Into the Belly of the Beast 1 page

Chapter One

Stranded

She had always been wearing pearl grey. Grey slacks and blouse. She was tall and her figure slim. Her hair was such a light blond that it was almost white and she wore it cropped short. She carried a grey cane but Kate did not know if she needed it or not. She had never seen the mysterious woman move. Kate had seen her only twice. Each time, she’d been standing on a balcony of a house that over looked the tropical gardens of the resort. And on both occasions when Kate had looked up the woman had been looking boldly at her.

Kate knew her name. It was Peri Dubois. Madame Peri, she was called by the staff. When they said her name there was both respect and fear in their voices. Peri Dubois owned the resort and several other businesses on the South Pacific island of Bora Bora including a cultured pearl business and a vanilla bean plantation.

Bora Bora is part of French Polynesia, one of the Tahitian chain that form a necklace of islands in the South Pacific. The island is dominated by a cone shaped mountain, green in tropical vegetation. It is ringed by a wide coral reef on which the resorts are located. Kate had been here for two weeks and her breath was still taken away by the sheer beauty that was Bora Bora. The ocean was a kaleidoscope of colour from soft milky green, to aqua, to deep blue. The beaches were coral white and the tropical forest thick and lush. The clear blue sky heightened the intensity of the colours and when the occasional rain storm blew in off the ocean the thunder of the surf was exhilarating. At night, the skies were crystal clear and the Milky Way danced with the diamond sparkles of millions of stars. It was more than a tropical paradise, Kate had decided, it was a beautiful dream come to life.

That dream had now turned into a nightmare. Her husband of two weeks had deserted her leaving her with incredible debts and no job. He had told her he was rich, a self made man who had made a fortune designing a unique piece of software for computers. Theirs had been a whirlwind romance and her friends had been envious of her.

Rick Keynes, alias Roy Kendall, Roy Kendrick, Roger Keynes and countless other names was a con man, who preyed on young women like herself. Rick was ruggedly handsome, fit, and intelligent. He was a man of the world and so very, very charming. Kate had fallen for his charm hook, line and sinker. After a short but amazing courtship, a beautiful wedding, and two weeks in paradise, Rick Keynes had simple got on a plane and left her behind without so much as a note.

Kate, frantic, had reported him missing. The local police had soon found out that he had taken the local flight to Tahiti and caught a connecting flight to L.A. where he had simply disappeared. Further enquires with the police in the US had discovered that Kate was at least the fifth Mrs. Keynes. Rick had warrants for his arrest in six states on charges of assault, bigamy, kidnapping and fraud. When she accessed her bank accounts she had discovered that Keynes had used her money, not his own as she had been led to believe, to pay for their expensive courtship and wedding. The money that she had inherited from her parents, which Keynes was supposedly investing wisely for her, had all gone and with it so had her good for nothing husband. He’d even cashed in her plane ticket. Now she was stranded in Bora Bora and deeply in debt to the resort.

Kate waited in the lobby to see Madame Peri Dubois. She had been asked nicely but firmly to leave her room earlier that morning and had been presented with the bill. $52,326.19. How had they spent so much money, she had asked. Their suite over the water with its glass bottom lounge was $1,200 a night. Meals had cost them around $350 dollars a day. Then there was the bar bill, another $1000 and the excursions they had taken: the private submarine dive, the helicopter ride, deep sea fishing, wind surfing, the list went on and on. All those magical moments had now become huge debts. Kate felt sick to her stomach and her head throbbed.

“Mrs. Keynes? Madame Peri will see you now. This way please,” said the beautiful Polynesian woman who wore a smart suit with the hotel’s logo on the pocket. Kate followed the woman up the curved stairs and along the teak hall way to a bridge that arched over the hotel’s gardens to the hill on the far side. Peri Dubois’ beautiful teak home sat on the hill.

Her guide put in the code for the lock on the gate that bared the walkway to the hotel guests and indicated that Kate should go first. Kate heard the woman closing the gate behind them. No one entered the private world of Madame Peri without permission. Kate felt like she was walking the plank as she crossed the narrow bridge.

