Sleuth on Safari Page 14

  I gave her a minute to consider it. Maybe tomorrow we could go. I’d rather go now. Check it out after hours. See what they did when their guard was down. When they were off duty. But even I knew that was crazy.

  They had scared me the first night when they scolded me for going to the bar by myself. That was only a short walk, on a path I knew exactly where to go to. I couldn’t imagine trying to find the staff’s quarters, at night. Plus, I would need a flashlight. Although I bet Charlotte had one. That was probably on the provided packing list.

  Would hyenas attack if there were no blood? I didn’t know. I didn’t want to find out.

  And if I did another trek without an escort someone may wonder if I was responsible for Dr. Higgins’ death. If I chanced walking to the bar by myself, a short jaunt to the neighboring room would be nothing.

  No, not tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

  “So not interested at all?” I asked Charlotte again.

  “No, Naomi! This isn’t Dirty Dancing. We’re not going to find a big party going on in their living quarters and join in.”

  “That’s really not what I pictured.” I didn’t admit it to Charlotte, but now I wanted to go even more!

  “Please, give the staff a break. Don’t bother them. All they want to do is work, get some tips, and go home.”

  “But maybe it was one of them?”

  “One of them what?” She knew the answer the moment the question left her mouth. “Please don’t say anything about Dr. Higgins.”

  I remained silent. They had means, access to the rooms’ keys, easy access to the kitchen for knives. Ray and Sonny probably carried knives regularly for their workday.

  “One of the staffers would not have killed him.”

  “Why not?” I asked.

  “Because these people live off their tips. Their families live off their tips. They see Dr. Higgins, and you and me, as their wages.”

  “Did Dr. Higgins look like a good tipper to you?”

  “No, he looked like a fastidious guy. A by-the-books kind of guy. If he’s told to tip, he’d tip the recommended amount. I bet he had all the tips, in local currency, in labeled envelopes.”

  I laughed. What did she know. “I didn’t find them in his room,” I told her. Of course, if he did have said envelopes, he wasn’t likely to leave them lying around. They’d be in the safe, which I couldn’t get into.

  “When were you in his room?” she asked. “Wait…cancel that…I do not want to know anything about you being in his room.”

  “Don’t make it sound so lascivious!”

  Exasperated, she yelled, “I wasn’t! I’m telling you. None of those workers had a reason to kill him.”

  Someone had a reason to kill him.

  And I had to find it.

  I woke up mid-scream. Or more accurately, mid-attempt to scream. The lack of ability to vocalize—to call for help—may have been the most frightening part of the dream. I rolled onto my side hoping to go back to sleep, to a less scary dream. Or even better, dreamless sleep.

  But I was wide awake. My heart was still racing and my throat was dry. I slid out of bed and went to the fridge for water. I tiptoed over, not wanting to wake up my sister. I opened the fridge gently and grabbed a water bottle. I sat on the couch and opened the water bottle. “Shoot,” I mumbled as the carbonated water fizzed out. Half asleep, I had grabbed sparkling water and not the spring water.

  “Naomi?” Charlotte called out from bed.

  “Yes,” I answered.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Just a bad dream. Go back to sleep.”

  She rolled onto her side, toward me. “You sure?”

  “Yep. I’m fine.”

  “You’re not prone to bad dreams.”

  “We haven’t slept in the same room, never mind the same bed, since we were children, Charlotte.”

  She got out of bed toward the couch and sat across from me.

  “What’s the matter?” she asked.

  “Bad dream.”

  “About?”

  “Hyenas chasing me.” I took a long sip of the fizzy water. “I don’t need a psychology book to decipher the source of that dream.”

  “Lots of people have vivid dreams when under stress or in a new environment,” she explained. “Some people will even sleepwalk in times of great stress.”

  I took another sip of the water. Vacation was not supposed to be a time of great stress. “You think someone could have sleepwalked over to Dr. Higgins’ suite and killed him?”

  “I doubt it.”

