,” Seidu said, more amiably.
“May I?” Dawson said, gesturing to an empty chair.
“Of course,” Hammond said indifferently.
Dawson sat.
“Yes, Inspector?” the superintendent said. “Can I help you?”
The smile didn’t work, Dawson thought. “Just wanted to report how things have been going so far.”
“Go ahead, then.”
Dawson related the events of the day before-his morning meeting with Dr. Smith-Aidoo and then the visit to her house.
“Seems she didn’t know about the pocket watch inserted into her uncle’s mouth,” Dawson said.
“Of course she knew,” Hammond said indignantly. “She has just forgotten because of the shock she was in. I told her about it myself.”
Perhaps the superintendent was telling the truth, Dawson reflected, but he doubted it. How would Dr. Smith-Aidoo have forgotten that kind of lurid detail?
“Do you have anything else?” Hammond asked, resuming his aloof tone. “I have to get to a regional meeting.”
He looked at his watch conspicuously, which Dawson ignored as he removed a document from his folder.
“As you already know,” he said, “Fiona Smith-Aidoo had a rivalry with Kwesi DeSouza.” He leaned forward and handed Superintendent Hammond the minutes of the acrimonious meetings. “I don’t know if you saw this.”
Hammond glanced at it and gave it back. “We questioned Mr. Kwesi DeSouza closely. He denied being on bad terms with Mrs. Smith-Aidoo or having anything to do with her death. Then we checked his whereabouts on the seventh and eighth of July. He has an alibi. We also looked into any possibilities that Mr. DeSouza could have hired someone. We have not found anything.”
Dawson nodded respectfully. That sounded like some solid detective work had been done. “Another name that came up in these meetings at the STMA,” he continued, “was Reggie Cardiman, the gentleman who owns the Ezile Bay Resort at Cape Three Points.”
“We already know about him,” Hammond said, leaning back in his chair and irritably tapping the end of his pen on his desk. “He has lived in Ghana for almost twenty years-he even speaks Fante. He is crazy about wildlife and the environment and all that stuff, and he loves his Ezile Bay Resort. The village next to Ezile Bay is called Akwidaa. Various companies have approached the chief, Nana Ackah-Yensu the third, about buying land in the area-oil companies, real estate developers, and so on. Some have accused Ackah-Yensu of selling off tracts of land, although he denies it and says he wants to collaborate only with the government to develop that area.”
