“DARKO? DARKO, WAKE UP.” He started and opened his eyes. Auntie Osewa was gently shaking his shoulder. “Good morning. I hate to wake you, but you have a visitor.”
She left him so he could get dressed. He pulled on his jeans, threw on a shirt, and went outside, where he was surprised to find Elizabeth waiting for him. She looked grim and anxious.
“Morning, Inspector Dawson. Can you come quickly?”
As Dawson hurried with Elizabeth to her house, she explained what had happened. She had been in the shop early to set up for the day. Glancing out the window, she had spotted Efia and Ama walking by. Elizabeth did not know them well, but she recognized Efia as one of the Bedome traders with whom she had good-naturedly haggled at Ketanu’s big market day a couple of months ago. Efia had struck her then as an extraordinarily lovely woman in pitiful tattered clothing, but this morning there was a special distress to her bearing as she led her trailing daughter by the hand. Sodden and miserable from last night’s rain, they were looking around with wondering, confused eyes.
It took time and skill to get the whole story, but once Elizabeth found out that Efia and her daughter were on the run from Togbe Adzima, she didn’t have a second’s hesitation in taking the two women into her home for safety, a bath, and a change into dry clothes.
When Dawson and Elizabeth got to the house, Ama had fallen asleep in Gladys’s room, but Efia was in the living room wide awake, tense and nervous. Dorcas Mensah was cooking breakfast, and Elizabeth joined her, leaving Dawson and Efia to talk.
“Are you all right?” Dawson asked.
“I’m better now, thank you, Mr. Dawson.”
“You spent the whole night in the forest?”
“Yes, but as soon as it started to get light, we came to Ketanu. I didn’t even know what we were going to do when we got here. The gods will bless Madame Elizabeth for what she has done for us.”
“She’s a very good person,” Dawson agreed. “What made you decide to escape from Togbe?”
Efia cast her gaze down. “For a man to rape his own daughter…” Her voice trailed off. Tears welled up in her eyes. She shook her head as if she still could not believe it.
“It happened last night?”
“Yes, and I promised Ama it would never happen again. Nor will it happen to any other woman. Because I took away his manhood forever.”
Dawson was uncertain what she meant. “You mean you put a curse on him?”
“No, I mean I used a knife to cut his manhood off.”
Dawson’s jaw dropped and he gazed at Efia with new awe, and then he smiled inwardly. Sweet vengeance.
He took her hand gently and gave it a quick squeeze. “You are very brave.”
She nodded, but she was desolate. “Maybe now they will kill me for what I’ve done.”
“Never. I won’t let anyone kill you.”
“I’m afraid.”
“I know.”
They were both quiet for a moment.
“You hid the knife?” Dawson asked her.
She nodded. “It’s in a safe place in the forest.”
“Good. Don’t tell me where, and if the police come, don’t say anything all right?”
“Please, yes, sir.”
Dawson took out his mobile. He hadn’t charged it since leaving the guesthouse, and it had almost completely lost its juice.
Timothy Sowah answered on the third ring.
“Good morning, Timothy. This is Detective Inspector Dawson.”
Silence for a moment.
“Morning, Inspector Dawson.” He sounded wary.
“I need your help. I’m at the Mensahs’ house with Efia, one of Togbe Adzima’s trokosi.”
“The one who discovered Gladys’s body?”
“Yes. She and her daughter escaped from Adzima last night.”
“Goodness.”
“We need them moved away from here to somewhere safe.”
“This is what Gladys and I prayed every day would happen,” Timothy said, his voice trembling with excitement, all the aloofness in it now gone.
“Can you help?”
“Yes, I’ll send a car to bring her here to Ho, and we’ll go from there.”
“Thank you, Timothy. Oh, and by the way, I’d like to officially apologize for my arresting you. No hard feelings?”
“None. You were doing your job.”
“Good.”
Once Efia and Ama were safely away, Dawson went to the guesthouse to look for Chikata again. He was just leaving as Dawson arrived.
“The bird has flown,” he said as Dawson got out of the car.
Dawson stopped in his tracks. “Kutu’s gone?”
“Correct. I went looking for him yesterday at his compound, and everyone there said he had left and they didn’t know where he was. I checked inside his rooms to make sure he wasn’t hiding.”
“Have you searched for him in town?”
“I didn’t have enough time yesterday to do a good job before the rain, so I’m going now.”
“I’ll come with you. I can’t believe you’re actually doing some work, D.S. Chikata.”
“Thank you, D.I. Dawson, sir. You’re very funny, sir, but thank you.”
They canvassed the street, asking people if they had seen Isaac Kutu anywhere. No one had.
“I’m hungry,” Chikata said.
They stopped at a street hawker’s stand and bought some red-red-fried plantain and black-eyed peas in spicy-hot palm sauce-and a Coke and a Malta.
“You really think your auntie was lying about Samuel?” Chikata said, with his mouth full of food.
Dawson swallowed before speaking. “Last night I thought so, this morning I’m not so sure. I’m confused.”
“I believe her story,” Chikata said. “You read her police statement, right?”
“Yes.”
“If she was lying, how could she know those details about the clothes they were wearing-Adinkra symbols and all that stuff? Everything she says checks out.”
“Yes, I know.” Dawson shook his head. “I’m frustrated.”
“Drink some Malta,” Chikata said with a snort. “Maybe it will help you think.”
Dawson didn’t answer. He stopped eating, and his blood turned to ice. Adinkra symbols.
Chikata was staring at him. “What’s wrong?”
“Under my nose,” he whispered. “Under my very nose.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Let’s go,” Dawson said.
“Hey, man, I haven’t finished eating.”
“Can’t you eat and walk at the same time?”
“Where are we going?”
“To buy me a skirt and blouse.”