Poacher (25 page)

He kissed her on her fresh, innocent lips.
‘Only this time we are not going to waste our time for the sake of
decency. Will you marry me on Saturday?’

She laughed, and pulled her head back to look
at him. ‘You are serious, aren’t you? But you are also crazy. Yes,
I will marry you, but not this Saturday. There are a million things
to do first. A person doesn’t get married just like that. Come,
let’s tell my parents.’

Initially the atmosphere was a bit strained,
especially with his future mother in law, but things thawed
quickly. His delighted parents came over, and they all went to town
for a Sunday lunch to celebrate.

Everyone was enjoying the meal and the
conversation, when Estelle turned to Sam. ‘You are going to stay
here for a couple of days,’ she said, the anxious tome of her voice
immediately stopping all other conversation.

He laid down his knife and fork. ‘Estelle,
you know I can’t do that.’

A single tear coursed down her cheek. ‘Sam, I
don’t want to lose you again. I have a bad feeling about this.
Please don’t go.’

‘I am really sorry, Estelle, but I have no
choice. I’ve got a chance to finish it now, and finish it I
will.’

‘Now what the hell is going on,’ Sam’s father
wanted to know.

‘Sam insists on having an old-fashioned duel
with someone who is quite capable of killing him.’ The tears were
flowing freely now, and she had a look of utter desperation in her
eyes.

‘You’ve got it wrong. I intend trying to
catch him alive, but I have to do it personally. The authorities
will see to it that justice is done, don’t you worry. He has
murdered three people in cold blood, two of which were policemen.
He will hang without doubt. Where did you get these wild ideas
anyway?’

‘Louis telephoned me some time ago, and said
he was worried about you. He told me the whole story about this
Joao, and he said you were obsessed.’

‘What story?’ Dr. Fisher leant forward,
cocking his head.

Sam sighed, and told them about Joao’s
threats. He knew that Louis, not knowing half of the true facts,
couldn’t have told Estelle much, so he refrained from going into
any detail.

‘So what makes you think that you are going
to get your hands on him this week,’ Dr. Fisher wanted to know.

Sam lied with a straight face. ‘I have
received information that they might be planning an ivory
expedition again very soon. There is no way I am going to scream
for help from the authorities every time a band of poachers come
into my territory.’

Sam’s father cleared his throat. ‘He’s right,
Estelle, he is only doing his job.’

‘No, he isn’t,’ she insisted. ‘There is more
to it than just doing his job. I am going to Nwanetzi with him.’
She lifted her chin in a gesture of defiance and looked at Sam.

Her mother and Sam started protesting
simultaneously, and quite a hectic argument ensued. Estelle,
however, had made up her mind, and no amount of arguing would budge
her. ‘I don’t care what people say about me staying with him on my
own. I am quite old enough and capable of looking after myself,
thank you. I am going, and that’s it. As far as I am concerned, the
subject is not open for discussion any longer.’ A minute nod of her
head accompanied this statement, emphasising the finality.
Everybody around the table knew her well enough to know that the
subject was, indeed, closed.

Sam was not happy about this turn of events.
Her presence would hamper him, and she would most probably try to
accompany him everywhere he went, and that was something he
definitely did not need at this stage. He tried to dissuade her
once more, but she just folded her arms and regarded him coolly,
refusing to get drawn into the argument again. ‘OK,’ he conceded,
‘but on one very firm condition. I will absolutely not allow you to
interfere with my work. And I want you to understand that very
clearly.’

‘Yes, sir. Very good, sir. Thank you, oh
great bwana.’ She smiled a victorious smile, and turned to her
father. ‘Dad, will you please phone Mr. van Wijk tomorrow and tell
him that I will be absent for a week?’

‘You can be glad you are not working for me –
I would have fired you without thinking twice.’

Chapter Thirteen

They arrived at Nwanetzi at nine in the
evening. And both immediately felt awkward about sharing the house
alone.

Estelle moved into the guest room and
unpacked her things, while Sam made some tea.

