The Crocodile's Last Embrace (41 page)

“Mr. Holly!” Emily exclaimed. “What is the meaning of this?”

Holly dropped the book and scrambled to his feet. “Miss Heathington? What an unexpected surprise.” Then he saw Harry and the girls. “Oh, dear. And Hascombe and . . . Mary?”

Mary elbowed her way to the front, fists on her hips. “Uncle Steven! What did you do? And why did someone tell Mother that I might have been kidnapped?”

Holly blinked back at them like an owl struggling with sudden daylight. “Mary? What are you doing here? Does your mother know?”

“Does my mother know that her brother is locked up in Captain Beverly’s outbuilding?” Mary sniffed and tipped up her chin. “No, thank heaven, she does not. It would break her heart.” She wagged a finger at him. “But
you
haven’t answered my question. Why are you in here?”

Harry was about to physically remove the lot of them when he noted that Holly looked more worried about seeing the girls than seeing him. He folded his arms across his chest and glowered. “Answer the girl!”

“Well . . . I . . . you see . . .” Holly stammered.

Harry stepped in close. Holly shrank back onto the cot, pulling his head down like a turtle drawing into his shell. “Someone damaged the aeroplane Jade was flying and it crashed,” said Harry. “She’s dead and I think you did it!” He cracked his knuckles by Holly’s ear.

“No!” cried Holly. “I admit I’ve done things I’m not proud of. It’s all because of that gold mine. Since then, my life has been threatened more than once.” His gaze darted past Harry to his niece and Emily. “I was told I’d be crocodile food if I didn’t help someone get hold of Jade. I thought someone only wanted to hold her for ransom. I swear,” he added after their shocked gasps, “that I didn’t expect anyone to kill her.”

“You didn’t think at all!” roared Harry.

“You’d better tell us everything, Mr. Holly,” said Emily. “Or I’ll see to it that you spend the rest of your miserable life in a prison cell.”

“Please,” moaned Holly. He clasped his hands together in entreaty. “Just let me leave the colony. Jade’s already dead. Nothing I can say will bring her back, and if I help you,
I’ll
be killed.”

Harry whispered in Holly’s ear, “I’ll kill you myself if you don’t tell me everything.”

Holly nodded, his body shaking. “It started after Mary’s birthday party. I was approached that evening by a man dressed in black and muffled up to his eyes. He wasn’t particularly large, perhaps Miss Heathington’s height, but he had a presence that one does not defy. There was something about his face, the part I could see. A thin scar running up from the nose and across the eyelid, and those cold eyes.” Holly shuddered again. “Look at me! I’m not a fighter. I work in a ruddy bank. I was terrified. I couldn’t even tell Jade when she caught me.”

Holly shook his finger at each of them. “Do you know, he told me that he could kill me just for mouthing to everyone about the mine. It was to have been a secret, he said, but he’d spare me the fate of the others if I helped him.” He put his head in his hands and sobbed. “I didn’t want to be thrown to a crocodile!”

“Continue, Mr. Holly,” said Emily, her voice cool and subdued.

Holly pulled out a wrinkled handkerchief and blew his nose. “I was ordered to lure Jade to Hascombe’s old house, where I’d pretend to be in a faint. But Lady Dunbury and you girls came after her, spoiling the plan. This man cleared out as soon as he heard the Overland.” He looked at Harry. “I was glad. I didn’t want Jade to come to harm. She was a swell girl.”

“Was,” said Harry.

“And the barrettes?” asked Mary. “How did you get my barrettes and pin?”

“Yes, well. I was told to collect something from one of the girls in case Jade got away on this first attempt. Something to lure her again. You were just the easiest, since you’re my niece. You can imagine my horror when I was given those barrettes and the pin back with that terrible ear thrown in with them. I couldn’t let anything happen to you, Mary.”

“But now our Lieutenant Jade is dead,” said Mary softly.

“And innocent children have been threatened,” added Emily. “This is . . . it’s unconscionable, Mr. Holly!” She turned to Harry. “Do you think we should go to the police with this information? Perhaps that fiend is again at your farm. After all, Mr. Holly lured Jade there once before.”

“I can take you there,” said Holly. “If you let me leave the colony afterwards. I think I know where he’s hiding.”

Harry motioned for Emily to follow him outside, where they could talk without Holly overhearing. “It’s a sure bet that the police are too busy right now to do anything,” said Harry.

“The notice in the paper,” whispered Emily, “said that this Fairley was to meet someone tonight. That he wanted to become a partner.”

Harry looked at Emily with fresh admiration. “You’re right. If I can get there first, I can capture Fairley and whoever else is involved.”

“
I?
” asked Emily. “Don’t you mean
we
? You can’t keep an eye on Mr. Holly
and
shoot these murderers.”

“And we’re going, too,” said Mary, who’d been listening in with the other girls. She reached into her satchel and pulled out her sling. “We can provide cover.”

“Absolutely not!” shouted Harry. “I draw the line at children coming along.” He went back inside, jerked Holly to his feet, and dragged him to his truck. The girls and Emily followed. Harry snapped at them, “I’m taking Mr. Holly with me. I am not taking any of you.”

He shoved Holly into the vehicle and climbed in, spraying gravel as he raced away.

—The Traveler

SAM INHALED DEEPLY, striving to remain calm. The sun had moved farther west, well into afternoon, increasing the chances that someone would spot his shifting shadow. He’d never developed the level of patience that true hunters possessed. He’d always preferred to stalk prey rather than sit long hours in a blind or up a tree. And thank heaven he’d never had to spend months waiting in a muck-filled trench. His had been a world of activity, of moving gears and flying machines.

