DEATH ON PARADISE ISLAND: Fiji Islands Mysteries 1

by B. M. Allsopp

  ‘Borrowed a boat from a fisherman I know on the coast near Navua. Cut the motor close to Paradise and rowed in to the beach west of the staff quarters.’

  ‘You’ll need to give us this fisherman’s name and address later. We’ll be checking everything. And afterwards?’

  ‘I went back the same way to Navua, returned the boat. I caught the first bus to Suva in the morning, stayed with a uni friend in his hall of residence at the Laucala campus. I got back to our camp this morning.’

  Horseman continued. ‘I think you returned last night, Steve. You wanted to collect your share of the money from Winston Lee, didn’t you?’

  ‘No, what’s this about?’

  ‘Lee wouldn’t pay you until he had the eggs so you waited together for Maika to get back from Delanarua with them. Then Mr McKenzie turned up and you thought you mightn’t get your cash after all. Mr McKenzie was still there when Maika came ashore, so you hit him on head, knocked him unconscious. Lucky for you he’s not dead too.’

  Steve was now desperate. ‘No, no, I didn’t! You’ve got to believe me, I wasn’t there.’

  Horseman relaxed. ‘We’ll check everything tomorrow, Steve. Your friend who lent you his boat, your uni friend and his friends, the buses. We’ll find out exactly where you were.’

  ‘Tell me why you wanted to kill, or punish Dr Chakra,’ Singh demanded. ‘I can’t accept you’d inject a man with lethal venom just because you disapprove of his behaviour.’

  Steve turned to Horseman, almost hopeful. Now he craved understanding. ‘Do you know?’

  ‘I think so. It turns out your mother and mine are friends. Answer Sergeant Singh’s question, Steve.’

  ‘My favourite sister died when I was twelve. She was nineteen. She loved me, always had time for me. I couldn’t get over that, neither could my parents. My father was harsh with us kids, but I think her death knocked the life out of him. It wasn’t until after I joined the Paradise research camp that I heard Dr Chakra had been working in Savusavu at that time, and performed abortions—lots of them. The word was that he was a philanderer, and greedy, what’s more—charged big fees. But it was always hushed up.

  ‘I put two and two together and asked my eldest sister in Suva about it. She told me I was talking rubbish, so I went to visit my mother over in Savusavu about a month ago. She’s ill. I pleaded with her and in the end she admitted my sister had died of complications following an abortion performed by that bastard, Chakra. She said my father never knew what her operation had been for and no one must know—we must preserve my sister’s reputation in death. What about preserving her life?

  ‘I didn’t know what to do but I knew he had to be punished and the neurotoxin would really scare him. Do you know what happens? Your eyelids droop, you can’t move your toes, your feet, then your fingers. You can still see, you can still hear. Eventually none of your muscles work, even though you can still think clearly. When your diaphragm won’t work anymore, you can’t breathe and then you die.’ He stopped, looking around the room as if surprised by his whereabouts.

  ‘When did you decide to do this, Steve?’ Singh persisted softly.

  ‘It was when Nisi. . .’ Steve trailed off.

  ‘Go on. You can tell us everything now. I understand.’ Singh prompted.

  A slight smile. ‘You do? Well, Nisi wasn’t well, and one time when I was at the resort I saw her visit Dr Chakra’s clinic, sort of secretly, after everyone else had gone away. Then she went home for a week. I wouldn’t normally have thought anything of it, but because of my sister, it occurred to me Nisi was going through the same thing. I mean, she and Maika. . . I thought maybe she was pregnant and Chakra did an abortion. We were working quite a bit with the banded sea kraits, so the idea just came to me.’

  ‘You killed Dr Chakra because maybe he’d performed an abortion? Did you talk to Nisi about her illness?’ Singh asked.

  ‘When she came back to work I tried. But it was too difficult. I couldn’t. I knew I was right though. How can girls keep being so stupid? I can’t understand it!’

  He seemed to be in a dream, talking to himself. Horseman tried not to rouse him.

