Leopard Hunts in Darkness b-4

by Wilbur A. Smith

  "I'm sorry will you repeat that?" Swiftly Abel Khori led him through his questions.

  "Did you see the driver of the truck make any signal as the Mercedes approached?"

  "Yes, he flashed his lights."

  "And what was the response?"

  "The Mercedes stopped and two of the occupants left the vehicle and went to speak with the driver of the truck."

  "In your opinion, was this a prearranged meeting?"

  "Objection, your lordship, the witness cannot know that."

  "Sustained. The witnes will disregard the question."

  "We come now to ydhr gallant rescue of Miss Jay from the evil clutches of tl* accused."

  "Objection the word "evil"."

  "You will discontinue the use of the adjective "evil"."

  "As your lordship pleases." After that hand-signal, and during the rest of Craig's testimony, Tungata Zebiwe sat immovable as a figure carved in the granite of Matabeleland, with his chin sunk in his chest, but his eyes never left Craig's face.

  As Mr. Petal rose to cross-examine, he moved for the first time, leaning forward to rumble a few terse words. Mr. Petal seemed to protest, but Tungata made a commanding gesture.

  "No questions, your lordship," Mr. Petal acquiesced, and sank back in his seat, freeing Craig to leave the witness box without harassment.

  Sally-Anne was the last of the prosecution witnesses and, after Peter Fungabera, perhaps the most telling.

  She was still limping with her sprained ankle, so that Abel Khori hurried forward to help her into the witness box. The dark shadow of the bruise on her neck was the only blemish on her skin, and she gave her evidence without hesitation in a clear pleasing voice.

  "When the accused seized you, what were your feelings?"

  "I was in fear of my life."

  "You say the accused struck you. Where did the blow land?"

  "Here on my neck you can see the bruise."

  "You state that the accused aimed the stolen rifle at Mr. Mellow. What was your reaction?

  will you tell the court whether you sustained any tAnd other injuries." Abel Khori made the most of such a lovely witness, and very wisely, Mr.

  Petal once again declined to crossexamine.

  The prosecution closed its case on the evening of the third day, leaving Craig troubled and depressed.

  ourite steakhouse, and He and Sally-Anne ate at her fay a bottle of good Cape wine did not cheer him.

  even "That business about the driver never having met Tungata before, and being released only on a promise to drive the truck-"

  "You didn't believe that?" Sally-Anne scoffed. "Even the judge made no secret of how far-fetched he thought that I was.

  After he dropped her at her apartment, Craig walked alone through the deserted streets, feeling lonely and AA

  betrayed though he could not find a logical reason for the feeling.

  r Joseph Petal QC opened his defence by calling Tungata Zebiwe's chauffeur.

  He was a heavily built Matabele, although young, already running to fat, with a round face that should have been jovial and smiling, but was now troubled and clouded. His head had been freshly shaved, and he never looked at Tungata once during his time on the witness stand.

  "On the night of your arrest, what orders did Minister Zebiwe give you?"

  "Nothing. He told me nothing." Mr. Petal looked genuinely puzzled and consulted his notes.

  "Did he not tell you where to drive? Did you not know where you were going?"

  "He said "Go straight", "Turn left here,"

  "Turn right here"," the driver muttered, "I did not know where we were going." Obviously Mr. Petal was not expecting this reply.

  "Did Minister Zebiwe not order you to drive to Tuti Mission?"

  "Oh ection, your lordship."

  "Do not lead the witness, Mr. Petal." Mr. Joseph Petal was clearly thinking on his feet. He shuffled his papers, glanced at Tungata Zebiwe, who sat completely impassive, and then switched his line of questioning.

  "Since the night of your arrest, where have you been?"

  "In prison."

  "Did you have any visitors?"

  "MY wife came."

  "No others?" "No. "The chauffeur ducked his head defensively.

  "What are those marks on your head? Were you beaten?" For the first time Craig noticed the dark lumps on the chauffeur's shaven pate.

  "Your lordship, I object most strenuously," Abel Khori cried plaintively.

  "Mr. Petal, what is the purpose of this line of questioning?" Mr. justice Domashawa demanded ominously.

