“That’s odd,” she said. “Where on earth can he be?”
She went out into the garden to check the back gate. As soon as she reached it she saw it had been closed but left unbolted.
She went back to the house and put leads on the other two dogs. William and Margo offered to help, so they went off in one direction to search the ramparts, while she called one of the houseboys to accompany her on a search of the streets. She hoped Tommy and Bouncer would begin to whine if they sensed they were close to Zip. The streets were shiny with dampness and she had to avoid the dripping trees in the narrower alleyways showering her with droplets, but she spent an hour knocking on doors and asking if anyone had seen anything. Nobody had, so then she went to the shops and the covered market. Still nothing.
She arrived back home just as Dr. Russell appeared, his stoop more pronounced than ever and with more gray in his hair. He pushed his metal-framed spectacles farther up his nose as he spoke. “Louisa, my dear, my wife said it was urgent. Is something wrong?”
“Thank you for coming, but it’s not me.” She glanced up at the clouds. “Let’s go inside and I’ll explain.”
“You look a little strained,” he said as they stood in the hall.
“I’ve just discovered one of my dogs is missing.”
He frowned. “That is a shame, but otherwise you are fine?”
“Yes. Look, give me your coat and I’ll hang it up.”
He passed her his coat and she took off her own mac, hanging them both on a spare peg in the hall cupboard.
They went through to the sitting room where he sat while she paced back and forth.
“So, what’s this all about?” he prompted.
She stood still. “A friend—well, more of an acquaintance—of mine is really unwell. She has refused to see a doctor so far, but my worry is that it might be malaria.”
“Let me ask you a few questions.”
She nodded.
“Firstly, describe to me what you saw.”
“Well, she was shaking and seemed too cold, even though it was a warm day.”
“Chills can range from moderate to severe. You think she had a high fever?”
Louisa shook her head. “I don’t know, but she was sweating and rubbing her head.”
“Headache is common with malaria. What about vomiting or diarrhea?”
“Both, I think.”
He winced and paused before he replied. “Doesn’t sound too good. How long has this been going on?”
“Months, I think. She seems to revive but then she’s ill again.”
“That can be a pattern with malaria.”
“Will you see her? It’s a fair distance.”
“Will tomorrow do? I’m pretty tied up today.”
“I’m sure that’ll be fine.”
“As you know, there has indeed been a malaria epidemic, though it’s largely confined to more northerly parts of the country.”
“She thinks she has pleurisy.”
“I doubt it.”
“And her state of mind is very low, I’m afraid.”
“We’ll go together tomorrow and I’ll take a blood sample and send it off to the laboratory in Colombo.”
Ashan brought in a tea tray.
“I’ll pour,” she said as she finally sat down.
* * *
—
Later on, Louisa went to the beach with Margo and William to look for Zip. The rain had been replaced by an unearthly lull but, aware it wouldn’t last long, Louisa glanced repeatedly up at the brooding sky. By the time they had searched the beach, the young couple were walking a little ahead of Louisa. Just where the scrubby grass gave way to sand, Margo suddenly shouted out. Fearing it might be Zip, Louisa’s heart missed a beat and she ran across to find an animal lying in a clump of long grass. Tears blurred her vision as she knelt on the sand.
“It’s a fox,” Margo said. “Poor thing.”
“What do you think happened?” Louisa said and glanced up.
“Judging by the foam at its mouth, it could be rabies or, perhaps more likely, poisoning,” William said. “I wouldn’t touch it. These things are usually deliberate. Foxes attack their chickens.”
Margo sighed. “What a waste of a lovely animal.”
“Awful.” Louisa gazed at the creature.
“Come on,” Margo said and held out a hand to Louisa. “There isn’t anything we can do. Let’s get back. Zip isn’t here.”
* * *
—
Back home again, Louisa needed to be on her own; seeking distraction, she went upstairs to sew her patchwork bedspread. She thought of little Zip and felt sick with worry. She remembered how tiny he had been when he was born. She’d thought he might not live, had nursed him herself, feeding him from a baby’s bottle, and since then he had been her constant companion. Seeing the fox lying dead on the beach had also brought back other thoughts she’d rather forget. She imagined the scene on the road to Colombo and wondered how it must have been. Had Elliot known he was going to die, or had everything just gone dark? Had he been scared? And if he realized what was happening, had he regretted what he’d done? Had he felt guilt, or was he killed too quickly for remorse to set in? She could see him as he crashed, his eyes wide open—and she closed her own in response, squeezing them tight.
The time passed slowly but she couldn’t just sit and wait, so once more she hurried outside to walk around the ramparts, keeping her eyes peeled for Zip and staring out at the shifting color of the sea, the bruised blues and purples mingling with the gray. She pictured him running on the sand, his fur dripping, and the way he had been so scared of the water to begin with, but once he had plucked up courage, she hadn’t been able to keep him out of the sea. But although she looked everywhere all over again, there was still no sign of him. Shading her eyes, she stared out to sea, anxious that he might have climbed the walls and slipped. When she imagined him at the bottom of the ocean she felt sick. She went back and forth between the Aurora and Point Utrecht bastions several times, where cannons had once prevented the entry of enemy vessels. Then, as storm clouds were still gathering, she wrapped her arms around herself and glanced up at the sky.