Although they had long ago, on Estelle’s
insistence, decided that there would be no sex till after the
wedding, there was a certain sexual tension in the air as they sat
under the mahogany, savouring the night sounds.

They were both suddenly at a loss for words,
each too scared to say anything that might resurrect Linda’s
presence.

Sam had only known Estelle to use a glass of
wine with a meal occasionally, and was therefore astonished when
she suggested a drink.

‘Excellent idea. Shall I get you some
wine?’

‘No, I think I will have something stronger,
please. A large whisky or something.’ He failed to notice the
tension in her voice, and fetched them each a tall whisky.

‘Cheers!’ She sipped tentatively on the first
whisky in her life and nearly gagged. ‘Lovely,’ she said, steeling
herself and taking a large swallow.

Halfway through her second whisky, she put
her glass down and got up. She stood in front of his chair, and
pulled him up by both hands. As his arm went around her, she
pressed her body into him fiercely and clung to him with a strength
that he did not know she possessed.

‘Sam, please don’t die.’

‘I won’t, my love. I have a whole lifetime I
want to spend with you, and nothing is going to rob me of
that.’

‘I want you to make love to me. Now.’

He opened his mouth, but she laid a finger on
his lips. ‘Don’t talk, please.’

He just stood motionless, holding her, till
she took his hand and led him into the house.

In the bedroom she turned her back to him and
started getting undressed.

He was standing in the middle of the room,
his hands at his side. ‘Listen, Estelle, I think we . . .’

‘Don’t talk. Please.’

In the dim light shining in from the passage
he had caught a glimpse of her lithe marble body, and he was
instantly aroused out of all proportion. He got undressed, and slid
under the covers next to her. As his huge erection touched her hip,
she froze for a moment. She reached down a tiny tentative hand and
encircled him, her breath coming in shallow gasps. ‘Oh God, please
be gentle,’ she moaned, ‘I am not so good at this.’

Penetrating her was an obstacle that he
surmounted with great care and patience, only to lose control
completely once he was fully inside her. With a great roaring in
his ears and whispered words of love he exploded deep inside
her.

He was surprised to find that he remained
rock hard inside her, and once he had himself under control once
more, he started making love to her in slow, gentle strokes,
manipulating her beautiful body as would a musician his favourite
instrument. It lasted for a long, long time, and they climaxed
together under his expert guidance, losing themselves totally in
their love for each other.

At some stage Sam had thrown the covers off
the bed, and their intertwined bodies were cooled by an ever so
slight breeze, wafting through the open window along with the far
off cry of a jackal.

‘Do you really love me?’ she murmured against
his throat.

He held her even tighter. ‘With everything I
have, and for always.’

‘More than Linda?’

He stiffened. Oh shit, he thought. Rolling
over, he got a cigarette from the nightstand, and at the same time
switched on the bedside lamp. She swiftly tried to cover herself,
but he removed her hands and told her to relax. He leaned on his
elbow, and looked in her eyes. ‘Let us talk about Linda. Let us
talk about her for the first and last time. I refuse to let the
memory cloud our marriage, so let us get the air cleared once and
for all. She was beautiful, and I was infatuated with her. I never
really loved her, not the way I love you. The closest it ever
really got was once when I was becoming convinced that I had lost
you forever. I needed someone to hang on to, someone to keep me
from losing my sanity. I never stopped loving you. I think you know
that.’

Estelle’s eyes were swimming in tears. ‘The
thought of her still scares me. She was so polished, such a woman
of the world. I have never made love with anyone, how could I
compete with her?’

‘It is not a competition, my love. It never
was. Please believe me when I tell you that nobody could ever take
your place in my life, ever.’

She burrowed her wet face into his neck. ‘I
needed you to say that. Thank you. I love you.’

She was at peace at last, and fell into a
deep sleep, while Sam’s thoughts wandered off to a dark man with an
axe to grind.

