There was a knock on the meeting room door and a constable appeared. ‘Sorry for interrupting, sir, but it’s urgent. Sarge says can you please pick up the phone.’
The duty sergeant was on the line. ‘It’s the manager of Paradise resort. I’ll switch you through to him now, sir.’
Irritated, he picked up the phone. ‘Horseman here, Mr McKenzie.’
‘Thank God you’re there, Inspector Horseman. Dr Vijay Chakra’s dead in his bed. Eseta found him—one of the maids. I expect it was a heart attack or something like that. What should I do?’
Horseman gripped the phone hard and heard himself giving instructions to McKenzie, while his mind raced, seeking the link.
35
PARADISE ISLAND
Horseman seethed as the police speedboat approached the resort jetty. Chakra’s death, reported during weekday office hours, had got immediate action. Nisi, found last Saturday evening, had waited until Sunday afternoon for detectives to reach her. Chakra’s case had already diverted resources from Nisi, whose death might still remain a mystery. But not if he could help it. He had to discover the connection between the deaths. If both deaths were murders, the connection must be the murderer.
As well as Singh, Taleca and Musudroka, the photographer and Dr Young were on board. Fortunately the super had as little faith in coincidence as Horseman, and had authorised both the crime scene and forensic officers to follow as soon as they could. Overkill if Chakra had died of a heart attack in his sleep, but there was little chance of that.
Maika helped the police boatman tie up and unload the gear. He barely nodded to the officers. Ian McKenzie, clenching the brim of his straw hat in one white-knuckled hand, extended the other to Horseman. ‘I’m grateful you’ve got here so quickly, Inspector. Anything you need—it goes without saying. We’re all reeling.’
‘Understandably, Mr McKenzie. Were you able to do as I asked?’
‘Yes, yes. Nothing’s been touched since Essie discovered him. I’ve posted a staff member front and back.’ McKenzie led the police past the dive shop and off to the right. ‘He doesn’t like—didn’t like, I mean—the bures this side because of the noise of the boats early in the morning. But last night these were the only ones not occupied. Litia gave him the one furthest away from the jetty, at the end of the row.’
The most isolated bure in the resort.
‘I’ll take you round to the front door.’ McKenzie led the way.
Just like on the other side of the resort, the path ran behind the bures beside hedges screening small gardens. A nervous-looking Tui stood guarding the last entrance.
‘The constables will relieve your staff now, thank you Mr McKenzie. We’ll tape off the whole garden, front and back. Could we get a few posts to use on the beach side? Anything. Constable Musudroka could go with Tui and bring them back.’
‘Absolutely, no problem. I suppose you won’t want to use the glasses and things in the bure?’ Horseman shook his head. ‘I thought not. Tui, can you organise some tea, cold water and so on, for the police? Cups and glasses?’ Tui and Musudroka hurried off at once.
Dr Young put on overalls and surgeon’s cap and led the others inside. Horseman and Singh pulled on gloves before opening the timber louvers and switching on all the lights. A small trolley case lay open on the floor, rumpled clothes spilled out. The dead man sprawled naked on the king size bed. He lay on his front, face turned to one side, wavy black hair, a little greasy, flopped over his forehead and cheek, full lips parted. There was a brownish stain on the starched white pillowslip, looked like dribble. He appeared to be wearing long, dark brown socks and elbow-length gloves, so dramatic was the contrast between the colour of his lower limbs and face, and the purplish pallor of the rest. Dr Young checked for a pulse, then examined him from head to toe with a magnifying glass.
‘Okay, Alisi. You can have him.’ Alisi, the willowy young photographer, set to work. Her long fingers danced over her equipment, her face impassive, concentrating. When she nodded, satisfied, Horseman and Dr Young rolled the body over. Chakra was cool, his upper body stiffening. The pathologist repeated his survey with the magnifying glass. Alisi took more photographs. A whisky bottle, three-quarters empty, stood uncapped on the bedside table. Blue polo shirt, black shorts were flung on the floor, black underpants tangled in the top sheet which lay rumpled at the foot of the bed. Everything else in order.
