Killed in Kruger

by Denise M. Hartman

  “I had a chance to take care of her, baas, but I didn’t do anything until I talked to you.”

  Pieter gave a tight-lipped nod. “I think you did the right thing. We need to leave her alone. No one is paying any attention to her wanderings and questions about poaching. If we do something, the authorities may become suspicious.”

  Mhlongo felt his jaw flex in the effort not to fight with Pieter. She needed to be taken out. “No, no…”

  “Did you not understand me? We are going to leave her be for now. First you’re dragging in here with people following you, and now you want to kill the only person for miles asking questions about poaching. No. We will wait and see what develops. We may be clean of here before it matters. If the girl needs to be dispatched to the afterlife, I will do it myself, so I can make sure it’s done right.”

  “But now she has…”

  Pieter interrupted. “Enough! Stilheid! What I do want to know about is why I have one less giraffe. Have I made you too angry? Did you need to punish us all somehow?” He spoke quietly, still with his back to Mhlongo. It felt like a calm before a storm. “Johanne seemed to think you knew something.”

  “He is a…”

  “I know. Tell me about the giraffe.”

  Mhlongo paused long enough that Pieter turned to look over his shoulder at the short man. Mhlongo slid his hands from his hips. “I looked at the bullet in the giraffe and took a look in the veldt on the hill.” He indicated with a nod of his head. “One rifle, one man from the northeast.”

  “Was it you? Kon jou?” Pieter looked back at the horizon as if information lay in that direction.

  “No. Not me, baas. I think I know what happened.”

  Pieter turned all the way around and pierced the bantu man with his gaze. “I’m listening.”

  “That crazy conservation kid in the Schopenhauer group. I saw him trying to shoot a buffalo in the Letaba. Then I heard him talking ignorant about the captures in a camp to some tourists who would listen.” Mhlongo started tapping a rhythm on his leg.

  “Can you prove it?”

  “Man. I do not have photos or police evidence. Things like these. I am a tracker.” He thought of how easy it would be to turn Pieter in to the authorities. He knew everything about his organization. Pieter should listen to him.

  “So if I call and talk to the leader, Elizabeth, right now?”

  Mhlongo shrugged. “She won’t know anything. She cannot control him.”

  And, Mhlongo thought, Pieter cannot control me.

  Chapter 38

  When she left the Kruger offices, Tabitha found Daniel leaning against the little yellow truck. His broad smile greeted her like an African Pillsbury doughboy— but a skinny one.

  “I saw your bakkie here. Any news?”

  She was still reeling from the strangeness of the interview with Mpande, and stopped for a moment to think. “News? Oh, yes. Rian let me know that it was indeed a bullet that killed my uncle.” She exhaled loudly.

  “I’m sorry that your experience of South Africa has been a difficult one.”

  “It’s not that.” She leaned against the car too. “It’s just that I feel like I’ve been beating my head against a wall trying to get information since I got here.”

  “What are you seeking now?”

  “I wanted to ask one of the rangers about poaching, but the assistant director of the park headed me off. It’s just weird.”

  “That is a very sensitive subject in the game parks,” Daniel said, shaking his head.

  “I suppose you’re right.” She opened the truck. “Everybody’s sensitive.”

  “I, ahh, thought I’d keep you under watch until you are in your rondavel for the evening,” Daniel said, folding his big frame inside the small truck.

  “Do you really think there is anything to be worried about in the gated and locked camp?” Tabitha didn’t take this threat idea as seriously as he did. Though his seriousness unnerved her. She had never thought a big African chemist would be her guardian angel. It was a funny idea.

  “I’d rather err on the side of caution, of this I am sure.”

  They drove in silence for a moment, Tabitha lost in thoughts of what could endanger her within the camp gates. She felt a sense of dissatisfaction at where her inquiries had led—nothing substantial or tangible, but something wasn’t right. But what about a sense of physical danger? She had to admit that a sense of safety eluded her at the moment. Maybe it was those haunted eyes in the dark slide of Phillip’s.

