The Tin Heart Gold Mine

by Ruth Hartley

  She also couldn’t see how the safari camp remained in the black. They simply did not have a sufficient turnover of paying guests. It was sometimes completely empty. On other occasions Oscar invited his business contacts to the safari camp for free parties. At first the parties, though very hard work, had been fun but after a time they were just hard work, rather boring and had little to do with the purpose of the safari camp. These particular guests were nearly invariably flown in by Oscar in his Cessna. They were almost always men and if there were women among them they were decorative and young. Lara resented the girls and despised them – feelings she would later be ashamed of when she understood more of the powerlessness of these women. Meals were always five courses instead of three and champagne and wine were on the house and consumed in large quantities. Many times the guests did not even venture out to see the wildlife. They sat on the veranda overlooking the river and kept the kitchen staff busy all day. At first Inonge and Lara had taken pride in offering food that was sourced in Chambeshi. It was plain and simple, often grilled on a barbecue, but it was fresh, of good quality, and full of taste. In order to stretch the menus to the five courses expected by these business associates, Lara had to ask Oscar to bring in imported cheeses and smoked salmon. It also meant that the kitchen staff worked longer and later and were not treated with the usual friendly politeness that marked those who came to see the National Park.

  Once or twice Natan used Oscar’s Cessna to fly in his own small groups of tourists. Lara noticed that he almost always picked days when she was in Chambeshi and not at the camp. His guests were air stewards, male and female, who because of restrictions on their flying hours were grounded in Chambeshi City for several days. Inonge pulled a face as she described their behaviour in a low voice to Lara.

  “Natan gives them chamba and ganja, I mean marijuana.” Inonge used the local words. “He gives them some other drugs too. They stay up all night. No wild animals would dare to come near the camp when they are here because they laugh and scream so loudly.”

  “I’m afraid Natan makes them take parcels back to London for him – you know – drugs as well. Those pills from India – Mandrax I think. Do you think Oscar knows, Lara? Enoch refuses to ask him about it.”

  “I’m sure Oscar doesn’t know.” Lara said firmly. “I think Natan does it all on his own. I’ll find out from Oscar.” She was troubled though and became more afraid when she tried to think what words she might use to tell Oscar about Natan. Inonge was looking at her with concern. Lara wasn’t certain for a moment whether Inonge was warning her or asking for her help.

  “Lara – I don’t know who is in charge here anymore.” Inonge continued. “Is it Oscar? I think it’s Natan!”

  “What are Natan and Oscar trying to do with these people? Where is the money coming from? What is it for?”

  Lara did try to discuss some of these issues with Oscar. That was most often when they were in bed together but Oscar would only want to make love. He was an exceptional lover who always aroused her fully and brought her to climax. Lara always wanted him too and afterwards, of course, they both slept. There was both danger and delight in submitting to the pleasures of sex with Oscar.

  If Lara raised her worries during the few moments of privacy that they shared, he was always pleasant to her but seemed to disregard them. He would look at her with a smile, but his eyes would be expressionless and flick over her face as if he was just checking whether or not she was too bothered because he had another more important consideration to deal with at the same time.

  Chapter Six

  General Snake

  Then there had been the horrible business of the incursion into middle of the National Park by the self-styled General Njoka and his gang. Rumours had reached Lara while she was shopping for camp provisions in Chambeshi City that he had attacked a couple of villages north of the camp. People had fled and their homes had been burnt down. He was considered to be responsible for a recent increase in poaching in the area. Oscar and Lara were returning to the camp one day when they heard the sound of gunfire ahead. Oscar slowed the Cruiser down and they continued carefully down the road until they saw another four-wheel vehicle on its side in a shallow gully a few metres in front of them. A tree and branches had been pulled into a rough roadblock.

  “Out!” Oscar ordered, “Get out, Lara! Lie down in the bush away from the Cruiser!”

