Random Violence (21 page)

He shook his head. “I don’t know where Mark is, and I don’t care much, either.” His voice became stronger. “I never approved of him. Ellie married him against my wishes.” He lifted his chin and Jade caught a glimpse of what he must have been like in his prime. An arrogant man. A dominating father. Somebody accustomed to getting his own way, no questions asked.

“Why?” Jade asked. “Why did you dislike him?”

The old man got to his feet and walked across the room. He lifted the vase and straightened the cork mat underneath. Then he adjusted the position of the two photographs. Jade hadn’t noticed anything wrong with them. She thought Bill was probably giving himself a moment to consider.

He returned to his chair and looked straight at them.

“I wanted my daughter to do better. Mark was a likeable man, don’t get me wrong. Good-looking, charming, pleasant company. But he was a freeloader. He lived off my daughter. I owned a highly successful law firm, and I made sure my family never wanted for anything. I would have liked Ellie to marry a man with similar principles. Mark dabbled in busi-ness. This and that. He was a good salesperson. He sold insur-ance at one stage. Then he lost interest, and it was something else. Next thing, he was selling houses. She bankrolled all his projects. None of them succeeded.”

Jade glanced at David, remembering what he had told her about the development at 48 Forest Road. “If Mark sold houses, did he sell Ellie’s place after she died?”

Bill shook his head.

“Mark inherited the house. But he didn’t want anything to do with it after what happened there,” he said. “He spoke to me at her funeral. Said he was selling it at a giveaway price. He asked me for my banking details. He told me he didn’t want to benefit from it. He wanted the money to go to me.”

“Did he ever pay you the money?” David asked.

Bill straightened in his chair again. “I didn’t give him my banking details. I didn’t want the money. He knew my opin-ion of him. Giving me the proceeds from the sale of my daugh-ter’s house wasn’t going to change that opinion.” He pursed his lips. “A banker’s check for one million rand arrived in the post a month or so later. I tore it up.”

Now Jade understood why the frame on the cabinet had been engraved with Ellie’s maiden name rather than her married name. Jade was beginning to feel sorry for his daughter. She’d drawn the short straw in the father department, that was for sure. Having family money wasn’t everything in life. And why couldn’t he have swallowed his pride for long enough to cash the check and donate the money to a deserving charity?

“Could we get a list of her friends from you? University friends, work contacts, anyone else we could talk to?” David stood up, letting Mr. Scott know that they’d asked all their questions.

“She didn’t have a job. With the trust fund I set up for her, she didn’t need one. But she kept busy. She played a lot of sports. I’ll send you the names of her friends, her sporting contacts. People who knew her.”

“That would be great.” Jade got up too. She looked out at the changing weather. Rain was lashing against the window and the sea was dark and angry. David was already walking down the passage to the front door. As she turned to go, Bill grasped her arm.

“Please find her killers. Find them for me. I want to see them brought to justice.”

“We’ll try.” Jade covered his hand with her own and gave a gentle squeeze.

“When Ellie died,” Bill paused, and his expression softened. “When she died, she was three months pregnant. She never told me. We didn’t communicate much after my wife died. That was my fault. I still blame myself today.” Quite unex-pectedly, his eyes filled with tears.

Jade put her arm around the old man and hugged him. She felt his shoulders shake. She knew how he must feel, with paradise all around him but inside him, a living hell that wouldn’t end.

While she tried to comfort him, Jade watched the rain pelting down and the swells building. Then she saw it. A huge dark shape leapt out of the water and flicked its enormous tail just before its massive body crashed back down into the churning water. A Southern Right whale, cavorting in the sea.

30

They sat in a coffee shop looking out at the worsening weather. Jade ran her fingers through her hair and shook it out. After the short sprint from the house to the car, and the equally short sprint from the car to the shopping center, she was soaked.

“That’s Cape Town weather for you,” she said. “Four seasons in one day.”

David shrugged his jacket off his shoulders, brushed off the raindrops, and hung it on the back of his chair.

“At least you saw a whale,” he grumbled. “If I’d known you were going to spend half an hour hugging the old guy, I’d have stayed and looked out of the window, too.”

They ordered some food. David chose a hamburger from the lunch menu. Jade opted for chicken and chips.

“And bring the Tabasco,” David told the waitress.

“Thanks,” Jade said.

Rain pelted down outside.

“It’s going to be a fun drive back to the airport,” David said. “For you, that is. I’m going to wind my seat back and have a nap. I always sleep well in the rain.”

“Why did they both get shot?” Jade asked. “Why did Annette hire a detective to trace Ellie?”

David nodded. “Were they really hijackings?”

“According to your evidence, Annette’s murder was a hit arranged by Piet.” Jade stared accusingly across the table at him.

“Don’t look at me that way, Jade. I have my doubts about Piet as a suspect in spite of evidence that could be good enough to send him to jail. That’s why I’m down here following leads with you, instead of up in Jo’burg pursuing the case against him. But still, how did a Diepsloot gangster with a criminal record end up in possession of his business card?”

