South Pacific Affair

by Drew Lindsay

  ‘I know that,’ said Ben. ‘That’s why I hired her to watch you pair while I’m with the Tei family tonight.’

  ‘What if you are wrong?’ What if she turns on us? What if she really believes that I know where the necklace is?’

  ‘I can’t be in two places at once,’ said Ben.

  ‘Does your boss know about this?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘He’ll have a fit.’

  ‘Yes.’

  Sophia stood and pulled on her mask. ‘If you get me killed because you stuffed up on this island, I’m coming back to haunt you.’ She picked up her fins and strode towards the beach.

  ‘Can you wear that bikini during the haunt?’ asked Ben.

  She ignored him and dived into the crystal clear water. Ben lay back on the timber lounge. He’d forgotten his 30+ sun tan lotion. Just 15 minutes and he would go back into the fale.

  ‘You’re going to need some serious lotion on that sunburn,’ said Ann, standing over him.

  Claudia moved beside her. ‘Shit!’

  ‘Soap and cool water will fix him up,’ said Sophia. ‘Let’s get him to the shower.’

  It burned. He had slept and the sun had scorched him for almost an hour. Ben stood under the cool water from the shower and soaped up several times.

  ‘Your date is going to be impressed,’ said Ann from outside the door.

  ‘Go away,’ said Ben.

  ‘You will be as slippery as a damn eel by the time we get repair cream over you.’

  ‘I don’t need repair cream,’ said Ben.

  ‘If you don’t.’ said Ann, ‘by the time you get back to Sydney, your skin will be flaking off you like a bloody snow storm.’

  ‘Go away,’ said Ben.

  ‘Your date is going to think she’s hooked up with a lobster fresh out of the pot.’

  ‘Are you out there Claudia?’

  ‘Yes Ben.’

  ‘Go and drown Ann for me please?’

  ‘You’ve just paid me to take care of her.’

  ‘The deal is off,’ said Ben. ‘Go and drown her.’

  His request was followed with peals of laughter.

  “****”

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  Loa Tei’s father was in his mid 70’s but he stood proudly and almost defiant as Ben entered the house. He looked at Ben closely. ‘You’ve been sunbaking I see.’

  ‘I went to sleep in the sun.’ said Ben.

  ‘Your skin will peel in a few days.’

  ‘So I’ve been told sir.’

  ‘We have natural oils that may assist you.’

  ‘I didn’t come here for sunburn treatment,’ said Ben.

  ‘You may call me George,’ said Mr. Tei. ‘It’s not my baptised name but I like to have the same name as the king.’

  ‘Thank you for inviting me to your home,’ said Ben.

  George Tei glanced at his daughter as she stood at Ben’s side. ‘We’re all a bit frightened Mr. Hood.’

  ‘Call me Ben, please.’

  The old man nodded. ‘I was actually threatened in my own home.’

  ‘Your daughter told me,’ said Ben.

  A large Tongan woman walked into the room and stood slightly behind her husband. She wore a large woven mat around her body, tied at the waist with a belt made from coconut fibre. ‘This is my wife Anga,’ said George Tei.

  Ben walked to the woman and looked down into her very fearful brown eyes. She held his gaze. ‘Do you fear me?’ asked Ben.

  ‘No. I don’t fear you. Loa would not have brought you here if there was something about you to fear.’

  ‘I’ll make the tall blond man go away,’ said Ben. ‘He’ll never come here again.’

  ‘I prayed to Jesus to take him away,’ she said. ‘The man told us that he would come back very soon and we had better have answers for him or none of us would live to see the light of morning.’

  ‘I’m not too sure what Jesus is going to do about him,’ said Ben, ‘but I can assure you that I know what I’m going to do.’

  Anga glanced at her daughter. ‘I have dinner served. Perhaps later you can attend to his sunburn?’

  Loa nodded and led Ben into the small dining room. The floor was polished timber and the walls were thatched coconut palm branches. Oil lamps flickered in the breeze. Smoked pork was a delicacy in Tonga. The rich ate it almost every night. Tonight it was served to Ben with rice, baked taro, potato and a variety of stir fried vegetables.’