  "My lord, I am trying to find why the witness's evidence conflicts with his previous statement to the police." Mr. Petal struggled to obtain a clear reply from the sulky and uncooperative witness, and finally gave up with a gesture of resignation.

  "No further questions, your lordship." And Abel Khori rose smiling to cross-examine.

  "So the truck flashed its lights at you?"

  "Yes."

  "And what happened then?" I do not understand."

  "Did anybody in the Mercedes say or do anything when you saw the truck?"

  "My lord-2 Mr. Petal began.

  "I think that is a fair question the witness will answer." all, and The chauffeur frowned with the effort of rec "Comrade Minister Zebiwe said, "There it then mumbled, is pull over and stop.""

  ""There it is'T Abel Khori repeated slowly and clearly.

  ""Pull over and stop'I That is what the accused said when he saw the truck, is that correct?"

  "Yes. He said it." No further questions, your lordship." all Sarah Tandiwe Nyoni." Mr. Joseph Petal introduced his surprise witness, and Abel Khori frowned and conferred agitatedly with his two assistant prosecutors. One of them rose, bowed to the bench and hurriedly left the court.

  Sarah Tandiwe Nyoni entered the witness stand and took the oath in perfect English. Her voice was melodious and sweet, her manner as reserved and shy as the day that Craig and Sally-Anne had first met her at Tuti Mission.

  She wore a lime-green cotton dress with a white collar and simple low-heeled white shoes. Her hair was elaborately braided in traditional style, and the moment she finished reading the oath, she turned her soft gaze onto Tungata Zebiwe in the dock. He neither smiled nor altered his expression, but his right hand, resting on the railing of the dock, moved slightly, and Craig realized that he was using the secret sign-language to the girl.

  "Courage!" said that signal. "I am with you!" And the girl took visible strength and confidence from it. She lifted her chin and faced Mr. Petal squarely.

  "Please state your name."

  "I am Sarah Tandiwe Nyoni," she replied.

  Tandiwe Nyoni, her Matabele name, meant' Beloved Bird'and Craig translated softly to Sally-Anne.

  "It suits her perfectly," she whispered back.

  "What is your profession?"

  "I am the headmistress'bf Tuti State Primary School."

  "Will you tell the c&lrt your qualifications." Joseph Petal established swiftly that she was an educated and responsible young woman. Then he went on: "Do you know the accused, Tungata Zebiwe?" She looked at Tungata again before answering, and her face seemed to glow. "I do, oh yes, I do, she whispered huskily.

  "Please speak up, my dear." 11 know him."

  "Did he ever visit you at Tuti Mission Station?"

  "Yes" she nodded.

  "How often?"

  "The Comrade Minister is an important and busy man, I am a school-teacher-" Tungata made a small gesture of denial with his right hand. She saw it and a little smile formed on her perfectly sculptured lips.

  "He came as often as he could, but not as often as I would have wished."

  "Were you expecting him on the night in question?" I was." "Why?) "We had spoken together, on the telephone, the previous morning.

  He promised me he would come. He said he would drive up, and arrive before midnight." The smile faded from her lips, and her eyes grew dark and desolate. "I waited until daylight but he did
not come."

  "As far as you know was there any particular reason that he was going to visit you that weekend?"

  "Yes." Sarah's cheeks darkened, and Sally-Anne was fascinated. She had never seen a black girl blush before.

  "Yes, he said he wished to speak to my rathe r. I had arranged the meeting."

  "Thank you, my dear," said Joseph Petal gently.

  During Mr. Petal's examination, the prosecutor's assistant had slipped back into his seat and handed Abel Khori a handwritten sheet of notes. Abel Khori was holding these in his hand as he rose to crossexamine.

  "Miss Nyoni, can you tell the court the meaning of the Sindebele word, Isifebi?" Tungata Zebiwe growled softly and began to rise, but the police guard laid a hand on his shoulder to restrain him.

  it means a harlot," Sarah answered quietly.

  "Does it not also mean an unmarried woman who lives with a man-" "My lord!" Joseph Petal's plea was belated but outraged, and Mr. Justice Domashawa sustained it.

  "Miss Nyoni," Abel Khori tried again. "Do you love the accused? Please speak up. We cannot hear you." This time Sarah's voice was firm, almost defiant. "I do."

