Black Mischief (9 page)

And now this horsey one had been looking at him, paying him attention. This pale face, soft blue eyes, crinkly blonde hair, damp from the exercise, these breasts that he had touched just moments before were affecting him in a disturbing way. What the hell was going on?

And now this one was saying nothing.

‘What's your name? Should I know you? We're neighbours, then.'

She walked on without a word, hooking her hat from a saddle strap. She looked up and was surprised that he was still with her after she turned the corner off the Rubai road. As she strode along the dusty verge, she was checking her horse for damage. Twenty, thirty metres more they walked on in silence. She stopped, snorted a long breath down her nose and turned to him.

‘Look, Mister Rubai, I don't need your help. I'm almost home. Why don't you go and check on that machine of yours! You never know. It looks expensive.'

‘How do you know my name?'

‘I know the machine. I thought I'd seen the last of it with your brother …'

‘Just tell me your name. Not a lot to ask. You see, I'm sorry. I was going too fast. I just got excited. That's all.'

‘And I've got a broken arm. That's all right. Our family is stuffed full of doctors. But if there's anything wrong with Shadow …'

‘Shadow? That's a weird name for a horse …'

‘Sonny Jim, why don't you just … bugger off and let me cross this road in peace.'

‘Is that your place with the smart grass and the flowers outside? The English garden my mother called it. We were passing the other day. She loves the stone wall, too. She would like to see inside. Perhaps your family would like to come to tea one day. Then you could invite us back. That's what English neighbours do, isn't it? I'd better hang on for a bit. See you across the road. You could feel faint or something. Delayed shock. But you're all doctors. You'd know that.'

He was finding it hard to find a convincing reason for not going back to check on the bike. It would be just his luck that the wrong person just happened by and saw his chance. Two minutes and the machine could be gone. And the girl was gritting her teeth with the effort of keeping going. She could be down any second. He would help her up and carry her to the gate. There would be no hesitation this time. He craved for a repeat of the electric thrill coursing up and down his body that came by touching her flesh.

She said nothing but plodded on, leading Shadow onto the murram and towards her gate. She focused her mind on the steady, comforting clomp of her big boy's feet and the nod of his head. Her broken arm began to throb heavily and the pain was intensifying. Please God, I won't keel over or do anything that would give this strange person a reason to hang about, to come into the driveway, up to the house. She concentrated harder. She knew the big wooden gates would be left open. They always were when she was out on a ride. She hoped that her father was back from the hospital. He was the best one in the family with broken bones. Perhaps one of the boys would be at the gate, out to look for his baby sister.

Robert, the day askari, sprang up from his seat just inside his little hut and came towards her. She felt safe at last, enough to give a polite goodbye to her companion and send him on his way.

‘Thank you for your help. I'm fine now. You really should go back to check on your … Honda.'

‘BMW.'

‘Yes, I'm sure. But I'm sure, too, that any crooks around won't be fussy. By the way, we're not English. Welsh. Not the same. Goodbye. Robert, I think we could close the gate for a while.'

For the first time in her life Eryl Daniels wished that the driveway of Cartref had been a little shorter.

Reuben Rubai turned the corner onto his own road. In an instant all thoughts of women and their stupid horses were blanked out from his mind. The bike was gone, helmet and all!

‘Mbaya! Mbaya!'

He struggled to run along the weedy verge, wished he wasn't wearing those heavy leathers, switched to the road where it was just as hard to move quickly, thought about the hell and damnation he would inflict on the robbers. As he was turning into his own driveway, he heard the sound of a vehicle racing along the road towards him. Amazing, a police car. They were onto the case already! But they sped by with the two boys in blue not even glancing in his direction. He raised his arms and shouted after them. Far too late even to take their number.

He stormed up the drive, cursing furiously. In the garage he found his bike resting upright on its stand and Bernard with a grin on his face and polishing hard.

At the precise moment of this discovery, Sergeant Ezra Kabari was honking the horn of his police Peugeot waiting for Robert, the day askari of Cartref, to open the wooden gates that he had shut less than ten minutes before.

The sergeant and his inspector had bad news for the Daniels family.

aul Miller and Daniel Komar were visiting Londiani. They usually called in when they were travelling north to keep in close contact with their candidates. The founder members of the Serena Party had news for their candidate for Nakuru South.

‘Tom, the election is going to be in January. News straight out of the meeting in the Big Man's house. And would you believe, he's putting up Reuben to take you on here. Story is that the kid doesn't know a thing about it.'

‘But is he old enough?'

‘Tom, he's a Rubai, so he's old enough. Right, Daniel?'

‘Fact is Papa Rubai is obsessed with this place. Rebecca, I'm sorry to bring the name up, but Julius is having a big say in this. The wound is still raw. Having another son in the seat here will keep a piece of his memory alive.'

‘Julius was a thug, I know, but you knew he was around. I wouldn't recognise this one if he walked up those steps right now.'

‘Paul, he was here two days ago, the whole family was. Reconciliation meeting. What a farce! Rebecca was the lucky one, taking the youngest ones down to the lake to see the hippos. Dad and I were left with the angry buffalo and the crazy dik-dik!'

‘Tom, we think that this buffalo is taking a big risk. You can win.'

‘Yes, Paul, but money will be grabbing the votes for KANU, as usual.'

A fish eagle screeched high overhead as she swooped down onto the lake to pick up her supper. Paul followed her flight, pointing as she dived.

‘Good omen! Local girl gets her way and tries to tell us something. Get out there and bring home the big fish!'

The three men chuckled, but a preoccupied Rebecca was staring out beyond the calm waters and the dry plains to the massive bulk of her friend, Old Longonot. Her expression was calm but serious.