Singh emerged from the bathroom. ‘A few hairs on the floor, sir. Looks like he had a shower, or someone did. Smells of vomit, but I can’t see any.’
‘I bet forensics can find some. Let me have a sniff.’ Horseman put his head around the door. The bathroom, half outdoors, was very well ventilated, but there was a slight sweet-sour whiff.
‘See you on the veranda when you’ve finished, Matt.’ He hesitated, knew better but couldn’t help himself. ‘Anything yet?’
‘The man’s definitely dead, and more like this morning than last night. I’ve nothing else for you, mate. A few more minutes here, and I’ll take him back to the morgue and start on him right away.’
‘Vinaka, Matt.’ Horseman looked around the rest of the bure and the veranda. There were traces of sandy footprints on the concrete front steps and across the veranda to the door. Who hadn’t washed their feet? The staff certainly would make sure they didn’t trample sand inside. A drunk Dr Chakra would not be so scrupulous, but his feet and the sheet looked clean. The scuffed indentations of partial heels and toes didn’t seem sufficient to be useful, but he asked Alisi to photograph them anyway and he’d get the SOCOs to check.
Musudroka was hammering lengths of angle iron into the sand at the edge of the shore while Taleca fixed the tape. ‘Noticed anything out there?’ Horseman called.
Taleca shook his head. ‘Not yet, boss. Got our eyes peeled though.’ Musudroka mimed peeling an orange at his eye level and the two laughed. The brand-new detective was lucky to have Taleca to shepherd him and Horseman was pleased they were getting on. He wished he could have a bigger team but felt blessed with the three individuals chance and the super had allocated him. It was his responsibility to uncover the truth of the deaths on this lovely gem of an island and he felt far away from that. What had changed recently on peaceful Paradise Island? Only one thing. The marine reserve. Logically, the conflicts and deaths were connected to that enlightened initiative to promote life. If they kept digging, they’d find some evidence.
36
PARADISE ISLAND
Maika knocked on the open door and hesitated. His eyes were bloodshot beneath puffy rims. Singh gestured at the folding plastic table supplied for the temporary police office.
‘Bula, Maika. Please sit down. I understand you were playing in the band last night?’
‘Yes, ma’am. Most nights I’m there.’
He really did look exhausted. ‘It must be tiring for you, working on the boats all day and then playing for the guests every evening.’
Maika stared at her open-mouthed. ‘No way! All the boys want to be in the Paradise Voyagers. It’s an honour.’
‘Do you play the guitar, Maika?’
‘A bit, but I play the ukulele in the Voyagers. And sing.’
‘Do you have any other duties in the evening?’
‘In our band breaks we keep the tanoa topped up with kava, serve the guests who want to try it. If someone’s playing pool alone, we can offer to play with them. We chat to them, try to answer their questions about Fiji. The things they ask!’
‘Like what?’
A smile now lit up his dark face, crinkling the skin round his eyes. ‘About cannibals, and whether kava is a love potion. You know.’
‘You know far more than me, Maika. It’s not often that I meet tourists. What did they ask you about last night?’
Maika frowned. ‘Like I said. Oh yes, one man from the U.S.A. asked me if Fiji be
longed to the state of Hawaii!’
She smiled, sharing his wonder. ‘When did you leave the bar last night?’
‘We were leaving just as Mr McKenzie came to check the bar. I don’t know exactly what time that was, but most of the guests had left by then.’
‘Was Dr Chakra there all the time, too?’
‘I think so. He was sitting out on the terrace with some guests. The band plays inside, so I couldn’t see him.’
‘How do you know he was there?’
‘He came over to the bar to order and when the guests thinned out, I could hear his voice.’
‘Did you hear anything he and his friends said?’
‘No, they just got louder as time went on.’
‘Did you think they were arguing?’
‘Nah, nothing serious anyway.’
‘Who was with him when you left?’
‘The Prof—that’s Professor Burgermeister, Guy Dawson and Winston Lee.’
