Jackie closed her eyes, listening Robbie explain what his C.I.D. friend had told him, trying to block the pain twisting like a knife in her heart. 

“In 1982, just about the time you were born, your father received a very large amount of money that he never accounted for. It wasn’t from any investments he’d made or from any inheritance. The authorities got suspicious and he was placed under investigation. That was without his knowledge at first.”

“Did they find anything?” 

“No. Not at first anyway. Later, however, in 1986, he came under the spotlight again. This time he was suspected of money laundering. A lot money was coming from overseas accounts that he was investing into the local market and donating to various charities.”

“Was he ever charged?”

“No. Apparently, your Daddy had friends in very high places. The case was stamped out before it could be filed. He was never charged with anything but the CID did keep an eye on him. The movement of money continued. The CID also knew his associates. But they could never do anything about it.”

“Okay, I’m having a really hard time taking this in, but from what you are telling me, my father was a criminal immune to prosecution because of his connections, right?”

“Pretty much.”

“Do you know if my uncle was involved? Because he’s one of those people in the high places.”

“Strangely, no. He was questioned, I’m told. He was very much in the dark. But his wife, Faridah, knew quite a bit. Only she never told.”

“Faridah?”

“Yes. She had her name on several transactions. Along with her brother-in-law, Stephen Opondo, Stephen’s cousin, Robert Kajwang. Angelie’s father Gerald Shinali, and some Italian guy named Sebastian Sylvestri.”

“I get the feeling that we are way beyond our depths here, Robbie.”

“So do I”.

They were bother quiet for a while. It was obvious to them that it was no longer just a matter of relatives grabbing property. It was advanced crime and it was dangerous.

Jackie stirred, snuggling closer into Robbie’s arms,” Robbie, I think I’m scared.

 ”So am I, Jackie. I want to tell you to let it go. I want to say that we have some hope with you landing this job, a house for the kids, and my having a steady job. I want to tell you that finding the truth doesn’t seem very worth it against the risk of getting killed. But it’s your choice, little girl. It’s up to you. I’ll support you all I can.”

 Alone in bed, Jackie went over everything Robbie had told her. It pained her, but she admitted to herself that there was so much about her father that could only be explained by the CID’s conclusions.

 If her father was involved in crime, his accomplice still alive knew about it. She recalled what Larry had told her. Apparently, he had failed to mention his own mother in his list of suspects.

 Her heart went cold, realizing that if indeed Faridah was involved, her son might have known about it. Had he mentioned Shinali, Kajwang and Opondo hoping to throw suspicion away from his mother and in effect himself?

Had these people killed Angelie? And indeed, had they killed Dr. Shah, too? It seemed a little strange that he had died just a few hours after telling her he had some information.

And what about the person that had been spying at Jackie’s farm? Had he probably deduced from what he heard that the doctor had information worth dying for? Had the doctor found any information at all?

*****

 Jackie spent the weekend working on the farm. Sanjiv dropped by Sunday afternoon. She had expected him to show up to discuss some plans for the farm; they were considering turning some of it into a weekend getaway resort. But as soon as he walked into the office, Jackie sensed he had another reason for coming to see her.

 ”Is everything alright, Sanjiv? You don’t look so good.” She asked, worrying that something else had developed.

 ”I am fine, Jackie. I’m just tired. And the news I have is not bad. At least not from where I stand.” He smiled, but she got a strong feeling that what he was about to tell her would bring another set of issues. 

“You know there was a delay in my father’s will reading, to allow my sister to arrive from the UK.” Sanjiv said after she served him his favorite drink, a dry martini.

 ”Yes. I’m sorry I couldn’t come to the funeral. So when will the will be read?”

 ”It’s been read.”

 ”Oh”.

 ”You were included Jackie, that’s why I’m here.”

 ”Excuse me?” I’m not part of the family. I mean-.”

 ”From my father’s point of view you are family. Anyway, the lawyer was instructed to summon you after the reading before the family. I offered to pass the message. “He handed her an envelope.

 She opened it and read the legally phrased note, simply requesting her to avail herself to be informed of her inheritance.

 ”Tell me the details.” She requested Sanjiv after reading the note.

 ”Actually, I don’t have the details. And I’m not sure what my father left you because all his property that we know about he divided among us.”

 *****

 Monday morning, Jackie worked on the farm, and then left to pursue some official documents pertaining to farm procedures at the District’s local government’s offices in Kiambu.

