with Willington, and he wasn’t confident of his ability to hold his tongue in the face of a seasoned reporter’s questions. But he had to admit he was curious to find out the inside, unreported details of Phil and Amanda’s ordeal in Africa, as well as the other shared adventures the man had hinted at. And who knows, he thought as he led the way to a corner table in the lounge attached to the inn. If he liked the man, maybe he’d take pity on him and offer him the spare bed in his own room for the night.
Matthew dropped into his chair and swung his bag down beside him with a groan. The hotel clerk popped the caps off two beers and plopped them down before sashaying away. Matthew rubbed his hand over his greying stubble as he watched her disappear.
“I don’t suppose I can get some food here too. I haven’t eaten since Deer Lake.”
“Not at this hour,” Chris said. “Count yourself lucky she opened up the bar to serve us.”
“Oh, she did that for you, my friend. Not some pot-bellied, balding old hack like me.” He lifted his hat briefly to reveal a polished bald dome.
Chris grinned. Despite his reservations, he liked Matthew Goderich. “The hat earns you points, though. There’s nothing but baseball caps from here to St. John’s.”
Matthew took a long, grateful swig of his beer. He had a creviced, pock-marked face, and up close Chris could see the stress of years carved into it. He slouched in his chair and tipped his hat back to give Chris a friendly smile. “How do you know Phil and Amanda?”
And so the questions begin, Chris thought. But this one was harmless enough. “I met Phil at an ice-fishing derby last winter. We’re both new to the island — well, everyone who doesn’t have six generations of ancestors buried in the local cemetery is new to the island — and we hit it off. We like the same things. Angling, hiking, flying.”
He figured that was close enough to the truth, but Matthew fixed him with a steady gaze. “Still. You dropped everything to come up here looking for him.”
Chris shrugged. “You’re here too. I guess there’s something about the guy, and what he’s been through. If anyone deserves a helping hand …”
Matthew twirled his bottle. “So what exactly happened? Do the police honestly think he killed that old hermit, or do they have other suspects?”
“I don’t know, I’m not part of the investigation. Even if I was, I couldn’t tell you, Matthew.”
Matthew held up his hands. “I’m not here as a reporter, I’m here as a friend.”
“Right.”
To his credit, Matthew gave a sheepish, dimpled grin. “Can you turn off being a cop, even when you’re not on a case? It’s who we are.”
Chris couldn’t argue that. “Right now there are too many wild cards at play for me to even hazard a guess about who’s done what.”
“You mean like Amanda wandering around in the wilderness looking for him.”
Chris said nothing.
“Oh for Chrissakes, Tymko! Any fisherman south of St. Anthony can tell me that. And they can tell me a boat has been spotted on a deserted stretch of shore halfway up the coast. I learned that much making small talk with the girl at the gas station next door. Yeah, I’m a journalist. Smelling out information is in my blood. Making connections is in my blood. But I’m here because I care about those two people. I know what they’ve been through. Phil is one of the good guys. So is Amanda. Good guys are often the first casualties in our brutal, treacherous world, whether it’s in the corporate boardroom or the international aid game. If I can also give them a voice, to make their efforts heard above the banal chatter that passes for daily news these days — some starlet’s latest rehab or Will and Kate’s new baby — then what’s the harm in that?”
Chris saw his chance. “What exactly did happen to them in Africa? Beyond the obvious stuff in your articles. You hinted that they were betrayed by the Nigerian government. That the government forces knew in advance about the planned attack, but didn’t warn them, and that their own private security force ran away.”
Matthew had drained his beer and he sat for a while staring at the empty bottle. Finally he sighed. “I’m far too tired to try to explain all the intricacies of post-colonial, sub-Saharan West Africa. Suffice to say, these are some of the poorest countries in the world. Corruption and payoffs are rampant. Education, health, and other services are almost non-existent in many places, so anyone who comes along with an offer of a paycheque, the promise of a bigger piece of the pie, or the threat of violence is going to get followers. Doesn’t matter whether it’s a big corporation, a rival leader, or an Al Qaeda knockoff, it’s the same principle — join our team and we’ll take care of you. Don’t join us, you better watch your back. No different than the street gangs in urban slums. It creates a balance of sorts until a turf war erupts.”
Chris had been born in farm country and had had remote rural postings, so he had only a third-hand grasp of the urban gang culture. But power and poverty were a toxic mix in isolated communities as well. “Is that what happened?”
Matthew shrugged. “In essence. The turf being as much of that unstable, exploited part of Africa as the so-called rebels could capture. Some petty thug pumped up on half-baked jihadi rhetoric and supplied by the international arms market decides to take control of a remote corner of the country. It’s not difficult. Kidnap or behead a few villagers, issue death threats to others, bribe some underpaid officials and give a bunch of kids an AK-47, a paycheque, and a cause. And suddenly you’re the new Somebody. And don’t forget the power of YouTube in spreading the news.”
“So are there no good guys?”
Matthew bobbed his head ruefully. “Sorry, I’ve been on the ground too long. I don’t mean to characterize all reformers as venal and self-serving, and or to make light of the situation. Not the struggles the locals endure nor the dangers these jihadist groups pose. Nor indeed of the suffering of aid workers like Amanda and Phil, who are just trying to help the people. Amanda and Phil were both working on the education side — setting up classrooms, designing curriculum the kids could actually relate to — stuff we take for granted over here. Education, health, and a sustainable economy will go a long way toward combatting the power and appeal of these groups. That’s why the groups are so adamantly opposed to it.”
Chris mulled this over. It seemed impossibly complex and far away, although he’d seen similar struggles on a smaller scale in the Native communities in the north and west. At least in those communities, jihadist extremism had not taken hold.
He leaned forward. “My friend Phil seemed to be tormented that he hadn’t done more. That he hadn’t seen the danger signs ahead of time and hadn’t saved the kidnapped boys.”
Matthew’s eyes grew flat. “He couldn’t have saved them. Their own security guards, some barely more than kids themselves, betrayed them and joined the attack. Got a better offer, no doubt, or one they couldn’t refuse. But on top of that, one of the boys Phil did try to save — a kid almost the same age as his son, who had shown real promise as a student — was among those they killed, to show that no one should mess with them.”
Chris felt sick. He pictured Phil as he’d last seen him, clowning and playing with the local kids at a winter fun day. Phil had organized a three-legged snowshoe race that had everyone collapsing in the snow in laughter. What did it cost him to keep that awful memory at bay?
“What
