Dennis Wheatley - The White Witch of the South Seas

Although it seemed certain that a yacht like the Boa Via gem would, if in harbour for any length of time, be connected to the shore by telephone, naturally there was no number for her in the book; so the Indian got on to the Port Authority. After a wait of ten minutes it was confirmed that the yacht was still at Suva and James was put through to her. He asked for her Captain and there was another, longer, wait until the Captain, very annoyed at being roused from his sleep, came on the line.

`Yes,' he replied, `the Senhora Maui de Carvalho is in the yacht, but I certainly will not rouse her at such an hour.' Angry and impatient, James began to shout. Realising that he was getting nowhere, Gregory pulled the instrument from him and said in a sharp voice

`We are police officers. Do as you are told. Bring the Senhora to the telephone at once or you will find yourself in trouble.'

That had the desired effect. Six minutes later he was speaking to Olinda. The line was far from good, but he managed to make her understand who he was and that James was with him. Then, that at any time during the morning Lacost would probably arrive. She was to receive him in the presence of her Captain, who was to be armed. Lacost would tell her that her husband was dead. Whether she believed him or not, she was to show shock and pretend to faint, so that Lacost could be got rid of as soon as possible. In no circumstances was she to go ashore, and he and James expected to be with her within a few hours.

By leaving open the question whether de Carvalho was really dead or still alive he had prepared her for the truth. The next matter was to get to her as soon as possible, so he asked for a car to take them to Nandi airport.

The Indian shook his head. 'I am sorry, sir, but that will not be easy so early in the morning. The garages will not be open yet. But wait; it is only ten or twelve miles to Nandi. Since your business is urgent, I will run you over in my little car. Our girl in the office here is very good. She will attend to any wishes our visitors may have during my absence.'

Gratefully, they accepted the offer of this most obliging man, and a few minutes later were on their way. It was a quarter to seven when they reached Nandi. An American jet liner had just come in from Honolulu, so the whole of the airport staff were fully occupied. James, still obsessed with the idea that Lacost would reach Olinda before they did and harm her in some way, could not conceal his impatience.

To take his mind off his worry while they waited, Gregory gently baited him by speaking of the kindness of the Indian who had motored them to Nandi, and mentioned that the Hindu and Pakistani immigrants had brought great benefits to the islands.

James rose to the bait and argued fiercely that they were usurers who swindled the natives out of their property, and were a menace to their simple but adequate standard of living.

Gregory took up, the challenge and said that there were grasping men in every race. Here and there Indians might cheat the islanders, but the great majority were honest, industrious people, Rightly, he argued that the natives owed them a great deal. The better off among them could now buy radios, fridges and electric gadgets that made housework easier, and even the poorest could buy good cooking utensils and gay cotton clothes from the Indian shops. The Indians, too, provided culture for the new generation of islanders who were ready to receive it. He instanced the Art and Botanical Societies in which they played such active part, and Mr. Desai's splendidly stocked bookshop in Suva. Some of these things, he insisted, might be due originally to the white man's initiative, but they were supported and the increase in their activities made possible only by the capital contributed by the hard working Indians.

The discussion served its purpose until an official was free to deal with Gregory's enquiry. He had hoped to secure a small charter plane which, as soon as it had been serviced, would fly them to Suva. But no such aircraft was available, and the public morning service did not leave until ten o'clock.

Gregory could not feel that after his talk with Olinda they had any real cause for anxiety, so he was in favour of waiting for the flight. But James, having in mind the way in which Lacost had attempted to kill them both on Lake Atitlan, remained convinced that such an unscrupulous enemy might quite well take a time bomb with him when he went on the yacht to tell Olinda of her husband's death, and leave it behind to blow her to pieces.

As a result of his agitated pressing, a hire car was produced which, it was thought, could take them to Suva sooner than if they went by the 'plane and then had to drive from the airport into the city.

It was a little after eight o'clock when they set off, and Gregory had agreed to the plan because it seemed reasonable, to suppose that on an almost clear road the drive could be accomplished in about three hours, which meant that they should reach Suva harbour a little before the E.T.A. of Lacost's Pigalle.

But neither he nor James had been aware of the condition of the road. They had assumed it to be similar to the good, smooth surface of that on which they had travelled from Lautoka to the airport. But it was nothing of the kind. For almost the whole way the surface was rutted, broken and, here and there, long stretches were pockmarked with dangerous potholes. Frequently the car bounced from side to side and, with only rare intervals, broken stones hit the bottom of it like an irregular fusillade of pistol shots.

In vain James alternately pleaded with their driver and offered him rewards to go faster. The man, quite reasonably, objected to having his tyres cut up more severely than could be avoided or having to force the pace to an extent where his car would be shaken to nieces.

Meantime, Gregory, jolted from side to side though he was, had an admirable opportunity to enjoy the tropical scenery as they followed the road, which for the greater part of the way was in sight of the sea, round the south of Viti Levu.

For some distance along the coastal plain there were thousands of acres of sugar cane and fields in which cattle and goats were grazing, but no sheep; while inland jungle clad mountains, with many patches of bare rock showing, stood out against the sky. The villages became few and far between as they progressed into a country of rolling hills, not unlike Tuscany, then there came dense jungle again, with many mango, breadfruit and casuarina trees.

Along the second half of the way there was again wild, mountainous jungle, with tree ferns, ginger plants and palms growing alongside the road. Then there came a long stretch of flat land once rubber plantations that had since been abandoned. It was followed by the great area in which Fiji 's dairy farming industry flourishes. Their driver told them that eight thousand cattle were milked there every day. They left it for more jungle covered mountain slopes, through which the road curved sharply and went up and down at steep gradients until they entered the huge semicircle of Suva Bay.

It was another quarter of an hour before their car brought them round the greater part of the long curve to the outskirts of the town, and by the time they found the berth at which the Boa Viagem was tied up it was well after midday.

Jumping out, James left Gregory to settle for the car and ran to the gangway leading up to the deck of the yacht. There he was halted by a sailor, which enabled Gregory to catch up with him. The man refused to let them pass until he had called an officer, so it was evident that Olinda was taking sound precautions. When they gave their names to the officer he said that the Senhora Maui de Carvalho, was expecting them, and led them to the saloon. Olinda was there, looking at a fashion magazine. As she saw them enter, she dropped the magazine and stood up, an expression of anxiety mingling with delight on her lovely face.