 At 3.00 pm., she was in Nairobi, at the lawyer’ offices listening to the middle-aged attorney inform her that Dr. Shah had been holding a few things in trust for her. Apparently, her mother had received the trust from her father and had passed it on to Dr. Shah on her death.

 ”How comes I didn’t know about this?” she asked.

 ”That is the way it was supposed to be. Your father made it clear that you were not to learn about the trust until after your twenty-second birthday.”

 ”I -. I turned twenty two the day Dr. Shah died.” She gasped, a little overwhelmed. She had not even remembered her birthday. Not that birthdays were ever a big deal in her family. Her parents had insisted on love and goodwill all though the year. But to think that the day Dr. Shah died was significant in more ways than the Doctor’s day of death, troubled her for a reason she couldn’t quite formulate.

 ”According to Dr. Shah’s will, if he was to die before you turned twenty-two, the trust would be held by his bank until you did turn twenty-two. However, you turned twenty two on the day he died, so I am obligated to inform you about it.”

 Jackie listened as he described the trust. Stocks, shares, bank accounts. She didn’t fail to notice that there was no real estate involved. Finally, there was a letter addressed to her.

 My dearest child, Jackie,

 It pains me to write this letter, knowing that as you read it, I will be no more. I pray that I have loved you well and thought you all you need to know to make it in this cruel world. I want you to know that I pen these words with all the love a father can feel for his child. I hope that you can forgive me if there is any cause for you to feel hurt for any decisions or choices that I made with regards to you.

 Please allow me to explain a few things. I hope that as you learn this truth, you will deal with it with all the strength and maturity I trust you have developed.

 In 1982, I was a young ambitious doctor hoping to save the world and get very rich doing it. A few years earlier, I had met and made friends with a wealthy Ugandan man. It was this mad who had funded part of my tuition towards a master’s degree. In 1982, this man asked me to partner him in providing health care for a short time, in northern Uganda. Your mother and I decided to take the offer. Work like that could open the way to work with international organizations even the UN.

 Dr. Satinder Shah who had given me a place in his surgery actually encouraged me to take the job. Your mom was three months pregnant at the time, but she was very eager to see me succeed. So it was that we arrived in Uganda on the 1st of May 1982. My friend Raymond Kabuga met us….

  Jackie’s heart slammed in her chest. She recognized that name. While researching on a paper she’s written for an on-line creative writing course her father had paid for while she was still in high school, Jackie had read about this man. 

As she recalled, Raymond Kabuga and his wife had been found brutally murdered in their car, on the Uganda-Tanzania border. From the newspaper clips she’d read, the conclusion had been made by several authorities involved in the investigation, that Mr. Kabuga and his wife ha been murdered by criminals that he had been involve with. 

Jackie felt tears smart her eyes. Was her father admitting to being involved in crime? 

…and his wife Celeste. They had rented a home for us very near their own. That way when I had to go for days into the jungle to treat the locals, your mom would have Celeste for company. Celeste was pregnant too.

Things were fine all through our stay until the last few days of Alice’s pregnancy. She started experiencing serious problems. We couldn’t travel back to Kenya; your mother was too delicate. So we stayed on in Kampala.

 Jackie frowned. Did that mean that she had been born in Uganda? They had never told her this part of the story. Maybe it was because it had been a traumatic time for them, she decided. 

Raymond and Celeste had problems, too. It had nothing to do with Celeste’s pregnancy. A few years earlier, Raymond had been a student in England. Like me, he believed in doing all he could to succeed in life. So back then he’d gotten into business with some European investors.

Raymond had found out in the course of his business, that one of the people he was working with was involved in financial crime. Raymond, a man of ethics and high moral standards, decided to tell the authorities. An investigation ensued and several arrests and prosecutions resulted. Unknown to Raymond, the investigation had also exposed a man who had mafia links. He was found guilty and jailed for five years in Switzerland.

 This man, Sebastian Sylvestri was freed in 1982 and was now looking for Raymond with vengeance on his mind. 

 Jackie swallowed hard. Sebastian Sylvestri was the name of the man the CID had named as her father’s accomplice. How had Christopher come to be involved with this criminal? 

She curled up in the couch, unable to continue reading her father’s letter, for the moment. 

Her head hurt. She was now not very sure she wanted to know the truth about her father, her family, her heritage. She closed her eyes and leaned back, exhausted. 

