Stalking Ivory (14 page)

“Blast!” she whispered. Immediately, the baboons that used these trees for a home started screeching. She remembered hearing them from the hideout and worried that even her whisper could carry down the slope. She motioned for Chiumbo to slip back and waited till they were not directly over the hideout before she spoke again.

“That was a wild-goose chase. We’ll head back as soon as we have a bite to eat.”

By three o’clock, they were halfway back to camp when Jade saw Sam standing in the trail waiting for her, rifle in one hand, Biscuit’s leash in the other. One of his own Wakamba men, Kalinde, stood near him with his movie camera and tripod.

“Sam! What in blue blazes are you doing here?”

Sam touched his hat brim with the hand holding the leash and grinned. “Jade, Chiumbo, good afternoon to you, too.” Biscuit tugged at the leash in order to rub his head against Jade’s legs. “Best little tracker in the business,” Sam said, nodding at the cheetah. “I never would have found you otherwise.”

“I suppose Beverly put you up to this?”

He shrugged noncommittally. “She may have encouraged me a little, but the idea was my own.” He jerked his head back to the porter and the camera. “After I got through with my assignment, I dropped off Jelani and Nasero, picked up Kalinde, and went looking for you. I thought you might show me something worth filming out here.”

She pointed back up the mountain. “There is. A couple miles up that trail sits the most beautiful lake, and it’s loaded with elephants.”

“Well, dang,” said Sam. “I suppose it’s too late to head back up there today, isn’t it?”

Now it was Jade’s turn to shrug. “Up to you, I suppose.” She resumed walking on, passing the path to camp and heading towards her snare. Sam fell in beside her; his slight limp caused her to slow her pace. She stared at Sam. “I’m amazed. How did you manage to leave Jelani back at camp?”

Sam pulled off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. “Wasn’t easy—that’s for sure. That boy is determined to go where you go. But Avery stepped in and claimed a need for his help. I think they went hunting.”

“Beverly must have been feeling all right if he was willing to leave her alone. So, did you find out anything of note this morning in Hascombe’s camp?”

“Now, the fact that you didn’t ask that straightaway tells me you never expected us to.” He watched her face, a big grin on his. When she finally smiled, he clapped his hands together. “Aha! I knew it. You did send us on a fool’s errand. Just for that, I shouldn’t tell you.”

“I’m sorry,” said Jade. “Really I am. I just hate it when Beverly thinks she needs to mother me and sends everyone else after me to play at babysitting. I’m a grown woman. I can take care of myself.”

“Amen to that,” murmured Sam. “But to give my report, the answer to your question is an unqualified maybe. Hascombe wasn’t there. Neither were most of the others. That old fellow, von something or other, was there along with his daughter. That’s all.”

“Von Gretchmar,” said Jade. “He’s a banker.”

“He certainly looks and acts like someone who sits behind a desk and pompously orders everyone else around.” Sam puffed out his stomach and his cheeks and strutted along the trail like a bowlegged peacock. Behind them, Chiumbo and Kalinde laughed. “The man bears a striking resemblance to a bloated walrus.”

Jade chuckled. She couldn’t help it. Sam had a natural gift for mimicry. “But did you learn anything of use?” she asked again.

“Patience, Simba Jike.” He resumed his regular stride beside her. “Jelani and I went over with good old Biscuit here in tow.” He nodded to the spotted cat, which walked in front of and a little between them. “Thought maybe tagging along with the boy
and
the big kitty would make me look more innocent.”

“And you also figured, like I did, that they would pay no attention to an African boy, and someone might say something in front of him that they wouldn’t in front of you. I told you, he’s good at infiltration.”

Sam grinned, a wide row of teeth shining from under his thin mustache. “It might have crossed my mind. He’s clever. Sharp. Doesn’t miss much, and,” he added with a sideways glance at Jade, “he’s absolutely devoted to you. Something I can understand and appreciate.” He grinned again. “Hard not to be devoted to Miss Simba Jike.”

Jade scowled. “Get on with your story.” Just then Biscuit grew impatient with their slow pace, slipped behind Jade, and butted her. She handed his leash to Chiumbo.