So far everything was quiet, as he expected. At least, all he’d heard was one lone fish splash downriver, and the falls muted any noise from upriver. He had little doubt that Lilith had started that riot today. All her recent plans in Nairobi were unraveling, thanks to Jade. Stockton’s and Waters’ deaths, made to look like accidents, had been uncovered as murder. The gold mine scheme was exposed, thanks to Waters’ greed and Steven Holly’s big mouth. And now with Pellyn dead, the best Lilith could hope for would be to escape. She had to know that the police were interested in finding her now. The riot would keep them busy while she tied up loose ends.

Even the riot had been masterfully orchestrated. A long series of articles in the
Leader
, decrying the horrid squalor of the Indian district and the lack of response from the government to provide alternate home sites, made the resulting plague look like a brutal attempt at reducing the Asian population. The tinder laid, all Lilith had to do was light the spark. A word to a shopkeeper who’d lost a child would do it.

Anyone other than Lilith would have taken the opportunity to leave. And inadvertently, faking Jade’s death might have hastened Lilith’s departure. But Sam had given her one last reason to stay. He’d let it be known that someone knew about her and could bring her the full revenge she desired or he could bring her down.

Sam was counting on Lilith’s bloodlust. She wanted to find her husband’s bastard child. But just in case all she wanted was to tie up a last loose end by killing him, he provided her with a target. A few minutes ago he had lit the magic lantern, creating the image of the patiently seated man inside the tent. Then he had taken up his position in the boulders with the falls to his back. Now he waited.

 

HARRY KEPT ONE EYE ON THE ROAD and another on the sniveling man cowering in the seat beside him. He didn’t believe that Holly could show him anything he couldn’t find himself, but he didn’t intend to let the man out of his sight. If nothing else, Harry wanted to beat the man to jelly for his involvement in Jade’s death, and he couldn’t very well do that in front of all those females.

He still couldn’t. Hot on his tail in Dunbury’s Hupmobile was that Heathington woman and those three girls. If he hadn’t been so angry at them for following him, he might have admitted to a grudging admiration for their bravery and persistence.

Harry swerved around a Wakamba woman in the road who was carrying a basket of yams. He made the turn by Thika and skidded onto the track heading towards the new Athi Bridge. His tires spewed rust-colored dust but still he made out the Hupmobile. He wasn’t going to lose them; that much was clear. He’d have to divert their attention to someplace safe.

A family of warthogs stood in a cluster on the other side of the bridge. Harry sounded the horn. It reminded him of a sick goose, and he couldn’t imagine any animal taking fright at it.

“Get out of the way!” he bellowed out his open window.

The sow turned tail and bolted, her babies trotting hard on her heels, tails up like the poles on an electric tram. Harry shot off the bridge at a heart-stopping forty-five miles per hour. Then he left the road and went cross-country towards his ranch. His truck lurched and jolted over the ruts and brush.

She won’t be able to follow now.
A glance spared over his shoulder proved him wrong. If anything, Emily was gaining on him.

“That Heathington woman is persistent,” Harry said.

Holly nodded dumbly, his face pale.

Harry hit the brakes hard at the ranch, spinning the truck and causing Holly to lurch forward and slam his shoulder against the doorframe. It gave Harry enough time to get out and seize Holly before he could recover and try to escape. “Now, where is this person hiding?” Harry demanded.

“Inside,” said Holly.

Harry kept one hand on Holly’s arm and grabbed his rifle from the truck as Emily and the girls pulled up. He shoved Holly towards the house. “Go on in then.”

Holly stumbled once towards the door, then stopped, refusing to go any farther. Harry shoved his rifle at Holly’s chest. “Move, man! And you ladies, stay clear!”

Harry followed Holly inside and made a quick search of the house. As he had suspected and feared, there was no sign of anyone else there. Not that he’d expected anyone. His best hope lay in going to Waters’ campsite on the river. According to the notice in the paper, that was where this rendezvous would take place.

He grabbed Holly’s shirt collar and shook him anyway. “Where is this mystery man, Holly? Tell me, or I swear, girls or no, I’ll shoot you in the legs and leave you here to find your own way out.”

“Please,” begged Holly. “Just let me leave unhurt. I won’t bother any of you again. I promise.”

“Harry,” called Emily from outside, “the girls found something.” Harry joined them, dragging Holly with him.

“See here, Mr. Hascombe?” said Helen, pointing to some tire imprints. “Another motorcar or truck has been this way not so long ago. It went that way.” She pointed east. “It may have gone around the mountain.”

“It could have been anyone, right?” asked Holly, his voice squeaking as it took on an increased edge of nervousness. “It’s probably not . . . him.”

“These tracks were made recently,” said Mary. “The grass has yet to spring all the way back up.”

“Lieutenant Jade taught us that,” added Elspeth.

Harry squatted beside the tracks. “You’re right.” He stood and stared at Holly. “How about it? Shall we go have a look?”

“I’ll stay here with the ladies, if you don’t mind,” said Holly.

Harry pushed him towards the still-idling truck. “Oh, but I do. And this time,
you
drive so I can keep my eye on you.” He patted his rifle and started to slide into the seat. “Emily, you and the girls should—”

The slam of automobile doors interrupted him as Emily and the girls got back into their car, which was also still running.
Blasted women! It’s like having Lady Dunbury and three miniature Jades tagging along.

Harry directed Holly to follow the trail. He expected it to continue on the eastern side, circumnavigating the mountain. To his surprise, the tracks turned into Forster’s land. That they’d left again was also clear, but before he followed them, he wanted to have a look around.

“Stop here,” he ordered. “Shut off the engine and get out. Maybe that Fairley is still here.”

Harry was halfway out the door when he heard a muffled rifle shot coming from inside a shed. In his haste to get out, his own rifle strap caught on the door handle. But before he could free himself, the truck lurched forwards, dragging him with it.