The Hunter (39 page)

He looked, Brand thought, like a shamed child, looking down at the ground, his face colouring. ‘I thought . . . I thought you liked it . . . liked me.’

Anna turned to her husband, closed the gap between them and slapped his face, hard. ‘You really are a bastard.’

‘Anna . . . it wasn’t all him,’ Kate said.

‘Shut your mouth.’ She rounded on her sister and Andrew Miles stepped between the two women.

‘Who the hell is this?’ Anna asked.

‘A friend,’ Andrew said. ‘Let’s behave like adults.’

They all looked at him. Anna scoffed. ‘I can’t
believe
this is happening.’

‘I’ve acted appallingly,’ Peter said. ‘Kate, I love you and I only wanted what was best for you, for me.’ He looked at his wife next. ‘Anna, I’m so sorry, but you never understood, never accepted me.’

‘So you drugged my sister and played your sick, kinky little games with her because I wouldn’t indulge your swinging and
cheating
. God, Peter, I knew you were some kind of sex addict, but my
sister
?’ Anna turned to Kate. ‘How could you?’

‘You’re asking
me
that? After what you did with George?’ Kate spat.

‘What about George?’ Peter asked.

Anna’s cheeks reddened. ‘George pursued
me
, Kate.’

Brand wasn’t sure where his loyalties lay now. He had found Kate Munns for the Cliffs, but he was also here ostensibly to protect Kate from her brother-in-law, the man whose actions had prompted her to fake her death, and whom she feared was a killer. There was also Anna to think of; she eyed her sister and her husband coldly. Brand remembered her touch and it pained him a little to see her hurt. But perhaps the truth would help her. She needed to be rid of Peter as much as Kate had needed to run away from the destructive affair. Both of them needed to try and come to terms with the trauma of their childhood, but that would have to come after the current mess was behind them.

‘Anna, what do you want to do?’ Brand asked her.

She looked at him, seemingly taking a few seconds to register the question.

‘Peter?’ Brand said.

He looked at Brand and blinked. ‘I don’t know what to say.’

‘There are some things you and I need to talk about. We can do it here, or with the police when we get back to camp. It’s up to you.’

‘What do I have to talk about with
you
?’ he asked, reverting to his normal prickly self, Brand thought.

‘We can start with what you were doing in June 2010, in
Nelspruit, and in Cape Town in February, and in Victoria Falls a few nights ago.’

‘You know perfectly well what I was doing in Victoria Falls, and as for those other trips, I was watching the World Cup and attending a medical conference.’ He looked indignant. ‘What’s all this about?’

‘You’re the one who should be answering that question,’ Anna said.

Brand kept his eye on the humans around him, trying to read them. Unlike animals they were unpredictable. Lions, elephants, buffalo and other dangerous game always gave some hint of an imminent decision to attack or defend, even though it often seemed otherwise. People just exploded.

Anna’s face was pure anger, while Peter seemed to have been mentally poleaxed by the events unfolding around him.

‘Kate,’ Brand said steadily, ‘do you want Peter charged by the police for supplying drugs to you, illegally?’ It was a start, Brand reasoned, referring to a charge that Peter had already been confronted with and had not denied.

‘Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,’ Peter said from the other side of Andrew.

‘You’re not, as far as I’m concerned,’ Kate said. ‘What you did to me was reprehensible, but on some level I know I’m to blame, too. I could have gone to rehab in the UK, or the police, but I was scared of you, and –’

‘And what?’ Peter challenged. ‘You liked it?’

‘You’re disgusting. No, you kept me addicted to
drugs
after the accident. And you, a doctor; you should be disbarred or whatever they do to doctors. No, Hudson, I don’t think the police can charge him with anything, but I just want to make sure I don’t end up like those other women.’

‘What other women?’ Peter asked.

Anna grabbed her husband’s arm, forcing him to turn and look at her. ‘Those women you raped and murdered, Peter. Don’t look so surprised and don’t deny it. I was checking the international news when you were in South Africa for the World Cup. For some stupid reason I was worried about you, what with all the violent crime you read about, and I read about the girl who was killed, near where you were staying; she’d been tied up, choked and she’d been stabbed. I remembered all your sick games, how you liked to play with knives. I didn’t think it was you, though, until I checked the Cape Town newspapers online when you were there, and there was another girl murdered the same way.’

