Free Frederick Ramsay_Botswana Mystery 01 by Predators

Kaleke assumed the leadership of the group.
    “We are being asked by Mma Michael to hunt a rogue lion. This lion has killed a man, and the government wants it removed. She has sensibly asked us to help in this hunt. I ask you, now, Missus, where is this lion doing his killing?”
    Sanderson pointed east. “The boy ran into the bush at night near Kazungula.”
    “When did this take place, and why would he do such a foolish thing?” a tall man with a scraggly beard asked.
    “This boy ran into the lion over a week ago. He wished to avoid punishment by the men of his village. They caught him stealing.”
    Sanderson did not mention that the items the boy stole were now mounted on the truck they’d admired earlier that evening.
    “Kazungula is on the other side of Kasane and away from the park. He will be a Zimbabwe lion, I think.” The man said. The others murmured in agreement.
    Mr. Naledi, Michael’s boss, turned to the assembly. “You are better at hunting than I. You have tracked the lion in your youth. I have not. I speak with respect to you, therefore, but does it not seem that by this time that lion is back in Zimbabwe. Have there been any more reports of him? Are there goats missing, cattle, and other sightings since this event?”
    Sanderson shook her head.
    “Mr. Naledi says the truth. There is game in Zimbabwe, dipitse ya naga and dikolobe .” The men grunted their agreement. There would, indeed, be zebra and warthogs over the border, impala, too. Game a lion could track and kill.
    “Perhaps,” a third man said, “but if this lion has been run off by the old man of the pride, he might not be so happy to go back to Zimbabwe so soon.”
    “You are right there, but if he did or did not, Mma Michael is still burdened with the task of finding him and sending him to his ancestors. We must at least look at the place where the death happened and see,” Mr. Kaleke said.
    “I can take you there.” Sanderson said. The men seemed to hesitate. “Mr. Naledi will drive the truck.”
    Mr. Kaleke shook his head in approval. “Tomorrow we shall visit the place where the lion killed the man, and then we will see.”
    The men nodded their heads and disappeared into the night to their homes. One by one the torches guttered out leaving the sky brilliant with stars and a three-quarter moon.
    Sanderson was pleased.

Chapter 14
    “She went into his room. She said she had some business to attend to but that’s Travis’ room. Why did she do that?”
    “Pipe down and follow me.” Leo steered Bobby down the corridor to his suite.
    “I need to go see what she’s doing.”
    “Don’t be stupid, son. You know what she’s doing. I told you about her before you let your hormones dictate to your brain and went ahead and married her anyway.” Leo shoved Bobby toward the couch.
    “But—”
    “Shut up and listen to me. That woman is nothing but trouble.”
    “She’s okay. It’s just…I need to see—”
    “Tell me she hasn’t spent every dime you’ve got and some you don’t. You stay with that slut and you are doomed. Now, tell me about the stock that Travis Parizzi bought.”
    “I told you, I sold it to him. I have an option to buy it back, though.” Leo stared at the boy and waited. “I can have it back inside a year.”
    “What’s he charging you to take it back?”
    “He said there were fees and things. I don’t know, transfer fees and stuff. He said I could buy it back for what he paid for it plus ten percent.”
    “That’s a nice return on investment in a year, especially since I bet he squeezed you on the price and he knows you’ll never find the funds to do it. Not with that whore you’re married to raiding the cookie jar all the time.”
    “Brenda’s not a whore.”
    “No? Then what’s she doing now in Travis’ room, playing canasta?”
    Bobby slumped down in the sofa and hung his head. His hands dangled between his knees. “I don’t know.”
    Leo lighted a cigar and paced the room.