Rift

by Beverley Birch

  For all that, it was dwarfed by the immense, harsh sweep of the land, so unlike the moist green valleys of Murothi’s own, distant, home. In truth, he was exiled here: the price of his overnight climb to ‘Inspector’. Exile! In this place he could not feel. Until he found the vanished. Repeat your success the Minister instructed. But that ‘success’ was very different: a tourist disappearance on the coast last year. A murder hunt: a body, a culprit, evidence to be gathered. Nasty, but not complicated. Murothi had proved it was foreigner against foreigner. Sighs of relief all round: no dishonour to local people or Important Persons in charge of Tourist Places. Murothi’s skills had been discussed in very high places!

  He turned, and went back into the room, to the table with its spread of police files. This was different. Very different. Where, how to begin?

  Certainly, the investigations on this Chomlaya case were thorough: searches – a thirty-mile radius, air and ground; scores of interviews. DC Meshami’s team had talked to everyone at the camp, all six teachers, every one of the remaining twenty-seven students, the two wild-life rangers . . .

  Painstaking work. Meticulous. Laziness, thought Murothi, is not why this Chomlaya case is unsolved. This DC Meshami is good. Good policemen work for him.

  Yet nearly three days go by, and still four people are missing. A fifth reappears. Out of nowhere. Remembering nothing.

  His eye fell on the interview transcript of one of the six British teachers, and he picked it up:

  Ian Boyd (IB)

  Date: 24/2/06

  Time: 19.30

  Place: Northern Province. Chomlaya, British Student Camp

  Interviewed by District Commissioner James Meshami (DC), Constable Ndoto Lesakon (NL): Nanzakoto

  Police Department.

  Case No: 06574

  Tape reference: 2006/Chomlaya/17

  DC Please explain your role here.

  IB I teach at Gresham Secondary School in London, where these students all come from.

  DC Do you know the missing students well?

  IB Yes. I teach Anna and Matt. I don’t teach Joe now, but I did last year. And I know him from swimming club – he’s a keen swimmer.

  DC Tell me your movements today.

  IB I was driving back from Lengoi Hot Springs with half the students. We camped overnight there. We got back here around five this afternoon –

  DC And you left Lengoi at what time? By what route?

  IB About eight this morning. We stopped several times on the way to let the students look around.

  [Constable NL shows map to IB. IB traces route from Lengoi south across ford at Tumla River, approaching Chomlaya from east.]

  DC And just tell me – when did you first leave Chomlaya to go to Lengoi?

  IB Just yesterday morning. About ten-thirty.

  DC Were the missing students in the camp when you left?

  IB Definitely.

  DC You saw them?

  IB Yes.

  DC And Silowa?

  IB Yes.

  DC I understand he is not actually a member of your student expedition. But he was often here at the camp?

  IB He is friends with Anna, Matt and Joe – others, too, but particularly those three.

  DC And he was definitely here when your party left for Lengoi? I am sorry to be so insistent on this point –

  IB Yes, yes, he was. Ask anyone.

  DC So, did your group separate at all between your departure for Lengoi yesterday morning and your return to Chomlaya two and a half hours ago?

  IB We were all together, all the time.

  DC After we have finished speaking, please give Constable Lesakon here the names of everyone who went to Lengoi with you. But now, tell me, what was the situation when you got back here this afternoon?

  IB We drove in. Some students came running out to tell us what had happened. The four of them could have been missing all day, all last night too, for all anyone knew! We –

  DC Who is ‘we’?

  IB Sorry, that’s Helen, Keith, David, Tomis, Likon, me – we organised a search. [Angry] I just wish they’d stayed on the trip to Lengoi –

  DC Who? What do you mean?

  IB Joe, Matt and Anna – they were meant to come with us. The students are divided into two groups, you see. Fifteen in each. One group at a time goes on a trip in the two Land Cruisers, the other group stays in camp. The students have named the groups the ‘Buffalos’ and the ‘Antelopes’. Joe, Anna and Matt – they’re in the Buffalos. The Buffaloswent to Lengoi. But just as we were leaving, those three were told to get off the vehicle.