  I nodded agreement. It did sound unlikely. “But a few years ago, didn’t someone use that as a legal defense? They killed someone while sleepwalking.”

  She considered it. “Sounds familiar. But I’m pretty sure it failed.”

  I thought she was right.

  She yawned, as large as the hippo’s yawn we’d seen yesterday.

  “You’re tired. Go back to sleep, Charlotte. I’m okay.”

  She didn’t disagree and returned to bed.

  I looked out the large windows onto the moonlit landscape, trying to keep the dream’s images from my mind. The hyenas were all I could see—their bared teeth as they chased me.

  Within a few minutes, I could hear Charlotte’s regular breathing. She’d fallen back to sleep quickly.

  I doubted I’d sleep again tonight.

  Morning Game Drive

  The search for the Big Five continued. I had photo proof of our sightings of four of the Big Five.

  The largest of them, the African Elephant, we’d seen from our rooms our first full day on safari. We’d seen the African buffalo in that dreadful scene by the water when the baby one had been attacked and miraculously survived. We’d seen leopards on two consecutive game drives, which Geri was extremely impressed by. We’d seen rhinoceros playing in the mud on another game drive.

  We’d seen so many different animals—warthogs, monkeys, hippos, giraffes, and how could I forget about the hyenas (as hard as I tried to). We’d even seen animals I had never heard of before the trip—kudus, impala, and all sorts of birds.

  Hazel checked off each one we saw in the animal journal the lodge had provided. I think mine was somewhere at the bottom of my backpack, unchecked.

  But the lion remained photographically elusive. We’d observed the three young male lions during the buffalo incident but they’d been far away. No one had a good shot of one. I wanted to see the male lion’s large mane and hear its deep growl closer.

  The group was ready, on time, waiting for Sonny and Ray for our morning game drive. I went out front to find them. They were hunkered together, by the Land Cruiser, while Ray talked on his phone. I snuck up, hoping to hear them without them hearing me.

  Ray hung up and turned, finding me just a few feet away. “Naomi! You startled me.”

  “Sorry,” I responded. “Everything okay?”

  Ray looked to Sonny, wanting him to answer. “We were talking to one of the other lodges. They saw lions yesterday. Ray and I were deciding if we should head over that way.”

  “To see a lion? Definitely!”

  They looked at each other. I didn’t see what the problem was. “We don’t want to disappoint the guests,” Ray said to Sonny.

  “I don’t see how you could,” I told them.

  Sonny sighed. “If we drive all the way over and don’t see them, some guests might be upset.”

  I turned around to see the rest of the group had joined us outside. “Group vote!” I exclaimed to the crowd. I turned to Sonny and whispered, “That way they don’t blame you. They’ll blame whoever voted to go.”

  He smiled and took charge of the situation. “Who wants to see a lion today?” Some hands went up and others shouted, “Yes.”

  “It’ll be a short drive to go where some lions were seen yesterday. That okay?” Everyone nodded, except Jack. Reflexively, he touched his ailing back. We all made our way onto the Land Cruiser. Jack held Geri back and spoke heatedly. She seemed to hav
e won the argument and she took his hand and pulled him to the cruiser. They sat in the first row, with Charlotte. I sat in the middle row and Zonah sat next to me.

  At the start of the trip, his facial hair had a “I haven’t shaven today” and “I’m a cool guy” look. His beard was full-grown now. It was more of man living in the woods look. Plus, I imagined all that hair on his face was hot. I looked closely at it for any markings underneath. Was he masking signs of a struggle from Dr. Higgins’ murder? But the beard was too thick. Excellent camouflage or hideous grooming? I didn’t know.

  I looked around the cruiser again. I had yet to see any signs of a struggle on anyone’s face or neck. The attack must have taken Dr. Higgins by surprise.

  Thoughts of murder flew from my brain as Sonny took off. I held on tightly to the bar in front of me as he drove faster than we had ever done before. Sonny drove the dirt paths without abandon. I held on for dear life and prayed Ray did the same from his perch on the front of the Land Cruiser.

