Elephant Dropping (9781301895199) (60 page)

‘Yes -
girlfriend actually,’ Doug corrected him.

‘Ok girlfriend.
Now what happened in Malindi?’

Firdus
interrupted. ‘It’s ok detective, we can go over that in the morning
these boys are tired.’ He handed Doug a room key. ‘Go and get some
rest,’ he told him, ‘I will see you in the morning.’

Doug looked
surprised and stood up, Brian rose also.

‘Brian can you
wait a moment,’ Firdus told him. He sat down, looking puzzled.

‘Ok see you
later,’ Doug said, eager to call Gem.

Firdus
addressed Brian. ‘Detective Katana recovered your briefcase from
your abandoned car,’ he walked over to a cabinet and took out the
case, putting it on the table in front of Brian. ‘The contents of
the case are as the detective found it.’

Brian eagerly
opened it, watched by the detective as he searched the papers for
his passport. ‘My passport was in here,’ he looked up at
Katana.

‘Your passport
is safe, it’s with the minister of security. He has been liaising
with the British Ambassador.’

‘So how do I
get it back?’

Firdus
answered. ‘If you contact your embassy, they will liaise with the
minister’s office. There should be no problem. I can see you’re
tired, shall I arrange a room for you here as well?’

‘Thank you, but
I have my keys.’ He held them up.

‘Very well so
let’s meet up here tomorrow. I’m sure you would like to see a
Doctor first thing. I have called your bank, they are aware you are
helping us, and are not expecting you at work.’

‘Thanks,’ Brian
coloured up, ‘you have thought of everything.’

‘Yes,’ agreed
Firdus, ‘I have.’

They shook
hands formally; Katana nodded a goodbye as Brian left with his
briefcase.

*

Doug opened the
door to his room, the lights on, a whiff of familiar perfume. He
stepped in puzzled, was this the right room? Gem was off the bed
and in his arms taking him by surprise. Doug moaned. ‘Oh darling,’
he said, ‘oh my darling I have missed you so.’ They embraced. He
kicked the door shut behind him and carried her to the bed.

*

‘So what do you
think?’ asked Firdus as he sat down with his coffee opposite
Katana.

‘It’s a clear
case of self defence. It only remains for me to get his
girlfriend’s statement and we can close the book on it.’

‘Great, that’s
a relief and Nicholls, what’s your instinct?’

‘I think he is
just a victim of the crooked operation. He was getting too close
and they wanted him out of the way.’

‘You mean Patel
and the Arab woman.’

‘Yes, and
possibly Evans the bank manager.’

‘Yes of course
I hadn’t thought of that, call up the OCS. I want Evans put in a
cell alone, we can’t risk anything happening to him. Call him now
and then tell me what happened with Fimbo.’

Firdus waited,
while the detective made the call.

‘I thought we
had agreed Cyrus was not to be armed, in case he did go after
Fimbo.’

‘Yes Sir,’
Katana embarrassed. ‘He got hold of a gun, without my knowledge, in
Malindi.’

‘This shooting
of Fimbo, was it only revenge? Or do you think Cyrus was cleaning
up loose ends?’

Katana shook
his head. ‘No Cyrus was very upset about Fimbo killing Titus, it
was pure revenge.’

‘Huh’, said
Firdus. ‘Nothing we can do about that now.’

‘Do you want to
interview him? I have asked him to wait.’

‘No, tell him
he can go home.’

‘Any news of
Patel?’

‘No sir, he is
a mystery man, last we heard, he was in Mombasa to meet Fimbo.’

‘And
Azizza?’

‘No, I told
detective Mugo in Malindi to keep looking.’

‘Very good, I
think you have covered the ground, it’s been a long day. A pity
about Fimbo, this case just gets more and more complicated. Just
one more question. What do you make of Nicholls?’

Katana
scratched his head. ‘He may know more than he has told us. We need
to talk to that girl.’

‘Yes but she
could be anywhere by now, although I would suspect that she will
make her way back to Malindi. Let’s take a fresh look at it in the
morning.’

*

Brian drove
back to his flat, glad to be out from Firdus’s casual but
penetrating scrutiny. A phone started ringing in the car, the tune
familiar. He stopped and rooted around under his seat and found
Lucy’s pink mobile, angrily he got out and put it in front of the
tire and crushed it as he drove off.

