Identifying the dead body of Nina Scott Watson had shaken Thabiti. He sat outside a wooden hut in the security headquarters of Lewa Conservancy, with a red and green shuka wrapped around his shoulders.
Reuben handed him a chipped mug and said, “Some hot, sweet tea should help for the shock. That wasn’t very nice. Poor woman.”
Thabiti looked across to a silver pickup whose rear tail gate had been lowered. Sam and Judy were examining the bundle protruding from it on a wooden board. He knew it was Nina’s body and looked away as he began to shiver. He wrapped his hands around the mug and drank his tea.
Sam and Judy joined him but remained standing.
“This is a nasty business,” said Sam. He looked down at Thabiti and continued, “And I’m sorry you had to be the one to identify the body, but we couldn’t wait for Robert Scott Watson to join us. The rising temperature would greatly increase the rate of body decomposition, making it much harder to establish the cause of death.”
Thabiti choked on his tea.
Judy patted him on the back and said softly, “Would you rather we discussed this amongst ourselves, without you?”
No, he would not. He looked at the ground and took three long, deep breaths before sitting up and squaring his shoulders. “I want to be part of this investigation. I need to be since Mama Rose is not here.”
Sam cleared his throat. “I wasn’t aware that Mama Rose was an official member of any investigative force, although I do admit her sleuthing skills have been useful over the past few months.”
Reuben reappeared from the wooden hut and handed a mug to Sam.
“Can you put mine on the windowsill?” asked Judy as she removed a notebook and pencil from her fleece pocket. “Let’s get on with this. We have the body of Nina Scott Watson, whose identity has been confirmed by Thabiti Onyango.” She spoke aloud as she wrote in her notebook.
“The body was found at?”
Sam answered, “O740 hours on Monday 13th June 2016.”
“Thank you.” Constable Wachira gave him a grim smile.
“But the hand was found last night,” stated Reuben.
The constable picked up her cup. “Of course. And I may need to speak to the guide who spotted it and brought it back, but later.” She drank from her mug and replaced it on the wooden windowsill. “For now, let’s try to get a picture of Mrs Scott Watson’s movements.”
She turned in Thabiti’s direction. “The last confirmed sightings of her were by your sister, Pearl, and Julius, from Mount Kenya Wildlife Conservancy, at sunrise yesterday morning. So sometime between six and seven o’clock.”
Thabiti nodded.
The constable sucked the end of her pencil and pondered, “So how did she, or her body, end up in a thicket of white thorn acacia trees on Lewa Conservancy?”
“She could have walked along the track we drove back on from the marathon,” suggested Thabiti. “It would take her to the finishing area and from there she could have retraced the marathon route.”
“But surely someone would have seen her,” declared Reuben. “The marathon area was busy yesterday with the competitors who had stayed overnight. And BATUK, the safari companies and our own team were dismantling tents and equipment.”
“Perhaps,” Sam said slowly and appeared to be considering the point. “But actually that might have made her less conspicuous. Please, can you ask the Lewa crew, and indeed all those on Lewa Conservancy, if they saw an English woman out in the conservancy yesterday?”
“On her own,” added Thabiti.
“Not necessarily,” mused Sam. “We don’t know that she was on her own. She could have met someone. So Reuben, any sighting, although as you pointed out there were still competitors around from the marathon, so I doubt anyone would have taken any notice of her.”
Sam sipped from his cup and looked around the security headquarters. “Still, I doubt she walked all that way. It would have taken her a good four or five hours. And a young English woman on her own. It just doesn’t add up.”
A phone rang inside the hut and a voice shouted, “It’s for you Reuben.” He disappeared inside to take the call.
Thabiti wrapped the blanket more tightly around himself, looked from Sam to Judy, and asked, “Did you say you don’t know what killed her?”
Judy tapped her pencil against her thigh. “No. There were no obvious signs of blunt force trauma.”
Sam looked at Thabiti and clarified, “She doesn’t appear to have been hit over the head. Well, no injury we could discern from looking at the body, that would have killed her.”
Judy continued, “Nor could we find any evidence that she was shot, either by a bullet or an arrow.”
“We might be better discussing this back at the lodge,” suggested Sam. “And we need to tell Robert Scott Watson that we’ve found his wife, before he overhears any of the lodge staff discussing the discovery of a body.”
Judy glanced back at the pickup. “Shall we have one final examination of the body before we leave?”
Thabiti remained in his seat and tried not to watch Sam and Judy approach the car and lift the shuka blanket off the object in the back.
Reuben reappeared from the hut. “I have to go. The dogs are needed to track down a missing cow at one of the conservancy’s neighbouring villages. Do you need anything else?”
Thabiti shook his head.
“Ok. Well, I’ve spoken to the guide who found the hand, and he is escorting a group to the watering hole below Aureus Lodge this evening for sundowners. Can you let the constable know he’ll be there in case she wants to speak to him?”
Thabiti nodded and sipped more tea.
Thabiti sat on the viewing deck outside the living room and slowly ate some buttered toast. He was feeling less queasy. Through the open balcony doors leading into Robert Scott Watson’s room, he could hear most of a conversation between Robert and Judy.
“What do you mean you’ve found her body on Lewa? How could she possibly have got there? I thought she was last seen walking towards the watering hole.”
Thabiti thought Robert Scott Watson sounded indignant rather than upset, but perhaps he was also suffering from shock after being told his wife was dead.
“That is what one witness told us. But her body was found this morning on Lewa, and her identity confirmed by Thabiti, one of your lodge managers. Do you know how she got to Lewa?” asked Judy.
“No, of course not,” Robert snapped. Then he asked in a matter-of-fact tone, “How did she die?”
“We’re not certain. We would like to have an autopsy, but in Kenya the next of kin has to pay for one. Are you happy to authorise and pay for an autopsy?”
Thabiti did not hear Robert’s reply.
Judy continued, “Good, we’ll get on with that. Do you know anyone in Kenya? Have you any family or friends who could be with you during this upsetting time?”
“I did meet an old friend when we arrived at Nanyuki air strip. But I don’t know if she is still around.”
“If you give me her details, I’ll see if we can find her,” responded Judy.