The Leopard's Prey (19 page)

When Jade pulled into the farmyard, Biscuit was there waiting as Madeline pumped water into a large enamel pan for him. Since the cat was impatient, much of the water went directly onto the cheetah’s broad head, which he stuck directly under the flow. Jade looked around and saw no sign of Sam’s motorcycle.

“Hi, Maddy. Sam back yet?” she asked as she removed her leather helmet.

Madeline shook her head. “No, and I’m worried. Neville even went out to see if his plane was still in the hangar. It is.”

“I’m going back to town and tell Finch something happened. This isn’t right. It’s not like Sam to disappear without telling any of us.” Jade went to the well and, once Biscuit had finished drinking, pumped another burst of water into a bucket. She caught the tailings of the flow in her hands and splashed the water on her face, then took a dipper and drank deeply.

Madeline offered Jade a towel to dry her face, just as Biscuit raised his head and stared at a distant cloud of dust. Then he chirped. Jade knew immediately that he’d recognized the sound of Sam’s motorcycle.

“Here he comes now,” Jade said.

As the engine’s rumble became clearer, Neville came from one of the outbuildings, where he’d been working, and joined them. Everyone, human and cat alike, stood in a row, watching the dust cloud approach. Within minutes, Sam rolled into the yard and shut down the engine. He pulled off his goggles and helmet with uncharacteristic silence. Jade could practically feel the tension roll off him. Madeline took the towel from Jade, dampened it, and handed it to Sam. Jade followed with a dipper full of water. No one spoke, letting Sam have a moment to collect himself.

Finally, Jade couldn’t wait anymore. “Are you all right, Sam?”

He handed the dipper back to her and managed a thin-lipped smile. “I’m fine,” he muttered through gritted teeth. “I was riding around thinking, that’s all.” He saw his camera and tripod on the veranda and sighed. “At least the damn camera isn’t gone. Sorry. Bad language,” he said with a sidewise glance at Madeline and Jade.

“Tell us about it,” said Jade.

Neville had run into the house and come back out with a whiskey and soda, which he handed to Sam. “You might need this more than the water,” he said.

Sam started to reach for it, then dropped his hand and shook his head. “Better not. Got a bad enough headache as it is, but thanks anyway, Neville.” Neville shrugged, took one look at the glass, and drained it himself.

“Finch hauled me into police headquarters for the night,” Sam said.

“Why?” exclaimed Neville and Madeline in unison.

“Said my prints were on the murder weapon, which as we all probably know by now was not
really
the murder weapon, but try to tell that to Finch.”

“But of course your prints are on it,” said Neville. “You pulled Stokes out of the dryer, Sam. As I recall you had him by the wrists, and I had the feet.”

Sam nodded. “And I handled a corn knife in the store. If not that one, then another. But it seems that makes
me
a prime suspect.”

“He didn’t officially arrest you?” asked Jade.

Sam shook his head. “Implied it’s only a matter of time. Told me I shouldn’t go flying off anywhere.”

“What about your job tomorrow morning?” Jade asked.

Sam shrugged. “Be damned if I’m losing that money. But he’ll probably haul me off for sure when I get back.” He looked at Jade. “Maybe you should fly and I’ll just sit in the front and scout. Then when he arrests me, I can tell him that I didn’t fly, just like he ordered.”

Madeline clucked an “Oh, dear,” and Neville looked longingly at the empty glass. “I’ll be back in a moment,” said Sam as he headed for the outhouse.

“Neville,” said Jade as she watched Sam walk off, “I meant to ask you. Where was the coffee dryer when you originally picked it up?”

“By the freight yards. Not far from your bosses’ warehouse in point of fact. It was supposed to be sent on up to Thika, but I finally just took the truck and picked it up myself.”

“How in the world did you manage to lift it?” Jade asked. “Surely you must have noticed that it was particularly heavy, for a supposedly empty drum?”

“I might have, but I didn’t lift it,” Neville replied. “I paid six of the rail yard natives to load it and got my own men to unload it here. Remember, Jade. It wasn’t a particularly large drum since we air-dry most of our coffee. Wanted it to finish the drying in wet years. I liked that model because it had one large door instead of the usual two smaller ones.”

“Lucky for the murderer,” muttered Jade.

Neville’s stomach rumbled and he patted it. “Maddy, I’m starved. What say we go in and have an early luncheon?”

“It’s barely past ten thirty,” said Madeline.