At the flat he
ran the shower and spent ages scrubbing himself, letting the hot
water ease his tired and aching muscles. ‘Little bitch,’ he cursed
as he tried to pee with difficulty. Wrapped in a towel he then went
through the contents of his briefcase, surprised to find his credit
cards, he assumed they would have been stolen. He sat and thought
carefully over what to do next. Lucy was the only one who knew that
he had taken Azizza’s money. However, he couldn’t leave it lying in
an offshore account indefinitely. It was imperative he move it
again and soon.

He rang his
sister in England. ‘Hello sis,’ he said, ‘it’s me.’

‘My God Brian
where are you? I have been so worried. The Foreign Office told me
you had been found. What an earth is going on? Be quiet!’ she
yelled at a child shouting in the background. ‘Sorry,’ she
apologised, ‘are you ok?’

‘Yes I’m fine,’
said Brian and told her what had happened, keeping the story as
simple as possible, even then it still sounded farfetched, and more
like the script of a “b” movie.

Brian finished
the call and sat in silence. He had hoped his sister would be able
to help him move the money, but now realised he would have to find
another solution. ‘Shit,’ he exclaimed aloud, somehow it was all
Lucy’s fault. He had never intended to take the money; it just
seemed so easy at the time. I should have thought this thing
through. Still four million dollars was no small amount, and now
that he had it, it was worth going through a bit of trouble to keep
it. In his mind’s eye, he went through the options. Doug didn’t
know, for sure, Evans didn’t know and he had covered his tracks as
far as the banks were concerned. Lucy was still his weakest link,
and who would believe her? Even if she got to talk to Firdus, there
was no proof.

The sooner he
got out of here the better he decided, as he made for his bed and
set the alarm. First things first in the morning, he needed to see
a doctor.

THIRTY-EIGHT

Azizza woke in
the half-light before dawn disorientated and with a headache; a
mouth and tongue like dry paper. As her eyes adjusted, she gasped,
there was a sleeping body lying beside her, fragments of last night
came back. The hotel bar, the charming Indian man, the nightclub,
lots of laughter and many drinks, and now she was in his bed!

Quietly, she
found her clothes and quickly dressed, picking up her shoes and tip
toeing out.

The
streetlights revealed a road somewhere in town. Azizza reached an
intersection, and waved down a passing tuk-tuk

At the hotel
the night guard barred her entrance, until he saw the room key; the
receptionist nodded a good morning as Azizza headed for the
lift.

The lift mirror
reflected smeared makeup that gave her eyes a blackened haunted
look, her hair a mess, she looked like she felt. In the room Azizza
looked out at the car park for Patel’s car and was disappointed.
Opening a bottle of water and popping two painkillers she drank
most of it. She brushed her teeth and ran a bath. Images of the
night came back as she soaked, despite her hangover she remembered
Haroun had been good looking, but couldn’t recall much about their
love making.

The painkillers
working, her thoughts turned back to Patel. It was so stupid of me
to expect him to do what he said he would, he must have left for
Tanzania the minute he had finished with Fimbo. He had no intention
of going with me, sneaky little bastard. She hoped the potion had
given him some trouble, bloody man. Her thoughts went to the money.
I’m rich now I can do what I want, to hell with him.

She ordered
breakfast. Later munching on a piece of toast she tried Patel’s
mobile, the number unobtainable. She tossed it on the bed. A few
moments later it rang, it was Zainabu.

‘Azizza how did
it go?’

‘Fantastic,’
between mouthfuls, ‘it was amazing.’

‘Oh I’m so
happy for you. I told you it would work. That Dr. Kumanda, he is
the best.’

‘Yes he is
thanks. Listen cousin, I have to go,’ she lowered her voice to a
conspirators whisper, ‘he’s coming you know.’

‘Ahh,’ Zainabu
giggled, ‘ok, call you later lover girl.’

Azizza finished
her breakfast and convinced herself that Patel was now firmly out
of her life, she was over the stupid fool. She reasoned by offering
herself up and being continuously rejected had affected her mind,
but now she was free, last night her proof.

She would go
back to Malindi and arrange her millions. She went through the
clothes she had bought and rejected them all they would only remind
her of that sorry fool.