  I realized why he had hesitated on taking us on this journey. No one looked happy right now.

  Gradually, the cruiser slowed down and the typical game drive speed resumed. There were a few murmurings as everyone settled into the more appropriate speed for a vehicle with no seat belts and no roof.

  We came to a fork in the road and Sonny stopped. Charlotte turned around and shot me a look. She blamed me for this excursion.

  Ray held up his hand and jumped out of his seat. He walked around the cruiser once and then smiled broadly. “This way!” he said, pointing to the right. “Go slow,” he told Sonny.

  We drove briefly and he stopped again. There he was! A lion, lounging on the side of the road. His back was to us and he didn’t seem to care about our arrival. He licked his paw, his tail gently flicking up and down.

  After a few minutes, he got up and slowly walked down the road. He sniffed at the dirt and stopped to look around. Suddenly, a noise emanated from him. A roar of sorts, but not what I would have expected from a lion. It was a deep short noise. “He’s calling for his brothers,” Sonny told us.

  We all listened and heard no response. The lion resumed his march down the road and we followed. It wasn’t the picture of the lion I had hoped for, his backside, but I could now mark the Big Five off my list, if I kept a list.

  The lion sat again and Sonny parked the car. He called out a few more times. We all listened. The lion perked up. Ray held up his hand and pointed behind us. He was the first of the humans to hear the returned call.

  Our lion stood, turned around, and walked toward us. He was beautiful. His large tawny mane was massive, compared to the trim fur that covered the rest of his body. His bright yellowish eyes shone in the first rays of the morning.

  I held my breath as he walked in our direction. No one but the lion moved. He roared again and the return call was closer. He continued his path toward the call and we continued to watch him. He passed by me, only a few feet away. I no longer felt fear, only amazement to be this close to this beautiful creature.

  I doubted I wasn’t the only one glad we had journeyed this far to find him.

  Ray and Sonny were smiling as we stopped for coffee and juice. My fellow travelers, and Sonny, grouped together, recounting our experience seeing the lion up close.

  “How long have you worked here?” I asked Ray, as he stood alone preparing the beverages.

  “About a year.”

  I didn’t bother asking if he liked it. He would only answer politely, like the rest of the staff. He would tell me how the family was good to him, like Coral and Sonny already had.

  “You learned all this in year?” He was extremely knowledgeable. As least as knowledgeable as Sonny, and I wondered why he wasn’t a guide.

  “Oh no. I’ve been a tracker for a few years.” He looked over in Sonny’s direction. “One day I’ll be a guide.”

  “I’m sure you will. You’re excellent.” He smiled at the compliment. “Where did you work before this?”

  “Tonfi Lodge.”

  It sounded familiar. Maybe Geri had mentioned it. Jack and Geri had been on a few other safaris. But I didn’t think they’d been anywhere in this area before.

  “Is it close?” I asked.

  “Oh yes. Same family owns that too.”

  “Oh, so you just transferred? Better opportunities over here?”

  He hesitated. “Not really. It was felt it was best for me to go.”

  That sounded ominous. But if he had done something really bad, the family would have fired him. They wouldn’t transfer him somewhere else.

  Wouldn’t they?

  Midday

  I headed to the pool for a little rest after our exhilarating morning game drive. A lion had walked past right by me! He had been within reaching distance.

  At the pool area, I was surprised to see I wasn’t the only one who had sought peace and quiet. Colin was lying on one of the lounge chairs.

  He was dressed in a white T-shirt, blue swim trunks, and sunglasses. His sandals lay next to his lounge. I waved as I walked past. He didn’t acknowledge me.

  I settled into a nearby lounge chair. “Hey, Colin.” He again did not respond.

  “Colin? Are you okay?” I asked.

  Nothing. I looked at his white T-shirt, praying to see movement. I didn’t see any.