They followed a stone path that wound through beautiful gardens to the open verandah of The House as the staff called it. Kate was asked to wait there. A few minutes later, Peri Dubois limped out. She leaned on her cane and one leg appeared stiff as she walked.

“Mrs. Keynes, please sit down.”

Peri’s English was good yet it maintained that wonderful lilt of the French accent. Kate sat obediently as she’d been told. Peri did not sit. She leaned against the rail and looked at Kate with interested eyes.

“First, may I express my sympathies. I am sure this is a very trying time for you.”

“Thank you,” Kate muttered. She looked at her hands feeling both embarrassed and worried.

“Still, I run here a business not a charity. My bookkeeper tells me that you owe the hotel a considerable amount of money.” Peri hated these sort of encounters. She had to do what was best for the hotel but that didn’t mean that she didn’t feel for those individuals, such as Kate Keynes, who found themselves in financial trouble through no fault of their own.

“Yes.”

“You can not pay?”

“No.” Kate felt the heat of embarrassment creeping up her neck.

“You have family or friends that you could ask for money?”

“I’m an orphan. My friends would not be in a position to help me.” Vocalizing these words made Kate realize just how alone she really was. A wave of depression descended on her.

“You have a job back in the United States?”

“I quit when I got married.” Kate barely got the words out. Her lip quivered and she swallowed hard and painfully as she tried to hold her emotions in check.

“I see. Do you have any skills?”

“I’m a nurse.”

Peri sighed. She was trying to find a solution for both the hotel and Kate but it was not proving easy. “If you had a job in the United States I could arrange to garnish a per cent of your salary until the debt was paid off. If I allow you to leave without such an arrangement there is a good chance I will never see my money.”

“I will find a way to pay you back. If you let me go, I could get a job and arrange payments.”

Peri steeled herself. As owner and manager of the resort, she couldn’t afford to be soft hearted when Kate owed so much money. “I have only your word on this and you have not proven to be trustworthy. Once you are in the United States there is little chance of me getting my money back.”

“I will pay you back.”

“Perhaps, but I do not think I wish to take the chance.”

For a few seconds there was silence while head down, Peri considered her options. Then she looked up and met the eyes of the upset woman.

“You are in a difficult position. I can offer you only two options. The first is for you to refuse to pay your debt in which case my lawyers will have you charged and arrested. I am sure this is not satisfactory to you and it would not be to me either as I still would be out the money. The second would be for you to work here until your debt is paid off.”

Kate looked up in disbelief. “I could do that?”

“Work here? Oui. But you should know, you will be working off your debt. I will provide basic accommodations and you may eat with the staff. For this, you will be charged a small sum as all my on site staff are. I also realize you will need some money for basic needs, say twenty dollars a week. At a local wage for a nurse, it will take you two years perhaps a bit more to pay off your debt. In the meantime, you will be basically indentured labour. I am sure neither choice is very satisfactory to you but you have been very foolish and it is the best I can offer you. Do you accept?”

“Do I have a choice?”

Peri found herself growing impatient. “I am not forcing you. If you can think of a better solution for paying off your debt I am willing to hear it.”

“If I were to get some money and pay off the debt at sometime, could I get out of this agreement?”

“Of course.”

“Then I accept,” said Kate, feeling she had just signed away her life.

With relief that this unpleasant task was over, Peri called over the porch rail to someone out on the gardens. “Maria, you will please escort Mrs. Keynes to our accounting office so that she may sign a contract.”

“Yes, Madame Peri,” came a voice from below.

“That is all then, Mrs. Keynes. If you can find your way out, Maria will meet you at the bridge.”

Kate nodded, too upset to speak. She left quickly with her head down.

Behind her, Peri Dubois frowned not sure why she had taken the steps that she had. On the rare occasions when a guest could not pay his or her bill, Peri had taken legal action to get her money back as best she could. A business of this size had a margin of profit designed to absorb losses to theft, breakage and unpaid bills. Although Kate’s bill was unusually high, there was no reason for Peri to have handled this case any differently than the others. Yet she had. There was something about this woman. Peri had noticed her walking with her husband in the gardens on their first day here and several times after and each time Peri has stopped and watched fascinated. Kate was beautiful in a fresh, uncomplicated way. She was only slightly shorter than Peri and her hair was short, curly and the colour of chestnuts.

