Musing in Montego Bay (Part III)

Joe was a typical Jamaican, a happy go lucky creature with excellent communication skills. He was assisting Jamaica Tours as a driver-cum- tourist guide for many years. He was a practical man and did not have too many ambitions. He only prayed for a good house and good education for his children. His wife was a school teacher and with her efforts both his kids were able to study in a good school. The school fee was quite substantive but both of them were working hard towards this. The only thing which bothered Joe at times was his desire to have his own house which seemed a distant dream for him under the circumstances. But Joe had high spirits was happy with his job as a guide. Almost every day he met new people, coming from different parts of the world, speaking different languages and using different expressions.

He considered it a learning opportunity and already had a sound vocabulary of French, Italian, German and Latin words. His interest in history complemented his professional competence which made him the most sought after tourist guide.
The first day of his new assignment began with an unusual start. He entered the hotel lobby and instead of looking for the potential passengers for city trip he straight away proceeded to room no. 787 on the 7th floor. He was surprised to see Peter eagerly waiting for him outside his room. The moment Peter saw a glimpse of Joe, he literally pounced on him and dragged him to a corner.
"My name is Peter. I am here with my wife Sara. She is sleeping right now but may get up any time to look for me", he suspiciously looked towards the corridor leading to his room. Joe was unable to figure out why his client was so afraid of his wife.

" You will be paid one hundred and fifty dollars a day for the next seven days" Peter had already decided to increase his wages. " You will have to come every day early in the morning before 7 O’clock. Your job is to follow Sara whenever she is alone. Find out whom she is talking to or calling and what she is talking. Whenever I am moving with her try to be around, and help me if you think I am in danger !" Peter whispered in Joe’s ears. "But make sure she does not know that you are following her" Peter cautioned Joe.

"I will come out of my room everyday for a few minutes when Sara is in the bathroom. Hang around to give me a feedback" Peter gave him the final instructions.
Joe quietly listened to his new boss. He felt whatever Peter said to him was weird . It did not make any sense and he had never done it before. Shadowing somebody and serving as a body guard to a husband scared of his wife, sounded creepy to him. For a moment he felt like refusing this assignment. He had nothing to lose and it was possible that Peter wouldn’t ask him to return the hundred dollars he gave him last night.

"My life is in danger and I request you to help me" Peter made a passionate appeal before Joe could respond.
"OK. I will do it" Joe responded though his mind was still not clear about what is it all about.
"Thanks. I am going now. We will be going out for breakfast after an hour. You can see Sara at that time coming out with me. Follow her as I told you. Wait around our room between eight and nine at night." And without saying anything else Peter rushed towards his room.
For a few moments Joe stood still at the corner of the corridor as if he was literally frozen by a magic wand. He shook his head after a few moments and sat down on the sofa near the elevators and pondered over what Peter was up to.

"What kind of a task is it ?" he again started asking himself. He thought about his wife and kids. He didn’t want to get in to something weird which lands him in some kind of a trouble. But on second thought he did not foresee any serious problem. Earning more than a thousand dollar in a week for something so easy did look attractive to him and the young adventurous risk taking kid inside him gave him a nod. One hundred fifty dollars a day was a huge amount of money for Joe and he had no hesitation to take a break from his routine just for a week. He was certain that it will all be over in a week or so. A quick more than a thousand dollars was indeed a bonus for Joe.

***
At the end of first day itself Joe was convinced that he is in there for fun because nothing happened. His clever mind could clearly tell him that the man is crazy and overreacting to something which has gone wrong between the couple. Joe also believed that Peter, for some reason, is scared of his wife and is foolish enough to hire a stranger for shadowing his wife.

It was by the end of third day Joe began to revise his opinion. He noticed that Sara was actually trying to force Peter to swim against his wish. She walked down the shore on several occasions and passionately requested him to join her in the sea water. But every time Peter vehemently refused her invitation. But Sara proved to be smarter than that. She brought him to the swimming pool and insisted that he join him in the pool. She literally dragged him to the pool once but Peter ran away. She did not hesitate to provoke him by saying "Can’t you even join the kids in the shallow side?" But nothing seemed to influence or provoke Peter. He ignored the remark and headed for the bar without looking at her.

"Why does she want him to swim….?" Joe kept on thinking. In 3 days time he was convinced that Sara is definitely upto something. There was no doubt that she was trying her best to drag him to water to make him swim, or drown? But why? Joe was unable to understand.
Joe also suspected that Sara’s behavior was strange. On several occasions he observed Sara suddenly getting up from the dining table, leaving Peter alone and talking to somebody on phone. Joe also noticed her talking to somebody whenever Peter was in the rest room as if giving a report on events. Sara did appear suspicious which convinced Joe that Peter may be right. Peter carefully listened to his feedback and got in to a pensive mood after realizing that his suspicion was not unfounded.
Joe felt sorry for the man whose wife was up to something which could be dangerous. He got frightened but the next moment he realized that he had already spent 5 days on this unique task and had earned more than 700 dollars from Peter. He prayed and hoped that the next couple of days also pass off peacefully and he returns to his routine he already had started missing.

