Swimming in the Volcano (73 page)

“What we wish to do this morning,” the lawyer said, opening his briefcase and holding up a folder bound with a dark blue strip of ribbon, “is have you verify this statement you made to the National Police on—” He removed a clip of papers, recited date and place, pushed a three-page handwritten document across the table toward Mitchell, blotting up the sweat from the glass of water placed there beforehand. Ink ran like black smoke out of the bottom line of words.

“Then we'd like to depose you—”

He must have made a face.

“—take your deposition, that is, have you elaborate certain areas of interest, ask you some questions for the record. The Collymore trial is all I'm concerned with, at present. These other gentlemen I believe have questions of their own.”

“All right.”

“So if you could, sir, reread the statement and confirm that it is true and accurate of the facts. To the best of your knowledge.”

“All right.”

His fingers were flat on the table, the pages in between. They looked at him, their eyes serious, waiting for him to drop his head and begin.

“Is this a problem? You're not going to have trouble doing this, are you?”

“No.”

“Take your time. We understand.”

He shrugged, rubbing a dry corner of the coarse, blue-ruled paper between his fingers. Each of his sentences had been given its own line or lines, as if he had recited an epic poem to the police.

“Out loud, if you don't mind. So it will be fresh for all of us.”

He drank half the glass of water and started.

Shortly after dawn Saturday April ninth I left my house in Howard Bay
.

I was driving a government Land Rover and I was accompanied, by my house guest, Johanna Woods, who has since left the island
.

We went to Rosehill Plantation to pick up three friends
—
Tillman Hyde, Adrian Roberts, and Sally Jorgensen
—
who planned to hike with us to the top of Mount Soufrière
.

Sally Jorgensen had also asked me to make a short detour to the village of Retreat for the purpose of visiting a woman with a child who could possibly benefit from enrollment in Sally's school
.

We stopped at the checkpoint outside of the town of Camell where our travel pass was inspected by the officer on duty
.

I don't remember his name
.

He refused to return the pass to me but said we could go on
.

He gave us no advice or warning about any danger of any type reported in the North Windward District, or of any law enforcement operations in process in the vicinity of Mount Soufrière
.

Around 9:15 we arrived in Retreat and asked someone where we could find a woman named Jolene, who was either the aunt or mother of the child
.

We were given directions to a house where Jolene was and went there
.

Sally went inside while the rest of us remained in the vehicle
.

We heard a loud argument, then Sally screamed my name
.

Tillman and I went inside to help Sally
.

The child's father was pointing a rifle at Sally
.

I told him to calm down, nobody was going to take his child away
.

He said he was going to kill Jolene and the child
.

I put my arm around Sally and said This is my wife, there's been a mistake
.

He accepted my explanation and we left
.

Sally was worried for the woman's safety and so we went to find a policeman
.

We had to go to Belair, the next village, and drive him back with us to Jolene's
.

The husband had run away and Sally convinced Jolene to go back to Queenstown with her baby
.

Her mother-in-law who had been taking care of the child refused to leave and cursed Sally and Jolene
.

Jolene and her son sat in the carry-all space in the back of the Rover
.

We took the policeman back to Belair who said he would talk to Jolene's husband
.

We then discussed among ourselves whether to continue with our plan to hike Soufrière or go directly back to Queenstown
.

We decided not to change our plans since Adrian Roberts was scheduled
to leave the island the next afternoon and this was her only chance to see Soufrière
.

Sally especially insisted we do this and said she preferred to keep the woman and child company while we were on the mountain
.

We drove back south several miles to the turnoff and then to the end of the track to the trailhead
.

There were three other Land Rovers already parked at the turnaround
.

I recognized one as the vehicle assigned to the forest ranger Godfred Ballantyne
.

The other two Rovers had no markings but bore NPF license tags
.

I did not think anything of this since the police force has a youth program with organized outings, or off-duty personnel might have come with their families
.

I had no reason to believe otherwise
.

We were looking forward to our expedition
.

Since we were getting a late start I suggested we hike at a fast pace if we were to reach the summit and come back down before nightfall
.

Jolene got out of the Rover with the child and she strongly insisted Sally walk up Soufrière with her friends or she would be very unhappy for ruining Sally's holiday
.

Jolene sat down in the grass and began making a palm frond doll for her child and refused to speak or look at Sally
.

I saw how Jolene looked at us and thought she had changed her mind about Queenstown and I was right because when we came back down off the mountain Jolene and the child were gone
.

Sally reluctantly agreed to come with us after making Jolene promise she would stay by the Rover
.

We started up the path which was a little muddy
.

I was in the lead
.

After twenty minutes I stopped to wait for the others at a fork in the trail
.

Tillman Hyde and Adrian Roberts came first, then Sally Jorgensen and Johanna Woods a few minutes behind
.

I told them they should try to keep up and we started out again
.

An hour later I halted at the waterfall which is about one third of the way up to the crater
.

Somebody was camping there in a small canvas tent but they didn't seem to be around
.

Tillman and Adrian were in sight below me on the trail
.

We waited about ten minutes for Sally and Johanna and finally I called out for them
.

