Sleuth on Safari

by A R Kennedy

  It wasn’t proof of a crime.

  Just proof that they paid attention during orientation.

  Morning Game Drive

  I got ready for the game drive. Sunblock. Hat. Camera. Ready to go. I just needed my mosquito repellant. I tried to remember the last time I’d worn it. Yesterday’s afternoon game drive. Where had I put the clip-on when we had returned last night?

  I retraced my steps in search of my fan.

  “Charlotte, have you seen my mosquito repellant fan?”

  “Do you think it works?”

  I checked my body for little pink bumps from mosquito bites. “I don’t have any mosquito bites, so I’ll say yes.”

  “Well, I don’t wear that ridiculous fan on my pants and I don’t have any bites either.”

  I continued my search. “But you stink of that repellant.”

  She finished wiping herself down with her mosquito repellant. “Thanks.”

  “I’m just saying it has an odor.”

  “Time to go.”

  “But…I need that repellant. Mosquitos are the biggest killer of humans. I need that repellant!” I got on my hands and knees and slid under the bed for the gray unit.

  “This coming from the person who was almost killed by a snake just days ago.”

  “Sonny told me. Mosquitos are our biggest threat here.”

  “And that’s why we’re on the malaria pills.” She grabbed her bag. “You have been taking them every day, right?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “Because I remind you every day?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  She was annoying about it but not as annoying as our mother would have been about it. Mom would have reminded me, then hovered around me until she saw me take it and then force a visual inspection of my mouth to ensure I had swallowed it.

  Charlotte would simply say, “Naomi, malaria pill,” when she took her own after returning from breakfast. I didn’t want to admit it was actually helpful, and only a touch annoying.

  “We gotta go, Naomi.”

  “Fine.” I ran after her and out the door.

  Knowing more repellant was in her bag, I asked, “Can I have some of your repellant?”

  To my surprise, she held her tongue and tossed me a mosquito repellant wipe. She resumed her walk to the common area and I trailed behind.

  “Thanks, sis.” I slid the wipe into my pocket. I’d put it on later, once we loaded onto the cruiser. I didn’t want to join the group stinking of the repellant.

  Charlotte mixed with the fellow travelers while I tried to search my mind for the last time I’d seen the fan.

  Sonny called the group and we headed toward our ride. Ray was waiting by the car and called me over.

  “Naomi, I think this belongs to you.” He tossed me my mosquito repellant fan.

  I caught it and cheered, “Yeah! Thanks!” Now, I wouldn’t have to stink of the repellant. I looked around for Charlotte to share the good news. She was busy climbing into the first row.

  “You are some tracker. You even tracked me!” He smiled broadly. I turned the fan on and clipped it on my belt. “How’d you know it was mine?”

  “No one else wears one.” He pointed to the group. “Never seen one before, actually. It’s how you’re able to sneak up on all of us.”

  Sneak up? I didn’t know I had done that to the staff. “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “The other guests wear the mosquito repellant sprays. We don’t have to,” he said, motioning to himself and Sonny. “And neither do you. And we can’t smell you coming!”

  We laughed in unison. I told Charlotte that stuff stunk!

  The bandage on his arm was gone. Only a small red line was on his arm. “Your arm okay?”

  “Yes, thank you.” He held it up and looked at it. “Just cut it on some glass,” he told me, confirming what Sonny had also told me. I’d already cleared Ray for the murder, but it was reassuring Sonny had told me the truth. If Sonny had been the guilty party, maybe he would have lied about Ray.

  I recalled Ray on the morning the body was found. I remembered seeing him with his phone. “Did you take photos of Dr. Higgins?”

  “What?” he asked.

  “The day I found him,” I clarified. “I saw you with your phone out. But Leticia called the police from the front desk.”

  “I wasn’t taking pictures of him,” he answered. He appeared horrified at the thought. “What a mess.”

  “But you took pictures?”

  “Yes.” He put his head down. “But not of him.”

