The Constant Gardener

Justin was speaking at last. "Thank you, Sandy. I'm appreciative of all you've done for me. I'm grateful that you enabled me to visit my own house. But now I must collect the rent on Piccadilly, where I seem to own a valuable hotel."

At which to Woodrow's astonishment he returned to the garden and, resuming his place next to Donohue, took up the game of Monopoly where he had left it.

CHAPTER FOUR

The British police were absolute lambs. Gloria said so, and if Woodrow didn't agree with her, he didn't show it. Even Porter Coleridge, though parsimonious in describing his dealings with them, declared them "surprisingly civilized considering they were shits." And the nicest thing about them was-Gloria reported to Elena from her bedroom after she had escorted them to the living room for the start of their second day with Justin — the nicest thing ever was, El, that you really felt they were here to help, not heap more pain and embarrassment onto poor dear Justin's shoulders. Rob the boy was dishy — well, man really, El, he must be twenty-five if a day! A bit of an actor in a nonflashy way, and awfully good at taking off the Nairobi Blue Boys they had to work alongside. And Lesley — who's a woman, darling, N.b., which took everybody by surprise, and shows you how little we know about the real England these days — clothes a little bit last season but, apart from that, well, frankly you'd never have guessed she didn't have our sort of education. Not by the voice, of course, because nobody speaks the way they're brought up anymore, they daren't. But totally at home in one's drawing room, very composed and selfassured, and cozy, with a nice warm smile and a bit of early gray in her hair which she very sensibly leaves, and what Sandy calls a decent quiet, so that you don't have to think of things to say all the time when they're having their pit stops and giving poor Justin a rest. The only problem was, Gloria had absolutely no idea what went on between them all, because she could hardly stand in the kitchen all day with her ear glued to the serving hatch, well, certainly not with the servants watching her, well, could she, El?

But if the matter of the discussions between Justin and the two police officers eluded her, Gloria knew even less about their dealings with her husband, for the good reason that he did not tell her they were taking place.

* * *

The opening exchanges between Woodrow and the two officers were courtesy itself. The officers said they understood the delicacy of their mission, they were not about to lift the lid on the white community in Nairobi, et cetera. Woodrow in return pledged the cooperation of his staff and all appropriate facilities, amen. The officers promised to keep Woodrow abreast of their investigations, so far as this was compatible with their instructions from the Yard. Woodrow genially pointed out that they were all serving the same Queen; and if first names were good enough for Her Majesty, they were good enough for us.

"So what's Justin's job description here in the High Commission then, Mr. Woodrow?" Rob the boy asked politely, ignoring this call to intimacy.

Rob was a London marathon runner, all ears and knees and elbows and true grit. Lesley, who could have been his smarter elder sister, carried a useful bag which Woodrow facetiously imagined to contain the things Rob needed at the trackside — iodine, salt tablets, spare laces for his running shoes — but which actually, so far as he could see, contained nothing but a tape recorder, cassettes and a colorful array of shorthand pads and notebooks.

Woodrow affected to consider. He wore the judicious frown that told you he was the professional. "Well, he's our in-house Old Etonian for a start," he said, and everybody enjoyed this good joke. "Basically, Rob, he's our British representative on the East African Donors' Effectiveness Committee known otherwise by the acronym EADEC," he went on, speaking with the clarity owed to Rob's limited intelligence. "The second E was originally for "Efficacy" but that wasn't a word many people were familiar with round here, so we changed it to something more user-friendly."

"It does what, this committee?"

"EADEC is a relatively new consultative body, Rob, based here in Nairobi. It comprises representatives of all donor nations who provide aid, succor and relief to East Africa, in whatever form. Its members are drawn from the embassies and high commissions of each donor; the committee meets weekly and renders a fortnightly report."

"To?" said Rob, writing.

"All member countries, obviously."

"On?"