Once home she went upstairs to change and was just undressing when she heard a knock at the front door and Ashan opening it. Unable to make out what was being said, she slipped on her dressing gown and went to the top of the stairs. Looking down, she saw Ashan in the hall holding a small box.
“Who was that?” she said.
“A parcel has been delivered for you.”
“Do you know who it’s from, Ashan?”
“No, Madam. It was just a boy who brought it. He said a man gave him some money to bring it. I can open it for you.”
“No. Put it in the dining room on the table. I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
“Bring some scissors, Madam, to cut the string.”
At first she didn’t feel anything much about the parcel and went back into her room where she gazed at her face. Her eyes glittered and her cheeks were raw. She went into the bathroom for a towel and rubbed her wet hair before brushing out the tangles. Once in dry clothes, she sat at her dressing table thinking about Zip again; then she picked up the book she’d been reading but, remembering the parcel, felt a sudden sense of foreboding.
In her sewing room she dug out her household scissors—not the best ones she used for cutting fabric—then she made her way to the dining room, glancing in at the sitting room and seeing Margo and William deep in conversation.
She cut the string and was aware of a feeling of trepidation as she carefully lifted the lid of the box. Her heart lurched as she glanced inside and, gasping in shock, she dropped the lid on the floor. She let out a long moan, then ran to the downstairs toilet and wretched. When she came out again she stood in the hall, shaking and s
hivering, with her arms hanging limply by her sides. She could see Margo and William now in the dining room, both staring at the contents of the box with horrified expressions. Louisa closed her eyes but couldn’t rid herself of the terrible image of poor Zip, his head lying bloody and mangled inside the box. She felt a wave of ferocious anger. Who could have committed such an act of deliberate cruelty? Margo came straight out to Louisa and pulled her away from the sight of the dining room and into the lounge where Louisa began weeping.
“I can’t take any more,” she said between sobs.
Margo made soothing sounds, though she must have felt the shock too. When Louisa finally stopped crying, she stared at the door to the dining room. “How could anyone do that to a defenseless animal, Margo? My poor, poor little Zip who never did anybody any harm.”
Louisa felt heartbroken and tears began to flow again. She thought of Zip lying on her lap while she stroked his ears, or wagging his tail at the sight of food. She thought of him lagging behind the other two as they raced along the beach. Now he would never do any of those things again. It was senseless and heartless and it made her shake with rage to think of him scared and suffering.
“Where’s the number for the police?” Margo asked.
“In the book on the hall table,” Louisa said in a choked voice.
“I’ll call them,” Margo said and got up to speak to William who was now in the hall with Ashan.
As Louisa was still trembling, he asked Ashan to bring her some sweet tea and brandy.
While Margo called the police, Ashan brought in the brandy and poured a glass for Louisa. She drank in silence with Ashan remaining by her side, as if uncertain how to help and waiting for further instructions.
“Who could have done this?” Margo asked.
Louisa shook her head but felt sure someone was trying to scare her. She tried to tell herself her worry about Cooper was in her head, that there had been a misunderstanding, but the thought of him filled her with misgivings. She couldn’t help thinking, if it had been this easy to abduct Zip what else might “they” be capable of? Fear threw all her troubles into stark relief: her home once so secure but now under threat; the marriage that was to have lasted into old age but was now a shadowy insubstantial thing. Everything had become fragile. And now Zip was gone too, and in a most terrible way.
As she awoke to a beautiful coral sky, the mist still hanging over the ocean, the smell of death lingered in her nostrils. At breakfast both dogs stared at her with melancholy eyes, chins resting on their paws, as if they knew what had happened. So she sat on the floor with her arms draped around both of them.
A little later, she veered between fury at Zip’s death and a sense of abject loneliness as she once again gathered her courage before seeing Zinnia. As she drove Dr. Russell to the cinnamon plantation, the day remained bright, but she would rather have stayed at home with her two sad dogs, keeping the world at bay. But she had promised to do this—and so she must. The police had taken the horrible parcel and its contents away, but nothing could rid Louisa of the memory.
The air was not much cooler since the last downpour and the heat would soon be building further. As she drove, wiping the sweat from her brow from time to time, the silence between them weighed heavily and she was certain the doctor could tell something was wrong. When he asked her how she knew Zinnia, she hesitated a moment longer before speaking, but decided he could be trusted not to spread gossip.
“My husband was seeing her.” She hated saying it and didn’t dare glance at his face.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to pry.”
She swallowed the lump in her throat. “I didn’t know until after he died. The worst thing is they had a son together.”
Now she glanced sideways to check the doctor’s reaction and saw him shake his head.
“My dear, that must have been hard for you.”
She nodded and her heart thumped in her chest. “It still is,” she said.
“So why are you going out of your way to help this woman?”