  DC Who by?

  IB Elisa Strutton, leader of the expedition.

  DC Why?

  IB She said they’d committed some misdemeanour –

  DC Had they?

  IB I doubt it, but we left for Lengoi before it was sorted out. I wanted to wait, but Helen and Keith were worried that if we delayed any more, we’d end up travelling after dark. It’s a five-hour drive, minimum, you know – and there’s no track till you get right up to the river. So three other students took the place of Anna, Matt and Joe, and off we went. We all wish we hadn’t, in view of what’s happened.

  DC So this teacher, Elisa Strutton, has ultimate authority?

  IB Appointed leader by the head teacher of the school.

  DC And these other names? Helen, Keith?

  IB Yes, that’s the other teachers, Helen Milton and Keith Derby. We’re all from Gresham School. David Ntanyaki, the driver, and Tomis Ntonye, the ranger – both local men, part of the expedition organisation. We all went to Lengoi. The Land Cruisers travelled together all the way. David drove one carrying seven students and me and Tomis, and Keith drove the other with eight students and Helen.

  DC When your vehicles arrived back here at Chomlaya, had there been any search for the missing students?

  IB No. Well, that’s unfair. Likon was here, the other ranger. He’d been with some of the students on some activity along the stream, and as soon as he heard there were people missing, he organised a look round the area near the camp. Everyone assumed that Anna, Joe and Matt were just playing truant. A bit of panic was beginning, though. Lawrence, that’s one of the teachers who stayed at Chomlaya, he was getting worried. And then no one knew where Charly was either.

  DC Charlotte Tanner, the journalist?

  IB Yes. She’s documenting our time here for her magazine. She drove off to the archaeology camp at Burukanda early yesterday to email her young sister in England. She has particular friends at Burukanda; you should talk to them – Véronique and Otaka in particular.

  DC I know them. I will speak to them, thank you. Now, we have been told that Charlotte came back to Chomlaya.

  IB Yes, about midday, I gather. Just when everyone realised Anna and the others weren’t in camp. But when I went looking for Charly, I couldn’t find her. I thought she might know if Anna and the others had planned to go further afield than usual. She knew them quite well, you see. But she seems also to have disappeared!

  DC So, a serious search began only when you returned from Lengoi? How long after you got here?

  IB Twenty minutes, half an hour. Not more. But it was soon clear we weren’t going to find them before nightfall on our own, so we persuaded Elisa to radio for help. About then we worked out Silowa was missing too. We’re used to him coming and going. I’d assumed he’d gone back to Burukanda with Charly. But several of the kids said he’d been in the camp with Joe and the others last night, and that was long after Charly drove away to Burukanda.

  DC This search – you were all involved?

  IB Yes, we broke up into parties of five or six students, each with a teacher. Each group covered a particular area – all along the paths the students generally use, and a short way out on to the open plain, but we were nervous of letting anyone out of our sight.

  DC Yes, understood. Well, that’s all for the moment, Mr Boyd. Thank you. Please give Constable Lesakon that list of names. If you think of anything
else, let us know without delay. We have little time, obviously.

  IB Are you interviewing all the teachers?

  DC Is there someone we should talk to particularly?

  IB No, I don’t mean that. Just – you’ll hear that these missing students are . . . problematic.

  DC Problematic?

  IB Troublesome. Wilful.

  DC And?

  IB It’s not true.

  DC Who will say this?

  IB Some of the teachers. Two of the teachers, really. Elisa Strutton and Miss Hopper – she always agrees with Miss Strutton.

  DC You think it is not true?

  IB Look, these kids aren’t fools, or always up to some mischief, as you’ll be told. Whatever’s happened won’t be because they’ve been stupid, or gone looking for trouble.

  DC You have an idea what might have happened?

  IB No! Hell, I wish I did! Just . . . I mean, these students, they’re curious young people, in the best sense of the word. Eager. They share that with their friend, Silowa. Whatever’s happened won’t be because they’ve been deliberately disobedient – that’s all I mean. Just wanted to say that.

