Having slept fitfully for a few hours, Noah decided he’d had enough. He eased open the truck’s passenger door and slipped out into the early morning. He was mindful not to wake Morgan who, somehow, appeared to be resting peacefully with his arms folded on the steering wheel.
Walking away from the truck, he stretched like a man who had emerged from a violin case before slowly making his way to the summit of three large rocks neatly stacked on top of each other like giant scoops of ice cream. Finding a comfortable spot, he sat down and allowed his legs to dangle over the edge of the river. To his right lay South Africa, to his left, Bechuanaland. Although the sky was only now beginning to lighten, from his elevated position he was already able to see almost a mile down the spine of the great river. Even dry, the Limpopo was something to behold. He had heard stories of how the ground would shake when it came down in flood and he tried to imagine what it would look like, what it would feel like. His mind conjured up a rushing, rolling wall of water churning up the sand and tearing trees from the ground as though they were rooted in ash.
As the image drifted from his mind, a stiff breeze rose and he noticed the bruised heads of several large thunderclouds looming on the horizon. A flurry of silver assegais stabbed at the land beneath them.
A part of him was beginning to hope that Derek wouldn’t arrive. And yet, he somehow knew he would. Despite the deception, Noah suspected that Derek Hughes was fundamentally a man of his word.
‘Did you get any rest?’ a voice called out from behind him.
‘Shit,’ Noah half-choked, snapping his hand to his gun and then slowly easing it away. ‘I thought you were still sleeping.’
‘Surprisingly, steering wheels aren’t as comfortable as they look,’ Morgan replied, climbing up the rocks. ‘So, did you get some sleep?’
‘Define some.’
‘More than none.’
‘Then yes, I slept like a lamb.’
Morgan yawned. ‘I sure as hell won’t miss nights in that bloody truck.’
‘What? You’re not going to miss all this?’
‘You’re right. Sleeping in trucks … getting paid like beggars … being stalked by lunatics … what’s not to miss?’
‘Trust me, it’ll still leave a hole.’
‘Sure. Like a bullet,’ Morgan suggested, reaching into his pocket for his cigarettes. He only ever smoked one cigarette a day and it was always first thing in the morning.
‘Any idea what time it is?’
‘I don’t know. Five maybe?’
‘Think he’s coming?’
‘I do, actually. I don’t know why I believe the word of a man who did nothing but lie to us, but I think he’ll show.’
‘Have you thought about why he wrote the letter?’
‘I have and I still don’t really understand it. His conscience must’ve got the better of him. That’s all I can come up with.’
Morgan lowered the cigarette from his mouth and cupped his hand over its glowing tip to shelter it from the wind. ‘What kind of man does all this to himself for an elephant?’
‘I don’t know. I suppose we’ll soon find out.’
‘It must be some elephant.’
‘I guess so.’
‘I’ll just be glad when it’s all over.’
Noah stared down at his feet and watched as a bird launched itself from its nest on the side of the riverbank.
‘Hey,’ Morgan said, lifting his head to the horizon. ‘Looks like we’re in for a storm.’
‘I know,’ Noah replied, his eyes narrowing. ‘The weather’s also looking bad.’
‘Funny.’
‘Not really,’ he retorted, and smiled anyway.
When the rain finally arrived, it fell like buckshot from the sky.
Unable to see more than a few yards in front of him, Noah stood in the middle of the river and waited. He had been perched up high on the riverbank when a lone figure had appeared in the distance – arriving almost in tandem with the storm, as if he had carried it on his back. It could only be Derek, he knew, and he was earlier than expected.
As the deluge worsened, punctuated by a spectacular light-and-dagger show, Noah looked back at Morgan who was standing a few yards behind him.
‘Here we go,’ Morgan announced.
Noah nodded and turned back into the teeth of the storm. The wait was murder. He wanted it all to be over with as quickly and as painlessly as possible. A silver tongue flicked between two clouds and then bayoneted something beyond the embankment.
‘Hell, when last did we have a lightning storm at nine in the morning?’ Morgan called out. ‘God must really be pissed at you.’
Through the swirling black and grey needles, the vague shadow of a man formed in the murk. And then, as if he had stepped out from behind a curtain, Derek was standing in front of them. The hair he’d once worn red as Joe Rawlins was now dark brown and pasted to his head.
For a moment neither of them said anything.
‘You came.’
‘As did you,’ Noah replied.
Derek stepped forward and, reluctantly, held out his hand.
Noah hesitated for a moment, and then accepted the handshake.
‘Morning, Derek,’ Morgan said.
‘Hello,’ Derek replied, a warmth entering his voice. ‘You look good.’
‘I doubt that. I slept on a steering wheel last night.’
They were quiet for a few awkward moments until Noah spoke. ‘Where’s the elephant?’
Derek’s shoulders seemed to slump at the question. ‘I ran into some trouble and, well … she got away from me. They both did.’
‘Both?’
‘There’s a calf now as well. Her child, I believe.’
‘I’m sorry you lost them.’
