Free Death in Zanzibar by M. M. Kaye Page A

asleep again.
    Dany peered anxiously down at Africa and did not think much of it. A vast, flat expanse of orange-brown, broken by splashes of livid green and dotted with clusters of pigmy beehives which she took to be native kraals. But at last there arose on the horizon a blue shadow topped by twin snow peaks.
    â€˜Mount Kenya,’ announced an enthusiastic passenger who had been studying the flight card. ‘We should be coming down to land soon. We’re due at Nairobi at eleven, and I make it a quarter to.’
    â€˜Will passengers please fasten their seat belts,’ intoned the stewardess, and Dany turned her attention to the arduous task of rousing her employer.

5
    â€˜L’me alone,’ mumbled Mr Holden thickly, and without opening his eyes.
    â€˜I can’t,’ said Dany, continuing to shake him. ‘Wake up! You can’t go on sleeping any longer. At least, not here. We’ll be in Nairobi in a few minutes.’
    â€˜What of it?’
    â€˜We get out there,’ explained Dany patiently. ‘This particular plane goes no further. Remember? You’ve got to wake up. Lash, please wake up!’
    â€˜Go t’hell,’ murmured Lash indistinctly.
    Dany shook him viciously, and Lash moaned and attempted to sit upright. He forced open his eyes with a palpable effort and shut them again quickly.
    â€˜God! I feel terrible!’
    â€˜That’s what you said before,’ snapped Dany unsympathetically. ‘And you look it!’
    Lash opened his eyes again, but with caution, and scowled at her. ‘Do I know you?’ he inquired.
    Oh dear God, he means it! thought Dany with desperation. He really means it! he doesn’t remember ____ Panic threatened to rise and engulf her, but she fought it down.
    â€˜You should,’ she observed briskly. ‘I’m your new secretary.’
    â€˜Rubbish! What’s happened to Ada?’
    â€˜Mumps,’ said Dany succinctly.
    â€˜Then how in hell ____ ? Oh, let it go! Let it go! I’ll sort it out later. God ____ ! Have I got a hangover!’
    The aircraft touched down on the runway with a light bump and Lash clutched his head and groaned aloud.
    *   *   *
    Dany could never remember afterwards how she had got through the next half hour, but at least she had had no time in which to be frightened. There had been no sign of Tyson’s secretary, Nigel Ponting, and somehow or other she had collected her luggage, and Lash Holden’s, piloted him through a maze of official procedure, steered him through the customs and shepherded him into a taxi. Her passport — or more correctly, Ada Kitchell’s — had received only the most cursory glance, and once in the taxi Lash had roused himself sufficiently to recall the name of the hotel where those passengers who were booked through to Zanzibar were to spend the night.
    â€˜Holden?’ said the receptionist, peering shortsightedly through rimless glasses. ‘Mr L. J. Holden? Oh yes. Yes, of course. We were expecting you.’ She beamed on them as though their safe arrival was a matter for congratulation. ‘Your rooms are reserved. I hope you had a pleasant flight? There is a message from a Mr Ponting. He had to see the dentist — an emergency stopping, and he could get no other appointment. But he will be calling round later and hopes you will forgive him for not having been at the airport.’
    â€˜His loss, our gain,’ said Lash sourly. ‘Let’s hope he gets a gumboil as well, and is hung up at the dentist’s indefinitely. Suits me.’
    â€˜Er … um … quite,’ said the receptionist with an uncertain smile. ‘The boys will take your luggage along, madam. Sign here please, sir. Now is there anything you would like sent up ____ ?’
    â€˜Black coffee,’ said Lash. ‘A bath of it. And some Alka-Seltzer.’
    â€˜Er — certainly. Of course. Will the other