The Perils of Skinny-Dipping (23 page)

‘
We think that it is entirely possible with this new evidence. The man who paid Mani is known to us. He has always escaped arrest, but we believe he is responsible for several murders in this country.’

Abbey held on to the arms of the chair on hearing this. ‘You mean he tried to kill Darren and he’s still out there?’ she gasped.

‘
Yes, we’re sorry, but we are doing our best to locate him. We suggest that you take great care once leaving the hospital, and report anything you think is suspicious. We have alerted our colleagues in Kasane and they will not only be on the lookout for this man, but will also make regular visits to you both to ensure your safety.’

‘
What about Mani?’ asked Darren. ‘What’s going to happen to him?’

‘
Mani has been charged with perverting the course of justice,’ replied the second police officer. ‘He will go to court next week and can expect a short custodial sentence, and possibly a fine.’

When the police officers had left, Darren pushed away the game with his hand in anger. The small pieces scattered across the floor.

‘
You know who’s behind this, don’t you?’ he said angrily. ‘That bastard Permelo. He knew I’d reported him. Seems I’ve totally underestimated how downright dangerous that guy is.’

‘
I think we both did and I sort of feel responsible for this,’ groaned Abbey.

‘
Look, there’s no point trying to lay the blame on ourselves here, although I wouldn’t mind bumping into Richard,’ scathed Darren, ‘because if you ask me, he’s had a big role to play in this. I bet he had no idea who he was dealing with either, when he got involved with Permelo. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise me if they find him all trussed up in Gaborone Dam.’

‘My god! Do you think it could be that serious?’

‘It depends on how much Richard knows and could tell if they pick him up, which they undoubtedly will.’

Abbey sat quietly, still in shock from the nasty turn of events. There were several unanswered questions about Richard’s involvement in a lot of things that had nagged away at her, and which refused to go away. What unnerved her the most was that she had also totally underestimated his contempt for her and perhaps Phil, too. She had a feeling that the situation had still to unfold, and that more revelations and secrets would come out as time went by.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Darren was finally discharged and became the proud owner of a pair of crutches. His care was to be transferred to the clinic in Kasane, who would remove the plaster from his leg in eight weeks time. His clothes had been ripped and covered in blood when he was admitted, and the hospital staff had disposed of them.

‘I can’t get on the bloody plane in my dressing gown!’ he had complained, as the doctor signed the discharge sheet.

She raised her eyebrows. ‘I’ll sort it.’

Within thirty minutes, Abbey had returned from the shopping mall in Broadhurst, where she had managed to buy a pair of jeans, trainers and a shirt from Woolworths. Abbey presented the nurses with a bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates, as a thank you before they left for the airport.

The man finished his drink and left twenty pula on the bar. The mall was busy and he felt at ease to wander freely around, blending in with the shoppers. He had not been paid for the last job and it annoyed him. He was always paid, either on delivery or death. This time there had been neither. Scott was not dead. A few superficial injuries maybe, but nothing that wouldn’t heal in time. The prospect of being paid at all for his efforts was looking highly unlikely.

Permelo had got himself arrested and his access to any cash had now been scuppered. He had, however, used his ‘one’ phone call to tell the man that a particular guy had enough information to leave them both dangling at the end of a rope. This guy had lived in Kasane and knew far too much about Permelo’s dodgy dealings. The man shook his head at the dangerous lack of foresight of Permelo in allowing this guy access into his affairs.

The man knew that he must find this guy and silence him before the police picked him up. The young man Mani, he had paid at the camp, had been arrested and was now in prison awaiting trial. It was only a matter of time before this guy was arrested too.

He took out the envelope on which he’d scribbled down the address, tore it up and dropped the pieces on the floor. He felt for his passport in his back pocket. After this brief visit into town, the South African border was next on the agenda.

The taxi took them straight to the airport. They queued at the Botswana Airlines Desk, hoping to get a seat on the next flight up to Kasane. They were in luck and, after a few hours’ wait, they arrived back at the bungalow by late afternoon. Darren stood at the bottom of the porch steps, leaning on his crutches, and decided the best way to tackle them was on his backside going up, backwards. Abbey giggled at him, and went to help him as he steadied himself back onto his crutches at the top of the porch.

‘
What the hell?’ he gasped, pointing one of his crutches at a small, wooden effigy that was sitting by the front door.

‘
Do you know what that is?’ she asked.

‘
Of course I do,’ replied Darren. ‘What the hell is it doing on the porch?’

‘
It was Phil’s idea,’ explained Abbey. ‘He said a tokalosh would keep the house safe because it’s an African devil, and even the hardest criminal wouldn’t cross the threshold with that on it!’

‘
Well, I don’t think we’ll sack the police quite yet,’ he laughed and shook his head in amusement. He had heard the men talk about these things at work, but had never imagined he would have one sitting on guard outside his own front door.

He turned, casting his eyes over the shadows that slowly crept nearer as the light faded, watching and listening for the slightest hint of anything suspicious.

Once inside, Abbey rearranged some of the furniture to give Darren more room to manoeuvre, and moved the rug off the tiled floor to prevent him from slipping and breaking the other leg. The house was clean and welcoming and Abbey’s gut feeling about Prisca’s reliability had been correct. The white envelope Abbey had left for Darren still sat on the table. She handed it to him. He tore it open and read it.

‘
I wish I’d got the chance to read this before,’ he said sighing. ‘I honestly thought you didn’t trust me anymore.’

Abbey sat on the arm of the chair directly opposite him.

‘
Darren, I do trust you and I should have told you that in the letter. In fact, I should have told you that weeks ago. I shouldn’t have reacted the way I did. I’m sorry.’

