Whispered Kisses

by Taylor, Janelle

  Jace glared at him. “No, you sorry bastard, I didn’t kill her.” He fetched a bottle of Scotch and a metal cup. He dropped wearily into a chair and began to drink. “I almost had her. Damn you for intruding and getting her killed. I should never have left her in camp today. I knew she was in danger from you and Louisa.”

  “I had nothing to do with this, Jace,” Louisa declared.

  “But you had something to do with those other incidents, didn’t you, bitch?” Chad accused. “That London attack, those gun problems, and that trouble at Fort Jesus. How else could you have known about them? You’ve been plotting against her the whole time! I’ll kill you.”

  “You aren’t going to put the blame on me; I won’t be framed, damn you. Leigh told me about those incidents. I didn’t mention them because I thought you and Leigh set them up to ensnare Jace’s interest in her so he’d be our guide and so he’d lose the wager with you. I’m innocent, so I won’t stand here and be insulted.” She fled to her tent.

  Johi touched Jace’s shoulder and said, “Bwana Jace-”

  “Leave me alone, Johi,” Jace mumbled. “All of you, leave me alone, Lordy, she was too beautiful and gentle to die like that. Why couldn’t that snake have attacked one of you?” He took the bottle and cup, and trudged through the rain and mud to his tent.

  Johi watched, looked sad and worried, then shook his head. He walked toward the bearer camp nearby.

  “It’s over, Chad. Let’s get inside.”

  Johi skirted the area and slipped behind Chad’s tent.

  The two men entered. Reid tossed Chad a dry shirt and said, “There’s nothing we can do now but return home. It wasn’t all wasted; you have Webster International.”

  Chad felt drained. “I wanted Leigh and the firm.”

  “You can’t have her; she’s gone. Don’t let this loosen your wits and tongue, old friend. You were planning to kill her.”

  “That was before I met Leigh and fell in love with her.”

  “That’s right, but you changed your mind again. You realized she was duping you, so you were going to kill her after we reached this camp. You changed your plan again because of what she told you during that walk. Don’t you see how confused you’ve been?”

  “She loved me and was going to marry me. She was fooling Jace.”

  “You only have her claims she was duping him.”

  “She didn’t lie, Reid.”

  “Then why is Jace so crushed by her death?”

  “He wanted her, too. We both lost this time.”

  “What are you going to do about him? He’s still after you.”

  Chad’s mind and body were numbing fast. “Nothing. Revenge got me into this trouble. I was going to lure Leigh here, kill her, and frame Jace. That all changed after her arrival in London. I decided to marry her and forget about Jace. I didn’t hurt her with those drugs in her canteen; I only did it to make her sick so I could cancel the safari and get her away from Jace. Then you and Louisa convinced me they were lovers, and I wanted to kill them both. I would have, if Leigh hadn’t told me everything during our walk. That talk told me you and that bitch were wrong. Leigh would have married me.”

  Reid knew he couldn’t reach Chad’s deluded mind. “Do you think Jace pulled those other tricks? Or Louisa?”

  Chad sank to his cot. “Yes, but what difference does it make now? My love is dead. Don’t talk anymore. I’m tired.”

  At dawn, Chad left his tent and hurried through the rain and mud to Leigh’s. He found Jace sitting on her cot, holding one of Leigh’s shirts against his lowered face. “What are you doing in here?”

  Jace lowered the garment and stared at Chad. He hadn’t shaved and he looked exhausted. “I held her in my arms and I saw her die, but I still can’t believe she’s gone. We did this to her, old friend. If you hadn’t insisted on leaving that last camp ahead of schedule, she wouldn’t have been in this area yesterday. And it was your order to leave the women behind so you could kill your big lion. I should have been the one giving orders, but she had me too distracted to keep my mind on business. What do you want to do with her things?” Jace lifted a book and glanced at it. He picked up her brush, pulled blond strands from the bristles, and gazed at them. He kicked at the boots near the cot supports, then cradled the Leigh-scented shirt again.

  Chad glanced around the tent, and anguish filled his eyes. “Burn it. Burn it all. I couldn’t stand to look at this stuff all the way back, and nobody is touching or taking her things. When can we leave?”

