Read Online Death at the Voyager Hotel by Kwei Quartey - Free Book Online

of
something. “Those solar lights around the pool—are they on all night?”
    “Yes,” Edward
said. “They’re set to turn off at six in the morning.”
    “I understand
you installed them,” she said to Miedema with a smile.
    “Yes,” he said,
looking pleased. “I work for a small solar power company called Greenlight,
based in Amsterdam. We offer cost-effective solar installations to sub-Saharan
Africa. I put in solar lighting around the pool last year for Edward. They’ll
recoup the upfront cost of the system in no time at all without the electricity
bills and the headache of the constant power failures you’ve been having here
in Ghana. Hydroelectric power is not the best thing for this country.”
    “I think I was
only half paying attention when Edward was explaining the system,” Paula said.
“You have the solar panels, the battery, and what else?”
    “The inverter,”
Miedema said, clearly relieved that they had moved to a happier topic. “The panels
convert the sun’s energy and charge the batteries. The batteries discharge to
the inverter, which switches the direct current to alternating. That’s what
powers the lights around the pool.”
    “Got it,” Paula
said. “Maybe I didn’t notice, but are there lights inside the pool
itself?”
    Edward shook his
head. “Not worth the trouble or expense. If the bulbs go out, we have to order
them specially and pay a technician to install them. In any case, they attract
insects toward the water. It’s better to have external lights that draw the insects
away from the pool.”
    “Ah, I see,”
Paula said. “Very interesting. Learn something every day.”
    “I’m trying to
get Edward to go a hundred percent solar for the whole hotel,” Miedema said,
grinning.
    Edward cleared
his throat and feigned choking. “Em, that’s a little too hefty a bill for us
right now.”
    Miedema
laughed. “I’m going to keep sweetening the terms until you can’t refuse, my
friend.”
    Paula watched
the two men joking around and realized how much they liked each other.
    “Do you stay in
Ghana for months at a time?” she asked Miedema.
    “Two or three
weeks, normally. I’ll be back in Holland next week Wednesday to be with my kids
for a month or so.”
    Paula noticed
he hadn’t said wife and kids. “Are home solar systems available? I’m interested.”
    “Absolutely,”
he said eagerly. “Just call me when you’re ready and we can set up an
appointment at the office.”
    They exchanged
phone numbers and she stood up. “Thank you very much for your help, Mr.
Miedema.”
    “Oh, no, not at
all,” he said, standing as well. “And please, do call me Jost.”
    “Okay—I will.”
    As Paula got to
the door, she turned to him again. “I wonder—did you ever think Heather was
depressed?”
    Jost thought
for a moment, and shook his head slowly. “Quite the contrary, she seemed
unfailingly upbeat. But as I told Chief Inspector Agyekum when he was here on
Tuesday, I can’t pretend that Heather confided in me to the extent that she
would have talked about anything troubling her deep down. We knew each other only
in the context of our training, and for a number of good reasons, I liked to
keep it that way and I believe she did too.”
    Probably wise,
Paula thought, still wondering about Jost’s marital situation. Then an idea
struck her. “You said you took snapshots of Heather’s swimming technique—might you
have one or two photos you could share? One of my staff is putting together a
slideshow to honor her memory, so if you have something that shows her swimming
prowess, we’d love to have that.”
    “But of course!
I’m happy to. Shall I send them to your phone?”
    “Please do.
Thanks again.”

    Before Paula left, she asked Edward if he would allow her to
see the room in which Heather had stayed. Not a problem, he said. The police
had released it and it was vacant for the moment.
    “Jost seems
like a very nice man,” she said, as they returned to