“They’ve known each other for yonks, my dad and Solomon,” Sophie said to Faith. “I think my dad must have come here about 15 times. And Namibia, and Tanzania. He’s nuts about safaris.”
“Aha, look!” Mary called out. “We’re here!”
Sure enough, a sand-colored building was approaching in the distance. Since leaving the teeming bustle of Nairobi, they’d been driving through open, arid land, dust clouds billowing up around the minivan. But around the building, there was more vegetation, with a cluster of trees behind, and some ornamental bushes up front.
Faith could hear Laura squeal and say, “We’re going to see baby elephants! We’re going to see baby elephants!”
“And rhinos,” Mary reminded her. “They keep both elephants an0d rhino babies here and raise them, to keep them safe from poachers.”
Sophie was rummaging in her bag and brought out her iPhone. “My class are going to just love this,” she said. “I’ll take videos.”
Faith wondered if Laura might do the same – she was in her second year of training to work with children with emotional and behavioral problems, and had a placement in a school a couple of towns away from Paradise, Florida, where they lived. Faith was sure her students would just love to see the baby elephants.
Solomon pulled the minibus up at the front of the building and they all got out.
“Wow,” Roy said, and Faith turned, amazed to hear him be complimentary about something. But it turned out he was just running his finger along the side of the minibus. It was so dusty that where he’d touched revealed a thin strip of white paintwork. “How do they ever keep this clean? Why don’t they just build proper roads and avoid all this dust?”
Richard had both binoculars and a Nikon camera hanging from straps around his neck. He gave Roy a hard pat on the back. “No one ever comes here, mate. You know how much it costs to build a road? Wouldn’t be worth it. If you came here to see roads, you’ve missed the point of a safari.” He looked at his camera, adjusting settings. “Try and get into the spirit of things, and you’ll have a much better time.”
Roy rolled his eyes and turned to Jasmine, who opened her knapsack and handed Roy a snack bar. “There you go, sweetie,” she said, as if he was a child who needed to be kept quiet with treats. Then she started a candy bar of her own and it was gone within a few bites.
Faith sympathized. Living with Roy would certainly have had her reaching for the comfort food.
“Hey,” Nathan said, coming up to Faith, his eyes bright. “I can’t wait to see these little guys.” He drew Faith close to him around her waist. “This is the best ever.”
Faith wrapped her hands around his neck. “You bet. My first time out of the States, and I get to come here. I’d say that’s pretty lucky.”
Nathan grinned. “Darn straight.”
“Come on everybody,” Solomon said. “Let’s go and see.”
Faith looked over to see him standing with a striking looking man at the door. The man wasn’t particularly tall, or handsome, but he had such an interesting look about him. His deep brown skin had turned a little red from the dust, and his dark eyes were piercing, but in a good way.
“This is Meshack,” Solomon said. “He is the main elephant keeper here.”
Roy snorted. “Elephant keeper,” he said under his breath to Jasmine. “What kind of job is that?”
“If you’re going to make snide remarks throughout, you may as well sit in the minibus,” Richard said hotly. “We’re all very excited about seeing the elephants and learning new things, and I don’t think anyone will stand for you being a bore.”
Roy sneered. “I paid for this trip. I can do what I want.”
Richard’s tone became clipped and irritated. “Oh, brilliant. What a lovely attitude you have, sir.”
Mary hurried over. “Let’s all try to keep calm.”
Solomon gestured for them to come in through a side gate Meshack was holding open. “Come on in, please. But we have to be quiet for the sake of the baby elephants. We would not like if someone came into our house shouting, would we? So please let us be respectful. This is the best way.”
Faith, Nathan, and everyone else went through, Richard and Mary included. The only ones who stayed outside were Solomon and Roy. Jasmine hovered around her husband for a moment, but he swatted her away like a fly, and she hurried through the gate, looking worried. Faith watched Solomon talking in low, consoling tones to Roy, until Meshack closed the gate.