  He took his heavy shotgun and made his way up to the road block using the tilted car ahead as cover. He seemed to vanish from sight though Lara couldn’t see easily from her prostrate position. Next she heard shouting and thought it was Oscar, then more shouting, at first angry, then commanding. In a surprisingly short time Oscar was back with Lara, annoyed but calm. Some Chambeshians in ragged uniforms appeared and heaved the fallen trees and branches out of their way. Oscar and Lara were waved past to continue their journey to the camp. As they drove by, Lara glimpsed a white man in among the group of men. She thought from his height and stance that it must be Natan. Next to him was a solid black man in an army cap decorated with a red band.

  “What was that about, Oscar?” she asked.

  “Poachers!” he said tersely. “It’s under control. Tell you later.”

  He never did explain but that evening he insisted on teaching her how to use his pistol and showing her where he kept it hidden under the passenger seat of his vehicle.

  “Can you use a handgun, Lara?” he asked.

  “No – I’ve never held one. Bill taught me how to use a shotgun and a rifle. I can hit a target but haven’t shot anything moving or living.” Lara answered. I’ve always had a game guard in the bush if I needed that kind of protection.”

  “Right.” Oscar said. “I’ll show you how as soon as we’re back in camp.”

  Oscar taught Lara how to hold the pistol steady and reload it immediately. She learnt fast. Oscar approved but immediately afterwards he was very busy at the camp and early the morning he set off back to Chambeshi City taking Mainza with him. Mainza returned in the Cruiser the next day but Oscar did not. There was no explanation. Oscar flew in a week later unannounced. That was the day when General Njoka’s body was brought into the camp. That was one of the most grisly experiences that Lara was ever to have.

  The disgusting smell of Njoka preceded his body and the cortège carrying his makeshift litter. Lara had smelt dead and rotting animals before. Death was part of life in a National Park but the sweet and foetid stink from Njoka was worse than she could have imagined. Usually the first thing that scavengers do is to eviscerate the bodies of their prey which helps reduce the stink a little. General Njoka’s guts hung out of his belly wound. It was even more hideous knowing he had once been human.

  He had been killed 80 kilometres away from the camp four days previously.

  Executed, probably, Lara thought, trying not to retch. She was standing as far away as possible from his corpse with her nose and mouth covered.

  The litter was borne by six of Njoka’s men. They had been captured with him and as part of their punishment were being forced to carry him from village to village so that the people of the district would know that he was, without any question, absolutely dead. Lara could see from the wretched misery on their faces that everything about their task was both totally repellent and utterly terrifying. A group of armed men in scruffy unidentifiable uniforms stood on guard, but not too close to the captives and their dreadful burden. Njoka’s body was swollen and shapeless; his blood had dried on his bullet wounds including those that had made holes in his collapsing sagging face. The identifying army cap with its red band lay under his head. Gleaming blue flies swarmed around the body. It crawled with glistening maggots which hatched inside a day and then joined their parents in the odious cycle of laying eggs in his putrid flesh. This was the murderer, robber and would-be overlord of the region – the Lord General Njoka.

  Oscar watched for som
e moments with a face of stone. He turned to Tembo with instructions.

  “We’ll give them fuel and transport to Chambeshi City. If they don’t get the body there soon it won’t be recognisable. People must know Njoka is dead. So must President Chona. Give the bearers and the soldiers some food and water and get them away – fast!”

  “Who’s responsible? What happened? What do they say?” Lara asked.

  “We’ll never get the truth.” Oscar said “People will be warned by this. They won’t forget.”

  Lara thought of the old man Samuel’s prediction of another war.

  Was that what he meant? What did the death of Njoka mean for this region?

  By mid-afternoon the spare Cruiser had left with Njoka’s body on board. Normality of a sort returned to the camp. Lara was busy with menus and shopping lists in the office when through the office window she saw an unexpected vehicle drive into the camp. It was Natan. Oscar went to greet him, had even expected him Lara thought, with surprise. She jumped up, impelled by a need to find out what was going on. Natan had left his Jeep’s engine running and neither man heard Lara approach.

