Free Death at the Voyager Hotel by Kwei Quartey Page A

up when he gets back—like he said he would.”
    She looked at Thelo
for a long time, pondering.
    “What?” he
asked. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
    “I’m
skeptical,” she said finally. “Skeptical that Dr. Biney is going to try that
hard to reactivate the investigation.”
    Thelo looked
insulted. “How can you mistrust one of the most principled men alive?”
    “I don’t
mistrust him at all,” Paula denied. “I think he’ll make a bona fide argument
that the case should be reopened, but if he runs up against opposition, which
he said is likely, he’s not going to fight for it. And when you think about it,
why should he? He’s busy, he travels all over the country, and his plate is
more than full. He doesn’t have time to fight for it.”
    “But the bottom
line,” Thelo said firmly, “is that he’s still our best chance. So, my advice is
that we wait until he returns next week and see how he can help refocus
attention on the case.”
    He got into
bed, cast around for the TV remote and switched through the channels until he
got Al Jazeera English. While he was watching the news, Paula fetched a blank
sheet of paper and a pencil and sat up against her pillows next to him. She had
learned a few things about detective work from watching him in years past. He
had always made lists and diagrams to help organize his thoughts. She wrote Heather
Peterson Murder at the top of the page and underlined it. After a moment’s
thought, she added,
     
    1.      Heather:
A little wine/beer(?) but not intoxicated when she drowned: falsely elevated
BAC
    2.     Found
naked in public pool—out of character for her
    3.     Murdered—who
drowned her? Motive?

    Suspects
    1.   A
robber who tried to steal her clothes and swimsuit, she
challenged him, resulting in a struggle?
     
    Her handwriting was small and most
of the sheet was blank, as was her mind. She looked at Thelo, and he took his
eyes off the TV screen to lean over and read what she’d written. After a
moment, he shook his head.
    “A robber?” he asked
in some amusement. “You learned about enough homicide cases from me to know
that the first suspects in a murder are people the victim knows. The closer the
relationship, the more suspect they become. The reason you can’t write anymore
is that you’re close to the same people Heather was, and that means the
suspects you name could be men and or women you care about.”
    She sighed. He
was right.
    Thelo switched
off the TV and sat up. “Heather was seeing Oliver, right?”
    “Yes.”
    “So you have to
put his name there along with the motive. What would his motive be?”
    Paula wrote,
     
    1. Oliver – rejected
lover?
     
    Thelo nodded. “Yes, correct. Who else?”
    “Diane,” Paula
said uncomfortably. “She was smitten with Oliver for a while, and then Heather
came along. Diane claims she was already done with him, but that might be sour
grapes.”
    “Agreed,” Thelo
said. “So, jealousy would be the motive there.”
    She wrote down,
     
    2. Diane – jealous of
Heather? Disgust for “jungle fever”?
     
    “Jungle fever?”
Thelo said in surprise. “Like in that movie?”
    “Yes. Diane’s
words, not mine. She looked revolted when she talked about relationships
between Ghanaians and white people. I still can’t see how she could kill her
friend Heather, though. And I can’t see Oliver doing it either.”
    “There you are,”
Thelo said, a little smugly. “Not so easy when you find yourself investigating
people you know and like, is it?”
    “There has to
be someone else,” she said weakly.
    “There very
well might be,” he said, his words beginning to slur in his drowsiness. “We’ll
see what Dr. Biney can dig up.”
    She looked at
him as his eyes began to drift closed. “Good night, sleepy-head.”
    “Mm,” he
muttered. He was out for the count.
     
    On her sheet of paper, she wrote:
     
    To do:
    1. Interview
Amadu
    2. Meet Mr. Peterson
    3. ?

    Yes, Paula