Poacher (17 page)

‘No, she will have gone back. I must see her.
Better get your things, and we can travel together up to
Nelspruit.’ She realised that it would be best not to say anything
more, and commenced getting her things together. He got up with a
sigh and silently threw his toilet ware and a clean set of clothes
into a carry-all.

As they walked towards their cars she was
surprised when he put his arms around her and gave her a gentle
squeeze. ‘I supposed we’ve been asking for this for a long time. It
was bound to happen sometime.’ He dropped his arm. ‘Stay behind me.
We will go slowly while we’re still in the Park.’

It was just after five when he stopped at the
big crossroads just outside Nelspruit and got out, stretching his
tall muscular body with the grace of a hunting cat. All the way
from Orpen Gate the Porsche had stuck to him like a leech, no
matter how hard he pushed the Alfa. At one stage, in some very
treacherous curves which he knew well, he had positively tried to
pull away from her. She had realised it immediately, and had nearly
given him a heart attack by actually passing him on the inside of a
long curve as he was drifting outwards.

He walked up to the Porsche as she got out.
‘You really are bloody something,’ he said, grinning.

‘I am quite willing to gamble my life once
more just to see that smile again.’

Immediately his face became sombre again.
Putting his arms around her, he rested his chin on her head.
‘Good-bye, lovely Linda.’

‘Good luck, and drive carefully. Will you
promise me something?’

He pulled back and looked in her eyes.
‘What?’

‘It doesn’t matter when or what time you come
back, promise me you will stop by and tell me how it went.’

She saw him hesitate. You will marry me, she
thought, no matter which way things go today. I love you and I will
have you, no matter what it takes. Pushing her thoughts aside, she
grabbed a bunch of hair above his ear between the thumb and
forefinger, and shook him lightly. ‘You owe it to me, you bugger.
We are in this together, remember?’

‘Yeah, sure. I promise.’

She gave him a sisterly peck on the cheek and
got into her car. ‘And remember to drive carefully.’ The Porsche
roared off, and he shook his head as he watched the rear end
threatening to break away as she rounded the corner under power in
a controlled drift.

Nine a.m. found him cruising down Church
Street in Pretoria, hardly able to keep his burning eyes open. He
found a garage with clean rest rooms, and after shaving and
brushing his teeth, he felt he could face the world again. He had
some misgivings about facing Estelle and his future in-laws,
however. He put on his clean set of clothes, and with a heavy heart
he headed for Waterkloof Ridge, the suburb in which the Fishers
resided.

Stopping in front of the house, he spotted
Dr. Fisher snipping at some roses. Dr. Fisher had expected Sam
earlier, and had been pottering around in the front garden since
seven that morning.

‘Morning, Doctor,’ Sam put out his hand,
which was accepted, but his greeting was not returned.

‘What the hell did you have to go and do that
for, you stupid bastard?’ Dr. Fisher wanted to put anger in his
voice, but there was only sadness.

‘I agree that I was being a stupid bastard,
sir, there are no excuses, only a bitter regret. I love Estelle. I
doubt if she will ever be able to forgive me, but I will make it up
to her somehow, even if it takes me the rest of my life.’

‘I very much doubt if you will get a chance,’
he said gruffly. ‘She doesn’t want to see you again, but have a go
at it anyway.’ He jerked his head in the direction of the front
door.

Sam hardly touched the doorbell when Mrs.
Fisher opened the heavy kiaat front door. Her eyes were red, and
she looked haggard. ‘You have some nerve to come barging in here
after what you have done to Estelle. What do you want? Do you
realise how much pain you’ve caused her? Why don’t you just go back
to the other woman. Estelle doesn’t want to see you.’

The door started swinging shut, and Sam put
his foot out. ‘There is no other woman in my life, Mrs.
Fisher.’

‘Do you mean to tell me you deny it?’

‘I am not denying the presence of another
woman in my house, but I am denying the presence of another woman
in my life. There is a difference, you know.’ There was a hard
determination on Sam’s face. ‘I love Estelle. I want her back. I
want to marry her. You want me on my knees begging? I’ll get down
on my knees and beg. Anything. Just let me talk to her.’

