‘No, he was a solid straightforward guy, unexceptional. I’m telling you, it was Rob.’
‘I’m with Jim. He made a lot of enemies in the establishment. This was payback.’
‘Enemies in Africa. And think about it, they could have done this a lot easier out there.’
‘Could they? I’m not so sure.’ It took Alex a few seconds to work out what they were saying, a hollowness in his stomach as it sank in, his mind retching broken thoughts. They were talking about Rob’s death as if it were suspicious - the one thing he’d relied upon as being fanciful.
‘You’re ignoring something,’ said the doubter, ‘the mundane but likely scenario that it really was just an accident. Incidents of friendly fire like this happen all the time.’
‘So why did it take two days for them to admit it was friendly fire?’
‘Because that’s the way they are. I think Rob’s luck ran out, that’s all. And let’s face it, it lasted a bloody long time as it was.’
‘True enough. Jesus, is that true enough!’
They laughed about that and seemed ready to move on then, but the old guy spoke and they all fell silent, his voice drawling over the words, full of old school authority.
‘We’ll never know the truth, but frankly, this stinks. Someone wanted our boy Rob dead. Look at the facts. CIA connection gives Rob the nod on this location, evidence of atrocities. There’s no activity whatsoever in the area but the Americans decide nevertheless to hit the place with an artillery barrage just after Rob gets there. Thirty minutes of bombardment and then nothing. And was there any evidence of atrocities?’ He fastened his collar and straightened his tie. ‘Say what you like but this was a sting. Someone used a sledge hammer to crack a walnut, and the walnut was Rob Gibson. We do him a disservice if we don’t acknowledge that fact.’ He walked slowly away and into the church.
The others looked at each other without saying anything vocally and then started to move too, the younger guy taking his cue from the other three; Alex got the impression that perhaps he alone hadn’t known Rob. The other three looked weary with grief, a permanent grief they probably kept to themselves except on occasions like this.
‘Excuse me,’ said Alex and the three of them turned, a look of surprise as if they really hadn’t noticed him standing there. He looked apologetic and said, ‘I couldn’t help overhearing. You think someone killed Rob intentionally?’
They appeared to mentally close ranks against his question, only the young guy unsure how to react. One of the three who’d been discussing it said, ‘We’re just speculating.’
‘You shouldn’t pay too much attention to what journalists say to each other,’ said a second, the one who’d played the part of sceptic.
Sensing their defensiveness, Alex said, ‘It’s important that I know. I’m an old college friend of Rob’s and, well, another of our circle died in mysterious circumstances recently.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ said the sceptic. The other two were still looking on suspiciously but he added, ‘Look, I can understand your concern but believe me, even if Rob’s death was suspicious, and we have no proof of that, the chances of there being a connection are almost nil.’
One of the other two said now, ‘What do you do for a living?’
‘I’m an academic, a psychologist. I have nothing to do with this - I just want to be sure that...’
He ground to a halt and before he could continue the guy said, ‘This doesn’t concern you. It doesn’t even concern us. Just do yourself a favour and forget that you heard anything. Your friend died in an accident, that’s all there is to it.’
Alex wanted to say something, irritated at the way the guy had spoken to him, but he’d turned immediately and walked into the church, his younger colleague hesitating for a second and then following him.
‘Sorry about that,’ said the sceptic. ‘This has been a shock for all of us. He still had no excuse for talking to you like that.’
‘It’s okay. I understand.’
The other remaining guy smiled a little, regretfully, and said, ‘Jim was right though, you should forget about it, otherwise it’ll just eat you up, because believe me, you’ll never get to the truth.’
They walked away, leaving Alex on his own, almost amused by their communal advice to forget about it. If it was as easy to do as it was to say his life would be a lot simpler, if less true perhaps. Some things weren’t meant to be forgotten.