Elephant Dropping (9781301895199)

by Trzebinski, Bruce

  Katana turned to watch. ‘I have never been to Pathway House, is that where they are holding Rubia?’

  Firdus held his index finger to his lips. The detective glanced at the driver embarrassed and then stared forward.

  ‘Your official pass,’ Firdus handed a laminated card with the government coat of arms in black embossed on it. ‘Don’t lose it.’

  Katana looked at the card with a little grin, put it in his pocket and sat up straighter, elated. The car arrived at a set of imposing gates at the rear of the building. An armed guard came over. Firdus showed his pass, embossed in red. The guard stood to attention and saluted, seemingly transfixed.

  Firdus asked him. ‘Are you going to open the gates?’

  ‘Yes Sah!’ He yelled and adopting an elaborate ceremonial gait opened the barrier for the car to pass through.

  ‘We will be at least an hour,’ he told the Phillip. ‘Detective take his mobile number,’ he gathered up the contents of his envelope.

  Firdus waited while Katana got the details. They walked up a short delivery ramp into a cavernous loading bay. It was dark and gloomy inside, a few overhead lights, once bright, now darkened by the corpses of dead insects.

  At a desk by the service lift, a uniformed guard asked to see their ID’s and signed them in, writing out their names painstakingly in the ledger. In the lift, which smelt of old damp clothes, Firdus pressed the button for the fourth floor.

  ‘Horrible place,’ Firdus said to Katana, ‘run by horrible people.’ Katana nodded, but could not hide his excitement.

  On the fourth floor, Firdus introduced them to the officer in charge. Taking out a list from the envelope and scanning it. ‘You are Nathan? He queried the officer.

  ‘Yes Sir,’ he replied.

  ‘Where are you holding the prisoner?’

  ‘He is in the interview room.’ Nathan led them down a long windowless corridor. They entered a door near the end. The room was lit at floor level; plastic chairs and an overflowing ashtray were all it contained. A ghostly light emanated from a one-way glass panel into the interview room.

  Rubia sat on the other side of the glass, handcuffed uncomfortably in a chair, his arms behind his back.

  ‘Has he talked?’ asked Firdus.

  The officer grinned. ‘Only about getting a lawyer so far.’

  ‘Take the handcuffs off him, then switch on the spotlight, I want to talk to him.’

  Nathan did as instructed. Rubia rubbed his wrists. ‘Have you got my lawyer?’ He demanded, putting up his hands to shield his eyes as the powerful spotlight came on.

  Firdus walked in and stood behind the light. He took a tape recorder from his pocket and switched it on. ‘Rubia, do you know why you are here?’

  ‘Who is that? I’m not saying anything until I see my lawyer,’ he crossed his arm defiantly, one hand up to shield his eyes.

  ‘You signed a document, waving your civilian rights when you took on the job,’ Firdus informed him.

  ‘I did no such thing,’ Rubia retorted, ‘I know my rights.’

  ‘I think you know why you are here,’ said Firdus conversationally, ‘and I urge you to co-operate fully. If you don’t, things are only going to get worse.’

  ‘I want my lawyer.’

  Firdus walked back into the other room out of earshot and sat in one of the chairs, looking through the glass. ‘Nathan, I want you to take Rubia down to the basement. Show him where he will be spending his time until he talks. Then bring him back here.’

  Nathan smiled. ‘Very good sir.’

  Firdus told Katana. ‘You go with them, do not talk to the prisoner.’ They put the handcuffs back on Rubia as he resisted angrily and manhandled him out of the room. He continued to shout until one of the guards shouted. ‘Shadap!’ He struck him on the back of the head with a wooden truncheon. Rubia staggered under the blow and began to whimper in pain.

  After twenty minutes or so, a much subdued and limping Rubia was led back into the room, his collar stained by blood from the cut on his head. The legs of his trousers were wet to the knees and split where he had fallen on the stairs.

  The detective joined Firdus in the adjoining room. ‘How was it?’

  Katana took a deep breath, and then said in a rush. ‘It was unbelievable sir. They have these air conditioners running full blast. It’s freezing; the cell floor is two foot deep in filthy water. The prisoners are stripped naked and shackled by one arm to the wall. They can’t stand up and they can’t sit down. If they pass out they’re above water level so they don’t drown and, and…they are left hanging by one arm ...and then they’re just left in the dark…It is terrible, terrible.’

