Page 84 of In the Heat of the Jungle

“Losing yours doesn’t matter. Losing hers does. The snake killed her, but I’m not convinced it wasn’t slipped into her tent. She had no chance against it in there.”

“Neither am I,” Chad vowed, hatred gnawing at him. Distress filled the man’s gaze. “Surely you didn’t kill her because of my mistake with Joanna and your other crazy suspicions. How could you murder her?”

Jace glared at him. “You sorry bastard, I didn’t kill her.” He fetched a bottle of Scotch and a metal cup. He dropped wearily into a chair and began to drink. “I almost had her. Damn you for intruding and getting her killed. I should never have left her in camp today. I knew she was in danger from you and Louisa.”

“I had nothing to do with this!” Louisa shrieked, as she returned to access the situation.

“But you had plenty to do with other incidents, didn’t you, bitch?” Chad accused. “That London attack, those gun problems, and that trouble at Fort Jesus. How else could you have known about them? You’ve been plotting against her the whole time! I’ll kill you.”

“You aren’t going to put the blame on me; I won’t be framed, damn you. Leigh told me about those incidents. I didn’t mention them because I thought you and Leigh set them up to ensnare Jace’s interest in her so he’d be our guide and so he’d lose the wager with you. I’m innocent, so I won’t stand here and be insulted.” She fled to her tent again.

Johi touched Jace’s shoulder. “Bwana Jace-“

“Leave me alone, Johi. All of you, leave me alone, Lordy, she was too young, beautiful and gentle to die like that. Why couldn’t that snake have attacked one of you?” He took the bottle and cup, and trudged through the rain and mud to his tent.

Johi watched, looked sad and worried, then shook his head. He walked toward the bearer camp nearby.

“It’s over, Chad. Let’s get inside.”

Johi skirted the area and slipped behind Chad’s tent to eavesdrop on the white men.

Reid tossed Chad a dry shirt and said, “There’s nothing we can do but return home. It wasn’t all wasted; you have Webster International.”

Chad felt drained. “I wanted Leighandthe firm.”

“You can’t have her now; she’s gone. Don’t let her death loosen your wits and tongue, old friend, and make us suspects. You were planning to kill her.”

“Before I met Leigh and fell in love with her.”

“That’s right, but you changed your mind again. You realized she was duping you, so you were going to kill her after we reached this camp. You changed your plan again because of what she told you during that walk. Don’t you see how confused you’ve been?”

“She loved me and was going to marry me. She was fooling Jace.”

“You only have her claims she was duping him.”

“She didn’t lie, Reid.”

“Then why is Jace so crushed by her death?”

“He wanted her, too. We both lost this time.”

“What are you going to do about Jace?”

Chad’s mind and body were numbing fast. “Nothing. Revenge got me into this trouble. I was going to lure Leigh here, kill her, and frame Jace. That all changed after her arrival in London. I decided to marry her and forget about Jace. I didn’t hurt her with those drugs in her canteen; I only did it to make her sick so I could cancel the safari and get her away from Jace. Then you and Louisa convinced me they were lovers, and I wanted to kill them. I would have, if Leigh hadn’t told me everything during our walk. You and that bitch were wrong. Leigh would have married me.”

Reid knew he couldn’t reach Chad’s deluded mind. “Do you think Jace pulled those other tricks? Or Louisa?”

Chad sank to his cot. “What difference does it make now? My love is dead. Don’t talk anymore. I’m tired.”

~*~

At dawn, Chad left his tent and hurried through the rain and mud to Leigh’s. He found Jace sitting on her cot, holding one of Leigh’s shirts against his lowered face. “What are you doing in here?”

Jace lowered the garment and stared at Chad. He hadn’t shaved and he looked exhausted. “I held her in my arms and I saw her die, but I still can’t believe she’s gone. We did this to her, old friend. If you hadn’t insisted on leaving that last camp ahead of schedule, she wouldn’t have been in this area yesterday. And it was your order to leave the women behind so you could kill your big lion. I should have been the one giving orders, but she had me too distracted to keep my mind on business. What do you want to do with her things?” Jace lifted a book and glanced at it. He picked up her brush, pulled blond strands from the bristles, and gazed at them. He kicked at the boots near the cot supports, then cradled the Leigh-scented shirt again.

Chad glanced around the tent, and anguish filled his eyes. “Burn it. Burn it all. I couldn’t stand to look at this stuff all the way back, and nobody is touching or taking her things. When can we leave?”

Jace stood and flexed. “Mighty anxious to get to London, aren’t you? I wish you could bury her with family, but the voyage is too long to have a decomposing body aboard. I’ll put a marker on her grave. We can’t pack up and leave until the rain stops.”

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