“I waltzed in there as friendly as a puppy dog. Well, maybe ‘waltz’ isn’t the right word to use,” he added as he looked down at his game leg, “and I hallooed the camp. Wouldn’t want some sleepy Fritz to take a shot at me. The camera’s what did the trick. You were right. They seemed fascinated by motion pictures. That little Mercedes certainly wanted to pose. She even asked me about America and becoming an actress, but Herr Papa didn’t seem to approve. Scolded her roundly. My German is not very good beyond
Achtung
and
halt
, so I couldn’t make out the actual words, but there was no mistaking the tenor of his voice.”

“What did she do?”

“She started crying and ran to her tent. But that Jelani, he went right over there with Biscuit.” Sam shook his head at the memory. “I’d like to think that he just has a generous heart, but to be honest, I think he saw a chance to take a look around her tent.”

Jade grinned. “And did he find anything?”

Sam reached into his side pocket and pulled something out. “I’ll let you be the judge of that.” He opened his hand and revealed a gold Tabora pound.

Jade gasped. “This was in her tent?” In her head she heard the captured Abyssinian say that white women loved gold. Did he mean Mercedes?

Sam nodded. “On the ground hidden in the shadows of the canvas, to be precise,” he said. “I think it’s too much of a coincidence to find one of those German East African coins lying about their camp, don’t you?”

Jade nodded and handed the coin back to him. “But was it hers, or her father’s?”

“I was in Herr Papa’s tent filming the old walrus to buy Jelani some time. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary there. Maybe it’s from some gentleman who just happened to visit her tent?” suggested Sam. “Perhaps Vogelsanger?”

“I hadn’t thought of that.” She shook her head. “He’s a bit old for her, don’t you think?”

“She may think so, but I doubt he does. Could be Papa bear is arranging an alliance through marriage. You know, banker and rich industrialist. But there’s also that Mueller fellow. He may be dallying with or without his wife’s knowledge.”

“Liesel. His wife’s name is Liesel, and you may be right, although he doesn’t appear to have much interest in anything.”

“And,” added Sam slowly, as if this was an afterthought that had just come to him, “there’s always Hascombe.”

“Harry?” exclaimed Jade. “It’s true he’s a scoundrel, but I never figured him for allying himself with poachers.”

“Germans, yes? Poachers, no?” Sam asked in summary.

“The war’s over, Sam,” Jade replied.

“Is it?”

Jade ignored this last question. “Did you show the coin to Avery and Beverly?”

He shook his head. “Not yet. Didn’t want to rile up Beverly, and speaking of riling up Beverly, what was that story you were spinning this morning about that dog?”

“Oh, that. Nothing important. Why do you ask?”

“Avery is my friend, but I don’t know his wife well. I thought maybe it would shed a little light on her.”

“Not really. I told Bev earlier that we met all because of a lovesick bull elk. It was after one of our cow ponies.”

“And the pony ran off and the dog went after it,” Sam prompted.

“Right, but the dog made a side trip.”

“I caught that much. That, and you somehow got a pup out of it that you named Kaloff. Very funny. I could use a good laugh about now. What happened after that?”

“I probably shouldn’t tell this without Beverly around. She’ll get mad if she finds out I explained it to you first,” Jade said.

Sam shrugged. “Secret’s safe with me.” He prompted her a bit more. “You said the pup was part Newfoundland?”

“Right, but the father was a border collie. Kaloff was cute and big as a yearling black bear but not too bright. He never could quite get the idea of herding. He’d prefer to just pick up something in his mouth and haul it back.”

“And the sheep didn’t like that, I suppose?”

“No, but he didn’t restrict himself to sheep. I even trained him to fetch my tomcat, Rupert, but Kaloff liked toting carcasses, too. Maybe because they didn’t fight back as much as the cat or the sheep. Once he brought back a
big
old dead raccoon. That thing was so bloated you could’ve played it for bagpipes.”

Sam winced. “Ick.”

“That’s about the size of it. So one day he…” She stopped and listened. “We’ve been talking too loudly,” she whispered. “I hear voices.”

“Sounds like your friend Hascombe and some of his crew.”