A cold dread seeped over Peri and she ground her teeth in annoyance. She had learned her lesson with Odette and wasn’t about to make another mistake. Kate was clearly heterosexual. She was safe from making another error in judgment by this alone. Peri might have been instantly attracted to the woman but it was not a relationship that was going anywhere.

Besides, her decision had practical applications. An American nurse on site would be reassuring to her American clients who found communicating with the French/Tahitian speaking population difficult at times. Yes, this solution would benefit the resort and therefore was a good one even though it went against general policy. With this argument, Peri managed to justify her actions to herself.

Kate was led to the administrative office and told to wait. After a considerable time, she was called into an office to sign a contract.

“Hello. My name is Piahuru. I am the day manager for the hotel.”

“How do you do?” murmured Kate, feeling drained of energy from the whole humiliating experience.

“I am well, thank you. I am sure this is a trying time for you but I have every reason to believe that Madame Peri’s solution will work to everyone’s benefit. Non? I have just talked to Madame Peri. She wishes you to work out of our first aid station. At the moment, we have a woman trained in First Aid, Zenie. She works for us weekdays so after hours and on weekends we have no medical personnel on site. This will be your job, oui?”

“If this is where I am needed. I will have to certify to work here, I imagine and I’ll also need to get a work visa.”

Piahuru waved his hand impatiently. “We will see to all these details. You are not to concern yourself. I will now walk with you over to our first aide post and introduce you to Zenie. She will outline your job and show you around. Come please.”

Dutifully, Kate followed Piahuru out of the office and back into the main lobby of the hotel. The lobby was a massive two story tent supported by gigantic tree trunks. At one end was the spiral staircase to the second floor and the main desk of teak with its dazzling wall of Mother of Pearl. To the other end, across the stone floor with its arrangement of bamboo furniture with bright floral cushions and huge pots of tropical plants, the tent flaps were drawn back so that the sea breeze blew in with a salty fragrance. Beyond the patio was the white coral beach of the reef, the aqua water and then rising up from the lagoon a mile away was the lush jungle peaks of the island of Bora Bora itself.

Kate hardly noticed the beauty that only a few days ago left her breathless. Head down, she followed Piahuru, feeling as if the entire staff were watching her and talking about her situation.

They followed a stone path through gardens of tropical flowers around one of several hotel pools and then turned left as they made for a small building of bamboo and grass shaded at the edge of the forest.

Piahuru knocked.

“Please come in,” said the smiling woman who had come to the door. Zenie was in her fifties and was a big woman. Tall and blocky, she wore a colourful printed dress and a white lab coat.

“Zenie, may I present Kate Keynes. Madam Peri has decided that Kate will be working with you at the First Aid station. She will be using one of the back rooms for her bedroom for now. I will leave you to show her around and explain your job.”

As soon as Piahuru was out of ear shot, Zenie smile dropped and she got considerably cooler.

“This is my station.”

Kate bit her lip and looked up into big, stormy eyes. “Yes, I consider myself lucky to be working under you. I will work hard but I know I will need a lot of instruction from you. I know nothing of tropical diseases. I am working off a debt. That is why Madam Peri hired me.”

Noting a basket of herbs that were being chopped one by one on the counter, Kate went on. “I am also hoping to learn something of the local cures. Western medicine is very good but I have always felt that much can be learned from alternative traditions.”

The smile returned to Zenie’s face. She now knew that Kate was not there to be the boss and that she was sympathetic to some of the traditional medicines that Zenie sometimes used.

“I know much about local medicines. I will help you. You too can teach me, non? We will be friends. Oui? You are the woman I heard about whose husband left her here. My husband was a no good too. Always he has big ideas but he no want to work to make them happen. All he make is babies. I had six. Then I throw him out.”