  “Then what did you take pictures of?” Finding a guest’s dead body surely wouldn’t make their next catalog.

  “I’m a tracker. I took pictures of the tracks they left.”

  “‘They,’” I repeated. “Who?”

  “Who else? The hyenas.”

  “Can I see?” In the blur of that morning, I couldn’t remember what I had seen. I recalled seeing a lot of red as I walked up the walkway to Dr. Higgins’ suite, but I hadn’t put together that it was blood. I couldn’t remember seeing animal tracks, not that I would have never known what animal had left them.

  Ray pulled up the photos on his phone. Crime scene photos, I called them. I started to ask him to text them to me but didn’t know if that would cost him, or me, a lot of money. Email would be best but who knew when that would work again. We’d probably be home by the time I got it. Separated from the suspects and thousands of miles away from the proper jurisdiction, it would do me little good.

  “What are you guys looking at?” Sabrina asked.

  “Nothing,” I answered, not wanting to share evidence with a suspect, but Ray’s voice overruled mine.

  “Tracks.”

  Ray quickly tapped his phone and brought up another photo album. One full of tracks in the dirt. Neither of us wanted to be caught looking at bloody footprints.

  “Are you looking at scat?” Colin asked.

  “Tracks,” Ray corrected him. “Not scat.”

  “Every trip, Geri. Every trip there’s one asking about scat,” Jack shouted. “I want to go on one vacation, one vacation, where people don’t ask about sh—”

  “Jack!” Geri rebuked. He shook his head but kept his mouth closed while storming off.

  “I think he’s the one who needs to talk about poop. Always gets constipated on vacation.”

  “Time to go, everyone,” Sonny said.

  “Later,” I told Ray and he nodded.

  Breakfast

  Ray had been too busy when we stopped for coffee and juice to show me the photos. I didn’t even try to ask. Everyone would have flocked to us the moment he pulled out his phone. Did we each not have enough photos on safari?

  I could hang around after the drive and wait until Ray was free but that would be suspicious. I was known for heading right for the coffee upon returning from our early game drives. A waitress had started just standing at the ready as I was the first to enter the breakfast area. She would stand next to me as I downed my first cup and then refill it before I headed to the breakfast table. I would feel embarrassed if not for Jack.

  They had learned to have a plate of bacon ready for him at his table. That was worse, wasn’t it?

  After finishing my first cup at the lodge, the third for the day, I placed it down and left for the front of the lodge. If anyone was watching, they’d think I was heading to the bathroom, located off the reception. I glanced over my shoulder to see if anyone was watching. They weren’t. They were too invested in the sumptuous breakfast being laid out in front of them. Were those blueberry pancakes? I hoped I could make this trip quick and return before they were all gone.

  “Ms. Naomi, how did I know you’d be back?” He tossed me my mosquito repellant fan, which I had left on my seat. As I was the last one to leave the cruiser, I knew another guest wouldn’t find it. I knew Ray wouldn’t miss the signal.

  Without asking, he pulled out his phone and clicked on his photo application.

  I r
ecoiled when the first photo appeared. “Yikes, that’s a lot of red.”

  “Blood,” he added. As if didn’t know.

  “How’d you know it was a hyena?” I asked. It just looked like one bloody mess to me.

  “Hyenas,” he corrected me. “They travel in packs. It would be highly unlikely that just one would enter this area. They share their kills.”

  “You really think they killed him?”

  He looked up from his phone. “Of course? Who else could have?”

  That was the question I was earnestly seeking an answer to. Who could have done it?

  There was genuine shock on his face. The thought that Dr. Higgins had been killed by human hands had never entered his mind. Maybe it shouldn’t have entered mine.

  I inspected the photos and Ray began his lecture. “First, we look for claws. Cats claws are retractable so you don’t see them in their prints.” He enlarged the photo and pointed to an area. “See that?” I peered in and nodded. “Those are claws. So it’s a wild dog or hyena.”

