Officer Matano came to see her at the Regen Shah farm. Jackie was a little surprised to see an investigating officer travel so far to contact her.

“I had to come see you personally. I’ve discovered something rather delicate that I’d like to discuss with you.”

“I see. Whey don’t you come on it, then?” She let him into the main house, and into the office she was using.

“This is a big place.” He commented.

She agreed, “There used to live an extended family here in the early seventies. The owners want to turn it into a country retreat.”

“That’s a good idea. Otherwise, a house like this one is wasted these days. Families don’t stay together much.”

“No please, have a seat. Would you like a drink?”

“Actually, yes. It’s very cold up here. Tea, perhaps.”

“Of course.”

It occurred to Jackie as she arranged for Rose Mweni, (the housekeeper who had now taken a room in the main house) to make tea, that Officer Matano was nervous and trying to buy time.

He did eventually clear his throat, after several sips of tea, and then faced her squarely.

“Jackie, this is rather sensitive, but I have to ask you. Do you by any chance know if your father had a child by someone else?”

She almost choked. She was entirely surprised by the question. Very little surprised her these days. But the thought of having to explain the mystery of her parentage was a little too much for her.

“Jackie?”

“I don’t know. Why do you ask?”

Officer Matano reached into the briefcase he’d brought with him and pulled out something that he handed to her.

For a moment, she thought she was staring at a picture of herself. Then she noticed that there were some features that weren’t hers. And she swallowed hard.

“Who is this?”

“That is a young lady who was found dead in Mombasa. She had a Jamaican passport and was apparently in the country as a volunteer worker with an aid organization.”

“Dead?”

“Yes, she apparently drowned in the swimming poor of the villa she was renting for her stay.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Upon searching her villa, the police found these.” He reached into the briefcase again and this time handed her what turned out to be a dossier.

“Why did she have a dossier on me?” Jackie asked totally astounded.

“I was hoping you could help me with that. And I get a strong feeling that you do know something.”

Jackie struggled with herself for a long time. She stood up, walked to the window and stated outside while debating with herself about the issue. Meanwhile, Officer Matano waited patiently.

She did eventually turn back to the Officer, “How can I know if I can trust you, Officer?”

“If you don’t, I’ll find out the truth. It will just take me longer to get there, but I will. Besides, you are about to lose your land. This girl could be the answer.”

“Or maybe not. I know for sure that that is not Christopher’s daughter. But neither am I.”

“What do you mean?”

“Christopher and Alice weren’t my biological parents.”

“They adopted you?”

“Yes. From Raymond and Celeste Kabuga.”

“Do you think it was a good idea to tell him?”

“I truly have no idea.”

These last few weeks, Robbie and Jackie had learnt that it was not very easy to tell who could be trusted. Jackie knew she’d taken quite a chance telling the officer about her parents.

“Do you think she took out that loan?”

“If she did, it wasn’t for that paltry sum taken out. She was living in a hundred and fifty thousand shillings a month villa. That loan wouldn’t have lasted her three months on her lifestyle.”

“So maybe she took it out for someone else.”

“Yep. The question is ‘who?’ and for the love of God ‘why?”

They were both quiet for a while, each considering the complexity of the situation.

After a while, Robbie exhaled, “I went to see the kids.”

“I’m glad you did. I couldn’t make it. How are they?”

“Okay, considering circumstances. Alex hates living with strangers though. Oh by the way, I gave Alex a cell phone.”

“You shouldn’t have. But it means a lot to me. Now I can talk to them even if I don’t go there.”

“Brandon misses you. He wanted me to bring him to you. We had tears.”

“Poor baby.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll be all together, soon.”

Jackie cuddled close to the man who was now practically her husband, except for the abstinence-till-wedding-night vow. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.

“Talked to Larry, yet?”

“Yep. He’s suitably sorrowful.”

“Well, now that daddy is not there anymore, he gets the money, now.”

“Don’t forget the parliamentary seat.”

“Think they killed him, too?”

“He died of a massive coronary. Did you notice his waist, for the love of God? That fat, he should have been dead ages ago!”

Larry stood at a corner, people milling around him, murmuring condolences. He responded suitably, with the dignity of a first and only son, therefore heir, and the sorrow of a son who had lost his father. Inside, he was bored.

Faridah was weeping. Though separated from her husband, she had remained at his side in the public eye. She had supported his projects and been at the forefront of promoting him in the public eye. Today, she was the newly widowed woman. Everyone cried with her.

Larry watched his mother. Who could believe that she was such a clever crafty woman? Right now she looked a lot like an angel.

Here in his father’s richly furnished home, with her richly embroidered clothes, her richly jeweled fingers and her tear-stained face, she was grieving her husband. Later, Larry knew, she would celebrate his departure.

After the funeral, which would happen in eight to ten days, she would mourn for a suitable period. Then just in time with the political clamor for Larry’s seat, she would announce that her son was running for his father’s seat.

Larry knew without doubt that Faridah would promote her son’s political career with the same zeal and ardor she promoted Owino Kaiza’s career. Only this time, she would get her way in more ways than she did during Owino Kaiza’s tenure.

Who was he to deny her? She would surely find someone else to use if he denied her. Just as surely as she had found someone else to use when Kaiza had denied her.

“There’s something I haven’t told you.”

Jackie raised her brow at Robbie across the breakfast table, “That’s a new one. You tell me everything.”

“I do but you had so much to worry about, I thought this would freak you. Now I realize it might help you understand some things.”

Jackie waited. She was getting used to people showing up and telling her completely shocking things.

