Boss Takes All (5 page)

‘Well, Maura, there is a big wig called Karumi down in Nairobi. I know that for sure. Normally the city cops leave the locals to do the arresting. I've got friends in the CID on Nairobi Hill. One of them is bound to know.'

‘Yes, and I hope they'll be willing to talk. Allowed even.'

‘That's true, Paul.'

‘No one down there is going to risk confronting the master thug if he values his job, his life even.'

It was now more than two hours since the brief but violent visit of the boys in blue. A group of twelve sat around in the darkness outside the cottage adjacent to the main house on Rusinga Farm. The warmth of the day was still with them and to the east the lights of the farms on the plain further along the lakeside helped to create a scene of calm. The waters of the lake itself were like rippled slate and in the distance merged into the black mass of the hills of the rift. Above, the picture book sky of dark violet was crowded with low-hanging stars. Everyone there had enjoyed the wonder of nights like this a thousand times. They made their homeland special.

Alex took a long draught on his White-cap before he spoke.

‘He was afraid something like this would happen. Told me yesterday when we went over to the new hospital to do some measuring up.' He raised his hand to forestall his wife's comment. ‘He thought about … disappearing. Waste of time. Where can you hide from that lot? With young Ewan in tow.'

Paul was able to introduce a new line of thought.

‘There have been rumours. The press has lost interest in the fires up here. The usual thing. A bigger fish has swum into the pool. Assassination! Now, think about that. And the Big Man in the firing line. Kenya's version of the John Kennedy saga.'

His sister, Maria, pointed out something else.

‘This Big Man has survived. He'll be some kind of hero and the person who tried to kill him … He'll need police protection.'

Rafaella, matriarch of the McCall family, was deeply hurt by the destruction of the house that had been built for her by her husband, Don, as a wedding present on her arrival from Verona and had been her home for over half a century. But new stones would be bought and fresh timbers would be laid.

Minutes before she had sat at the bedside of a beautiful child as he cried himself to sleep. Tom had read from Ewan's favourite storybook and Rebecca had sung to him.

‘The boy knows that we all love him, but children are not stupid. Our lies do not fool him. Only Bertie can soothe this heartache. I fear for Bertie. Do those people feel nothing?'

‘Please, forgive the ramblings of an old woman. I think that I have lived long enough. I do not recognise this world as God's creation any more. I would be happy to go now.'

She felt a hand take hers. She looked up from her chair and was surprised to find Angela Kamau standing over her. Apart from surprise, she also experienced a deep sense of shame. Angela had been a maid in Londiani since the day that Stephen had brought her there when he had begun to work on the farm for Don. Rafaella and she had never had a cross word. But why was it at that moment of personal anguish that she had noticed the beauty of this Somali woman's face? The smile of compassion, the feminine purity reminded her of the face of the angel painted on the wall behind the altar of Saint Veronica's Church in the village of her own grandmother.

Rafaella did not secretly chide herself for not being a good mistress. That would have been unfair. But had she been guilty of pride, a sense of superiority? She was not allowed time to dwell on this unexpected new piece of gloom that had entered her life.

‘Memsahib, tomorrow you and I will go on a small journey together. We have work to do.'

When would these strange happenings cease? Angela loved her life on the lakeside. Her three girls had been born there. On the night, many years before, when she had fled her home village in the north to escape the fate of becoming the second wife of Ahmed, the rich man who was old enough to be her father, she had cut herself adrift from family, friends and settled patterns of life. It had been a desperate move for an innocent country girl to go down to the city where hundreds of young Somali beauties like herself survived by hiring out their bodies. But Angela had met first the Shah family and then the big coastie boy on his way up-country to take up a job in the flower business. She thanked God every day for protecting her.

She was a woman who enjoyed being in the background. She had a husband who was known and respected in Naivasha town and the villages ‘round about. Her firstborn had been acclaimed for her beauty and her voice in the great United States. So to be in the laundry garden, thrusting her arms into the warm, soapy water of the deep metal troughs or being in the kitchen at Londiani with two mistresses who treated her like a friend, what more could she ask for?

And now, this self-effacing woman was giving instructions to her older mistress. This was not the way things were done in the farms in the White Highlands. And this was why everyone sitting out in the garden of Rusinga Farm was riveted into silence, especially Stephen and Rebecca. Had the housemaid crossed an invisible but real line in the antiquated system of hierarchy?

‘And may I ask where this journey will take us? I hope it will not be too far. You know that I am not happy driving a car these days.'

There was no hint of sarcasm in Rafaella's tone. Quite the opposite, Rafaella's spirits had been given a lift by Angela's bold move.

‘It is a long way, but I shall ask Bwana Thomas to take us.'

‘Bwana Thomas will be happy to drive two beautiful women to the North Pole, if that's where they want to go.'

Tom was also excited and wanted to know more.

‘North Pole is too far to go in one day. Too cold for Kenyan people. Last night I sat up by the village fire. You know that Isaac is there every night. He was reading his Bible to me. And we prayed together. Many hours. Many times, over and over, the words came. Every time the same. I spoke to Isaac about these things. He tells me that I have been blessed. I must obey. Rebecca will come, too. And one other.'

eorge, the day porter at the Karen home of the Rubai family, was having a busy morning. Since eight o'clock hospital vans and cars had been coming and going. Bwana was coming home in the afternoon. The doctors had warned him about the dangers of leaving the hospital environment too early. Abel had insisted that he was ready to leave and a compromise had been reached which involved temporarily converting a large ground floor room into a hospital ward.

