“Where have you been?” Charlotte asked when she met me later in the afternoon in reception.
“Just wandering around.” I spent the rest of the afternoon looking for surveillance cameras. When a staffer would ask me what I was looking for, I would just say I was wandering around. No problem. They would smile and continue on their way.
In all my exploration, I found only one camera in a guest area. Where I really needed one, there wasn’t one. There were none on the walkway to and from our suites.
There was just the one surveillance camera in the whole lodge. I stood under it and imagined it gave a good image of the dining area, maybe part of the bar and the entrance to the walkway. The walkway was the only way to and from the suites. Its footage could be useful.
If I could get a look at the camera’s footage, I might be able to see who came and went during the night.
It looked like the model we had where I worked. I frowned. I hadn’t thought of my boring, infuriating job as a customer service representative at an upscale retailer since we’d left on vacation. I shoved thoughts of the job out of my head. I had bigger problems. How could I get access to the surveillance camera’s footage?
I still hadn’t come up with an idea when Charlotte told me, “Well, go explore reception and drop our key off.” She handed me our room key.
I took it and did as I was told. I dropped the key in the bowl, joining the other guests’ keys.
Geri came up behind me and dropped her key in the bowl as well. We walked out of the area together and she said, “It’s like a key party.” She winked at me, which made me uncomfortable. “If only!” she added.
“What do you mean key party?” I asked as we met Charlotte by the cruiser.
Charlotte grabbed my arm and whispered, “You do not want her to explain that.”
Geri smiled coyly and joined Jack. She kissed him on the cheek.
“What’d I miss?” I asked Charlotte.
“An entertaining, if not slightly irksome, post-dinner drinks session,” she explained. “When you were at the treehouse, we all hung out a bit. It appears the Wallaces are swingers.”
“Ohh, a key party,” I said when I put it together. “Oh,” I said, grimacing. That was not an image I needed.
“Whether they were always swingers or it’s her desperate attempt to spice things up, I don’t know and I am not asking.”
It wasn’t relevant to my investigation so I wasn’t asking either. Or was it relevant?
I caught Charlotte watching Zonah. “What are you doing?” I asked.
“He is kind of cute,” she said, still looking in his direction.
Each day, he looked more and more like a mountain man, with his growing beard. The trip, and his unruly facial hair, made him look older. Maybe it was traveling with family that made one look older. I hoped this trip with Charlotte wouldn’t age me so extremely.
“Really?” I asked. I was surprised that she’d be attracted to him. Part of me wondered if his lack of interest over the past few days was the impetus. Or was it Jack’s work as Cupid?
“He is the only single on the trip.”
I laughed. It was a numbers game. I should have known Charlotte’s practical nature. She could have him if she wanted. I’d yet to see her not get what she wanted. But I didn’t need to see this play out.
I left her to her own devices and got into the Land Cruiser. The rest boarded, Sonny and Ray gave their greetings, and we were off.
For the first few minutes of the game drive, I was consumed with finding a way I could look at the camera’s footage. As we pulled out of the lodge’s property, the beauty of the land hit me again and all thoughts of finding a murderer left me.
We drove around for a while. I watched the grasses for any sign of movement. I looked above the tall grasses, hoping to see a giraffe straining its neck to graze on leaves off trees.
Suddenly, we stopped and Ray jumped off his seat. He crouched down and inspected something in the dirt. He walked a few steps down the road, looked around, and then returned. He pointed to the right after he hopped back on his seat. Sonny turned the Land Cruiser to the right, making his own way deeper into the bush. I held the bar in front of me for stability. Many of my fellow travelers did the same.
Ray held his hand up and Sonny stopped the car. They both pointed in front of the vehicle. All I could see were the high green grasses and low bushes. But then I saw the grasses sway. A bit of color snuck out and I could see the spots of a leopard.
Its long tail swung slowly, back and forth, as it slowly walked away from us. Just as slowly, Sonny kept pace with the leopard, never getting too close to it.