  “That’s the end of the trouble-making snake.” Natan said. Oscar’s head moved in agreement as he spoke.

  “We’ll have only to deal with Miyanda then on his own. Have you arranged the transfers, Oscar?”

  Natan looked up at Lara as she approached. She saw his face darken in suspicious anger. Oscar spun around. Some extra sense warned Lara. She smiled a bright welcome at Natan.

  “Hello! Are you staying for supper, Natan? It’s a special fillet steak treat tonight for Oscar.”

  Oscar’s face was hard. He said nothing for a moment while he studied her face.

  “Sorry, Lara.” he said, “Natan and I are flying off immediately back to the city.”

  He stepped up close, took her head in both hands and gave her a bruising kiss on the lips.

  “Be very good!” he said.

  He was gone before she could ask more questions but Lara knew there was something very wrong with what had happened.

  Why do I have such a sense of foreboding? The bad man is dead and killed justifiably?

  Why do I feel that this is the start of something terrible and not the end it seems to be?

  Why does this feel manufactured and in some devious way part of the Tin Heart Mine?

  Where was Natan when Njoka died?

  Who carried out his ambush and capture?

  Chapter Seven

  Monika

  Every time Lara saw Fred at Oscar’s ranch, he had appeared to hint at something dark and secret in Oscar’s past. Lara had tended to dismiss Fred as simply jealous of the position she had come to occupy in Oscar’s life. It was years later that she realised he had been trying to tell her from the first moment they met, that all was not as it seemed and the problem was not only the past but the present too. On each occasion when Fred visited the ranch, he would wait till Oscar had left the room or was out of hearing and then he would mention Hanne’s friendship with his wife Monika and what she had said before she died.

  “Ooh – she had a hard life that one. Never a moment’s peace. Always felt guilty and sad. Never got over the war and what it did to the two of them. Never forgave herself.”

  Lara thought he was just a spiteful old gossip so she didn’t follow up his cues. It never occurred to her to ask why Monika didn’t come with Fred to visit Oscar and why she had never met her. It was only at the travel agent a few weeks later when Lara was booking her flight out of Chambeshi that she finally met Monika. Monika was tiny, white-skinned, white-haired, and frail, but with an expression of almost ferocious alertness in her raisin-coloured eyes. She reached out and took Lara’s hand in both her small ones.

  “At last we meet, meine Liebe. Mein Mann has told me all about you but he has not, I think, told you to be careful of Oscar. No, that is hard for you to believe, I know. Oscar and Hanne – they had no childhood. That makes it difficult to be good. Hanne always wanted to change, but Oscar – well – that is a man’s way, I think. They keep going even after it is time to stop. Oscar – he does not stop even for the people he loves. Friedrich here, he says that you do not know what Oscar does to make money. No one does – only Hanne told me before she died. She was sorry and so sad. Meine liebe Lara, you must leave this man Oscar if you want to be safe and not go to prison.

  “We are going now to our daughter in South Africa before things get too bad here in Chambeshi. You too, I hope.”

  Lara looked from Monika to Fred and back again. Her throat was dry and constricted. She tried to nod and smile. Monika had let go of Lara and the elderly couple were hand in hand again. Lara could see that Fred was full of proud affection for his wife.

  “She’s a good old trout.” the old Yorkshireman said, smiling at Monika. “Kept me on the straight and narrow these 60 year. Take care of thyself Lara. Be a good girl now.”

  “I will.” Lara said with difficulty. She had been living with the fear and knowledge of what she was implicated in for weeks. The truth was she did not know how to escape. She did not know if Oscar would just let her leave or if he would blackmail her into staying. Maybe he also killed people who endangered him.