  George questioned Ben about his employment. Ben gave as little information as was polite under the circumstances. His suntanned skin burned.

  ‘Can you protect my daughter?’ George asked suddenly.

  ‘It is a disturbing thing that you and your family were threatened sir,’ said Ben.’

  ‘It has never happened before in my life,’ said George.

  Ben laid down his knife and fork. He looked at Loa’s mother. ‘The meal was amazing.’

  Anga nodded and smiled. ‘Thank you.’

  Ben looked at George Tei. ‘I’ll protect you and your daughter as best I can. I know who threatened you and I will ensure that he goes away.’

  George Tei wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. ‘He may come tonight. He said it would be very soon. It would be comforting if you could stay with us. Perhaps you are the one.’

  ‘I’m not sure what you mean,’ said Ben.

  George Tei looked at his daughter. ‘She got in way over her head. She is not like me. I don’t understand all this…’

  Loa rested her hand gently on her father’s arm. ‘Ben and I need to talk.’

  ‘Yes,’ said George.

  ‘I need to attend to his sunburn and while I am doing that, we will talk.’

  ‘I remain loyal to God and the king,’ said George Tei. He looked at his daughter. ‘The wrongs must be made right.’ George Tei looked into Ben’s eyes. ‘Do you have any idea what I’m talking about?’

  ‘I think so. I’ll do what I can.’

  George Tei looked at his daughter. ‘Talk with him and deal with his sunburn. I’m going to bed.’

  Loa kissed her mother on the cheek, stood and took Ben’s hand. She led him up a narrow timber stairway to a bedroom in the loft of the roof. She unbuttoned his shirt and helped him slip it off. Her touch was cool and gentle and the oil gave off a musky sensual aroma. She dripped the oil on her hands and covered every inch of his upper body in soft gentle circular strokes. ‘All the problems are because of the necklace,’ said Ben. ‘Once the necklace is found, one way or another all the problems will vanish.’

  Loa was sitting opposite him as he spoke. Ben was sitting on the edge of a double bed and she was on a timber chair. She looked up into his eyes. Her fingers continued to move on his chest. ‘I don’t know what he did with it,’ she said softly.

  ‘You’ve been questioned by the police?’

  ‘Yes, and the military.’

  ‘Why the military?’ asked Ben.

  ‘A horrid officer named James Amasio. He works at the royal palace.’

  Ben nodded. Sergeant Amasio was definitely becoming a person of interest. ‘What did you tell them?’

  ‘Nothing. I said I knew nothing about any necklace.’

  ‘But you do, don’t you?’

  ‘Now my parents have been threatened. Now it must be found.’

  ‘Did you have an affair with Joseph Hunter?’

  Loa was silent. She moved her hands down to his stomach. ‘Yes. It was a stupid thing to do. He had been flirting with me ever since he started selling his wares at the chemist shop.’

  ‘You knew his wife Sophia?’

  ‘Not well. She is very beautiful. I felt that if he was attracted to me that would prove I had the looks to catch any man.’

  ‘You don’t have to prove anything in that regard,’ said Ben.

  ‘I had been dumped from the beauty contest. I felt empty and beaten. He made me feel…’ She stopped talking and poured a little more oil into the palm of her right hand. ‘Are yo
ur legs burned?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Take off your trousers.’

  Ben stood, unclipped the belt on his cargo pants and took them off. He sat back down on the bed and she started massaging his sunburnt thighs. ‘You don’t have to do this,’ he said.

  ‘You will feel much better in the morning. It was my father’s wish that I deal with your sunburn.’

  ‘I’m not all that interested in your affair with Joseph Hunter,’ said Ben. ‘I’m more interested to know exactly what he did and where he went during his last visit to Tonga.’

  ‘Doesn’t his wife know? She was with him,’ said Loa.

  ‘She spent most of her time alone on Fa Fa Island,’ said Ben.

  ‘He took me to a beach on the other side of the island,’ said Toa. ‘We made love.’

  ‘Did he take you anywhere else?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Do you know where he went in Tonga on his last visit?’

  ‘He hired a car and went diving.’ She moved her fingers down to his lower legs.

  ‘Where did he go diving?’

  ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Where did he hire the car?’