Meshack was very serious when he spoke, and did not once smile. Still, he had such a gentle manner that Faith warmed to him. “As you can see,” he said, “we are in a large cordoned area. The elephants are not allowed to go outside, so please do not open any of the gates.” Faith looked around and noticed that there was a fence inside all of the trees that surrounded them, and gates were built in at several intervals. “These are very young elephants. From 2 months to 1 year in age. Please do not go up to them. Just stand still, where you are. If they come to you, you can pet them. But do not chase them or come after them. I hope everybody has understood what I am saying.”
“Yes, we understand, sir,” Mary said, and everyone gave their own agreement.
Then Laura, Jasmine and Faith – who wasn’t usually a squealy type of girl at all – had to suppress their cooing sounds as the enclosure was opened, and a bunch of little elephants came bursting out. They were about the height of Meshack’s waist, and he watched them with affectionate eyes as they ran towards the balls that were set out for them to play with.
“It’s like when you let the kids out at break time,” Sophie said with a laugh, holding her iPhone up to record.
Some of them headed straight for the red mud. One was particularly boisterous, leading the pack and diving headlong into the mud, splashing and turning over and obviously having a wonderful time. Faith couldn’t keep a grin off her face – it gave her so much joy to watch them.
“Whenever you like, you can go into the building,” Meshack said, gesturing toward a back entrance of the sandy building, “but you must close the door. Then you can look at the displays in there, all about African elephants. You can also buy refreshments or visit the restrooms. Or go back to the minibus if you need to. Feel free.”
For the first few minutes, everyone stood watching the baby elephants, pretty much transfixed. But after a while, people’s attention waned. Richard walked purposefully to the building, eager to read the displays. “Come on, Soph,” he said, and she went along willingly, her gaze buried in her iPhone. As Faith looked back to watch them go, she saw that Roy must have slipped in at some point as he was leaning against a fence post, looking bored.
Yale and Greg had been sitting next to each other in the van, and it looked like they’d hit it off, as they were soon on a bench by the entrance gate, deep in conversation.
Faith and Nathan found a bench nearby and sat holding hands, watching the baby elephants and not saying much. Laura was so in love with the elephants that maybe somehow they picked up on her affectionate vibe. Three surrounded her, batting their trunks against her and leaning in as she petted them.
“But why would she be interested in someone like me?” Greg was saying to Yale. “She’s a teacher, a professional. I flip second hand cars. Cheap second hand cars.”
“Don’t be down on yourself,” Yale said. “Just be yourself, chat to her, and see where it takes you.”
Greg stuck one of his hands through his hair. “Oh, I dunno. I was thinking about moving, you know, from Canada. Get out and find a new life somewhere.”
Jasmine, who happened to be passing on the way to the building, said, “That’s a great idea. We hate Canada, Roy and me. It’s because—”
“Yeah, yeah,” Roy cut in, quickly walking over, “no one wants to hear our life story. Solomon, I want to go back to the hotel now. I didn’t realize it would be so basic here. I want to eat a proper lunch. I doubt they have anything in there and I’m not eating snack bar after snack bar.”
He spoke loudly, and Meshack glared at him.
Solomon hurried over and said in hushed tones, “Let’s talk about this outside.”
Roy huffed and crossed his arms, like he was having to exercise a great deal of patience. “This place.”
*****
Chapter 3
A scream erupted from behind the bushes. “No!” Mary came back sprinting, her eyes wild with terror.
They were all waiting by the minibus, ready for Solomon to drive them back to the Hilton.
“What? What is it?” Arthur asked.
Mary couldn’t say anything. She just kept shaking her head over and over again. In fact, the whole of her body was shaking.
Faith’s stomach felt like a lead weight, and it only got heavier as she saw Meshack coming around the corner, followed by some of his other elephant keeper crew. She knew exactly what he was going to say when he opened his mouth.
“Solomon is… dead.”
Sophie let out a little scream, and Laura, of course, burst into tears.
“How… how…” Jasmine kept saying, unable to get out the rest of her sentence.
Meshack wiped a tear away.
