“Not if you’re backtracking,” she clarified. “I talked to her less than an hour ago, and she is taking a train to Accra this afternoon, where she will then be high-tailing her way home to her husband as fast as she can. Seems he wired her the money instead of abandoning her to her deeds. But I don’t think we’ve heard the last of her, so I’ll keep you posted.” She stared for a moment at the piece of sliced fruit on her fork, trying to figure out if it was a peach or a…
“Mango,” whispered Tom. Then he reached into his shirt-pocket and handed over her glasses.
“Where on earth!” Meg marveled happily as she put them on.
“Man who drove the jeep back was wearing them on top of his head, this morning. Said he was your good Christian brother, so he sold them to me at a discount.”
“My good Christian brother! His idea of helping was to turn me over to the very people I was trying to get away from. Honestly, this is the most deceitful place I’ve ever been to! Nobody thinks twice about lying, cheating, or even stealing as…as an everyday way of life around here.”
“Sounds like modern day America, doesn’t it?” Bobby commented. “At least most of these people have avoided our habit of being so secretive about it all. They’re a happy-go-lucky lot by nature. Makes things more tolerable.”
“I suppose,” Meg replied. “It does make for difficulties in judgment, though. Look at Eddie. One hardly knows which side he’s on, much less how to figure out what he’s up to from one moment to the next.”
“Eddie is on his own side, mama,” came the voice of Eddie Campbell from behind them as he stepped down onto the terrace. He had bare feet and an open white shirt that had obviously been tucked into his jeans in a hurry. Then he smiled the gracious smile of a host and said, “Good morning, my friends, and welcome to Little De Ambe!”
He sat down with them and continued. “It is one of the benefits of being the son of warrior kings. One gets to do with people whatever and whenever he chooses. Ah, but it pleasures me to be a man of justice…which I will remember when you are all put on trial, today!”
Gold Trap
25
All That Glitters
“ If I am to be shot for a crime, for goodness sake let me commit the crime first. ”
Mary Kingsley
“Put on trial!” Meg could hardly believe what she heard. “The only people who should be put on trial here are Sol Horn and his bumbling…”
“Megan.” Tom reached under the table and put a warning hand on her knee.
“Well, of all the…”
“The Fada council must hear all sides of the story,” Eddie explained casually, as if they had been talking about the weather instead of going to court. “It is our custom. There are some strong accusations being leveled against you all from Solomon’s side.”
Meg looked around the table at each of them, but it suddenly seemed no one wanted to catch her eye, anymore. “Do you mean to tell me we’re all under some kind of…of house arrest, here?”
“It is the most luxurious residence in all of Fada,” Eddie boasted. “And because of your tribulations, I insisted to my father that none of you should be dragged before the council in the middle of the night along with the others, which is also our custom. If a culprit is going to be punished, he is punished immediately.”
“A gesture we are all grateful for, I’m sure,” said the professor.
“Then I suppose Sol Horn is sitting in his own lap of luxury, right now,” Meg accused, “figuring out how he’s going to slip his cable and take off for who knows where, while we’re all tacking around at a family conference!” She pushed her plate of exotic fruit and finely-baked delicacies aside as if it had suddenly turned to poison. “Tom, this whole thing is a nightmare!”
“Don’t worry, priss, we’ve got plenty of options open to us. I won’t let them arrest you, I promise.”
Which, to Meg’s surprise, made her feel better. That and the memory of the way he had handled things when they came through customs. “Well, what do you want to bet he won’t even show up today? Kidnapping and murder, and they just let him…”
“He’ll show up, Meg.” Miriam, who had quietly appeared at the top of the stairs in a long, white, sleeveless nightgown, meandered over to Eddie, and sat down on his lap. “I forced three sleeping pills down his throat after I cuffed him, last night.” She reached for a slice of pineapple and ate it with her fingers. “I wasn’t about to let that slippery eel get away from me a second time.”
“All right, let’s get on with it then,” said Bobby. “What, exactly, are we being charged with?”
“I believe the exact phrase…” said Eddie, “…was, the undermining of his character, the…”
“His character!” Meg blurted out, only to feel an uncomfortable increase in the pressure Tom was exerting under the table.
“The injury to his reputation,” the son of warrior kings continued in all sincerity, “and the great hardship on his people from the loss of income they will have to endure while he is in jail.”
“Loss of income…” Meg put a hand over Tom’s and squeezed back just as hard. “He runs a shady tour company…certainly it won’t be permitted to keep on.”
“Solomon Horn does not run Bremen Tours,” said Eddie. “I run it myself. It is my gift to the people so that we all may have work in these difficult economic times. It is also a way for us to learn to tolerate our differences. Such as the Abdu Sadir, who is like a lion without teeth since I gave him our old plane to take him and his musicians to various places. However, I’m glad it was insured. Now” —he returned his attentions to Tom—”about the grievances.”
“We’ll take them one at a time,” replied Tom. “Which of us undermined his character?”
“The professor.” Eddie paused for a moment to receive a small offering of pineapple from the fingers of his wife and swallow it down. “For not investing the same amount of capital in his new company, known as USM, Inc.”