  Loa shook her head in the negative. ‘I’m not much help, am I?’

  ‘The diving equipment?’

  ‘He dropped all that back at a place down near the main jetty. It’s called Black Pearl diving or something like that.’

  ‘Why were you with him on that occasion?’

  ‘I met him at a hotel in the city after he had been away diving for the afternoon. We slept together and he returned the diving gear the next morning and dropped me back here. That’s the last time I ever saw him.’

  ‘And he never told you where he went diving?’

  ‘No,’ said Loa. ‘He said he had some trouble with one of the wheels or something and didn’t get to the hotel until after 10 pm.’

  Loa wiped her hands on a towel and stood before him. She took a clip from the back of her head and long black hair cascaded around her shoulders. She unbuttoned her shirt and let it fall open. Ben looked at her large breasts and stood up. ‘My sunburn feels so much better,’ he said. ‘I don’t need payment for anything.’

  ‘I’ll do anything to protect my parents. I don’t care about myself any more. I’ve shamed them enough.’

  Ben buttoned up her shirt. ‘I should go,’ he said.

  ‘Please stay. My parents want you to stay. It would make them feel so much more secure.’

  ‘Do you have another room?’

  ‘No.’

  Ben ran the fingers of both hands over his short cropped greying hair. ‘You don’t owe me anything Loa.’

  She nodded.

  ‘I need to make a phone call,’ he said.

  ‘I’ll leave.’

  ‘No, it’s okay,’ said Ben.

  ‘I have a tiny bathroom through that door,’ she said with the wave of a long slender arm. ‘I’ll get ready for bed. You must leave the oil on tonight.’

  ‘I can’t do that,’ said Ben.

  ‘Sheets can be washed,’ she said. ‘Make your call.’

  She left the room on silent bare feet. Ben sat down on the bed, retrieved the mobile phone from his cargo pants which lay beside him and dialled a number recently obtained.

  ‘Having fun?’

  ‘I’ve had a sunburn treatment,’ said Ben.

  ‘They both snore like trains,’ said Claudia.

  ‘Only after wine from what I’ve been told.’

  ‘It’s very quiet here. I’m used to more jungle noise.’

  ‘It’s quiet here as well,’ said Ben.’

  ‘Bad feeling?’

  ‘Something is brewing,’ said Ben.

  ‘Did you get what you went for?’

  ‘Not exactly but any information is better than none.’

  ‘Will you be back in the morning?’

  ‘Late. I’ve got some inquiries to make.’

  ‘This is weird Ben.’

  ‘It’s only one night.’

  She terminated the call.

  Loa wore a very small nightdress. She settled on the bed beside him. The air was humid and Ben had turned off the small electric fan. A slight breeze came through the open window and combined with the scented oils, cooled his burned skin. ‘Why did you turn off the fan?’ she whispered.

  ‘I need to listen for sounds.’

  ‘What kind of sounds?’

  ‘Any kind of sound,’ said Ben.

  ‘Are you worried about something happening to us tonight?’

  ‘Just cautious,’ said Ben. ‘Things seem to be moving faster than I anticipated.’

  ‘Sophia Hunter is with you on the island?’

  ‘Yes,’ said Ben.

  ‘Is she safe?’

  ‘Yes, she’s safe.’

  Loa was silent for a long moment. ‘Do you care for her?’

  ‘I’ve been hired to look after her,’ said Ben softly.

  ‘And find the necklace.’

  ‘That is a secondary job,’ said Ben.

  Loa turned onto her side and faced him. ‘You will find it because God will lead you to it.’

  ‘I’m not so sure,’ said Ben.

  ‘Tonga is full of spirits. They brought you to us when we were very frightened. Now we are not so frightened. My father prayed for someone like you to come. He told you that tonight although he didn’t fully explain.’

  Ben was silent.

  ‘Any man in bed with me would try to make love with me,’ said Loa. ‘Have I offended you?’

  ‘Perhaps you should take more time so that your choice is wiser,’ said Ben.

  ‘Is that what you personally believe?’

  Ben laughed softly. ‘No. I’m a bit reckless.’

  ‘So why don’t you touch me?’

