Treasure of the Golden Cheetah (36 page)

“She’s a bit indisposed right now,” said Jade. She wondered what to do about Lwiza during the night or in the days to come.

“We’re going to have to tell the others,” said Harry. “They’re bound to notice her tied up. And I don’t trust her loose.”

“If we keep her under close guard, we can untie her later,” said Jade. “There’s very little here for her to use as a weapon. Most everything is already up at the saddle. I’ll put her in between Biscuit and myself tonight. She can’t slip past both of us.”

Harry grinned. “Biscuit always was a clever cat.”

“Right. And tomorrow we’ll be on the march. Once we make camp, I’ll have Jelani keep an eye on her when I can’t.”

But how was she was going to manage that and watch for anyone who might be behind this
shauri
? If Abeba was trying to keep them off the summit, it could explain everything. Wheeler’s death should have stopped the safari but hadn’t. When that didn’t work, Abeba attempted to scare them away with the snake. Rehema and the other Chagga girl were unintentional victims, but victims nonetheless. And Zakayo? Well, if he knew what Abeba had done, then he’d had to die. Finally, she resorted to sabotaging the boxes to force them to go back down. Would she try something else?

Then they were still in trouble.
Find the pivoting crime.

The answer came quickly. Everything sprang from Wheeler’s death.
The others, Rehema, Zakayo are.
. . Jade stopped herself.
Wait. Those deaths aren’t about Wheeler; they’re about that damned snake in the box.

Her head ached and she massaged her temples.
There must be some connection.
The problem was that everyone was connected in some way. She needed some quiet place to sit alone and think this out. Harry was no good at it, and once again, Jade found herself wishing for Sam. He’d have ideas to share with her.

Loneliness washed over Jade like a cold, wet rain. She’d grown up on a ranch surrounded by male ranch hands, but she hadn’t had much experience socializing with men. Her mother wouldn’t have tolerated her stepping out with one of the hired hands, who by and large were older than her father. Instead, they’d treated her like a little sister, teaching her how to toss a knife or sling a lasso.

The few men she’d been introduced to as prospective husbands at heavily chaperoned parties had looked on her like a prize to be won. David Worthy had been the first man she’d actually known socially, and the war took him before she could sort out her own feelings for him. Others, like Harry, had proven untrustworthy in some way. Consequently, Jade had long ago come to depend on herself, shying away from attachments. Most of the time, she enjoyed the freedom. Tonight she didn’t. She felt adrift.

She escorted the women off to do their duty away from camp behind a blanket, took her turn, and led them back to the hut. The sun was setting and, in the shadowy growth far below, Jade thought she detected the slinking form of a large, four-legged beast.
Maybe it’s your imagination.

Harry took the watch from nine until midnight, followed by Muturi, who watched until three. His soft rap at the hut door woke Jade, and she stepped out in the frigid air to take the dawn watch. She wore a thigh-length wool coat, gloves, and her big felt hat clamped firmly down over the tops of her ears. She went to the little stream beside the hut and knelt on the frozen ground to splash a little water on her face. The icy water shocked her into wakefulness, and a mug of the strong coffee that Harry had left brewing by the fire helped restore her.

Jade welcomed the watch. Her sleep had been fitful at best. Each time she slept, she dreamed about her near fatal encounter with a leopard last July, and that recurring, bone-numbing cold crept into the blanket like some reptile. Each time she woke, she felt as though her ribs were constricted and she couldn’t inhale deeply enough to ever catch her breath. Now, with her Winchester on her shoulder, she walked around the perimeter of their camp and let the morning air clear her head. Above her were more stars than she’d ever seen before, even when tending sheep in the high summer pastures of home.
Here
was Menelik’s treasure. The old man had surely cast everything into the sky before he died. She stretched her left hand up, half expecting to brush the stars and send them rippling in waves.

Keeping watch here was easy. The starlit sky provided plenty of illumination over the surrounding moorland. Her main concern was to keep an eye out for nearsighted wandering wildlife or, more likely, a pack of the African wild dogs that roamed this area and the upper steppes. A few snores from the tent told her that at least two people were sleeping well. A sudden thump followed by a querulous “snark” told her that a bunkmate wasn’t and had just tried to do something about it by rousting the noisemaker.

