Someone Wishes to Speak to You Read Online Free

way.’
    ‘Don’t take it personally. There was terrible fighting in this region during the upheavals ten years ago, at the time of the country’s independence from Belgium. A group of heavily armed European mercenaries arrived in Goma, shot dead some of the townspeople then caught and tied the policeman to a chair. As he wouldn’t help them find the men they were looking for, the mercenaries gave him a severe beating – you may have noticed the wound on his face.’
    After their conversation, Mathew recalled how he had read similar accounts of beatings of African-Americans in some of the prisons in the Deep South. He could well understand the degree of racial animosity that he had just experienced at Goma’s police station.
    So, with Mathew’s ambition to have at least a brief encounter with the mountain gorillas being so conclusively thwarted, he decided to return to Bukavu the following morning and to await Deschryver’s arrival from Nairobi. He would also see whether Lucienne would have time to accept an invitation to join him for Sunday lunch in order to try to gain her confidence, as well as to learn as much as possible about Adrien Decshryver and the eastern lowland gorillas of Kahuzi-Biega that he had done so much to protect.
    *    *    *
    Bistro Zanzibar was situated on the south-eastern shores of Lake Kivu. It offered a sizeable shaded veranda dining area that extended out over the water, supported by some irregular-looking wooden stilts. In this way, the bistro’s guests were able to benefit from the comfortable gentle breeze that came down the rift valley from the mountains to the north-east of the lake.
    Mathew had arrived at his rendezvous with Lucienne a good fifteen minutes early. This was not only to select the best table, but also to follow his mother’s advice that whenever entertaining a lady guest to always be sure to arrive in good time to welcome her, and to position a chair at the table to provide her with the most commanding view of other diners and of the overall environment.
    Lucienne’s arrival was heralded by a warm welcome from the bistro’s manager, and admiring glances from some of the other customers. She was wearing a colourful, loose-fitting blouse with a floral pattern, her hair tied back in a ponytail with a ribbon of the same material. Her pale sky-blue slacks and matching sandals completed the outfit, which perfectly suited her ebullient personality. ‘Mathew! How nice to see you again – you must tell me all about your trip . . . so sorry it didn’t go quite according to plan,’ said Lucienne as she approached the table. Mathew wanted to welcome her with a kiss on both cheeks, but decided to deflect such a spontaneous temptation by just formally shaking her hand. ‘There’s not much to tell!’ laughed Mathew as the waiter drew out Lucienne’s chair for her to take a seat. ‘Is this table all right for you? I thought it would give you a good view of the lake. Now, let’s order some wine . . . Sauvignon Blanc?’
    To any onlooker observing this young couple during the course of the meal, enjoying a dish of freshly caught lake fish and with the wine having started to dilute their inhibitions, it would be fair to assume there was a degree of intimacy. One would suppose from the way they were speaking to oneanother that they were either close relatives nostalgically recalling past experiences, or perhaps even a couple on their first date, such was the apparent degree of familiarity and the strength of like-minded thinking between them.
    With the lunch over, which Mathew could not have been more pleased to have hosted, Lucienne drove along the lake’s picturesque shoreline, past small stands of the ubiquitous eucalyptus and clusters of the slender-shaped fishing boats, back to the Hotel Metropole. As Deschryver had now returned to Bukavu, he had asked Lucienne to arrange to pick Mathew up from his hotel at 6 a.m. the following morning and to collect him