“You can speak in front of him,” said Emily.
“No,” said Harry. “I came here to . . . to find a man named Fairley. But he’s not here.”
“Fairley? That disreputable-looking Australian whom Avery hired? Why?”
“He’s the one who tampered with Jade’s plane. It’s in today’s paper.”
Emily found the day’s newspapers and flipped through them, looking for the personal advertisements. “Horrid,” she said after reading it.
Harry studied Emily for a moment, assessing her. “What do you know of him? How did Dunbury come to hire him?”
Emily related the tale and added that she seemed to be the only one who didn’t trust him. “As to where he is, who can say? I took the down train to Mombassa on Tuesday. He was here then.” She looked at her valises, placed just inside the door. “I returned after only one night. At first a trip sounded like an adventure, but when I got to Mombassa, it only seemed noisy.”
Harry nodded. “It is at that.” He rose and paced. “And now we learn that Dunbury and your sister have fled somewhere. Neville Thompson said that his wife and son were hiding, too. Jade had flown them someplace.”
“Do you have any idea where they went?” asked Emily.
“Thompson started the search near Kinangop, not far from Naivasha.”
Emily stood and went for the telephone, a candlestick contraption on the side table. After jiggling the receiver several times, she spoke into the handset. “Operator, hello. Connect me to—No, this is not Lady Dunbury. Yes, very tragic, now please connect me to—” She immediately replaced the earpiece into the handset and stepped back, her hands clasped in front of her. “If I ask for them in Naivasha, I might give away their hiding place.”
“Like as not, they took the train farther north,” said Harry. “But it’s a clever thought.”
“Should we call the police?”
“Inspector Finch already knows about this,” Harry said.
“And he’s probably got his hands full with the riot in the Indian district,” said Emily. “I heard of it when I got off the train. It sounded like a war.” She looked at Harry. “Well, Mr. Hascombe, it appears it’s up to us to find this blackguard Fairley.”
“Begging your pardon, miss, but—”
Emily held up her hand for silence. “Mr. Hascombe, I beg you to listen. My sister is in hiding. Beverly does not hide. She has always been a fighter. It was a trait that, as her older sister, I tried to soften. I was wrong, and it’s high time that another Heathington signed up to fight.” She lifted her chin. “No one threatens my little niece and gets away with it. And no one who destroys a brave woman like Jade deserves to live.”
Harry smiled. “Very well, Miss Heathington.”
“Emily,” she corrected.
“All right, Emily. But unless you are privy to more information, I have no idea where to look.” He heard a quiet cough at his elbow and turned. Farhani stood at attention.
“Pardon, memsahib, bwana. I have overheard. Are you speaking of the man locked in the darkness room? I take him food two times a day. Bwana Dunbury says he is there to keep safe, but I think that he has perhaps gone afoul of God.”
Emily and Harry stood motionless for a moment before Harry bolted for the door.
THE SLAM OF WOOD ON WOOD echoed in the stagnant air. Jade felt the reverberation shudder down the ladder. It rattled under her hand and feet as a wave of dust pulsed across her face and the noise slapped her ears. She instinctively ducked as from a blow before resuming her frantic climb. She took the rungs two at a time and pushed with one hand against the door. It gave an inch before a force on the other side pounded back. If she’d harbored any hope that the door had fallen on its own, it was gone now.
Jade heard the soft scrape as the wooden bolt slid home. For a moment, Jade froze. Maybe the person on the other side didn’t know she was down here. Perhaps someone thought that Jelani had gotten loose and tried to escape. The thought vanished, an idea made of mist. There was no doubt that the person up top was Lilith, and Lilith was no fool. She’d know that Jelani couldn’t have opened the door from below. She knows she’s trapped someone. But she doesn’t know who.
Jade eyed her rifle, leaning against the wall. Lilith wants me. Could I lure her down the ladder?
“You’d better get back down the ladder now, before I decide to shoot you.” The voice from above was a woman’s, as harsh as sleet.
