“What kinds of bad things?”

Charles glanced at his aunt.

“Why do you have to bring this up?” Elizabeth asked frostily.

“Because it’s important,” Charles said. “Inspector Dawson, there’s a rumor that Auntie Elizabeth is a witch and that she used her powers to kill Gladys.”

“It’s all talk,” Elizabeth said with a toss of the head. “They can’t do anything to me. They are jealous of me, and that’s all there is to it.”

“We’re just saying be careful, Sis,” Mr. Mensah said. “Don’t go anywhere without someone accompanying you, all right?”

“Come on. I’m not a child, Kofi.”

Mr. Mensah looked at Dawson and shook his head. “That’s the way she is. Stubborn as a goat.”

All of a sudden, Mrs. Mensah broke her silence, and it startled Dawson. She looked at him directly with soft but intense eyes.

“You must go after Isaac Kutu, Mr. Dawson. He is the one who started all these rumors about a witch, and I know he’s doing it because he doesn’t want anyone to be suspicious of him. He’s a dangerous man, a liar who pretends to be as good a healer as his father was. I warned Gladys to stay away from him, but she didn’t and now she’s dead. Samuel did not kill her. He is a harmless, useless boy. They should let him go and lock Isaac Kutu up instead.”

37

EARLY SATURDAY MORNING, DAWSON got dressed, grabbed a quick breakfast of oatmeal at the corner kiosk, and then headed for the other side of town. After Mrs. Mensah’s stunning words last night, he was most certainly going to pay a visit to Isaac Kutu.

The Mensahs’ house was along the route, and as he approached he saw a crowd outside, along with three parked minivans. Dawson spotted Elizabeth and pulled over.

“Morning, Dawson,” she said as he came up.

“Morning, Elizabeth. What’s going on?”

“We’re getting a delegation together to pick up the body.”

It seemed to Dawson like a lot of people to carry out this one mission. There was much animated discussion until it was finally decided who would go to the VRA Hospital mortuary. They piled into the vehicles and sped off.

“Where are you going?” Elizabeth asked Dawson.

“To pay Isaac Kutu a visit.”

“I hope you’ll be able to attend the funeral?”

Dawson loathed funerals, but he said, “I will be sure to pay my respects.”

Dawson stopped at the police station on the way to Isaac’s compound. He intended to see Samuel and was mentally prepared for a confrontation with Inspector Fiti if he was there.

Fortunately, neither the inspector nor Constable Bubo was in the station, although Gyamfi was at work at his desk. It seemed sometimes that Gyamfi ran the place.

“Morning, Dawson.” He appeared subdued.

“How are you, Gyamfi?”

“Fine, sir.”

Dawson searched his face. “Everything all right?”

Gyamfi flashed one of his brilliant smiles. “Yes, everything is fine.”

“Can I see Samuel, please?”

Gyamfi hesitated. “Yes, all right. But you have to hurry before Inspector Fiti gets here. I don’t want trouble.”

“I’ll be quick. Thank you.”

Samuel was pacing in his cell, as if he had new energy.

“Are you okay, Samuel?” Dawson asked

He came to the bars. “I’m fine, sir.”

“Have they been treating you well since yesterday?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did you have something to eat?”

“A little bit.”

“What about your family? Did they come to see you?”

Samuel shook his head. “They don’t want to talk to me anymore, sir. Well, my father doesn’t.”

Dawson said nothing to that, but he made a mental note to visit Mr. Boateng and persuade him that his son needed him.

“I want to ask you about that evening you talked to Gladys,” Dawson said. “Do you remember what she was wearing?”

“I remember it was a blue skirt and blouse. Very nice. With white.”

“Blue and white? That’s all?”

“And with Adinkra symbols on it too, sir.”

Samuel had just confirmed Auntie Osewa’s description of Gladys’s outfit. It was a strange conflict for Dawson. He didn’t want his aunt to turn out to be a liar, yet he wished it wasn’t true that Gladys had gone into the forest with Samuel and that it had been the last time she was ever seen.

Dawson tried another angle. “You know the place people like to get firewood?”

“Yes, I know it. Why?”

“Did you see anyone cutting firewood there that evening?”

“No. Not that there wasn’t someone there, just I didn’t notice anyone. Have you found something that will free me?”

“Not yet,” Dawson said, “but I want to move you to Ho Central Prison as soon as possible. At least I know one or two people there who will make sure you’re treated well.”

“Ho Central?” Samuel’s face fell. “I don’t want to go to another prison. I only want to be set free.”

“I know you do, Samuel. Believe me, I want that too, and as soon as I can make it happen, I will. In the meantime, I want you somewhere safe where neither Inspector Fiti nor Constable Bubo can lay a hand on you.”

“I see,” Samuel said dejectedly. “Okay. You know best, sir.”

“Just tell me something and I will never ask the question again,” Dawson said gently. “Look at me and tell me the truth. After Mr. Kutu had told you to leave Gladys alone, did you secretly come back and kill her?”

Samuel’s eyes locked on his. “I didn’t, Mr. Dawson. If only someone, just one person in the world, would believe that I didn’t kill her.”

“That one person is me.” Dawson put a curved finger through the bars. “Shake.”

The detective and the prisoner locked their fingers together.

“I’ll be back to see you,” Dawson said.

But just as he was about to leave, Gyamfi put his head around the corner.

“Wait there,” he said softly. “Inspector Fiti is coming.”

He hurried back to his post. Dawson heard Fiti barking an order.

“Yes, sir, Inspector,” Gyamfi said. “I’ll bring it to you in your office.”

He returned. “I’m going into his office,” he whispered. “Wait till you hear the door close.”

Dawson waited, listening to the conversation between the inspector and his constable. Thirty seconds later, the office door shut with a bang and Dawson got out fast.

He walked to Isaac’s compound. Tomefa was outside sorting firewood. “Isaac is out,” she told Dawson, “but he’ll be back soon.”

While waiting, Dawson went to take a look at the spot where Auntie Osewa said she had been gathering her firewood the evening she’d spied Samuel and Gladys together. It was a cluster of trees ravaged by overcutting. Dawson stood at the edge and confirmed that Auntie Osewa would have had a good vantage point to observe Samuel and Gladys entering the forest. From Isaac Kutu’s description of where he had seen them together that same evening, they would have been about three hundred meters away from where Dawson stood.

Dawson walked back to Isaac’s place wondering how to resolve the conflict between Samuel’s and Auntie Osewa’s stories.

Isaac Kutu was standing in the middle of his compound as Dawson walked in.

“Woizo, Darko.”

“How are you, Mr. Kutu?”

“I’m fine, sir.”

“I would like to look around your compound, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“What for?”

“I’ll know when I see it,” Dawson said. But he thought, A silver bracelet would be nice.

“What if I say you cannot search this place?”

“If you attempted to stop me, I would have to arrest you.”

Isaac laughed drily. “I don’t believe you would do that.”

Dawson took out his cuffs. “Try me.”

“You’ll have to catch me first.”

“You won’t run. You’re not the kind of man to run, so we will fight.” Isaac smiled tightly and his eyes darkened. “Where do you want to search?”

“Everywhere.”

The first room was small, dark, and close, and had one of the strangest smells Dawson had ever experienced. Hanging on the walls were many things he didn’t recognize. The ones he did included snakeskins, mummified lizards, roots, bark, and dried leaves of several kinds. On the floor were clumps of powder of different colors.