Kate laughed. It felt good to laugh. She might be virtually a prisoner here but working with Zenie would be fun. For the rest of the afternoon, Kate stayed with Zenie around the well stocked First Aid Centre learning the ropes and unpacking her bags in one of the two very small rooms at the back. Each room held two cots for any ailing guest who needed to lie down while being treated or who was waiting for the sea or air ambulance to arrive. Kate used one of the cots as a dresser as there was no other furniture in the room and the other would be her bed. It was a far cry from the beautiful suite over the ocean that she’d shared with Rick but it was much better than jail. She was also allowed to help Zenie prepare a herb salve for sunburn.

It was just before Zenie was getting ready to leave for the day that she pointed out the large, dark stain on the wood floor.

“That is blood. Always I scrub any blood clean but this stain would not come out. Never! It was here I found Madame Peri eight years ago. She had crawled here from out of the sea. A shark had eaten her.”

“Oh no! I saw that she used a cane and walked with a limp but I wasn’t aware what happened.”

“It is a very bad story. I will not be telling it in the dark. It will draw evil spirits. Tomorrow, when I come, I will tell you. Now I just warn you never to step on that stain after dark. Madame Peri’s grandmother, they say, was a witch. The power of the ancient ones runs in her veins. That is why the shark could not digest her.”

Kate felt a shiver go down her back despite the fact that she didn’t believe in such things. Zenie believed and Kate felt her fear.

After Zenie left, Kate sat up reading a book until midnight in case any guest might need medical attention. Then she placed the sign on the door that she had made during the day, before getting ready for bed. It read Twenty-four hour First Aid. Knock for service after hours. All evening she had avoided walking over the huge stain on the wood floor. Not because she believed in evil spirits, but if Zenie asked, she wanted to be able to say that she had followed her advice. Now, ready for bed, she bent over and touched the offending stain wondering how anyone could have been bleeding so profusely and have survived.

After the raw emotion of the last few days, Kate found it hard to sleep. She tossed and turned finding the little room hot and stuffy even with the screened windows. She had just seen the arms of her clock reach two when she first heard the soft sound. Thump, thump. Thump, thump. Kate froze and held her breath not sure why she felt threatened by the noise. Thump. Thump. She eased herself quietly from her cot and looked out her bedroom window. Nothing. The jungle beyond with its pandanus and coconut palms, kapok, and breadfruit trees seemed still in the moonlight.

Then from behind her she heard the gentle rattle of the clinic’s doorknob. A chill of fear waved down her body. Once again came the soft rattle. Kate tiptoed out of her little room. The main room of the clinic was bathed in moonlight making the stain on the floor stand out like a dark abscess on the blond timber boards. Heart pounding, she carefully skirted the horrible stain and tiptoed over to look out the front window. Nothing.

Next morning, Zenie found Kate nursing a cup of coffee as she stood looking out the window.

“Penny for your thoughts.”

Kate started and turned to see Zenie unpacking her substantial bag of the items she felt she needed for the day. Out came a comb, a book, two coconuts, a wood cross and a dried, smoked fish.

“I had a disturbing night,” Kate stated.

Zenie looked up.

“You tell me about it, non?”

So Kate did as the two of them got on with the morning cleaning. In between, they treated a boy with scraped knees, a woman who had got a very nasty sun burn the day before and a couple with rummy tummies from eating some cooked goat they had bought in the market that morning.

“I know I just let my imagination run away from me and there was probably no reason to be scared but still I’m sure there was someone at the door last night,” Kate concluded.

Zenie didn’t say anything. She went on with cleaning up the supply cupboard.

“It was nothing right?”

“It was the shark woman’s soul. Madame Peri.”

“What?”

“It walks free at night. Others have seen it or heard it dragging that leg that still inside the shark’s mouth.”

Kate sank into the chair. “Maybe you’d better tell me the whole story so I understand.”

Zenie got out the two coconuts that she had been chilling in the fridge all morning and expertly cracked around the head of the coconut to break off the top. She placed a straw inside and passed it to Kate so she could drink the cool milk while she prepared the second one for herself. The fresh, cold coconut milk tasted wonderful after a hot morning’s work.