Peter looked cornered, Brand thought, but then the doctor looked at him. ‘Yes, all right, I know about the woman who was killed during the World Cup, and the woman who was murdered the same way in Cape Town, but you’re both forgetting that the police already have a suspect, and he’s right here next to both of you.’

‘So you read about me,’ Brand said.

‘I googled you when Dani named you as the investigator she had employed,’ Peter said, ‘and I remember thinking it was scary that a woman had been killed in Hazyview while I was staying nearby. I became suspicious of you after the death of the girl in Victoria Falls and your pressing need to get away from the police, but we needed you to find Linley – Kate, as it turned out.’ He looked to Kate. ‘I’m just so pleased you’re alive. Believe me, I haven’t hurt anyone. I have my issues, I know, and it was wrong how I manipulated you, but I never hurt anyone. I
love
you, Kate.’

‘You bastard!’ Anna lashed out at Peter, trying to pummel him with her fists, but he took a step backwards, towards the edge of the embankment they all stood on, and grabbed her by the wrists. Brand moved to separate them, but Anna used a self-defence move, raising her two hands together then bringing them down and out to opposite sides swiftly. She broke Peter’s hold on her then used both her hands to shove him, hard, in the chest.

Peter screamed as he lost his footing and toppled backwards, over the edge, and into the river below. ‘Help!’

‘Shit,’ said Brand. He ran at the drop-off and jumped.

‘I’ll get a rope,’ Andrew yelled as Brand struck out towards Peter, who was flailing in the fast-moving water as the current grabbed him and swept him downriver. He was clearly a poor swimmer.

Brand looked up at the bank above him and saw Anna appear to grab Andrew as he tried to get the rope. Then she broke away from him and Brand saw she had pulled Andrew’s gun from the waistband of his trousers. ‘Anna, no!’ Hudson yelled, as he sucked a mouthful of dirty river water.

Anna pointed the gun not at him but at Peter, and started firing. She didn’t appear to be a good shot and the bullets went wide of her target, sending up geysers of water and adding to Peter’s panicked yelping. Of more concern to Brand, however, was the V-shaped wake that had appeared on the brown surface of the river behind Peter, making its way straight towards him.

Brand was of no use to Peter flailing about in the water, so he struck out for shore and hauled himself to his feet when he touched the muddy bottom. He moved along the narrow strip of sand at the base of the embankment and drew his own weapon. He lined up on the apex of the wake and fired at it, his round landing dangerously close to Peter. The doctor panicked even more and cried out for the shooting to stop. Brand fired again. Anna’s firing had stopped; presumably Andrew had got his weapon back.

A giant, mottled, knobbly head the size of half of Peter’s body broke the surface. Brand fired two more shots, but if they hit the crocodile they had no effect. The wicked jaws chomped down on Peter, across his back and shoulders, and the croc submerged, taking Peter with it.

34

A
team of Kenya Wildlife Service rangers scoured the banks on both sides of the river, but found no sign of Peter. After the senior ranger took our statements at the scene, we drove to Tipilikwani Camp on the edge of the Masai Mara reserve.

Anna and I travelled in separate vehicles. She still wasn’t ready to talk to me, and I guess I understood how she was feeling, even though I felt she had hurt me as much as I had hurt her. We needed to start the process of reconciling with each other, and we needed to go way back to before Peter or George.

I wondered what it had been like for her, back at our home when we were kids. Although she refused to talk about it I imagined she had suffered more abuse, perhaps years of it, before my father started with me. Had she tried to stop him? Had she endured even more to try and save me? I wanted to reach out to her, but didn’t know how.

When we arrived at the camp I could see a white man standing next to the Kenyan manager in the entranceway. As we got closer I recognised the mop of curly black hair and the lopsided grin.

‘Bryce!’

He came to me as I stepped down from the vehicle and wrapped me in his arms. I pushed my face into his shirt and breathed in the smell of him. ‘Are you OK?’

I looked up at him. ‘As OK as I can be. You heard what happened?’

‘Yes, on the radio.’

‘But how did you get here? When?’

‘Hudson asked me to follow your sister and brother-in-law. I was on the same flights as them from Joburg and from Nairobi, but they’d never seen me so they didn’t know who I was. Hudson told me to come straight to the lodge, in case they decided to come here rather than meet you out by the river. I felt completely helpless here, but it’s really good to see you again.’