“The question is, what else have they been doing besides hunting?”

Just then they heard a
whoosh
followed by a scream.

A
SERIES OF STRONG INVECTIVES
followed hot on the heels of the scream. Jade recognized the baritone voice as well as a few of the curses. After all, she’d heard them the previous year in Tsavo. She sprinted the short distance to her snare, then doubled over in laughter.

“Cut me down!” yelled Harry. “Blast it! It’s not funny, Jade!”

Harry hung by his heels two feet off the ground, swaying and spinning like a wobbly pendulum. His gun bearer stood tentatively nearby, studying the ropes for the best way to ease him down without dropping him on his head. Farther back stood Claudia von Gretchmar, Vogelsanger, and the two Muellers, none of whom wanted to get in the way of Harry’s fists.

“You’re correct, Harry. It’s not funny. It’s hysterical.” Jade guffawed again and hugged herself as she doubled over in laughter.

“You’ve really got the hang of this tracking business, don’t you, Hascombe?” said Sam.

“What the bloody blazes are you doing, Featherstone?” Harry roared when he spotted Sam placidly cranking his movie camera.

“I’m recording the dangers of safari life for posterity.”

Harry swore again in a rapid stream of curses that conscribed Americans, movie cameras, and Sam in particular to perdition. “You can’t make a film of this!” he bellowed as he spun around to face them again.

“Oh, don’t worry yourself, old man. The sound doesn’t record at all. No one will know what you’re saying. Still suitable for family viewing, unless a few of the brighter kiddies can read lips.”

Jade whooped again. “Hang on, Harry,” she said as she wiped a tear from her eyes. “I’ll help you down.”

“When you do, Jade, make sure you keep either your profile or face to the camera,” Sam directed. “A pretty woman always makes the picture.”

“When I get down from here,” roared Harry, “I’m going to break that bloody camera into bits if you don’t stop filming now!”

“You’d better stop, Sam,” said Jade. “As long as Harry keeps swinging his fists around, I’m never going to get close enough to undo the knots.”

“Anything you say, Jade,” answered Sam. “Watch the camera please, Kalinde,” he said as he limped past Harry. “Let
me
help you, old man.” He grabbed a panga from one of Harry’s porters and sliced right through the rope.

Harry dropped like a lead weight onto the ground, the impact forcing one last curse from his mouth. Jade hurried over to give him a hand up, and to try to keep him from taking a swing at Sam. She wondered if she’d have an easier time holding back an angry rhino. Sam’s brows furrowed as well, as though he disapproved of her hands on Harry’s broad shoulders.
Men!

“Easy, Harry,” she said. “Temper on safety, like you used to tell me, remember?”

Harry wrenched himself free and dusted off his clothes. “Was this your doing, Jade?” he demanded, pointing to the snare.

Biscuit, impatient at standing so long, butted Jade again. “Chiumbo, would you take the cat back to camp?” asked Jade. “Jelani will end up coming for him otherwise.”

Chiumbo whistled to the cheetah before starting down the trail. Biscuit ran to him, seemingly glad for the chance to leave.

“Now why would I set a snare, Harry?” said Jade. “I’m photographing wildlife, not hunting.”

“That’s not an answer,” Harry growled. Some of his porters, burdened with two tusks, started to set down the ivory and take a break. Harry turned on them. “Take that on back to camp,” he ordered. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

The men hefted the two four-foot tusks and resumed their trek. Claudia von Gretchmar patted her forehead and sighed loudly. “I am tired and hot, and about Mercedes I am worried. I do not want to wait for these”—she hesitated and searched for a word—“pleasantries to end. I will with the ivory go.”

“What could happen to that child at camp to worry
you
?” asked Liesel, her voice edged with sarcasm. “You have never worried about her before.” She made a scoffing chuckle. “And her big, strong papa
ist
there to protect her.”

Claudia glared at Liesel, and Jade worried for a moment that the older woman was going to start ripping the younger one’s hair out.

At the mention of Mercedes’ name, Vogelsanger’s brow furrowed. “I will accompany you, Frau von Gretchmar,” he said. “To protect her on the way to the camp,” he added to Harry. He nodded to the others and hastened after the porters.

