After they’d dug a fair-sized oblong hole they had to get Lion’s body into it. “Do you have a tarpaulin?” Curtis asked her.
“Yes, in the shed, but what’s going to happen? They’ll come looking for him.”
“We’ll deal with that when it happens. Now get the tarpaulin - hurry.”
She ran into the shed and came back with a medium-sized blue tarpaulin. They went together to the house and managed to roll Lion’s body onto it. Then, after folding it over him, they lashed it around with a tow rope from Curtis’s car. It was thin but extremely strong. They dragged the heavy blue bundle out across the paddock to the back of the shed and hauled it into the hole. They were exhausted by the time they took up their tools again and filled in the hole. Then they tamped down the soil and put the grassy bits back on top before collecting shrubbery and old pine-cones to scatter over the grave.
“Now let’s clean up your bach,” Curtis said, taking Janux by the hand. Her face was pale and her brow furrowed and there was a streak of dirt across one cheek where she had wiped sweat away with the back of a soil-covered hand.
CHAPTER 17
“They’ll be coming to look for him,” Janux said again as she sat hunched with her arms crossed over her chest. “They’ll see the jeep.”
“No,” Curtis said. “I’ll make sure no one finds it. Just wait until dark – I’ll send it out there with his body inside.” He pointed out to sea.
“But that’s hours away,” she said, screwing her face up. She still had the dirt smeared across her cheek.
They listened but couldn’t hear the sound of a vehicle coming. Usually a car engine could be heard kilometres away if the sea wasn’t rough, but when the surf was pounding it wasn’t so easy.
Curtis went over to the driver’s door and opened it. He’d never driven this kind of jeep but it was an automatic so didn’t pose a problem. He drove it carefully across the paddock behind the bach and round to the other side of the shed and parked it over the freshly dug hole.
It was already late afternoon, if anyone came looking for Lion before dark things could get tricky.
Janux was cleaning out the bach. She had all the mats outside and was scrubbing the wooden floorboards frantically, as if trying to erase every shred of evidence that Lion had ever been inside. The flax mat where he’d lain had soaked up his blood and had already been burnt, with the ashes buried so that no trace of the fire remained. Luckily the wooden floor hadn’t been difficult to mop clean.
The sound of a vehicle approaching had been getting louder and louder as they were finishing the cleaning of the bach. Now it stopped altogether as the car pulled up outside. They paused and listened.
“It’s okay,” Curtis said, trying to reassure Janux. “There’s no trace of anything here.”
“Except the jeep,” she said.
“I know, but it’s out of sight. I’ll handle it.”
A blue hatchback had pulled up just behind Curtis’s Fiat. There was a woman at the wheel and she got out and began walking towards the bach. To Curtis’s astonishment he saw that it was Claudette Peace but somehow this didn’t make him feel any better. The last time he’d seen her was at the house in Pohatu Cove. Soon she was knocking on the front door.
Curtis opened it. “Well, well, Claudette, what brings you to this part of the island?” He smiled generously but she didn’t return the favour. Instead her face was a mask of hardened frown lines.
“I might ask you the same question,” she replied. “I’m looking for Janux Lennan. Is she here?”
“Yes, she’s a client of mine - that’s why I’m here. Come inside.”
“Thank you, Curtis.”
He noticed she’d changed considerably. Her tone was frosty and business-like and her hair looked different too - it had been cut very short and dyed black. Even her clothes now looked old-fashioned and frumpy. He found it hard to believe this was the Claudette Peace he’d known.
“Janux, you have a visitor,” he called. “It’s Claudette Peace.”
Janux came out, holding a tea towel as if she’d been drying dishes. “How can I help you?” she said, smiling warmly and obviously trying to convey a sense of relaxed normality.
“It’s a delicate issue, Mrs Lennan. Can we sit down and discuss this matter in private?”
“‘Of course, but Curtis is helping me with some business matters so I’d prefer him to stay and hear whatever it is you’re going to tell me. Who do you represent and what are the matters you wish to discuss?”
