I arrived at the dining area a few minutes before lunchtime. After the early-morning game drive, I had skipped breakfast and headed back to the room for a nap. I woke up ravenous. Charlotte had chosen the opposite schedule. Breakfast, then nap. She was sound asleep when I left.
Zaden was on the phone. He was more animated than I had ever seen him.
“Finally got a consistent signal?” I asked Sabrina when I sat down at the long table.
“Yep.” She put down her romance novel. “On the phone with his girlfriend.”
I pulled my iPhone out. I had no Wi-Fi signal. I went into settings and tried the lodge’s Wi-Fi name. Nothing. I did have a weak signal for calls—only one bar. With the expense of international calls, there was no one I wanted to call, even if I could.
“He looks happy.” With each word he spoke I could see the phone bill chugging up as fast as when you gassed your car up. I was glad it wasn’t my bill.
“First love. Nothing like it.” She wiped away a tear. “We only get it once.” She looked at Zonah, who was sitting by the fence, looking out onto the river. I tried to assess her look. It was love mixed with sadness. Or, more accurately, it was with longing.
Was Zonah her first love? Or was he the product of her first love? The latter seemed more likely, but one never knows.
If I was going to solve Dr. Higgins’ murder, I was going to have to ask some tough questions. No time like the present.
“Hey, Sabrina,” I started. I stumbled trying to find a suitable, inoffensive way to ask whether Zonah was her boyfriend or her son. “Is Zonah—”
Jack came over and sat across from me. “How are you, ladies?”
“Fine, thank you.” Sabrina stood and walked over to Zaden. She made a signal to Zaden to wrap up the call. I doubted his allowance would cover that bill.
“Oh, Miss Naomi…” Jack sang.
“What?”
He looked over his shoulder, to where I was looking. The trio now stood together. He returned his attention to me. “Tsk, tsk, tsk,” he said, shaking his head.
“What?” I asked again.
“What were you going to ask Sabrina?”
I hesitated, not wanting to answer. He pounced on my hesitation, thinking it was embarrassment. “Caught you!” He continued to shake his head with a smirk on his face. “Were you going to ask if Zonah was single perhaps?”
A look of confusion passed over my face. He clearly never thought Sabrina and Zonah were an item. Was that just the male ego thinking only older men would pursue a relationship with someone at least ten years their junior?
“He’s too young for you.”
“He’s too young for me?” I asked. Oh no, Jack thought I was interested in Zonah. The thought had never entered my mind. I definitely thought Zonah was too young for me. But not everyone held my view, and I wasn’t sure if Sabrina did. My only interest in the trio was their relationship to each other. And more importantly, were any of them a murderer.
“Shh… don’t be ridiculous.” I leaned in, hoping to cover myself. I couldn’t possibly tell him the truth, that I was trying to find Dr. Higgins’ murderer but I hoped I could cover myself. “I was asking for my sister.”
He leaned back and smiled. “Well, that would be more appropriate.”
He glanced back at the trio. “I can’t see them together, though. She could do better.”
Zaden was still gabbing on the phone. Zonah and Sabrina were off to the side, standing very close together. Conspiring? I wondered.
Jack returned his interest to his usual, his beer. After taking a sip, he added, “There’s something about that group I don’t trust.”