DAWSON LEFT AUNTIE OSEWA around seven that evening after a meal of goat meat stew and rice, and he made his next stop the Mensahs’ house. Lights were on inside. Dawson tapped on the side of the front screen door, which was tightly shut to keep the mosquitoes out.
“Who is it?” Charles’s voice answered.
“Inspector Dawson.”
Charles came to the door and opened it with a smile. “Good evening, Inspector. Come in. You are welcome. We’re having a family meeting. Gladys’s funeral is tomorrow.”
“Ah, I see.”
The front room was packed with people, and it was noisy and stifling with the heat of bodies. Several discussions were going on at once over the funeral preparations-the food and drinks, the drum and dance troupes, where the body would be placed, the seating arrangements, and so on.
Elizabeth spotted Dawson and walked over. “How are you?” she said, smiling sweetly.
“I’m well, Elizabeth. Can I talk in private with you and Charles and his parents?”
“But of course.”
Elizabeth extracted Mr. and Mrs. Mensah from the tumult, and they went into a room off to the side.
“I want you all to know that I’ve found Gladys’s diary,” Dawson told them. “At least for now, I won’t say exactly where I found it, but it’s safe with me and I’ll return it to you as soon as I can. I haven’t located the bracelet yet, but I’m still looking.”
“Thank you,” Elizabeth and Charles chorused, and Gladys’s parents echoed them.
“Please, Inspector Dawson,” Mr. Mensah said, “Inspector Fiti was here earlier on and he told us Samuel has confessed to killing Gladys.”
“I’m not so sure about that,” Dawson said.
“Not sure about what exactly, Inspector Dawson?” Elizabeth asked.
“I have a problem with how the confession was obtained.”
“We don’t want the wrong person to be arrested,” Charles said, “but at the same time we want to be able to say who killed my sister, because the longer we don’t know who did it, the more people say bad things.”
“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.”