  DC That is very helpful. Thank you. INTERVIEW ENDS 19.42

  Thoughtfully, Murothi reread the last few answers. Then he looked for the DC’s interview of the teacher in charge of the camp, Elisa Strutton. He found the first question about the missing students.

  DC When did you see them today?

  ES I haven’t seen them.

  DC When did you last see them, then?

  ES Yesterday, at supper.

  DC Is it usual not to assemble the students at all during the day?

  ES Everyone has assigned tasks in the camp. There is no need to assemble.

  DC What were Anna, Matt and Joe’s tasks?

  ES Today, kitchen duties. Preparing the meals. That’s why we knew they were not there. They did not prepare lunch. The camp cook is away today. Normally he would supervise this. I would have hoped that students could be trusted to get on with something like this without supervision, but clearly not.

  DC What were they supposed to be doing before the food preparation?

  ES They were given the task of digging a new trench.

  DC Where was this?

  ES At the back of the camp. For the toilets. The old trench was damaged during the storm three nights ago, the sides broke down. We need to fill it in and dig a new one.

  DC Who else was doing this?

  ES Just those three.

  DC What were other students doing?

  ES Various things.

  DC Please supply further details, in writing.

  ES I will ask one of the other teachers to give –

  DC I would prefer you to do it. As you are in charge, you understand. If you would be so kind. I will cross-check this with what was actually happening.

  ES Are you suggesting –?

  DC I am suggesting nothing. I am being thorough. Now, when did you last see Silowa?

  ES He is not supposed to be here. I have no responsibility for him.

  DC That is not my question. The students say he was here. Did you see him?

  ES I did not pay attention to him. I have a lot of things to think about, as I am running this –

  DC Was this work you set the missing students – to dig the trench – was it done?

  ES No. Unfortunately, as usual, they behave as if they are a law unto themselves.

  DC It is possible, Miss Strutton, that whatever has befallen them had already happened by that time. That it is not their fault.

  ES I don’t think anything has befallen them. I am sure I am right. I am sorry the police were called in. I did not feel it was necessary but some of the teachers became alarmed, rather foolishly, I have to say.

  DC Their alarm is justified. This is not a part of the country to treat lightly, Miss Strutton. Tell me, what were you doing during the course of today?

  ES Various things.

  DC Be more specific. In writing, with the relevant times. And the same information about the other teachers. From you, Miss Strutton. As quickly as possible. Now, did anything unusual happen yesterday?

  ES No. District Commissioner –

  DC Or in the evening? You said you saw the students at supper.

  ES They were there. I did not pay attention to them, particularly.

  DC So you have no routine for checking on the students during the day or evening?

  ES I am not the police. This is not the way –

  DC Just answer the question, Miss Strutton. It is not a question of policing. I am talking matters of safety and care. This is a wild place, even for those who know it.

  ES As I have said, I have no doubt these children will turn up when it suits them.

  DC I wish I could share your confidence, Miss Strutton. You are aware – I am sure you are, as you have chosen to bring a group of young people to this place – it is possible to live for many days without food, but not without water. It can reach fifty degrees out there on the plains and on exposed faces of the rock. But of course you know this. Let us hope that the local boy, Silowa, is still with them, that they are all together. Silowa, at least, will have the knowledge of where and how to find water, if they are far from Chomlaya’s streams. This knowledge, if anything, will save them.

  Murothi dropped the papers back on the table. He thought, DC Meshami was made angry by Elisa Strutton. By that peculiar complacency of hers. Is it this woman’s ignorance that has produced this disaster?

  Suddenly the closeness of wall and roof in the stuffy little room was insufferable; Murothi pushed out, trying to halt the rush of dread and dismay that threatened to cloud his brain.

