Tom eased his way into Africa.
Kruger was a National Geographic channel idyll of wildlife and scenery. He travelled north, leaving Sannie and her family behind to pack up and head back to Johannesburg. His mood altered with the changing landscape.
The south of the park was characterised by thick, dense bush, and plenty of humans on the road, in private cars and open-top safari vehicles. He was irritable as he inched around a traffic jam parked beside a rhino, but he realised part of the source of his frustration was leaving Sannie behind. Also, little Christo and Ilana had plainly been disappointed at his departure. He felt bad about having raised their expectations that there would be a new man around the house. He’d wondered what it would be like becoming a stepfather. It might have scared him if the kids hadn’t been so much fun and so well behaved — they were a credit to Sannie and the father they’d known so briefly. He pushed the thoughts of parenthood from his mind.
As he moved north, both the bush and the crowds thinned. Open grasslands replaced the long grass and thornbushes of the southern part of the park. He was gradually leaving what passed for civilisation, with all its attendant responsibilities, rules and commitments. For the first time in twenty years he was accountable to no one except himself. He missed Sannie, but he was free, too, to concentrate on the mission ahead.
He stopped at Satara camp, in the middle of the park, and camped near the perimeter fence. A trio of old male buffalos settled down to sleep just on the other side of the wire. Tom wondered if they thought they would be safer there, close to the camp. In the distance a lion lullabied him to sleep. He was getting more used to Africa by the day.
The next morning he rose early, but not to go in search of wild animals. He took the sealed road west from Satara to another of Kruger’s gates, Orpen. He checked his map of the park, which also included the private game reserves adjoining the national park. Wealthy South Africans had bought up land on the border of the public park during the apartheid years and developed a network of private reserves, run along similar lines to the national park but for personal gain. In the past, a fence had separated public from private land, but this had come down in recent years, allowing animals to migrate freely from Kruger into these adjoining lands. Some of the properties had been developed commercially, with lodges charging premium rates for foreign visitors to experience a luxury safari, while other tracts were held by individuals for their private use at weekends and holidays.
He passed a township called Acornhoek, then turned on to a dirt road which took him deeper into the private reserves. Eventually, he came to the entrance to the Timbavati private game reserve, which resembled one of the gates into Kruger. Timbavati had its own rangers, turned out in smart, pressed uniforms; its own rules; and its own entry fees. He paid his money, explaining that he was heading for Doctor Khan’s property, and that he was an invited guest. This was a lie, but the security guard didn’t question him. He also asked for directions to the late doctor’s property — which still didn’t arouse the man’s suspicion — saying that while he had permission to visit he had never been there before.
Tom passed an open-top Land Rover game viewer and waved to the driver and his tourists. He followed signs on stone cairns and turned off the main road through the reserve, to the left. According to the guard, Doctor Khan’s place was six and a half kilometres further along.
He set the trip meter and came to an unmarked turn-off guarded by a lone bull elephant who was using his broad forehead to push over a stout-looking tree. Sannie had told Tom that elephants did that to feed on the roots and, sometimes, just to get at some leaves that would otherwise have been out of reach. He had no time to watch the mighty creature, so he geared down and continued along the deteriorating track. He put the Land Rover into low-range four-wheel drive to negotiate a dried-out sandy river crossing and planted the accelerator to climb up the steep opposing bank.
The lodge, when at last it came into view, was simple but stylish. Thatch roof, single storey, with whitewashed walls, rendered and painted a tan brown. There was also a thatched outdoor dining and bar area, with no walls on three sides, overlooking a small pumped waterhole on the other side of the river — presumably the same one he had just crossed. A sole buffalo was drinking from the concrete pond. Tom stopped the Land Rover and got out, grateful for the chance to stretch his legs and feel a cool breeze on the damp back of his shirt. The airconditioning in the Land Rover either hadn’t been gassed for years or wasn’t working.