Jade frowned. She couldn’t answer him. They sat and ate, watching the sea, hoping to see another whale.

The drive back to the airport was a two-hour slog. Traffic crawled along, and the gray sheets of rain limited visibility to a car’s length in front of them. They passed two accidents along the way.

The congestion was no better inside the airport. The queues for checking in snaked round and round Cape Town Domestic. Jade heard tourists complaining in Dutch, German, French and Italian. When they finally reached the check-in desk, they were told that the airport had just been closed due to bad weather.

“Your plane was grounded at Johannesburg airport an hour ago,” the stewardess explained to them in doleful tones. “It’s difficult for the smaller planes to land in this weather. If the airplane can’t land here, it can’t fly back again, you see.”

Her logic was inarguable. Jade tried a different angle. “Any other flights? Could we go on standby anywhere else?”

“There are a couple of planes that could take off tonight if the weather improves.” The stewardess indicated the crowded airport. “Unfortunately, I think that there will be lots of people wanting seats on those planes. I still have a few vouchers left for the Road Lodge, here at the airport. You can stay there overnight and I can check you in now for the first flight tomorrow morning.”

Jade looked at David. He shrugged. “Unless you want to rehire the car and spend the next eighteen hours on the road driving back to Johannesburg, we don’t have a choice, do we?”

The room at the Road Lodge was small, neat and clean, decorated in cheerful blue and red. It had one double bed. She remembered the times she’d shared a bed with David in the distant past. Three or four occasions, perhaps. In cheap motels and strange cities, where she’d accompanied him on investigations and accommodation was scarce. Sleeping companionably, back-to-back and fully clothed. Even if she’d always dreamt about what would happen if he rolled over in the deep of the night and kissed her the way she’d always wanted him to.

Now, looking at the double bed, she felt awkward and embarrassed all over again.

“Sorry, Jadey,” David said. “Do you want to see if there’s another room available?”

The porter caught his attention. “All the twin rooms are taken, sir. Only the double rooms are open.”

“That’s OK. We’ll live with it.”

While David showered, Jade went downstairs and bought a selection of chips, chocolate and soft drinks from the vending machines. They could have a junk-food supper and fall asleep to the sound of their teeth rotting.

After her shower, she put on the spare T-shirt she’d brought with her and folded her clothes ready for the morning. Then she climbed into bed as quickly as possible, keeping so far over to her side that she was worried she’d tumble out onto the floor.

“So Mark Myers was a freeloader,” David said. He was sitting up, propped against his pillows, programming the alarm clock on his cell phone.

“Sounds like it,” Jade agreed. “But you can never tell. We’ve only heard Mr. Scott’s side of the story. Mark might have been an honest, hardworking man who just wasn’t quite as rich as his wife.”

David put his cell phone down and turned off the bedside light. “You’re right, Jadey. Two sides to every story.”

Jade edged her feet down into the chilly depths of the sheets. David was so far away from her she’d have more chance of sharing body warmth with the person in the room next door. The discomfort of the cold bed prompted her to ask him an uncomfortable question. “What’s the other side to your story? Why did your wife leave you?”

There was a tense silence on the other side of the bed.

Just as Jade started to say “Sorry I asked,” David spoke.

“She had an affair.”

Jade’s head whipped round, facing the darkness where he lay.

“What?”

“She had an affair,” he said again. His voice wasn’t angry or sad. He sounded empty and emotionless. “With a neighbor. I knew him. He was a nice guy. They managed to keep it secret until I came home early one day and caught them.”

“Oh, Jesus, how awful.” Jade’s heart was pounding so hard she wondered if he could hear it.

David gave the ghost of a laugh. “I wanted to kill him when I saw them together. I threatened him with my service pistol. I actually had it against his head. I could have pulled the trigger so easily. I don’t know why I didn’t. He ran outside as soon as he had a chance.”

“Wasn’t only his fault,” Jade said, and immediately wished she hadn’t.

She heard the bedsprings creak as David turned over. Now he was facing her, she thought, but she couldn’t see him in the dark. The expanse of cold starched sheets between them seemed like an insurmountable barrier.

“I know, I know. I told myself I’d caused it, that my working hours were crap and my job stress was through the roof, but yes, Naisha knew what she was doing. Although I never wanted to kill her. Only him.”

“Where’s he now?”

“They broke it off. He took a job in Pietermaritzburg and moved down there within a month. I don’t know if they’re still in touch. Then Naisha wanted some time apart from me, to sort her head out. She was devastated by what had hap-pened. So I found the place in Kyalami.”

Jade didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what to say. She wanted to reach out to him and hold his hand, put her arms around him, offer him some comfort just as she had done earlier for Ellie’s father in the beautiful, lonely room by the sea. But she couldn’t. David cleared his throat. After another pause, he continued.

