They shook hands warmly as Katana lead him to his office, still holding his hand.
‘What are you doing here?’ Firdus asked, unable to contain his curiosity, he looked around the office and then sat down.
‘Have I got a story to tell you,’ said Katana. ‘Tea?’
‘Yes please, I’m all ears.’
Katana shouted the order for two cups and sat down opposite Firdus. The two friends looked at one another in pleasure, a moment of silence. ‘I’m back here now, permanently. I’m the regional boss now,’ he grinned.
‘Should I be congratulating you? It doesn’t sound like a career move.’
‘No it’s not, there’s a long story behind it, but I’m very happy to be back here I can tell you.’
‘I’m waiting,’ Firdus said with a smile.
Katana laughed happily and reading the form on his desk quickly signed it with a flourish. ‘Here you go.’
Firdus folded it and put it in his jacket. The tea arrived and they each took their mugs and sipped, an African formality before business. Katana talked for an hour, prompted occasionally by Firdus, marvelling at the twists and turns.
Firdus drained his cup. ‘That’s quite a story detective, from what you have told me, I’m very pleased you made the decision to come back to Voi.’
‘Yes,’ agreed Katana, ‘it was touch and go if the Minister would release me to take up this post.’
‘Why did he, you must have been invaluable to him?’
‘We reached an impasse. I had sensitive information and he was threatening me. So I assured him that if he left me alone I would do likewise.’
‘That was very brave of you - just like that was it?’
Katana laughed. ‘No, I won’t tell, even you sir.’
Firdus smiled. ‘Doug and his new wife are coming down this weekend, why don’t you come out to the farm, come for dinner? They would love to see you.’
‘Oh he married her - Gem - did he?’
‘Yes and now has something to tell me, an announcement.’
‘Ahh going to make you a grand uncle,’ ventured Katana.
‘Come on out and bring the family, it could be fun.’
‘Maybe,’ Katana got to his feet, ‘good to see you again sir.’ He held his hand out formally; the meeting had reached its end.
They shook hands. ‘And you are welcome anytime, in my home detective.’
Doug and Gem arrived at the farm in the early afternoon bubbling with excitement. Firdus walked out to meet them. Gem opened the car door gingerly. ‘We saw lions, just a few miles from here.’
He smiled. ‘Did you now.’
‘Yes they were huge and looked hungry.’ She stayed in the car craning her neck to look round the compound nervously.
Doug got out and hugged his uncle. ‘We had a great drive, even saw a few elephants.’
‘What’s this car?’ Firdus asked, walking around the pickup with a critical eye. ‘You’re driving a Landcruiser now?’
‘Yup, at least it starts when you want it too, not like your crappy Landrover.’
‘My Landrover will still be running when this is a rust bucket,’ Firdus assured him.
‘Landrovers only last forever because they are parked most of the time, out of order,’ Doug shot back as Firdus grinned, enjoying their familiar argument.
He proffered a hand to help Gem out of the car. ‘Hello Uncle,’ she smiled a greeting as she took the hand and lightly hopped out and hugged him.
‘Welcome to my home,’ Firdus led her towards the house like a prize. ‘Don’t worry about the bags,’ he called over his shoulder to Doug, ‘the staff will get them.’
Once they had settled in, they had tea on the veranda. Gem was enchanted at the wild birds squabbling over cake crumbs on the floor. ‘They are so tame!’ She exclaimed in wonder. The men smiled indulgently at her.
‘So you have something to tell me,’ looking at Doug.
Doug took a deep breath and then grinned. ‘Gem’s pregnant.’
‘Wonderful!’ Firdus, feigned surprise, ‘congratulations.’
Gem smiled shyly at him. ‘It’s only two months,’ she said hugging her tummy, and looking at Doug.
‘Fantastic, I’m so pleased for you both, it’s time you made my nephew a little more responsible. I hope he has got rid of that noisy motorbike of his?’
Doug grinned. ‘Not likely.’
‘He doesn’t ride it much.’ Gem came to her husband’s defence.
‘Yes it’s true,’ said Doug, ‘hardly ever really.’
‘Hmmm,’ murmured Firdus, ‘you just be bloody careful, you have responsibilities now.’
Doug stood up and stretched. ‘Thanks for the tea, I need to walk a little. Gem let me show you the river.’
Gem looked at Firdus and shook her head. ‘No lions?’
Firdus smiled. ‘No lions, but tell you what,’ he stood up and walked into the house and came back with a cocked shotgun, which he handed to Doug along with some shells. ‘See if you can get some birds. The sand grouse are usually down there at this time of day.’