Robbie shifted comfortably, “Remember how Dr. Shah told you that if you found out why your father never married your mom you’d understand everything else?”

“Yes. I remember.”

“Well, I know why he didn’t marry her.”

“Okay. Why didn’t he?”

“It would have been bigamy. He was married to someone else.”

Jackie was quiet. Her mind rushed to her father’s letter.

…I know that my estate might yet again be subject to an investigation, but trust me; I have protected your inheritance as much as I possibly can.

If my estate is investigated, things might come to light that will hurt your mother. I trust and hope that you can be there for her always. Not everything I have done will make perfect sense to you. I have made mistakes. In other instances, I have made decisions that seem insane, but can only make sense to one who truly understands.

So. I hope that whatever you find out about me, true or not true, you will continue being proud of your unique identify. Your identity is not determined by who your parents are or are not. You have beautiful qualities that make you who you are.

“Whom was he married to?” Jackie asked Robbie.

Robbie took her hand, “Luke found records of a marriage dated August 8, 1978, between Christopher Otieno and Faridah Omar.”

It made sense. Faridah had obviously been involved in some business transactions with Christopher, Gerald, Robert and Sebastian. She was obviously using whatever hold she had on Christopher to get things done her way. She had gotten very rich on her own account separate from Owino Kaiza’s.

It also explained why Alice had refused to get into a fight with Owino over Christopher’s estate. Alice obviously knew the only thing she would accomplish was to expose Faridah as Christopher’s legal wife, therefore heir. Knowing that Christopher had protected the bulk of Jackie’s inheritance, she had opted to suffer for the while until Jackie came upon the trust. When she had learnt that her illness was terminal, she had made Jackie promise to take care of the other children. She had faith that Jackie would keep her promise.

Jackie had every intention to keep that promise.

However, right now, it seemed that the only way forward would involve find out what was really going on.

I’d like to talk to Officer Matano.” Jackie told Robbie, “Could you drive me? I’ll tell the driver to bring the truck over.”

“Sure.”

“You can drop me off and _”

“I’ll come with you.”

“You should go to work. I don’t want you to lose your job.”

“I don’t want to lose my baby.”

“What, you think I’ll be attacked in broad day light?”

“Jackie, someone is determined to get rid of you.”

“I know. But they’ll probably get rid of us both if we are together.”

“But we are stronger and smarter when we are together. I don’t want to leave you. Not for one second.”

Officer Matano was about to leave the Police Station when Robbie and Jackie arrived. He, however, took them back into his office.

“I was going to look for you later on. You should have a cell phone.” He said, inviting them to sit down with a wave toward the old wooden chairs in his office.

“I have a cell phone. And we are together most of the time. At least we will be.” Robbie informed.

The officer nodded, “Is he your boyfriend?” he asked with obvious curiosity.

“Husband, actually. It will be official in a few days.”

She glanced at Robbie, and saw the love and pride he had for her, shining in his eyes.

“Congratulations.”

He jotted down Robbie’s number, and then leaned back.

“So how can I help you?”

“I just wanted to know if you’ve found out anything about that girl.”

“Her name is Lettie Jones. And yes, I’ve found out a few things about her. I think you were right. She might be Raymond Kabuga’s daughter. I won’t be able to confirm that, though, until her mother can give us more information. She called to say she will arrive in Nairobi later today.”

“You said you thinks she is Raymond Kabuga’s child.”

“Yes. You know that there was quite a situation when Mr. Kabuga was murdered. I was able to contact a CID officer who connected me with Interpol. If found out that Miss Jones received a very large inheritance from Kabuga’s estate before the rest disappeared.”

“So she was rich.”

“Very rich. Her estate at her time of death was in excess of sixty million American dollars.”

“And do you still think she was involved in taking out that loan?”

“I haven’t ruled it out. Why do you think that loan was taken out? Simply to access a few hundred thousands?”

“I don’t know.”

“Tell me the truth, Jackie. Isn’t it true that you too received an inheritance from your father?”

“Do you mean my birth father or my adoptive father?”

“Your birth father. Remember, my friend in the CID had very detailed info. Your father, Christopher came upon a lot of money, right after Raymond’s estate by whatever arrangement they had which included passing you off as Christopher and Alice’s child. Am I wrong?”

“Maybe. So how does this tie in with the loan?”

“At the time, you had absolutely nothing to your account except that land. If you lost that land, you would have nothing, no money, no home, with no money, no home and no source of income, you would not have any kind of power to find out any truth. Your inheritance, both from your birth father and from your adoptive father would have been swept off and you not have a clue, or be able to investigate if you did have a clue”.

“So you think that was the motive of taking out that loan? To incapacitate me financially?”

“Do you have any other motive?”

“Well, it we didn’t have any specific subject, who is now conveniently dead_.”

“I think she was murdered. After she served her purpose.”

“She was rich, for love’s sake. Why would she get involved in this?”

“Same reason everyone else is involved. Money is never enough. The more you have, the more you need.

Robbie and Jackie were quiet on the drive to the farm.

They were almost close to the turn off from the highway in the road leading to the farm when a care a few meters ahead of them braked suddenly.

Jackie saw Robbie move his leg to the brake.

They both realized at the same moment that the truck was not slowing down.

She screamed. He saw that he had two choices. Hit the car in from of him, or veer off the road and possibly hit an electric pole. He chose to get off the road.

Jackie was still screaming when the truck hit a sand bank. The truck bounced and rolled to the side.

The last thing on his mind was, “She’s quiet. Please, God, don’t let her die. Don’t let me die.”