We followed it down a steep path into a dry riverbed. In the soft sand, the leopard kept up its leisurely pace. Sonny parked the car and we watched the leopard get smaller as it walked away from us. Suddenly he stopped. He looked like he was listening to something and then turned around.
He retraced his steps and was now walking toward us. “Should we move?” Charlotte asked. No one wanted a repeat of the rhino experience. “It looks like it’s coming back for us.”
“Shh. Charlotte, just watch. We are no threat to him. He is not a threat to us.”
She leaned back but didn’t appear relieved by his words. In silence, the group watched as the leopard continued his walk toward us. The tension in the fellow tourists was palpable. While my fellow travelers sat tensely, Sonny sat relaxed. His upper body draped over the steering wheel.
With each step closer to us, you could see the detail of his beautiful spotted fur. The black rosettes on his tan-and-orange-tinged fur were stunning. As he was only feet away from us, we got an amazingly close view of the leopard. The rosettes changed into spots around his head.
Now only a foot away from the front of the Land Cruiser, he walked past us, barely paying us any mind. I was glad I was the furthest away from him, as I sat in the back tier of seating. The leopard would get Charlotte first.
Or maybe not, I thought, as we watched him leap into a tree.
We watched for a few more minutes as he settled into a tree branch. It was the closest animal encounter we had experienced on the trip.
With the leopard no longer close, Sonny told us, “Leopards can jump up to ten feet. They even jump with their prey, to keep their dinner away from lions and hyenas.”
And we were back to the hyenas.
We stopped for sundowners, some more eager for a drink than others. Geri scurried behind a bush to make room for a drink. I made a mental note to limit my beverages before game drives. Peeing outside had never sounded like a good idea. Even less so here. I didn’t know what could be hiding behind, or in, any bush.
I strolled up to our bartender and tracker, Ray. “What’s up with the lodge’s Wi-Fi?”
“You Americans and your internet.” He shook his head but his large smile gave away his teasing. “It’s temporary. We’re working on it. It’ll be up shortly.”
The party line.
“White wine?” he asked, already pouring it. Did this part of the world have a better memory for drinks than my part? I’d been visiting the same bar in my neighborhood every Friday with my coworkers and they still asked me my drink order every time. Or was it a way to garner better tips? I shrugged. It didn’t matter as long as I got my drink.
He handed it to me and I saw the large gash on his arm again. “What happened to your arm, Ray?”
“Nothing.”
“It looks like more than nothing. You know my sister is studying to be a doctor. Want her to look at it?” I pointed in her direction. She saw me point and sneered at me. I pointed to the glass of wine and she nodded. If she knew the real purpose of the point, the sneer would have remained.
“It’s nothing,” he repeated.
He moved onto his next order as Jack approached. “Rookie, don’t be cornering my bartender here.”
I left the makeshift bar and walked past the Vankeys, who were huddled together. Conspiring, I thought. I could have sworn I heard the word “dying.” I edged closer but they stopped talking when they saw me. I raised my drink in a mock toast. They glared at me.
I resumed my walk to Charlotte, the cut on Ray’s arm still bothering me. “Where’s my drink?” Charlotte asked.
“Oh, sorry, I forgot.” I glanced back at Ray, looking at the cut. “If a cut needs stitches, how long do you have to get it done by?
“Depends on the size and depth of the cut. But a few hours.”
“You think they have a medic here? Someone who could do that?”
“Oh no, what did you do?” She looked me over for signs of trauma.
I tried to remember if Ray had the injury before Dr. Higgins’ death. In all the commotion, all the stress, who could remember. I hadn’t been looking at my fellow tourists then as suspects. All I could see then was Dr. Higgins’ mauled body.
Charlotte and I made the rounds with our fellow guests. We made meaningless chitchat with the others until Sonny called us all back to the cruiser.
I lost track of Ray briefly. When he reappeared, his arm was re-bandaged. Maybe I wasn’t the only one who thought his cut—from a knife perhaps?—was suspicious.
“You think they have work comp here?” I asked Charlotte.
“You have the strangest questions, Naomi.”