‘Thank you, but it’s all right. I’ve been following their tracks which, before the rain came, were headed straight through here. They probably made it over the border during the night. I think they’re safe now.’
For a moment, Noah couldn’t think of what to say. ‘It’s a pity you never got to see them cross over.’
‘They made it. That’s all that matters. Thank you for letting me come this far.’
‘She must’ve been something.’
‘You could say that.’
A curious look swept across Morgan’s face. ‘Derek, how long have you been following her?’
‘I’m not sure, really. I’ve lost track of time a little. It’s been a good few weeks. Including the days I spent as Joe Rawlins.’
‘How did you get involved with this?’
As Derek answered the question, Noah noticed the deep bruises under his eyes. Coupled with his sallow cheeks, it was clear he was not well. The trouble he had run into appeared to have been an illness of sorts. He looked particularly worn and even seemed to have lost some weight.
When Derek had finished explaining, Noah could no longer restrain himself. ‘Why’d you do it?’
‘What do you mean? Why’d I go after them?’
‘No. That I understand. Why’d you write the letter?’
Derek thought about his reply, but still did not have a clear answer. ‘I don’t really know.’
‘You realise that without it we would’ve had nothing to hold you on? You would be free,’ Morgan said.
‘What can I tell you?’ he shrugged. ‘But even if you never came after me, I don’t think that would make me free.’
Noah stepped forward so that he didn’t have to compete with the storm. ‘You gave me no choice. You knew I’d be here to take you in.’
Derek nodded. ‘It’s who you are.’
‘Look, I’ll do everything I can to make sure the courts go easy on you. It helps that you confessed, it really does. It also helps that the victims were hardly pillars of society. But you’re still going to face time in jail. There’s nothing I can do about that.’
‘I understand. I’ll face whatever’s coming.’
More thunder bellowed in the dark airships above them. ‘You know I still don’t understand this.’
‘I’m not sure I do either,’ Derek answered and then frowned, pushing his hands into his pockets.
‘What is it?’
‘I need to apologise for deceiving you, both of you. I regret misleading you.’
‘Come on,’ Morgan replied. ‘Forget it.’
‘Was she worth it?’ Noah asked.
Derek nodded without thought or hesitation.
‘And do you still think Xavier was going to come after us?’
‘I do.’
‘Then tell me this,’ he replied. ‘How do you thank a man for probably saving your life?’
Derek knew that if Noah was ever going to take a step back and allow him to pass, this was the moment. A part of him wanted to ask for his freedom, as fair recompense for what he had done for them, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. ‘You take him in.’
Noah stared out over Derek’s shoulder. ‘You should know that Morgan has resigned over this.’
‘No, Morgan, please. I have enough on my conscience.’
‘Good … because I’m not offering it to your conscience,’ Morgan said. ‘The last few days just made me see things more clearly. It gave me some perspective. Made me realise that this just isn’t for me anymore. That’s all.’
‘Listen,’ Noah stepped in. ‘I don’t want to do this either, but I can’t just ignore what you’ve done.’
‘I know that,’ Derek replied, holding out his wrists. ‘Let’s finish this.’
‘There’s no need for handcuffs.’
Derek slowly withdrew his arms. ‘Thank you.’
As Noah headed for the muddy embankment, Derek turned around and took one last look down the Limpopo, at the great river that had become such an important part of his life. Despite what he was facing, he had never felt more fulfilled, more liberated, than he did at that moment. He turned his face up to the sky, closed his eyes to the rain, and imagined Shawu and her child roaming free, as safe as they were ever likely to be.
In the end, it had all been worth it.
As the weight of the moment pressed down on him, he felt the loss of his great friend gather in his throat. ‘We did it,’ he whispered to the river. ‘We did it.’
As they drove to the station, Noah was afforded his first clear look at Derek.
It was a worrying sight. His gauntness was exaggerated by his damp clothes and wet hair which made his features appear contorted and out of proportion, as though his face had been fashioned as a mask and then stretched over the skull of a man notably smaller than him.
But there were positive changes as well. His general manner, in particular, had improved. Noah understood that as Joe, Derek had really been playing a character. Nonetheless, it was difficult now to align the actor with the man. Gone was all the latent aggression and heavy-handedness and in its place was someone quite different. He seemed calmer and more composed, at ease with himself and the world. The rage that had simmered behind his eyes had been replaced with a peculiar stillness. Even the prospect of a jail sentence appeared to have little effect on his demeanour. Noah wondered if equanimity was the one reward reaped from revenge. Or was it the moral conviction of believing that, ultimately – and despite the prevailing view of the law – he had done the right thing? The Old Testament’s view on justice? Perhaps it was all those things, or none of them. Maybe it was just the satisfaction of delivering his elephant to safer territory that had changed him.
As a trio, they had spoken briefly and uncomfortably for the first few minutes of their journey before Derek had succumbed to his exhaustion. It was clear he had not slept properly in some while, possibly days.