  Firdus looked sadly at Katana. ‘It never used to be like this,’ and with a sigh he got up to continue his interview.

  This time Firdus left the handcuffs on and motioned to Nathan to put on the spotlight. Rubia slumped in his chair, eyes closed.

  ‘You have seen what will happen if you don’t co-operate.’

  ‘I need a doctor,’ a puddle of water forming by his feet.

  ‘Not yet you don’t.’

  ‘What do you people want with me? I have only done my job.’ He started to sniffle in self-pity.

  ‘Yes yes, now tell me about the Englishman, the one you tried to have killed. Who hired you?’

  Rubia started. ‘I have no idea what you are talking about.’

  Firdus said. ‘Rubia you have been told to co-operate and I’m a busy man, I can come back later, maybe tomorrow?’

  His eyes flicked open, and then shut against the light.

  ‘Would you like time to think about your answer?’

  Rubia spoke. ‘Kamau hired me.’

  ‘The Chief of immigration?’

  He nodded. ‘But listen to me, I was authorised.’

  ‘Yes we will get to that later,’ Firdus said smoothly.

  Half an hour later Firdus got up and beckoned Nathan to join him in the other room. ‘Okay, ‘he said to Nathan, ‘my work is done here,’ Katana looked at him in surprise, ‘however, the minister has a list of questions he wanted Rubia to answer, so I’m going to hand them over to you.’

  Nathan took them eagerly, ‘Yes, Sir.’

  ‘Once you have completed the interview, e-mail the answers through to Omollo’s office on his secure address, make one copy and have it delivered to me at the Good View Hotel.’

  ‘Very good Sir,’ said Nathan, ‘we shall do our best.’

  ‘Yes I am sure you will.’ Motioning for Katana to join him, Firdus got into the lift and they went downstairs.

  ‘Is that it? Are we not going to get a statement out of him?’

  ‘No,’ said Firdus, ‘he’s not going to be prosecuted.’

  ‘You can’t be serious,’ the detective said, ‘he’s going to get away with murder?’

  Firdus was silent, waiting for the lift doors to open.

  ‘But Sir - those questions the minister wanted?’

  Firdus turned to him. ‘Not now,’ he said firmly as Phillip drove the Mercedes up to collect them. Back at the hotel Firdus collected messages from the reception. ‘Let’s have some lunch,’ he suggested to Katana, forestalling the million questions the detective had written on his face.

  ‘Sir,’ he began.

  ‘Detective I’m not going to discuss the case with you until we have some more answers from Rubia,’ he said firmly.

  Firdus ate heartily, while Katana only picked at his food, his skin very dark as he seethed away in a belligerent silence.

  They took coffee in the conference room. ‘You had some questions?’ Firdus invited as he stirred his coffee.

  Katana composed himself. ‘Yes sir. I don’t understand what happened in Pathway House. Surely with due process of the law, Rubia is to be prosecuted and is entitled to a defence, isn’t he?’

  Firdus shook his head. ‘As head of the anti-terrorism unit, Rubia was dealing with secretive aspects of the government. The government is duty bound to ignore some of the methods
he used for the sake of national security. If a foreign power should have to ask some embarrassing questions, in this case Great Britain and the disappearance of Nicholls, the Kenya government has to be in a diplomatic position whereby it can deny any official involvement. It will not take the risk of putting Rubia in court to stand trial.

  ‘Is that why he claimed he was only following instructions?’

  ‘Technically that’s true, because of his job description, but it’s not our job to pursue that line of enquiry. We are not trying to prosecute Rubia, we are only after the facts.’

  ‘But Sir, I’m a policeman.’

  ‘Yes and a good one,’ agreed Firdus kindly, ‘but in this case you’re helping the Minister’s Office.’

  Katana still looked confused.

  ‘It will become clearer to you,’ said Firdus.

  Katana puzzled. ‘I had no idea this sort of thing went on. How am I supposed to do my job? I have these two unsolved murders on my books?’

  ‘Detective, you have been reassigned by the minister. It’s our job to uncover this bank fraud and catch the Indian Patel and his accomplices. Those are the minister’s instructions.’

