‘Absolutely not.’
The two women took a slow walk around regional headquarters, which comprised a number of wooden storage containers linked together in rows and traversed by other containers at right angles.
‘Here we are,’ said Tally as she came to a door marked, M. Altman. She knocked before trying the handle just as a voice behind them said, ‘I thought it was you.’
The women turned around to find Hans Weber standing there.
‘Hello, Hans,’ said Tally, hoping her feelings of guilt were not too obvious in her voice. Helga opted for a silly grin.
‘I caught a glimpse of you as I came in.’
‘We’re looking for Marcus,’ said Tally.
‘He hasn’t come back yet.’
‘Aren’t you worried about him?’
‘Travel is difficult.’
‘For us too,’ said Helga, ‘we seem to be stuck here with no information.’
‘The outbreak in Kivu took everyone by surprise: there is confusion at all levels of administration.’
‘WHO is not part of the administration,’ Helga reminded him. ‘Do you know if WHO sent any details to Marcus about winding up things in Equateur?’
‘He didn’t say anything before he left.’
‘We were wondering if someone might have delivered details and left them lying on his desk,’ said Tally.
‘Ah,’ said Hans, ‘is it locked?’
Tally tried the handle. ‘Yes.’
‘Then I don’t think they could; Marcus has the only key.’
‘Who would have thought world health could be such a secretive business,’ said Helga and Tally noticed the look of annoyance that crossed Hans’ face. He didn’t get the chance to reply however, as the air was filled with sounds coming from outside the building. A number of heavy vehicles were arriving.
Hans left immediately, leaving Tally and Helga unsure of what they should be doing in their current uncomfortable situation. They had no wish to intrude on private grief, but the people who had died were aid volunteers, as were they, and therefore there was a bond.
Helga said, ‘They could only have been there a couple of weeks. Can you imagine? They were sent directly to a place like Kivu with the good wishes of their friends and families still ringing in their ears and now their parents, who are still probably feeling pride in their offspring, are going to be given... such awful news. What should they think? Was it all really worthwhile?’
Tally looked at her, wondering too about image and reality. She reckoned Helga was about the same age as she herself and asked, ‘Was this your first instance of voluntary work?’
‘Fourth,’ Helga replied.
Tally nodded. ‘Well done, you.’
The two women hung back as the groups of people broke up and moved outside to where the vehicles had cut their engines and the dust clouds from their wheels settled slowly back down to earth. Stretchers bearing shrouded figures were unloaded with as much dignity as possible in the circumstances and concerned people waited for their chance to identify them. Sobbing broke out followed by attempts to comfort those whose anxious wait had ended badly.
Tally noticed that a Land Rover was parked some way away from the heavy vehicles that had carried the dead and it seemed strangely familiar.
‘I think that’s Marcus Altman’s vehicle,’ she said to Helga.
‘Really?’ exclaimed Helga, sounding pleased. ‘I hope you’re right.’ She looked at the dead laid out on the ground, adding, ‘I need to get away.’
The two women walked over to the Land Rover, but were disappointed to see that it was not Altman sitting behind the wheel. The driver, cigarette in mouth, had noticed the pair of them taking an interest so Tally felt compelled to explain, ‘Sorry, we thought you were Marcus Altman.’
‘He’s dead,’ said the man.
‘What?’ exclaimed Helga. ‘He can’t be... what happened?’
The man shrugged and flicked ash off the end of his cigarette. ‘I was just asked to return him and his vehicle from Kivu along with the others,’ said the driver.
‘Kivu?’ exclaimed both women in unison, ‘What on earth was he doing in Kivu? That’s hundreds of miles away from where he was supposed to be.’
The driver shrugged again.
‘Where is he?’
‘Inside the building with the others. He’s not pretty... I mean, none of them are, but...’
‘Thanks for that,’ Helga muttered as she and Tally turned away and started towards the building.
‘I just don’t get it,’ said Tally, ‘what the hell was Altman doing?’
‘Maybe he had orders from WHO?’ Helga suggested.
‘In which case he would have told someone,’ said Tally. ‘but he told no one. ‘We should have had a good look in his Land Rover, there might be something there to tell us why he told people one thing then went off hundreds of miles in the opposite direction.’
‘Let’s go back and do it,’ said Helga.
Five minutes later Tally and Helga gave up on their search of the vehicle without finding anything to explain Altman’s actions.
‘Told you,’ said the driver, lighting up another cigarette
‘Yes, you did,’ said Tally. ‘Who do you work for?’
‘The police.’
‘You’re a policeman?’
The man smiled through a haze of exhaled tobacco smoke and said, ‘No, I work for the police from time to time. When they found out that the dead man was an aid worker, they asked me to return him and his car to this place.’
‘The rebels would have taken anything of value,’ said Helga, ‘I’m surprised they didn’t take the Land Rover.
‘The rebels didn’t kill him,’ said the driver.
Helga and Tally exchanged surprised looks, having made the same assumption.
‘He was killed in an apartment in the city of Beni where he was staying.’
‘I give up,’ said Tally.
Tally and Helga returned to the headquarters buildings where muted arguments were going on between senior reps of the aid organisations over how long they could be expected to store the bodies without refrigeration facilities and how they were going to overcome the problem.
Tally managed to catch the eye of Hans Weber and he broke off to come over.
‘We’ve just heard about Marcus,’ she said.
‘A tragedy,’ said Weber, shaking his head and looking down at the floor, ‘but an occupational hazard, we all live with that. He was unlucky, they all were.’
Tally noted that Weber seemed content to let them think that Altman’s death had been at the hands of the rebels like the others. She found it odd. She also took on board that Helga had said nothing about that to Weber: she apparently also found it odd.
‘Can we see him?’ Tally asked.
Weber’s face registered surprise.
‘He was our colleague, we should pay our last respects.’
‘Come.’
Weber led the way through to the shaded side of the building and paused outside a door with a hastily prepared WHO notice pinned to it to explain, ‘The victims have been separated by aid organisation, five were ours.’ He opened the door, causing Helga to involuntarily put a hand to her face.
‘There’s no refrigerated facility here,’ said Weber. ‘Marcus is the one at the far end, I’ll give you a few moments.’
Helga waited until Weber had left before whispering to Tally, ‘Why are you doing this?’
‘I want to see how he died, it may help to work out why he was in Kivu in the first place.’
Tally pulled back the shroud to expose Altman’s face and both women recoiled.
‘Look at the colour of him,’ said Helga, ‘He’s...’
‘had the blood drained out of him,’ completed Tally.
‘His throat hasn’t been cut,’ said Helga, taking a closer look at the corpse.