Jade complied without speaking. She stepped back towards her Winchester. If she shot, the bullet would likely pass through the inch-thick wood, but would it hit Lilith? Jade decided to wait. When Lilith left, she’d shoot around the bolt to break it loose. But Lilith had to leave first.
“Now,” said Lilith, “you’re going to tell me who you are.”
Jade didn’t answer, her mind racing for a solution. Mutahi had come here and found some of the poison tea. Perhaps she could convince Lilith that she was yet another Kikuyu.
“I asked a question!” snapped Lilith. “Who is down there?”
Jade looked at Jelani and had a sudden flash of inspiration. She twisted her voice to sound old. “Saidia haraka!” she wailed. Get help quickly. “Niko pamojana mtoto.” I’m with my child.
For a moment, Jade held her breath. Would her ruse work? Would Lilith believe that Jelani’s mother had come to find him?
The answer chilled Jade’s heart.
“Ah, Jade. I cannot tell you how it gladdens my heart that you’re not dead. Yet! That was a very good try just now. I almost believed you to be a native woman, but your voice is burned into my memory.”
Lilith laughed, the sound of a glacial river tumbling over a rock, freezing whatever it touched while it inexorably ground away at the stone beneath it. “I’m not certain how you managed to fake your own death, but it was most convincing. I trust you are the O. Fairley in the newspaper. Or is it Lord Dunbury? No matter. I’ll make a quick check along the river this evening in case. If there is someone waiting, I’ll have another nice hostage to keep you from trying anything foolish when I return. And then I’ll repay you for everything and with interest.”
The last sound Jade heard from atop was that of something heavy being dragged across the floor on top of the door.
HARRY REACHED THE DARKROOM BEFORE EMILY, only to realize that he didn’t have the keys to unlock it. He heard a gentle jingling behind him and turned.
“You’ll need these,” Emily said, holding up a set of keys. “I got them from Farhani.”
“Good thinking,” Harry said, taking them from her hand. “You’d better wait outside.”
“I will not,” she snapped.
Harry sighed. He’d never met so many temperamental women as he had since Jade had moved here. “Very well, but let me interrogate him.”
A soft hmph told Harry that he’d have no luck getting this woman to comply either. But he no sooner had the keys than three girls with very determined faces raced to join them. They were dressed in their Girl Guide uniforms and wore canvas bags slung over their shoulders.
“Mary, Elspeth, Helen!” said Emily. “Why aren’t you girls in school?”
“We dismissed ourselves,” said Mary, “as soon as we heard the news about the riots.”
“We told the headmistress that we were needed to minister to any wounded,” added Helen. She reached in a cloth pouch and pulled out a roll of bandages.
“But when we got to the police,” continued Elspeth, “we learned about Lieutenant Jade, so we came here straightaway. Where is Captain Dunbury?”
“She’s gone,” said Emily. “She’s hiding with the baby.”
“You girls go home or back to school,” ordered Harry. He flapped a hand at them as though he were shooing chickens. The girls didn’t budge.
“We can tell that you’re in the middle of something important,” said Helen. “And we plan to help you.” The other girls nodded once, emphatically.
“It’s our sworn duty,” added Mary.
“Be damn
ed,” muttered Harry. “Miss Heathington, tend to these girls.”
Emily grabbed the keys as Harry slipped one into the lock. “Mr. Hascombe, I intend to find out what this prisoner knows.”
“Prisoner!” echoed the girls in unison. Their eyes widened.
“You must interrogate,” said Elspeth. “We’ll be witnesses.”
Harry growled at them. “Then stay back!”
The four females jumped back a half pace, enough for Harry to regain control of the keys and unlock the door. He wasn’t certain who or what to expect inside, but it certainly wasn’t the sight of Steven Holly sitting placidly on a cot, reading a book. The darkroom had been wired for electricity and a lamp burned brightly on a table near his elbow. Opposite him were the wet sinks used for developing film. Avery had spared no expense for Jade, even to the point of installing a lavatory at one end. Before Harry could recover from his surprise, Emily pushed past him.
Steven Holly didn’t raise his face above his book. “I say, Farhani. About time you served lunch. I’m starved.”