Richard’s voice was trembling as he said, “But how? I don’t understand. He was fine one minute. Just there, he was, in the enclosure. With us. Now he’s… no, it can’t be. Something’s wrong.”
“It must be,” Yale said. “I hear him say something like, I’ll never do that, or something, outside the fence. I thought he was talking to you, Roy, about driving you back. Then… Now… he’s dead?”
Greg stood next to him, looking like he was going to be sick.
“I am going to call the police,” Meshack said, fishing out a cell phone from his pocket. “And another driver.”
Mary had disappeared behind the minibus, probably to have a good cry in private, Faith guessed.
Faith held onto Nathan’s hand and squeezed tight.
“Looks like we’re going to be in this godforsaken place forever,” Roy said with a sigh, leading against the minibus. “Who has the keys?”
“For god’s sake, Roy!” Jasmine said. “Just be quiet.”
“How dare you tell me to—”
“Shut up!” Richard yelled. “Just shut up! A man is dead! A great man! Have some respect.”
Even Roy had the decency to be quiet after that, and they all fell into silence. It felt a bit eerie for a moment, Faith thought. All they could hear was the wind whistling through the sparse trees, and the baby elephants still playing, oblivious to the tragedy. How everything had changed, and just in one moment.
One of the other elephant keepers, Edward, led them back into the sand colored building. He offered them juice and water and packaged cookies. Most of the party were so distraught they couldn’t even think of eating anything, but the tragedy had somehow turned Faith ravenous. She ate one cookie, then two, right out of the packet. She drifted away into thoughts of Solomon, and life, and how quickly things could change, and before she knew what had happened she reached into the packet to find it empty.
The police took about an hour to arrive, which everyone knew thanks to Roy keeping time and constantly grumbling about it. “What if there had been an armed robbery?” he kept saying. “We’d all be dead by now.”
Richard got up and left through the front door, and started reading a leaflet about African elephants like his life depended on it.
Everyone watched out the window as the three police officers arrived and headed right around the back toward where the body was. Before long two returned, and at the same time, a car pulled up. A short, rotund man got out of the passenger seat, and then the car turned and sped away, throwing up dust, which then came in through the doorway as the man opened it.
One of the policemen coughed and admonished the man in their own language. He put his hands up as if to say, “Sorry, sorry,” with a humble expression on his face, and they left him alone.
“A man, Solomon Masharia, has been murdered,” one of the policemen said. “He was strangled.”
A gasp went up from almost everyone. Richard appeared back in the doorway, his face pale as he listened.
“Everyone here will be questioned,” the other officer said. “Every person on the trip, and every elephant keeper. Nobody will leave until everybody has answered questions.” Then he turned to the man who had just arrived. “And who are you?”
“I am Joseph Kimathi,” he said quietly. “Driver.” Then he put his head down, like he didn’t want to get at all involved.
His answer seemed to please the officer. “Okay, everybody outside. This is the interview room.”
*****
That evening, Faith and Laura were cozy in their Hilton twin beds, watching a silly movie on the widescreen TV.
“I hope the kitties are all right,” Faith said, snuggling under the sheet. She hadn’t expected it to be so cold at night in Kenya, but it really was nippy. “Oh, is that awful to say,” she said, suddenly feeling terrible, “you know, after what happened?”
Laura sighed. “No. Our lives have to go on like normal, I guess. It really is terrible, though. I wonder if he had a family. Children.”
“I saw he had a wedding ring,” Faith said, wincing. She couldn’t even begin to imagine the pain his family would go through on hearing the news. “But I don’t get it. Who would want to kill him?”
Laura shrugged. She was painting her toenails, something she never usually had the time for back home, what with dashing from Slice of Paradise to college, then to her placement, and all the while still fitting in the morning jogs she had with Faith. “It’s probably some old problem between him and one of the elephant keepers. It looked like he’s been there loads of times before.”
“You’re probably right,” Faith said, but she had an uneasy feeling she just couldn’t shake. “But… Oh, I don’t know. Something just doesn’t feel right.”
