Killed in Kruger

by Denise M. Hartman

  “First we have to make sure you don’t have someone putting you on. A bullet hole and a puncture wound from a lion’s tooth might be confusing for some.”

  “He sounded like he’d seen a few bullet holes.”

  “In that area, it is more than likely. I’ll come out and have a look at the place where they found your uncle in the park.”

  Tabitha remembered her film at the developers.

  “I went out the other day before it rained and took pictures of the area. They’re in Nelspruit at the processors.”

  “Why’d you do that?” Rian asked.

  “I don’t know; it just seemed so unreal for me. It was a way to make his death more tangible. Plus I was hoping I’d run across his film, that somehow the rangers had overlooked it.”

  “Did you? Find any film that is.”

  “No. Nothing. Probably just took a set of boring pictures.” For some reason she didn’t tell him about the rolls that had dislodged from under the seat of the bakkie. She couldn’t chance Phillip’s pictures getting confiscated. Besides, it seemed that was all she had left of him. “You could pick up the slides, and I’d pay you back if you’re coming out here anyway. You might find the pictures interesting.”

  “Yes, I think I would at that.” He paused. “I’d like to see you again, too.”

  A pounding developed in Tabitha’s chest. “Ah, well. Uhm. I don’t want to inconvenience you.” This was strange. She needed the help of someone she could trust, but not the complications of a romantic connection. Should she mention Jeffrey? Or would that end Rian’s willingness to help?

  Tabitha gave him the details and arranged to meet him the following day when he came out to Kruger, and quickly got off the phone. She shivered as she hung up. Why would someone kill Phillip and not take all the camera equipment? Crime ran high in South Africa, but this didn’t seem like random crime. Why would a thief take the digital equipment and not the lenses and film cameras? Phillip must have taken the wrong picture.

  A cloud crossed the hazy rays of a lingering orange sunset. Tabitha looked around at all the happy travelers. Families and adventurers, some just arriving back at camp, some crossing the patio toward the camp restaurant. She longed to be carefree, but her lot had been assigned to her. This trip had been difficult from day one, with Jeffrey and her mother not wanting her to come. And now the tragedy of Phillip’s death was in her hands. No one wanted an answer like she did, or expected one, for that matter. Not even the police officer who was showing too much interest in her. Was this what Jeffrey feared about this trip? Competition? It was incredible to think. Her heart was home with Jeffrey, but her soul was here fighting for information in Africa.

  She wasn’t about to let all the naysayers be proven right about this trip. Even if she could not discover who killed Uncle Phillip, or why, his name would appear in print once more and hers along with it. The man deserved at least that.

  Chapter 30

  Johanne tiptoed through the camp. He heard the snort of the giraffe and the loud scuffle of his own heavy footsteps, despite his attempts at stealth. He couldn’t help it if he was big.

  Pieter’s jacket lay over a camp chair near his tent. The Jeep was gone, so Johanne figured the baas was too. Still, Pieter was a palpable presence in the camp, even when he wasn’t here.

  Johanne slipped his hand into the inside breast pocket of Pieter’s jacket and found a small black leather book. He licked his thick lips, biting down on the lower one. Pages of scribble, some in Dutch, some in English, even a little Afrikaans. Johanne could read the English and the Afrikaans. Names. He needed names and phone numbers. His tongue darted to the other side of his mouth as he flipped pages.

  Ahh. Here was a name and phone number—in Holland. That wouldn’t do him a lot of good. Between him and that stupid kafir Mhlongo, they wouldn’t have enough money to get the goods out of the country.

  He tore a piece of paper from the back of the book and wrote down the name and number anyway. Flip, flip. The pages rattled and sweat formed on Johanne’s forehead. He heard a motor in the distance. Faster the pages flipped. He had once accompanied a shipment to the border and knew there were border contacts too. Another page of names, no numbers.

  Johanne’s hand shook as he tried to scribble the names onto the piece of paper he’d torn out. The engine was more insistent, definitely coming toward the camp. He closed the little book and shoved it back into Pieter’s coat.