  I got up for a closer look. I slammed my lounge down, hoping the loud noise would rouse him. I searched him for any reaction. Still, there was no nothing.

  Had the killer struck again? Had I found the body this time before the hyenas?

  I stood over Colin and hesitated. I didn’t want to touch him if he was dead. I asked again, “Colin? Are you okay?”

  I reached forward, planning to put my hand under his nose, feeling for the intake and outtake of breath. A loud snore startled me.

  “Ah!” I screamed.

  Colin’s eyes shot open. “Ah!” he yelled in response. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “You didn’t answer me. I was checking to make sure you were alright.”

  “Jeez, I was sleeping.” He sat up. “You scared me half to death.”

  “Sorry,” I muttered, although I was glad he was alive. I sat across from him on the neighboring lounge.

  Zonah came running into the pool area. “What’s going on?”

  “You thought I was dead, didn’t you?” Colin asked me.

  I hesitated. I didn’t want to lie. Colin read my hesitation as a yes and got off the lounge. “I’m not dead yet, alright?”

  “Where are you going?” I asked.

  “Back to my room. I’m more likely to get rest there.” He shook his head. He muttered something. I’m sure it was about me and I was sure it wasn’t favorable. I didn’t ask him to repeat it.

  Zonah sat on the lounge Colin had left. We watched him leave. Zonah pulled out his phone. He clicked a few things and then sighed.

  “Missing the internet?” I asked.

  He looked years older than when I had first seen boarding the plane. If he shaved, I bet he’d barely look older than his brother, Zaden. “I’m here to spend time with my family.” He might have looked like a man but he had the whiny tone of a teenager.

  “That sounds like what your mother says to you when you complain that there’s no internet.”

  He laughed. “You might be right. She may have said that to my brother once—or a hundred times—today.”

  I looked in the direction Colin had gone. “I didn’t mean to make him leave.”

  “Well, you basically just called him old.”

  I started to argue. I was just checking on him. But you don’t check on a young person sleeping for signs of life, do you? I gave Zonah a meek smile. “Whoops.”

  He scooted back in the lounge and brought his legs up. “Did you really think he was dead?”

  “Yes”

  “Why?”

  “It’s been that kind of vacation.”

  Lunch

  “Doesn’t the lack of internet
bother you?” I asked Charlotte as she got ready to go to lunch.

  “Nah. I kind of find it liberating.”

  I found it restraining. My investigation was limited with no access to the internet. “I wish I knew what was wrong.”

  “Because you could fix it?”

  “No, well…maybe. I’m a woman of many talents.” She laughed. “I’m just wondering. Is it deliberate? Or just something that happens?”

  Charlotte shrugged. “Just something that happens, I’m sure.”

  “It could be deliberate.”

  “The staff is not conspiring against you to keep you off Facebook.”

  “It could be a guest.”

  She rolled her eyes. “How? We don’t know where anything is here. How could another guest disable the internet?”

  I’m sure it was possible if you knew what you were looking for and had experience with those type of things. I wished the sheets with everyone’s passports had said what their occupations were; that might have been useful. Although maybe it was something Zaden or Zonah could do. I dismissed the thought. Those two missed the internet the most out of the whole group.

  “How about a jammer?” I asked.

  “A what?”

  “It’s called a jammer or something. It jams the signal.” Charlotte sighed heavily. If I had access to the internet I could show her. “Don’t you remember last term one of Jeremy’s teachers used one?”

  “Oh yeah. The class went the whole semester and didn’t know why they couldn’t get any signal in that classroom. But those things only work in a small area.”

  “This place isn’t huge.”

  “Huge enough. Bigger than a classroom.”

  I paused, trying to find a comeback. I failed.

  Charlotte continued, “So one of the guests brought a jammer with them? And all of this was preplanned?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Do we have a secret agent on the tour? Jamming signals. Killing off obscure guests no one likes.” She pointed to the door. “Go to lunch. I think you’re delirious with hunger.”

  I did as I was told, knowing I had hit another brick wall.