2 Game Drive (13 page)

J
ay was singing in the shower when I woke the next morning. Bellowing over the sound of the water, he was clearly in a great mood. That didn’t last long, though. Felix brought bad news with the coffee.

He set the tray on the table before speaking.
“There will be no game drive this morning, Miss. Everyone is asked to gather at breakfast at 8:00 for an announcement.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. That’s too bad. I was looking forward to it.”

“What seems to be the problem, Felix?” Jay asked. “Is something wrong?”

Felix hesitated a moment before answering, and I had a feeling that something was indeed wrong.
But if so, Felix wasn’t sharing.

He was already backing out of the door.
“I was told to ask everyone to come to the dining hall, Sir. That is all I can say.”

“Okay, we’ll be there. Thanks, Felix.”

Jay waved goodbye and closed and locked the door before he climbed back into his bed.

“What do you think is the problem, Jay?”

“Who knows? Maybe he fed the drunk woman to the leopard. Canceling the game drive means extra time before breakfast, though. That’s good. I’m finished in the shower, Sidney. Your turn. You probably have enough time for one of those long baths that you love so much. I’m going back to sleep.”

He was right. I closed the bathroom door, turned on the taps, and poured in some bath oil. Soaking in the fragrant water, Jacuzzi running, I watched as the sky lightened, streaked with the first rays of the morning sun.

I could not see the riverbed through the glass wall, only the thick vegetation of the opposite bank. More importantly, anyone lurking in the riverbed wouldn’t be able to see me either.

Two baboons appeared in the near branches, squabbling over a piece of fruit. Relaxing, I dismissed all thoughts of Henrik van der Brugge and his domestic problems.

* * *

Finally dressed and ready for the day, I
grabbed a mug of coffee from Felix’s carafe and joined Jay on our little back porch.

The morning mist had lifted with the dawn. The night sounds had given way to the raucous squawking of birds in a nearby tree and the chatter of monkeys. The sun was blazing in the east. The day would be a hot one, no jacket required.

Jay was sprawled in the hammock, holding his camera and methodically clicking back through its memory. Giggles from the hut next door let us know that Wendy and Tilda were also awake and out on their deck. We couldn’t see them—and they couldn’t see us, thanks to the clever way the huts had been angled when they were built—but we could certainly hear them.

“I’ll bet those two giggle in their sleep,” I said, sitting on the bench.

“They probably do, but they are really sweet, aren’t they? I felt so bad for them when the monkeys ruined their camera.”

“Are you going to send them some of your pictures?” I asked.

“Yeah. When we get back home. I told them I would.”

Jay is a pretty good photographer. Me, not so much. Jay takes
the best shots in the agency. We often use his on our website.

He turned off the camera and put the lens cap back in place. Then he spoke quietly. For once, he was serious.
That, in itself, was a shocker. So was what followed.

He watched me intently as he spoke.
“Sid, I hate to have to say this, because I know it will get you all stirred up.” He stopped swinging, sat up and looked at me. “I’m not so sure it was monkeys that tore up Wendy and Tilda’s hut.”

I almost
dropped my coffee mug. “What do you mean, Jay? It was monkeys. They said they saw them. Felix chased them out with the broom.”

“I heard what they said.
But I’ve decided there was a lot more to it than that. So, okay, the monkeys were in the hut. That’s a fact. But maybe the camera was smashed and the memory card taken
before
the monkeys got in. In fact, maybe someone let the monkeys in to cover the fact that they had been there. Wendy and Tilda said they thought the hut was locked when they left and they are pretty careful about their stuff. I can’t see those two leaving a door open, can you?”

“
No, I can’t. They seem so silly, but they are careful. That’s true. I’ve noticed that.”

He s
tood and walked toward me, speaking faster now, making a jury argument. I could tell he had given his theory a lot of thought. “The monkeys made a mess in the room, right? But the only thing missing was the memory card. That’s odd, don’t you think? What would monkeys want with a memory card? It’s not shiny or anything. I don’t think the monkeys took it, hon. I think someone else did.”

“Who though? Not Felix.
It wouldn’t be Felix. I think he’s totally trustworthy.”

Jay sat next to me on the bench. “
I do, too. No, not Felix. Not Winsome. I know they both have keys, but I’m sure there are other keys around too. It was someone else. Someone who broke in, took the memory card, smashed the camera, then left in a hurry—”

“Leaving the door open so the monkeys would get in, tear stuff up, and take the blame.”

“Yes.”

He stood up and stretched,
carefully looping his camera back around his big neck by the strap. An eland, picking his way down the riverbed, saw him and bolted. The first strong rays of sun threw the overhanging bank below into shadow.

“Why?”

“Because somebody didn’t like a picture Wendy took, that’s why. That’s what I think, anyway. That’s all it can be. It wasn’t your ordinary sneak thief. Nothing of value was taken. Memory cards are cheap.”

What he said made perfect sense. There was clearly more to this incident than monkey mischief.
“A real thief would have taken the whole camera, not just the memory card, and other stuff as well.”

“Yes. And with her camera out of action, Wendy can’t be snapping all those photos of everything and everybody.
I think something is going on here, under the surface. Something
wrong.”

Jay went on, “
I don’t take anywhere near as many photos as Wendy, but I like to take random shots with my camera, too. So I was checking back through mine this morning to see if I might have caught anything unusual.”

Confession time. “Jay, I know of at least one guy who would like to have her pictures erased.”

He stopped pacing . “Who?”

“Well, I don’t know his name, but
...” And I told him about seeing the man from the Nellie garden walking in the dry riverbed. I told him about Wendy taking the man’s picture, and what his reaction had been.