I heard Sally answer that they were coming and then I saw her on the trail below
.

I yelled down to her where was Johnnie and she said Johnnie was right behind her and told us to go on and they'd catch up
.

I said they should pick up their pace if they could or they'd never make the summit in time
.

Also it was less sunny and I worried about the cloud coverage
.

We continued on
.

After another hour or so we were above the thickest jungle and the forest began to thin out
.

Tillman and Adrian were close behind me, in sight, but I had not seen Sally and Johanna since the waterfall
.

We walked for another half hour coming up to the altitude where the mountain is banded in high grasses and scrub, cut through by many old lava flows that have made twisting gullies and deep channels, like a maze, and there are many large basalt boulders scattered around
.

In this area it's very hard to keep your companions in sight and the going is slow
.

About halfway through this terrain there is a high lava shelf and the path enters the bottom of a steep gully through which you can ascend to the top of the rock by climbing footholds that have been cut in the side
.

When you reach the top you come out into a rock gallery and it was there I encountered the four policemen, two of them standing to watch me come up, two of them resting against the rocks, and on the ground between them sat three men who were not policemen, by the looks of them, but ordinary peasants
.

I was surprised by this unexpected sight
.

The two policemen standing held rifles and the other two, pistols in holsters
.

I stepped up on a nearby rock and had a view of the slope all the way back to the trees
.

I called out to make Tillman and Adrian look up and they saw me and waved back
.

One of the officers on the rocks stood up and called me over
.

This was Captain Eddins
.

When he asked for identification I showed him my driver's license
.

He asked where I had come from and then he wanted to see my travel pass
.

I told him the guard at the Camell checkpoint had kept it and told me to go on
.

It is not true that I was never issued a travel pass
.

We had been granted permission by the proper authorities to go to Soufrière, and at no time did anyone warn us against going there, or try to prevent us
.

I asked Captain Eddins if anything was wrong and he answered by asking how many people were with me
.

Tillman and Adrian emerged from the gully onto the top of the shelf
.

Captain Eddins asked to see identification which they then provided
.

Eddins then asked Tillman Hyde why we were there
.

Tillman replied he was escorting tourists from his hotel on an excursion to the summit of the volcano
.

Eddins then informed him there were antigovernment mercenaries in the area and advised him to be careful and also said he would provide Tillman and Adrian with an armed escort up to the rim
.

Tillman declined the offer but Eddins insisted or ordered he and Adrian go on to see what they had come so far to see, and that the others
—
myself, Sally, and Johanna
—
would be along shortly
.

Tillman protested but Eddins threatened him with arrest if he refused to obey and so he and Adrian continued on toward the cone, followed by one of the lower-ranking policemen with a rifle
.

Mitchell stopped, only to finish the glass of water, and even as he drank he never raised his eyes from the words, didn't want to see their faces, however they might look at him. Everybody knew what was ahead.

I looked down the slope and could see Sally coming through the high grass
.

She disappeared momentarily into one of the lava gullies and then reappeared
.

I shouted and waved so she would look up and see us
.

When she arrived on the shelf, Captain Eddins asked to see her identification
.

She told him her name, that she was a volunteer and had founded a school in Queenstown, that she had lived on St. Catherine for eighteen months and everybody knew who she was, that she never carried identification with her because no one had told her it was required and no one had ever asked to see it except at the airport and at the bank, and they didn't even ask at the bank anymore
.

Eddins asked where the other woman was and Sally said Johanna had been not far behind her
.

Captain Eddins then instructed Sally to wait with me for Johanna
.

The three of us stood on the edge of the shelf, looking down the slope for Johanna, while the others stayed where they were in the rocks
.

We couldn't see Johanna
.

A little while later, perhaps ten minutes, there was a shot, a gunshot
.

It was possible to hear the bullet go by in the air above our heads
.

We turned to look toward the treeline in the direction the shot had come from, down to our right, and just then there was a second shot
.

Sally stumbled backward into me and I grabbed her knapsack to keep her from falling
.

I was not immediately aware that the bullet had hit her
.

There was a third shot and I looked down the slope again and could see a man standing at the edge of the forest with a pistol raised in his hand pointing up at us
.

I saw him turn and run at the same time Captain Eddins and the two policemen in the rocks opened fire on him but he vanished into the trees
.

Captain Eddins said a name like Abraham and I believe he was referring to the man we had seen below us with the gun
.

Eddins then ran back down through the grasses toward the forest
.

During the confusion the three men who had been sitting on the ground also ran away without anyone trying to stop them
.

I couldn't see Tillman and Adrian above us but I yelled for them to come back
.

Sally was bleeding and in pain but conscious
.

The bullet had struck the bottom side of her right breast
.

I examined her and there seemed to be an exit wound at the top of her breast, near the breastbone
.

The two remaining policemen seemed confused about whether to follow Captain Eddins or help me with Sally
.

I convinced them to help me carry Sally down off the mountain so she could be taken to a hospital
.

We started down the path holding up Sally however we could
.

Before we reached the trees the fourth policeman caught up with us and I asked him where Tillman and Adrian were but he didn't answer
.