Black Mischief (20 page)

‘I remember. You were at the Muthaiga that night. You wore a beautiful, yellow dress.'

Four hours had passed since a trembling Rebecca had watched Abel Rubai walk away from the steps of the Mboya clinic in the Kibera township. The two patients had been treated successfully and been taken back to their widely different homes. Now the Daniels family and Sonya were following tradition. Well over two hundred friends and colleagues of the Mboya family had come together at Cartref to be present at the formal end to the farewell to Doctor Simon.

The outside lights were on and guests wandered around the garden or gathered in groups. They talked, ate and drank and talked again.

Rebecca remembered two things about Lydia from that night five months before. The striking colour of the dress had helped to make her stand out in that crowd of the smartest women in Nairobi society. But, in retrospect, more memorable was her recollection that it was Reuben who had brought her to the party. She remembered how attentive both Julius and his father had been to her when she was introduced. She herself had not been introduced, but she would not forget the wild flight of fancy that the sight of those introductions had created in her imagination. What if she and that pretty girl could have swapped places!

‘Lydia, I know a quiet place.'

They sat in the large, cool room and for a time nothing was said. Lydia was anxious about the best way to explain herself. Even in the dim light, it was easy for Rebecca to see the swelling around the eyes and the bruises on the left side of her face. Lydia answered her concern with a wan smile. And she had found her way into her story.

‘Yes, it was a man's work. When your living comes from selling your body, you take risks, not only with the … clients. Many women have cruel words for me. ‘Whore', ‘tart', I hear those two a lot. The ones who are badly hurt scream louder. Then it's ‘Scum, you have stolen my husband', something like that, a bit less polite. Fortunately, for most of these poor men, their wives never find out.

‘Perhaps, Rebecca, you are wondering why I say all this to you. Perhaps you think that I should not speak these things to a … I was going to say ‘stranger'. But you are not a stranger to me. And I want you to know what I am.'

‘Lydia, this is a place of healing. There are so many doctors in the family here.'

‘I know the family. One time I lived in Kibera. I knew Doctor Simon. Doctor Sonya brought my sister's little boy into the world at their clinic.'

‘We can try to help each other …'

‘Before something happens …'

The two beautiful Kenyan girls looked solemnly at each other. Rebecca was disturbed. She half suspected why but was not ready to search out the full reason.

‘Lydia, two days ago, I was in this … it was more than a room then, more than a place where doctors work, a kind of sanctuary. Simon was here. Maria was preparing him. I'm still confused, but I know that a special healing was happening. It gave me hope.'

‘Thank you.' Lydia's smile was relaxed, almost serene as though at least part of a burden had been lifted from her. ‘I am so happy that you have let me be with you. When I saw you all at Kibera this afternoon, I prayed to God that somehow … He has answered me and protected me.'

Rebecca was surprised. ‘You were there?'

‘I do not live there now but have many relatives. Memsahib Sonya was holding my sister's child in her arms. I was close to you all this afternoon. I saw many things. That is why I have come.'

She looked around the room and up into the shadowy beams of the ceiling as though something in these places would help her find the right words to go on.

‘I love the scent of orange blossom.' She paused briefly, gathered herself and waded in.

‘I know the Rubai family, too. Reuben could have been my first customer. I was a skinny, stupid one back then. He helped me such a lot. I was at the engagement party, Rebecca. I still do not know why he invited me. I remember your green dress. You were so beautiful but so unhappy.

‘I did not realise at the time, but that was when the change began in my life. Reuben found out that I knew a lot of rich men. He was angry, even when I told him about the house on Ngong Road. My small brother, his chest, he needs a dry place. Thank God he never found out about my richest customer. He sent for me not long after that night.'

Rebecca's stunned expression told her that she had understood.

‘A few weeks after the time at Muthaiga the big car stopped outside the house for the first time. Mama was in the garden. She rushed in: “Lydia, come quickly! A man is asking for you.

He is not a young man. He is wearing very shiny boots. He looks important”.'

‘It was a big black car.'

‘You are right, Rebecca, but …'

‘And he told you that a very important person wanted to speak to you.'

‘He took me to a farmhouse outside the city, dropped me off and drove away. The door to the house was open. I had met him at the engagement party. He said about four words to me then. Now he was very talkative. “Surprised to see me? I watched you that night. You are the only good thing that I can remember about that bad time. Anyway, my dear Lydia, I thought we might have a chat about things”.'

‘I was really scared. He led me into a large room. There was a fire and that was the only light. When I saw him walking towards a bed in the far corner, I wanted to run away. He slipped off his dressing-gown. Underneath he was wearing a, a safari suit, green. He poured two drinks. “Bwana, I cannot drink alcohol. It makes me dizzy”. I began to cry. He laughed and he patted the bed beside and pointed to a silk nightie. “Put it on, over there, in the darkness”.'

‘Why was he bothering? I supposed that he would want it off again pretty quickly. He watched me closely as I took off my clothes. I have learned to be shameless about these details. I make more money that way. It was a very expensive garment. And I did not take it off. We sat in the bed and talked. He talked mostly. One hour, two maybe. He said that I was a very patient young lady and that I was helping him to return to a kind of life. He liked my hair, he liked the smell of my skin. It was good to be alone with a young woman again. Not for a single moment did I feel relaxed. Suddenly he was on the phone and the car was waiting outside to take me home.'

‘Not many days later, the car came again, after dark. This happened …'

‘Rebecca, how could you know this? Yes, and there was another expensive nightdress that he gave me as a present, like always. There was always an envelope with many thousands of shillings. More and more the talk was about Julius. Often his eyes were full of anger. He could see that I was frightened. “Oh, no, my dear, you must not fear me, but there are others, but they will not be so lucky. When I am ready. When I am ready. The day of reckoning will come”.'