  He stopped himself. “Cheetahs do have semi-retractable claws but their foot pad has three lobes.” He pointed again to the enlarged photo. “This does not, so I know it’s not a cheetah.”

  Ray pulled his phone back, clicked a few times, and showed me the phone again. An illustration of various animals’ paw prints. In black and white, it was easy to the see the differences. In the dirt and in the blood, I didn’t know how he did it. I was going to have to trust Ray’s expertise.

  “Can you go back to the photos?”

  He did as I asked and held the phone out to me. I took it and flipped through the photos. It really didn’t matter what wild animal Ray identified the tracks as. I was looking for evidence of another type of animal—human.

  “What’s that?” I asked. Could a human’s footprint or shoe print have been left behind?

  He shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Internet still down?”

  “It’s temporary. We’re working on it. It’ll be fixed shortly.”

  I tried not to roll my eyes. I needed to see the photos larger. I couldn’t think of any available option. With the internet still down, emailing them to me, to view on my laptop, was not an option.

  “Can we print these?” I asked, when I handed his phone back.

  “Yes,” he answered. “But why?”

  I couldn’t tell him the truth, could I? And if I dismissed him, he’d either not get me the photos or think I was a killer. I chose the truth, sort of. “Tracking, I find it fascinating!”

  His eyes widened. “Sonny said you were interested in a job here!” He put his phone away. “I can lend you a book while you’re here. Go to breakfast and I’ll get you the photos and the book before lunch.”

  I thanked him and scurried off to breakfast, hoping there were blueberry pancakes left.

  Afternoon

  I wanted to hunt down Ray. I was so eager for a closer look at those photos. I wandered around the lodge in search of another distraction. I was so desperate I even considered going to the gym.

  “Naomi,” Ray called out. He handed me a book. “This book is my most treasured resource. My first guide gave it me when I first became a tracker. I’ll need it back before you depart. But maybe you could buy a copy in the US when you get home?”

  I nodded, searching for the photos he said he’d print for me. I smiled when I found them. “Thank you, Ray. I’ll give the book back to you. I promise.” I didn’t need the book, but it did hide the photos well.

  “I spoke to Leticia. She can’t believe you’d like to work here.”

  “I’m sure she’s thrilled.”

  “We’ve never had a guest want to work with us.”

  I found that hard to believe. The place was beautiful. But long-term, I didn’t think I’d survive. Literally, I think I’d be killed by an animal. Any animal. Mosquito or hippo or snake. You name it.

  And if I wasn’t actually killed, I’d struggle to live here. At some point, you’d stop seeing the beauty. It became background noise. At your forefront would be the travelers, on a trip of a lifetime, wanting every inane question answered and every desire filled. My fake smile would only last so long.

  I kept the real smile on my face and thanked Ray again for the book. Charlotte was on the patio when I returned to our room. The day was beautiful, like all the others, and I joined her.

  “Did you really buy a book from the gift shop?”

  “No, Ray lent it to me.”

  “I had no idea you were that interested in the wildlife here. You are interested in learning about the wildlife, aren’t you? And not interested in local life?”

  I looked up from the book. “Huh?”

  “You’re not interested in him, are you?”

  “No, don’t be ridiculous. He’s married with a baby.”

  She slammed her book closed. “How do you know that?”

  “He told me.”

  “Because you were hitting on him and he wanted to thwart your advances?”

  “No,” I answered. I returned my attention to the book.

  “You’ve been mocking me for studying on vacation and now you have a book on”—she tipped the cover so she could read it—“a book on tracking. What are you up to?” I didn’t answer. “Oh no, it’s about the Higgins thing, isn’t it?”

  “Shh!” I went into the room and signaled for her to follow. She did but didn’t look happy about it. “You don’t know who can hear you!”

  “You’re the only one who cares what happened to that man. No one cares what you’re doing.”

  “Well, I’m sure the killer does!”