  ‘You spoke to her about something else, didn’t you? The marine reserve. She’d become very influenced by Professor Burgermeister’s conservation ideas, hadn’t she? She was loyal to her chief too, and he’s committed to the reserve.’

  ‘Why do you say that?’

  ‘I know she talked to several people about the marine reserve in the last month of her life, like Reverend Mosese, Guy Dawson, and Maika. I think she was testing out Professor Burgermeister’s ideas and trying to work out her own position. Did she talk about it with you?’

  ‘She didn’t want to help us supply eggs to Winston any more. And we needed her—she’s the one who found the iguana eggs. Of course we’re all behind the marine reserve. But Nisi thought that if we respected the marine reserve protocols we should stop sustainably harvesting bird and lizard eggs. She just couldn’t see the difference.’

  ‘Which is?’ Singh asked.

  Steve sighed, irritated. ‘It’s about sustainability! We always leave some eggs to hatch!’

  ‘I’ve read that the Fiji crested iguanas are critically endangered, Steve. No way taking even one egg doesn’t harm the species,’ Singh said.

  ‘Since when were you an expert? Anyway, if doctors like Chakra can run a profitable business, why can’t research scientists?’

  It was a familiar argument to Horseman. Why not police officers?

  Singh continued. ‘You despised Dr Chakra for profiting from abortion, Steve. Yet you’re fine with stealing eggs from birds and iguanas?’

  ‘But we didn’t kill the eggs, or the birds!’ Steve shouted in exasperation.

  Horseman frowned at Singh. ‘Where did you meet Nisi on the afternoon of the reserve inauguration day, Steve?’ he asked.

  ‘Oh, it was by chance. She was sitting on the jetty, watching the boats taking visitors away. She said how tired she was, so I said I’d borrow a kayak and paddle her round to the staff quarters. Just a joke, but she laughed and said okay. So once we got going in the kayak, I tried to explain the harvesting principles so she saw sense. But she wouldn’t or couldn’t.’

  ‘How did you react to that?’

  Steve smiled slightly, ruefully. ‘You know, I’d make a lousy teacher. No patience. I got so exasperated when she couldn’t see it clearly, like I could. She refused to help us, thought she knew better than us what would harm the species. I lost my temper, hit her over the head with the paddle. I was amazed I’d done it. Like it just happened.’ He looked from one officer to the other, mystified.

  ‘And then?’ Singh whispered, her voice cracked with pain.

  ‘She toppled into the water. I thought she was tricking me—she could swim like a fish and dive like a bird, stay under water longer than anyone. I waited a long time, I didn’t paddle away. But she didn’t surface.’ He stared, still confused.

  Horseman had a clear vision of Nisi’s lovely face, transformed by shock and fear as she tumbled over the side of the kayak and sank into unconsciousness. ‘Did you dive in to look for her?’ he asked.

  ‘No. She would’ve liked that. She enjoyed making fun of us guys.’

  ‘You deliberately killed her, then waited around to make sure.’

  Steve shook his head emphatically. ‘Oh no, I wouldn’t do that. I thought she’d swum ashore under water and would be there when I got back. I returned the kayak to its place and walked back to camp.’

  ‘What did you think when you heard her body had been found?’ Singh asked.

  ‘I was shocked. Poor Nisi.’

  Horseman couldn’t stand it any more. He butted in.

  ‘Steve, you’ll be charged with the murder of Akanisi Leletaku and Dr Vijay Chakra, kidnapping Sergea
nt Singh, trading in protected wildlife, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer, that’s me. At least. The final charges will be drawn up tomorrow. I think we’re all too tired now, don’t you? Let’s get some sleep and we’ll talk again in the morning.’

  The constable escorted a docile Steve from the room. Maybe the reality of the lock-up, rank with damp, steeped in fear, would end his fantasy of himself as the all-knowing avenger. Horseman had no doubt he had killed ruthlessly, to serve his own ends.

  Singh’s blotched and blistered face was sunk in fatigue ‘Mad or bad, sir?’

