Elephant Dropping (9781301895199) (31 page)

‘And you
believe that?’

‘No of course
not, I’m not a local. Do you want to see the falls? They are very
noisy and quite impressive.’

‘Ok show me,’
Katana invited.

Bazo walked
towards the river and Katana followed. The crackle of a radio
interrupted them. It was the rangers at the foot of the falls. Bazo
told them to continue searching down the river until they got to
Sala Gate and get a copy of all the vehicle entries and exits for
the past two days, before returning to Voi.

‘So you record
exits also?’

‘Of course,’
replied Bazo.

‘And when do
you check them.’

‘Now and then,’
he said, not elaborating. They reached the edge of the river, and
walked alongside it.

As they got
closer to the falls Bazo stopped. ‘This is as far as I go.’

‘Why, think
that devil thing will get you?’

‘No I’ve seen
the falls. Just have a quick look, don’t stare into the water, you
may get dizzy and fall in,’ he advised.

‘You’re
serious?’

Bazo shrugged
and pointed at the drop off. ‘Go on,’ he urged.

Katana walked
to the edge and peered over. The noise was indeed deafening, the
water crashing against the rocks boiled and frothed like a living
creature, it was quite mesmerising. No one falling in could
survive. He looked back to grin at Bazo, but he was already walking
back to the cars.

Moses had
finished cleaning the rover. ‘Want to ride with me?’ Katana asked
Bazo.

Bazo looked
inside the car and sniffed. ‘Not sure.’

‘Come on, we
can keep the windows open once we are going. It won’t be two bad,
besides, we can talk in private.’

Bazo gingerly
opened the door and climbed in. ‘What did you think of the
falls?’

‘I saw that
devil thing.’

‘No!’ Bazo wide
eyed, exclaimed. ‘What did it look like?’

‘It was too
terrible to describe. You will have to go and look yourself,’ the
detective informed him.

‘Let’s get out
of here,’ said Bazo, ‘I have work to do.’

They set off
for the park gates, Bazo kept his head out of the window to avoid
the stench. ‘Bloody baboons,’ he muttered. They had travelled about
ten miles, when his radio started squawking, he motioned for Katana
to stop. Getting down from the vehicle, he spoke with his rangers.
‘They have found a body,’ he told Katana.

‘A white
man?

‘Hard to tell.’
Bazo said listening to the excited directions. ‘It’s about fifteen
miles downriver.’

‘Ok tell them
to wait and not to touch anything.’ Katana turned round driving
back the way they had come. They met the police land rover who
pulled off the road to let them pass. ‘Follow me.’ He yelled out to
Moses without slowing down, leaving him in a cloud of dust. With
Bazo coordinating on the radio and relaying directions they reached
the place where the rangers had left their 4x4 and proceeded on
foot down to the river’s edge. Katana was impressed and said so.
‘My guys would have driven straight to the gate, you have some good
men.’

Bazo nodded at
the compliment. ‘We are rangers,’ he said.

Walking a mile
over rough ground, they came upon the two rangers waiting on a
small mud flat at an indentation in the river. As Katana got closer
he could see something about fifty yards away in the water, marked
by splashes, as one of the rangers periodically threw stones at it.
The detective got closer until he could see clothing and what
appeared to be part of a torso, it bobbed up and down as two
crocodiles braving the hurled stones alternately tried to drag the
body into deeper water - the body had snagged itself round a
partially submerged tree.

Bazo picked up
rocks and joined in, shouting at the top of his voice. This new
assault made the crocodiles back off, but not far. Katana took out
his service revolver and taking aim loosed off two shots.
Ineffective spumes of water spurted up near the crocks heads, which
then submerged out of sight.

Katana was
breathing hard with excitement. ‘We need to get that body. Quick,
cut some branches of that bush, we can slap them on the water
keeping those mambas at bay, while we retrieve the body.’

The rangers
looked at him askance. ‘Go in the water?’ one of them asked.

‘Yes, come on,
quick before those buggers come back.’

The rangers
stood looking at their boss to intervene against this mad idea.
Instead Bazo urged them on. ‘Do as the man says, there are enough
of us here to scare those crocks away.’ Without enthusiasm, one of
the rangers cut branches off a nearby bush with a panga, muttering
and eyeing the detective like he was mad.