“There,” he said, with a told-you-so expression. “You see? That’s just what I mean. There may be a perfectly legitimate reason why the guy didn’t like being photographed. Maybe he
was having a bad hair day. Maybe he thinks photos steal his soul. Or maybe there’s a real reason why he can’t afford to be identified.”

I leaned back, massaging my temples with my fingers. My headache was returning with all this.
“Did you find anything in your camera memory?”

“No. But I’m not
really sure what I’m looking for. Maybe you should click back through it to see if you can spot that guy you saw. I’ve never seen him, remember?

He took the camera from around his neck and handed it to me. “Another, thing, Sid,” he said, sitting down beside me, “t
hinking about this today led me to consider what you said last night about this place and our host’s income stream. Then I thought about Dennis, and again about the camera and the monkeys. That’s when I decided that something funny might be going on, something strange. Maybe I’m being overly suspicious. Maybe it’s nothing, just a feeling. But I think we need to keep our heads up from now on, babe, and discuss anything odd that we notice. Not with the others. Just us. There’s no need to freak out about it. Don’t mention it, don’t talk it up. Just be observant and careful until this tour is over. That’s all I’m saying.”

I
watched his eyes, usually so merry and now so somber and serious that it ramped up my own uneasiness. “I have to tell you, it freaks me out to hear you say that, Jay. I’m usually the suspicious one, not you. If you’re worried, it’s huge.”

Jay
ran his fingers through his hair, making it stick up all over. Another bad sign. He does that when he’s upset. “I wouldn’t call it
worried
, exactly,” he said. “More like cautious. I’m just saying, Sidney, don’t let all this funny stuff or what I think spoil your trip. Just keep your eyes and ears open. That’s all. And, more importantly, your mouth shut. This whole safari operation may be a big fake. This place could be an elaborate front for something else, at the very least, a money-laundering scheme.”

“Jay, do you know something you’re not telling me? Don’t keep secrets.”

He squeezed my hand. “No, babe. No secrets. At this point it’s just a feeling I have. I have absolutely no hard evidence and I’m not sure I want to find any. Not my job. Not
our
job. We’re only here for a few more days; then it’s out of the bush and back to Cape Town and civilization.”

“True
,” I said. “But don’t you think we need to alert Silverstein to check this deal out further before we go bringing any High Steppers in here? Remember what he said, ‘No slipups.’ And the part about holding us personally responsible? I’m pretty sure that if we end up with another mess on our hands, we’ll be out of a job.”

Jay ran his hands through his hair again before he answered. It looked as if it had been electrified. I knew he was thinking about how dire his financial situation would be if he was
unemployed. “You bet we should,” he said. “We should absolutely tell Silverstein, and time is short. He’ll be signing a contract and printing brochures soon, if he hasn’t already. We need to get the word to him if we can, as soon as we can, though that may not be possible until we return to Cape Town. We’ll tell him to take a long look before he signs anything with these people. He doesn’t have to cancel his safari plans. There are lots of other good lodges he can use. I just think it might be better if he steers clear of this one.”

I shook my head.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to call New York for a few days, Jay. It will be tough to connect with Silverstein from here. We’re ‘isolated from the cares of the world,’ remember?”

“Yeah, but not really. We can’t be. Van der Brugge doesn’t seem to have any problems communicating. You might have to sneak back into his house and make a phone call.”

“What?”

He raised his hands in protest.
“Just kidding, just kidding. Don’t have a hissy. I’ll figure something out. There’s the breakfast bell. Let’s go. Lock that door up tight, babe, and check it. We don’t want any
monkeys
in here.”

* * *

When we started down the steps, I saw that the path outside Hut No. 1 had been neatly swept with a twig broom, as it was every morning. Even so, fresh animal tracks had already marked the sandy soil.

A pair of Thompson’s gazelles watched us from the small meadow as we reached the main path. They broke into a run, leaping as they disappeared into the brush.

“
Buon giorno,
” Fernando said, stepping out of his hut as we passed. “It is a beautiful morning, eh? I am hungry for my breakfast. I think sleeping in fresh air causes such hunger. I must stop eating like this or I will get very, very fat, like an opera singer.”

Admiring his spare, muscular frame, outlined through his tight T-shirt, I thought there was little chance of that. My cousin Earline would say his body was “mighty fine.”
And Earline
, I thought,
would be correct.

He joined us on the path as we marched on toward breakfast.

A sudden movement caught my eye. I looked back toward Fernando’s hut just in time to see Winsome slip away from his door, carrying her twig broom. She looked a bit furtive and disheveled as she disappeared into the thicket behind the hut.

I wondered what she was doing, and where she had spent the night.

George joined us from the path his hut shared with Fernando’s. We all continued on in that fresh morning air, looking forward to the good meal that awaited us in the huge thatched lodge.

We were not disappointed. The breakfast was lavish, beginning with ripe mango, melon, and pineapple, followed by omelets, crepes, and big baskets of muffins and toast.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,” David trilled, tapping on his glass with a spoon. “I hope you weren’t too disappointed with the cancellation of our morning game drive, because we have a
marvelous
treat in store for us today. Mr. van der Brugge
himself
will be here
soon
to announce it. Enjoy your breakfast, my dears. I shall not spoil the surprise, not even with the
tiniest
hint, but I can assure you that we may all look forward to his announcement with
great anticipation.
”

“What do y’all think it is?” asked Connie, buttering another scone. “I hope it’s something different. I’m getting tired of all these animals. I mean, they were awesome at first, but I’m ready to move on.”