I had been so cruel to him. ‘I told you not to follow me.’

He grinned. ‘Yes, but you’ll learn I’m no good at following orders.’

‘I’ve got no future, Bryce, no life, no job, no money, hell, not even my real identity.’

‘I know, Kate, but I’ve got friends here in Kenya. We’ll find somewhere.’

I hardly believed him. ‘We?’

‘Sure.’ He looked into my eyes, tentative, uncertain, perhaps nervous. ‘That is, if you want me in your life.’

I nodded and put my face against him again so he wouldn’t see my tears. ‘I just need to take it slow.’

He stroked the back of my head. ‘Sure. No problem. You’re safe with me.’

Bags were unloaded and Hudson sorted out rooms – permanent tents on wooden platforms overlooking a narrow stream – but no plans were made to meet up for dinner, even though it was nearly dark. It was hardly a time to be socialising. I made my way over to Anna and took her hand. She looked at me blankly, and I realised she must be in shock. ‘Can we talk, please? Maybe later?’ I asked her.

‘Yes,’ was all she said. A porter came to her and she followed him to her room.

In my own tent I showered – it felt like a week since I’d washed – and changed back into the clothes Rina had paid for, which were now as dirty as the ones I’d replaced. I felt like I was going backwards in life and already I missed Bryce. I left the tent and walked down a pathway to the bar and dining room, an open-sided affair that looked over a wide lawn. A fire was burning in a brick pit out there, and I walked to it and pulled up a wooden camp chair. A shadow alerted me to movement behind me and Andrew stepped into the ring of light. ‘Mind if I sit down?’

‘No, of course not,’ I said. ‘I never thanked you properly for all you’ve done for me.’

‘My pleasure. I can’t imagine how horrible this has all been for you.’

No, he couldn’t. No one could.

Andrew cleared his throat. ‘I’ve got a friend who works near here. He runs balloon safaris. I called him from my room; we’re catching up for dinner soon.’

‘That’s nice,’ I said, not really interested in Andrew’s social plans.

‘I asked him if he had space on any of his flights. He said he had two free for tomorrow morning. It’s a pre-dawn start, but it’s one of the most amazing flights you could ever take in your life.’

He was sweet, but I wasn’t in the mood for sightseeing with him and his old chum. ‘Thanks, Andrew, but perhaps Hudson might want to go with you.’

He laughed. ‘No, no, no. I told my chum that I had a couple of young friends, a man and a woman, who might like to go. He says there’s no charge – he owes me a favour. I thought that you and Bryce might, well . . .’

My heart softened at his simple kindness. I reached over and laid my hand on his, on the arm of his chair. ‘Oh, Andrew, thank you, so much.’

‘Right, well, I’ll let him know you’re keen. In fact, I should go back into the bar, as he’s due soon.’

I thanked him again, silently grateful that he had to go. As much as I appreciated his offer, I was in no mood to make small talk. It was after eight and I was already dog tired, exhausted by all we’d been through, and tormented, in spite of my hatred towards Peter, by the image of him being dragged under the water. I forced it from my mind, and got up and walked back to my tent.

When I got there I noticed that the mosquito mesh door was unzipped, and I heard the creak of floorboards from inside. ‘Hello?’ I called.

A form appeared at the door, then stepped through the open zip into the light of the balcony. ‘Anna,’ I said. ‘You startled me.’

‘Sorry.’

‘It’s all right. I’m glad to see you. Do you want to talk?’

‘I don’t know.’ Her face looked drawn, tired, and I wondered if it was the mirror image of mine. ‘I don’t know if I ever want to say another word again.’

‘You must,’ I implored.

‘Must I? I don’t know what’s left to say. We’ve hurt each other, and the man I once loved, the man I thought would make everything right, is dead. I should just disappear, I think.’

I reached out and took both her hands in mine. ‘Come, sit down. No one’s going to disappear. We can’t let this, or what happened to us in the past, beat us. I know that now. I was wrong to try and run away. I should have gone to the police with my concerns about Peter; I should have been braver, like you.’