Katana took off
his shoes and socks and rolled his trousers up to the knee, picking
up a branch with the pistol in the other hand, he stood ankle deep
in the river. ‘Come on let’s go.’ The two rangers followed his
example.

Bazo said. ‘Go
ahead I will keep throwing stones.’

Katana gave
instructions. ‘Spread out and slap the water as hard as you can.’
The three of them approached the body. Feeling their way along the
muddy bottom with their bare feet, slapping the water with the
branches, the noise startled a pair of Egyptian geese who took to
the air squawking and hissing loudly in alarm. The rangers hung
back letting Katana go first, soon the water was up to his knees
and they were only half way to the body.

Katana stopped.
‘Ok, new plan,’ he announced pocketing his gun. ‘Let’s get into
single file, here quickly,’ he instructed the nearest ranger, ‘grab
the end of my branch and you hold onto the other ranger’s branch,
we will make a human chain, quick man there’s no time to lose! And
whatever you do, don’t let go!’

Katana, all
caution to the wind, waded in and reached the body. The water now
at his waist, he gripped a portion of torn jeans and holding the
branch in the other yelled. ‘Pull! Pull!’

The rangers in
single file energetically hauled the detective back in towards the
shallows. The head of a crocodile appeared behind the body. Bazo
desperately hurled rocks. All the men were shouting and splashing,
a brief tug on the human chain in the opposite direction as the
beast took hold, but the men kept pulling and the body broke free,
or what was left of it. They cheered triumphantly as they got it to
the shallows and Bazo enthusiastically stepped into the water,
shoes and all, to help haul in the macabre prize.

A pall of
silence fell upon the group as they individually looked at the
gristly remains, and then stepped away distancing themselves.
Katana was the only one who looked pleased, grinning at Bazo.

‘No white man
here, eh?’ he said conversationally and took off his wet trousers,
emptied the pockets, wrung them dry and hung them on a nearby
branch. Looking incongruous in a pair of red underpants and shirt,
he turned the body over in the shallows for a closer look.

The body was
headless, the right arm, leg and shoulder were missing exposing the
chest cavity, the torn flesh bleached white and pink by the water.
The remaining leg still encased in jeans had a sock on the foot.
Katana fished around in the pocket of the jeans, taking out a
waterlogged wallet, a puncture mark through it. ‘Good,’ he
muttered, tossing this prize onto the bank. He continued to fish in
the pockets, only finding some coins and a set of what looked like
house keys. Next he turned the hand over examining the fingertips.
‘We will be able to get some prints from these,’ he said with
satisfaction.

This was too
much for one of the rangers who ran away and started to gag
uncontrollably. Bazo also turned away and finding a convenient log
sat quietly and removed his wet shoes and socks.

Leaving the
body, Katana turned his attention to the wallet. The group were so
engrossed they did not notice the detective’s men arrive. Wide eyed
they stared at the scene. ‘Oh good,’ said Katana. ‘Moses get the
tarpaulin from the land rover, we have to take this body to the
mortuary and see if you can get the land rover closer will
you?’

Suddenly all
hell broke loose in the shallows. A large crocodile lunged in, huge
jaws clamped round the torso; the croc turned back and dived
beneath the water with a mighty splash. Katana was the first to
react, seizing his pistol he shot repeatedly at the disappearing
croc until the gun was empty.

‘Bastard,’ he
shouted, as the rest of his evidence disappeared. ‘Did you see
that!’ He exclaimed to no one in particular. The others stood
transfixed as the croc surfaced briefly mid stream, adjusted its
grip on the torso and once more sank out of sight.

‘So that’s that
then,’ Katana said with finality, pocketing his gun. He opened the
wallet and sifted through its contents. A police ID revealed the
body to belong to a Titus Ouma from the same police force as Loda.
‘Well, well, well,’ said Katana, holding the ID aloft. ‘Yet another
cop from Rubia’s unit - the plot thickens.’

‘Who is Rubia?’
asked Bazo.

‘He is head of
the Special Crimes Unit and has been giving me and my men a hard
time.’

‘So what was
this cop doing on his own in the park, driving that range rover?’
Bazo queried.

‘I doubt that
he was sightseeing,’ replied Katana.

