“Superintendent Bengu?” she said without rising. “I’m Hilary Mayberry. You look a little surprised?”
Kubu laughed. He walked over to her, and they shook hands. He chose an armchair. Its upholstery had a greenish background and seemed to have something to do with leprechauns.
“I was looking for the psychiatrist’s couch, I suppose.”
Hilary smiled. “I’m not a psychiatrist, Superintendent. I’m a psychologist. I don’t pretend to be able to treat mental illness. Basically, I’m a counselor specializing in helping children. They don’t appreciate the sort of formality that their parents might expect. Now, how can I help you?”
“I want to talk to you about someone who came to see you quite a few years ago. A little girl.”
“You understand that I can’t talk about what my patients tell me or do here? Just because they’re children doesn’t mean that they are not entitled to a confidential relationship.”
“Yes, that’s quite clear. I only want to talk about the facts of the situation, which you may be able to help me with. If you feel I’m going too far, just say so, and I’ll back off.”
“That’s fair enough, Superintendent. What was the child’s name?”
“Dianna Hofmeyr. She—”
“I remember her,” Hilary interrupted. She looked more alert, almost tense.
“I think she came to see you after her brother died?”
“Yes.” It was more acknowledgment than agreement.
“And she would’ve been about fourteen at the time?”
Hilary nodded. “What do you want to know, Superintendent?”
“I want to ask you about the leopard.”
“This was about fifteen years ago. I don’t remember the details. Please give me a few minutes.” She retrieved a file and reviewed it, nodding as the story came back to her.
Kubu said nothing until she was done. Then he asked, “Would you tell me the story more or less as she told it to you? Just the facts. Particularly about the leopard.”
Hilary considered this, reaching into her superb memory.
“All right. She didn’t say much about the leopard, you know. It was very traumatic. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d refused to talk about it at all. But she did. She said it was very large and had big teeth and attacked them from behind a rock.” Kubu waited, and the psychologist realized he wanted the whole story. She shrugged and said, as if to herself, “What’s the harm, now? It was so long ago.”
Then she continued: “She told me that she liked to explore the koppie on the family farm. She called it the farm, but it was actually her father’s estate—several hundred acres, I think. It was security-fenced and patrolled by guards, and I suppose they thought it was pretty safe for the kids. So she and her brother took a picnic lunch and went up the koppie. They were to be back for dinner. They climbed up the side farthest from the house, deliberately taking the more difficult route to make it more exciting. About halfway up they had their sandwiches and spent time playing with the lizards on the rocks, tossing them scraps of the meat from their sandwiches. So it was getting late when they went on, and they got stuck in a thicket of thornbushes, where they got quite scratched. Daniel was tired and wanted to go back, but she persuaded him that they should push on to the top. Then they could take an easier route that they knew on the house side and still be in time for supper. And when they came out of the thornbushes, they were nearly at the top. They found a narrow path that went past some large granite boulders. The leopard sprang at them from behind one of those. They both fled, but got separated. Dianna thought she was running down the koppie toward the house, but it was getting dark, and she must have become disoriented and then completely lost. She was very scared. She climbed a tree and spent the night there. She was crying, but very quietly because she was afraid the leopard might be just below her. She knew they are excellent climbers. She even heard people calling in the distance but didn’t answer. They found her the next morning.”
“And the boy?”
“They found his body about halfway down the koppie. He’d fallen off a ledge near the top.”
“Was he mauled?”
“No. There was no sign of that, thank God.”
“Did they find tracks? Any signs of other kills?”
Hilary shook her head. “No one ever found any signs of the leopard. But it was dry, and the ground was baked hard. And anyway, it was up among the rocks.”
“Why did she come to see you?”
“Her mother brought her. She said the child was depressed and unusually quiet. Dianna was suffering from feelings of guilt. She was the older child, and her brother had wanted to turn back. She blamed herself for his death. There were a lot of other things that I wanted to work through with her, but I don’t think the mother liked the idea of her daughter seeing a ‘shrink,’ as she put it. She didn’t bring her back. Less than a year later Roland Hofmeyr died in a plane crash, and she took her children back to the U.K.”
“Thank you, Dr. Mayberry. You’ve been very helpful and generous with your time.” But Kubu didn’t get up. He moved the fingers on each hand one by one, as if trying to check that he really had ten. Then, still looking at his hands, he said: “Did you believe her story? About the leopard, I mean?”
Hilary looked surprised. “Of course. Why shouldn’t I?”
“Don’t you think it’s odd that it didn’t catch one of the children? It sounds as though it was very close to them. That there were no tracks? That it got over the security fence?”