Doug took them with a grin. ‘Thanks.’
‘Oh you’re not going to shoot birds,’ Gem protested.
‘Aww honey, they’re delicious.’ Doug walked off the veranda and slid two shells into the breach.
She sat unmoving and frowned at him. ‘Douglas, you are not going to shoot birds.’
‘Ok I won’t,’ he agreed unconvincingly, ‘are you coming?’
‘I’m warning you,’ she said as she hurried after him.
Firdus watched them happily from the veranda - as the two of them walked hand in hand out of sight, still arguing gently. A small moment of regret - his wife was not there to share this lovely moment with him.
That night seated around the dinner table, a roaring fire in the grate, they tucked into the sand grouse, even Gem, who was still a little cross with Doug. He had selected a few of the prettier feathers and she now wore them in her hair done up in a bun. After dinner they sat round the fire, Firdus and Doug had a brandy with their coffee, Gem yawned sleepily. ‘I can hardly stay awake I am so relaxed,’ she smiled happily.
‘Don’t stand on ceremony, you can pick up a hot water bottle as you go through the kitchen, it can get a little chilly here later on in the night.’
Gem put her hand on Doug’s shoulder. ‘Thank you but this is my hot water bottle.’
Doug took a sip of his brandy. ‘I’ll be along soon sweetheart, you go on ahead.’
‘Ok, good night,’ she walked off.
The men sat in a companionable silence, only the crackling of the fire and the cicadas outside adding to the sweet somnolence.
Firdus broke the silence. ‘I went down to the police station today to renew my gun license and you won’t believe who I bumped into. Detective Katana, do you remember him?’
‘Yes,’ Doug said, ‘of course I do.’
‘Put on a little weight, but otherwise he looks fine. He is now the regional boss for Voi. Anyway, I spent about an hour there and he had a few things to say.’
‘Do tell, I have always wondered what happened to Brian.’
‘He ended up in jail in England.’
Doug raised his eyebrows. ‘I never figured Brian for a thief, just goes to show you never can tell, what happened to the money?
‘The recovered money was sent to Omollo’s personal bank account in Geneva.’ Firdus relayed the details.
‘Wow he is a really crafty one,’ Doug took a sip of brandy, ‘and what happened to the other guy, Patel?’ Firdus was barely able to contain his mirth as he told of Patel’s capture.
Doug laughed. ‘The big shit brought down by a big shit eh?’
‘Yes! Can you imagine his surprise?’He had Katana after a red herring all the way to Durban in the form of an identical landcruiser that he’d arranged to have stolen the minute it got there, it was almost a water tight escape plan.
‘And what happened to Patel’s money?’
‘Is he really that powerful?’
Firdus nodded. ‘Minister of National Security.’
‘This story is unbelievable,’ said Doug, ‘and that bank manager Evans. What became of him?’
Firdus lit a cigar, ‘he’s still working for the same bank somewhere up country. Despite all the evidence of his collusion, he was needed as a witness in the court case.’
‘How about Lucy did Katana ever find her?’
‘No, as I had suspected Omollo had another team in place - they picked her up and she led them to the apartment and the computer, while Katana was in Durban.
‘I can hardly believe this,’ Doug said.
‘Anyhow, Patel spent some time in jail, while the British government waited for an extradition order to Kenya - which of course never happened because Omollo would have to give up his ill gotten gains. In the meantime, Patel claimed that he was a political refugee. After much wrangling, the brits decided to charge him with currency smuggling, for which he is currently doing time in an English jail. When he comes out it is likely - because his family is in England and because of his political status - he will eventually be given British residency.’
‘The jammy bugger.’
Firdus drained the last of his brandy and put his cigar out. ‘The thing is Douglas, Omollo, on top of all the money he stole has also seized all those title deeds. I expect by the time it comes up to the next election in two years time, he will have transferred those deeds to his own name, only to retire gracefully and take up farming as my neighbour.’
‘That’s outrageous, how can he get away with that?’
‘He’s got enough money to pay off the judge, certainly to keep the litigation in limbo for years and the bank can do nothing about it.’
‘So why is Detective Katana back in a lowly post in Voi?’
Firdus was quiet for a moment, staring at the fire. ‘He said it was impossible to do his job and he got sick of all the lies. Eventually he could see that if he continued he would end up getting as corrupted as Rubia.’
Doug was silent for a moment. ‘Is there nothing that can be done about Omollo?’
Firdus sighed. ‘No there’s nothing we can do about it, but rest assured the Minister will never be able to relax, just like Rubia found out, there will always be someone after his money, younger, greedier and more ruthless.’
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