  He ran a hand through his bristly blond hair and flung himself in a chair opposite the one Pieter’s stuff was on. He pulled a thin cigar from his pocket and lit it with a shaking hand as the Jeep pulled up to the campsite.

  Pieter slammed the Jeep door and shot across camp. He marched directly to his jacket, eyes on Johanne.

  “Don’t you ever do anything, you lazy Boer?” Pieter demanded.

  Johanne shrugged. “Cleaned out the pen some.”

  Pieter picked up his jacket and sniffed it. His eyes narrowed. Johanne kept his eyes on the cigar and the sky.

  Chapter 31

  Tabitha sat at breakfast under a thatch awning. The sounds of the morning birds were clear and the smell of bacon was in the air.

  “Allo, Miss.” Daniel’s lean frame towered over her. His dark brown skin glistened in the morning sunlight.

  Tabitha rose from her breakfast table. “Daniel. You made it back to the park. No problems?”

  The baritone laugh sounded. “Oh, oh, oh. No, no problem. I do this regularly since I do not have a car. I find a lift here or there.” Tabitha noticed he was not in uniform, but wearing khaki slacks and a loose yellow shirt.

  “Sit down and tell me how your family was.” They took their seats, and Tabitha went back to her toast and jam. Daniel declined to eat.

  “This is why I wanted to find you. I got a car to drive from Skukuza over here to Sabie. Remember I told you that my mother is a woman of prayer?”

  Tabitha nodded. She savored a bite of black current jam.

  “She saw something in praying for you and your uncle’s circumstances. Like a vision.”

  A hand seemed to close around Tabitha’s heart. She struggled to push the bite of bread down her throat. She swallowed some coffee to wash it down. She had been raised with church, but not really the visionary variety. First isangoma—Zulu witch doctors—and now a God-fearing praying woman with visions.

  “My mother, she is a woman of God. She is praying for you, but she feels you are in danger and urged me to come back and find you.”

  “Danger? What do you mean?”

  “She sees shadows coming at you from all sides.” Daniel’s eyes grew wide as he told of his mother’s vision. “You must be very careful. God reveals this thing to her. She is praying now for your safety, but you must take care.”

  “First the funeral director wants an isangoma. Now your mother thinks I’m in danger. What else?” She squeezed her arms around her torso. Creepy.

  “What? No! This is a bad thing. Tell me.”

  She sighed and leaned back in her chair. “A lot happened while you were away. I went into Nelspruit to arrange with a mortuary for my uncle’s transport back to the States. I got all the red tape squared away to release the body. Anyway, this mortician finds a hole…” She cleared her throat, trying to keep her voice from shaking. “He thinks it’s a bullet. That my uncle was killed. Maybe that’s what your mother saw that made her think I was in danger.”

  “Your uncle was…?”

  “Murdered. That’s what I fear.”

  “But here in the park? That is highly unusual,” Daniel said. His wide brow creased.

  “But the crime rate is so high in South Africa. I thought…” Tabitha bit back the rest of the insulting idea that his country was full of crime and danger.

  “It is a dangerous place in certain areas, in the cities particularly, but not the park. It is not the common criminal’s realm. This is very serious.” Daniel clasped and re-clasped his hands in front of him on the table.

&n
bsp; “The policeman I spoke with in Nelspruit thought perhaps it was, uh, a puncture wound from an animal tooth mistaken for a bullet.”

  “I will pray that this is so. It would be a very bad thing for the violence to spread to the park.”

  “But the mortician seemed to know his stuff. It sounded like he has dealt with violent deaths.”

  “What did he say to you about an isangoma?” Daniel crossed his arms on his broad chest.

  “Just that he needed to have one in because of the violence. Although now that I think about it, he started pushing for that right away even when I thought my uncle had been…that the animals had gotten him.”

  “You should not be mixing with these things. They are dark.”

  “He said something about shades?”

