“Everyone else will get their banana whip cookie sandwich when they cross the line,” Laura said. “Everyone get the game?”
Nods and yeses abounded.
“Great!” Laura said. “Let’s get going. Mary, do you want to start?”
“Oh okay.” Mary looked nervous. “So I pick a card from the pile on the table, yes?”
Faith nodded, hoping their questions would be good enough. Both she and Laura knew that the killer wouldn’t answer the questions honestly, in all likelihood. But they might give something away by accident. At the very least, Laura and Faith would feel like they knew everyone better. It could give them a point to jump off from. A springboard.
“Right.” Mary looked down at the card she’d picked. “Okay, I will answer the one for two points. What is your next goal in life? I will say my next goal in life is to get part of this tour named for Solomon, so he will always be remembered.”
Laura moved Mary’s coin along two steps.
“It’s a game,” Roy snapped. “You’re not supposed to talk about murder.”
“Then what are you going to do after that?” Richard said to Mary, as if he was totally deaf to Roy.
Mary looked down in her lap. “I do not know yet.”
“Will you carry on working on the safari?” Richard pressed. His voice sounded oddly intense and Faith looked up. His eyes were just as intense, too.
Mary gulped. “I am not sure.”
“It’s my turn now,” Grandma Bessie said. She was sitting next to Mary. She picked up a card and scanned its contents. Then she read, “For three points, what is your biggest fear?” Faith was very surprised to hear her grandmother pick the most personal question. “My biggest fear is that I will… well, pass away… before I’ve done all the things I want to do and had adventures.” She smiled and looked at Arthur. “That’s why I’m here.” Then she nudged him. “Your turn.”
Arthur took his card, while Laura moved Grandma Bessie’s coin along. “Okay,” he said. “For two points, what is the most precious thing in your life? That’s easy. This lovely woman here.”
Grandma Bessie was beginning to blush. Then when she caught Faith’s eye, she straightened up and said reproachfully to Arthur, “I’m not a thing.”
“You know very well what I meant,” he said affectionately.
Faith loved to see them getting on so well.
Sophie was next, and reached down to take a card. “All right,” she said, tucking her soft blonde hair behind her ear. Greg looked at her, adoration shining in his eyes. “For two points, what’s the most exciting thing going on in your life right now?” She had been looking worried, but managed a smile as her eyes tracked over to Greg. “A potential love story on the horizon,” she said, then snapped her gaze away. “And also that I’m getting a new class when I return to the school I teach at in England.”
“Nobody’s playing this game properly,” Roy said. “Give me a card,” he told Laura roughly, as he was out of reach of the table.
Laura shot a pointed look at Faith, then passed him a card.
“That’s what you call a three point question? Tame stuff. I’d answer a ten point question and beat the lot of you in a couple of turns,” he said. “Anyway, for three points, tell someone in this room the truth about what you feel about them. I should do it for all of you, three points each. I’d win in the first round.”
Jasmine giggled nervously. “You don’t have to do that, darling, honestly.”
Roy looked directly at Greg. “What I want to say is that you prove all my theories about Canadians. That you’re soft, weak and wishy washy, and don’t know what you want out of life.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Greg said, rolling his eyes.
“And that you’re too emotionally fragile to handle life like a man.”
“Okay, top points for honesty,” Faith hurried to say. “Now let’s move on. Jasmine, do you want to pick a card?”
“Okay,” Jasmine said, her eyes darting to Greg, then back to her husband, wide with fear.
*****
Chapter 9
Greg got to his feet. He didn’t speak, and it was quite unnerving. His face was almost expertly controlled into a blank expression, but Faith could see the ferocity in his eyes. Like an ocean leaping up in a storm and battering rocks with its crashing fury, his gaze raged over Roy.
Yale had sprung up from his chair already, and was hurrying over to Greg. “He’s not worth it, buddy,” he said, pressing his hands up against Greg’s arms, as if Greg were about to leap and grab and punch his anger out.