‘Hello?’ He walked to the shady lounge area and looked around. There was no dust on the two tables or the wooden bar top. A glass-door fridge, secured with a chain and padlock, held a wide selection of beers and wine. Behind metal grilles in a cupboard over the bar was an equally impressive selection of spirits, including some expensive single malt Scotches. On the wall on either side of the drinks cabinets were photos set in tasteful, though rustic, wooden frames. There were shots of all of the big five — lion, elephant, rhino, leopard and buffalo; a picture of a swarthy but dapper-looking man Tom took to be Doctor Khan kneeling beside a dead buffalo and resting on a hunting rifle; and another of the sun setting over a glassy body of water. The sunset was framed by a latticed arch, dripping with bougainvillea, which led the way to a narrow strip of white sand.
‘Morning, sir, can I help you?’ An elderly black man appeared from behind the house. He wore blue overalls and wiped his hands on them as he walked over.
Tom turned from the photographs and pulled his wallet out of his shorts. ‘I’m Detective Sergeant Tom Furey, from the London Metropolitan Police. I’m here in relation to the disappearance of Doctor Khan.’
‘You are from East London?’ the man asked.
Tom had heard of the town on South Africa’s coast. ‘No, from England.’
‘Police have been here already, sir.’ The caretaker looked Tom up and down.
Dressed in shorts and a T-shirt and driving a camping vehicle with a tent on the roof, he hardly looked like an investigating detective. Tom decided to keep talking and bluffing. ‘I’m working with the South African police on this case and they have asked me to check your records and guest book to see who’s been staying here recently.’
‘The doctor, he kept all the books at his house, in Jo’burg, sir. Police would have seen all of those?’
‘Of course.’ Tom strode across to the bar. ‘But the guest book… where is it?’
‘Doctor Khan, he always said not to talk to anyone about his friends — his guests, sir.’
Tom turned on the man. ‘What’s your name?’ He took his notebook and pen from the pocket of his shorts.
‘Amos, sir.’
Tom pretended to write. ‘You’re coming with me, to the police station in Acornhoek, and you’re going to explain to the headman there why you’re not cooperating with this important investigation.’ The man looked worried and Tom felt sorry for him. He had no right — legal or otherwise — to threaten the caretaker. ‘Unless, of course, you just give me the bloody guest book. Now!’
Amos seemed to cringe at the barked command. He ducked behind the bar and withdrew a large leather-bound volume. Tom simply nodded as the older man slid the document across the bar. He stood there, though, watching Tom as he opened the book.
Tom started at the front, which dated back three years. Only about a third of the book was full, he noted. Obviously the doctor didn’t entertain too many guests. On the fourth page he found the two names he was looking for. One above the other. His face showed no recognition, but in his mind he was punching the air. He felt his heart beat faster as he moved through the following pages. Three more entries — the same two names on each occasion. It was all he needed, though he also committed three other regularly appearing names to memory. Two listed Pretoria as their home address, while the third was from Russia, which was interesting. He would have to check them all out. There were no entries for the past four weeks.
‘When was the doctor here last, Amos?’ Tom closed the book.
Amos retrieved the book and placed it carefully under the bar. ‘Other police asked that, sir.’
Tom knew he was on shaky ground. The longer he lingered, the more suspicious the old caretaker would become. ‘I know you told them, Amos, but we’re cross-checking his last movements. It’s important that you tell me.’
Amos looked skywards, as though he was calculating the date. ‘One month ago, sir.’
‘And he came in his Isuzu. His bakkie?’
‘Yes, sir. I still have the telephone number of the police who came, sir. Can we call them now?’
Tom ignored him and pointed to the beachside sunset picture. ‘Where was that taken?’
Amos was surprised by the question, the reaction Tom had hoped for. He wanted to get the old man’s mind off calling the police. ‘Malawi, sir.’
‘The doctor’s beach house?’
Amos nodded.
‘At Cape Maclear, right?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘The other police didn’t ask about Malawi, did they?’
‘No, sir. Perhaps we call them now.’
Tom put his notebook and pen away, and turned and walked back into the sunshine. ‘That won’t be necessary. Thanks for your help, Amos,’ he said, as he strode across to the Land Rover. He was in business.