Feeling a bit self-conscious, she felt herself redden. “I’d like to say common humanity, and maybe it is a little bit.” She paused, wondering how much of that was true.
“And what else?”
“I think she tried to break it off with Elliot.”
“I see.”
“And I want to help her cousin, Leo McNairn. She lives on his land and now she’s ill, he’s having to care for the child. He’s seven.”
“That can’t be easy.”
“You’re right. The plantation takes up all his time so it’s very difficult. Made harder because the child doesn’t go to school. Leo has become a friend of mine. I’m doing what I can.”
“And the child?”
She sighed deeply. “That’s another story. On the one hand, I can’t bear to even look at him…”
“But on the other hand?”
“I’m curious, I suppose. He’s so like Elliot, you see, and of course it makes me think of what my own children might have looked like.”
There was a short silence.
“Look,” she said. “We turn off just here. We’ll go up to the top first and find Leo, then we can all go down to Zinnia’s house together.”
“Will the child be there? Maybe I should take a look at him too.”
“He wasn’t there last time I was here. I should have mentioned this before, but although I’ve started clearing up Zinnia’s place, her bedroom is still in a bad way. I’m going to try and come back with a houseboy to give it a real spring clean.”
“I think you must be a saint, Louisa.”
She felt her skin prickle with anxiety. “I’m really not. But so much has been revealed about Elliot I feel as if I never really knew him. Who knows, maybe I’m helping Zinnia so that I can understand something of his other life.”
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my work it’s that people’s lives are not tidy.”
“I hate myself for how angry I sometimes feel. But I don’t want to become vengeful.”
“We all have things we don’t like about ourselves, thoughts we are embarrassed by, past actions we regret.”
She raised her brows. “I’m sure you can’t have anything to regret.”
“You’d be wrong there. I have allowed work to dominate my life far too much, but there it is. Too late to change now.”
“What about when you retire?”
“My wife would like me to retire now, but I’m just not ready to put up my feet.”
They reached the top and Louisa parked.
As they both got out of the car, a houseboy came out to say Leo was already down at his cousin’s house, but he would be happy to take them there via the shortcut.
Louisa thanked him and held out her hand to the doctor.
“Is your bag heavy? It’s quite rough terrain.”
“I’m a walker, so I’m sure I’ll be fine, and the bag isn’t heavy.”
They followed the boy, keeping watch for tree roots spreading across the path that snaked down the hill. The air was so full of moisture it seemed to sparkle where the sun filtered through the waving trees and, briefly, Louisa enjoyed the moment. But then, as they drew closer to Zinnia’s bungalow, she felt worried again. How would she react if Conor was there? Last time she had not been able to look at him. It wasn’t the child’s fault, but when she thought of her own daughter, her own little Julia, her skin prickled and the spiky resentment made her feel ashamed. Conor was just a little boy but, at the back of her mind, she couldn’t help thinking he was the little boy she should have had.
When they reached the clearing outside the house Louisa came to a halt. She knocked at the door and after a few moments Leo opened it. “I’m glad you’ve come,” he said and, though she felt momentarily on edge at seeing him for the first time since they had gone
swimming, his broad smile put her at her ease.
“This is our family doctor. Doctor Russell, this is Leo McNairn.”
They followed Leo into the sitting room, which remained almost as tidy as Louisa had left it. She noticed a window was open and the air was relatively fresh.
“So where is your cousin?” the doctor said, glancing about the room.
“Follow me,” Leo said.
Although Leo had opened the bedroom windows and tidied up the evening before, Zinnia had closed the heavy curtains again, saying the light hurt her eyes, and the smell was still sour. The doctor glanced at Louisa. “Someone needs to air this room thoroughly.” Then he walked across to the bed where Zinnia lay with her eyes closed.
He passed a hand in front of her impassive face. Nothing. Then he put a palm to her forehead. “Very indicative of a malarial fever. Keep her cool if you can. Damp cloths on the forehead and back of the neck.” He paused. “Zinnia, can you hear me?”
Her eyes flew open and widened in alarm.
Louisa backed against the door, horrified by the dull look of despair she saw. In the intense silence of the room one thing was certain: this desperately ill woman was no longer the person Elliot had been captivated by.
“I’m Doctor Russell. Will you allow me to take a blood sample?”
“Why?” Zinnia had spoken in a thin rasping voice.
“I think you may have malaria, my dear. We can treat it if we know for sure.”
Zinnia lifted her hands helplessly as if to say, Do what you will.
He opened his brown leather bag and took out a syringe from a zippered case. After he had prepared the needle, taking the blood took longer than anticipated. “She’s dehydrated,” he said. “Her veins are collapsing. Make sure she drinks.”
Then, after it was finally done, he carefully wrapped up the blood sample. “I’ll get this sent off to the laboratories. They are inundated, so it might be a few days. Now tell me how long you have been feeling ill, my dear.”
As the doctor spoke with Zinnia, Leo indicated he wanted to talk to Louisa in the sitting room. “I thought I’d better warn you Conor could arrive at any minute. Will you be okay?”
The Sapphire Widow Page 21