Death by Tradition: Fiji Islands Mysteries 2

by B. M. Allsopp

  ‘They sincerely feel that you have honoured them by your invitation to Fiji, Ratu Osea. One lady told me visiting Tanoa will forge a real connection with an ancestor she has only heard about.’

  The chief lifted his brows in assent.

  ‘Ratu, Tomasi Kana has been charged with procuring the theft of the very war club that killed Rev. Weston from the Fiji Museum and for receiving it, knowing it to be stolen. He is currently in custody at Nausori lock-up.’

  The chief’s face became blank, immobile as he continued to stare at Horseman. Shock, or was he just deciding how to play his hand?

  ‘Ratu, I must ask you if you had any inkling of this?’

  The bonhomie vanished. ‘Not at all. How could I? Tomasi is a stalwart of the village now that he’s retired. He takes part in elders’ meetings, but he and I don’t chat much.’ The chief didn’t sound the least bit rattled. ‘How did he explain this crime?’

  ‘He says he was so ashamed that this club was displayed in the museum that he felt he must remove it from public view. He also claims that the club rightfully belongs to the people of Tanoa, not to the Fiji Museum. He says he simply restored it to its rightful owners.’

  ‘That’s rather strange, don’t you think, Inspector?’

  ‘That’s not for me to say, Ratu. However, with respect, you have expressed a similar idea of shame. You told me how the sin of murdering Rev. Weston has passed through the generations of Tanoa. It’s possible that your speeches over the last years have encouraged Tomasi in this idea. Do you agree?’

  ‘Anything is possible. Listeners often misunderstand the speaker’s message. It was ever thus.’ The chief appeared completely relaxed.

  ‘Dina, that’s true.’

  ‘Is the club in your possession now, Inspector?’

  ‘No, Ratu. Do you have any idea where it is?’

  ‘None at all. Hasn’t Tomasi given you this information?’

  ‘No, he claims it is no longer where he hid it.’

  ‘This is most concerning. However, I have no knowledge about this. I wish I could help you.’

  ‘I’m afraid the search for Kelera has not found any trace of her yet. Officers have finished contacting her relatives and friends in Nausori and Suva. None of them know her whereabouts.’

  Ratu Osea shook his head sadly, some mobility returning to his face. A moment later he looked into Horseman’s eyes and smiled. ‘On a happier note, I trust your American guest has accepted my invitation to visit Tanoa tomorrow?’

  ‘Io, she’s looking forward to it. Vinaka vakalevu. My colleagues will take Melissa up in good time for the ceremony. I’m afraid I can’t leave Suva until noon.’

  ‘Oh, she can come with my guests in the comfortable vehicle I’ve hired for the weekend. If she can be at the Grand Pacific at half past ten, they’ll be glad of her company. They’ll bring her back too, of course. It would be much better if she could arrive with the Westons for the official welcome.’

  What could he do but accept this convenient arrangement? Yet he felt even more like the fly in the spider’s web.

  ‘Vinaka, Ratu. I’m sure Melissa would like that.’

  ‘Melissa, what a pretty name,’ said the chief as they stood and shook hands.

  Horseman waited for a taxi on the steps of the club. When he switched on his phone, he found he had missed a call from Forensics fifteen minutes earlier. He called back immediately, relieved when Ash answered.

  ‘Thought you might have knocked off for the day, sir,’ Ash said.

  Horseman ignored the jibe, aware he sometimes vented his frustration on the SOCOs by similar remarks.

  ‘No way, afternoon tea at the Regiment Club, strictly in the line of duty, Ash. What have you got for me?’ He tried to sound casual.

  ‘Partial prints of a thumb and index from some of the hideout cigarette butts. They all belong to the same individual. We managed to dig up Constable Tomasi Kana’s prints from the archived staff files. No match.’

  ‘Can you be certain of that?’

  ‘Yes. It was not Tomasi smoking in the hideout. Sorry sir, I know you’ll be disappointed.’

  36

  The first drops fell as Horseman paid the taxi driver. By the time he got to the verandah, the rain was torrential. He kicked off his sandals at the door and dripped his way to the bathroom.

