I stood on my porch in the late afternoon looking out over the floodplain, watching the elephants pour in, and listening to the roar and growl of another elephant reunion. I dialed Craig’s number.
“Craig, how are you?”
“Charming compared to how I felt in Hong Kong. I haven’t seen a single chopstick since I’ve been back, and I’m bloody grateful for it. Hadn’t realized how nervous they made me.”
“You mean because of the ivory?”
“No, man. Ivory chopsticks, wooden chopsticks, it makes no difference. Forks are much more civilized implements. I resent having to stab at my food with two sticks in order to get it into my mouth. I’m developing much more respect for the Thai people for managing to resist the chopstick in their culture.”
I laughed. “How long were you there?”
“Two days.”
“Only two days?”
“And I leave first thing in the morning for Lusaka. My itinerary is absolutely mad. Glad you were able to reach me. One of these days I’ll have to pay you a visit. Hear the elephants are stunning up north.”
“Can you hear them in the background?” There was a particularly jubilant bellow filling the floodplain.
“Oh, that explains the unholy noise. Thought it was a poor connection.”
“The elephants are very vocal in the Caprivi, as I’m finding out. I’m getting used to it.”
“Catherine, I must be brief. I have some bad news.”
“I was hoping you’d have good news.”
“My guys in MCD told me that the police didn’t catch Alvares.”
“What? But Jon seemed so certain that they would.”
“That’s what I wanted to ask you about. Do you know what the time delay would have been between dropping you off, going to the police, and then meeting you at his house?”
I was so confused. “It couldn’t have been more than ten minutes.” What was he getting at?
“Could Alvares have unloaded that quickly?”
“I’m not sure. Maybe.” I tried to remember what Jon had said to me after returning from the police station that night.
“Catherine, I hate to say this, but we’ve got to be more cautious about Jon right now.”
This was the last thing I wanted to hear. I paused. “What? Really?” I tried not to have any emotion in my voice, but Craig knew me too well.
“Look, I’m sorry to do this to you at the moment, but trust me on this one. Things aren’t lining up between the failed bust at Liadura and Alvares getting away last night. I had warned you when I hired you that there’d be times where I’d ask you to trust no one. Now is the time.”
My mind couldn’t help starting to spin with questions. I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but why had Jon asked me in the driveway if Nigel had gotten there yet, as if Nigel’s presence would influence the outcome of catching Alvares—or Alvares getting away? He was acting really strangely, but I had brushed it off. And why didn’t he want Nigel to know what Chastity was up to? I was so sure that he was becoming suspicious of Nigel. But I had pretty much convinced myself that the reverse possibility hadn’t been true—that Nigel might have reason to be suspicious of Jon. He had been so supportive of Jon, especially during our conversation at Liadura. Was he purposely defending Jon to throw me off? Why would he do that? What if they were both trying to derail me? What if Jon made a pass at me on the houseboat because he was trying to distract me from what Alvares was doing in the reeds? The more I thought about it, the more embarrassed I felt I’d be, no matter which outcome would turn out to be true.
“Catherine, you still there?”
I took a big breath. “Well, I had what I had hoped would be good news, but now I don’t know what to think of anything anymore.”
“What is it?”
“Jon identified the other man in the photos.”
“Brilliant, who is he?”
“It’s Ernest, the guy they thought had been eaten by a crocodile.”
“Really, hey. So the doctor thought he’d do better with the witch doctor’s henchman than the witch doctor himself. Interesting.”
“But, have you heard any follow-up on using the photos as evidence? Jon told me that they have been deemed inadmissible.”
“Geldenhuis is a bloody difficult bastard to nail, I’m learning.”
“So it’s true? They were thrown out?”
“Someone’s paying big bucks to protect this bloke. And I didn’t want you to worry too much about it, but someone might have seen you on the airstrip that night in Zambia. Maybe this fellow, Ernest.”
“What?” I immediately thought back to the moment on the airstrip when the branch snapped and I dropped my camera. I was focused on the doctor and the witch doctor. I wasn’t paying attention to where Ernest might have been looking at that exact moment.
“If that’s true, he may have been able to identify you somehow, and figure out that you didn’t have permission to cross the border at night.”
“Are you sure?”
“No. Just murmurings.”
“What can we do?”
“Lie low for the moment. We’re making a new plan with the magistrate. I think we’ll make headway.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“Oh, and I do have some good news.”
“Great, I wish we had started with the good news.”
“The ivory you picked up from the crime scene is an exact match to the three tusks you sampled from Jon’s office.”
“The induna’s son!” This evidence would place Nandi’s brother at the murder scene. He could have been the third person in the car. That was the one piece of information that Eli and Natembo were able to extract during their interrogation of Ernest—that someone else was driving.
“Who is the induna’s son?” Craig asked.
“I’m going to see him in prison tomorrow.”
“You’ve done well, Catherine. I can bloody well see the end of this saga just around the bend.”
“Well, I can’t, particularly after this conversation, but I’m glad to hear you can.”
“I know you’ll hang in there. And good luck with the census. Remember to bring enough Dramamine this time.”
“Thanks, Craig. Always looking out for me.”
“Catherine.” He had that tone, like he read the sarcasm into my flat response. “Be careful.”
“It seems like everyone around here is too careful when it comes to this case.”
“You have to understand, I’m still trying to get us out of trouble after your Zambia stint. We don’t want your efforts wasted. You’ve got to trust us. We have to be very sensitive right now. Go as slowly as you need to. And keep your distance from Jon.”