Chapter 11
Skebelsky invited them in to sit on chintz-covered couches in an open-air veranda. Like most living rooms in this part of the world, it had no glass windows or screens, with stucco archways supporting the traditional, thatched roof of closely knitted palm fronds. The colonial furniture was heavy and dark, milled from the dense Kenyan hardwoods of yesteryear, the rare kinds no one is allowed to harvest anymore. As there might be in the parlor of any Victorian home the world over, besides couches and ottomans, here was a breakfront full of Wedgwood and Spode china, as well as a sideboard with silver service and ice bucket. The Indian hammered-brass coffee table rested on a pair of (now also illegal to buy) enormous elephant tusks.
As Harry glanced around the room, he was suddenl