‘Perhaps not a good omen. A powerful bird has come to steal from our lake.'

‘Wrong, love. She is our bird, no stranger, and she only takes what she and her family need.'

‘The Rubais will win. We all know it.'

‘Rebecca!'

‘I am sorry, Paul, Daniel. Thomas knows that this one is no good man. Papa's people down at the coast would say that he has the evil eye.'

‘But you know that your father doesn't go for that superstitious stuff.'

‘I know it. I know, too, that each time I think I am clear of this family, they are back like a bad smell.'

She wanted to be alone with Tom. Riding home from Eburu, grasping Tom's body, wearing his shirt, she had hope that this time the haunting was over. Now she needed Tom's comforting again and she was ashamed. Please God, I am carrying his child and yet I am a child myself, crying out for help. In her desperate need she was willing to embarrass herself, opening her heart in front of these two highly intelligent, strong men.

‘Thomas, you said just now that I was the lucky one taking the Rubai children down to the lake. Not so lucky. Before I took the children, we were having sodas on the veranda. On the surface everything was “civilised”.'

‘My mother's favourite word!' Tom was smiling, but inwardly, he was apprehensive.

‘Inside here I was very confused, very frightened. It was my first time being with that family, the first time since they found out that I was a teller of lies. I think Sally understood but to lose her son because of me.'

‘Rebecca, no!'

She picked up the mild irritation in Tom's voice.

‘Oh, God, I am making it worse.'

Paul stepped in. He was distressed to see this brave, innocent young woman punishing herself. He positioned himself in front of her and looked into her face. He took a long, slow breath. His tone was compassionate but firm.

‘Young lady, Daniel and I have sat in courts of law up and down this country more times than we care to remember. By any legal criteria there is no blame, none attached to the name of Rebecca Kamau, for the death of Mister Julius Rubai, nor to the name of Thomas McCall, for that matter.'

‘Paul, on the veranda, that other brother … Three times I turned and he was staring at me. I shuddered then and I've shuddered every time I've remembered that face since. Those eyes were full of hate. “You killed my brother!” Thomas, you are so much stronger. I am failing you again.'

Before Tom could reply, Paul raised his hand and continued.

‘Heart law is more important than court law, that's for sure. Hard hearts never see any blame in themselves. That is why Daniel and I are so busy. But there is a problem with this heart law. The heart and the mind have to be tough. Not hard. Dear Rebecca, you have a choice here. Perfection! Perfection! You are punishing yourself for not being perfect. Crazy! But you can spend the rest of your life with this, punishing Tom, everyone else around you as well.'

Paul saw the cheeks wet with tears but continued.

‘Or, yes, or you can carry the wound and give it time to heal. The scar will never disappear completely. And this scar will make you even stronger than you are. The Rubais are not going be carried away on the wind, but see them for what they are. And there are huge wells of love around you. Now, do I make sense?'

A long silence followed. A special moment had been created and no one wanted to be the person to break the spell with a wrong word. Rebecca closed her own eyes, but she felt the focus of her three companions on her. She knew that one of the wells of love was open and offering her its freshness.

She opened her eyes. The heightened emotion present in the air around helped the three men to be aware of a change in Rebecca. The damp cheeks were glowing and the smile radiant. She broke the silence.

‘I think we could all do with a coffee. I've brought a flask. No power on yet.'

They were standing in what would be the kitchen of a long, low, single storey house when the builders were finished with their work. While Rebecca busied herself with the drinks, Tom led the two lawyers out onto the grass to get a different perspective on the progress of the new home.

‘Wow, Paul, what a view!'

‘And you can walk to work!'

A happily subdued Rebecca sat between her two guests. Tom picked up a piece of discarded wood and swung it thoughtfully to and fro. A pleasant calm hung over them all, survivors content to have overcome the squalls of a minor emotional storm. The men failed to light on a topic of conversation to push on with. Rebecca suffered no inhibitions.

‘I am thinking a lot about buildings these days. We are lucky to have good men to help us here.'

Tom was taken aback by the assured calmness in her whole manner.

‘Don't tell me you're thinking of putting up something else around here!'

‘Not quite around here, Thomas, but I've talked to Mister Sawyer about things. He says he has one or two jobs lined up after he finishes with us.'

‘Come on! Don't keep us in suspense!'

‘All right. What do you think about a … new hospital in the town?'

A long silence followed while the three men took in the unexpected news. Paul remembered a visit to the maternity ward of the present public hospital at the beginning of the year. His wife, Miriam, and Rebecca had been very upset then by a conversation with the Australian matron of Pembroke House who was finishing off a training stint at the unit.

‘“We treat out cattle better in Oz.” Miriam reminded me of the visit and those words just last week.'

Rebecca nodded her head several times in solemn confirmation of Paul's speculation. She reached out to touch Tom's shoulder and to look into his eyes. What she saw brought a smile to her face.

‘So, you are happy with the idea?'

‘Great! Wonderful! But don't hospitals cost a bit more than houses to build? And all the equipment …'

‘Sensible, practical Farmer Tom! But this has got to happen. Paul, how many times have I heard you tell us about your dream for Kenya? Dreams here must begin small. There, I've finally got it out of my heart.'

nspector John Kostas led his sergeant across the gravel driveway to the front door of the home of the Daniels family. His long strides forced his chubby colleague to break into a trot to keep up. Those at home that afternoon were in the kitchen which was doubling up as a temporary surgery. Mother Dorothy, the only Daniels with no medical qualifications, was moving her lips fretfully as she watched her husband bathe away the congealed blood from their daughter's forearm. Their two elder sons, Gareth, gyneacologist, and Rhys, paediatrician, watched their father in admiration as he worked his gentle magic.