She looked at me like she didn’t understand a word I’d said, as though I was speaking some foreign language. ‘Yes, let’s go inside,’ she said, and stepped back into the tent. I made it to the threshold but couldn’t see her. The lights were off and I couldn’t remember where the internal switch was. Perhaps she’d disappeared into the en-suite bathroom at the back of the tent. Nearby a lion called, the sound low and full of longing.

‘I can’t find the light switch,’ I said, trying to make a joke of it, and failing.

‘No,’ said my sister. ‘Leave the light off. I don’t want to see your eyes.’

She was a shape in the dark. I had seen her unhinged today, trying to kill Peter. We’d all said the same thing to the rangers, that she and Peter were having an argument, but that she had not deliberately tried to kill him by pushing him at the edge of the riverbank. I knew that wasn’t true, but deep down I felt that Peter deserved what had happened to him, as terrible as that sounded.

‘Hudson wants me to leave in the morning, early,’ Anna said. ‘He has to fly back to Zimbabwe to pick up his truck. He’s going to get the police in South Africa and Zimbabwe to talk to each other about Peter, which will get him off the hook.’

There were bigger issues at stake than Brand’s Land Rover, which he had mentioned he’d left in Zimbabwe when he’d picked up the larger touring vehicle to transport Anna and Peter, but the move was timely. Anna wouldn’t want to be facing a lengthy Kenyan police investigation and the local rangers had not had the power to confiscate her passport. ‘Anna, let’s put on the light, I’ll order us a drink, and we’ll talk.’

‘No,’ she said forcefully. ‘I’ve tried talking, it doesn’t work.’

‘Dad did terrible things to you, didn’t he, Anna – more than just the beatings he gave us both and the way he used to touch me.’

Anna pursed her lips and wrapped her arms around herself. ‘He deserved to die.’

She started moving from the gloom towards me. I wanted to rush to her and hug her and thank her for being my sister and to tell her we
would
be OK, we
would
come through this.

‘Kate?’ a voice called from behind me, at the external steps.

‘Bryce. Just a minute,’ I said. Now that he’d found me I couldn’t bear the thought of turning him away again, but I had to try and make things right with my sister, or at least begin the process.

Before I could say anything, however, Anna rushed through the tent and brushed past me on her way out. ‘Anna, wait!’

‘No,’ she called as she ran down the stairs. ‘I’ll see you tomorrow before I leave.’

I went outside and saw her running off down the pathway. She didn’t turn. Bryce stood there, looking confused. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt.’

‘No, it’s fine,’ I said. ‘It’s probably too early, still too raw.’

‘I’ll go, if you like. I wasn’t going to come, and I’m not looking for anything, but I just wanted to make sure you were OK before I went to bed.’

I looked down at him, at the honesty and goodness in a face that had not known the terrible things that Anna and I had been through, that had only known a loving family and a carefree life in the African bush. I wanted that life, and I thought that maybe, just maybe, that life was still out there for me. I reached my hand out and he took it. I led him into my tent and, once inside, he took me in his arms and kissed me.

*

Brand had gone looking for Anna, and bumped into her, literally, as she ran down the path. He caught her in his arms to stop her from falling then held her out from his body. ‘Hey, hey, are you all right?’

She looked up at him. ‘I don’t know. I don’t think I ever will be.’

‘How’s Kate?’

‘She’s fine,’ Anna said quickly. ‘She’s with Bryce. He’s a good man; I’ve only just met him, but I can tell.’

Brand nodded. For what it was worth he agreed with her assessment of Bryce. ‘Good. Are you going to your tent now?’

Anna sniffed and looked into his eyes. ‘I am. Please don’t take this the wrong way, but I don’t want to be alone tonight. I’m scared.’

‘Of what?’ Brand asked.

‘The past.’

‘I’ll stay with you.’

‘Thank you.’ Anna broke from him gently and walked ahead, leading him to her tent. Brand followed her up the stairs and inside. He looked around the interior as she went to the bathroom. When she came out she undid her blouse and unzipped her skirt. In her underwear, she climbed into bed. ‘I’m so very tired.’

He went to her and pulled the covers up to her chin, bent down and kissed her forehead. ‘I’ll be here.’

Anna closed her eyes and Brand went to the chair in the corner and sat in it. He watched her as the lion continued calling, until she fell asleep. Brand walked quietly to the dressing table and found a pen and a piece of paper. He sat back down in the chair and, glancing at Anna every now and then to make sure she was still sleeping, began to write.