  "Would you do anything for him?"

  "I

  would."

  "Would you lie to save him?"

  "I object, your lordship. "Joseph Petal leapt to his feet.

  "And I withdraw the question." Abel Khori forestalled the judge's intervention. "Let me rather put it to you, Miss Nyoni, that the accused had asked you to provide a warehouse at your school where illegal ivory and leopard skins could be stored!"

  "No." Sarah shook her head. "He never would-"

  "And that he had asked you to supervise the loading of those tusks into a truck, and the despatch of the truck-" "No! NoVshe cried.

  "When you spoke to" him on the telephone, did he not order you to prepare a shipment of-2

  "No! He is a good man, Sarah sobbed. "A great and good man. He would never have done that."

  "No further questions, your lordship." Looking very pleased with himself, A441 Khori sat down and his assistant leaned over to whisp! his congratulations.

  "call the accusd, the Minister Tungata Zebiwe, to the stand." That was a risky move on Mr. Petal's part. Even as a layman, Craig could see that Abel Khori had shown himself to be a hardy scrapper.

  Joseph Petal began by establishing Tungata's position in the community, his services to the revolution, his frugal life-style.

  "Do you own any fixed property?"

  "I own a house in Harare." (Will you tell the court how much you paid for it?"

  "Fourteen thousand dollars."

  "That is not a great deal to pay for a house, is it?"

  "It is not a great deal of house." Tungata's reply was deadpan, and even the judge smiled.

  "A motor-car?"

  "I have a ministerial vehicle at my disposal." "Foreign bank accounts?"

  "None."

  "Wives?"

  "None--2 he glanced in the direction of Sarah Nyoni who sat in the back row of the gallery" yet," he finished.

  "Common-law wives? Other women?"

  "My elderly aunt lives in my home. She supervises my household."

  "Coming now to the night in question. Can you tell the court why you were on the Karoi road?"

  "I

  was on my way to Tuti Mission Station."

  "For what reason?"

  "To visit Miss Nyoni and to speak to her father on a personal matter."

  "Your visit had been arranged?"

  "Yes, in a telephone conversation with Miss Nyoni."

  "You have visited her before on more than one occasion?" "That is so."

  "What accommodation did you use on those occasions?" "There was a thatched ffidlu set aside for my use."

  "A hut? With a sleeping-mat and open fire?"

  "Yes.

  "You did not find such lodgings beneath you?"

  "On the contrary, I enjoy the opportunity of returning to the traditional ways of my people."

  "Did anyone share these lodgings with you?"

  "My driver and my bodyguards."

  "Miss Nyoni did she visit you in these lodgings?"

  "That would have been contrary to our custom and tribal law."

  "The prosecutor used the word isifebi what do you make of that?"

  "He might aptly apply that word to women of his acquaintance. I know nobody whom it might fit." Again the judge smiled, and the prosecutor's assistant nudged Abel Khori playfully.

  "Now, Mr. Minister, was anybody else aware of your intention of visiting Tuti Mission?"

  "I made no secret of my intention. I wrote it down in MY desk-diary."

  "Do you have that diary?"

  "No. I requested my secretary to hand it over to the defence. It is, however, missing from my desk."

  "I see. When you ordered your chauffeur to prepare the car, did you inform him of your destination?"

  "I did."

  "He says you did not."

  "Then his memory is at fault or has been affected." Tungata shrugged.

  "Very well. Now, on the night that you were driving on the road between Karoi ajl Tud Mission, did you encounter any other vehicle?", "Yes. There was a- truck parked in darkness, off the road, but facing in our direction."

  "Will you tell the court what transpired then?"

  "The truck-driver switched on his lights, and then flicked them three times.

  At the same time he drove forward into the road."

  "In such a way as to force your car to halt?"

  "That is correct."

  "What did you do then?"

  "I

  said to my driver, "Pull over but be careful. This could be an ambush.""

  "You were not expecting to meet the truck then?"

  "I was not." "Did you say, "There it is! Pull over!"I "I did not."

  "What did you mean by the words: "This could be an ambush'T "Recently, many vehicles have been attacked by armed bandits, shufta, especially on lonely roads at night."