“I’m sorry, I should have said. My name is Claudette Peace and I’m the newly appointed House Controller for the Home for Abandoned Babies in Pohatu Cove.”
“What has that got to do with me? I’m a beekeeper.”
“The committee have apparently already asked you to come to the house for the purpose of becoming pregnant. Have you received the letter?”
“Yes, and what a ridiculous letter it was. I don’t want a child and have no intention of having one.”
“By Ryxin law, all unmarried Ryxin women are required to assist in increasing the Ryxin population. As you are over thirty years old you will only be required to produce one child. Your breeding mate will be one of our committee members. They will treat you well so you have nothing to be concerned about.”
“You’re not Ryxin yourself then, Mrs Peace?”
“No, I’m Human, but this is my job now, to enforce Ryxin law.”
“There is no such law. Now bugger off.”
“Mrs Lennan, I must warn you that soon you’ll be visited by a committee member and he won’t be as polite as me. In fact, I understand one of them has already visited you earlier today.”
“No, I’ve had no one else visit me. Now get going - this is my home and you’re no longer welcome here.”
“Are you sure you really want to refuse? If you don’t come with me and do as you’re commanded you will not be allowed to carry on your life as normal, Mrs Lennan. On the other hand, if you agree to allow one of the committee to become your breeding partner, you will have no financial problems during that time and they will look after all your needs while you are in the process of becoming pregnant. Then once you are, this care will continue until you give birth. It is an ideal position for a woman such as you, Mrs Lennan who no longer has a husband to provide for her. I don’t understand why you’re not persuading her, Curtis. You’re Ryxin, so you should know what can happen when a woman refuses to obey.”
“I don’t live by the rule of fear, Claudette, and I don’t understand why you’re doing so. Does it have anything to do with a Ryxin by the name of Vandy?”
“Certainly Vandy got me the job, but to stay in it I too must obey orders. Don’t say you haven’t been warned, Janux Lennan.”
“Bugger off. Go on - get lost,” Janux screamed.
Claudette almost ran to her car and sped off. Once she’d gone they both looked at each other and laughed long and loud. But Curtis was uneasy.
“As soon as I dump the jeep you’re coming back to my place,” he said as Janux turned away from the window.
When the sun went down over the sea Curtis drove the black jeep down onto the beach while Janux kept lookout.
They had placed the tarpaulin-covered body of Lion in the back seat and anchored it down with the seat belts, then opened all the windows. Once ready to begin the task of levitating the large, heavy jeep, Curtis sat down cross-legged a short distance away on the silky sand. There were no artificial lights anywhere. They had even switched off the bach lights. Levitation didn’t work if there was any artificial lighting within about a half a kilometre radius. So the only light was the spasmodic natural light from stars and the moon when clumps of cloud moved in the wind and allowed them to show themselves.
He took off his screen band and slipped it into his shorts pocket. His bones immediately glowed, which made him feel good and strong. Janux sat on a log nearby watching him. He concentrated hard and allowed his mind to go blank. This took some time. Then
he was travelling again, as if between trees in a forest. He was in a tunnel now, surrounded by trees through which he was speeding, gradually going faster and faster.
He opened his eyes briefly and saw the jeep had risen a few inches off the ground. It was just hanging there, rocking slightly. He closed his eyes again and was back in the mind tunnel. The trees became a blur as he sped faster and faster, and eventually he came to a clear starry nothingness. He knew he’d arrived and opened his eyes again. This time the jeep was at least thirty metres up in the sky. Now to make it travel out over the sea - but before he could do so the distant headlights of a vehicle began lighting up the sky. Someone was approaching. The artificial light meant the levitation process was now frozen. But the jeep would not come down until it was told to.