Hilary shook her head. “I grew up on a cattle ranch out here, Inspector. I know a bit about leopards. They are survivors, and their behavior can be almost uncanny. They have been known to climb game fences to get in—or out. Cattle fences they simply jump. They are hard to track, and they are tidy and secretive. And they hunt small buck or, failing that, baboons—also survivors. If even that fails, they are quite partial to domestic dogs. So of all the world’s large cats, these are the ones most able to live near man—and survive.” She sounded as though she respected leopards, but didn’t really like them. “As for catching the children, I don’t think it was really after them. I think that by sheer bad luck they just got too close to it—into its personal space—and so it went for them. But when they ran, it let them go.”
“Wouldn’t a ‘survivor’ have wanted the free fresh meat available at the bottom of the cliff?”
“We don’t know when he fell. I think the leopard was scared and probably heard the searchers calling. It probably took itself off. What are you getting at, Superintendent?”
“Is it possible that she made the leopard up? That Daniel just fell over the cliff?”
“Yes, it’s possible, but why would she do that? Why not just go back for help as quickly as she could? She didn’t know then that her brother was dead.”
“Is it possible that he didn’t just fall?”
She hesitated for a few moments. Then she answered: “I think Dianna was very focused on the leopard. She said that if they didn’t find it and shoot it, she would kill it herself when she grew up.”
“She did, you know. She claimed she recognized it.”
The psychologist shook her head. “It’s very unlikely. Leopards don’t live that long in the wild. And they are very hard to tell apart, anyway. The one she bagged was probably just a large leopard with similar markings.”
Kubu nodded and got up to leave. The leprechauns gratefully regained their usual shape. But Hilary had one last piece of the puzzle to give him. She hesitated before she spoke.
“There is one more thing, Superintendent. Dianna talked about killing the leopard when she was about to leave with her mother. When she said it, it didn’t sound at all like her voice. It sounded more like a boy talking. Her mother went as white as a sheet. She said it was Daniel’s voice. Dianna just seemed confused, unaware of what she’d done. It worried me quite a bit, though. We agreed to meet again the following week, but she didn’t come back. I never sa
w either of them again.”
Kubu walked to the parking lot and climbed into his car. He didn’t start the engine, but sat thinking of a boy and a girl alone on a koppie. Something had happened there that had destroyed them both, and then later swallowed Angus too. He shook his head. It was time to move on. In fact, checking his watch, he realized that he would be late for a meeting with Edison on their new case. He started the car and reversed into the street. He started to sing the Bird Catcher’s aria from Mozart’s Magic Flute.
GLOSSARY
Afrikaans
A language of southern Africa derived from Dutch.
Afrikaner
White inhabitant of southern Africa whose home language is Afrikaans.
babotie
Malay-influenced curried ground lamb casserole.
bakkie
South African slang for a pickup truck.
Batswana
Plural adjective or noun: “The people of Botswana are known as Batswana.” See Motswana.
BCMC
Botswana Cattle and Mining Company—a fictitious company.
Bechuanaland
Name for Botswana when it was a British Protectorate.
Bushmen
A race small in size and number, many of whom live in the Kalahari area. They refer to themselves as the San people (see Khoisan). In Botswana sometimes they are referred to as the Basarwa.
dagga
Cannabis or marijuana (Cannabis sativa).
Debswana
Diamond mining joint venture between De Beers and the Botswana government.
dipheko
Setswana for “medicine”—usually from a witchdoctor.
donga
A dry river course, usually with steep sides.
dumela
Setswana for “hello” or “good day.”
eland
World’s largest antelope (Taurotragus oryx).
erica
Plant genus with 605 species indigenous to South Africa.
fynbos
A distinctive community of plants occurring in southwestern South Africa. Ericas and proteas are part of this community, as are restios.
Gabs
Common shortening for Gaborone.
gemsbok
See oryx.
genet
Genetta genetta; small member of the Viverridae family, which includes mongoose and civet. Often mistakenly thought of as being part of the cat family.
ja
Afrikaans for “yes.”
Joburg
Common shortening for Johannesburg.
Kamissa
Khoi word for “place of sweet water.” Kamissa was the name the San gave to the area that became Cape Town.
kgosi yamanong
Setswana for “lappet-faced vulture.” One of the largest of the vultures. (Torgos tracheliotus).
Khoi
Hottentots (see Khoisan).
Khoisan
Khoisan is the name by which the lighter skinned indigenous peoples of southern Africa, the Khoi (Hottentots) and the San (Bushmen), are known. These people dominated the subcontinent for millennia before the appearance of the Nguni and other black peoples.
koppie
Afrikaans for “small hill.”
kubu
Setswana for “hippopotamus.”
kudu
Large antelope (Tragelaphus strepsiceros).
kwanza
Angolan currency. 100 centavos = 1 kwanza.