  There was a knock on the door interrupting them. The receptionist put her head round the door, and waved a brown envelope. ‘Sorry to interrupt, I was told to give you this.’

  Katana got up and took the envelope from her. He handed it to Firdus, it contained a sheaf of papers. He read through them quickly, frowning and then slid them across to Katana.

  ‘Rubia’s answers - this should give you something to go on. As you can see, there is a list of all his personnel, now currently suspended. You are to interview each one of them and write out your findings in a full report. Your second job will be to put together a reliable team to go after Patel and his accomplices. At this point we don’t know what other high level contacts he has, for instance Fimbo in Malindi, so be careful who you talk to. Is this all clear?’

  ‘I think so, I just hope I’m up to the task, it’s complicated.’

  ‘Yes,’ agreed Firdus, ‘but just approach it as an investigation into Rubia’s activities, the rest will fall into place.’

  ‘What about the immigration man Kamau? You think he was murdered, Rubia more or less admitted it.’

  ‘Omollo is under enormous pressure to have answers for the British foreign office and I would like to keep it that way. We will let him decide if he wants to pursue the immigration murder - at the moment I see that as a separate case - so do the leg work and gather the facts.’ Firdus glanced at his watch. ‘I must go and call my nephew. Don’t worry I will guide you and this will be very good for your career,’ he assured the worried looking detective.

  The driver saw Firdus walking out of the hotel and scrambled to get the car. Firdus stood and waited for the Mercedes to pull up beside him. ‘It’s ok Phillip, I want to walk, it helps me think.’

  ‘Ok sir, no problem I can follow you.’

  ‘No, I want you to wait for me here at the hotel.’ The driver hesitated. ‘That’s an order,’ Firdus said with finality, as he walked off. It was about half a kilometre to the local shopping centre and Firdus fell into an easy and relaxed stride, checking his watch - he had plenty of time. He stopped at a roadside kiosk and bought a phone card and then found a bank of telephone boxes, some without doors, others with no phones in them.

  The only one working was occupied by a large woman, and she was shouting for all her worth into the mouthpiece in a language that Firdus did not recognise. Must be long distance he mused and as he waited he tore off the cellophane wrapping on the card. The woman was bellowing hello! Hello - she had not noticed the other party had disconnected some time back. She dropped the phone in disgust, leaving it dangling on its cord and exited the booth, giving Firdus a wild look.

  Firdus gained access to the booth and after wiping down the mouthpiece and lifting the handset to his ear, was relieved to hear a dial tone. He punched in the eight digit code from the card and loaded his credit. He took out the comp slip from the hotel with Doug’s message on it, checked his watch and dialled the number. It rang a few times until he heard his nephew’s familiar voice.

  ‘Hello Doug how are you?’

  ‘I’m good, what’s up?’

  ‘I have good news, Rubia has been arrested.’

  ‘That’s fantastic how did you manage that?’

  ‘It’s a long story, but in a nutshell I have the minister of security’s ear. Tell me how are you getting on?’

  Doug told him about the apartment, the computer and Evans the bank manager.

  ‘Excellent, the more evidence the better. Can you trust Evans?’

  ‘No, but he is playing along. Brian has hit a snag with a password and says they are moving massive amounts of money. He thinks they are getting ready to do a runner.’

  ‘Hmmm,’ muttered Firdus, ‘we can’t do much about that now. The minister only knows Brian is safe somewhere and I would like to keep it that way. You are not entirely out of danger. Rubia had a contact with the local OCS, an Inspector Fimbo, so we should try to get you and Brian back here as soon as possible.

  ‘Oh how?’ asked Doug eagerly.

  ‘I think I can arrange for Brian’s car to be delivered to Malindi and you could drive back.’

  ‘What about my bike? Surely I don’t have to wait any longer, it’s Brian you want.’

  ‘We can arrange your bike later, it’s important that Brian doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.’

  Doug hissed under his breath. ‘I’m tired of this, and I’m very grateful for your help but I would rather get my life back on track. Can I tell Gem the good news?’

  ‘No, not yet, I’m sorry, I understand your frustration, but you need Brian in order to clear yourself of Lodas shooting.’

