Savannah

5

Part 1 - Underground Criminals

Satnarine Lalbeharry drove towards Savannah Gardens. He parked in front of a yellow, gun-metal-colored-roof flat. He instructed Valentina to wait inside the vehicle before entering the compound and driving out a white Hyundai truck parked in the garage. Then he drove the pickup into the garage, and Valentina exited and entered the house. Lalbeharry drove the pickup out and parked it on the road, returning the Hyundai truck to the garage. He walked towards his vehicle and opened the door to his van. Just then, a gentleman named Joe Cooper approached him from the nearby peach colored, grey-roofed flat.

Lalbeharry closed the door to his van. "So de neighbor see she?" he asked.

"De way you dropping she like ah secret agent, driving out ah vehicle, and driving in another one, I don't think anyone will ever see she. If de neighbor see she, maybe he have ah camera."

"So he never give you de impression like he know something?"

"Yeah. Valentina say one day when she was taking a walk, he call she and tell she he hear she with Dan."

"But he fast. And what she say?"

"She deny it. He just fast and always peeping by de window whenever a vehicle come by de house."

Lalbeharry's scandalous laughter echoed in the quiet night. "He is ah peeping tom den."

Joe laughed, his eyes turning into slits and his hands on his waist. "He eh have nothing better to do."

Lalbeharry glanced towards Rishi Mohan's house, three lots away on the opposite side of the road. In the dim outside light, he noticed a window's curtain closing suddenly. It was reflected easily by the inside light. He turned to Joe. "Ah just see he peeping we. Let he go ahead. We go give em something to peep one day."

Joe moved closer to Lalbeharry. "Any news from de station?"

Lalbeharry whispered. "Yeah, he identify de two men who bury de bag. He eh know who hit him though."

"Is de same men, Pablo and George?"

"Yep, but nobody know that. Hear dis, people saying Ralph telling tales, because it have nothing in de hole."

"It was me who supposed to make dat drop off Friday night. After twelve dat night, Dan call to ask me to drop it. Ah ask him at dis hour? And he say, he go get George to do it early in de morning."

"So late?" Lalbeharry asked.

"Yeah, last minute."

Lalbeharry was silent for a while. "Any recent news from Venezuela?" he asked.

"Plan delay until Sunday. De Guardia chase Martinez. Yuh think dey suspect em?"

"Ah hear ah talk that de Venezuelan Coast Guard chase de boat, but ah wasn't sure. Boy, yuh never know these days."

A Venezuelan man emerged from Joe's house, calling him. Joe excused himself and left.

Suddenly, the blinding lights of a vehicle flooded Lime Street. The street was another entrance and exit into Savannah Gardens, and led out towards the Southern Main Road. The vehicle drew nearer and a gold Nissan Sentra Sedan came into view. The car stopped beside Lalbeharry, and the driver rolled down his window. Matt Broker sitting in the driver's seat and John Gonzales on the passenger side alighted. Everyone huddled together on the roadside.

"So de cat out ah de bag!" Broker said.

"Ah hear ah talk today, but ah wasn't sure." Lalbeharry said, his head tilted and forehead wrinkled.

"Yeah, George confessed he kill Anton." Gonzales announced.

"He confess about de gang and de boss too?" Lalbeharry asked.