Landy
Term of affection for a Land Rover.
mokoro
Watercraft commonly made by hollowing out the trunk of a sausage tree (Kigelia pinnata). Also made from other trees. It is propelled by a long pole held by someone standing on the back.
manong
Setswana for “vultures” (pl).
mielie
Corn.
Mma
Respectful term in Setswana used when addressing a woman. For example, “Dumela, Mma Bengu” means “Hello, Mrs. Bengu.”
mokoe
Setswana for the “gray go-away-bird,” so named from its call. (Corythaixoides concolor).
mopane
The tree Mopane colophospermum. These beautiful trees with their distinctive butterfly-shaped leaves can take the form of shrubs or trees growing up to 30 meters high.
morokaapula
Setswana for the “rainmaker” bird, a type of cuckoo.
morubisi
Setswana for “owl.”
Motswana
Singular adjective or noun. “That man from Botswana is a Motswana.” See Batswana.
mowa
Setswana for “breath.”
MPLA
Portuguese: Movimento Popular de Libertação de Angola (Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola). Ruling party in Angola from 1975.
nee
Afrikaans for “no.”
ntshu
Setswana for “eagle.”
oryx
In southern Africa, the Cape oryx (Oryx gazella) a large antelope with long, straight horns.
pan
A basin or depression in the earth, often containing mud or water.
pap
Smooth maize meal porridge, often eaten with the fingers and dipped into a meat or vegetable stew.
pappa le nama
Setswana for “pap and meat.”
protea
Plant genus with 360 species indigenous to South Africa. Protea cynaroides, king protea, is the national flower of South Africa.
pula
Currency of Botswana. Pula means “rain” in Setswana. 100 thebes = 1 pula.
rand
Currency of South Africa. 100 cents = 1 rand.
riempie
Leather strands that are interlaced to make chair seats.
Rra
Respectful term in Setswana used when addressing a man. For example, “Dumela, Rra Bengu” means “Hello, Mr. Bengu.”
San
Bushmen people. See Khoisan.
segodi
Setswana for “hawk.”
serothe
Setswana for the “fork-tailed drongo” bird.
sethunya
Setswana for “flower.”
Setswana
Language of the Tswana peoples.
Steelworks
Drink made from cola tonic, ginger beer, soda water, and bitters.
strelitzia
Bird-of-paradise flower (Strelitzia reginae). Indigenous to South Africa.
thebe
Smallest denomination of Botswanan currency (see pula).
veld
Grassy undulating plateau of southern Africa.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It takes a lot of luck for a first novel to see the light of day. We are extremely fortunate to have a superb agent representing our work. We cannot thank Marly Rusoff enough for her enthusiasm and guidance, and Michael Radulescu for his invaluable behind-the-scenes support. We are grateful to Judy Healey for her encouragement, and particularly for introducing us to Marly.
More good fortune followed when Claire Wachtel, Senior Vice President and Executive Editor at HarperCollins, liked, bought, and edited this book; her vision and professionalism have greatly improved it. We are also grateful to Miranda Ottewell for her meticulous copyediting. Indeed, we are grateful for all the support and encouragement from the people at HarperCollins.
So many people read various versions of the manuscript that we hope there are still a few readers of the genre left to buy it! All of them generously gave their time to provide helpful feedback and suggestions. Particularly valuable detailed feedback on style and language came from Brunhilde Sears and Bonnie Nelson. Holes in the plot, inconsistencies of character, and numerous other blunders were caught by Stephen Alessi, Linda Bowles, Tom Cooper, Patricia Markley, Toni Rosen, and Esther Youtan. Forensic physiologist Dr. Stanley Tarlton provided much needed help with the medical aspects of the various murders. Sethokgo Sechele and Andy Taylor, h
eadmaster of Maru a Pula school in Gaborone, helped add authenticity to our story, as did Botswana pathologist Dr. Salvatore Mapunda. All of these receive our especial gratitude, as do the others, too numerous to mention, who provided helpful input.
Peter Comley and Salome Meyer not only made many suggestions, but gave us the benefit of their encyclopedic knowledge of Botswana, formed in a lifetime of living and working there.
Director Tabathu Mulale (now retired) of the Botswana Criminal Investigation Department took a full day to show us the ropes, despite being in the midst of a gang bust and about to travel to an Interpol meeting in Mexico! We were overwhelmed by his kindness and help. Deputy Police Commissioner Thebe Tsimako has added his help and support to improve the factual aspects of the book. We are very grateful.
If, despite the efforts of all these talented and generous people, and the breadth of their knowledge and experience, the book still contains errors, we are confident that we will be able to find one of them to blame!
We received much help, input, and support from our wives, Annette Sears and Jeannine McCormick. This book is for them.
Michael Sears
Stanley Trollip
A Carrion Death & The 2nd Death of Goodluck Tinubu Page 43