Her ears caught soft footfalls accompanied by the fragrant scent of crushed heather. She waved to Jelani to come closer to the fire. As Biscuit padded next to him, puffs of his frozen breath made him look more like a fire-breathing beast than a cheetah.

“What are you doing awake?” she asked as Biscuit pressed close to her thigh.

“We came to keep the watch with you, Simba Jike.”

“Thank you, Jelani, but I’ve taken watches alone before.”

“Your spirit did not labor under as many concerns before,” he replied.

Jade took a deep breath, the frigid air stabbing at her lungs. She shuddered and told herself that it was only the cold. But Jelani’s words sounded as if they should have come out of her old French confessor at the mission and not from a thirteen-year-old youth.

“Yes, but at present your well-being concerns me the most.” She picked up the blanket that Harry had left for her and handed it to Jelani. “Wrap this around you before you freeze.”

Jelani did as he was told and sat down near the fire, his blanket also draped over Biscuit’s back. “Did the servant woman kill the Chagga man, Zakayo?”

Jade remained standing, scanning the perimeter for any danger. “I don’t know.” She stopped and listened, not trusting her eyes alone for the watch. She kept her own voice a hushed whisper. “She lied about who she is. But her killing him doesn’t feel right.”

“Why?” he asked.

“Why indeed,” said Jade. “The crates breaking didn’t hurt anyone,” she said after thinking.

“But the snake and the other problems, they were deadly,” said Jelani.

“Yes. Exactly. Two different types of trouble.”

“From two different types of people then,” said Jelani.

Jade spun around and knelt beside her friend. “That’s it! There must be a second person behind the deadlier attacks. Otherwise, Lwiza—I mean Abeba—would have continued on by poisoning one of the porters rather than just spilling the mealy grain.”

“Does this help you know who is evil?” asked Jelani.

Jade shook her head as she rose and continued her watch. “No, but it helps me sort out what I do know. I won’t have to try to make sense of these new problems.”

There would be little time once the day began to make notes or try to draw connections between people.
Maybe I should have paid more attention to those magazines.
It was possible that the articles held some clue to an as yet hidden relationship between them.
Blast it! They’re in my supply box at the upper camp.

“These people are very good at making stories seem real,” she said. “It is very hard to tell when they are lying because they are so skilled at it.”

“Then,” said Jelani, “you must observe them when they tell the truth.”

Jelani’s wisdom shone through like the stars overhead. “Yes,” said Jade. “I will do that. You should really get some sleep now.”

“No,” said Jelani. “You are still under a curse.”

Jade smiled at him. “But that was way down the mountain. It can’t reach me up here.”

 

 

SAM REACHED VOI nearly three hours later than anticipated. After eating an overcooked meal of charred yams and boiled beef that would’ve choked a hyena, Sam located the telegraph dispatcher at the station. “Inspector Finch of Nairobi and I sent a telegram to Moshi this morning. Has a reply come through yet?”

“Nothing’s come out of Moshi, sahib,” said the Indian. “The lines went down. They have a great deal of trouble with the animals that way.” He stretched his hand up high. “Giraffes go snapping the lines. Elephants use the poles as back-scratchers. Not to worry, though, sahib.”

“Oh? And why’s that?” asked Sam.

“Well, sahib, you are going on to Moshi yourself. You can deliver the message and pick up the response.”

Sam thanked the man and went to his bunk in the sidelined railcar, wondering what other news or reports he might find waiting for him in Moshi.

 

 

BISCUIT LEFT JADE’S and Jelani’s sides at first light and spent an hour making breakfast out of the innumerable striped mice that lived near the hut. Muturi
mpishi
also rose before sunrise and renewed his cooking fire with a bundle of heath. While Jelani fetched water from the stream, Jade broke the skin of ice from the water bucket outside the door and washed her face. Within half an hour, Jelani and the cook had mixed dough and spread large flatbreads on hot stones to bake. Jade roused the women as well as Julian, Hall, and Wells, who’d also opted for sleeping in the hut. From behind her, she heard Harry coax and bully the remaining men out of the lone tent.