She was almost dozing off when she heard the explosion. She woke up in a panic, and found the house consumed by fire. The only coherent thought she could form was, “The kids! Dear God, don’t let the kids die!” 

She was screaming as she fought against the furious flames, crossing into the narrow corridor leading to the bedroom. The kids came out of their rooms, saw the five the fire and froze with wide-eyed terror. 

“Let’s get out?” Alex cried out, beginning to run outwards towards the fire in the living room. 

“No!” Jackie cried grabbing her terrified brother and pushing him back,” We’ll get out through the garage. Through my room. She herded them backwards towards her room that had a bathroom ensuite. Through the bathroom was a door that let out into the garage. 

“Keep everyone together, Alex!” she ordered leading the way. Both doors, the one out of her bathroom, and the garage doors were made of steel, hardly used and difficult to open. 

The fire was literally breathing down their necks by the time she got the bathroom door to open. Jackie was struggling with the garage doors when William gasped, “Danielle! Where is Danielle?” 

“Oh my God!” Jessie cried, looking at the fire, somewhere within which their little sister was, forgotten in the panic and terror. 

“I’ll get her.” Alex said and lunged towards the fire. Jackie was torn between getting the doors open and going after her brother and little sister. 

“Open the door!” William yelled, hoisting Brandon higher into his arms. The little boy screamed with fear, giving Jackie all the incentive she needed to get the door open. 

The kids stumbled out into the fresh air. The new surge of air, however, fed the fire. 

“Get as far away from the fire as possible.” She instructed, shouting over the roar of the fire. She turned back, knowing in her heart her siblings needed her. 

Once inside the bathroom, she reached for a water faucet. She gasped when she found that the metal had already heated up. She did manage though to soak a towel wet to cover her face with. As she pushed into the bedroom, she knew with certainty that Alex and Danielle were stuck on the other side. 

“Alex!” she yelled terrified that in the heat and smoke she would lose orientation. She lunged through the fire into the girls’ room. 

“Alex!” She could tell there was no one in the room. A roar filled her ears as she turned. The heat was beginning to overwhelm her, she realized, as she fell to her knees. She was rather surprised to discover that it was more bearable near the ground than higher up. 

“Jackie! In here!” She heard Alex’s voice.

“Where are you, Alex?” she called back, crawling towards here brother’s voice. 

“In our room! We can get out through this window! I got Danny out!” 

She was blind as she crawled towards Alex. He met her halfway there, “Why did you come back, sis?” he asked in anguish, “I could have gotten her out by myself. I got her out by myself.” 

“I love you, Alex. I couldn’t wait.” She gasped, pain shooting into her lungs as her brother dragged her. For some reason, the boys’ room was smoke filled but not consumed by fire. 

Alex was pushing her out of the window when she remembered, “The letter!” 

“What letter, Jackie? Get out. Now!” 

“No. Daddy’s letter. I’ve got to get it!” she started to push back, but Alex shoved her out. 

She was unconscious as she reached the other side, falling into the arms of waiting Samaritans. 

She was just coming to when an explosion ripped through the air. She was lying on the ground ten or so meters from the house. For a second, she felt herself suspended through the air. The next second there was a flash and debris was raining down all around her and all she could think of was her siblings and- 

“Alex!” she was running towards the house, people restraining her, the light of the fire illuminating the darkness of the right, her mind completely scrambled in fear and horror. 

“Jackie!” her brother moved in from somewhere, grabbing her, embracing her, holding her tight. 

“Oh God.” Was all she could say. 

“Its okay, sis. I’m okay. We are all okay.” Alex comforted her, guiding her to where the rest of the kids were. When she saw them, all together, all safe, she just fainted, into the sweet comfort of oblivion.

This time, when she came to, she was in the main house, in a bed, with all her siblings hovering over her and Robbie talking to some man. 

No one noticed she was awake at first, and she listened to Robbie fret. 

“Are you sure we shouldn’t take her to hospital? She’s been unconscious for so long!” 

“She’s in shock. I’ll examine her again. But for now, she just needs to rest.” 

“What about smoke inhalation? What if_?” 

She stirred, making them all turn towards her. “I am fine.” 

Her voice was hoarse, her throat sore and it hurt to breath. She wasn’t fine, she thought to herself but pasted on a brave face. Just don’t talk, Jackie Otieno, she told herself. In an instant, they were all over her, Robbie most especially, acting as if he was afraid to lose her. 