“It’s all right,” Greg said in a detached monotone. His voice sounded a million miles away. He swallowed. “I know I might seem uncertain about what I want to do, but I know what I want.” He glared at Roy, who was now studiously ignoring him and scared, Faith could tell. “I want relief. I want happiness. I want justice in this world. And I’m not afraid to say that. Not all of us want business success and a trophy wife. There’s much more to life than that.”
Faith thought it was quite a rousing speech, but Greg’s voice sounded hollowed out.
“You’re right, bro, you’re right,” Yale said, patting him on the arm but still watching him with a wary expression.
Mary, ever one to smooth things over and avoid anyone being embarrassed, hopped to her feet and said, “I think the game drive would be great now. Faith, Laura, thank you so much for making the game. We could continue later.”
Faith nodded. It had gotten far too intense already. Thankfully Laura’s crying bursts had become less frequent – they certainly didn’t help when looking after kids with emotional and behavioral problems – and she looked quite resilient when Faith glanced over at her.
“I’m not going anywhere before I’ve had my banana whip cookie sandwich,” Grandma Bessie said firmly.
“Why don’t we take them along with us?” Faith suggested. An image popped into Faith’s mind - everyone sitting around awkwardly and gobbling down her creations as fast as possible, just so they could get out of there. One of her main joys in baking was seeing people enjoy her inventions, so that idea sent a shiver down her spine. “We could eat them on the veranda while we’re waiting for the guys to bring the vehicles around.”
“Perfect idea, Faith,” Mary said.
Laura picked up the platter. “Everyone can take theirs on their way out.”
*****
“Mr. Daish,” Mary said softly. “Why are you so unhappy?”
Faith and Laura had gotten stuck with him this time, along with Jasmine, Arthur and Grandma Bessie.
Roy had been grumbling the whole way through the afternoon game drive, which was soon to come to an end. The light of day was turning ever more golden and flooding the plains in its splendor as day turned to evening. He’d complained that there wasn’t a proper sunset. He’d complained that he was sure he had malaria. He’d complained that he was still convinced he’d be eaten in his sleep by a lion. He’d complained that there should be more options for dinner, given how much he’d paid out for the vacation.
And before Mary - still so diplomatic that Faith thought she should be awarded a Nobel Peace Prize - asked him what was wrong, he’d complained that the mineral water provided by the Lakeside Lodge tasted funny.
But Grandma Bessie had come to the end of her tether. “Listen here, you,” she said, turning in her seat to face him in the back. “It’s not only you who’s paid for this vacation. We all have. And you’ve been ruining it for everyone since the very beginning. If you hate it so much, you should leave. You’re acting like a petulant child.”
“Oh, please don’t—” Mary began, but was drowned out by Roy.
“How dare you talk to me like that, you old hag!”
“That’s it!” Arthur exploded. Faith flinched in her chair at the suddenness of it, and the shock, too – Arthur was always such a kind, softly spoken man. “You can’t talk to my girlfriend that way. You need to button your mouth, sir, and have some respect.”
Her gaze was glued to her shoes, and her face had flushed as bright as his. “No, no, of course not.”
“Yes, you do,” he spat. “Traitor.” Then he turned to everyone else. “Do you all agree with him? Does everyone really think I’m in the wrong?”
“Yes,” everyone said, a little forcefully, perhaps.
“Fine.” His voice caught in his throat, and then he furiously cleared it until it sounded like he was going to cough up a furball. “Fine, then. I knew I should never have come on a group vacation. People are ridiculous.” He yanked the binoculars off from around his neck and tossed them hard on the vehicle floor. The clanging noise rang in Faith’s ears. Then he thrust his door open.
“Where are you going?” Mary said, in wide eyed panic. “You can’t leave the—”
But her last word was drowned out by the loud slam of the door.
“No, no!” Mary said, winding down her window. “Victor,” she hissed at the driver. “Turn the vehicle around!” Then she hung out the window. “Come back, Mr. Daish! Come back, Roy! You are not allowed to walk in the reserve.”