  Doug said. ‘He is not alone. He is with a Somali tart, who is threatening to go to the police if Brian doesn’t play ball.’

  ‘What? The man’s a fool, can’t he pay her off?’

  ‘She has him fully hooked. I can’t talk to him without her.’

  ‘You might have to bring her with you,’ Firdus suggested.

  Doug groaned. ‘Oh no, there must be another way.’

  ‘You see if you can find one. I will let you know when you can expect the car. Get Brian to print out as much evidence as he can, the minister is very keen to catch Patel. Tell Brian the good news, but warn him that we are not out of the woods yet, so no phone calls to his sister etc, ok?’

  ‘Ok thanks,’ Doug said resignedly and hung up.

  Firdus walked around the shopping centre, he wasn’t ready to go back to the conference room; he window shopped and thought about his next move. He didn’t want to get involved in the pursuit of Patel; further involvement could be dangerous for him and his family, even if he could trust Omollo, which he couldn’t. His thoughts were interrupted by a flower seller thrusting a bunch of red roses at him.

  ‘For your wife sir, cheap, only three hundred shillings.’

  Firdus looked at the roses; they were a beautiful deep vibrant red. He smiled; they reminded him of his wife. ‘Ok,’ he said on impulse and fished the money out of his wallet.

  ‘She will be very happy with you,’ the seller assured him.

  Firdus took the roses and smelled them, filling his nostrils with their delicate odour. ‘Yes,’ he smiled at the vendor, ‘she would have loved these,’ a wistful look in his eye. He held the flowers enjoying their beauty. ‘Take time to stop and smell the roses,’ he said to himself, ‘you cynical old fool.’

  Back at the hotel he asked the receptionist for a vase and went up to his room. Firdus arranged the flowers enjoying their colour. He went back to the conference room.

  Katana was busy on the phone talking to Rubia’s secretary. ‘Yes,’ he said holding out the list, ‘I need to interview all of them, today. They are to come to the Good View Hotel. It’s very urgent - if they want to keep their jobs. Thank you.’ He put the phone down.

  ‘The m
inister called when you were out,’ he told Firdus.

  He used Omollo’s private line. ‘Sir, you wanted to speak to me?’

  ‘Yes, Fernandez now do you have any more questions for Rubia?’

  ‘No I don’t think so sir. We are about to interview all his people, to cross-reference his answers.’

  ‘Good,’ said the minister and he hung up.

  Firdus turned to Katana. ‘Let me have Rubia’s answers.’

  The detective handed the list to Firdus.

  ‘Hmm there’s no reference to Fimbo here. Call up the people at Pathway House and ask them about Fimbo.’

  Katana called, his face going ashen as he listened to the interrogator. He put the phone down. ‘Rubia’s dead,’ he said woodenly.

  Firdus grimaced, not in the least surprised.

  ‘Yes, the interrogator said he had a heart attack and died. It’s unbelievable,’ Katana looked off into space, ‘we were with him only this morning.’

  ‘Awful people,’ agreed Firdus, moving on. ‘Ok, you had better get hold of Fimbo don’t you think?’

  Katana picked up the phone frowning. ‘Yes hello. I need to speak to Inspector Fimbo. My name is Katana, I’m calling on behalf of the Minister of national security Rupert Omollo.’

  He waited; he could hear shouting in the background and a rooster crowing. Presently the receiver was picked up.

  ‘Yessy, this is Fimbo O.C.S. Malindi Station. Sah!’

  Katana explained who he was and what he wanted.

  ‘But I sent Patel, the muhindi up to Rubia, two days ago. We arrested him and he was taken to Nairobi by Rubia’s people.’

  ‘I see,’ said Katana, ‘Patel has already been arrested?’

  Firdus hearing this raised his eyebrows.

  ‘Yeesy sah, a terrorist I say, a very dangerous man,’ Fimbo informed him, ‘but us, we are on fully alart, here in Malindi.’

  ‘Ok, can you remember the names of the escort?’

  ‘Yeesy sah, one was called Cyrus.’

  Katana glanced at his list. ‘Ok thank you. If I need any more information I will call you.’

  ‘Thank you too, Sah, nice time,’ Fimbo hung up.