Estelle appeared next to her mother, and
something tore inside Sam when he saw how terrible she looked.
‘You’ve heard my mother, Sam. I did love you, but not anymore.
Please leave and don’t come back.’

He opened his mouth wordlessly and the cold
expression in her eyes frightened him. ‘Don’t touch me, Sam. I
meant what I said. I don’t love you anymore. Nothing that you can
do or say will change that. Not ever.’ She stepped back and calmly
shut the door in his face.

Dr. Fisher was still with his roses. Don’t be
intimidated, man, he willed Sam. Kick down the bloody door and talk
some sense into their heads.

Sam walked past towards his car. ‘I am so
sorry, Dr. Fisher.’

Dr. Fisher was snipping at the roses
absently, while his mind was screaming. Damn you, don’t give up –
get in there and talk! Love is not something that you can just
switch off like a light bulb! ‘You should be, my son. Good
bye.’

He went to his parents’ house a few blocks
away. They had just returned from church, and his mother still had
her hat on, which she insisted on wearing even though very few
women did these days.

Their joy at seeing him quickly faded as the
circumstances were explained over tea and scones.

‘So what the hell was going on in your mind,
man. Are you bloody crazy? Patricia, go phone the Fishers. We’re
coming over to sort this thing out.’

‘No, Dad. Don’t you understand? It is over.
Already sorted out. She has made up her mind, and that’s it. I have
to get back now. Mother, here is the ring. When everybody has
calmed down in a few weeks’ time, just give it to her. Tell her she
can throw it away or sell it or whatever. I have no use for
it.’

Sam’s mother put her hand on his. ‘Your pride
is going to cost you your wife, Sam. Don’t be hasty – she will
forgive you, just give her time. Do you really still love her?’

‘I love her, Mom, but I know her better that
you do. It’s over.’

When he arrived back in Nelspruit later that
afternoon, he had difficulty in keeping the car on the road. He was
waging a continuous battle against the sleep that promised
oblivion. He was seriously considering driving straight through,
but he had promised to let Linda know, and he also intended getting
a flask of sweet black coffee from her to ward off the sleep over
the last stretch.

She was waiting in the open front door,
dressed in his favourite yellow summer dress, when he got out of
the car. She had done something different with her hair, he
couldn’t say what, and he caught a whiff of White Linen on the
afternoon air as he got close to her. Devastating.

Wordlessly he put his arms around her and
just held her tenderly. They stood there in silence for a long,
long time as something gradually happened between them. ‘Come,’ she
said and led him to the couch by the hand. ‘Coffee or something
stronger?’

‘Something much stronger.’

She poured him a tall, dark whisky and a
Pimms for herself. They touched glasses and sat sipping in silence
for a while. She was idly moving her long nails through the short
hair in the nape of his neck, and he was aware of the tension of
the past fifteen hectic hours subsiding. ‘That’s very nice,’ he
murmured.

She could bear the suspense no longer. ‘Want
to tell me what happened?’ Very casually.

He sighed. ‘It’s over. Irrevocably.’

She felt her heart skip a beat, and
conflicting emotions flooded her mind. She had won Sam for herself,
and she felt like jumping for joy. At the same time remorse pounded
in her brain, and guilt engulfed her like molten tar. She knew that
she had caused Estelle pain which she didn’t even wish on her worst
enemy. She knew she was going to have a hard time living that down,
but it was a price she was willing to pay for her love for Sam.

It had been his honest intention to leave
immediately, but what the hell, he thought, it was over anyway, and
he needed some sleep badly.

The next morning Sam did some shopping before
going to her office to say good bye. Fortunately Courie was in
court, saving him the trouble of trying to be nice to the man.

The receptionist at Courie, Crawford and
Partners was a stunner herself, and she flashed Sam a smile in the
true Farrah Fawcett tradition. ‘May I tell Ms Crawford who is
calling, please?’

‘Just tell her it’s the delivery boy from the
florist,’ he said, very self-conscious about the single, bright
yellow, long-stemmed rose in his hand.

‘Oh,’ she said, making wide eyes at him. ‘I
will immediately go and tell the lucky woman to cancel . . .’