They sat and stared at one another before Abbey broke the silence.

‘
Do you want me to make up the spare bed for you?’ she asked, wearing the most serious expression she could muster.

‘
You are joking?’

‘
Well, I just thought you might want the space if you couldn’t settle with that leg in plaster!’

‘
Come here,’ he beckoned over to Abbey.

Smiling, she walked over and sat down beside him on the sofa. He pulled her across him. Neither of them spoke, both content just to be in each other’s arms, safe and back home.

Abbey returned to work and, true to her promise, Boitachello had everything under control. The news of Darren’s accident had spread around the town, and Boitachello looked genuinely relieved to see her and hear that Darren was at home and on the mend.

Abbey suddenly realised that, in her rush to get back, she hadn’t bought either Boitachello or Alfred a present. To remedy the situation, she put in an extra one hundred pula in Boitachello’s pay packet, and an extra fifty in Alfred’s, out of her own money. Their smiles delighted Abbey when they opened their pay packets that Friday afternoon, and were enough to put her in a good mood for the rest of the weekend.

In the week that followed, a constant string of visitors came to wish Darren well. This included Mr Kobe, who arrived with a bottle of Darren’s favourite whiskey. Abbey was trying to do a balancing act between the AVP office, attending to Darren and running errands for the prospecting business, and the strain was beginning to show, as she collapsed into her bed just after nine every night.

After Mr Kobe’s visit, Darren sat on the veranda looking out across the garden, deep in thought.

‘
Penny for them,’ quipped Abbey, as she came up the steps unnoticed.

‘
Have you got time to talk?’ asked Darren.

‘
Yeah, I’m on my lunch break to check up on my patient!’

‘
I spoke to Anna Halley this morning.’

Abbey felt a slight tremor pass through her at the first mention of Anna’s name since the hospital.

‘
Anyway,’ Darren continued, ‘the samples are in and the reports will be finished by the end of the week, which means that the contract will be concluded as soon as they’re passed over.’

‘
Are you likely to get another one? A contract, I mean,’ asked Abbey.

‘
I don’t want another one, Abbey. I’ve given this a lot of thought recently. I’ve been doing the same job for nearly fifteen years, and that accident has made me realise there are other things I want to do with my life before I take my final breath.’

‘
What are you saying? Do you want to move back to England?’ she continued in a low voice.

‘
No, I don’t really want to do that either. We’re both settled here and I honestly think you will continue to get employment with AVP for as long as you want it. No, Mr Kobe has made me an offer.’

‘
An offer of what?’

‘
One of the safari guides is retiring next month and the guy is looking for someone to buy his business. Mr Kobe has suggested that he and I buy it as partners. It has a good reputation, and used by most of the major tour operators as well as being promoted by the Safari Lodges. He wants to continue as the Manager at the Savuti and I would take on the practical side of running the business, and be the senior partner.’

‘
How much do you know about running that type of business?’

‘
Very little,’ laughed Darren. ‘At the moment that is, but we wouldn’t be firing anyone and there is no reason why the business couldn’t keep operating as normal. Obviously, I will be learning as I go along, but all the guys know me and Mr Kobe, so we’re not unknown entities coming into the business.’

‘
How much would you need to raise?’ asked Abbey.

‘
Over one hundred thousand pula. I’ve already had an offer for the new drill, and the other assets in the business from a couple of the other prospectors, so I could raise the capital. But as it’s your money as much as mine, I would like your agreement before I do anything.’

Abbey thought quietly, looking out across her garden. She would miss her house, her garden, in fact everything about the place now, and the thought of moving back permanently to England filled her with despair. If Darren bought into the safari business, it would provide them with the opportunity to stay in Kasane for as long as they wanted. The tourist business was booming and, with a little more careful marketing, she was confident it would grow further.

‘
OK,’ she replied. ‘I think it’s a sound idea and I’m happy for you to go ahead and invest, but on one condition.’

‘
And what might that be?’ replied Darren, slightly bemused at her reaction.

‘
That you appoint me Marketing Director?’

The police had, as promised, visited them briefly on a daily basis to check all was fine. Although the man they wanted to question still evaded arrest, the officer in charge in Gaborone had sent word that he doubted Darren had anything to worry about, as they had received information that the man had crossed the border into South Africa. Also, because Mr Permelo was now in custody, he was not in a position to be a threat to anyone.

By the end of the month, all the legal work had been completed and Darren had gone into business with Mr Kobe, insisting that Abbey also be named as a partner on the agreement. Mr Kobe had agreed and, with a direct marketing campaign organised by Abbey around the travel agents in Francistown, Maun and Gaborone, the business had increased its profit margin by ten per cent in the first month. Abbey had no intention of giving up her position with AVP, and decided that she could juggle this job with the marketing work she was doing for Darren quite easily.

The week the partnership agreement had been signed, Abbey returned home to find Darren packing a small suitcase.

‘
Er, what are you doing?’ she asked.

‘
The samples are in and I have to deliver them to the surveyors. I got an email from Anna, saying Mr Gunnell is going to fly up to Gaborone and meet me halfway. I’ve arranged to meet him on Friday at the Grand Palm.’

Abbey stared at him before replying. ‘Darren, your leg is still in plaster and you’re on crutches. You can’t possibly fly down there, not yet anyway.’

‘
I have no choice, Abbey. These samples must be in if I’m going to get the final payment.’

‘
Actually, you do have a choice. I’ll go.’

‘
Are you sure? What about the office?’

‘
Darren, for Christ’s sake, I’ve left Boitachello for much longer than two days. I think she’ll cope without me!’