Back inside the Kruger National Park, Tom made it as far north as Shingwedzi camp just before the gates closed at six-thirty. The sun melted behind the thorny bushveld outside the perimeter fence as he unfolded the tent and lit a fire. He turned on his mobile phone and called Sannie at home.
‘Tom! Where are you?’
He told her, then started recounting the morning’s trip out to Doctor Khan’s private game lodge in the Timbavati.
Sannie cut him off. ‘Tom, you’re crazy. If the local cops find out what you’re up to, you’ll be arrested. You didn’t tell me you were sticking your nose into our investigations over here. When I told you about Khan being the owner of the bakkie the terrorists used, I didn’t expect you to go investigating him!’
‘Sannie, listen to me. Robert Greeves, with Nick Roberts as his protection officer, visited Khan’s lodge on at least three occasions in the last two years.’
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
‘Sannie? Presumably you guys ran a criminal check on Khan.’ It was all too much of a coincidence — Khan having a property on the border of Kruger, not far from Tinga, and disappearing just before the abduction. He wanted to check out the doctor’s life for himself, and his first cursory look had revealed a solid connection to Greeves that the South African police had missed. That was sloppy detective work, if not something worse, on their part.
‘Of course. It came up clean — I double-checked.’
‘What about ongoing criminal investigations?’
Sannie paused again. ‘I don’t know. I’ll check tomorrow, but what am I to tell my people — that you’re freelancing on this?’
‘No. Tell them you’re acting on a hunch. Ask the detectives who went out to Khan’s place if they checked his guest book. They obviously didn’t. They were probably looking for bomb-making kits or AK 47s, but Khan was no terrorist.’
‘Then what do you suspect them of, Tom?’
‘Try your sex crimes unit. We know Khan was a bachelor who liked to party — but how and with whom? You’ve got to dig deep on this guy. He’s got a connection with Greeves and I don’t believe in coincidences.’
‘No cop does. Are you all right, Tom?’
‘Yeah, I’m fine. You?’
‘I miss you.’
‘Me too.’
‘Are you coming back?’
It was his turn to pause. ‘Once all this is finished. I’ve got to bring your truck back, remember?’
‘Don’t joke. What is “all this”?’
‘I’ll let you know when I find out, Sannie. I promise. I’ll call you back when I can.’
He hung up and put some lamb chops on the braai. He ate and drank alone, save for a hyena which paused outside the camp fence and looked at him with mournful eyes. It was amazing, Tom thought, how quickly he’d become used to the presence of predators around him. He spoke to the hyena as though it was a pet, gently telling it he had no food to spare. There were plenty of signs on the fence and in the toilet blocks warning campers of the perils of feeding wildlife.
Tom opened another beer and thought about the road ahead of him.
Africa continued to reveal herself to him, at her own languid, alluring pace.
He packed in the pre-dawn cool and left for the Pafuri Gate in the far north. He stopped on the bridge over the Luvuvhu River to take in the view. Below him, browsing in some bushes on the bank of the fast-flowing river, were some antelope he hadn’t so far encountered. The map book Sannie had given him had pictures of animals as well. The chocolate brown creature with fine white stripes and dots and a long shaggy beardlike mane was a nyala. If the animal knew he was there, it ignored him. He envied its peaceful, simple existence. It still had to beware of lurking predators, though. In Africa, death could be as close as the next tree. He got back in the Land Rover and drove off.
Tom left behind the increasingly empty and restful national park, and was thrust back into the conflicts of modern-day Africa as he drove through the lands of the Venda people. Here, traditional reed and mud huts with bright geometric designs painted on the walls and pointed roofs stood side by side with new, utilitarian brick houses, funded by government construction programs. It looked to Tom as though the authorities were trying to skip the twentieth century altogether, to catapult people whose living standards had not changed much since the nineteenth into the twenty-first century. There was still a long way to go, from what he could see.
The Land Rover’s windscreen wipers worked overtime, trying to give him enough visibility to see through a sudden downpour, which drummed hard and loud on the vehicle’s aluminium roof. A trickle of water ran down the inside of the windscreen and door pillar, behind the dashboard, down the accelerator and over his sandalled foot. Some things were common to Land Rovers around the world, no matter the model or age.