Azizza didn’t
bother to check out of the hotel but walked straight to the taxi
rank and barely negotiated a price to Malindi. Knowing she was
paying too much but didn’t care, in a hurry to start her new
life.

*

Patel had a
fitful night and refused dinner. Midway through the flight his
discomfort began to ease. Landing in Mumbai, he quickly passed
through immigration and booked himself on the next flight to
London. Next, he wandered around duty free and bought gifts for his
wife and children.

He felt great
and suffered no ill effects from the strange episode on the plane.
Danger he reasoned, must be a very powerful aphrodisiac. He felt so
good he went back to the booking office and up graded to first
class.

At Gatwick
airport, he passed through customs and immigration without a hitch
and made his way out to a sea of expectant faces, none of which,
thankfully he recognised. He took a taxi into the heart of London
to an up-market hotel. Enjoying the deference accorded him with his
newfound wealth.

He then went
shopping and bought new clothes, walking around the wealthy
district with his designer carrier bags. In the afternoon, he went
in search of a barber. He picked up a free newspaper on real estate
and read it avidly during his haircut and just for good measure had
his nails manicured. That evening he called his wife in Birmingham
and spoke to his boys, assuring the excited children that he would
see them just as soon as he could.

*

Azizza relaxed
in the back of the taxi as it headed for Malindi and went over last
night’s events in her mind, trying to recall the pleasure, but
details evaded her so she made them up as she daydreamed.
Inevitably, her thoughts returned to Patel. You had to hand it to
him he is a clever bugger.

Scrolling
through her phone she decided to call Evans, maybe he knew more
about Fimbo’s arrest, though she doubted that Patel would have told
him. The phone was off. Frustrated she rang the teller at her bank;
she wanted to talk to someone. ‘Morning can you give me the exact
balance in my account?

‘No, not that
one. The Golden Palm one.’

‘Yes,’ she
waited.

The teller came
back on. ‘I’m sorry madam did you change the password? I can’t seem
to access the account.’

‘No, I have not
changed my password, try again.’

‘Madam, the
password is not working, it has definitely been changed, if I try
again and fail, the account will lock up.’

‘This is
ridiculous; there must be a way around it. Has anyone else accessed
the account?’ A feeling of dread in her stomach.

‘No madam.’

‘Are you sure
Riaz?’

‘Madam, I’m the
only one authorised, other than the manager.’

‘You must be
able to change the password?’

‘It can be done
madam but, only the manager can do it.’

‘Oh, alright
Riaz. So, get the manager to do that.’

‘I think you
will have to ask him yourself, madam.’

‘Listen to me,’
she said, ‘I’m in a taxi right now and I’m miles from Malindi. You
tell the manager to call me at once, otherwise I will be thinking
about changing my bank.’ She rang off. ‘Idiots.’

Azizza waited
for the call getting wound up as the time passed and thinking about
how she was going to tear a strip off him. There was no call, now
really angry, she rang again. The teller was apologetic. ‘I’m sorry
madam, he was in a meeting I will patch you through.’ She listened
to classical music, and waited. The manager came on. Azizza
explained what had happened and that she was very unhappy.

‘Yes madam,’ he
soothed. ‘I understand, let me find out exactly what the problem is
and I will call you back.’

Ten minutes
later. ‘Madam, according to our records, apart from a hundred
thousand, you emptied the account yesterday.’

Azizza’s mouth
fell open, ‘NO! There must be a mistake! I asked the bank to
transfer money to an account in Mombasa, but the account still had
about four hundred million in it. You remember?’

‘Yes Madam that
is correct, but there was another transfer after that and the
account was emptied.’

‘What! Where
to? Who authorised it?’

‘Let me
check.’

Azizza waited,
her head reeling, the taxi driver watching her in his mirror, all
ears.

‘I’m sorry
Madam, I can’t trace where it went, but the account is empty apart
from the hundred thousand.’

‘There must be
an error.’ Azizza said controlling her voice.

‘Hold on,’ he
said. She held the phone pressed up against her ear, cutting out
the road noise, her heart beat rapid, she could hear talking in the
background and rustling of papers. ‘Madam I’m sorry, we have
another complication to do with the Golden Palm.’