  Disappointed was an understatement. He had reasoned that if Tomasi stole the murder weapon, he must be the murderer. He knew there wasn’t enough evidence for a charge, but he was confident they’d get it very soon. Now the news from the lab showed his confidence to be mere wishful thinking. He must think it through again from the beginning.

  But Tomasi had confessed to procuring the club— that would stand. Tomorrow they’d question his security guard mate at the museum and wrap that part up.

  He hung his wet clothes on the line stretched across the back verandah. Could he be sure it was the watcher in the lantana hideout who killed Vili? Maybe that conclusion had also been too hasty. Whoever he was, he spent hours in there watching the paths. Could there be two watchers taking turns, one who smoked and one who didn’t? Possible, but far more likely this was the secret activity of one individual, a smoker like Tomasi. But not Tomasi.

  As he put the kettle on, he heard a toot and saw his sister Eva’s van pull up. He took golf umbrellas from the front verandah and went out to meet them.

  ‘We can’t come in, Joe!’ Eva called. ‘We promised to take the kids to the new Disney movie at six. Another time!’

  Melissa slid back the door and hopped out amid loud farewells. He high fived the kids through the windows, then went around to the driver’s side.

  His brother-in-law leaned out the window and whispered, ‘She’s a keeper, Joe. Mind you don’t let her go!’

  Horseman was sorry his family wasn’t coming in. He saw them far too seldom. They’d lifted his mood just with a few words. But he had Melissa back, and that was heaven. They made tea and toast while she bubbled with delight about her new experiences.

  ‘Honey, all the little indoor plants we buy at nurseries in Oregon—they’re growing up there like weeds! Outdoors, beside the paths, clinging onto the rocks, looking perfect! It’s so beautiful up there. And the swimming pools, the palm forest in the gullies…and all natural.’

  ‘The pools aren’t natural, you know. They dammed the creek in three places to make the pools.’ He stopped. Why this urge to qualify her amazement?

  ‘Honey, don’t spoil it. It’s natural enough for me. The falls, cascades, the pebbly stream—perfect! The bottom pool is so deep. The older boys jumping off the rope swing concerned me a bit, I guess. There must be injuries from that?’

  ‘I haven’t heard of any, but I wouldn’t unless someone died and it made the news. I suppose it’s risky. Fiji isn’t the States.’

  ‘Wow, those kids sure had a ball. Not a bored kid in sight!’

  His ring tone jolted him back from lovely waterfalls. It was Singh.

  ‘Got anything, Susie?’

  ‘No. We called off the search because of rain. I stopped at Nausori on my way back to check on Tomasi. Looks like he’ll be there for the night.’

  ‘I just found out Ash got good partials on the cigarette butts. Only one smoker, but it’s not Tomasi. They got his prints from staff archives.’

  ‘Pretty disappointing, sir.’

  He couldn’t stop a sigh. ‘Yeah, knocked me for six. But Melissa’s back now. She’s taken my mind off it for a bit.’

  ‘Good.’

  ‘We’ve got to revise our plan for tomorrow. Why don’t you come here and we’ll work it out?’

  ‘Oh no, I won’t disturb you, sir.’

  ‘Not a bit of it. We need a new plan, and that’s much better done face to face than over the phone, don’t you think? Melissa may see connections that we don’t. I know she’d love to try. Come over and we’ll nut it out together.’

  ‘Okay, if you insist. But I need to go home first to change. It’s been a lon
g hot day and now I’m muddy as well. Could be more than an hour if the traffic’s bad.’

  ‘Sure, we can show Melissa a real curry shop afterwards.’

  When he told her that Singh was coming for a meeting, Melissa didn’t seem particularly eager. Odd, but he remembered she’d be tired after such an active day, and still jetlagged.

  ‘You don’t have to sit in on our meeting if you don’t want to, darling. Take a nap, if you like, you must be tired. I just thought it would be good to have your ideas.’

  She put her arms around him, her lips brushing his ear. ‘You’re a funny guy, Joe Horseman,’ she whispered. ‘Why don’t we both take a nap first?’

  ***

  It was a good thing that an hour and a half passed before Singh turned up, although neither had a nap. They were up and ready to welcome her when the cab dropped her at the kerb. Horseman had brewed coffee while Melissa rustled through the things she had impulsively bought at the Friday market. She tipped banana chips and a bhuja mix into bowls and joined him on the verandah to greet his colleague.