He stopped in the hot, sticky border town of Musina, where the sun broke through the clouds and sucked the moisture back into the heavens, to top up on food and fuel, and headed west for another ninety-odd kilometres. There he drove across the dry bed of the Limpopo River, which marked the border between South Africa and Botswana at an out-of-the-way crossing called Pont Drift.
It would have been quicker for him to reach his destination by driving through Zimbabwe, but Sannie had warned him that the country’s perennial fuel shortages were a problem. Botswana, he soon discovered, consisted of miles and miles of empty countryside. He crossed more sandy riverbeds and skirted a herd of skittish elephants while driving through the Mashatu Game Reserve, where the land had been picked clean of vegetation and resembled, in places, the surface of a hot, dusty, red moon.
Once back on the tar road he made good time, heading ever north. The monotony of the black ribbon flanked by thick thorny bush would have put him to sleep if it weren’t for the deep rumble of the diesel and the heat of the engine pulsing through the fire-wall. Slowing only for towns, most of which seemed to be guarded by a police car and a radar speed trap, he kept the Land Rover above a hundred kilometres an hour for most of the rest of the day.
Hot and tired, he followed the signs to the Marang Hotel in the bustling regional city of Francistown. It was another of Sannie’s recommendations. She and Christo had stopped there on their honeymoon, on their way to the Okavango Delta. It was strange to think of her with another man, now that he knew every inch of her slim, golden body. Past the hotel itself and its shaded green lawns and swimming pool was a dusty camp ground. He said a polite good evening to an elderly South African couple in a Land Cruiser, but avoided a conversation by heading to the pool. The cold water sluiced the grit from his skin, and he ordered a beer from the poolside bar’s waiter while he lay on a canvas-covered sun bed and let the fast-closing gloom cool his body.
The next day was more of the same, the monotony of the empty bush broken only by the sight of two elephants. The first was dead, its carcass swarming with the giant flapping wings and pecking hooked beaks of vultures. He dropped his speed to eighty and a gust of wind brought the unmistakable stench of death into the cab. The second animal gave him a fright when it charged across the road in front of him. He braked hard, missing it by a couple of metres, and tried not to think about the damage he would have caused to the truck and himself if he’d hit it. Sannie had advised him not to drive at night, and he could now see why. With not a streetlight for hundreds of kilometres, and the thorn-studded trees growing thick right up to the sides of the road, a collision with an animal would spell disaster.
He stopped to refuel in the middle-of-nowhere outpost of Nata, a crossroads settlement where one route ran north, towards Zambia, and another took travellers west, to the lush inland paradise of the Okavango Delta. Nata itself, however, was a strain on the eyes. The rains were hard-pressed reaching here, and a cloud of glary white dust hovered over two filling stations, a cheap hotel, a post office, a general store, a shebeen and a butcher’s shop. A small man with the fine, almost oriental features, of the San — once known as the Bushmen — came up to Tom while a chatty attendant filled his tank with diesel, and asked for money, cigarettes and beer. The whites of the San’s eyes were a rheumy yellow and he smelled of booze. Tom shook his head, both at the man and the effects of so-called civilisation on an ancient people.
It was hot. It was dry. He found himself drinking water by the litre. When he went to the bathroom at the service station he noticed the skin of his right arm and the right side of his face — the parts of him most exposed while driving — were brick red. He put on extra sunscreen when he got back in the truck, but it seemed little could protect him against the elements. He ran a hand through his damp hair and felt grit. The distances he was travelling staggered him when he overlaid them on England, Scotland and Wales. Sannie had warned him he would see ‘MMBA — miles and miles of bloody Africa’, and she was right.
The humidity climbed as he neared the Zambian border. Here the land started to dip into the Zambezi River valley. He crossed the frontier on a ferry at Kazungula, and a rare breeze off the water cooled him momentarily as he leaned on a safety railing and watched a pied kingfisher hover above the surface before plunging in for the kill. The bird emerged and flew off, its beak empty. Would his hunting trip be equally fruitless?