“I can do what I like,” he called back pompously.
“I think… I think I’ll go after him,” Jasmine said.
A firm click sounded as Victor locked all the vehicle doors in the middle of turning. “I am afraid you cannot do that, ma’am,” he said. “It is illegal.”
“Oh,” Jasmine said, anguished. Then she stood up and put her head through the window in the roof. “Roy, darling,” she cried out desperately. “Please come back.”
He marched on furiously, not even turning his head.
“Mr. Daish!” Mary hollered. “You are breaking the law!”
“Do not shout,” Victor said. “You will disturb the animals.” He sped up the game drive vehicle until they were on Roy’s heels. He stuck his chin in the air and marched on just like a petulant child, so Grandma Bessie’s description had certainly been accurate.
“Please get in,” Mary implored.
“I shall not.”
Mary began to wind up her window with a repressed fury. “That man,” she whispered under her breath.
“So now we’ll have to follow him all the way back to the lodge, I suppose?” Grandma Bessie said. “And miss the rest of our game drive?”
“I am afraid you are correct, ma’am,” Victor replied. “I take it this is not the first time he has ruined the trip. I am very sorry to hear of this.”
“Yes,” Grandma Bessie said. “He’s an absolute nuisance.”
Jasmine made a little squeaking noise of protest. “I’ll not have that about my man. He works hard to—”
“Don’t think anyone’s going to spare your feelings on behalf of that oversized toddler you call your ‘man’,” Grandma Bessie said. She was really in the swing of it now. “You can cry all you like, that won’t make me sugarcoat things. He’s dreadful. Awful. Awful. Awful.”
Jasmine burst into tears. “I know! I try to make him happy…” She gulped tears back, but then they came flooding back in a heaving sob. “But nothing seems to work.”
Laura, ever the soft-hearted one, put her arm around Jasmine. “Maybe he just doesn’t want to be happy. Maybe he likes being this way.”
Jasmine’s brow furrowed. “Oh no, he’s very unhappy… being unhappy?” Her face screwed up. “Oh, I don’t know.”
“Why don’t we just sit in silence for a bit?” Arthur said in a soothing tone. “Maybe it might be easier.”
Faith nodded. Her head was beginning to hurt. “Sounds like a good idea.” She noticed Mary shifting her weight in the front seat and letting out little annoyed sighs. Her eyes were like daggers in the rearview mirror. Faith had never seen her like that before. Roy was obviously really getting under her skin.
“You’ve always got the answer, Arthur,” Grandma Bessie said, without a trace of sarcasm, and tapped him on the knee. “A bit of hush would do us a world of good, I expect.”
Faith settled into her seat and watched the darkening plains. Roy was marching on as stubborn as ever, though he kept taking quick glances back before he surged on forward. She wondered if he had killed Solomon. He was the most mentally unbalanced of everyone, of course. Or at least he appeared to be. But Faith still couldn’t come up with a motive. Unless the board of the safari company he was on wanted him to come and sabotage this trip to give the company a bad name, as someone had come up with before. Faith forgot who. It seemed pretty farfetched, but maybe there was a bit of truth in it. Maybe that was why he was acting so over the top about hating everything, to pretend he knew nothing about safaris. That way no one would suspect he was from another company. But all his annoyance seemed genuine, Faith thought. It would take an awful lot of energy to put on such a convincing act, and a whole lot of gall to be so rude when he didn’t mean it.
She turned over this thought in her mind until they returned to the Lakeside Lodge.
Mary got out of the vehicle first, tight lipped, and marched up to Roy. Even then, her manner softened the instant she started talking to him. Victor, reading the situation, hurried out of the vehicle, too.
“I am afraid you will have to leave,” Mary said. “Joseph will take you to a nearby town tomorrow, and from there we will pay for you to be driven back to Nairobi by another driver.”
