Deon Meyer - Blood Safari

‘The people I was worried about don’t lay ambushes with high-velocity rifles. What happened?’

‘We were on our way back from Mogale. They were waiting for us. Shot out the tyres. I couldn’t control the car. So we ran for it. There was a train. We jumped on the train and they shot Emma.’

‘How many were there?’

‘Three.’

‘Describe them.’

‘They were too far away.’

‘Not good enough.’

‘They were wearing balaclavas. They were men, that I know. They were never closer than fifty or sixty metres.’

‘And you got away? Miss le Roux was shot and your shoulder was dislocated?’

‘We were lucky.’

‘Lucky? Tell her that.’

‘Fuck you, Jack.’

‘Are you going to assault me now, Martin? Are you going to beat me to death like you beat a twenty-three-year-old articled clerk to death?’

‘The articled clerk had three mates, Jack. It was self-defence.’

‘That’s not what the court said. You have an anger management problem. I could see that yesterday.’

‘You threatened Emma physically. She asked you to let her go. That’s police brutality.’

‘Where have you been?’

‘What?’

‘Where have you and Miss le Roux been since you arrived in our area?’

‘To Mogale, Badplaas and Warmbad.’

‘What were you doing in Badplaas and Warmbad?’

‘She went to talk to Cobie de Villiers’ former employer and his fiancée.’

‘And?’

‘And nothing. They know nothing.’

‘What else?’

‘What do you mean, “what else”?’

‘Something must have happened. Someone is angry with you.’

‘You were the one who was angry with us, Jack. It makes me wonder.’

‘What about the message?’

‘What message?’

‘You know what I’m referring to.’

‘I have no idea.’

‘The woman at Mohlolobe said somebody left you a message at the gate. The gate guard said he gave the letter to Emma le Roux. What was in the letter?’

‘I don’t know. She didn’t say.’

He leaned forward, chin propped on his hand, like the Thinker.

‘I want to shower, Jack.’

He waited before responding. ‘Why did she need you, Martin?’

‘What?’

‘Why did she hire a bodyguard to come and look for her brother? It’s not that dangerous in the Lowveld.’

‘Ask her.’

‘I’m asking you.’

‘I don’t know.’

He got up slowly and stood right in front of me. ‘I think you’re lying.’

‘Prove it.’

‘I know your type, Martin. Trouble magnets. We don’t need more trouble here. We have enough. I’m watching you.’

‘Jissie , Inspector, you make me feel so safe.’

He scowled at me and turned those big shoulders and went to the door. He opened it and then he said, ‘Next time it won’t be four years, Martin. I’ll put you away for a long, long time.’

Only once I had showered did I spot the envelope on the bedside cabinet. The room must have been a hive of activity while I slept.

I tore it open. It was neatly typed under the letterhead of SouthMed Clinics.

Dear Mr Lemmer

We have brought your luggage, which you will find in the lounge. Miss Le Roux’s bags are in safe keeping. Should you need them, please contact me.

You are welcome to use our restaurant facilities on the ground floor at your leisure. Also, a Ms Jeanette Louw called, and asked that you call her back once you feel up to it.

Dr Koos Taljaard, who has been treating you, is at your disposal. His telephone number is 092 449 9090. The surgeon in charge of Ms Le Roux’s care is Dr Eleanor Taljaard, and you can reach her on extension 4142.

Should you need any assistance, please do not hesitate to call me on 092 701 3869.

Very best wishes

Maggie T. Padayachee

Client Services Manager

I recognised the trauma surgeon immediately. It was her picture in the silver frame on Dr Koos Taljaard’s desk.

‘I’m Eleanor,’ she said in a lovely modulated voice. She was taller than me.

‘How is Emma?’

‘Are you Mr Lemmer?’

‘Oh, sorry. Yes. I …’

‘It’s understandable. Miss le Roux is your client, I believe.’

‘That’s right.’

‘Can you help us to contact her next of kin?’

‘No. I mean … There aren’t any.’

‘Not any?’

‘Her parents and her brother are dead. There is no one else.’

‘Dear me. An employer? Colleagues?’

‘She works on her own, a consultant.’

‘Oh.’

‘Doctor, tell me, please. How is she?’

‘Come sit down, Mr Lemmer.’ She steered me by the elbow to an office. On her desk was a photo of Koos. In a silver frame. He looked rotund. She sat down. I sat opposite her.

‘All I can tell you at the moment is that her condition is very serious. It’s the injury to the brain that makes it more complicated.’

‘What brain injury?’

‘There was a direct trauma to the brain, Mr Lemmer.’

‘What sort of injury?’

‘Look, the details are not important…’

‘Doc, the details are important.’

She looked at me, sighed, and said, ‘It is typical coup-contrecoup. The problem is that she is not stable enough to scan yet. I suspect an epidural haematoma. Possible brain damage. Can you tell me how the injury occurred?’

‘Doc …’

‘Eleanor.’

‘She fell. Her eye was bleeding … here …’I pressed my fingers to my cheekbone.

‘No. The zygomatic wound is superficial. I’m referring to the parietal trauma.’ She dropped her head and indicated with her hand the left rear of her skull. ‘This is the parietal bone of the cranium. It protects the parietal lobe of the brain. The impact must have been severe.’ She assumed I didn’t understand the medical terms, not knowing that I had previous experience.

‘We were on a train. When they shot her, she fell. She fell off a train. It was travelling fast.’

‘Dear me …’

‘I didn’t see how she landed.’

‘Who on earth …?’

‘I don’t know.’

She wanted to pursue the topic, I could see that. But she reconsidered and gathered her thoughts. ‘Mr Lemmer …’

‘They just call me Lemmer.’

‘When this type of injury occurs, the impact is so great that the brain literally bounces back and forth against the sides of the cranium. The first impact we call the coup, the second is the contrecoup, when the opposite side of the brain rebounds against the cranium. Usually the injury is to the cerebral cortex. That’s the outermost layer of the cerebrum, between one point five and five millimetres thick. The bruising varies according to the nature of the impact. The process is popularly called concussion. The Afrikaans term harsingskudding describes it well, like a brainquake. Are you with me?’

‘I understand.’

‘Concussion appears in varying degrees and symptoms. Light concussion can make you dizzy for a second, serious concussion can leave you unconscious. Miss le Roux’s injury is serious. She has lost consciousness, which is not a good sign. With this type of injury, where an object or a fragment of skull has not penetrated the brain, unconsciousness is usually a symptom of brain damage. Not always, but usually.’

‘Doc …’

‘Please don’t call me “doc”. My name is Eleanor. You need to understand, Lemmer, it is impossible to know yet whether there will be permanent brain damage, or what the nature of the damage will be, if there is any. The area of the brain that is injured determines that. Miss le Roux is in a coma and the best indicator of the degree of possible damage is the length of time she remains comatose. But there are two good signs. She doesn’t have bilateral dilation of the pupils. That means both pupils respond to light – they contract when we shine a light on them. Statistically only twenty per cent of brain trauma patients with normal pupillary response die. So there is hope, but I must reiterate: we don’t know whether there is epidural haematoma. In common terms: bleeding on the brain. Once she is stable enough, we will do a CT scan.’