“Mr. Holly!” Emily exclaimed. “What is the meaning of this?”
Holly dropped the book and scrambled to his feet. “Miss Heathington? What an unexpected surprise.” Then he saw Harry and the girls. “Oh, dear. And Hascombe and . . . Mary?”
Mary elbowed her way to the front, fists on her hips. “Uncle Steven! What did you do? And why did someone tell Mother that I might have been kidnapped?”
Holly blinked back at them like an owl struggling with sudden daylight. “Mary? What are you doing here? Does your mother know?”
“Does my mother know that her brother is locked up in Captain Beverly’s outbuilding?” Mary sniffed and tipped up her chin. “No, thank heaven, she does not. It would break her heart.” She wagged a finger at him. “But you haven’t answered my question. Why are you in here?”
Harry was about to physically remove the lot of them when he noted that Holly looked more worried about seeing the girls than seeing him. He folded his arms across his chest and glowered. “Answer the girl!”
“Well . . . I . . . you see . . .” Holly stammered.
Harry stepped in close. Holly shrank back onto the cot, pulling his head down like a turtle drawing into his shell. “Someone damaged the aeroplane Jade was flying and it crashed,” said Harry. “She’s dead and I think you did it!” He cracked his knuckles by Holly’s ear.
“No!” cried Holly. “I admit I’ve done things I’m not proud of. It’s all because of that gold mine. Since then, my life has been threatened more than once.” His gaze darted past Harry to his niece and Emily. “I was told I’d be crocodile food if I didn’t help someone get hold of Jade. I thought someone only wanted to hold her for ransom. I swear,” he added after their shocked gasps, “that I didn’t expect anyone to kill her.”
“You didn’t think at all!” roared Harry.
“You’d better tell us everything, Mr. Holly,” said Emily. “Or I’ll see to it that you spend the rest of your miserable life in a prison cell.”
“Please,” moaned Holly. He clasped his hands together in entreaty. “Just let me leave the colony. Jade’s already dead. Nothing I can say will bring her back, and if I help you, I’ll be killed.”
Harry whispered in Holly’s ear, “I’ll kill you myself if you don’t tell me everything.”
Holly nodded, his body shaking. “It started after Mary’s birthday party. I was approached that evening by a man dressed in black and muffled up to his eyes. He wasn’t particularly large, perhaps Miss Heathington’s height, but he had a presence that one does not defy. There was something about his face, the part I could see. A thin scar running up from the nose and across the eyelid, and those cold eyes.” Holly shuddered again. “Look at me! I’m not a fighter. I work in a ruddy bank. I was terrified. I couldn’t even tell Jade when she caught me.”
Holly shook his finger at each of them. “Do you know, he told me that he could kill me just for mouthing to everyone about the mine. It was to have been a secret, he said, but he’d spare me the fate of the others if I helped him.” He put his head in his hands and sobbed. “I didn’t want to be thrown to a crocodile!”
“Continue, Mr. Holly,” said Emily, her voice cool and subdued.
Holly pulled out a wrinkled handkerchief and blew his nose. “I was ordered to lure Jade to Hascombe’s old house, where I’d pretend to be in a faint. But Lady Dunbury and you girls came after her, spoiling the plan. This man cleared out as soon as he heard the Overland.” He looked at Harry. “I was glad. I didn’t want Jade to come to harm. She was a swell girl.”
“Was,” said Harry.
“And the barrettes?” asked Mary. “How did you get my barrettes and pin?”
“Yes, well. I was told to collect something from one of the girls in case Jade got away on this first attempt. Something to lure her again. You were just the easiest, since you’re my niece. You can imagine my horror when I was given those barrettes and the pin back with that terrible ear thrown in with them. I couldn’t let anything happen to you, Mary.”
“But now our Lieutenant Jade is dead,” said Mary softly.
“And innocent children have been threatened,” added Emily. “This is . . . it’s unconscionable, Mr. Holly!” She turned to Harry. “Do you think we should go to the police with this information? Perhaps that fiend is again at your farm. After all, Mr. Holly lured Jade there once before.”