  Singh shook hands with Melissa and placed her shoes tidily at the door. Horseman wondered why she seemed shy and awkward. But after he served the coffee, the three of them sat round the table and settled to work, nibbling the snacks.

  ‘Anything else from the SOCOs apart from the cigarette butts?’ Singh asked.

  ‘Not yet. Ash insists they can’t rush processing the material. Viliame’s murder isn’t their only serious case. There’s still a chance. We go back to our short list in Tanoa. We cross off Tomasi. That leaves us with Ilai and the chief.’

  ‘Why would they want to kill him?’ Melissa asked, wide-eyed.

  Singh came in quickly. ‘Both could be annoyed, maybe seriously incensed by a young commoner starting up new agriculture projects no one had ever thought of before. Successfully, what’s more. Chiefly older men are the ones to initiate projects, then the others hop to it and carry out their plans.’ There was a hint of impatience in Singh’s voice, which was a bit unfair. How could Melissa have known that?

  ‘I can understand them being annoyed, but murder?’ Melissa was incredulous.

  ‘A man beat his six-year-old child to death last year for continuing to sharpen her pencil after he told her to stop.’ Singh clearly wanted to speed up their discussion. Did she have somewhere else to get to? Melissa fell silent.

  Horseman filled the gap. ‘Another possible motive has come out of the FCU analysis of the files Vili was working on before he died. He signed out some files that don’t have anything to do with his official projects. It’s possible Vili thought his family had a right to some land that reverted to the present chief’s father decades ago. It’s complicated. However, if Viliame had approached Ilai or the chief about the land… both might take his challenge as a threat.’

  ‘Oh no, Joe. That sounds feudal.’

  Horseman admired her perception. ‘You’re so right, Melissa. Traditional Fiji society is feudal. So the chief and his headman are the only two in the frame now.’

  ‘But there could be others you just don’t know about?’ Melissa asked.

  Singh answered, too quickly. ‘Yes, of course, but we can only follow what we know now.’

  ‘Kelera, this poor girl that you’re searching for. Have you found nothing more?’ Melissa asked.

  ‘Nothing at all.’ Singh looked down.

  What was wrong with Singh? ‘Help yourselves to more coffee,’ Horseman said, passing the pot.

  ‘Try this bhuja, Susie. I got it at the market. It’s real good.’ Melissa passed the bowl to Singh.

  Horseman went on. ‘No more needs to be said about what we don’t know or haven’t done. Let’s plan tomorrow.’

  ‘I must go back to Tanoa early. We can’t give up on Kelera,’ Singh said firmly.

  ‘I agree. We have Tomasi’s confession to Triple C and that’s solid. Tomorrow I’m going to get him up early and ask my questions again and again until he starts singing. Susie and I don’t believe his story that stealing the club was his own idea and no one else knew about it.’

  Melissa frowned. ‘Why don’t you question the chief and his deputy—what’s his name, Ilai? As they’re the only guys you suspect?’

  ‘We don’t have anything on them, Melissa. Only logic and probability,’ Singh answered.

  Horseman hastened to explain Singh’s rather abrupt reply. ‘We have questioned Ratu Osea and Ilai, as far as we can go politely. They both claim they were in Suva last Saturday night when Viliame was killed. That alibi is confirmed by domestic staff, so it’s still not really confirmed.’

  ‘What do you mean, Joe?’

  ‘His loyal domestic staff would happily lie in the chief’s interest. Both Ratu Osea and Ilai deny knowing anything about anything. With no evidence, we can’t go further with them.’

  Singh chimed in. ‘A major obstacle is this huge ceremony tomorrow. Melissa, you probably don’t understand that two years of planning have gone into this. This is a one-off, or at least, a first for Fiji, so expect media to be there. The super talked about it last night. He’s firm that if the chief wants it to go ahead, it goes ahead. We’ve no reason to stop it.’

  Horseman said, ‘My official role is to supervise security, but my own priority is to support Susie and the others still searching. There’ll be government and church officials, related clans from near and far. Tanoa may be a small mountain village, but Ratu Osea is certainly not in the lower ranks of the chiefly pecking order.’