“Then we have early elevenses,” said Neville. “Besides, once that crew arrives, there won’t be time for meals, and I’m sure Sam will want something to eat.”

Madeline nodded. “You and Sam come join us, Jade. I’ll cut some cake and put on hot water for tea and brew some coffee for you.”

“Don’t bother, Maddy,” said Jade. “I had breakfast at the mission. But I’ll tell Sam.”

She sat on the front step and waited until Sam came around. “They went inside for a snack,” Jade said. “Neville’s stomach decided you were hungry.”

Sam nodded and headed for the door. Jade snatched at his trouser leg and tugged him to stop. “I’m sorry about what happened, Sam,” she said. “We waited at the car for you for over an hour. Then when we saw your cycle was gone, we assumed …” She shrugged. “Well, to be frank, we didn’t know what to assume. Mainly that you’d come back here.”

Sam nodded. “I tried to catch you this morning,” he said. “I must have just missed you.”

“I was at church.”

Sam pulled back, started to say something, then clamped his mouth shut. “Church. I see,” he said finally. He turned to leave.

“Where are you going?”

“I have no idea,” he said. With that, he walked off toward the line of coffee trees.

Jade got up and trotted after him. “Sam, wait.” He stopped, half turning to face her. “What’s wrong, Sam? I don’t understand.”

He took a deep breath and let it out. “I went to church this morning, looking for you.” His dark eyes bored into hers. “You weren’t there.”

Jade let her head fall back. “And you think I was lying to you just now?” She stepped closer and peered into his eyes. “I went to the French mission.” Sam’s shoulders drooped. “I’m sorry, Sam. I had no idea… . I left Maddy a note, but I guess she threw it away after she read it.”

“Sorry, Jade. I’m as bad as that damned Finch, accusing you of deceiving me without more evidence.”

“You’ve had a bad night,” she said by way of excuse. “And you look like hell.” She placed a hand on his shoulder. “You ought to go lie down and sleep. I can go for a doctor or—”

“I don’t need a doctor and I don’t want a damned nurse-maid!” Sam snapped.

Jade pulled her hand back. “Maddy’s slicing cake if you’re hungry. I need to see to my equipment, get ready for loading those zebra. You’ll probably want to set up your camera.” Her lips twitched in a weak attempt at a smile; then she walked back to her motorcycle for her lariat. All the while, she wondered if Sam was hiding something.

THE FIRST TRUCK, a large flatbed with a lidless wood-and-wire cage built around the inside of the truck bed, arrived just after eleven, with Daley at the wheel and four Africans riding in back. Cutter rolled in ten minutes later in an identical truck. Madeline invited the men to sit in the shade of the veranda while they discussed the upcoming operations. Jade and Neville joined them, and Sam filmed part of the discussion. Half an hour later, Anderson pulled into the yard.

Anderson drove a smaller truck with stout wooden planks on the outer sides rising three feet from the bed’s bottom. A wooden gate, which slid into place in the back, lay loose on the floor next to an empty wooden cage. The others went out to meet him.

“We’ll load the zebra into the larger trucks,” said Daley. “If we pack three in each one, they won’t have room to move. Won’t take a spill and break any legs that way.” He patted the last truck on the side wall. “Your lion will go in here. In a cage of course. We’ve got some poultry netting covering the gaps in the wood so he can’t get a paw out and claw someone.”

“Percy wouldn’t claw anyone,” said Madeline. “He’s been a pet since he was a cub.”

“He’s going to be unhappy about the move, ma’am,” said Daley, “and that means frightened. So there’s no telling what he’ll do.”

“Mr. Daley is quite right, my dear,” said Neville as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Madeline nodded. “Of course. It’s just that I feel sorry for Percy. He
will
be frightened.”

“Don’t worry too much about your lion, missus,” said Daley. “I’ve got a zoo in Florida that wants him, so he’ll have a nice, warm place to live and all the meat he can eat. We even have a young lioness to keep him company. Just bought her from a man in Nakuru.”

“He’s lived most of his life penned up, Maddy,” added Jade. “You couldn’t set him free. He’s never hunted and he’d probably get shot within a week.”

“Right,” said Neville. “Let’s get these animals in the trucks.”

Anderson called for the African men to bring out the loading ramp and set it up by the paddock gate while he backed the first truck into place. The ramp had slots cut into the side, and the men slid wide planks into place as barricades to prevent an animal from jumping off the sides.