  “I’m surprised you don’t get tired of babysitting me,” Tabitha said, pulling into a parking spot near the restaurant. She yanked the emergency brake.

  “Oh, oh, oh.” Daniel’s deep laugh rumbled. “It is pleasant to be with you and besides, it is my job.” He gave her a smile.

  “No, it’s not. You’re using some of your days off to shepherd me around.”

  “Not my paid position, no, but my job. You have come into my path and I see from my mother’s vision an opportunity to do something for you. Protect you, I hope. Help with your picture-taking if I can. It is my job for this moment.”

  “How can you be so—so easygoing about it? I mean, you didn’t even train for this stuff. You’re a chemist, for heaven’s sake.”

  He looked sober. “There is more to who I am, to my personhood, than what work I do or what my training was at university.”

  “That kills me. I mean, how can you be so easygoing about not working in your chosen field?”

  “I am African and you are American. Perhaps that explains it. I don’t have to be anything but myself. If I am able to achieve something on the way in life, fine, but that is not my purpose.”

  “What do you mean, purpose?” Tabitha sat, twirling the keys around one finger, then catching them in her palm.

  “Like now. My purpose, my job is to help you. God gives me purpose each day.”

  Tabitha nodded and they got out of the truck. She contemplated his words as they made their way into the restaurant. Her American brain struggled to decipher the message. Her entire reason for this trip had been to achieve a new level in her career. The idea of her existence having a purpose separate from her achievement was foreign to her. She supposed part of this trip was a search for deeper significance, as well as achievement. It was like she had to prove something, like Jeffrey said. What? For now, she’d be content with finding the person who killed her uncle and seeing justice done. Not exactly her original purpose.

  Over dinner, she tried to describe the odd atmosphere that permeated her discussion with Mpande. “It was like he was trying to put me off speaking to the ranger. I felt…cut off. It threw me off and I didn’t even ask him about trafficking in the park. I found a picture in Phillip’s shots. It’s really dark and just part of some eyes and faces, nothing distinct, but I have to wonder if it wasn’t something illegal and dangerous. He didn’t normally take pictures of people, and especially not like this.” She dug one out of her bag, and a loupe, and gave it to Daniel. He studied it a minute and let out a long breath.

  “You can feel that something evil is occurring here. I can feel God’s heart breaking.” He rubbed a hand over his eyes. “If your uncle saw people being held, would he have gone to the authorities?”

  “Oh, absolutely. Probably immediately. That makes the missing digital camera strange. If that shot is on the film I found in the truck, what got him back out again with the digital?”

  “Maybe he went back for more photos with the other one?”

  “Possibly. I guess we’ll never know for sure. You can tell there’s nothing to see in the slide as far as surroundings or anything. I don’t know if it will help to show it to someone. It doesn’t show that it’s in the park, but I’m sure it is because this is the only place Phillip was coming to. I guess if the ranger does contact me, I can ask him to show it to Mpande or take a look at it. Or I’ll go over there tomorrow again.”

  “Which ranger did you want to see?” Daniel asked.

&nbs
p; “Well, I talked to Mhlongo earlier, and I thought since he inspected the giraffe capture that he’d be knowledgeable about poaching.”

  “I know this man. He is one of the top trackers of the game.”

  “Do you know him well?”

  “He isn’t the kind of man you know well. He comes from an area not far from where my family is. Sometimes we ride to the countryside together if one of us can get a car. Even though we spend that time together, he holds something tightly within himself, and I would not say we are truly friends.”

  “I noticed he wasn’t particularly communicative when I interviewed him,” Tabitha said.

  “I can speak with him, though, if you want to talk with him again. He lives near me on the grounds.”

  “Yes, that’d be good. I may as well turn over every stone. I thought I might end up with a story on poaching, besides my other ones.”

  <><><>

  Later, Daniel sat in a chair on an open porch that ran along the side of the employees’ quarters. Mhlongo was in a chair nearby, facing out into the darkness of the night. Mhlongo shook his short dreadlocks. “No. No and again no.”