No one settled that night. The police showed up about an hour after the fire started. By then Robbie had been summoned and had arrived from his home nearly ten kilometers away from the farm. 

The farm was now crawling with police, restless workers and curious neighbors. Sanjiv arrived at the farm with the break of down. It was he that delivered the thesis from the investigators on the site of fire, to Jackie and Robbie who had curled up on a duvet in the living room. 

“Arson?” Robbie asked, holding his fiancé little tighter. Sanjiv nodded, “looks like there was a very large amount of petroleum on site.” 

“And the explosions?” Jackie asked. 

“Gas cylinder. “Sanjiv said, obviously repeating what he’d been told by the officers. 

“There was another one. Before the fire started. That’s what woke me up.” Jackie insisted. 

“Maybe you should tell the cops that.” Sanjiv suggested, standing up, “Jackie, I think we should get the kids out of here.” 

“They have to go to school.” She said, struggling to collect her thoughts. 

“Oh come on, Jackie. You want to send the kids to school after such a night?” Robbie asked her, shaking a little sense of reality in her. 

“I don’t know. I’m just tired. Someone just tired to kill my family.” 

“Which is why we should get the kids out of here.” Sanjiv stated, “we can take them to the farm in Thika. They’ll be with my brother’s kids and my sister and my wife will take good care of them. At least until we can sort things out here.” he assured.

 Jackie agreed with Robbie and Sanjiv. She left the men talking in the living room and went upstairs to tell the kids about the situation.

 ”What about you?” Jessie wanted to know.

 ”I’ll be fine. I need you guys to behave yourselves and take good care of each other, okay?” she requested.

 The kids didn’t have any luggage, since everything had burnt down in the house. They were ready to leave in no time. Sanjiv promised to take care of their clothing and personal stuff.

 They were in Sanjiv’s truck when Alex jumped off, calling to Jackie, waving some papers to her, “Here! I got this for you.”

 Jackie gasped in pleased surprise,” Daddy’s letter! How did you get these?” she cried accepting the letter.

 ”I went back.” Alex told her, hugging her, “You wanted them so bad you fainted. I had to go back.”

 ”They aren’t even burnt!” She exclaimed, tears filling up her eyes. Alex smiled, kissed her check and started walking back to the truck. He stopped and looked back at her, “I’ll take care of them, I promise.”

 ”Thank you.” She mouthed, watching her fast growing lanky brother, recognizing that he was growing into a man. Daddy would be proud, she thought.

 The day was very busy. After the kids left with Sanjiv, the police asked her to record a statement with them. Later on, she had appointments that she just couldn’t cancel. She had to talk to the building contractors, agricultural suppliers, financial consultants and her lawyer Steven Thuo.

 Robbie left for work but returned to be with her in the late afternoon. By early evening, Jackie was so tired she fell asleep on the office couch. When she woke up she was tucked in under a warm blanket. Robbie was fast asleep on an adjacent seat.

 She glanced at the wall clock and noted that it was nearly midnight. She uncurled herself slowly and tiptoed to cover Robbie with the blanket he had covered her up with. Then she went around to the desk and pulled out her father’s letter from a drawer.

 We did not really think it was serious situation. The man had called Raymond with threats, which Raymond had reported back to the Interpol. Interpol had assured Raymond that he had nothing to worry about; that Sebastian Sylvestri threats were just empty.

 In the meantime, Alice went trough a very painful time. On October 20th, she was admitted at the Victoria Hospital in Kampala. A child was born on the 23rd of October. Two days later, Celeste went into labor. She gave birth to a healthy baby girl on the 26th of October.

 Things went crazy on the 30th. First, our child developed neonatal pneumonia. Then Raymond was attacked at his home. Celeste received a call at the hospital, a few hours after her husband was attacked. Raymond was desperate to get his wife and daughter to safety. I was desperate to have my child get better.

 On the 31st of October, my child died….

 She read and reread the sentence. It didn’t make any sense to her. She wanted to go on reading, but she was terrified of confirming her thoughts. 

“Oh God. Oh my God.” 

Her shocked moans woke Robbie, who rushed to her side. “What’s wrong?” 

She was too scared to contemplate what her father was telling her. Robbie took the letter from her and quickly scanned the contents. He too came to the same conclusion she had even before he could finish reading the letter. 

He took her into his arms, rocking her gently, wondering how much worse it could get. How much more trauma could a person endure?