  ‘I’m glad I’m not responsible for deciding that. But I don’t think he’s deluded. He’s spinning us a yarn, it’s all an act to reduce the charges. We’ll tease it all out tomorrow. Grill them again. Maika too. Establish if Steve was or could have been on Paradise beach last night. If not, it was Lee who attacked McKenzie, but we may not be able to prove it. Meanwhile, are you sure you’re alright now?’

  ‘Yes sir. Tired. Funny, you know. I told Anil a week ago there wasn’t one scientist in prison in Fiji. Now there’ll be at least two.’ She could barely croak now.

  ‘Don’t bank on it. Anil might get away with a good behaviour bond.’

  ‘What? For assaulting and kidnapping a police officer? Not if I have anything to do with it! What happened to me was Anil’s doing, not St. . .’ A rasping cough convulsed her.

  ‘You need to rest. For once, we’ll write this one up in the morning. Come on, Detective Sergeant, I’m taking you home.’ But his body could give him no more. When he stood to help her, his right leg, now completely numb, shot from beneath him. He toppled to the concrete floor, avoided falling on his face, instead landing heavily on the shoulder bruised by the flying cylinder at the FIMS laboratory. When he managed to roll over Singh was standing over him, helpless with coughing.

  ‘My turn to help you, sir,’ she got out eventually, holding out her hand. But she wasn’t so steady herself, so she pulled over a chair and sat on it while Horseman hauled himself upright.

  When the uniform returned to the interview room he took one look, then arranged for a police driver to take them both home.

  EPILOGUE

  The following Sunday, Horseman visited his mother’s village. As expected, he attended church dressed in his grey tailored sulu, white shirt and tie. Afterwards, the entire village and many visiting relatives gathered for lunch. Horseman sat among them on woven mats under the feasting shelters, one leg stretched out straight in front, his crutch beside him. Everyone wanted to hear about the greener pastures of the United States, the paradise on earth of their imaginations. As he savoured the smoky succulence of the lovo-baked chickens, fish and vegetables, he tried to oblige with tales of his life in Oregon, much of which had been spent in hospitals and classrooms.

  ‘You know,’ he concluded, ‘no matter how well Americans build roads and aeroplanes and hospitals, and no matter how clever the engineers and doctors are, I never tasted any food there that was even half as delicious as our Fijian lovo. Vinaka vakalevu!’

  Amid the clearing up and parcelling of leftovers for distribution, his contented mother took a break to sit down with him.

  ‘Josefa, I’m very concerned about your knee. I’ll be cross if you’ve undone all the good progress you achieved in the States.’

  ‘No, Mum. The specialist strapped it as a precaution and wants me to keep my weight off it for a short while.’

  Mrs Horseman raised her brows in scepticism. ‘And your sergeant—the Indian woman?’

  Horseman understood his mother’s carefully neutral tone masked intense interest in Sergeant Susila Singh. ‘She’s exhausted. She’s taking a few days’ leave, but she’s tough. She’s an absolute gem of a sergeant, Mum.’

  ‘You know Joe, you haven’t really filled me in on all the aspects of your case. I’ve been puzzling over a few things.’

  ‘Fire away, Mum.’

  ‘How is Mr Ian McKenzie, the Paradise manager?’

  ‘He’s recovering well, Mum. He says he can now remember everything until he was knocked out, but he’s sure he never did see his attacker. The hospital’s discharging him tomorrow and his wife’s taking him back to New Zealand for more rest. I was surprised when she told me they’re planning to return to Paradise after what they’ve been through. However, I’m pleased about that. Mr McKenzie has the respect and confidence of all the staff.’

  ‘But how can a resort manage without a manager?’ she asked with a smile.

  ‘Adi Litia’s recruited someone temporary for the office, and she’s filling in as manager.’

  ‘Sounds like a good arrangement. Why not make that permanent?’

  ‘Adi Litia’s efficient, but she’s got a bit to learn in the people skills department. She means well. It’s just her ingrained aristocratic manner—she can’t help it.’