Curtis quickly put on his screen band to stop the glowing of his bones and signalled to Janux to be quiet. The vehicle was getting closer. Hidden behind a clump of flax, Curtis and Janux watched the vehicle pull up outside the bach – a pick-up truck just like the one Curtis had seen Sly Onyx drive. The engine and headlights were extinguished and two men got out.
“Look at their eyes,” Janux said. They were fiery red against the yellow-green glow of their bones.
“I think I know who they are,” he whispered.
“The committee?”
“It looks like your friend, Sly and his mate Ferdy Xyle.”
“What the hell do they want?” she hissed.
“Probably you, my love,” Curtis said without thinking. Then he realised he had meant to call her love. He wanted Janux just as much as he did 17, and had been feeling this way for some time. Now they were here together he couldn’t pretend any more.
“Do you really mean that?” Janux whispered in a husky voice.
“I love you. Sorry, I’m not supposed to fall in love with clients.”
“What the hell are those buggers doing? Look, they’re going into my house.”
As they watched, the two men entered Janux’s bach and switched on the light in the lounge.
After about ten minutes they drove off again.
“Maybe they’ve put a bug in the house somewhere,” Curtis said, turning back to continue the process of dropping Lion into the sea.
Yet an hour’s searching the bach turned up nothing.
Next morning Curtis woke up lying next to Janux. He realised with a sense of anxiety that today he must visit 17 because neither Dux nor the committee knew she was pregnant. So he must keep up the pretence of trying to make her pregnant until he could get her out of there and safely to Siegfried’s home.
He looked over at Janux, still asleep. Never before had he been in love with two women at once. Janux was beautiful and his love for her was subtly different from the love he had for 17. Though she had no real name, 17 was like a drug he consumed every time he saw her. Perhaps he was addicted to her - her face danced before his eyes almost every night as he lay down to sleep. But with Janux he felt less anxious. He had more than just an hour to spend with her, which meant there was no need to rush into loving her. He wondered if he had loved her all along, but hadn’t realised because to him she’d always be out of reach. She was his client after all. But now he’d broken the PI code and slept with her there was no going back.
As he watched her beautiful face at rest he wanted to say something to her. Like, I’m sorry, but he was only sorry because of the rule in his Ryxin PI handbook. If there was no such rule he definitely wouldn’t feel guilty. So, he reasoned to himself, his feelings of being sorry were actually false.
“They haven’t come back, have they?” Janux said in a sleepy voice.
“No, my love, they haven’t. We’re quite safe. But I want you to come and stay with me. The bees may have to fend for themselves for a while.”
“Will we be like a married couple?” she said, smiling up at him.
“Probably not because I’ve broken one of the PI handbook rules that states how I am forbidden from getting involved with any client. That was a wrong thing for me to do.”
“So now you’re going to abandon me after sleeping with me, huh?” she said, laughing.
“You make me sound callous. How could I ever hurt you? But rules are rules, my love. You are first and foremost my client.”
“And now your lover,” she said, her sleep-refreshed face looking up at him.
Curtis lowered his voice in case there was a bug hidden somewhere where they hadn’t looked the previous night. “Look, now the jeep’s been vanished and Lion with it we have nothing to worry about. But if you stay here they will keep coming and questioning you, probably every day. I couldn’t say what else they may do. Please pack a bag now, my love. We need to leave soon.”
By midday Janux had settled into Tahatika Road. They’d made sure to lock up the bach after packing up all of Janux’s valuables and bringing them with her. She lived a simple life and didn’t have many things.
In the afternoon Curtis was again at Xlesky Street. Dux seemed more relaxed this time.
“Hello, 35. 17 is looking forward to seeing you.”
Curtis was surprised since Dux usually never spoke, just looked at her watch and wrote the details down in her book. This time she smiled at him and didn’t even check the time.
“Thank you,” Curtis replied, a little suspicious He looked around him to make sure no one else was lurking in the background.
“It’s all right, 35, I’m the only one here today. There is nothing to worry about.”
When he entered 17’s room, she was smiling too. “You and Dux seem very happy today, my darling,” he said, kissing her on the lips.