“I can take you there,” said Holly. “If you let me leave the colony afterwards. I think I know where he’s hiding.”
Harry motioned for Emily to follow him outside, where they could talk without Holly overhearing. “It’s a sure bet that the police are too busy right now to do anything,” said Harry.
“The notice in the paper,” whispered Emily, “said that this Fairley was to meet someone tonight. That he wanted to become a partner.”
Harry looked at Emily with fresh admiration. “You’re right. If I can get there first, I can capture Fairley and whoever else is involved.”
“I?” asked Emily. “Don’t you mean we? You can’t keep an eye on Mr. Holly and shoot these murderers.”
“And we’re going, too,” said Mary, who’d been listening in with the other girls. She reached into her satchel and pulled out her sling. “We can provide cover.”
“Absolutely not!” shouted Harry. “I draw the line at children coming along.” He went back inside, jerked Holly to his feet, and dragged him to his truck. The girls and Emily followed. Harry snapped at them, “I’m taking Mr. Holly with me. I am not taking any of you.”
He shoved Holly into the vehicle and climbed in, spraying gravel as he raced away.
CHAPTER 27
As long as animals need to drink, they will come to the water
and brave the danger. They have little choice.
—The Traveler
SAM INHALED DEEPLY, striving to remain calm. The sun had moved farther west, well into afternoon, increasing the chances that someone would spot his shifting shadow. He’d never developed the level of patience that true hunters possessed. He’d always preferred to stalk prey rather than sit long hours in a blind or up a tree. And thank heaven he’d never had to spend months waiting in a muck-filled trench. His had been a world of activity, of moving gears and flying machines.
So far everything was quiet, as he expected. At least, all he’d heard was one lone fish splash downriver, and the falls muted any noise from upriver. He had little doubt that Lilith had started that riot today. All her recent plans in Nairobi were unraveling, thanks to Jade. Stockton’s and Waters’ deaths, made to look like accidents, had been uncovered as murder. The gold mine scheme was exposed, thanks to Waters’ greed and Steven Holly’s big mouth. And now with Pellyn dead, the best Lilith could hope for would be to escape. She had to know that the police were interested in finding her now. The riot would keep them busy while she tied up loose ends.
Even the riot had been masterfully orchestrated. A long series of article
s in the Leader, decrying the horrid squalor of the Indian district and the lack of response from the government to provide alternate home sites, made the resulting plague look like a brutal attempt at reducing the Asian population. The tinder laid, all Lilith had to do was light the spark. A word to a shopkeeper who’d lost a child would do it.
Anyone other than Lilith would have taken the opportunity to leave. And inadvertently, faking Jade’s death might have hastened Lilith’s departure. But Sam had given her one last reason to stay. He’d let it be known that someone knew about her and could bring her the full revenge she desired or he could bring her down.
Sam was counting on Lilith’s bloodlust. She wanted to find her husband’s bastard child. But just in case all she wanted was to tie up a last loose end by killing him, he provided her with a target. A few minutes ago he had lit the magic lantern, creating the image of the patiently seated man inside the tent. Then he had taken up his position in the boulders with the falls to his back. Now he waited.
HARRY KEPT ONE EYE ON THE ROAD and another on the sniveling man cowering in the seat beside him. He didn’t believe that Holly could show him anything he couldn’t find himself, but he didn’t intend to let the man out of his sight. If nothing else, Harry wanted to beat the man to jelly for his involvement in Jade’s death, and he couldn’t very well do that in front of all those females.
He still couldn’t. Hot on his tail in Dunbury’s Hupmobile was that Heathington woman and those three girls. If he hadn’t been so angry at them for following him, he might have admitted to a grudging admiration for their bravery and persistence.
Harry swerved around a Wakamba woman in the road who was carrying a basket of yams. He made the turn by Thika and skidded onto the track heading towards the new Athi Bridge. His tires spewed rust-colored dust but still he made out the Hupmobile. He wasn’t going to lose them; that much was clear. He’d have to divert their attention to someplace safe.
Maybe I can convince them to stand watch at the ranch house while I go on.
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