  “Why are you so opposed to speaking to her again?” Daniel leaned back in his chair.

  “Why do you want me to speak to her so much?” Mhlongo sneered at him.

  “I just told her I would ask you. That is all. I didn’t know it would affect you like this.”

  “I had a memo which has forbidden me from speaking with the media, or any of the rangers to speak to the press without express permission.” Mhlongo lit a cigarette, and the flare of the match gleamed in his yellow eyes. The flame died, leaving them in darkness again except for the glow from the cigarette.

  “A memo never stopped you before,” Daniel said with a chuckle.

  “Ya, why she pick me?”

  “You talked to her last week and she went on the giraffe capture. She had questions.” Daniel hesitated. “I think she wanted to talk to someone who would know about poaching.”

  “Why would I know about that?”

  “Because you are a ranger. The top one.”

  Mhlongo preened under the compliment. Daniel decided to use extra incentive, while Mhlongo felt good. “She has pictures she wants you to take a look at, I think.”

  “Pictures?” Mhlongo didn’t exhale the smoke in his lungs.

  “Some slides from the capture, I think. To make sure everything is okay.”

  He exhaled smoke as he said, “Pictures.” This time a statement. “Who else has she shown her pictures?”

  “No one that I know about. She just wants to learn more about poaching and wishing you to interpret what is in the capture pictures. If you don’t wish to see her, I’m sure something else can be arranged.” Daniel stood to go. He wondered why Mhlongo behaved so strangely about talking to Tabitha.

  “I will see her and her pictures.”

  Daniel stopped, surprised at the man’s change of attitude.

  Mhlongo said, “But you must do something for me in exchange.”

  Daniel shifted his weight, considering the implications of this. “I’m not asking you to see her as a personal favor to me. I am simply asking.” Daniel suddenly wished Mhlongo would not talk to Tabitha.

  “Still, I want you to pick up some papers that are being delivered to the offices for me and bring them up to Satara camp to a man named Johanne. You know him?”

  “No.” Daniel continued, “I’ll do as you wish this time, but I will not become part of your scheming.”

  “What scheming? I am a simple man, a ranger,” Mhlongo said without humor.

  “I don’t know what you are doing, and I don’t want to know.”

  Mhlongo nodded. They arranged for him to meet Tabitha. Daniel left, but he felt the night shadows deeply around him and in him. Mhlongo had given his heart to the enemy of his soul, and Daniel wanted nothing to do with it.

  Chapter 39

  Pieter handed the roll of Rand bills over to the fat man, who counted the money slowly, licking his finger every third bank note.

  Pieter made an effort to look the epitome of patience, but fisted his hands in his pockets. He’d be glad to put people like this out of his life forever, but the sly greedy bastards were everywhere. Finally, the fat man finished counting. He opened a briefcase to show Pieter the diamonds. They were still rough and still had the appearance of dirty quartz. That would be remedied once he sold them through to Antwerp in Belgium, the diamond-cutting capital of the world. Looking at the rocks gave him a deep sense of satisfaction. He didn’t smuggle diamonds regularly, but he deserved a retirement bonus, a little something he wouldn’t share with anyone.

  A fat hand came over and plucked a small rock from the palm of Pieter’s hand.

  “A small delivery fee,” the man said in Afrikaans.

  In a flash, Pieter pushed the diamonds into his pocket and had a knife pointing up into the fat man’s second chin.

  “Open your hand before I open your neck and feed you to the hyenas,” Pieter said.

  The small eyes wavered and the man’s hand came up, offering the tiny rock.

  “That’s better,” Pieter said. He held the knife to the man’s throat, backing him towards his vehicle, until the fat man rolled inside and started the engine.

  Pieter secured the diamonds in a small bag and drove back toward camp. He dreamt of the things he would do after the goods were distributed and converted to liquid assets. He caught sight of Johanne as he came into camp, and swore. He wanted time alone to hide the diamonds in his private stash. Certainly, he wouldn’t share everything with these idiots.