  Jace stood and flexed. “Mighty anxious to get to London, aren’t we? We can’t pack up and leave until the rain stops.”

  Chad looked outside. “When will that be? It’s still pouring.”

  “By midday. This is our long rainy season. It’s over in June, a week from today. You should have checked out the seasons before you planned this damned trip. If you’d waited until June…”

  Chad hadn’t slept, either, and his wits were dulled. It was as if the bad years between them slipped away for a time, and two old friends were sharing a grim moment. “I didn’t think about it. I only wanted to get Leigh away so I could …”

  Jace noticed the man’s mood. Almost tonelessly he said, “You should have remembered. This isn’t your first trip to Africa. That’s when this whole mess started. If you hadn’t stolen that ritual knife and provoked those Matabeles, none of this would have happened. You’re lucky they left that handsome face of yours alone, but the women you’ve snared with it weren’t so lucky. We’ve warred a long time, Chad. Look how it’s ended. We’re a fine pair of fools and losers. Joanna and Leigh are gone. We’ve been hating each other and battling for years. I really thought we could make a truce. Hell, I was stupid and gullible enough to believe you when you offered one. Sometimes I think about our years as best friends, and I miss them. I still can’t understand how this happened to us. It makes me mad. Lordy, I’m tired.”

  Chad looked the suffering man over. “You look terrible. Did you sit here drinking all night?”

  “Most of it, but it didn’t help.” Jace stood and flexed. He rubbed his stubbled jawline and weary eyes. He finger-combed his tousled hair. “Why don’t we rest and hunt here for another week while we clear our heads?” the green-eyed man suggested. “You still have three paid weeks of your safari. Leaving isn’t going to change matters.”

  “I have to get home and forget this … accident. There’ll be a lot of changes to handle. She would have been damned good at that firm. I took her around several days. She is so smart and quick.”

  “Was, Chad. Was smart and quick. Where is your mother?”

  Chad sighed deeply. “In India. She went there with friends to get over William’s death. This news will shock her. Of course she barely knew Leigh. But I knew her. What happened, Jace?”

  “What do you mean?” Jace probed the weary man.

  “To us. Here. Why did she have to die when everything was going so well? No woman has touched me as Leigh Webster did. We could have been so happy together. You and I could have made peace and become friends again. Her love taught me to forgive you. Why did fate hurt me again? I didn’t do anything wrong this time. It’s this land. Africa!” he accused in bitterness and mind-dazing grief. “I have to get away from here before something else happens to me.”

  “It’s a hundred kilometers to the Athi River,” Jace related. “I’ll send two bearers ahead to hail boats. Plenty of them use the river to transport goods close to Nairobi. Then carts, take supplies on into town. Traveling by river will be easier and faster with all this rain to raise the water level.”

  “How far and long to Mombasa?”

  “The Athi converges with the Tsovo and Galana. That’ll put us two days from the rail line. We can camp there until the next supply load passes, then catch a ride.” Jace murmured as he figured the time and distance, “About five or six days to the river, about the same to the Galana, two or three days to the rail line, half-day by train. That should get us to Mombasa by
June eighth or so, about two weeks more or less. It all depends on the rains and stops.”

  “Lets get out of here as soon as we can.”

  “Would you like me to take you to that Kikuyu village to visit Leigh’s grave?” Jace asked. “She had a decent burial. We can be there and back before everything is loaded.”

  “No, I want to remember her as she was, beautiful and vital.”

  “I’ll leave Thiku behind. When this tent dries, he can burn it all. I never want to use it again. Since we’ve used a lot of supplies, we don’t need as many bearers on the way back. I’ll release some of them at the river to head home to Nairobi.” As if that jogged his memory, Jace murmured, “I wonder how Jim Hanes is doing with his cracked leg. It’s been weeks, so it should be almost healed by now. I may stop in Nairobi on my return home and check on him. Leigh might still be alive if Jim had been your guide; he uses different hunting locations. It seems that everything worked into cruel fate’s hands this time. This safari was doomed from the start. But you and I were too caught up in our trouble to read the danger signs, and we had plenty of them along the way. So many curious incidents should have warned us of peril. Dammit, why didn’t I keep my wits clear?”