  “Shades are ancestors. The past is very important here. Ancestors must be appeased or they make trouble for you. Sometimes even the Christian believers struggle with this idea still. God is not pleased by this thing. It is not from him.”

  “But surely if it’s local custom, it’s better to just pay the money, and let the man do what he feels makes him safe.”

  “Money?”

  “The isangoma doesn’t come for free, does he?”

  “Oh, no. But this man may be trying to take your money.”

  “I know. I realized that, but if it appeases him and gets my uncle on his way, I don’t care.”

  “You should care. These may be the shadows in my mother’s vision taking your spirit.”

  “Daniel!” She raised her voice. Then covered her mouth with a hand.

  The screaming call of the hadida ibis bird broke through the morning air and a breeze rattled the trees, brushing at her suddenly hot cheeks. The shriek of the bird made her realize she was strident too.

  “Miss, I don’t mean to upset you. The isangoma is not of God, but it is spiritual, and the vision of my mother is from God. We worry for you. This is not make believe.”

  Tabitha feared she would hurt his feelings. “I know. It just seems so farfetched.” An idea occurred to her. “Am I supposed to pay your mother something for this warning? As a courtesy.”

  “No, no, no. My mother would not hear of it. God shows her you are in danger and we warn you. This is enough.” He shook his head.

  “She didn’t happen to get to know what kind of trouble I am to watch out for?”

  “Just shadows chasing you. Darkness.” He nodded. His eyes on her face were sober.

  While this all struck Tabitha as somewhat melodramatic, she could see that it was serious to Daniel. “You’re sure it wasn’t just what happened to Phillip that influenced her thinking?”

  “No, because she asked me did you have long honey-colored hair. I had not told her what you looked like.”

  Goose bumps rose on Tabitha’s arms. This was unreal. Her hand shook as she reached for her coffee.

  “You must be careful, and you must not be involving yourself with an isangoma.” He shook his head as he spoke.

  “It’s too late. I told Mister M, the funeral guy, to do what he needed to do and I would pay for it.”

  “No.” He paused, looking up to the thatch covering of the porch. “What’s done is done, but don’t go there when the isangoma comes. These beliefs hold power, but it is the power of evil.”

  They sat in silence for a moment. Tabitha heard the soft sounds from others eating breakfast, and more birdcalls in the bush. Someone dropped a plate and she jumped from her chair. Embarrassed, she resumed her seat.

  “I am sorry to upset you. It is hard enough for you with your uncle’s passing. I have a few days off that I can give to helping you with your work or whatever tasks you have. I didn’t mean to cause you discomfort. My mother wanted me to come back to warn you and keep you safe.”

  Tabitha stared out across the faint green of the campground. She worried her bottom lip with her teeth. This talk of the supernatural made her uncomfortable. It sounded so real, suddenly. On the other hand, Daniel had been kind and helpful to her and she knew his intentions were honorable. She knew God works in strange ways, too, and it didn’t seem completely insane that Daniel would be an emissary of God somehow. He’d certainly helped her. Perhaps she needed to expand the way she thought about these things. She could use a little kindness too, and Daniel offered that. She felt alone and isolated in this country. Could she just get on a plane and go home? Leave all the questions behind? She knew Phillip’s death would haunt her unless she sorted it out. Phillip deserved better. She sat up straighter in her chair.

  “I need to know what happened to my uncle. Maybe this hole will be a puncture wound, and maybe I’ll go home in a few days, and your mother can rest easy. But in the meantime, I’ve got to find out more. I’d be glad of your help.”

  Daniel exhaled and smiled. “I was fearing that you would tell me I was a fool and to go away.”

  Tabitha smiled at his relief. “Well, I’m not too sure about all you said, but you’re okay.”

  <><><>

  Souli felt his role as head ranger was above spying on this young woman, but he did want to keep the acting director happy and his investigation clean. He ducked into the snack bar when he saw Daniel coming. He watched the discussion going on with Tabitha Cranz through a rack of crisps. They seemed to get on well. Maybe he should just ask Daniel to keep track of the woman. How thin did he dare spread the investigation? The fewer people involved, the less likely it would get back to Mhlongo before they were able to stand him for charges.

