Private Gold

Chapter 16

Joey drove in silence for a while as he absorbed Isobel’s latest bombshell. They were heading into an unknown situation, armed with only one pistol and a set of coordinates.

“That’s why I came to South Africa,” she added, sounding apologetic. “Because I’m hoping to find out.”

With so few facts available, Joey thought Isobel might have been wiser to hire a small army when she arrived at O.R. Tambo International, instead of putting her trust in just one bodyguard.

“Well, what do you know so far?” Joey asked. “Start from the beginning, and let’s see how much we can piece together.”

“My husband, Dave, runs a road-freight company. I’m here because of him,” Isobel said.

Joey was surprised by the stab of disappointment he felt when he heard her mention a husband. It wasn’t until that moment he noticed the large, marquise-cut diamond on her wedding finger. Usually, his first advice to tourists traveling in dangerous areas was to remove visible jewelry and hide it away. But perhaps now wasn’t the right time to suggest this, he thought.

“Why didn’t he come with you?” Joey asked, wondering if Dave had any idea of the danger she was facing, and if so, why he’d let her travel alone.

“Let me give you some background,” Isobel said. “Dave expanded his business into Africa two and a half years ago. Since then, he’s been making out as if everything’s fine, and that business has never been better. We’ve been taking luxury vacations, and he bought us each a new Porsche Cayenne last Christmas. He’s building a vacation home in the Hamptons and my birthday present this year was a stunning pink diamond eternity necklace, set in platinum.”

“Wow,” Joey said, and Isobel nodded before continuing.

“I didn’t know there was a problem at all. Dave doesn’t discuss business with me. But one of my good friends, Samantha, works for his company, managing the accounts. When I showed her my necklace, she looked worried, instead of pleased, and sort of blurted out that she wondered how much it had cost. Anyway, we ended up going for coffee on the weekend and she confessed to me that she was really worried, because it looked like the company was in big trouble financially. She assumed Dave had told me, but he hadn’t said a word. I mean, he was acting completely normal.” Isobel rolled her eyes. “If you define ‘normal’ as hosting business lunches at Masa twice a week and flying his helicopter to the Hamptons every weekend for site meetings with his architect,” she added.

Joey noted that Isobel hadn’t included herself in either of the activities. Briefly, he wondered how happy their marriage was.

“What do you mean by financial trouble?” he asked. “Did Samantha explain?”

Isobel nodded. “Turnover has halved in the past year. Dave has been focusing on the African network and neglecting the US side of the business. The US business has shrunk substantially, and the African network, which started out profitable, is now in the red and hemorrhaging costs.”

“Did you discuss it with Dave?”

“Yes. I tried to talk to him about it many times. But every time he became angry and just shut down, refusing to listen.”

Joey glanced at Isobel again, but she was looking down at her hands, twisting the ring back and forth.

“He’s like that,” she added, as if trying to apologize for him. “He’s a proud man. I don’t think he would ever admit to needing help. So I decided I was going to try to help him anyway. Samantha and I started an in-depth investigation.”

“What did you find?”

“The African network manager was replaced thirteen months ago, and very soon after that, profits started to fall. The new manager, Brogan, is an old friend of Dave’s, and to be honest, I’ve never liked him. Or trusted him.”

Joey could feel his skin prickling, sensing trouble.

“And then we discovered something else. The new information turned out to be a game-changer. It was the reason I decided to travel out here and see what I could find at these coordinates.” Isobel checked her phone again. “Oh, look, I’ve got a signal back again. And we’re heading in the right direction. We should arrive there in ten minutes — wherever ‘there’ is — so we’ll be in time.”

“Don’t speak too soon,” Joey warned, easing the car down a steep slope and tightening his lips as he saw the road disappear into a churned sea of mud. Even in dry weather, this part of the drive was treacherous. In wet weather, it was occasionally impassable, but backtracking would take too long, and it was already starting to get dark. He could only hope that they’d be lucky this time.

They weren’t.

The wheels slipped and spun as the SUV failed to gain traction to climb out of the ravine. The big car wallowed in the deep mud, its forward momentum bleeding away. They were stuck, unable to go forward or back, the tires spinning helplessly in the mire.