“Yes, the brute has gone. Not only that, but Dux and I found the listening device and got rid of it. She’s not such a bad sort, you know.”
“That’s wonderful, darling. How are you? How’s your tummy?”
“I don’t know if I am pregnant after all. I just don’t know any more - I feel different now.”
“I think you are, my darling but do you want me to continue trying?”
“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because of the baby - I thought you may not want to.”
“I crave for you every minute. I don’t care if I’m pregnant or not.”
As they held each other Curtis realised with certainty that he could not bear to lose 17. He would simply have to love both her and Janux at the same time, there was no way around it. His father had told him how back in Ryxin men were allowed up to three wives at the same time. He therefore didn’t feel too guilty. But still, this was Earth and the rules were different. Besides, he wasn’t sure whether 17 or Janux would like him to carry on this way. Janux already knew he was seeing 17 and sleeping with her, but 17 didn’t know about Janux. He decided to say nothing and keep the status quo, at least for the time being.
“I’m going to help you escape from here,” he told 17 as they lay together afterwards. “I have a friend who says you can go to his place. Would you like that?”
“Yes, but they will search for me and then I will be punished, and I’m sure they will do something really bad to me. I don’t know if I can do it.”
“Listen, 17, I’m not taking no for an answer. Our baby’s future is at stake. I don’t want our child to be raised as a slave to anyone, or to be a soldier either.”
“But when you came here you knew the baby could never be ours. I’m not going with you, 35. I am first and foremost a Ryxin and my business here is breeding. This baby doesn’t belong to either of us - it belongs to the Ryxin people.”
Curtis couldn’t believe what she was saying. Something must have happened in his absence to make her like this. He leant on one elbow and looked at her face. She was looking past him, a strange blankness in her face. Suddenly he knew. He heard the door behind them open.
“Put your clothes on, breeding mate 35. Your time here is finished. 17 has been checked out and found to be carrying a Ryxin baby in her womb. Your services are no longer required.”
&nb
sp; Curtis recognised the loud, aggressive voice and got up from the bed. He was naked and there was nothing at hand to cover himself. Sly Onyx stood before him and a smirking Ferdy Xyle filled the doorway. Curtis picked up his clothes and went to the bathroom to dress.
“You’d better hurry, 35,” Sly commanded loudly. “17 is waiting to be taken to our birthing house. In nine months, once she’s had the baby, she’ll be taken to another breeding house. We are pleased that 17 has fulfilled her promise to us and you have proved to be a successful breeding mate with her, but now your contract is finished. Go back to your normal life and tell no one about your experience. 17 is still young and can breed for several years to come. You are merely the first father of the many Ryxin children to be grown in her womb.”
Curtis had dragged his clothes on as fast as he could, sickened by what he was hearing. Had 17 only been pretending that she loved him?
17 remained on the bed, still naked after their love-making, Sly standing guard. He checked his watch again as Curtis walked towards the door. “Time’s up, 35. Dux will see you out. Congratulations on your breeding success.”
Curtis didn’t answer him and he didn’t look at Ferdy as he edged past him at the door. Once again Dux was smiling and he stopped in front of the desk feeling a sense of betrayal. “You knew, didn’t you?”
“Oh, yes, we all knew that your efforts were successful. Goodbye, 35.”
He didn’t bother answering her but went to the door and walked out. He wouldn’t be coming back to 7 Xlesky Street. Not ever.
CHAPTER 18
Curtis stumbled along the road to the ferry building, numb with shock. He still couldn’t work out if 17 had been lying to him all along. Or was she simply intimidated by the bullies she worked for? Tonight their intimacy had been more intense than ever. Surely she wouldn’t have lured him in like that and pretended her passionate desire for him. Had she known this was to be their last time?
When he disembarked at Seal Bay he headed straight for The Deer’s Antlers, something he did occasionally to meet up with a few regulars he’d been getting to know. But this time he had a different reason.
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