  Those words jogged Chad’s memory, and cleared part of his wits. Jim was supposed to be in Mombasa awaiting payment for his ruse. Considering the passage of time and easy travel on the river and train, Jace shouldn’t be surprised to see the other safari guide in town. If he hadn’t been determined to kill his old friend, Jim would have been their guide, and Leigh would be alive. Guilt chewed at Chad. He had to leave before his grief revealed something incriminating. “I’ll go pack” was all he said, and left.

  Jace sighed in relief and knew the hardest part of this scheme was done. His behavior and words had duped the distraught Chad. He relaxed his taut muscles and smiled in victory. He reclined on Leigh’s cot, closed his eyes, and envisioned the scene in her tent yesterday.

  While keeping a watch on the camp through the tent flap covering, Jace had smeared a greenish-yellow mixture onto Leigh’s flesh, pinching the selected area hard to produce a reddish-blue spot. He used his sharp hunting knife to pierce two tiny holes in the unconscious blonde’s leg. He watched blood seep from the round wounds and ease over her discolored calf. He wiped the sterilized blade and put it into its sheath at his waist, then poured antiseptic over the injury. He placed her on the ground as if she had collapsed, then laid the deadly bush snake, with its decapitated head and long body, that he had killed beside her. A bloody machete was placed near her right hand.

  Jace gathered Leigh a change of clothes for the five-day trip to his plantation. He added one washcloth, one drying cloth, a bar of soap, and the extra brush he had brought with him for this occasion. He couldn’t take too many things or it would arouse the others’ suspicions. Besides, he had left a note from “Leigh Webster” ordering her possessions to be shipped to America, to await her arrival there: that trick should confuse Chad. Yet his man was not to deliver her baggage to the ship; he was to take it to Jace’s home as requested by Jace. Suspecting from the start that Leigh’s life was in peril, Jace had made plans to remove her from jeopardy the moment he felt the situation demanded action. That time had arrived, thankfully in this advantageous location. When all appeared in order for his daring ploy, he brushed away evidence of his presence and sneaked out the back of Leigh’s tent into the jungle.

  Later he returned to complete his ruse in camp. He met Buha and Jomo at the assigned place. The men and supplies were ready. He stuffed quinine tablets and a note into her possessions. He washed the colorful deception from the injured area, tended the wounds with medicine to prevent infection, and rebandaged her leg. They talked a few minutes in Swahili, then Jace said, “You know what to do with her. You took care of the fake grave at the village in case Chad demands to see it? The chief will go along with our trick?”

  The men nodded to both questions, took the lovely burden, and left the area. Jace sat down to rest. He would return to camp after dark with the grim news of Leigh Webster’s death. Considering the legal charges that already existed against him, this could make matters worse. By faking Leigh’s death, two people would take over her holdings, and he wanted to know those names. At least, it wouldn’t be Chad or Fiona, he mused, and Leigh would be alive to straighten out the ruse later, if he ever released her. His scheme had worked so far. He had Leigh at his mercy or he had her safe, whichever proved to be true. She would be held captive at his plantation until he guided the others back to Mombasa. Then …

  Jace halted the dreamy reflection. He got off the cot, glanced around the tent, then hurried to his. Thiku would be ordered to pack Leigh’s remaining possessions and take them to the plantation not far from Nairobi. She should be delighted to have her belongings again. The books would give her something to do during the next three to four weeks before his arrival home. He knew the rain would halt soon. Then he could get these people gone, and return home himself. He hadn’t learned anything from Chad about those London crimes, but he recalled how Chad—and Reid—had behaved last night.

  Jace’s green eyes narrowed and darkened as Johi joined him and gave a shocking report. He now knew the motive for Chad’s trip, and the unexpected change in the man’s plot. Leigh had been right about her guardian’s love and innocence. The haunting question was, if Chad hadn’t been trying to kill Leigh, who had, and why? With luck and stealth, perhaps he could get the answer during the return trip.