  ‘I’m very sunburnt,’ said Ben.

  Loa laughed softly and kissed him on the side of the face. ‘I haven’t slept very well for such a long time.’

  ‘Tonight you will,’ said Ben.

  Her breathing slowed and became softer within a minute. Ben’s eyes had now become accustomed to the darkness of the room. Starlight lit the palm trees through the only window in the loft. The jungle grew up close to the rear of the fale and a large taro plantation grew in front. Coconut palms grew in their hundreds everywhere. Ben heard all the sounds and noted their patterns. An hour later, the pattern changed. The ever sounding noise of crickets ceased abruptly. Loa’s breathing was soft and slow.

  Ben slid his cargo pants on together with his boots. He didn’t worry about a shirt. He put a thumb over the lens of his tiny Cree torch and crept down the stairs using a tiny chink of light to show the way. The bottom of the stairs ended in a small alcove off the main dining area. Ben sensed movement rather than actually heard it. He turned off the torch and stood completely still, slowing his breathing and preparing his body. He flattened himself against a side wall just in case a torch was swung in his direction. Wind blowing through the coconut palms outside tended to mask tiny sounds that would normally guide Ben through danger in darkness. He strained his ears, attempting to separate the sound of the wind from the sound of a person moving.

  A door opened. It was time to move and to hell with the consequences. Ben flicked his tiny torch to full power and ran into the dining room. The tall blond man was just about to enter what was probably a bedroom but he suddenly turned. Ben saw the silver ring in his nostril. A large knife was in his right hand and he wore a single lens night monocle over his left eye. He looked like a creature from outer space. Night monocles don’t handle super bright Cree torch power gently and the man was obviously blinded. Ben lunged at him, driving his head into the man’s chest while grasping at the hand holding the knife. They both fell to the floor. A scream came from within the room. Ben punched his small Cree torch into the side of the blond man’s face. The blade of the knife was dangerously close to his head and he used every ounce of strength to hold it off. The blond man was extremely strong, pro
bably stronger than Ben. He pushed Ben off him and kicked him in the stomach. The kick was obviously aimed at Ben’s groin but Ben’s bright torch had obscured the blond man’s target. The night monocle came off and slid across the timber floor. Ben plunged his small torch into the man’s left eye. Blood spurted and the blond haired man let out a scream that would have been heard for miles. Then there was a loud crack of heavy timber on a skull. The blond man stopped struggling and rolled onto his side. His legs twitched for a few seconds and then he didn’t move again. Soft lights came on. George Tei was standing in a nightgown with a large timber pole in his hands. Loa rushed into the room. Anga Tei was sitting up in her bed with the sheets pulled around her neck. There was a look of terror in her eyes.

  Ben sat up and pushed the blond man’s legs off his. He looked up at George Tei. ‘I always heard that the Tongans were fierce fighters.’

  ‘We’ve needed some help from time to time,’ said George, leaning the pole against a wall. ‘I didn’t even hear him come into the house.’

  ‘The front door is open,’ said Ben. ‘He’s managed to get past your locks somehow.’

  Loa touched Ben’s arm and went to sit beside her mother. Ben felt for a pulse in the blond man’s throat. He was dead. Ben looked up at George. ‘No more threats from this creep.’

  George nodded and sat down in a chair beside the bed. ‘I knew you were the one I had asked for,’ he said softly.

  Ben took photographs of the body of the blond man and the knife with his mobile phone. The knife was larger than his own Jungle knife which he had left with Claudia. This knife had a long thick blade and a black plastic handle. It looked more like a bayonet than a knife. Ben picked it up carefully and laid it on a side table. He went through the dead man’s pockets, removing a wallet and a bottle of tiny white pills. These were placed next to the knife. He then turned off his small Cree torch, wiped the blood off the tactical sharp end on part of the dead man’s shirt and slipped it into a pocket of his cargo pants.

  ‘This never happens here,’ said George Tei.

  ‘Has Loa told you what this is about?’ asked Ben.

  ‘Yes. We know although she probably hasn’t told us everything. She’s frightened.’

  Ben dialled a number on his mobile phone. ‘The police will be here fairly quickly I expect. Perhaps everyone should get dressed.’