  Melissa looked troubled. ‘I had no idea Fiji was so different.’

  ‘Cheer up, I’ll take you to the Grand Pacific in the morning to meet the Weston descendants. You’ll be part of the VIP party and be looked after like royalty. It’ll be a day to remember, for sure. We Fijians know how to put on a good show, even in bad times.’

  ‘I can vouch for that, Melissa.’ Singh said.

  Horseman and Singh exchanged a smile. ‘And now, Susie and I will show you a proper curry shop. Ready?’

  Sunday

  37

  ‘Yadra Tomasi, did you sleep well?’

  Tomasi seemed tired, subdued. ‘No, Inspector. They woke me at five and brought me here to Suva.’

  ‘I hope you’ve been thinking about your situation.’

  ‘Io, I regret getting the boys to steal the war club from the museum. It was wrong. I got carried away by my shame.’

  ‘Good, the magistrate always favours a criminal who is sincerely remorseful. But you know that.’ Tomasi winced at the word ‘criminal’.

  ‘Your old colleague, the museum security guard, is coming in at nine o’clock to tell his version of events. He won’t have a job tomorrow, will he? Is there anything you forgot to tell us yesterday?’

  Tomasi shook his head. ‘No.’

  ‘You see, I don’t believe you were acting alone. It makes no sense. You say you got the club from the museum, took it back to Tanoa, and hid it. No one else knew anything about it.’

  ‘Io, that’s right.’

  ‘And now it’s no longer where you put it.’

  ‘Correct.’

  ‘Someone who knew nothing about the existence of the club found it hidden away in the school storeroom, took it, and murdered Viliame with it. Is that your claim?

  ‘Io, sir.’

  ‘Nonsense. At least one person knew about it. That’s whoever took it from its hiding place, I suggest by previous arrangement with you.’

  ‘No.’ Tomasi was digging his heels in.

  ‘Who could that be? The most likely people to know about the club are Ratu Osea and Ilai, the chiefly leaders. It’s more than a century since the murder of Mr Weston. No one remembers. The museum has no information on display about the history of the club. It’s only the insiders who know. And who has made reviving the Weston story his mission? None other than Ratu Osea.’

  Defiant, Tomasi shook his head.

  ‘I spoke to your chief yesterday afternoon to tell him of your arrest. He told me, like
you did at first, that he knew nothing about the theft of the club. He’s quite relaxed about you copping the blame. Pardon the pun. Ratu Osea asked you to get the club for him, didn’t he?’

  ‘No,’

  ‘When you returned with the club, you gave it to Ratu Osea, didn’t you?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Oh, you gave it to Ilai?’

  ‘No’

  ‘Did Ilai instruct you to hide it in the school storeroom, for him to collect later?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Really? Then you must have delivered it directly to Ratu Osea’s Suva house?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Tomasi, what did you do with the club after the boys handed it over?’

  ‘Like I said, I took it to the school storeroom.”

  ‘You said you hid it in your house.’

  ‘Io, um, wait a minute. You’re confusing me!’

  ‘It’s too hard to remember lies, Tomasi. Make up your mind to tell the truth. Do the right thing. Be truthful, as your parents and pastor taught you. You should be ashamed of these lies, not of a century-old sin you did not commit.’

  Tomasi’s anguish was obvious—his face crumpled, his shoulders slumped.

  ‘How many more hours do you want of this conversation, Tomasi? It’s tedious for us both. A fine young man was killed by this club. A wonderful young teacher has disappeared. Did Kelera see you sneaking into the school storeroom?’

  ‘No, I don’t know anything about Kelera!’

  ‘Ah, but you do know who killed Viliame, don’t you?’

  ‘No!’

  Horseman thumped the table. ‘What did you do with the club, Tomasi?’

  Tomasi was silent.

  ‘I’ll have to charge you with Viliame’s murder. I did not do so yesterday, because I was certain a police officer would see sense and tell me all that he knows today. However, you are the only person with a direct connection to Vili’s death. You received the murder weapon. If you didn’t give it to anyone, you fit the frame for his murder. Don’t you agree?’