He reckoned there was a fifty-fifty chance that the theory coalescing in his mind was right. He wouldn’t know for sure until he made it to Malawi, and there was still another whole country to cross first.
Zambia was poorer, edgier and more run-down than the pleasantly prosperous backwater of Botswana or busy, flashy, manic-depressive South Africa. Here and there were signs of development, either through foreign aid or an influx of tourist dollars, but elsewhere the country had the feel of an old elephant down on its knees, struggling to stand upright again. On the Land Rover’s radio was news in English about Zambia’s recent election. The opposition had been defeated and was claiming corruption on the government’s part. A spokesman warned of protests on the street and the announcer mentioned an increased police presence was planned to counter the demonstrations. Tom got the feeling that democracy was still more of an ideal than a reality in many parts of Africa.
On the way into Livingstone, the closest town on the Zambian side of the mighty Victoria Falls, he passed signs to a new five-star hotel and a shopping centre complex under construction, but in the town itself he watched a security guard beat a street urchin with a wooden baton. The boy, dressed in ragged shorts and a too-big T-shirt, ran off, blood running through the fingers pressed to his scalp.
Tom had no time or inclination to visit the Victoria Falls, though in his mind he briefly played out a scene in which he and Sannie and her kids returned to go sightseeing. On the road out of Livingstone he watched a pair of young boys riding towards him in a cart constructed from the rear tray of an old pickup, pulled by a pair of battered, scarred donkeys. They whipped the animals in a cruel frenzy to get out of the way of a shiny new Mercedes-Benz which roared past them and swerved to avoid a head-on with Tom at the last second. Tom leaned on the Land Rover’s horn, but the gesture was wasted. The Merc had probably been travelling at close to two hundred, he thought. This stretch of road was good, courtesy of the Danish government, according to a road sign, but half an hour later Tom was dodging potholes as deep as his forearm.
It seemed the roads in Zambia were as much a footpath as a vehicular route. As he drove he passed a constant procession of people walking to or from school or work, or from one poverty-afflicted village to another. A young man with legs and arms like twigs and dressed in a hessian sack, a look of madness in his eyes, was followed by a man in a suit and tie, riding a pushbike. Women in brightly printed wraps with babies on their backs walked on the roadside, ignoring him and other traffic, carrying themselves with the aloofness and grace of giraffes, while children in starched uniforms yelled and waved frantically as the Land Rover rumbled past them.
Tom lost count of the number of police checkpoints he passed through. Sannie had warned him that, apart from border crossings, these would be his biggest inconvenience. She was right, and he tried to remember to be patient and friendly. He stopped for the night in a camping ground situated on a farm near a small town called Choma, on the Livingstone to Lusaka road. As he was the only camper, he used the opportunity to take Sannie’s nine-millimetre from the toolbox and strip it and clean it.
Tom rose at four-fifteen and pulled on nylon running shorts, a T-shirt and his trainers. He figured it was safe to leave the vehicle where it was, so he did twenty minutes of stretching, then set off for a run. He followed the dirt track, which led from the farm to the main road, keeping a careful eye on the uneven ground. He didn’t want to twist an ankle. Once on the main tar road he settled into a rhythm, breathing deep and slow. At this hour there were few cars and for long stretches it seemed like he was the only person in Africa. The sun peaked above the flat horizon after about half an hour, turning the open grasslands on either side of him the colour of molten gold. He checked his watch, turned and headed back. A gaggle of children in pressed maroon and white uniforms, presumably from families employed on the commercial farm, giggled and pointed at him as he passed. He waved and smiled. It felt good to be exercising again. In the coming days he needed to be sharper than he ever had in his career — both mentally and physically. Back at his campsite he finished off with fifty push-ups and a hundred sit-ups. In the shower he enjoyed the feel of the strong spray pummelling his invigorated muscles. When he dried himself he caught sight of his face in the mirror. He nodded and said out loud, ‘Ready.’