Chapter Fourteen

She brought him coffee and a good morning
kiss during the Monday morning radio session, and he gestured her
into the chair at his desk. She regarded her surroundings
contentedly. The office was his domain, and she would leave it
exactly like it was, after the wedding. All the horns, skins and
other trophies adorning practically every wall in the house would
have to be moved in here to join the rest. Looking at the already
crowded walls of the office, she doubted if there was going to be
enough room, but that was just too bad.

While Sam was engrossed in the reports coming
in from all over the National Parks, she was renovating the house
in her mind. All the
karosses
, or skin rugs, will have to go
too. Every bedspread in the house was a
kaross.
She
appreciated the fact that some of the skins were rare, and all were
very meticulously prepared and painstakingly sewn together, but she
was definitely not going to have the skin of some hairy, long dead
animal covering her nuptial bed. There were some excellent
paintings in the house, but most of them would also have to be
replaced. She loved the veld and the animals, but some paintings of
other subjects would lend a more homely atmosphere to the place.
Basically the whole of Sam’s decor emanated a sense of
bachelorhood. The net effect of this, combined with his job and
environment, created an interior resembling that of a museum of
natural history.

She regarded the man she loved so fondly. He
was talking into the microphone animatedly about the infestation of
peregrine flora along some waterways, while trying to light his
pipe at the same time. She couldn't resist the urge to go and stand
behind his chair and put her arms around his neck from behind. She
hugged him, kissing him on the cheek lightly. He put down his pipe
and pulled her head tight against the side of his face. She
remained like that for the rest of the session.

He switched the radio to standby, and turned
his swivel chair around, pulling her onto his lap. ‘Morning,
beautiful. You’re up early.’

' Have to see to my duties, one of which is
providing early morning coffee for my hard-working man.'

‘Ah, I can see matrimony has got some
advantages after all.'

' Definitely.' She got up and took his hand.'
Come and join me in the kitchen, and I will rustle us up a little
something in the line of breakfast. I’m famished. So, what are we
going to do today?'

Sam knew he was going to have a hard time
going anywhere without her tagging along, but what the hell, he
still had two days to go.

'I think we ought to make a grocery
expedition to Satara. While you’re here, you’re going to have to
pay your way by providing me with a decent cooked meal at least
twice a day. Can you cook?'

She aimed a backhand at him, and he ducked,
laughing.

When they returned in the early afternoon,
there was a light blue Nissan Skyline parked in front of the gate.
The two male occupants were leaning against the car, looking
miffed, while Job was giving them a stony stare through the wire.
It was very obvious that the parties concerned had reached a
stalemate about the closed gate. Judging by the loosened ties and
sweat stains on the shirts of the two gents, the argument in the
sun had been going on for quite some time.

They approached the truck the moment Sam
stopped. ' Good afternoon, Mr Jenkins. I am Steve Strydom and this
is Hannes Botha. We would like to have a word with you in private,
please’.

' Hell, but you guys sound serious. This is
my fiancé, Estelle Fisher. We can talk in front of her.'

' Mr Jenkins, being a recce, I presume it
wouldn't be necessary for us to explain the official secrets act to
you. Shall we go in?'

' Can I see some identification?'

Strydom produced a card identifying him as an
agent from the Department of State Security.

Shit, Sam thought, this can spell trouble.'
Park your car inside, we can talk in my office. What will it be,
tea, coffee or a cold beer? You gents look as if you could use
something cool'.

'A beer, please, the colder the better.'

Estelle busied herself with sorting out the
purchasers in the kitchen while the men retired to the office with
a cold Castle each.

' Well, gentlemen,' Sam gestured with his
beer,' let's talk.'

' Mr. Jenkins, what can you tell us about
Duncan Courie?’

' He was very much in the news a while ago.
Went missing without a trace. Lawyer, lucrative practice in
Nelspruit. It is general knowledge that he had left-wing
sympathies, and I suspect he was a bloody Communist, too. I had an
affair with his erstwhile partner, who got killed in a landmine
explosion at the gate out there'. He was silent for a while,
thinking about the torn and burnt body that he had loved so well.
'I have only met him personally once, at his partner's house. We
didn't take to each other well.'