  Mrs Horseman looked doubtful. ‘Hmm. What happened to that crook, the smuggler from Hong Kong? I hope he’s in gaol, thief and corrupter of our youth that he is!’

  ‘Sorry but no, Mum. Winston Lee was bailed on condition he surrenders his passport and doesn’t leave Suva. He’s got a smooth-talking lawyer. Both Steve and Maika insist Lee attacked Ian McKenzie, but I’m not sure how that will go down at trial. They’ve both got a motive for shifting the blame away from themselves. We can only wait for the trial—Lee might still spend some time in gaol here.’

  Mrs Horseman shook her head sadly. ‘I still can’t credit that a little girl and a doctor died because of that evil, greedy crook. Not that I had any time for Dr Chakra, as you well know. But still.’

  ‘Mum, Anil and Sitiveni are educated young men. They chose to join Lee’s scheme. You’d think they’d have the strength to say no, wouldn’t you?’

  ‘And where does this leave those boys’ professor, and his wonderful dream for a marine reserve?’

  ‘Professor Burgermeister’s devastated, Mum. Shocked and depressed. But I think he’ll pull round. Ratu Ezekaia and his nephew Waisele are giving him great support. The future of the reserve is hopeful.’

  ‘I’m glad to hear that. Oh, there’s something I must tell you. Remember my friend Mere Kurolo in Savusavu, the mother of Sitiveni, your killer?’

  ‘Io, Mum. Of course I do. And I’m grateful to you for helping me make that connection with Savusavu. I don’t think I’d have worked it out but for you.’

  She looked pleased. ‘Maybe not so soon, Joe, but you would have got there. Well, my friend Mere died on Friday. Peacefully, before anyone had told her what her son had done. I was thankful. A mother should not have to bear the burden of such knowledge.’

  ‘No, Mum. I agree. Would you like to go to her funeral? I’ll book you a flight.’

  ‘Vinaka, son. I’ll check on the arrangements before you head back to Suva. You know, that mobile phone is quite a useful thing, when it works.’

  He had landed back in Fiji exactly two weeks ago, but talking to his relatives about his time in the States, that year already seemed distant, another life far away. He was now back in the world he’d come from, the world he understood. Whether these beautiful islands could become his true home again, he didn’t know. One thing he was certain of—he must get fit for rugby.

  Acknowledgments

  This book could not have been written without the willing help of many people. First I owe many thanks to those who freely shared their expertise in fields beyond my experience: Mr Waisea Vakamocea, retired senior officer of the Fiji Police Force; Professor Rick Shine of The University of Sydney School of Biological Sciences; and Dr Ken Winkel, Senior Research Fellow at The University of Melbourne. Responsibility for any errors relating to their fields in this book is all mine.

  Second, I am most grateful to those who have helped me improve my story-telling over many drafts. Mentor Kathryn Heyman taught me much and inspired me to keep
revising. The Impress Prize team at Exeter, U.K. encouraged me to persist when they shortlisted an earlier version of this book. Editor Irina Dunn gave me perceptive advice which led to this final version. Keith Stevenson has professionally converted my manuscript into a real book and designer Maryna Zhukova has drawn the map and created the cover of my dreams.

  Finally, warm thanks to the volunteers: Kyran Lynch-Kheir for proof-reading, Anna Williamson for reading earlier drafts and Peter Williamson for his enthusiasm for my story and constant support.

  About the author

  B.M. Allsopp is a Sydney author who lived in the South Pacific islands for 14 years, including four in Fiji, where she taught English at the University of the South Pacific.

  She now lives in Sydney with her husband and tabby cat.

  Website: www.bmallsopp.com

  Twitter: @bmallsopp

  Before you go…

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  Copyright

  First published in Australia in 2016

  by Coconut Press

  Copyright © B.M. Allsopp 2016

  www.bmallsopp.com

  Contact the author by email at bernadette@bmallsopp.com

  Kindle ISBN 978-0-9945719-0-8 | Epub ISBN 978-0-9945719-1-5

  Print book ISBN 978-0-9945719-4-6

  The right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.

  This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.