Ivory Nation by Andy Maslen (free children's ebooks online txt) 📕

shrub threatened to overspill its garden and push the unwilling pedestrian into the traffic. Fallen Bougainvillea blossoms like papery pink lanterns littered the pavement. She stopped to smell the white feathery flowers on a drooping-branched tree and smiled as an intense orange hit wove its way into her nostrils.

Opposite the blue-and-green sign for the university, a group of local women had set up stalls selling cold drinks, beers, sandwiches and fruit. She made a mental note to buy something on the way back to the hotel.

Having explained on the phone who she was and what she was trying to achieve, the head of the Geology department had proved not just willing but eager to help her.

After introducing herself to the receptionist, Stella went to wait by a display of brochures advertising the various courses available to students.

A few minutes passed, then a female voice made her turn round.

The woman crossing the polished floor towards her was in her late twenties, her hair straightened and cut short. She was smiling, her wide-set eyes magnified by heavy-framed glasses.

‘DCI Cole?’

Stella smiled.

‘Yes. Dr Montho?’

They shook hands.

‘Please call me Lydia.’

‘Stella.’

‘Good. Formalities out of the way, come to my office. I can introduce you to one of my most promising students.’

Waiting for them in Lydia’s office, a neat, professional space filled with green plants and rock samples, was a tall young woman, her braided hair piled on top of her head and secured with a lilac headscarf. She stood as they entered.

‘Stella, I’d like you to meet Zela Chilume, one of my most able researchers.’

Stella shook hands with the statuesque student.

Lydia ushered them to comfortable armchairs.

‘You said on the phone you needed help with a soil sample.’

‘Yes.’

Stella retrieved the evidence bag from her pocket. She laid it on the low coffee table between them.

‘I found that inside a piece of vehicle trim in the national park. I’d love to know if it’s local or not.’

Zela leaned forwards. She looked up at Stella.

‘May I open it?’

‘Be my guest. It’s why I’m here.’

Zela slid a thumbnail into the Ziploc fastening and held the open bag to her nose, sniffing at the contents. Then, in a move that surprised Stella, she moistened the tip of her index finger with her tongue and dipped it delicately into the powdery red earth. She brought it to her mouth and once more extended her tongue, like a cat tasting something suspicious.

Lydia smiled at Stella.

‘You are pulling a face, Stella!’

‘Can you really identify the location of a soil sample that way?’ Stella asked.

‘Not precisely, no. That would be ridiculous. But the local earth is high in iron. It has a distinctive taste, a little like blood, you know? When you suck a cut.’

Stella did know, having inadvertently tasted more blood than she would ever care to admit. She limited herself to a nod.

‘I think it is local,’ Zela said. ‘I can taste the iron. But we need to do a full analysis to be sure.’

‘We have a gas chromatograph and a mass spectrometer,’ Lydia said proudly. ‘Thanks to a wealthy donor who studied here and went on to make a fortune in mining.’

‘How long do you need?’ Stella asked.

‘I can start right away,’ Zela said. ‘We have comparison charts for all local soil types and for those of our neighbours.’

‘Neighbours?’

‘Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Lydia compiled the database for her PhD. It is known throughout Africa for its detail and comprehensiveness,’ she said, grinning at her mentor.

‘Give us twenty-four hours,’ Lydia said, smiling.

Stella’s mind fizzed at an incoming idea.

‘Lydia, could you introduce me to someone in the Physics department?’

‘Of course,’ she said, with a smile. ‘Come on, it’s just a five-minute walk across campus.’

They strolled across a Tarmac quadrangle between still and brick buildings. Groups of students chattered, laughed, listened to music through shared headphones or read books beneath shade trees.

At the department of Physics, after a short tour and directions from a couple of earnest male students in lab coats, Lydia introduced Stella to a short, round-faced man.

‘This is Dr Ralph Nkosi. Ralph, this is Detective Chief Inspector Stella Cole. She’s from the Metropolitan Police, in London.’

He shook Stella’s hand.

‘What brings you to my department, Detective Chief Inspector Cole?’ he said in a deep voice in which Stella detected the rasp of a tobacco habit.

‘Just a single question, really. Have you entertained any visitors to your department from Israel, recently? Specifically a high school physics teacher named Dov Lieberman?’

He frowned and shook his head.

‘I’m afraid not. I wish it were otherwise, but our last international visitor was in 2015. A Swedish researcher. But Israel? No. I am sorry.’

Stella shook her head.

‘Don’t be. It was just a wild guess.’

Stella found Gabriel and Eli by the pool when she got back. They’d grouped three loungers in the shade of a rush-topped beach umbrella in a quiet corner of the pool area.

The temperature had increased during her meeting at the Geology department and she was sweating, despite having bought a can of orange drink and a pot of fragrant, cubed fresh mango to consume on the journey back.

Eli smiled up at her from her lounger. Stella had time to admire the younger woman’s body, honed, she imagined from years of combat and intensive militant training.

‘You should get your cossie on,’ Eli said, then paused, brow furrowed. ‘That’s what you call them, isn’t it? Swimming costumes, I mean?’

‘Well, yes. But strange though this might seem, I didn’t pack one.’

‘They sell them in the resort shop. Come on,’ she said, getting to her feet and wrapping a diaphanous blue sarong round her chest. ‘I’ll help you pick one out.’

Gabriel opened his eyes. Eli and Stella were approaching from the direction of his and Eli’s room. Stella wore a high-cut orange one-piece swimsuit. He took in the flat belly, toned legs and arms. Though older than Eli by around ten years, she looked more than capable of taking care of herself. He felt confident the three of them would be more than a match for