“How are they this morning?” she asked Harry when they were all seated on rocks and eating their breakfast.

“Better. No complaints so far. And what about your group?”

“Cynthia is much improved. She says she feels short of breath, but her head doesn’t hurt and she’s hungry. No one else has answered me, but they appear fine. Just tired. We need to take this last leg slowly, no matter how much Julian bellows.”

“I agree. Ideally, we should spend another day here before going on, and I’d have enough food to allow for it. But with our meal supplies a bit lower we don’t have that luxury, and I’m not risking our men or my license.” He studied Abeba, who sat slightly apart from the others under Jelani’s watchful eye. “What about her?”

“Very quiet,” said Jade. “But I’m inclined to believe what she said. She’s only trying to keep them from looking for Menelik’s burial spot.”

Harry snorted. “As if we were wasting our time on fairy tales.” He surveyed the unusually silent group. “You might be right, Jade. But I still plan to keep her tied up when we’re on the march. I don’t care to have her attack anyone while our backs are turned.”

“Harry, I’m not sure that’s a good idea. What will you tell the others?”

“The truth.”

“And have a panic or a mutiny on our hands?” Jade’s lungs felt a little tight, and she paused to inhale deeply and calm herself. She mustn’t get upset up here, not at this altitude. “I know I tied her hands before, but I was more worried that she’d try to run off and die on the mountain. Where we’re headed, no one in their right mind would head out on their own. If we just watch her, she can’t do anything.”

Harry shook his head and folded his arms across his broad chest. “Who’s in charge of this safari? There’s no other way to handle it, Jade.” He stepped away from her and raised his voice. “I need everyone to come here and listen to me.”

Jade groaned and hurried over to stand beside Abeba, both to ensure that she didn’t bolt and to protect her from the others’ reactions.

“We have discovered a thief and a troublemaker in our group. The person behind the broken crates. Someone who has deceived us the entire time. Jade found someone’s face powder on the dead Chagga woman, which she stole from one of you, as well.”

“Millard Fillmore
mwenziheri juu ya baiskeli
,” murmured Jade to herself as Harry went on. But he had their attention, even the Chagga porters. Jade heard whispers of “Studio spy?” among the mutterings.
We don’t know that. He’s as bad as they are with theatrics.

“Well, who is it?” demanded McAvy after Harry paused. He looked first at Jelani and then Muturi.

Harry pointed a finger at Abeba. “Her. She’s not a Swahili and her name’s not Lwiza. We caught her trying to break apart the supply boxes.”

“Did she put the snake in the coffer?” asked Wells.

“We don’t know—” began Jade, trying to keep a lynch mob from forming. She was interrupted by Bebe’s shriek.

“
She’s
the one who stole my makeup. She probably killed Graham, too. She’s been through my things. I know. My bag . . .” Bebe sprang at Abeba, snatching at her hair and face. “Murdering witch!” Bebe screamed.

Harry lunged for her and grabbed her around the waist before she could claw Abeba. “Settle down, Bebe,” he said, as he struggled to hold her back.

Finally Harry lifted her off her feet and carried her tucked under one arm to Wells and McAvy. Bebe, seeing her prey slip out of reach, turned her anger on Harry. She squirmed in his grip and kicked at him. One blow connected with his groin and he doubled over, dropping her on the ground. Before she could renew her attack, both McAvy and Wells took hold of her arms.

“Damn it, woman,” Harry squeaked after a moment. “You didn’t need to do that.”

Bebe shook her head, flinging off her scarf. She rubbed her eye and brushed her nose. “I told you I didn’t need you anymore,” she said, not deigning to look at anyone.

Cynthia took a half step forward, saw Harry’s dark look, and stopped. “
Did
she have my husband killed?”

“We don’t know that,” said Jade, standing close to Abeba. “We don’t know
anything
except that she did weaken our supply boxes. Everything else is speculation.”
Good heavens, Harry, what have you unleashed here?
“There are some things that just don’t make sense to me yet,” Jade finished.