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Authors: Kwei Quartey
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the hotel.
“He is.”
Paula tried to
think of a tactful way to put her next question. “You don’t think…I mean,
there’s no reason to believe he was involved with Heather beyond the swimming
training?”
They had
reached the rear entrance to his office and Edward swiped his card. “Absolutely
not,” he said firmly. “You heard what he said about not getting unduly involved
with her. He’s an honest guy.”
“I notice he mentioned
his children but not his wife.”
“Yes, he’s been
divorced for many years.”
He picked up a
key card from the front desk and they went upstairs to Room 216. A far cry from
Jost’s chalet, this accommodation had only the basics—one room with a bed, a
desk, and a chair. The adjoining bathroom was very small. Nevertheless,
everything was clean and neat. Most of Paula’s volunteers came to Ghana with
limited funds, and the Voyager, with its reputation for cleanliness and
affordability, was the perfect hotel for their needs. Edward ran a tight ship.
Paula went to
the window where she had a full view of the three chalets. However she noticed that
the trellis below obscured most of the swimming pool. It was possible, then,
that a hotel guest could have looked out of the window in the middle of the night
on Sunday and missed Heather’s body in the water.
“Nice room” she
said, turning back to smile at Edward as they came out. “I like it.”
“Thank you.” He
pulled the door shut. “Let’s go this way and I’ll show you something.”
She followed
him downstairs. At the bottom, two doors faced them at right angles to each
other.
“That one goes
to the lobby,” Edward said, pointing to the right. He bypassed it. “But if you
want to go for a swim, you go out this way.”
He pushed open
the second door and they exited onto a concrete walkway.
“Oh,” Paula
said, now comprehending. “It’s the same back area you have access to from your
office, just from a different exit.”
“Right, and
this path leads to the chalets and the pool. So, as I told you, Heather could
go directly from her room to the pool without being spotted, something I was
proud of before, because of the privacy it offered the guests. Now that’s all
changed, and we will have a CC camera that shows who goes in and out of this
door.”
Paula was
staring thoughtfully at the exit door. Perhaps Heather came outside that night
to meet someone at the pool without having any intention to swim, and then something
went terribly wrong.
“There’s
absolutely no way to get from the lobby of the hotel to this rear exit without
being seen?” she asked Edward.
“I never say
never, but it would be difficult. Either the front receptionist or the security
guard would spot you.”
Paula gazed at
the pool in the distance. What happened that night? She was eager to
talk to Amadu. She hoped the night guard might know more than he had revealed
to his boss.
CHAPTER EIGHT
That night, after the twins were in bed, Paula and Thelo relaxed
in the sitting room and indulged in vanilla ice cream. She hesitated to tell him
about her visit with Edward at the Voyager. Despite the rationalizations she
had used to justify it to herself, there was no way around it: she had gone
“snooping.” Thelo would not be happy about that.
“I have some
news for you,” he said at length, licking cream off his plump lips.
“Oh? What’s
that?”
“Do you
remember the forensic pathologist I used to tell you about—Dr. Anum Biney?”
“Mm. The one
you said is so good that all the detectives want him to do the postmortems on
their cases?”
“Correct. I thought
over what you said yesterday at the office and decided to call him this morning
about the case.”
“Oh, good! ”
she exclaimed. “What did he say?”
“He couldn’t
talk long because he was about to do an autopsy, but he promised to get back to
me this evening or first thing tomorrow.”
“Wonderful,
wonderful! Thank you so much for doing that, my
“He is.”
Paula tried to
think of a tactful way to put her next question. “You don’t think…I mean,
there’s no reason to believe he was involved with Heather beyond the swimming
training?”
They had
reached the rear entrance to his office and Edward swiped his card. “Absolutely
not,” he said firmly. “You heard what he said about not getting unduly involved
with her. He’s an honest guy.”
“I notice he mentioned
his children but not his wife.”
“Yes, he’s been
divorced for many years.”
He picked up a
key card from the front desk and they went upstairs to Room 216. A far cry from
Jost’s chalet, this accommodation had only the basics—one room with a bed, a
desk, and a chair. The adjoining bathroom was very small. Nevertheless,
everything was clean and neat. Most of Paula’s volunteers came to Ghana with
limited funds, and the Voyager, with its reputation for cleanliness and
affordability, was the perfect hotel for their needs. Edward ran a tight ship.
Paula went to
the window where she had a full view of the three chalets. However she noticed that
the trellis below obscured most of the swimming pool. It was possible, then,
that a hotel guest could have looked out of the window in the middle of the night
on Sunday and missed Heather’s body in the water.
“Nice room” she
said, turning back to smile at Edward as they came out. “I like it.”
“Thank you.” He
pulled the door shut. “Let’s go this way and I’ll show you something.”
She followed
him downstairs. At the bottom, two doors faced them at right angles to each
other.
“That one goes
to the lobby,” Edward said, pointing to the right. He bypassed it. “But if you
want to go for a swim, you go out this way.”
He pushed open
the second door and they exited onto a concrete walkway.
“Oh,” Paula
said, now comprehending. “It’s the same back area you have access to from your
office, just from a different exit.”
“Right, and
this path leads to the chalets and the pool. So, as I told you, Heather could
go directly from her room to the pool without being spotted, something I was
proud of before, because of the privacy it offered the guests. Now that’s all
changed, and we will have a CC camera that shows who goes in and out of this
door.”
Paula was
staring thoughtfully at the exit door. Perhaps Heather came outside that night
to meet someone at the pool without having any intention to swim, and then something
went terribly wrong.
“There’s
absolutely no way to get from the lobby of the hotel to this rear exit without
being seen?” she asked Edward.
“I never say
never, but it would be difficult. Either the front receptionist or the security
guard would spot you.”
Paula gazed at
the pool in the distance. What happened that night? She was eager to
talk to Amadu. She hoped the night guard might know more than he had revealed
to his boss.
CHAPTER EIGHT
That night, after the twins were in bed, Paula and Thelo relaxed
in the sitting room and indulged in vanilla ice cream. She hesitated to tell him
about her visit with Edward at the Voyager. Despite the rationalizations she
had used to justify it to herself, there was no way around it: she had gone
“snooping.” Thelo would not be happy about that.
“I have some
news for you,” he said at length, licking cream off his plump lips.
“Oh? What’s
that?”
“Do you
remember the forensic pathologist I used to tell you about—Dr. Anum Biney?”
“Mm. The one
you said is so good that all the detectives want him to do the postmortems on
their cases?”
“Correct. I thought
over what you said yesterday at the office and decided to call him this morning
about the case.”
“Oh, good! ”
she exclaimed. “What did he say?”
“He couldn’t
talk long because he was about to do an autopsy, but he promised to get back to
me this evening or first thing tomorrow.”
“Wonderful,
wonderful! Thank you so much for doing that, my
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