‘So what happens now?’ Morgan asked, his eyes locked on the road.
‘What else? We follow procedure. We’ll hold him at the station for a couple of weeks until his court date comes up.’
Morgan tightened his grip on the steering wheel. ‘That’s not exactly going to be a barrel of laughs. What do you honestly think he’s facing?’
‘Hard to say. Ten years … maybe even longer.’
Morgan sighed, but did not respond.
‘I’ll speak to the judge and see what I can do, but he’ll definitely sit for a few years. We can’t undo what’s been done.’
They spoke for a while longer, their conversation drifting over meaningless and forgettable territory, until they both ran out of things to say. Morgan used the quiet to contemplate his future, to try to decide what he was going to do with the rest of his life. Being a policeman was all he had ever known. Stepping away from it was not going to be easy. Noah’s thoughts turned to the weeks that lay ahead and whether or not he was ever going to be able to come to terms with this chapter of his life. For a long while, it was all he could think of.
They were nearing the station when Derek stirred and then woke up. He sat up and rubbed his eyes, which now appeared even more raw and swollen than before. ‘Sorry, I’m just so tired.’
‘You don’t have to apologise,’ Noah replied. ‘I can’t imagine you’ve slept much lately. You can get some decent rest at the station. And a proper meal.’
‘Some dry clothes as well,’ Morgan added.
‘Sounds good,’ he replied, half-swallowing a yawn. ‘I appreciate your kindness.’
As the familiar seeds of another migraine rose up in the front of his head, Noah slowly massaged his eyes. The boundary between virtue and injustice had never been more indistinct to him. What for most of his life had been his guiding light – an irrefutably clear path – was now a shadowed and meandering alleyway fraught with uncertainty. At what point, he wondered, should a moral truth eclipse the decrees of a country? And who was qualified to make that distinction? The law, which for so long had stood resolute in his mind, was no longer as steadfast as before. He bowed his head and tried to clear his mind, knowing that if he probed any further or looked any closer at the bricks and mortar of the things he held so close to him, he might begin to see cracks. And if there were cracks and faults in the design, how much longer would it be until everything came crashing down?
It was better, he decided, just to look away.
Three days later
‘I thought it would be a month away at least, but your first court date’s been set for the week after next,’ Noah announced, dropping the telephone back into its cradle. He stood up from his desk and walked across to Derek’s cell at the back of the office. ‘You’ve got Judge Samuel Parker. That’s encouraging news. He’s a very reasonable man.’
‘That’s good. Thank you,’ Derek replied, but Noah could see in his eyes that the news meant little to him. It was clearly difficult for him to get excited about the prospect of facing only seven or eight years in jail as opposed to twelve or fifteen.
‘It could make a big difference to your sentence.’
Derek nodded and then smiled unconvincingly. ‘I appreciate all that you’ve done for me, Noah. All that you’re doing for me.’
‘If there was more that I could do, I would.’
‘You’ve done enough,’ he replied, lying back down on his bunk.
As Noah returned to his desk to fill out the necessary paperwork, he wondered what was going through Derek’s mind. Over the past two days he had withdrawn from their conversations and had taken to sleeping for large portions of the day. Even his appetite, which initially had been voracious, had now dwindled to almost nothing. Noah wondered if the magnitude of what he had done – and what he was about to face – had finally come home to him. How could it not? And as he suffered, so Noah continued to grapple with his own demons.
‘Anyone for coffee?’ Morgan asked, pushing up from his desk. ‘Noah?’
‘Please.’
‘Derek?’
‘Not for me.’
‘You haven’t had anything to drink all day.’
‘I’m fine, thank you,’ he replied, turning onto his side, away from them.
Morgan looked across at Noah. ‘C’mon, Derek, you can’t not drink anything.’
‘I’ll have something later.’
Noah sat quietly in his chair for a while before finally turning to his typewriter and the first of several court documents that needed to be drafted. As he hammered away at the keys, his mind soon began to wander. He was finding it impossible to keep his thoughts focused on what he was doing. After he had reloaded the typewriter for the fourth time, he abandoned the document and walked back over to the cell.
‘Derek, are you awake?’
‘Yes,’ he replied, rolling onto his back.
‘Can we talk for a minute?’
‘If you like.’
A pause. ‘I’m concerned.’
‘About what?’
‘Well, you’re hardly talking to us anymore. You’re off your food. You’re barely drinking anything–’
‘It’s nothing, really. I’m just trying to find a way to deal with everything that’s happening. Ten years or so is a long time to live in a box.’
‘Of course. I can’t begin to imagine what you’re going through.’
‘Then you understand.’
‘I do,’ he nodded. ‘But something else is worrying me.’
‘What?’
‘I’m not really sure, to be honest. It’s just that I’ve been thinking about you and your situation and how you’ve changed over the past few days and, well, something keeps occurring to me.’
‘What?’
Noah traced his finger along one of the bars. ‘I don’t think you’re planning on staying in prison for very long.’
‘I’m sorry?’
‘I think you know what I mean.’