“Do you think they’ll go in easily?” asked Anderson.

“They’re just zebra,” said Cutter. “Should be like loading horses, right?”

“Have you ever loaded wild mustang?” asked Jade. “They don’t tend to be very cooperative. Keep out of the way of their hooves, especially the back ones. I’ve seen them kick.”

“Well, that’s your job, isn’t it?” asked Cutter. “Aren’t you the rope expert here?”

“That’s what they’re paying me for,” said Jade. She’d pulled on leather gloves and retrieved her lariat. Like Neville, she now wore a wide-brimmed straw hat that shielded her face from the sun. She inspected the rope’s coils, checking for kinks or unwanted knots.

“What about flyboy?” asked Anderson, hooking a thumb over his shoulder to point to where Sam stood with his camera. “Isn’t he helping?”

“Only if he volunteers,” said Daley. “I can’t hire too many workers here or I won’t make any money. His job’ll come tomorrow. If he can find us that young rhino, it’ll make this expedition.” He clenched his right fist. “If we only had more time, but we’re already booked for the boat home and every day we have to feed caged animals eats into our profit.”

“Well, I’m betting that all we have to do is open the gate, and they’ll be so glad to come out that they’ll run right on into the truck,” said Cutter. Without waiting for a “Go ahead,” he swung the gate inward. Immediately the stallion nipped at one mare’s flank and sent her and the other mares running to the opposite side, where they milled and reared in confused panic.

“Get out of there and shut the damn gate,” yelled Jade. “The mares aren’t going to cooperate until we get their lord and master out.” She clamped her hat tighter on her head, made sure her pocket kerchief was handy, and climbed over the fence halfway between the gate and the milling herd. “Maddy,” she called over her shoulder, “would you please fetch Biscuit but hold him until I’m ready? Wish I had a good border collie here.”

A good dog, she knew, would single out an animal and cut it from the herd. She’d have to do that herself, and right now, it didn’t look as if the stallion had any intention of moving away from his harem. She needed something to draw him out. That would be Biscuit’s job.

“Get ready, Maddy,” Jade yelled. She loosely held the extra rope as coils in her left hand. Her right hand held the lariat by the knot as she swung the loop over her head, smoothly rolling her wrists. “Okay, now,” she called. “Biscuit, to me.”

Biscuit immediately raced to Jade’s side. The sleek cat slunk low on all fours, his broad head down between his hunching shoulders. He let loose a raspy
rowr
as he eyed the stallion.

The zebra recognized the same animal that had threatened him a few days ago. He reared and pounded the ground in front of him, daring the cat to risk his deadly hooves.

“Stay, Biscuit,” said Jade in a soothing voice. “Stay.” Biscuit remained rooted in place, out of reach but close enough to irritate the stallion and keep him in front of his mares. Jade inched to the side, still swinging her rope overhead, until she had a clear shot at his head. She let the rope fly and it fell true around the zebra’s neck. A quick tug and the loop tightened.

“Biscuit, away,” Jade ordered, and after a moment’s hesitation about leaving the fun, the cheetah trotted back to Maddy. Jade raced to the fence nearest the gate and passed the rope around one of the stout posts. Then, using it as a pulley, she tugged on the rope, dragging the zebra closer. Anderson jumped over the fence and lent a hand. When the animal was halfway to them, she called a halt. “Let me get another rope on him,” she explained.

Jade took a second rope from Cutter and tossed another loop onto the ground just behind his hind legs. “Give him a bit of slack,” she called. The zebra took the slack and stepped backward into the loop. Jade pulled and ensnared a leg. “Now he can’t buck. Together, on my count. Gently.” As Jade counted up, she and Cutter pulled together, with him at the head and Jade with the rear. Each step allowed the zebra to inch forward until they had him by the gate.

Jade handed her rope off to Anderson and pulled the kerchief from her back pocket. “Neville, do you want to do the honors? It ought to be your face in the scene.” She handed the kerchief to him, and he took her place in front of the zebra.

“I’ll be danged,” said Daley. “They’re dressed alike down to the same hat, too.”

“That’s because Neville and Madeline are the stars of this show,” said Jade. “Tie the handkerchief around his eyes, Neville. He’ll settle down once he can’t see the danger.”

True to her word, the zebra did quiet himself, and the men were able to lead the animal up the ramp and into the truck. Without the stallion pressing them back, the mares followed a few at a time until all six zebra were loaded.