  Chapter 40

  Tabitha rose early to put the finishing touches on a story she wanted to send off via email. Daniel stopped by briefly to tell of the arrangement with Mhlongo. She breakfasted on the camp patio, enjoying the sound of the birds all around. Out of nowhere, the ranger slipped into the chair across from her. His green jersey identified him as a park employee. Tabitha nodded and tried to engage in some pleasantries, but he wasn’t having it. She wanted to feel sorry for him—his social skills seemed so limited—but it just wouldn’t come.

  “Daniel said you wanted to see me again.”

  “Yes, I wondered if you would tell me a bit about poaching in the parks.” She scrambled in her bag for a notebook.

  “What is it you want to know?”

  Tabitha had conducted these kinds of interviews before, and they were always miserable. Trying to get someone to relax enough to carry on a conversation and get the information flowing. Should she have interviewed someone less knowledgeable but more talkative? The trouble was, she didn’t have sources here and Mpande wasn’t about to give her any names. “How much poaching goes on in the park system?”

  “I don’t know system-wide. It depends on who you choose to listen to.” Mhlongo bared his teeth in a semi-smile. “The park officials or the conservation groups.”

  “What do you say?”

  “The park says it is a limited problem, mostly of underprivileged people who need meat. This is a better thing to say than perhaps there are poaching gangs making a living from killing animals.”

  “Gangs?”

  Mhlongo crossed his arms over his chest. “Maybe a couple people or more, depending on what they might be hunting. They take things for the black market in Soweto. But I am not knowing this thing.” He clearly didn’t want to talk about it. No one wanted to. “Daniel said you had pictures.”

  “Yes, wasn’t that you who inspected the giraffe capture last week?” Mhlongo nodded. “I thought Mr. Vandenblok seemed disturbed by the idea that I had taken pictures, but I can’t see anything amiss in it.” She dug around in her bag, extracting the slide that showed the actual pen where they had captured the giraffes. The camera had squeezed off three shots while the wind had flapped the canvas open, exposing the enclosure. She withdrew one of the slides. Tabitha showed him how to use the magnifying loupe to view it. Mhlongo turned toward the sunshine and peered through t
he loupe. Tabitha watched his jaw flex as he squinted at the slide.

  He lowered the loupe and slide. “I see nothing wrong, Miss. It is just an enclosure for the giraffe.” He shrugged. “May I keep this?”

  “Why do you want it?”

  The man’s yellow eyes shifted. “Ah, it would be good for training the rangers what to look for at their inspection of sites.” He nodded. Mhlongo transferred the slide to his uniform pocket before she could answer. “Do you have more copies? Or other pictures?”

  A chill ran over Tabitha, in spite of the humid temperatures. “No,” she lied. “I wasn’t really interested in the capture enough to shoot much. Nothing came out.” And if it did, she wasn’t telling anymore, she decided. Two could play at that game. The chill in her soul kept her from showing the strange faces slide to Mhlongo.

  Tabitha was curious now to see his reaction to the slide Phillip had taken of the park employees, though. She withdrew the second copy of this one and handed it to Mhlongo.

  He turned toward the sunshine again and looked at the picture of two employees wrestling a carcass.

  Tabitha said, “I was just wondering if you can shed any light on this slide.”

  “Where did you get this?” His words were clipped, demanding.

  “It’s from a roll of film my uncle took. What’s wrong?” It dawned on Tabitha that Mpande must not have shown the slide to Mhlongo at all.

  “Nothing is wrong.” He turned back towards her. “Rangers have to make collections for the biology department sometimes. I am sure this is what is occurring here.” The same answer Mpande had given, but a similar strained reaction. What were they hiding?

  “So it is employees? Do you recognize them?”

  “No, I’m afraid the distance is too far in the picture.” He tucked this slide into his shirt pocket also. “This picture too would be good to show employees that they are never alone when doing their park duties.”