“United Solomon Mines, Incorporated,” Miriam translated.
“As he did with Bremen Tours. Thereby showing a favoritism that has forced Solomon to press his people into working without pay in order to meet expenses.”
“I will always show favoritism toward legitimate business practices, as opposed to deceit and usury,” pronounced the professor. He picked an orange out of a bowl and began to peel it with obvious irritation. “Take me to jail. I won’t back down on it.”
“But we will pay for the necessary government permits to bring the mines back into legitimate operating status, again.” Tom offered. “Along with the expense of an outside committee to oversee that all regulations are adhered to.”
“Done,” said Eddie. “Now, as for the injury to his reputation and loss of income? It seems that mama has managed to publicly strike the son of a respected spiritual leader in the presence of his people, and she must certainly pay for that.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake!” Meg fastened the same look on the handsome couple across from her that she reserved for students who fooled around in class. “You called him a snake, last night, yourself! And just supposing I hadn’t…”
“Meg will make an apology to the people, and we’ll set up a temporary relief account for the families that are affected by Sol’s absence,” said Tom.
“I’ll do no such thing.” Meg objected, “I’d rather go to jail with the professor!”
“We’ll discuss it, later,” he said quietly.
“You can’t make me!” she whispered back. He did not follow with the usual reply, but the look he gave her was enough for a compromise. “All right, we’ll discuss it, later.”
“Done,” pronounced Eddie. “And now we come to the matter of Gilbert Minelli, who is the true culprit in this entire incident. If he had not convinced Sol that he could talk both of you”–he motioned toward Tom and the professor respectively—”into investing in the scam in the first place, none of this would have become so serious.”
“That ni
ncompoop couldn’t talk his way out of a paper bag!” growled the professor. “The only reason I hired Miriam to look into the thing was because he said Tom had already bought in. Showed me the deed to prove it! Which I might add, young lady—” He cast Miriam an accusing glare. “You could have settled right then and there if you had told me you were already working for Tom.”
“Client privilege,” replied Miriam as she reached for the jam.
“That is not client privilege. That is conflict of interest!” insisted the professor. “For a while I even suspected you. Couldn’t figure how that blasted deed with my signature on it got into my pocket on the plane in the first place. I didn’t recognize anyone else from De Ambe back in coach. Which is why I had to pass it off on Meg. Figured she’d get it into the right hands somehow.”
“One of our new tour guides is from Kumasi.” Miriam clarified the matter for him. “He slipped it into your pocket when you were wandering around back there looking for suspects. He also exchanged your bottle of antacids for one with a knock-out pill in it.”
“I knew it!” the professor said, then looked to Meg. “Didn’t I tell you someone had been tampering with my pills?” But he didn’t wait for her to reply. “Why didn’t you warn me about the scoundrel, Miriam? That’s your job, isn’t it? Didn’t you learn anything at that university I sent you to?”
“Enough to be able to pick and choose my clients,” she replied sweetly. “And I didn’t figure out the tour guide was involved until later, when you went missing. He was the only logical suspect, since I was sure I hadn’t done it. I’d have bet money it was Gilbert, though, only he didn’t even make it on the plane.”
“Because I ditched him in Paris!” The professor laughed at his own ingenuity.
“Maybe he let you ditch him, Pop,” John spoke for the first time since the true haggling had begun. “If you ask me, it was pretty clever of ol’ Gil to get us all working against each other, like he did.”
“Misguided admiration, Johnny,” said his famous brother as he sprinkled a liberal rain of pepper onto an egg. “Just because the guy lets you stay at his place and play cards all night whenever that spoiled little wife of yours gets mad and kicks you out for something.”
“She’s a brat, but I love her. At least she doesn’t hold a grudge as long as yours does. But you’ve got to admit, him telling Mother and Tom that Pop was losing his marbles is what really blew everything out of proportion.”
“That” —the professor tossed the orange onto his plate so hard it bounced off— “traitor! No wonder she’s been threatening to divorce me! He said Tom was helping her set things up for herself in Paris so she’d never have to come home, again! Turning all her company shares into cash just so…”
“Better tell him, Tom,” said Bobby. “We’re way past surprises, here.”
“Since when did you start believing whatever Gilbert told you, Pop?”
“Since you refused to come home yourself, Thomas, because you were too busy systematically converting our assets into French real estate, without even…”
“Would I do something like that? Never on your life, Pop! The only thing that’s going on under wraps in this family is that Mother’s remodeling Belle Terrace. Hoping you’ll retire there this year. Been pushing like crazy for me to have it finished in time for your birthday, next week.”
“What? What?” He looked at each of them in turn, to make sure it was true. “Well, I thought she was turning it into that health and fitness thing.”
“Only for a couple of weeks once or twice a year, to offset expenses. Your health and fitness is what she’s interested in most.”
“That woman never ceases to amaze me!” The professor looked once more around the table at the faces of his family, and Meg could see a familiar softness come into his gaze. “You know, I…sat there last night at the bottom of that mine with the roof falling in… thinking… thinking it was all over for me. I was going to die like a dog in that hole…right along with the nincompoops!”