‘A break out? You think I’m planning an escape? That makes no sense. Why would I have confessed in the first place?’
‘That’s not what I’m talking about.’
‘Then what?’ Derek asked, his eyes searching for and then finding the answer. ‘Oh … I get it.’
‘Am I wrong?’
Derek sat up and folded his arms around his knees. ‘I’d be lying if I said the thought hadn’t crossed my mind, but no, I’m not planning on taking my life.’
‘Would you tell me if you were?’
Derek thought about that. ‘Probably not.’
Noah moved forward until his head touched the bars. ‘I couldn’t live with your death, Derek. Not that as well. I need your word. Please.’
‘My word? Is it still worth anything to you?’
‘Yes it is.’
‘All right then. You have it.’
‘Good. I appreciate it,’ Noah replied, and then slowly folded his arms. ‘But there is something you’re not telling me, isn’t there?’
‘Like what?’
‘I don’t know. But I have a way with these sorts of things and it just feels like I’m missing something.’
‘You’re not missing anything.’
‘Aren’t I?’
‘Well,’ Derek shrugged, his voice as thin as a strand of hair. ‘I suppose we all have some secrets. I’m sure you have yours.’
‘That’s true enough, I suppose.’
As Noah turned away and shuffled back to his desk, a small light winked to life and slowly began to flash in the back of his mind.
He was missing something. There was something he didn’t understand. Something he couldn’t yet see.
But what the hell was it?
And did it mean anything?
Derek’s withdrawal into an emotional exile was less a slip down a gentle slope than it was a leap off the top of a building. For days Noah and Morgan had tried whatever they could to draw him out, to coax him into talking again, but all to no avail. He now barely communicated beyond a few words. His silence weighed on the room and both men now found themselves trying to compensate for the heavy atmosphere.
‘Jesus was a carpenter, wasn’t he?’ Morgan asked, sitting on the edge of his desk.
‘Among other things,’ Noah replied. ‘Had a famous father as well.’
‘Well, if it was good enough for him …’
‘You’re really considering carpentry?’
‘Why not? You’ve seen the furniture I’ve made.’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘Nothing. It’s a grand idea. As long as you don’t actually expect to be paid for your creations.’
Morgan rolled up the newspaper he was holding and pointed it at his partner. ‘You seem to forget that I made that table you’re sitting at.’
Noah pushed down on the corner of the desk and watched as it rocked from side to side. ‘Your table’s drunk.’
‘The floor’s uneven.’
‘Your head’s uneven.’
Morgan unfurled the newspaper and began to thumb through it. ‘All right, fine. What about a banker?’
‘Sure. It’s perfect for you.’
Morgan rolled his eyes. ‘Barman?’
‘You hate alcohol.’
‘There is that, I suppose. Barber?’
‘Have you walked past a mirror lately? That’s a bit like choosing a dentist with no teeth.’
Morgan glared over the top of the newspaper. ‘Policeman?’
‘There we go. Finally, some common sense.’
‘Nice try, Detective.’
‘Keep searching, Officer. Try to find more things that you were born not to do.’
Morgan glanced down at his desk for something to throw at his partner, when he noticed a small pile of post he had forgotten about.
‘Oh yes, these came for you yesterday,’ he said, reaching for the envelopes.
‘Yesterday? As in the day before today?’ Noah commented, looking down at his watch. ‘I guess being a postman is off the table as well.’
The mail consisted of the usual bills, a notice from police headquarters, a letter from their church and a thank-you note from a young widow who they had recently liberated from a rather lecherous neighbour. Noah was about to slip the post into his drawer when he noticed a small pale blue envelope at the bottom of the pile. Unlike the other mail, which had his name and address typed or stamped neatly on the envelope, this one was handwritten. Ever the detective, he took a closer look at its postage stamp.
It was not from South Africa.
As if for some reason it needed to be handled with care, he took his time opening it.
Inside was a small photograph.
It was an image of an enormous elephant and her calf wading through a lake, the limbs of a glorious tree flanking the picture.
As he turned it over, he saw there was a short message written on the back.
How do you thank a man for giving you back your life?
Morgan glanced up from the newspaper and noticed the confused look on Noah’s face. ‘What is it?’
Noah frowned and shook his head. As his eyes again drifted over the words, he felt a coldness rush through his fingers. He watched, as if separated from himself, as the photograph slipped from his fingers and cartwheeled to the floor. Before he even knew what he was doing, he was up from his chair and running to the cell. He snatched the keys off his belt, unlocked the gate, and threw it open. Without uttering a word, he stepped inside, pulled Derek into a sitting position and then ripped open the front of his shirt. He was looking for the elephant tattoo on his chest, the one he had seen on the day of their accident.
A tattoo that was no longer there.
Noah felt his mouth open. ‘Who the hell are you?’
The man stared back at him and then slowly rose to his feet. The haunted expression that for days had plagued him, lifted.
‘We all have our secrets, Detective.’