  A sudden breeze lifted the flag, brought the acrid smoke of a charcoal fire, the aroma of maize porridge, the chirp of a child’s voice. Life on the compound, after all! Tinny music from a transistor radio floated on the air, and now Murothi spotted the handful of huts behind a sisal hedge at the rear of the compound. Where the families lived, he guessed. A child was peeping through the hedge. At sight of Murothi he ran back, calling. A moment later he emerged, chickens scattering ahead of him, all concentration on carrying a mug without spilling. He handed it up solemnly and scurried back, and Murothi could hear more voices: the woman’s and the answering deeper tones of several men.

  He sipped the tea, grateful for its hot sweetness, and freshened by the breeze playing swiftly through the yard, humming in the wires of the dog enclosure, rattling dry fronds in the roofs. He watched a man rush from the huts, pulling on the uniform shirt of a constable, saluting Murothi army-style, grinning, hurrying towards the office. And then the child again, in baggy school shorts, cloth bag bouncing on his back, shouting eagerly to other children waiting by the road. Yesterday Murothi had spotted the school on an expanse of dusty grass by the landing strip. Several miles away. An hour’s walk: the small green-clad children were running now. It was already hot, and the sun was still low in the sky –

  Children missing. Children. That is the task. Children. And a young woman. Except for Silowa, they knew nothing about this land, could not possibly walk even a mile in such heat without becoming ill. If they had survived till now, how much longer could they? He could not even picture this Chomlaya – a long brown snake on the map, high rocks rising from the paler cream of the surrounding terrain.

  Nearly three days now since the first alert from the camp at its base. The youngsters could have been gone as much as eight hours by then. Perhaps more! Nothing seen of them since, except the miraculous reappearance of Joe, in a place he should not be, a place he almost could not be.

  I do not know how the boy could reach the other side of Chomlaya without help, DC Meshami had said. He could not climb over the ridge – it defies belief. The rocks are ten miles long, in parts very wide across, in parts like a knife edge. Only experienced climbers with ropes and equipment could scale them. It is difficult to travel on foot round the base of the ridge. Our air searches have covered
1,600 square miles, in case these students travelled by vehicle. But we found no vehicle tracks near the north face of the rocks –

  Murothi jumped as, from inside the office, windows were flung open and the telephone rang, shrill and emphatic. Swiftly he drained the last of the tea and, in his room again, sifted through the files and other things taken from the camp by the DC’s team. Photos. A large notebook with a red plastic cover decorated with drawings. The Book Of Days was printed across the cover. It was the students’ camp journal. He had already read it, but he picked it up again and flicked through, stopping at the last entry, the day of the disappearances,

  24 February. Nathan (Antelopes).

  Stuck in camp. No one gets to move! Anna, Matt, Joe NOWHERE! S is blaming everyone else (surprise surprise). Really BIG argument with B. B wants to call for help on radio – S says he’s making a fuss about nothing! B won (for a change). Good thing he came back with the Buffalos from the hot springs, so there’s more of us and maybe NOW they’ll let us go and look.

  Everyone’s calling! More later . . .

  There wasn’t. After that, The Book Of Days was blank. There was no mention of the disappearance of Ella’s sister.

  He turned back a page to the entry on the day before. Different writer.

  23 February. Tamara (Buffalos).

  We all had to get up in the dark for breakfast at first light and the Buffalos were supposed to be ready to leave for the trip to Lengoi Hot Springs but then Guess Who? got thrown off at the last minute! Miss Strutton picked out Katra and Andy and Phil from the Antelopes to go instead, and they hadn’t got packed, so we hung about, played cards, got bored, got more bored, played more cards. When they were ready eventually it was them and the rest of the Buffalos plus Mr Boyd and Miss Milton and Mr Derby and Tomis, to guide us. Mr Derby’s got to help the driver, David, by driving one of the trucks, so I hope he knows what he’s doing! It’s going to take five or even six hours to get there and it’ll be very bumpy because we aren’t going on any road and we have to cross the river and there’s no bridge or anything so we have to find the right bit or we’ll get stuck in the river sand, and we had to pack lots of extra rope and shovels and sacks and planks in case we need them for pulling us out. I’ll write all about it when we get back.