Laura looked up. “You mean Roy?”
“I don’t know,” Faith said. “It’s just… I can’t even explain. I just feel like there’s questions that need to be answered. Or mysteries that need to be figured out. A whole bunch of them, too.”
“I know Roy’s a great big pain in the butt,” Laura said, “and was ordering Solomon around and generally being a jerk. But that doesn’t mean he’s a killer, surely?”
“I’m not saying he is,” Faith said, then looked out the huge picture window at the Nairobi skyline. “I just… No, I’m probably just being paranoid. You’re right, it’s likely to be an old feud that has nothing to do with us, nothing to do with the trip.”
“Yeah, I bet that’s it,” Laura said comfortingly. “It’s really very sad for Solomon’s family, but there’s nothing we can do except wish them well and move on. I think Solomon would have wanted us to try and enjoy our trip in the country he loves so much, and not to dwell on the tragedy.”
“Hm,” Faith said, willing herself to agree but not quite able to commit. They were about to head into the Masai Mara, a huge wildlife reserve of endless plains, and hardly any people. “But…”
Laura rolled her eyes. “Please don’t tell me horror stories before I go to sleep. Let’s just watch Miss Congeniality in peace. My brain’s fried.”
“All right,” Faith said, but she couldn’t stop her own mind from running away with her. Wouldn’t those vast, uninhabited plains be paradise for a murderer? Especially for a murderer who planned to strike again? There would be hardly any people to witness the crime, for one thing. For another, there wouldn’t be any police. Maybe park rangers, but certainly not detectives. They’d probably have to drive in, and it could take days, depending how deep in the reserve their camp was. And yet another thing was the danger of the wild animals. Surely the murderer could set something up, and let the animals get their target, make it look like a tragic accident? But who would want to kill, and why?
“Look, I can hear the cogs in your brain whirring away from here,” Laura said. “Your eyes are all glazed over. Go
on, tell me what you’re thinking. Who do you think it is?”
“I guess the only people who actually know Solomon, other than the elephant keepers, are Mary and Richard,” Faith said. “Maybe there’s history there we don’t know about.”
Laura nodded. “Could be. Though my money’s on Roy. He’s unhinged, clearly.”
“He does seem a little unstable,” Faith agreed, “but I don’t know if he’s the murdering type. Besides, all he seemed fixated on was getting back to the Hilton. Surely killing the driver isn’t the best way to go about that?”
Laura screwed up her mouth. “Hm, that’s true. Unless… unless that was all an act, and he just did all that moaning to throw everyone off the scent.”
Faith shrugged. “That’s a possibility. But still, why would he want to kill Solomon?”
“Why would anyone want to kill him?” Laura said. “He seemed like a pretty good guy to me.”
Faith nodded. “That’s what we’ve got to find out. For our own sakes, as well as Solomon’s.”
*****
Chapter 4
“Now we are approaching the reserve,” Mary said. She was pretending to be cheerful but her energy was obviously flagging. “The Masai Mara game reserve. Isn’t that right, Joseph?”
Joseph, at the wheel, said nothing, but gave a half nod. He had hung a rosary from the rearview mirror and a Bible was laid carefully on the center console of the minibus, behind the gearstick. Faith had hardly heard him speak a word to anyone, but he was constantly muttering under his breath, a large crease above his eyebrows as he frowned. She’d caught the word ‘Jesus’ once so she guessed he was praying.
“Looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here,” Faith whispered to Nathan. Mary had not given them a seating chart, or done much else for that matter. Her eyes were always wet and she plastered a brave smile on her face. Her heart was obviously breaking underneath it all.
“Can you blame him?” Nathan whispered back. “Probably one of these crazy people is a murderer. Not naming any names,” he said, flashing his eyes meaningfully in Roy’s direction. “The last driver’s just been murdered by one of these tourist maniacs. He’s scared stiff. Of course he is.”
Banana Whip Safari Trip: A Culinary Cozy Mystery With A Delicious Recipe (Slice of Paradise Cozy Mysteries Book 4) Page 2