Among the Okapi

A biologist, Dr. Smith, who had been working on a study of the okapi in the Congo, was caught up in the revolution that overtook that country. The events there led to the death of Alice, the great love of his life and left him deeply traumatised. He ended up teaching in a small college in Canada trying to escape the memories of what he has been through. Years later a mercenary from that period of his life shows up, memories return with a vengeance and confrontations are inevitable. Previously Dr Smith had hired his lab assistant, Fred, to organize the boxes of notes from his Congo study for publication. Fred is involved in a rocky relationship with a student, Esther, who is also peripherally related to past events. As Fred gets to know Dr. Smith more deeply, he and Esther, and virtually everyone else in their orbit, are pulled into the mysteries of Dr. Smith's past.