Jade suddenly remembered the photo negative of a partially clothed Claudia in the arms of another man, an image she’d set aside as meaningless until now. Was Claudia having an affair with Vogelsanger? She’d have to get the negative out and study it again. Perhaps Beverly would recognize the man.

“Well, Jade? I’m waiting,” said Harry after the others had departed.

“Maybe
you
set it and forgot about it, Hascombe,” said Sam. He folded his arms across his chest and leaned against a tree. “Or maybe
I
set it. Did you ever think of that? Or how about those poachers I’ve heard about?”

Jade shot a look at Sam that told him to put a sock in his mouth before he started any more trouble. Sam pretended to misunderstand.

“Did you need help there, Jade?” he asked. “I can coil that rope for you.” He strolled over and took the rope from her hands, making certain that he held them for a moment and that Harry saw it.

He did. He also saw Jade’s dark brows shoot up over her emerald green eyes in surprise at Sam’s liberty. “Good idea, Featherstone,” Harry said with a toothy grin at Jade. “Wouldn’t want those pretty hands to get rope burn, would we? I remember how soft they felt when we danced close together at the Muthaiga Club.”

Jade expected the two men to start butting heads together at any moment.
Good heavens! It’s rutting season in the forest.
She decided to do her own head butting and attacked another topic. “Run into any poachers out here yesterday, Harry?”

“Why yesterday?”

“Because someone shot at me again. Thought maybe you saw or heard something. Where were you and your people?” She looked at the Muellers. “I don’t see Otto von Gretchmar and Mercedes. Where’s the rest of your group?”

“Is this an inquisition?” Harry snapped. “Was it your intention to hang me from that blasted tree just so you could interrogate me?” He flexed his hands, clenching and releasing them.

Liesel Mueller patted Harry’s tensed muscles and he jerked free. Next she sidled over to Sam and smiled. “You are an American man,
ja
? I have not seen one before.” She ran her gaze slowly over him, as though she were inspecting a prototype, shifted her rifle to her left hand, and touched his biceps. “Very nice muscles. Almost as strong as Herr Hascombe.”

Jade watched Liesel’s husband to see how he took this display. If anything, he seemed amused by it. Jade wondered if Liesel knew something about yesterday’s shooting and was doing her best to distract everyone, so she turned the questions back onto her. “Frau Mueller, where are your friends? I don’t see that pretty Miss Mercedes or her father here. Don’t they like to hunt?”

The peroxide blonde slapped her rifle on her left shoulder and posed with her left hip shifted towards Sam and her right hand on her narrow waist. “
Mein Gott,
Mercedes walking? She would out here die.” She sniffed in disgust. “She is only with us because her papa wishes it.”

“Fräulein Mercedes is not the same kind of woman as you are, Liesel,” said her husband, Heinrich. “Nor is she brave like Fräulein del Cameron,” he added. “Mercedes is like a hothouse flower that does not survive well outside of protected walls.”

Liesel’s purring smile quickly turned into a scowl as her husband discussed Mercedes so familiarly and raised Jade to the level of a new rival.

Jade recognized the intended compliment towards her abilities. “Thank you, Herr Mueller. I’m sure a sportsman such as yourself can appreciate the hazards to a delicate young lady. I’m surprised her parents insisted on bringing her along with them.” She glanced at the trees as though she expected to see the elder von Gretchmar emerge from them. “But then, he doesn’t seem to be cut out for safari life, either. The last time I saw him out of camp, he looked as red as a beet.”

“Von Gretchmar only purchased one elephant license and he bagged his already,” said Harry with a snarl from behind her. “He only stayed behind with Mercedes so his wife could tag along today.” He stepped in closer till he loomed next to her. “I’m a patient man, Jade, but my patience is wearing thin.” His voice rose in pitch. “Now, why all the questions? Especially,” he added, “since you never answered
mine
.”

“I’m sorry, Harry,” Jade said, her voice dripping sweetness and her eyes wide with innocence. “Did you ask me something?”

He stared down at her. “Did you set that trap?” he roared.

“Back off, Hascombe,” said Sam as he hurried to Jade’s side.