  Leigh became aware of a bouncing movement. Her mouth was dry, her head cloudy. The sun was playing on her face through the trees and she heard birds and monkeys chattering overhead. A strange weakness assailed her body and she tried to force open her heavy lids, but they refused to work. She dozed again.

  When she aroused, Leigh saw that she was being carried by two brown-skinned bearers on a makeshift stretcher. The two men were loaded with packs. Her clothes and hair had dried, so she was unaware of yesterday’s rain. The sun’s position indicated it was afternoon. “Stop!” she commanded. “Where are you taking me?” She leaned to one side, glancing before and behind them. “Where are the others?”

  The men spoke to each other in their language, and halted. They lowered the stretcher. One passed her a canteen.

  Leigh stared at the water container. Images of Jace flooded her head. He had sneaked into her tent, pinned her down, held her nose, and forced her to drink a bitter liquid. Now she was alone with these two men, his men. “What’s going on?” she demanded.

  One man pointed to himself and said, “Jomo.” He motioned to the other and said, “Buha.” He untied a bundle and handed her a note.

  Leigh took the paper and read it:

  Dear Miss Webster,

  Jomo and Buha do not speak English. They will take good care of you. Don’t forget your quinine tablets every day. Drink only the water they provide. They will not harm you if you behave yourself, but they are ordered to make certain you do as told. Escape is impossible. They’re taking you to my home to await my arrival. I should be there within three to four weeks. Abena will see to your needs. Don’t try anything reckless or foolish. A few words you might need: asante is thank you, ndiyo is yes, hapana is no, chakula is food, maji is water, kula is eat, lala is sleep, acheni is stop, bibi is lady, and iyoo means you need to be excused. Good luck. You’ll need it, my golden lioness, my deceitful beauty. Soon all your secrets and charms will be mine.

  Jace

  Leigh eyed the two men and plundered through the bundle. Jace must have assumed Chad told her about their wager that day because he had started acting strangely afterward. If this was a trick to save her life or one to keep them together, why hadn’t he told her and enlisted her approval and aid? His note was far from a love letter. Something was terribly wrong. She was astonished by Jace’s boldness. She could not imagine how he hoped to get away with such a deed. Surely Chad was enraged by now and would have the authorities searching for her soon. Surely the first place they w
ould look was the plantation. Jace would never kill all of them just to kidnap her!

  Her mind was in a maelstrom. He could have faked an abduction by natives, particularly if he had an unshakable alibi this time, such as the others on the hunt not knowing he had sneaked away for a time. Farfetched though it was, he could have hired friendly natives to dress as savage warriors to fool Louisa and Cynthia into being witnesses to her false kidnapping.

  Leigh knew that Jace wasn’t rash or stupid or crazy. There had to be a way for him to carry out this treachery without endangering or incriminating himself. How, she fretted, and why? She noticed the bandage on her leg. She yanked it off and gaped at the injury that appeared to be a snakebite. More wild speculations raced through her mind. Even if he faked a bite, how could he fake her death? How could he get her “body” away from Chad? Even if he pulled this stunt before the others reached camp, Chad would insist on viewing the evidence of her death.

  Jomo brushed away mosquitoes and flies from the tiny wounds and rebandaged her leg to protect it. He offered her water again.

  Leigh took the canteen and drank. It did not take long to realize it was not drugged, but Jace’s wicked deed in her tent made her suspicious of those other drugging incidents. She could not help but believe he had been behind them. She had given him a last chance to be honest with her, and this was his response. She ate the bread and tropical fruit handed to her. All she could do was obey the men. As Jace’s note warned, she could not escape into the perilous jungle. In a short time, she was feeling strong and healthy again.

  The men gathered their burdens, placed Leigh between them, and their journey continued.

  That night, camp consisted of a protective fire, three bedrolls under mosquito netting, a few supplies, and the three people. The two men talked to each other, but Leigh could not understand them. She wished she knew more African words than Jace had supplied. A lion roared in the distance. She clutched her cover to her neck and wished for a weapon. Despite her tension and doubts, she fell asleep soon, the walk having exhausted her.