***
The last two days proved to be a nightmare for Joe. Something he had expected to be fun proved to be a curse. Simply shadowing a woman gradually led him to something which he never imagined he could do. On the night before Peter and Sara were supposed to leave Montego Bay, Peter expressed his feelings before Joe. Peter had suspected it since the time he heard the story of Annie. The more he tried to remember the situations before and after their marriage his suspicion grew stronger. And then Sara’s insistence, to the point of obsession, to force him to swim left no doubt in his mind. Joe’s report for the last 6 days endorsed what his worst fears were. When Joe informed him about Sara’s frequent, serious discussions and long phone calls in his absence, his suspicion grew stronger. He could also visualize the faint outline of a unknown man, her paramour, helping her to kill him. His imminent danger to life scared him to the core. He did not hesitate to tell everything about what he experienced during the last 6 months to Joe.
Joe sympathized with Peter but got scared and cursed himself for getting involved in this mess.
"I will give you a check for twenty fifty thousand dollars……." Peter offered him a reward without any prefix.

Joe was literally shocked. He faced a similar situation years ago when one of his close friends tried to involve him in marijuana trafficking. That time Joe was younger and unmarried. He took no time in making a decision in negative and never ever saw his friend again. But now with the passage of time he was more patient and thoughtful. Without making a gesture he continued to look up to Peter.
"You just have to get some ‘ackee fruit’…" Peter clearly knew what he was talking about, " Give me the fruit. I will myself put it in the basket and persuade her to open it and eat."

Joe was quick to understand that he is being asked to become an accomplice in a pre-conceived well planned plot to kill Sara. He did not disagree with Peter’s anguish because of his unfaithful wife’s deceit and treacherous attempts to kill him. Anybody in his place would have behaved in a similar manner. But to plot a murder with the help of ‘ackee fruit’ and making Joe a partner was something which shook him. After all he had no business to get mixed up in somebody else’s affairs especially when he had no personal animosity with Sara. Who knew what were their marital problems? It was a possibility that Peter himself was cheating on his wife which eventually led to her behaving in this manner. He did not want to be judgmental either. Shadowing somebody in a peaceful manner was different but killing somebody was something he could not imagine.

Peter could easily read Joe’s mind and without beating around the bush he looked in to Joe’s eyes and said in a plain voice, " OK. I will give you a check for fifty thousand dollars. I think that is far too high price for the fruit".
Joe had no reason to say that it was not. Moreover the fruit is not banned or illegal. All that he had to do was to select the most appropriate fruit and hand it over to Peter. How to use the fruit and what happened thereafter was entirely Peter’s responsibility. Joe took the check from him and promised to return next morning.

***
Joe’s hands were trembling while he handed over a bunch of raw ‘ackee fruits’ wrapped in a plastic bag to Peter. He knew that the small plastic bag was as dangerous as a time bomb. Everybody in Jamaica knew that the raw poisonous fruit can result in vomiting and unconsciousness, and in death if taken in larger quantity. He knew it well and so did Peter. Joe was surprised that there were no expressions on Peter’s face when he took the plastic bag from his hands. Just a plain face as if he was receiving his regular mail from a postman.

That night, before delivering the plastic bag to Peter next morning, Joe was unable to sleep. He had arranged the fruit in the night itself and stored in a safe place. But the moment he tried to go off to sleep he started getting dreadful pictures of dead bodies scattered all around him. He felt like making a bold decision like what he did years ago and clearly say ‘no’ to Peter. But fifty thousand dollars was a huge amount for him which could buy him what he aspired all his life, his own house !

In the morning when Joe met Peter in Rose Hall Resort, he gathered all his courage to hand over the fruit to Peter without expressing his emotions. He re-assured himself that selling ackee fruit for a profit is neither immoral not illegal. Joe was able to satisfy his conscience with great difficulty.
After handing over the fruit to Peter, he expected to feel relieved and wanted to leave the hotel immediately. But he felt nervous, his heart started beating faster, and he felt weak in his legs. He preferred to sit down on the sofa near the 7th floor elevator area to settle down.

Joe sat on the sofa in a state of exhaustion for a long time and was about to get up and leave when he heard footsteps coming towards him. Before he could enter the elevator she came screaming towards him. It was Sara, in her swimming suit.
"Please help me" she rushed to Joe and literally pulled him towards her room. " My husband is not opening the door. I was at the pool. I am knocking at the door for the last 15 minutes, and he is not responding to phone either" Sara was trembling in panic.
Joe felt a thump in his chest, fearing the worse. He tried to push open the door but it was firmly locked from inside.

"He is a psychiatric patient, suffering from a delusional disorder. He has suicidal tendencies. O God help me" Sara broke down. "His Psychiatrist had suggested I bring him here and help him build his confidence, but he got worse. He gets phobias and delusions. He can do anything. Please help….!" Sara was devastated. There was a commotion in the corridor and many guests assembled in the mean time.
A person from hotel administration opened the door lock with the master key but the safety chain was fastened from inside. While he was trying to break the safety chain of the door, Joe was holding on his knees as he was unable to stand up.