“Why?”
She blew breath through her relaxed lips so that they made a soft, fluttering sound of weary disapproval. “You know how our fellow Ghanaians behave. People, even your own family members, would rather tear you down than cheer you on for your achievements.”
“Were there family members who were jealous of Charles’s success?”
“My ne’er-do-well brother, Brian.”
“Could he have killed Charles?”
“Could he?” She smiled. “Of course he could. Brian is a failure who was jealous of Charles and hated the fact that Sapphire’s uncle had more to do with her success than her father.”
“Doctor Smith-Aidoo told me about that,” Dawson said, nodding. “Her aunt and uncle essentially rescued her from self-destruction.”
“Yes,” Eileen agreed. “And put her on the path to academic success.”
“But I’m curious about something,” Dawson said. “Presumably Brian was jealous of his brother for a long time. What would trigger him to murder Charles? Why then and not some other time?”
“Ah, good question, Inspector,” Eileen said, lifting her index finger. “Did Sapphire also tell you all about the death of Jason Sarbah’s daughter, Angela, and how that made Sapphire want to leave the private clinic at which she had been working?”
“Yes, she did.”
“So once more, Charles came to her rescue and got her that job working on the rig.” Eileen crossed one leg over the other and smoothed her dress. “One day, Brian calls Sapphire to ask how she’s doing. Remember that they don’t talk to each other much-they’re practically estranged from each other. Sapphire lets him know that she has a new job, and Charles got it for her. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Brian wants to know. ‘What difference would it make?’ Sapphire asks.”
“Ouch,” Dawson said. “That must have been hurtful.”
“Oh, yes-so painful that Brian calls his brother and begins to berate him for influencing Sapphire’s career while deliberately excluding Brian, which of course angers Charles, who ends up calling his younger brother worthless and a number of adjectives in Fante that don’t even have an equivalent in English.”
Putting himself in Brian’s position, Dawson could feel the kind of distress, even fury, that the man must have experienced. It wasn’t that Brian could have added anything to his daughter’s career move, it was simply the principle of being included in her affairs. And Dawson immediately thought of what he had done to his father: excluded him from his life. He didn’t call him or visit him. Cairo had asked Dawson to consider warming back up to their father, and Dawson was going to have to make a decision quite soon.