Noah grabbed him by the shoulders and drove him into the wall. ‘I asked you a goddamn question! Who are you?’
‘My name,’ he whispered, and then took a deep breath as if cleansing his body of a great untruth, ‘is Edward Hughes.’
‘You’re brothers … twins …’ Noah said, almost choking on the words. ‘That’s it, isn’t it?
Edward nodded, but volunteered nothing further.
‘That’s why you looked so thin! Why you seemed a different person … because you are a different person,’ he whispered. ‘How did you do this?’
Edward locked eyes with Noah and then slowly sat down on his bunk. ‘Derek left me a letter explaining everything. The murders, the confession … even that you would be waiting for him at the border.’
Noah blinked as the information hit home. ‘So you went ahead of him? So that I would think you were him?’
Edward nodded again. ‘And it worked.’
‘That’s also why there was no elephant,’ Noah continued, piecing the story together. ‘You never lost track of her. She was with Derek all along.’
‘Yes.’
Another hesitation. ‘How far was he behind you?’
‘Maybe half a day. A couple of hours. I don’t really know.’
‘That’s why you were there at dawn. You didn’t want to run the chance of arriving at the same time as him.’
Edward allowed Noah to work out the rest for himself.
‘So when he reached the border and we weren’t there to arrest him, he thought we’d decided not to come. That we had allowed him to pass.’
Morgan closed his eyes as it all came crashing together. ‘So Derek knows nothing about this?’
‘He thinks you let him go. I presume that’s what the envelope was about.’
‘He doesn’t know what you’ve done,’ Noah declared numbly.
‘No. He’s waiting for me over the border and, by now, is probably wondering why I haven’t arrived yet.’
Noah leaned against the bars of the cell, his head reeling. ‘That’s why you became so quiet. When we were speaking about the investigation you didn’t want to let on that you really didn’t know any of the details. So you acted like there was something wrong with you.’
‘It’s all I could think to do.’
‘What was your plan after this?’
‘Apart from allowing Derek to cross over the border, there was no plan.’
‘When were you going to reveal your identity?’
‘In court. Once I’d seen a lawyer.’
‘So you did all this to protect Derek?’
Edward frowned at Noah’s disbelieving tone. ‘Of course. He’s my brother.’
Having being betrayed and made a fool of for the second time in a matter of days, Noah’s eyes suddenly narrowed with anger. ‘You realise you’re in serious trouble here?’
‘Maybe, but what choice did I have? What would you have done if it was your brother?’
‘What choice did you have? How about letting your brother face up to what he’s done? How about staying the hell out of this?’
‘As I said, he’s my brother.’
‘Who murdered two men.’
‘Who maimed and butchered with impunity.’
‘That’s for the law to decide.’
‘Really? If Derek had followed the law you’d both be dead.’
‘That’s not the–’
‘Get your head out of your ass! Don’t you get it? He saved you. Both of you.’
Furious, Noah stepped forward. ‘You expect me to stand here and be lectured to by the likes of you?’
‘Frankly, I don’t care what you do.’
‘You’re going to face jail time for what you’ve done. Do you care about that?’
‘Really? The way I see it, you’ve arrested the wrong man. This is a simple case of mistaken identity. You’ll be lucky if I don’t press charges against you.’
Noah laughed. ‘You’re dreaming.’
Edward glared back at him. ‘If I have to go to prison for this, it’ll be wrong, but I’ll accept it.’
‘I don’t think there’s any doubt about it. You can’t do what you’ve done and not expect repercussions.’
‘Sounds like the same old song, Detective,’ Edward sighed. ‘I’m guessing you never served actively in the war.’
Noah folded his arms, but said nothing.
‘Well, I did. And so did Derek. And do you know what the law compelled us to do? Kill as many men as we could manage. The law wanted us to murder. Hell, it demanded death. I could slit a boy’s throat and the law would smile at me, want to shake my hand. If I slit enough throats, it would pin a medal on my chest. So you take your precious law and shove it up your ass, Detective. The really tragic thing here is that by the time you realise you’re wrong about this – and it’ll happen – it will all be too late. Innocent people will already have suffered for your ignorance.’
‘Innocent people like your brother?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Do you know that your brother shot the one victim in his face? And that was just for starters. He led his other victim into a gin trap and then gave him the option of being eaten alive or sawing off his own leg. I suppose the word innocent is open to interpretation.’
If Edward was surprised by how Derek had killed the men, he did not show it. ‘Sometimes violence is justified.’
‘That’s exactly what I would expect you to say.’
‘Go to hell.’
Noah took a breath and then turned to Morgan. ‘Lock this cell. Nothing’s changed. Only the prisoner’s crimes are different.’
As Morgan stepped forward to lock the gate, Edward lay back down on the bunk. ‘If Derek had followed your little policeman’s handbook, you would have been nailed to a cross by now. Think about that, Detective.’