Jasmine stumbled over her feet coming out of the van and almost fell flat on her face. Roy didn’t notice. “Fine,” he spat. “You’ve all been against me since the moment I stepped into the Nairobi Hilton. I know you’re all jealous of my money and business success, but I thought you’d at least have the decency to be civil and friendly. But I should have known better. Jealousy burns deep, doesn’t it?”
Mary took a deep breath. “You will leave in the morning, sir. I am afraid because you broke the law this is our only option.”
*****
Chapter 10
Faith woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. Roy had taken his upcoming banishment pretty well, all things considering, and Jasmine hadn’t set a peep about it, presumably because she didn’t want to set him off. The whole party had spent the evening together in the cozy canvas tented rooms, eating a wonderful dinner prepared by Moses and Andre.
“Just to think,” Arthur had said. “We’re in the middle of the wilderness in East Africa, hundreds of miles from the nearest town, drinking French wine. And using expensive Italian cutlery to eat seafood that’s probably come thousands of miles across the world. Isn’t that interesting?”
“Don’t even get me started,” Nathan had said. He was becoming increasingly into conservation and environmental issues in the last couple months and could get passionate about the topic.
“We won’t get you started, or we’ll never get you to stop again,” Grandma Bessie had said. “But one thing I will say is the world has become a lot smaller since I was young.”
“It sure has,” Laura had chimed in. “I still can’t believe Skype is possible. Video calls from anywhere in the world, and for free?!”
Faith had laughed. “Even when we were little that was a major deal. In one of my favorite Friends episodes a guy has a videophone built into the wall and they were all like whoa, that’s so amazing.”
Sophie had been sitting at the end of the table next to Greg – very closely, Faith had noticed. “Ooh, yes,” she said. “I remember that one. When Monica was going out with the millionaire!”
“Pete,” Faith had said with a nod and a smile. She knew practically every Friends episode inside out, since she and her mom had watched them so many times over.
And the evening had continued to pass in a lighthearted manner, which everyone had needed. Even the worried wrinkles in Mary’s slim face had smoothed out as she enjoyed her meal and wine. Roy had tucked into his meal and made not one single complaint. If anything, Faith had thought he looked relieved.
After
an evening of laughter and lightness, Faith had tumbled into bed feeling warm and fuzzy and comforted. When she woke up in the morning, she forgot where she was for a second or two. Then the luxury Egyptian cotton white sheets and sophisticated styling of the tent’s interior brought her back to the present moment. Faith rolled over to see Laura splayed out on the other bed, her mouth open. Then she rolled back over to see what view she could get out of the plastic window. That was the only problem with these tents – the windows had to be foldable, too, and their plastic had become scratched and dull over time.
Faith slipped her bare feet into the soft white slippers the lodge had provided, and wrapped the white robe around her. The Kenyan mornings were colder than she’d expected, so she had been relieved to find the slippers and robe when she’d first arrived at the Lakeside Lodge.
If from her bed the window was a sorry sight, up close it was even sorrier. Faith stared through the plastic pane but could only make out a big lump of blue where the lake was, and clumps of fuzzy green where trees stood. Faith had wanted to keep the canvas wall down so as to keep it shaded inside and not wake Laura. But after a cursory glance at her watch – it was approaching 7am – she took an executive decision and began to loosen the ties at the bottom of each pole. After that it was easy. All she had to do was pull on a cord at the side and the canvas wall would roll right up.
Once it was up at the top, Faith wound the end of the cord around the provided hook and took a peep back at Laura, who was still sleeping.
The gentle breeze blew in and Faith let out a deep sigh of satisfaction as the bright blue sky and rippling crystal lake came into view. She had an urge to slip off the slippers again and step onto the sun-warmed wooden veranda. She tipped her head back to the morning sun and smiled into it. It really was good to be there, feeling the warmth on her face and the soles of her feet.
Banana Whip Safari Trip: A Culinary Cozy Mystery With A Delicious Recipe (Slice of Paradise Cozy Mysteries Book 4) Page 6