"Stanley, Michael - David Bengu 1, A CARRION DEATH" - читать интересную книгу автора (Stanley Michael)

Headline's policy is to use papers that are natural, renewable and recyclable products and
made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The logging and manufacturing processes are

expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

HEADLINE PUBLISHING GROUP
An Hachette Livre UK Company
338 Euston Road
London NWl 3BH

This book is for Annette and Jeannine
www.headline.co.uk


The peoples of southern Africa have integrated many words of their own
languages into colloquial English. For authenticity and colour, we have
used these occasionally when appropriate. Most of the time, the meanings
are clear from rhe context, but for interest, we have included a glossary at
the end of the book.

For more information about Botswana, the book and its protagonist,
please visit www.detectivekubu.com.
PART ONE:
A Carrion Death

A carrion Death, within whose empty eye
There is a written scroll!'
Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act II, Scene 7

FEBRUARY-MARCH 2006
CHAPTER 1

The hyena moved off when the men shouted. It stood about fifty metres
away, watching them with its head low between powerful shoulders, wary,
not fearful, waiting for its chance to retake the field. The men stood in
silence, staring at what the hyena had been eating.
Yellowed bones pierced through areas of sinew and desiccated skin.
The head, separated from the spine, lay about a metre away. Remnants of
skin on the upper face srretched in a death mask over the skull and pulled
at the scalp. The lower part of the face had been torn away, and the back
of the skull was smashed by jaws hungry for the brains. The eye sockets
were empty, save for dried blood; one of the vultures had already had a
turn. Snapped ribs lay scattered, but the backbone and pelvis were intact.
One leg remained attached; the other was gone. The lower half of one arm
was missing; the other, freshly crunched by the hyena, lay a short distance
away. There was a cloying smell of carrion, unpleasant but not unbearable.
The scavengers had removed most of the flesh and the desert sun had
desiccated the rest. The flies, less cautious than the hyena, had startled to a buzzing swarm but now resettled, fat green jewels on the dirty bones.
'It's definitely a man,' said Andries unnecessarily.