Murder at Cape Three Points - страница 12

She had sustained a gunshot wound to the right temple. The bullet had tracked across her brain to shatter the left cheekbone, where it had emerged. No bullet or fragments were present, nor did the report mention whether or not gunpowder stippling accompanied the entry wound. Had there been none, or had Dr. Cudjoe inadvertently omitted that detail? He had indicated the wounds on the standard schematic drawings always provided on a postmortem form. Photographs were not included with the documents, which was common. Most of the time, no camera was available, and in any case, the mortuary personnel, including the forensic pathologist, often took photos at a bad angle or in poor light.

Next to the name George Findlay, Offshore Oil Installation Manager, a telephone number had been circled, with a red arrow pointing to it. Dawson had no idea what an oil installation manager was. He was about to find out.

GEORGE FINDLAY PICKED up the call almost immediately. Dawson introduced himself and told him he was taking on the Smith-Aidoo case.

“I’m very glad to hear that,” Findlay said. He had a light Scottish accent and a pleasant voice. “We need someone to solve it once and for all.”

“Do you have a moment to answer some questions?”

“No more than about ten minutes. I’m at Kotoka Airport getting ready to leave for Glasgow.”

“I’ll be quick, then. By the way, what does your job entail as an oil installation manager?”

“I’m the most senior manager on the rig, ultimately responsible for day-to-day operations and safety of everyone on board. For example, that morning the canoe with the dead bodies drifted into the rig area, it broke everyone’s focus on their jobs, and it was my responsibility to marshal everyone back to work. There could have been a breach of safety and security.”

“I see,” Dawson said. That gave him a clear picture.

“People were coming up to the pipe deck to see the spectacle,” Findlay continued. “Eventually, Michael Glagah, our safety officer put a stop to that, but in the midst of all the confusion, Dr. Smith-Aidoo came up from the medic room to see what the commotion was about. The tragedy is that I had no idea that it was her aunt and uncle in the canoe, so I let her use my binoculars to get a better look. She stared for a wee bit and then let out a strange cooing noise, rather like a pigeon, and then she fainted. Fortunately, someone was right next to her to catch her. She seemed to recover somewhat a few seconds later, but she was still staring glassy-eyed as though in shock, and I couldn’t understand why Michael took another look in the binoculars and said something like, ‘Oh, my God,’ and whispered to me that the corpses looked like Charles and Fiona Smith-Aidoo. He had met them before, but I had not.”

“Do you think the display was aimed directly at her?”

“If so, it takes a diabolical mind to conceive of and execute something as gruesome and abhorrent as that.”

Dawson could not have said it any better. “What happened next?”

“We took Dr. Smith-Aidoo downstairs to rest and radioed to shore for an emergency chopper to come in and take her back to the mainland.”

“She will never forget that horrible day,” Dawson commented.

“Never,” Findlay agreed. “To see her beloved uncle decapitated… I can only begin to imagine how awful that was.”

“What was Mr. Smith-Aidoo’s role at Malgam? What does a corporate relations director do?”

“It’s a delicate job of juggling government and public affairs, media relations, internal relations, liaison with the CEO and the board, response to external pressures, managing company image, and so on.”

“Not easy, in other words.”

“Not at all. I don’t know how he did it.”

“Do you think he made enemies?”

“Maybe he did; I don’t know, but even if that was the case, I find it difficult to imagine anyone, enemy or otherwise, doing something this vicious and cold-blooded to him and his wife. From what I heard about him, he was well-liked.”

“Still,” Dawson said, “the job description sounds like every once in a while, he would have had to tell people things they didn’t want to hear.”