“Pop!” John’s heartfelt protest tugged at Meg’s heart.
“Couldn’t see any way out of it, boy.” His father reached out and gave him a reassuring pat on the arm. “Actually said a prayer, of my own sort, of course, and next thing I know, Meg shows up. Now, everything working out this way…well… it’s so much more than I asked for! Imagine. The Man Upstairs listening to an old nincompoop like me!”
“You are a good man, Professor,” insisted Eddie. “A great name. God does not give people like you up, easily. Believe me. And where would we Fada people be all these years after the collapse without your generous investments into our village?”
“Thank you, my boy, but you’ve always seen me as something better than I really am.”
“You have inspired me to be generous, myself.”
“Well, that’s something, anyway. What exactly are you feeling generous about?”
“I will cancel the rental fees for the new plane you gave us, and you may use it free of charge! I will even waive the court fees this afternoon!”
“In exchange for what?” countered Tom.
“Gilbert Minelli. I have a great desire to throw him back into the mine and let the ghosts of my ancestors deal with him.”
Meg gasped at the idea. “Why, you can’t do that…it isn’t right! He has to be turned over to proper authorities. And then only if the Andersons decide to press charges.”
“I am the proper authority, mama.” Eddie pointed out to her. “And I am dealing with the Andersons right now. These are our customs.”
“That have been thrust upon you, I’m sure,” she argued. “But may I remind you that he is an American, whatever he’s done.”
“Our judgments are swift and sure. If there is any good in him, he will survive it. The man caused all this trouble just to cover gambling debts he incurred with embezzled money.”
“Gilbert never had access to company funds,” objected Bobby.
“He developed a skillful knack for reproducing our signatures,” said the professor. “Confessed everything to me down in the mine. I forgave him because he saved my life, but then had to fire him for his lack of principles. But I certainly couldn’t allow him to be…”
“All right, Edabe”—Tom pushed his chair back from the table and reached into a vest pocket. “What’s it going to take to settle it, because we’re not giving up Gilbert. We’ve got plenty of our own ways for raking him over the coals.”
“Nkatia would like a small flat in Paris to visit our children at the University.”
“She looks far too young to have children at the university,” Meg muttered more to herself than anyone else.
“It’s why he calls her Nkatia,” Tom answered quietly aside to her. “It means peanut.” Then he leaned closer and whispered with a teasing grin. “He married her when she was fourteen. It was thrust upon him by his ancestors!”
Meg’s only reply was to toss a bit of orange peel at him, and say, “Shhh!”
“Well, that’s a bit more than I brought along.” Tom returned his attention to the matter at hand and put the wallet back in his pocket. “Stop by my office next time you’re there, Miriam, and I’ll take care of it.”
“Thank you, Tommy,” Miriam happily stood to her feet.
“Don’t mention it. And, that ought to conclude all the acts of benevolence we’re obligated for, this trip. We haven’t even started shooting, yet.”
“Done!” Eddie smiled his most radiant smile, took his lovely wife by the hand, and got up to go back inside. “Now, you must all feel free to enjoy yourselves until court this afternoon. Should you desire anything at all, just ask.” Then he paused long enough to shout, “Juba! More coffee and tea for our guests!”
Meg watched the two of them disappear through the open French doors, which seemed to be the signal for everyone to relax and drift off into their own various conversations. She leaned back with a sigh of relief that the strange negotiations were over. Nothing, absolutely nothing,
was what it seemed in this country. One needed the constant help of angels to even survive, because it was a land of wild and illogical contradictions that even the cleverest and most careful people could not escape unscathed. Why, it hardly even seemed real! She wondered if…
But just at that moment, Tom broke into her thoughts and winked at her. “Now that wasn’t so bad, was it? The actual court will be more like a picnic this afternoon.”
“But they’re nothing but a bunch of trumped up charges!”
“It helps them keep a little self-respect to do things this way. No real harm in it.”
“It’s degrading. Not to mention the money it cost.”
“It’s all stuff we would have been glad to do, anyway. De Ambe is our own private attempt at righting some of the wrongs in the world. This kind of thing has been going on for so long, they’re really more like family to us.”
“I can see that. An unending line of children for the professor to spoil. But what Sol Horn did to him was nothing short of criminal, and should not go unpunished.”
“Don’t worry, it won’t. This is only a family court, trying him for stirring people up to get rid of Eddie, which would have left him in line to be the next Asante king.”
“And the professor? Ten minutes later and he could have been dead. Not to mention hauling him across the country for days in a continual stupor.”
“Sol’s always blamed Pop for passing him by and helping people of less standing, instead. Probably thought getting rid of him would return him to his rightful place with his followers. Then they’d have to depend on all his crooked enterprises, again, which would have been a lot more lucrative for him.”
“You mean he’s been involved in schemes like this before?”
“Since he first stole money out of Pop’s wallet as a teenager. But nobody could ever prove it. Not to mention they were all scared stiff of his father. Now, thanks to Miriam getting almost everything on tape last night, the evidence will finally land him in the hands of the government authorities. He’ll be looking at some pretty serious retribution, though. I wouldn’t be surprised if it broke him.”
Gold Trap Page 22