‘Tell me exactly what you did after you left the bar, Maika.’
‘I went back to the staff quarters with the others, said goodnight to the boys. I share with Jona and Tui. Jona was already in bed asleep. While I was having a shower, Tui came home. I went to bed and fell asleep right away.’
‘How did you sleep?’ she asked.
‘Like a log.’ He smiled, some life returned to his eyes. ‘Kava always does that for you.’
‘Think carefully, Maika. Did you notice anything unusual when you were walking back home? Did you see anyone?’
‘No, nothing. But then, we were yarning, not looking around. A few of the staff were sitting on their verandas, smoking. Mr McKenzie’s strict about no smoking in our rooms. But nearly all the lights were out. We get up early here.’ He frowned. ‘Why are you police here? I mean, people are saying Dr Chakra died in his bed, a heart attack or something.’
Singh nodded. ‘That’s certainly possible. His death was unexpected, so the police must investigate.’
The boy stared at the table surface.
‘I want you to think back to last Saturday, Maika. It must have been hectic. The boat records weren’t entered in detail as they usually are. There’s just a line ruled through the page and a note that all boats were in service for the ceremonies.’
‘Yes.’
‘What about the kayaks and catamarans the guests use? There are only six checkouts entered for the whole day. The variety of handwriting looks like the guests have filled in the records themselves.’
‘Yes, if there’s no staff around, they just sign on the day-sheet as a safety precaution. But that day all the guests were keen to take part in the celebrations.’
‘However, it’s possible that someone took a kayak out without filling in the sheet.’
Maika frowned. ‘If no one was around, yes, I suppose so. But the guests are always cooperative. They understand why we need to know who’s borrowed a craft and where they plan to go. It’s for their safety.’
‘Did you check they were all where they should be at the end of the day?’
‘Sure, we check them and secure them before dark. They were all back on Saturday. I checked myself and chained them up.’
‘When did you check?’
‘I got back from Navua around half past six. Must have been around seven. The usual time.’
‘Did you get any break at all that day?’
‘A few minutes here and there for a cup of tea. We had our lunch in the quarters before the guests’ lunch. That was a good spread, but we rushed it because we had to get the boat ready for the blessing ceremony.’
Singh tried a sympathetic smile. ‘What about after the ceremony? You’d seen Nisi waving from the beach not long before the boat capsized. You couldn’t wait to talk it over with her, could you?’
The boy looked straight at her, frowning, uncertain. ‘Yes, I wanted to see her. But I couldn’t. I had to wait. And I never saw her alive again.’ His eyes brimmed over and he rubbed at them with the heel of one hand.
She didn’t enjoy driving a nail into his grieving heart, but that was her job sometimes. ‘You must have been jealous. Seeing her there with two good-looking men. You were jealous of Guy, weren’t you, Maika?’
‘No! Who said I was?’
‘Tell me the truth, Maika. That will be best for everyone, certainly the best for Nisi and her family. Your girlfriend entered the water that last time from a boat—we know that now. Were you with her in that boat?’
‘No!’
‘Who else could have been?’ Singh asked.
Maika’s face darkened. ‘How would I know? Anybody! Take your pick! But it wasn’t me!’ He wrapped his head in his arms, let it drop to the white plastic table and shivered.
37
PARADISE ISLAND
At precisely four o’clock, as appointed, Professor Bill Burgermeister panted up the steps from the beach and joined Horseman at a table in the deep shade of the bar terrace. He removed his floppy cotton hat and held out his hand. Burgermeister’s grip was strong enough but his hand felt puffy. He leaned back in the chair, stretching out his sweaty neck as he flapped his hat back and forth.
‘Any news, Joe?’
Horseman was a bit uneasy at the professor’s mateyness. He preferred to keep a distance from everyone in an investigation. ‘Not yet, Bill. The body should be at the hospital by now. Matt’s seeing to it himself.’
‘I see you got the SOCOs in. What’s all that about?’