‘It’s all right, Ciska, you can back off
now.’ Linda was standing in the door of her office, trying her
utmost to singe the receptionist with a murderous look. ‘Rather see
if you can get some coffee in here please.’

She closed the office door behind them and
flung herself into his arms. ‘Oh Sam, I haven’t seen you for two
hours, and I was already beginning to miss you. You think there may
be something wrong with me?’

‘Yes, and it seems to be contagious. I’m
experiencing the same symptoms. Light-headedness, shortage of
breath and a sort of hollow sensation in the stomach.’

‘Spot on. And in the presence of the
causative agent the other symptoms are enhanced by a rapid increase
in the pulse rate and blood pressure. Is this for me?’ she asked,
noticing the unique dark yellow rose.

‘The colour reminded me so much of you, I
just couldn’t resist it. That summer dress of yours, your bikini .
. .’

‘My, but we are observant. Thank you,
Sam.’

On returning to her office half an hour later
after seeing Sam off in the lift, she found that she couldn’t
concentrate on her work. She kept longing to be with him and out in
the veld with him. She thought of all the beautiful things he had
shown her and she knew that her life would never be the same again.
He made her richer than she had ever been, filled her very essence
with the beauty of nature in a way that very few people ever
experience. He had introduced her to the ultimate freedom of man –
that of being one with nature, that of blending in and becoming one
with the wind and the rain and stars. . .

She suffered through the rest of her boring
day, toiling with people and papers, with contracts and court
cases. It was all so empty and futile, and she longed to be with
him, to watch the bateleur eagle soar free and to smell the dew on
the wet grass.

After a lonely dinner that night, she decided
to return to the office to see if she could catch up on some
paperwork.

Inserting her key in the frosted glass doors,
she noticed that whoever had left last has forgotten to switch off
the lights. She locked the door behind her, and as she headed
towards her office, she thought she heard someone in Courie’s
office. She stopped in her tracks and cocked her head,
listening.

Then she recognised Courie’s voice, and she
relaxed. She went to the door of his office to say hello, but was
stopped in her tracks once more when she caught the meaning of his
words.

‘No ifs or buts,’ he was shouting at someone
over the telephone. ‘I want that consignment out of the country by
next week. And if he gives you any more trouble, kill the bastard.
Make it look like an accident, anything, but get him out of my
hair. Those tusks are worth a million and a half, and I don’t
intend jeopardising the whole operation because of a junior
official’s passion for gambling.’

He slammed the phone down, and she could hear
his chair creak as he got up. She looked around desperately for a
place to hide, but there was none she could reach before he got to
the door of his office. Instead she walked into his office, nearly
colliding with him as he stormed out, swinging his jacket over his
shoulder.

Courie got such a fright he nearly fell over
backwards. ‘What the bloody hell are you doing here?’ he blurted.
What little colour he had drained from his face, and it was obvious
that he was shocked.

She smiled, pretending not to have overheard
anything. ‘I’m your partner, remember? I happen to work here.’

‘I mean now. At this time of night.’ He
pulled himself together and fixed her with a penetrating stare.
‘How long have you been eavesdropping?’

Fear was a thin voice, screaming a warning
from inside her mind, but she ignored it. ‘Long enough. What the
hell are you involved in?’

‘A client. Got caught poaching elephant, and
he wants us to represent him. But that’s beside the point. What the
bloody hell do you think you’re doing, eavesdropping at my
door?’

‘Don’t try to bullshit me, Courie. What are
you involved in? I sincerely hope I heard wrong.’

He regarded her for a while, clearly trying
to guess how much she had overheard. The he made up his mind with a
shrug. ‘Listen to me, Linda, and listen very carefully. Believe me
when I tell you that you don’t want to involve yourself with my
private business. I’m not sure what you have heard and what you
haven’t, but my sincere advice to you is to forget all about it.
Pretend you never heard a thing, and I’ll overlook your little
impropriety.’

Linda had her blood up now, and she cast all
discretion to the wind. ‘Don’t you dare threaten me! Who do you
think you are, some kind of bloody gangster putting out contracts
on people’s lives and smuggling ivory? And you’re a lawyer! My
partner, at that!’