EIGHTY-EIGHT
On Monday, CID Headquarters in Accra brought in Clifford and Clement from Akosombo Police Station, which didn’t have enough space to keep the twins much longer. Aware of the strong bond between the twins, Commissioner Andoh kept them apart to throw them off balance and render them more vulnerable to questioning.
A constable brought Clifford to the commissioner’s office and stood to one side to keep watch over the handcuffed muscleman. Clifford appeared sullen but nervous. The commissioner told him in Twi that anything he said might be taken down and used later as evidence in court. “Do you understand?”
“Yes please,” Clifford said, but he looked uncertain. He was out of his depth. A person of means might have refused to answer questions without a lawyer present, but Clifford didn’t know anything about that.
“How old are you, Clifford?” Andoh asked.
“Twenty-four, please.”
“Where did you attend school?”
Clifford muttered a name and then admitted he and Clement had never completed high school.
“You are always together, you and Clement, eh?” Andoh asked.
“Yes please.”
“You feel like you are one person—or part of each other.”
“Yes please.”
“Well, I will do my best to bring you together again,” Andoh said, “but only if you are honest with me and you don’t waste my time. You understand me? In other words, if you and Clement tell the truth, all will be well, and you will be with each other again. Otherwise, we will have to keep you apart and keep questioning you.”
“Yes please.”
“Clifford, I want to ask you about last Saturday night. Where were you and Clement?”
“Please, we were at Kweku Ponsu’s house.”
“Where? In Accra or Atimpoku?”
“Accra.”
“But we know you also went to the house of one Nii Kwei on Saturday night.”
Clifford stared at the ground and didn’t reply.
“We don’t want Clement to get hurt,” Andoh said. “Some of my men are not as kind as I am, so I don’t know—they might beat him or something like that. But if you tell me everything, I will order them not to beat him or harm him.”
Clifford flinched with visible pain at the possibility of causing the infliction of pain on his brother. “Yes, we went to Nii Kwei’s house,” he confessed.
“You and Clement and who again?”
“Mr. Ponsu.”
“And what were the three of you going to do there?”
Clifford searched Andoh’s face, appearing unsure what to say.
“I’m here to help you,” the commissioner pressed gently. “I know that you and Clement are good people. You always do what your boss tells you, so no one is going to blame you and Clement for doing what your boss said. Probably he was even shouting at you and telling you he won’t pay you anymore if you don’t do what he says. Do you think he won’t try to blame you for everything? He will! So you better tell the truth before we catch him and he gets a chance to tell lies.”
Confused, Clifford rubbed the back of his head.
“Would you like some water to drink?” Andoh asked. “Constable, bring Clifford some water.”
“Yes, sir.” The constable left.
“Relax, okay?” the commissioner said, smiling at Clifford. “Let’s wait for the water first before we continue.”
Clifford drank down most of it. “Thank you, sir.”
“You’re welcome, my friend,” Andoh said. “So, you were saying you and your twin brother and Mr. Ponsu went to Nii Kwei’s house, and then what happened?”
Clifford cleared his throat. “Mr. Ponsu told Nii to call that girl, Emma Djan, to talk to her. At first, Nii didn’t want to do it.”
“So, how did you persuade him?”
“Well, Mr. Ponsu said by force, Nii had to do it.”
“Did you beat Nii to convince him?”
Clifford squirmed. “We just made some rough-rough on him.”
“Like you pushed him around? To scare him?”
“Yes please.”
“Then Nii called the girl, and she came to talk with him.”
“Where were you and Clement and Mr. Ponsu at that time?”
“Clement stayed with Mr. Ponsu, hiding in the kitchen to listen to what all she was saying. I waited outside. When Emma was leaving, I think Nii secretly told her we were there, so she tried to run away, but I was there.”
“And what happened?”
Clifford cleared his throat again. “I gave a blow here.” He touched his temple. “We tied her hands and her feet. First we went to Kweku Ponsu’s house—”
“In Accra?”
“Yes please. Mr. Ponsu said he was going to stay there, and then we tied a bag with some rocks around the girl’s feet.”
“What was that for?”
“Mr. Ponsu told us to drown her in the Volta River.”
“By throwing her off the Adome Bridge.”
Clifford kept his head bowed. “Yes please.”
Two floors down in the DCOP’s office, Laryea was questioning the other twin.
“Clement, on April third, a certain white man called Mr. Tilson was thrown into the river from the Adome Bridge. Was that what Mr. Ponsu told you to do? The same thing as the lady last night?”
Clement leaned on his forearms and cracked his knuckles repeatedly, trying to imagine what Clifford would say. In his mind he could hear Clifford saying there was no point in trying to lie, especially if that would cause them to be separated forever. Clement could not bear to be apart from his brother.
“Ponsu told us to go to the white man’s house in the night,” he began.
“Around what time?”
Clifford cast back. “Around two or three. In the morning, I mean. He said we should go there and pretend we are Mr. Labram, the one who owns the house, so that the white man will open the door, then we should beat him and take him to the bridge.”
“And throw him inside the river?”
“Yes please.”
“Yes please.”
“Where was Mr. Ponsu at that time?”
“In the house. At Atimpoku.”
“So, after you threw the white man in the river, what did you do?”
“We returned to the house and report to Mr. Ponsu that we have done everything.”
“And then?”
“We went to sleep.”