For the first time in his life, Noah failed to arrive for work. First for a day. Then another. Then one more. Morgan had twice gone out to his house to look for him, but on both occasions had returned empty-handed. By the end of the week, he was convinced something had happened to him. He began asking around town, to find out if anyone had seen Noah or even heard from him, but nobody had. He checked both the hospital and the two small clinics in the area and even took a drive out of town to see if he was perhaps holed up in his father’s old farmhouse. But there was no trace of him. Nobody had seen or even heard from him in days. Without so much as a single word, Noah had simply vanished. Either something had happened to him or, for reasons that were not yet clear, he did not want to be found. The more Morgan thought about it, the more he realised that something untoward must have happened to him. He could not think of anything that would cause Noah to walk away from his job without so much as a word of explanation. Desertion was just not in his nature.
‘Still no sign?’ Edward asked as Morgan entered the station.
‘None. Not a soul’s seen or heard from him.’
‘Did you get into his place?’
Morgan nodded and dropped his keys onto the table. ‘All his personal stuff is still there. His books, clothes, everything.’
‘And he’s never done anything like this before?’
‘I’ve never even beaten him to the station. He’s never late. He even works on weekends. Probably Christmas as well.’
‘Maybe you’re missing something. What about a bender? Does he drink?’
‘Sure. Coffee.’
Edward nodded, knowing full well that Noah was unlikely to have any real vices. ‘Have you checked your desk again for a note?’
‘Of course.’
‘Maybe it fell on the floor.’
‘It’s not on the floor, Edward. Besides, nothing would keep him away from this place for this long. I can’t even remember him taking time off for a holiday. If you haven’t already worked it out, this place means everything to him. It’s his entire life.’
Edward was feeling increasingly guilty about his last conversation with the detective. Despite their disagreement, the truth was he liked Noah a great deal. As Derek had suggested, they had much in common. ‘Have you checked the hospitals?’
‘There’s only one. And yes, of course.’
‘Does he have any enemies in town?’
‘None that I can think of.’
‘What about prison? Maybe he put someone away who has now been released and is looking to scratch an old itch.’
Morgan was about to sit down when he stopped, hovering above his chair. ‘That’s not impossible.’ He paused. ‘There was one guy. A real piece of shit who raped two women and put his wife in hospital when she tried to stop him.’
‘What? How did the wife happen to be there?’
‘He was raping her daughters. As I said, a real piece of shit. The guy was mad as hell when Noah brought him down. He promised to slit his throat when he got out.’
‘How long was his sentence?’
‘A couple of years … a couple of years ago.’
‘Where?’
‘Lamontville. It’s a small jail just outside Johannesburg.’
Before Edward could even suggest it, Morgan was reaching for the phone.
Derek was bathing in the vast lake barely yards away from Shawu and her calf when he noticed a lone figure approaching through the early-morning sun. ‘It’s about time,’ he whispered to himself, a broad smile spilling onto his cheeks. Still lathered in soap, and not bothering to rinse himself off, he clambered out the water and scrambled for the bank. He had been expecting Edward for days now and was becoming concerned that something had happened to him. He hurried into his trousers, grabbed his boots and, while stumbling into a run, managed to slip them on. As his arms flashed at his side, the cool morning air rushing over his wet skin, his emotions prickled to the surface. Edward’s arrival was more than just a reunion, it marked the true end of Shawu’s journey and the fulfilment of something extraordinary. Something that somehow seemed both to add to, and provide an ending to, their father’s story.
Derek suddenly felt both rejuvenated and blessed, as privileged as any man who ever had cause to run. But as his eyes lifted once more to the horizon, straining in the bright face of the sun, he realised something peculiar.
Edward was still only walking.
Why? he wondered. Was there bad news? And if so, what could it possibly be? Surely Edward could see him running? Why had he not responded in turn?
And then, feeling the weight of a stone in his stomach, it all made sense.
Edward would have been running. Which could only mean one thing: The man in the distance was not his brother.
Cupping his hands over his eyes, he squinted towards the horizon once more.
When he finally saw who it was, he slowed to a walk and then drew to a halt.
As the man closed the gap, Derek reached for something to say, fumbling for the gossamer slip of a few words, but found none.
‘These pans are something else,’ Noah remarked, stopping in front of him. ‘So much larger than you’d imagine. The articles don’t do them justice.’
Derek felt his head nod.
‘Is that her? And her child?’ he asked, glancing over Derek’s shoulder.
‘Yes.’
‘She’s extraordinary. Truly,’ Noah said, and then slipped his hands into his pockets as if theirs was a casual exchange between passersby.
‘How did you find me, Noah?’
‘I track people for a living, Derek. Turns out it’s even easier to track an elephant.’
‘You followed me here … on foot?’
A nod. ‘I wanted to feel some of what you feel.’
‘Why?’
Noah thought for a moment, his face blank. ‘Because I don’t understand enough about you, enough about what you did.’
‘Noah, I don’t really know what to say. You obviously got my letter?’
‘I did.’
‘I wish there was something more I could do to thank you for letting me go–’
‘Tell me something,’ he interrupted, a faraway look now in his eyes. ‘Why are her tusks so long?’