‘So how did he
fall in the river?’

‘Fell in or was
pushed. I must have those exit and entry records of yours as soon
as possible.’

Bazo nodded and
instructed his men, now dressed, to carry on to Sala Gate. The
group broke up. Katana put on his shoes and socks, but his trousers
were not yet dry so he tossed them over his shoulder and made his
way back to the range rover in his underpants.

‘Did you see
that huge crocodile? Man! It took the whole body in one go,’ he
said to Bazo. ‘How long was it?’

‘At least
fifteen feet, I told you there is a river devil here.’

Katana wound
down the passenger window, pushed the waist band of his trousers
through it and wound the widow back up ‘Soon dry out.’ He
smiled.

‘You cops are
weird people that’s for sure,’ Bazo said as they drove off, the
trousers flapping in the wind.

FIFTEEN

After their
walk, Brian helped Doug change his bandage. Despite the angry
purple bruising, the stitches were holding and the cut was healing
nicely. Brian then went and had shower and as he got dressed he
heard dogs barking and a car door slamming. He found Doug and
Firdus on the veranda.

‘Hello Brian,’
Firdus said with a wry smile, ‘according to the paper, you went
swimming at Lugard’s falls yesterday,’ he pointed at a newspaper
Doug was reading.

‘Yes,’ Doug
chipped in, ‘at least we know where your car is,’ and handed the
paper to Brian.

‘What in the
hell!’ He exclaimed as he stood and read the item.

‘How on earth
did my car end up there? Where is this place?’

‘In the park in
Tsavo East, the other car-jacker must have driven it there while
Gem and I were locked in the boot.’

‘But why? I
don’t understand.’

‘It seems to
me, that when they couldn’t find you, they staged an accident
leaving your car as evidence.’

Brian sat down.
‘Evidence of what? I don’t follow; it must be a Kenyan thing.’

Firdus put his
hand on Brian’s shoulder. ‘Listen, you told your people in the bank
that you were going to drive through the park didn’t you?’

‘Yes,’ Brian
nodded.

‘Here is what I
surmise happened. Once the pursuers realised you had been refused
entry, they had to chase the car only to find you gone and Doug and
Gem an unwanted complication. So they decided to split up, one to
get rid of my nephew and his girlfriend and the other to take your
car to Lugard’s falls, where they had evidently planned to get rid
of you anyway. This item in the paper has been pre-written. You are
now officially missing presumed dead from a simple misadventure. A
typical tourist accident that incidentally, has happened before at
those falls.’

‘My God,’
breathed Brian, ‘everyone thinks I’m dead! I must get hold of my
sister, before the news gets to her.’

‘Sister?’ asked
Doug. ‘You have a sister, where is she?’

‘In England, I
sent her an e-mail before I left Nairobi. I had a feeling things
were not right, she will already be anxious.’

‘You might have
shared that with Gem and I before you invited us on this “joyride”.
Imagine if we had gone into the park with you,’ Doug said
crossly.

‘Now, now,’
said Firdus, ‘if you had not been with Brian he would have been
killed.’

‘Your uncle is
right. I owe you my life and I’m sorry I have put you and Gem at
risk.’

Doug said
gruffly. ‘It’s ok, we will get through this.’

Firdus took
charge. ‘I made some phone calls while I was in Malindi. I wanted
information on this new terrorism unit. A man called Joe Rubia is
heading it. As I recall he was a trainee while I was an instructor
at Kiganjo, the police college - very bright and ambitious. He
passed out with honours and went into the G.S.U. for further
military training; from there he went to Britain to a counter
terrorism unit. From all reports, he is a bad bastard to get on the
wrong side of. He was appointed by the current minister for state
security, Rupert Omollo, who, as it turns out, I was at secondary
school with. We were never close buddies, but at least we are not
complete strangers. I can’t think that he had a hand in this and am
more inclined to think that Rubia is using his power to earn money
running a hit squad. This would be entirely in keeping with his
ambition and greed. I recall an incident in the college when we had
a thief in one of the dormitories. Rubia allegedly caught the
thief, a junior, and beat him half to death. Later it was rumoured
it was Rubia who had been stealing. So we are dealing with someone
who is cunning and utterly ruthless, he wouldn’t have the job
otherwise.’