  “Had she been wilfully blind? Yes – but also no. Oscar had friends who liked and trusted him, people that Lara also liked and trusted like Enoch and Helen. True her mother hated Oscar and her father had expressed reservations about him but wasn’t that the fallout from her mother’s supposed affair? He was well-thought of in Chambeshi in the business community but then people with money and power are always admired sometimes even when they are known to be corrupt. Lara could feel that cold black wormhole, a tumour of fear and doubt, growing ever bigger at her body’s centre. It had been there for how long now? A year ago perhaps, it had been a stealthy prickle of uncertainty. She had tried her hardest to ignore it. Oscar, the Tin Heart Gold Mine, the wilderness surrounding the safari camp, the people she loved, the art she was making were all bound together in an indissoluble marriage of passion. It was all or nothing. If she left Oscar, she would have to leave Chambeshi and the sources and inspiration for her art, the things that gave meaning to her whole being and her whole life. She could not do it. She loved her life. She loved Oscar.

  Everything was changing though and very fast – every breath she took marked a difference in her world. It’s not always an advantage to have a wild and vivid imagination,” Lara thought. “In my mind I have been through all the possibilities of what might happen and I really think Oscar is capable of murder. Chambeshi is full of crazy rumours at the moment – but maybe it’s me who has gone mad? I need to speak to Tim and tell him what I have found out about Oscar. But do I know what Oscar is really like? I need to get Tim’s advice, but Tim will hate me forever when I ask him. I need to warn Enoch and Inonge. I am sure that, like me, they are an innocent cover for Oscar’s crimes, but I really don’t know how to do that and or to make them believe me. What proof do I have after all? The trouble is that I cannot make anyone believe that I am not a willing partner in all that Oscar does.”

  There had been a car accident outside the goods depot at the airport. Damaged vehicles and unlicensed drivers meant car accidents were frequent and often fatal in Chambeshi. The result of this particular accident caused Bernie to phone Lara one morning. Bernie did the accounts for Oscar’s art exports.

  “Bloody car crash near the airport!” Bernie said. “One of Oscar’s shipments is slightly damaged. Normally he deals with anything like this himself – absolutely insists, he does. Right now things are complicated in Chambeshi. If this shipment doesn’t leave it may be stuck for weeks and Oscar is not in the country. It’s one of your bird paintings Lara – it may just need a little touch up with paint on the bird’s wing. The frame I can glue, I think. Please could you have a look? Do it here, please, if you can. You know what a
fuss Oscar makes. I am not to let it out of the office.”

  Lara agreed, collected some paints, tools and glue from her studio and arrived at Bernie’s office. She rather dreaded the thought of patching up one of her least favourite paintings.

  “Thanks, Lara.” he said. “Fix yourself some coffee. I’ll leave you to get on with things.”

  Bernie hadn’t taken the painting out of its damaged wrappings so Lara lifted it out carefully. She was reminded by its weight that Oscar had insisted on using the heartwood of an ebony tree to make the inner frame. The whole frame was dense and heavy but even so the mitred corner had taken a hard sharp knock through the cardboard and bubble-wrap and it was bent slightly backwards. As she lifted it, the frame rattled and a bit of black gum came loose from the mitre joint. Lara turned her attention to the painting first. She painted in both oil and acrylic on canvas for these commissions. The acrylic dried swiftly in the bush and she could touch them up with the slow drying oil paint back in Chambeshi if necessary. She needed to use acrylic to repair any damage otherwise the painting would not be able to be packed up for many hours. The problem was that acrylic doesn’t bind onto oil. Oil, however, could be used over acrylic. Fortunately the damage was slight and in the corner only. It was just a matter of laying a little more undercoat over the marked canvas and patching up a leaf and her signature. Lara looked at the frame and very gently flexed it. If she could just push it back together with a spot of wood glue that didn’t show that would be best. It seemed that the black gum that had been dislodged was holding the frame apart. Lara poked at it with her penknife and a pencil-shaped piece of black gum slid out of the carved decorative insert in the frame. It was followed by a tube of dark-yellow beeswax embedded with green, red and white crystals.

  Lara’s heart stopped. She thought she was falling. She was choking. She was going to die. Time stood still. The world stopped. The next few moments lasted forever.