Derek did not know what to make of the sudden change in subject. ‘She’s a Desert Elephant. Up until this year, there hasn’t been a recorded sighting of one in decades. Many people don’t even believe they’re real.’
‘She was part of a herd, wasn’t she?’ he said quietly. ‘The ones we found in the river.’
‘Yes.’
‘Which Xavier and his brother butchered?’
Derek nodded.
As Noah watched Shawu and her calf wade across the lake, Derek could no longer bear it. ‘Noah, forgive me. I’m very pleased to see you again. But why are you here?’
The detective looked back at him and, for the first time, a spark of emotion flared in his eyes. It was neither anger nor satisfaction. It was something else. ‘I’m searching.’
‘For what?’
‘The truth. Answers.’
‘Answers?’
‘Uh-huh. I’m trying to work out some things.’
‘About what?’
‘You … the killings … your brother.’
Derek’s eyes widened at the reference to Edward. ‘My brother? What do you know about him?’
‘Quite a lot, as it turns out. I know he’s your twin. That he has the same mind as you, the same eyes as you, just without the anger. He’s really you without the sharp edges. And, as it turns out, without the elephant tattoo on his chest.’
‘The tattoo? I don’t understand. How do you even know about him?’
‘Because, Derek, I was there in the river that day, waiting for you. The only reason you weren’t intercepted is because your brother arrived a few hours before you did. He assumed your identity and told us he’d lost touch with the elephant. We arrested him because we thought he was you. He’s quite the actor.’
For a moment, Derek was unable to speak. ‘No, that can’t be … It can’t! How would he even know to do that–’ he began, but then remembered the letter he had left for him. ‘Oh no, no …’
‘You can imagine my surprise last week when I received a photograph from you, from this place,’ Noah continued, spreading his arms, ‘when I thought you were sitting in a cell ten feet away from me.’
‘Edward’s in jail?’
Noah nodded. ‘Of course.’
Derek felt his mouth turn dry. ‘So what is this? What happens now?’
‘That depends.’
‘On what?’
‘What you decide to do next.’
‘What are you saying?’
Noah held on for a moment. ‘I’m proposing an exchange. Come back with me and I’ll let your brother go. All charges against him will be dropped.’
‘I’ll do it,’ Derek replied immediately. ‘Just give me your word that you’ll let him go.’
‘Done. You have it.’
Derek looked back at Shawu, his head feeling light and then heavy all at once. Everything was happening so fast. Questions swirled, battered his mind. ‘W–When do you want to go?’
‘Right now.’
‘You want us to walk back?’
‘To the border. That’s where I left my truck.’
‘But,’ Derek argued, trying to get a grip on their conversation. ‘It’s days away.’
‘I know. I just did it,’ he said, and then gestured to the bag on his back.
Derek looked down at the ground and then lifted his gaze to Shawu. His mind was in freefall. ‘You know, when I arrived at the border and you weren’t there, I couldn’t believe it. Based on everything I knew about you, I just couldn’t see you letting me through. I couldn’t imagine how you would allow me to pass.’
‘That’s because,’ Noah replied, turning and walking away, ‘I never did.’
For days they trudged towards the border in almost complete silence.
Derek used the time to relive long stretches of his journey with Shawu. Breathless vistas overlapped with bursts of fire and storms, flashes of lions and swollen moons. Stars flickered between sunsets and sunrises; sounds and smells danced like lovers, entwining and embracing as one. The more he dwelled on the memories, the more it felt as if they had been pried from someone else’s mind. It seemed impossible that they belonged to him. Just how could they? he thought. How could he have been lying in a frozen trench, grappling to stay alive, and then – as if time and the world itself was a door that could merely be stepped through – be granted the remarkable honour of embarking across the African bushveld in the shadow of an ancient Desert Elephant? An animal that existed more commonly in myth and in parable than in the light of day. It was plainly beyond his ability to reason.
The quiet also allowed him an opportunity to reflect on the murders. And, surprisingly, the more he considered his actions, the less he now regretted them. Despite a sense of guilt that he knew would never altogether leave him, he felt he could live with what he had done. Sometimes, he had decided, if the black was dark enough, and the white light enough, murder was justifiable.
His main concern now was for Edward who, once again – and as he had done throughout their lives – had walked into another fire to spare him. Shaking his head at the audacity of what his brother had done, he looked up – almost absently – and then drew to a halt. What he saw ahead of him he would recognise in his dreams. They had crested a small rise and had reached the banks of the Limpopo River, where the backs of South Africa and Bechuanaland fell against one another.
Derek’s heart lifted despite the circumstances.
As they stepped down into its familiar dry mouth, Derek turned to Noah. ‘Where’s your truck?’
Noah pointed to the far side of the embankment. ‘Up there.’
Turning in a slow circle, Derek tried to absorb his final moments in the river. Considering where he was headed, he wanted to take as much of it with him as his mind could carry.