“Madame Peri was born here on this chain islands as were her mother and her grandmother and her great grandmother and so on. Her grandfather was an American sailor stationed here during the war. Her grandmother was one of the daughters of the Tongan royal house who ran away with this American sailor from Cape Cod and came here to live. Pomare was her name and she had the sight. People from all around came to consult her about their problems. Always she would help them but they knew they’d better pay because she was a spirit woman and one of the royal line. Much power this woman had.

“Now Madame Peri’s grandmother Pomare had only one daughter too and she marry a wealthy French business man who owned the cultured pearl farm and a hotel. Her name was Ohipa but the French called her Olivia. She was a great beauty. She died when Peri was born. So many years now in this family it has been the only daughter of an only daughter, non? The power of the spirits is strong in them.”

“I see,” said Kate, as she scraped the coconut flesh from the shell to eat with the smoked fish as Zenie had showed her.

“Now, Madame Peri likes the woman. We islands see no problem with this. In our culture, you are what you are. If a man wants to wear a dress and do women’s work, no problem. If a woman wants another woman no problem either.”

“Madame Peri is a lesbian?” Kate asked for clarification.

“Oui. Eight years ago, she has a partner, Odette Bondy. Very beautiful she is. A French model and photographer. One day, they take the Dubois yacht out and anchor on the reef. Odette said she wanted to get pictures of the sharks. So Peri stands on the back deck and throws chub into the water to bring the sharks close. Many come and the water boils with them. Then, some say, Odette pushed Peri in and a big shark eats her!”

Kate had forgotten about her coconut and smoked fish lunch as she listened to an animated Zenie tell her story.

“A shark bit her?”

“It ate her whole. Peri did not know this but Odette was not really interested in her at all. Non, she had the adventure - the affair with Peri’s father who was a silly old man to fall for a young woman. Some say, Odette wanted Peri out of the way so she can marry the rich, old man, non.”

“That’s attempted murder!”

“Oui. But Peri is no ordinary woman. The shark stomach can not harm a spirit woman. The spirit of the shark and the woman became one. Peri grabs the shark’s back bone and forces it to swim close to the hotel. Then she pulls the shark inside out so she can escape. But the spirit of the shark holds onto her leg and rips it to pieces. Still she swims to shore and drags herself to this hut.”

“But she couldn’t have swum all that way so badly hurt in shark infested waters. It’s not possible.”

“Maybe, maybe not but I see with my own eyes this bloody trail from the water and it is I who find Madame Peri lying here near death. There was no boat. She had crawled from the sea.”

“My God. But what happened to Odette and the boat?”

“No one knows. She was never seen again. That night, while Madame Peri fights for her life her father dies in a house fire. Burnt to death by his desires.”

“Oh that’s awful. Awful.”

“There are bad spirits here, Kate. Bad spirts. I bring you this cross to wear. It will keep you safe at night. But you must be very careful not to step on the stain, non?”

“I won’t, Zenie. I promise. And thank you for bringing me the cross.” Kate slipped it on. “I’m sure it will protect me from any bad spirits that might be about.” Kate didn’t really believe the myth that Zenie had told her but she was grateful for the woman’s concern and kindness and was happy to wear the cross for her.

Like the day before, Kate left the clinic open after Zenie left. She treated a man who had cut his foot on a shell and a woman who had a migraine. She was in the process of cleaning up for the day when she heard quite a commotion down by the pool. Her French was not strong but she heard an American voice say something about a bad heart. Grabbing the hotel’s portable defibrillator, and her medical kit just in case, she ran and pushed through the crowd.

“I’m the duty nurse. Please let me through. ”

A woman held a man in her arms. “He’s got a bad heart,” she sobbed, as tears rolled down her face. The man was pale but still breathing shallowly.

She looked around the crowd and saw the pool boy looking worried and lost. “Tautu, go and get the oxygen tank from the main office.”

“Oui.”

While she waited, Kate listened to his heart with her stethoscope. The heart was racing and the beat was uncoordinated. Dangerous arrhythmia, Kate concluded. She gnawed on her lip. If she used the AED she could perhaps regulate his heart beat and save his life. But if her quick diagnosis was wrong, she could bring on a fatal heart attack.

“Has he taken any medication?”