  She threw her arms in the air. “What killer?”

  I grabbed the photos out of the book.

  “This. Do you see this?”

  “I see a lot of blood, Naomi.”

  I pointed to the spot again. “A footprint. I think it’s a partial footprint.”

  “It’s probably yours!”

  I paused and considered it. “No, no way. I was careful walking in.” I pointed to my brown hiking boots. “I didn’t want to get anything on my new shoes.”

  She sneered at the brown hiking boots. They were not as fashionable as her gray ones with lilac accents.

  “Then it was one of the others.”

  “No, only you came in the room.”

  She shivered. “I did not step in that man’s blood.” She went to the fridge and grabbed a water. “I don’t know why you went in that room when you saw all that blood.”

  “It happened so fast. I didn’t realize it was blood until it was too late.”

  She looked at the printout again. “It could be Sonny’s. Sonny came in the room with us.”

  “But all the suspects stayed out.”

  “Suspects?”

  “Yes, the killer had to be one of the guests.” I began to pace to come up with a plan.

  “I knew you shouldn’t have watched Murder on the Orient Express on the flight!”

  I gasped. That was a take on the case I hadn’t considered. That it had been meticulously planned, by all of them, before our arrival. Maybe that was why Sabrina’s husband had backed out of the trip. Not wanting to participate in a murder plot. Maybe that was how we got the good deal on the trip. That group hadn’t planned on Inspector Poirot. This group hadn’t planned on Detective Naomi! “Do you really—”

  “No, Naomi. I do not think everyone, but the two of us, knew Dr. Higgins before the trip and that they all plotted his murder together. You sound crazy.”

  She was right. It did sound farfetched, but she brought it up. I returned to my previous plan. “I should look at everyone’s shoes this afternoon. How can I do that?”

  “What would be the point?” she asked, watching me pace.

  “To see if any of them have blood on their shoes. You said if someone had cut Dr. Higgins in the carotid there would be a lot of blood.”

  “Yes.”

  “So they would have a lot of blood on them.�
��

  “Most likely.”

  “They could hand-wash their clothing.”

  “It’d be hard to get that blood out.”

  “Yeah, the gift shop didn’t have any detergent that said it would remove bloodstains.”

  “Because you looked?’

  “Yes, of course. They were all marked ‘gentle’ detergents.”

  “So what? They throw the bloody clothes out.”

  “Nope, I told you I went through the garbage.”

  She sighed and shook her head in disgust. “I tried to forget about that.”

  “Plus, if they threw it out in their room, Coral would have found it. If they threw it out in the common area, I would have seen it when I reviewed the surveillance tape. So the bloody clothing, maybe it’s partially cleaned and in a suitcase.”

  “They threw their bloody clothes in their suitcase? Don’t you think Customs will see that?”

  “Customs isn’t looking for a murderer. Bloody clothes won’t show up on an X-ray. It’s all in black and white. If they happen to go through his or her luggage, which is unlikely, they could just explain it. Plus, they could throw out the clothing in the bathroom before security.” I stopped my pacing and faced her. “If Customs did stop them, they could say—I cut myself shaving. I’m on Coumadin and it really gushed.” She shook her head but this time smiled. “What?” I asked.

  “Mom was right.” I waited for her to say how Mom said I was crazy but she surprised me.

  “You’re so smart. You could have done anything you wanted. You can do anything you want. You just have to set your mind to it.”

  “Well, my mind is set on finding a murderer.”

  Charlotte surprised me again. “Then God help them. Because you’ll find them.”

  Lunch

  I needed to look at everyone’s shoes. But getting a good view was going to be difficult.

  I debated my options. Just ask if I could take a look at everyone’s shoes. But that would be weird, and hard to explain.

  I tucked my hair behind my ear. I fiddled with the small floral earring on my right earlobe. It was a gift from an ex-boyfriend. I tried to mask my face of my delight as the plan popped into my head.