Noah moved ahead of him and was halfway up the slope when he stopped and turned around. Frowning slightly, he looked back at Derek and simply stared at him.
‘What is it?’ Derek asked.
‘Nothing,’ Noah replied.
Not knowing what to make of the moment, Derek followed behind the detective as he crested the top of the riverbank. Immediately, he noticed two trucks parked together under the fractured shade of an old baobab.
Why two? he wondered. As his mind flicked through potential reasons, one of the doors swung open and a man stepped out. A man with an unmistakably pallid complexion.
Noah cupped his hands over his mouth. ‘So you got my message?’
‘Eventually,’ Morgan called back. ‘You could’ve delivered it sooner. I spent almost a week tearing up the town trying to find you!’
‘Sorry,’ he shouted back, ‘but that’s how it had to be.’
As Morgan approached them, he raised an arm to Derek.
Oblivious to what was happening, and with all the natural movement of a dead man, Derek attempted a wave back. Why was Morgan here?
‘Did you do what I asked?’
‘What do you think?’ Morgan replied, reaching behind his back and producing a rolled-up brown folder.
‘What’s going on?’ Derek asked.
Noah opened the folder and rifled through it. ‘Everything here?’
‘I made sure of it. Triple-checked.’
‘Please tell me what’s happening?’
Noah turned to Derek. ‘This is the exchange.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Inside this folder is everything that links you to the murders. Your confession, the court papers, the evidence we gathered … everything.’
‘I don’t understand. You want me to take this?’
‘Yes.’
‘As an exchange?’
‘That’s right.’
‘For what?’
Noah pointed over his shoulder. ‘For that.’
Derek turned and watched as Morgan chased back to his truck and opened the passenger door. He continued to stare, and then felt his breath shudder, as his brother stepped out into the sun.
‘It’s a simple exchange, Derek. You take the folder; I give you your brother.’
‘Y–You’re letting us go?’
‘Without any evidence there’s no case against you.’
‘Noah …’ he began. ‘But you–’
‘Just take it and disappear, Derek,’ he replied, pushing the folder into his chest.
‘Wait … wait! Hold on–’
‘Goodbye, Derek,’ Noah replied. He stared at him briefly, again saying nothing, before turning and walking away.
As the detective headed for his truck, Derek’s attention was drawn back to his brother. He watched as Morgan released him from his handcuffs. And then, several startling moments later, Edward was standing in front of him.
Derek stared at his brother, truly looked at him – marvelled at him – and then threw an arm around his neck. ‘I can’t believe what you did,’ he said, grabbing fistfuls of Edward’s shirt. ‘Another bayonet.’
Edward took a few quiet breaths before stepping back and planting his hands on Derek’s shoulders. ‘It didn’t hurt this time,’ he said, and then smiled. ‘You all right?’
‘I think so. You?’
‘I’m fine,’ Edward replied, and then pointed to the folder. ‘What’s that?’
Derek looked down and, for a moment, had no memory of what he was holding. ‘It’s all the evidence.’ He reached into it and withdrew its contents. Envelopes and typed documents were interspersed with handwritten notes, court documents and as many as fifty photographs. He was about to slip the empty folder under his arm when he realised there was something still lodged within it. He dipped his hand inside and fished it out.
As he saw what it was, he looked up at his brother. ‘Maybe it’s a mistake?’
Edward shook his head. ‘No. I don’t think so.’
Letting the folder fall to the sand, Derek ran for Noah’s truck. ‘Wait!’ he called out, pulling up midway between his brother and the detective.
Noah stepped away from the door and looked back.
Derek threw up his arms. ‘Why?’
He took his time before responding. ‘It’s just the right thing.’
‘You can’t do this.’
‘It’s done.’
‘Don’t put this on me, Noah. Please.’
‘It’s not on you,’ he replied, and turned back to the truck. ‘You have my word on that.’
‘Hold on!’ Derek urged, his voice desperate. ‘This can’t be it! You don’t just walk away from this. There has to be something I can do.’
Noah stepped up onto the side rail of his truck and looked up at the sky. ‘I need some time, but after that …’ he began, then trailed off.
‘What? What, Noah?’
He hesitated one final time and then pointed over Derek’s head, towards Bechuanaland. ‘Teach me about the elephants,’ he said, and then glanced at Morgan. ‘Teach us both.’
Derek nodded, emotion rising in his throat. ‘How will you find us?’
Noah wiped his face, smiled, and then slowly climbed into his truck. A few moments later both vehicles started up and disappeared into the bush.
‘We’ll be waiting,’ Derek whispered.
Then, steadying himself, he looked down at what he was holding. As he uncurled his fingers, Edward joined him at his side. Above them, raptors soared high into the ever-blue. Around them, small birds and insects sang their forever bush song. And four days behind them, in the Bechuanaland pans, two ancient Desert Elephants – a mother and her child – finally roamed safe and free. In Derek’s hand was everything that had made Noah the man he was. It had been his compass, his moral beacon. Once his entire life, now discarded.
In his hand was Noah’s police badge.