“Digitalis this morning but he’s been complaining all day that his heart was racing and he felt dizzy. He wanted to just sit by the pool and relax. Then all of a sudden, he tried to get up and passed out on the ground.”

The man was going grey and his lips were turning blue. Kate opened up the defibrillator and ordered everyone to stand clear. Then she put the pads to the man’s chest and gave him a jolt. Again she listened to his heart. The beat was slowing and becoming more regular. With a sigh of relief, she slipped an oxygen mask over the man’s face and adjusted the flow.

By now, the night manager, Monsieur Pana, had arrived. Kate addressed him. “I think we need to call the water ambulance to take him to the mainland, Sir. Let them know that it’s a serious heart problem and that the air ambulance from Tahiti should be standing by.”

“Oui. I will do this immediately.”

Kate stayed with her patient and monitored his condition. While she waited, she tried to reassure his wife and also wrote up her observations and treatment for the paramedics that would arrive on the water ambulance.

By the time that the man had been put on a stretch and taken to the ambulance boat, it was passed seven and the sun was starting to set. Kate felt tired, grimy and hungry. She gathered up her gear and headed back to the First Aid hut. Placing the closed for thirty minutes sign on the door, she stripped and stepped into the shower to freshen up. Drying herself with one of the clinic towels, she made her way to her little bedroom and slipped into fresh underwear, a t-shirt and some shorts. As she did so, a rather determined knock came on the door.

Now what? Kate wondered, as she made her way across the room and opened the door. On the other side was Marie, the assistant manager who had escorted her to Peri Dubois’s house just the other day. It seemed like weeks ago already.

“I keep knocking but you did not answer.”

“I was having a shower. I didn’t hear you knock until I was getting dressed. How can I help you, Marie?”

“Madame Peri wishes you to come. I will escort you.”

“I really need to clean up here and write up a report on today’s incident while the event is still fresh in my mind,” Kate protested. “And my hair is still wet.”

She saw fear in Marie’s eyes. “Please. You must come. It is as Madame Peri wishes. Some of the female staff are sick.”

“Sick. Well, why didn’t you say so? Can you tell me their symptoms, Marie, so I can bring some medicine with me?

“Some have headaches and are dizzy some have been vomiting. They feel very bad.”

“Any fever?”

“I don’t think so.”

Kate gathered some supplies and followed Marie to one of the dorms used by the on site staff.

“I must go. We are short staffed now. Kate, they are young. I would not want them to lose their jobs.” Marie hurried off before Kate could ask anymore questions. Surely, the dreaded Madame Peri wouldn’t fire the girls for being sick, Kate wondered, as she stepped up into the dorm.

The dorm was one room with a communal washroom and showers at the end. Six metal beds lined each side of the room with a standing closet separating each bed. Of the twelve beds, five were occupied with sick women.

It didn’t take Kate long to discover that the young women had been to a beach party with some friends before going on duty and had simply had too much to drink. Marie had been afraid to tell Peri Dubois for fear the girls would lose their jobs. She had passed the problem on to Kate.

Kate made sure that none were in danger.

“Please, Madame. You will not tell Madame Peri. We will lose our jobs.”

Kate shook her head. “You five have been very foolish. I will put in my report that you are suffering from tummy upsets that you got at a beach picnic. But if I hear of this sort of behaviour again. I will have to report you. Is that understood?”

“Oui, merci, merci,” the girls chorused.

Kate made sure everyone was comfortable and got them all glasses of water to drink for during the night. She left some medication to help with their hang-overs in the morning and told them to report to her if they were not on the road to recovery by tomorrow afternoon. Then she reported to the front desk to let Marie know that the girls would recover and that the problem was upset tummies from something they digested at a picnic. Marie smiled her thanks and said that she would phone Madame Peri and let her know.

Exhausted, Kate made her way back to her station and flopped on the bed. She didn’t wake until the early hours of the morning when she again heard the thump, thump. Thump, thump. She lay holding her breath and straining to hear. There it was again the gentle turning of the door knob.

Had she locked the door? She couldn’t remember. Fear clutched her heart but the door held. Thump, thump. Thump, thump. Then silence again.

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 582