  The conversation between the American woman and Daniel seemed quite intense. Souli felt for her; he really did. Coming all this way to discover a family member dead must be dreadful. Now she had someone following her movements. Souli ducked down when he saw Tabitha jump from her chair, but she sat down again. From his ducked-down position, he caught the gleam of something out across the river outside the camp. He studied more closely and saw a human form snaking its way through the dried bush grass. Souli pulled a small set of binoculars from his cargo pants pocket and studied the landscape as best he could from his hidden position.

  Mhlongo. A knife attached to his trousers glinted again in the sun. That’s what Souli had seen. What could Mhlongo be doing? He certainly couldn’t poach an animal in front of the camp viewing area. Mhlongo raised field glasses up to his face. Souli made sure he was behind the crisps, out of view. When he peeked again, Mhlongo appeared to be watching the eating area.

  Souli wondered what this was about. The only conclusion he could find was this Tabitha Cranz warranted following by more than one group. Things could get interesting. Perhaps this woman was the import/export source that Mhlongo had contacted. This might not be a waste after all.

  <><><>

  Tabitha and Daniel made arrangements to meet in a little while to go shoot pictures. Tabitha, in the meantime, wanted to get hold of Jeffrey. She could use a friendly voice and needed some reassurance. She went over to the pay phone, dialed his number and got him on the line.

  “So you are alive?” was his greeting.

  “Very funny. What else did you expect?”

  “Well, your mother has been calling me daily, just sure you’re dead or lying helpless on the African plains. She’s very persuasive, you know.” The humor in his voice was a breath of fresh air and a good sign.

  “Yes, I do know all about it. I hate to tell her, you don’t lie helpless here for long. The animals’ll get ya.”

  “Is that really what happened to Phillip? That’s awful.”

  “Well, we’re not sure now.”

  “What?”

  “I’m waiting to hear more from the authorities, but the guy at the funeral parlor, if you can call it that, more like gas station turned funeral parlor, he thought maybe Phillip had been killed by a bullet.” She flinched as she said this, knowing a serious reaction awaited her.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me. People don’t get killed by bullets. They get murdered by humans with guns. Are you staying?”

  “I�
��ve got to find out what really happened. Besides…”

  “What happened? So you’re telling me there are no law enforcement officials in all of South Africa, that you singlehandedly need to solve this crime?”

  “It may not be a crime. I’m hoping Daniel and I can see a police officer today when he comes in from the city, and he will confirm if it was a bullet hole.”

  “Gaaaa, woman, you make me crazy. Batting around on the other side of the world trying to figure out a potential international incident by yourself.”

  “I thought one of the things you loved about me was my independence.”

  A big sigh came down the line. “Sometimes.”

  It was quiet a little too long. The line buzzed with static as they each thought hard.

  Tabitha chewed on her lip and shifted the phone to the other ear. “Do you want me the way I am or the way you wish I would be?”

  “That’s not fair. I’m not going to be excited to see you going off on your own to the far reaches of the earth. Maybe I’ll get used to it someday. Maybe you can get a regular job someday.”

  Tabitha’s immediate reaction was don’t bet on it, buster, but this trip had done nothing to stimulate her desire to see foreign fields by herself. She’d wanted Jeff along for moral support and to boost her confidence. On her own, it was harsh and lonely. She wouldn’t find a Daniel at every stop, but hopefully there wouldn’t be a tragedy at each stop either. She’d wanted so badly to prove she could do this trip, but now those feelings didn’t seem so important. “I don’t know.”

  “Part of me wants to protect you from the world. You’re this gorgeous young thing. You look like you’re eighteen, you’re so small—I can’t help it. My he-man instincts tell me, ug, ug, keep woman safe, my woman, ug, ug.” He spoke in a cave man voice.

  Tabitha couldn’t help herself. The laughter poured out, and it felt good breaking the tension. “I love you, caveman.”