‘Bill, as a scientist you’ll understand we need to search for any evidence asap.’
‘Whattaya saying? His death’s suspicious?’ Burgermeister looked incredulous.
‘Until the PM, we just don’t know.’
Sai appeared with a tray. He set out a glass plunger of aromatic coffee, milk, sugar, a plate of biscuits warmly smelling of cinnamon and white china cups and saucers. With due ceremony he depressed the plunger, poured the coffee and left them. Burgermeister first took a biscuit, then held the cup to his nose, took a sip and relaxed.
‘They’re not cheapskates here, are they? Best Columbian. Ah, whatta brew. I like taking a break from our primitive camp.’
Horseman appreciated the quality of the coffee too. ‘I understand you were here at the bar with Dr Chakra last night?’
Burgermeister sipped again and took a bite of his biscuit while considering the question. ‘Yep, we had a few drinks, chewed the cud, y’know. Winston and Guy too. I can’t take it in that Vijay’s dead. Shoulda been me had a coronary.’ He helped himself to another buttery biscuit.
‘Did you know he had a heart problem?’ Horseman asked.
‘Just assumed. Heaps of middle-aged Indian men here die suddenly of heart attacks. That struck me during my first year or so in Fiji. Didn’t figure—so many are vegetarians. Cardiologist told me it could be all that ghee and coconut cream. And heavy smoking. Dunno about that. Maybe’s there’s a genetic factor.’
Sai reappeared with two woven coconut leaf fans which he put on the table, then withdrew. Burgermeister stretched his neck again and fanned it lazily.
‘They think of everything here, don’t they? No wonder Vijay liked to stay over after his clinics.’
‘How did he seem yesterday?’
‘Stressed out, angry. Mainly with you, Joe, I gotta say. Furious about the way you were waiting for him at the airport. Accused you of harassment.’ He chuckled, remembering.
Horseman leaned back in his chair, resisting a sudden impulse to defend his meet-and-greet with Dr Chakra. ‘I heard he was angry with you, too.’
Burgermeister stopped fanning and looked at Horseman. ‘Sure. He seemed kinda unhinged, y’know, lashing out at anyone who tried to reason with him. Too much whisky. I suggested you were just doing your job, and suddenly I was all kinds of s
.o.b! Really bawled me out.’
‘That must have been hard to take.’
‘I was kinda offended, I’ll admit. He must’ve been drinking a lot more than I realised. I put it down to that. Also post-traumatic stress. I understood that—I still feel weird about finding poor Nisi’s body. That was our shared trauma, one that he rejected, so he rejected me too. So I reasoned, anyway. Guy left pretty soon after that, and Winston and I tried to change the subject and calm Vijay down.’
‘Did you succeed?’
‘Kinda. He quietened down but he was still real angry. Never seen him like that.’
Horseman poured more coffee for both of them. ‘Who was the last to leave here last night?’
‘Sai locked up the bar—not sure what time that was. Anyway, that’s when Winston said goodnight. I felt bad about leaving Vijay on his own. Thought he could fall asleep and stay there all night. I felt kinda obliged. Later I managed to talk him into going to bed. We were headed in the same direction, but my bure’s closer. I could see he wasn’t steady on his feet, so I walked all the way back with him.’
‘That was very good of you, after he bawled you out,’ Horseman said.
Burgermeister shrugged. ‘Thanks. Sure as hell got no appreciation last night.’
Horseman held out the plate of cinnamon biscuits. Burgermeister took another. Horseman couldn’t resist another either and they munched.
‘Which way did you go back to the bure?’ Horseman asked.
‘Took the path direct to the dive shop and the jetty. I wasn’t sure he’d remember which bure he had, so I went with him to the entrance.’
‘The beach side?’
‘No, what they call the front entrance, away from the sea. His was right at the end of the path—but you know that.’
‘And then?’
‘I didn’t go in. The veranda light was on. I watched him go up the steps, then I went straight to my own bed.’
DEATH ON PARADISE ISLAND: Fiji Islands Mysteries 1 Page 22