Just after ten, three unexpected visitors had arrived at the lodge gate. George explained to Sally.

‘Yes, Madam, there was a car. I did not recognise it. Three passengers stepped out and crossed the road to our gate. No, Madam, I have not seen them before, but two of the names are familiar. Certainly, Madam. Rafaella McCall and Angela Kamau. The third is a white toto. They will not give his name. Yes, I will escort them myself.'

Sally went to the front door to greet the newcomers. They were not welcome, but she had always been welcomed at Londiani. The least she could do in return was to be polite and hope they would not stay long. And who could the toto be?

Rafaella introduced the little stranger.

‘Ewan Briggs. You have met his father.'

Sally could not hide her shock, but she managed to hold back the angry words that this rude intrusion was stirring inside her. A maid had accompanied her to the door.

‘Alice, take the child into the kitchen. He has come a long way this morning.' And to Ewan, ‘Child, go with Alice. She has some special treats for boys who know how to behave themselves.'

A bewildered Ewan looked up at Rafaella and when she gave him the nod happily skipped off down the passageway.

Sally was in for more surprises. When the door of the sitting room was closed behind the three of them, Sally was expecting to launch into a lesson on proper behaviour when one was bent on visiting good company. Angela was too quick for her.

‘Madam, I am very sorry for the trouble that has come to your family. I feel the pain deeply. Perhaps you know that recently I thought that my Stephen had been taken from me.'

‘Yes, I know this.'

Sally was not enjoying the coldness she was effortlessly injecting into the tone of her voice. She sensed danger. This housemaid had not dressed up in an elegant blue suit that highlighted the handsome figure and the fine head just to deliver a few cliches about sympathy. Neither did Sally relish what she saw as a disdainful smile on the lips of the McCall woman. In fact, Rafaella was simply standing in admiration at the performance of this new confident housemaid.

Sally tried a counterattack. ‘Ladies, how wonderful to see you both looking so … well. But you will have to excuse me.

The master is coming home this afternoon. He has suffered much these last few days.'

Why did she, the mistress of this house, feel so trapped, so unable to send these two off with a few sharp words? She was about to try again when there was a gentle tap on the door. Alice's timing was awry. Sally had not wanted the child to be brought into this room. In spite of herself, she warmed to the boy's enthusiasm and (she hated the idea) his vulnerability.

Angela was in no mood to hold back. She was perfectly aware that her behaviour was not the kind that would go down well in bwana land, black or white. But these were circumstances that cried out for something else. A fine man's life was in danger, a small boy's life was on the edge of ruin. Self-pity was not an option.

‘Madam, you know this boy's father?'

‘Yes, of course. Bwana Briggs. I have seen him in Londiani.'

‘He has been taken. Eight policemen from Nairobi came for him yesterday.'

‘Eight?'

‘So you know?'

Sally had not invited her visitors to sit down. She wanted the meeting to be brief. Rafaella took Ewan's hand and led him across the room towards a large bay window where he knelt on the cushioned seat. While he looked out onto the terrace and the garden beyond, she watched the exchanges continue from a distance. It was like a scene in a courtroom. On the one side she was seeing a totally new Angela, a woman grim-faced and determined. Sally was uncomfortable under this barrage of relentless questioning, apprehensive about the state of mind of this normally gentle, polite maid.

Rafaella considered stepping in to end the embarrassment. Her attention was drawn away by Ewan pointing to something going on outside. A very large man was moving towards them along the drive, struggling under the weight of a wooden box. The boy was anxious with both hands pressed to his face, afraid that the man would fall. The man passed out of sight to the relief of Ewan.

In her own tense state, her reaction to the brief incident was to remind herself of why Angela was across the room from her, being impolite, being aggressive to the mistress of this grand but ugly house. The wounded master would be returning that very afternoon, the ruthless, murdering power maniac, unchanged by his close brush with death, still in pursuit of anyone brave enough or stupid enough to stand in his way.

The result was that all trace of embarrassment at the way Angela was grilling Sally was gone. She was silently cheering her on.

‘Yes, I know. I also know why this has happened. In this country, you cannot go around trying to kill people because they have offended you.'

‘Madam, you are right. You say you know. But do you know why?'

‘Why do you talk in riddles?'

‘No riddles, Madam. I will tell you.'

Rafaella sat back, fell back onto the support of the window seat and grasped Ewan's hand. Surely not! Angela, be very careful. No, darling, just be brave.

‘Yes, the father of this child here did fire the bullet that almost took the life of your husband. But at that very moment your husband had a gun in his hands, too, and he was about to pull the trigger and take the life … of Thomas McCall.'

‘That is not true!'

Angela swept on. ‘Oh, but it is true.'

‘You cannot prove this!'

‘In this country, you cannot go around trying to kill people just because they have offended you. There are many witnesses. Bwana Briggs has been taken because he saved a life. I am very sorry to have to say these things to you, Madam. A good man's life is in danger. Even at this moment we do not know where he is.'

At the end of moments of silence, Angela began again. Her manner was gentle, compassionate but also pleading.

‘You can save this man's life. You can bring happiness back to this child. This child never knew his mother. You would understand the pain of this.'

Pleading but calculating. It was not only Sally Rubai who knew the teaching about serpents and doves.

On the short walk between the Rubai house and the Daniels' house where Rebecca and Tom were waiting for them, Angela seemed drained of energy. She offered to carry Ewan, but the little man refused. Angela was not offended by the rejection.