Harry glared at Sam. The two men were matched in height, but Harry clearly held the advantage on overall size. Jade heard Mueller say something in German about an amusing battle for dominance in the herd and heard Liesel’s laugh follow.

Jade shoved Harry out of the way before the situation got out of hand. “What if I did set the trap, Harry? No one told
you
to step in it.” She heard Sam chuckle beside her and wheeled on him. “And I don’t need anyone else to fight my battles for me.” Sam reeled back a step.

Harry adjusted his hat and retrieved his rifle from the ground, where he’d dropped it when he was snared. “I’m not sure who or what you were trying to catch, Jade, but if you did set this, then you’re playing a dangerous game. One day, you’re going to go too far and that pretty little head of yours is going to roll.”

“Is that a threat, Harry?” she called as Harry stomped off down the trail.

He turned, and said over his shoulder, “Take it for a bit of advice from a friend.”

Mueller tipped his hat to Jade and nodded to Sam as he passed. Liesel ignored Jade entirely, winked at Sam, and sashayed after her husband. Jade watched them till they took the fork towards the north; then she turned back to her ruined snare and sighed.

“Why’d you cut the rope, Sam? I don’t think I can reset this one.”

Sam collapsed his camera’s tripod and handed the equipment back to his porter. “Why in tarnation would you want to reset it, Jade? Did you ever stop to think that Beverly and, God forbid, Hascombe are both right?”

Jade turned and studied Sam, her head tipped to one side. “You don’t like Harry, do you?”

Sam blinked. “Not particularly. But then neither, it seems, do you.”

“But
I
have reasons. You, on the other hand, just met him.” She continued to maintain eye contact, knowing that the one she scrutinized generally blinked first and looked away from her intense green eyes. “I find that curious.”

Sam, as if to give lie to her expectations, didn’t look away; he just smiled, folded his arms across his chest, and met her gaze. “Call it first impressions. Now, what are your plans, Simba Jike?”

For the first time, Jade knew she might lose the staring match. She felt like her old tomcat, Rupert, in a back-arching standoff with another equally strong cat. To back down meant to lose face, to take the secondary rank. To continue meant a fight.
What would old Rupert do?
She needed the human equivalent of washing, something to break off the confrontation. “Pass me the rope. I want to set a deadfall snare over there.” She pointed towards the tree where she’d stashed the rifles. Both she and Sam looked off in the new direction, thereby ending the stalemate equitably.

Sam retrieved the rope from where he’d hung it on a low branch and gave it to Jade. “I’ll help you.” He waved to the porter, still standing aside with his camera. “Come on, Kalinde. Let’s give the lady a hand.”

The three of them headed down the hill and, after a few false turns, located the hollow tree where Jade and Chiumbo had stashed the rifles the day before. To her relief, the rifles hadn’t been discovered, and the camouflaging brush showed no signs of disturbance. With Sam’s and Kalinde’s help, she rigged up a heavy log to a toggle braced in place with several rifles. The end result was that when someone removed enough rifles, the toggle would slip and drop the log onto the victim.

“Not sure it’s quite up to Tarzan’s standard,” said Jade as she surveyed their work, “but it will have to serve.” She scanned the surroundings, peering intently past the trees into the shadows.

“Looking for Boguli?” asked Sam.

She nodded. “He wasn’t at the lake where the elephants were, so I hoped he might still be in this area. He’s the one who showed me this tree.”

“Old folks have minds of their own, Jade. He’s probably moved on. Maybe he went back to his own people.” Sam pulled a watch from a shirt pocket. “Speaking of going back to your own people, we should be getting back to camp.”

“You’re probably right. Beverly will have a search party out for all of us soon.” Disappointed, she turned back up the trail. “What did you think of Liesel Mueller’s comments about Mercedes and her father?”

“Patriarchal German father, a miniature kaiser,” said Sam from behind her. “He wants to go on safari and never mind what his wife or daughter wants. They must do what Herr Papa says.” He walked in silence for a moment longer, then added, “Perhaps he is the reason she spends so much time in camp. Maybe she would like to go with the others, but he won’t allow it. That could explain why she is so unhappy.”