‘Oh, my God!' Rebecca covered her eyes. Instantly she was back in the depths of an old terror. In the sanctuary of her bedroom, she was struggling against the savage passion of the naked Julius Rubai. Inch by inch he was forcing her thighs apart. The sweet smell of his breath was with her again as vividly as ever, the wet slipperiness of the powerful body pressing down on her. Even now, in the cool safety of a place of healing, her instinct was to run to the arms of Tom. She forced herself to stay to hear Lydia out.

Lydia was fighting a mounting tension of her own. ‘Three nights ago the car came to my house for the last time. This time the meeting was very different. He did not want to talk. He wanted me. There was no tenderness. He was like a crazy man. He kept calling out his wife's name, saying how sorry he was for his sins. For sure I thought I would not leave that room alive.

‘In half an hour he lost his patience with me. He was deeply troubled and, how do you say, elated in the same moment. As we dressed, a kind of miracle happened. He became calm. He told me how much I had helped him. “I am my old self again. Yes, I am ready now”.'

‘He placed a large envelope in my hands. “Wait outside. The car will come soon”.

‘But the car did not come. I sat on a bench near the gate. I began to pick at the flap of the envelope. With my nail file I made a little opening. Notes. Cash money. I was shaking as I counted. I had never seen a ten thousand shilling note before and there were a hundred of them, a million shillings. I counted again and a third time and still the car did not come.

‘I knew some bad thing was going to happen. It was a trap or some kind of trick. Perhaps he had made a mistake.

Perhaps he was testing me. I must take it back. He was not in the big room, but through an open door I could hear him talking on the phone. He must be calling the driver. But he was not.

‘I have taken a long time. I wanted you to hear the whole story. This is my only chance, perhaps. But …'

‘Lydia …'

‘Rebecca, I am saying only what I know I heard. Other things … “Good work. And where is the body now? Keep it there ‘til after midnight. Then dump it. There are trees in front of the Wilson plantation. Yes, even the dozy Kericho cops won't miss it there. Oh, yes, the hands. Smash them. Use a hammer. Don't worry about the white bitch and the brood … Yes, later. And the black whore? Not yet. Patience, Ochome! That one is cooking in the pot. There will be big numbers. Big payout for you, too! They made a bad, bad mistake. I will see to it that they are paid in full”.

‘Oh, my God, why did I hear these things? What if he put the phone down? I must get out. I took off my shoes and crept to the door. Outside, no car. The lights of the city were far away, but I must start to walk towards them. Quiet like a mouse, so the guards don't hear. Are there guards? The road is through woodland. Jesus and Mary, where is my bag? Where is the envelope?'

Lydia gathered herself before going on. Sounds were coming to them through the windowless gaps high in the walls around them. Hundreds had come to the wake. Respects had been paid, but already for most of those decent people in that beautiful garden setting, the shock and horror of the senseless killing of a selfless man were fading. The buzz of animated conversations was a clear sign that, out there, normal life was being resumed.

‘Rebecca, I am sorry to have brought you this trouble.'

‘Lydia.' She could get no further. The threat from Rubai. She had never fooled herself into thinking that it had gone away. But to hear it spelt out so graphically was an unexpected shock. She needed time to be alone, to talk to Tom, to be on her way home to Naivasha to be with her family. How many of her loved ones would now be in mortal danger?

‘This afternoon I saw him talk to you near to the clinic. Rebecca, I want someone to know these things. He will find a way of killing me.'

Lydia did not expect to survive the week. She had gone beyond terror and was ready to live out the rest of her life recklessly.

‘I was watching from a safe place, waiting for my sister to come out. I went home with her. Our people had the chance to kill him. In such a crowd who could have been arrested? We were too afraid.

‘I am a nobody. He will flick me off like some unpleasant insect that has dared to climb up his sleeve.'

‘That is foolish talk, Lydia. You and I are like sisters in this danger. It is our only chance. We must begin to look at him in a new way. Our way, not his way.'

‘But what difference will that make? We know that he is like this giant you spoke of. But he is no good giant. How do you stand against him?'

‘You do not try, Lydia.'

Rebecca looked up at the apertures set high in the walls. The dark blue of the evening sky had changed to the violet of the night. There were stars. Inside her head the weight of heavy thoughts lifted enough to let a bright gleam shine like a thin strand of gold on the margin of her mind.

‘Lydia, you are not going back to your house. We will get a message to your family that you are well and in a safe place. You have friends to protect you. More than you know.'

test of Rebecca's confidence came more quickly than she could have feared. They had taken no more than a dozen steps on the short walk between the surgery and the main house when they were confronted by the newly minted son and heir of the Rubai family. From his manner it might have been thought that Reuben had been on the path, waiting for them. Lydia had a momentary spasm of fear that he might have just got up from the bench close to the surgery door and had been listening in.

It was a Reuben she had never seen before. The immaculately cut white suit, the elegant leftwards lean of the head, the amused condescension in the arched eyebrows and the tone of familiarity made a convincing picture of the Rubai arrogance. For Rebecca it was as if she had come face to face with a younger, smaller version of Julius.

‘Ladies, how fortunate to find you in this crowd so quickly. There must have been a guiding hand.' The smile was swiftly and theatrically changed to a look of sympathy. ‘Such a sad occasion. I cannot tell you how shocked and upset I am by the terrible news. I come with a message for the widow from our family that if there is anything we can do to help in some way. Perhaps you could tell me where I could find the lady.'