“When we met in town, when I gave her the fingerprint disk, she told me she’d thought about it. She wanted us to try again. That’s what she said to me.”

Jade suddenly wished she was somewhere else. She didn’t want to hear what David said next. Not while she was lying beside him in a hotel bed that felt as wide as the distance between two stars. She didn’t dare to breathe, as if by not breathing she could somehow influence a decision that had already been made.

“What did you say to her?” she asked.

“I told her no.”

Now she really couldn’t breathe. “Why?”

“Don’t know. Just felt like the right decision.”

“Oh.” Jade stared up into the dark. She wished she could see his face.

“If I had my time over,” David said. He never finished the sentence. The next moment Jade heard the bedsprings twang and felt his arm coil around her and pull her towards him. Then her face was bumping against his and his mouth was on her cheek, and then suddenly, urgently, on her lips.

Jade found herself wrapping her arms and legs around him as he pulled her even closer.

His breathing was rough as he touched her with trembling hands, stroking and caressing with a hunger that echoed her own. She heard him say sorry, and whisper her name over and over before he kissed her again. She knew there was no going back. Whatever the consequences, good or bad, right or wrong, she would always have this night.

31

When Jade switched on her phone again, she had three urgent messages from Robbie.

She had spent the flight in a sleepy trance, reliving the memories of the night. The car journey back from the airport passed in much the same way. Back home, she climbed out as quickly as she could, before she could follow through on any inappropriate ideas like kissing David goodbye. He had to make his own choices now. There was nothing she could do.

She phoned Robbie back. He sounded as if he was driving.

“Where were you? I’ve been hunting for you.”

“On the early flight from Cape Town.”

“I’m coming to fetch you now. We need to get going with your friend Viljoen. Chop-chop. This morning.”

Jade rubbed her eyes. She needed a shower. More than that, she needed eight uninterrupted hours of sleep. But time was limited. Piet was languishing in a holding cell. She had a busy Monday lined up.

“Why today?”

“What, you want to wait till your next birthday or some-thing? We’ve been following this guy nonstop since he came out of prison. Verna and me. We know his moves. He’ll walk to the shop later on. Before lunch. Like he does every day. C’mon. Let’s get it done. Today’s a good day, I’m telling you. I know these things. So I’m on my way. If you don’t want to go, I’ll do it for you.”

Jade sighed. “Give me twenty minutes. I need to shower.”

She showered, changed into fresh clothing and strapped on her gun belt. She walked into the kitchen in time to see David’s unmarked driving past her house. He was off to work. She wondered if he had thought of her when he stood in the shower, with the rising steam carrying the scent of her as the hot water hissed down and washed it off his body.

Robbie pulled up outside her house one minute later. He was driving his BMW, but Jade noticed it had different plates.

His timing was uncanny. How had he known exactly when the cop left home? If he’d cut it any finer, she thought he would have probably ended up in a head-on collision with David on the narrow road.

“Let’s get going.” He reversed out of the driveway and Jade steeled herself for a wild ride. In the end, it wasn’t as bad as she expected. Robbie turned onto the main road and drove sen-sibly towards the highway.

“What’s up with you? Did you take an advanced driving course?”

“Speed traps and roadblocks. Someone called in and warned me.” Robbie indicated his cell phone. He turned to her and grinned. “D-day at last. You know, Jade, you’re a gutsy chick. You’ve got bigger balls than that Muffin the Wonder Horse. You follow through. I never thought you’d do it the first time. I swear to God, right up until the moment you pulled the trigger I thought you were going to back out and I’d have to do some damage control.” He shook his head, eyeing her with admiration. “You haven’t changed, have you? Tough as ever. I haven’t forgotten how you saved my ass the other night.”

Jade had had no intention of backing out. Not since the first night after her father’s death, when she had been alone in the little house in Turffontein and Jacobs had come for her. She remembered waking from a troubled sleep to what was then the most terrifying sound imaginable. The creak of a floorboard in a house she knew was empty apart from herself. The rattling of her locked bedroom door. She was scrambling out of the window when she heard the lock splinter and the door give way. Crouching outside the gate behind his new unmarked, she saw Jacobs turn on the light. She saw the steely gleam of the long knife he was carrying. Then she’d turned and fled, running down the dark street, breath sobbing in her chest. She had escaped. And she had come back later, with Robbie, to even the score.

Robbie’s voice dragged her back to reality.

“What’re you thinking?” he asked.

“Nothing.”

“Well. Better start thinking if we’re going to get this done right.” His tone was unusually sharp. She saw him take one hand off the wheel. He lifted it to his mouth and tore at his cuticles. Jade realized he was nervous.

David arrived at work exhausted but content in a way he hadn’t been for a long while. Naisha was a beautiful woman, a charming companion, a true professional at work, an excel-lent mother at home. But he was now acutely aware of their differences. She didn’t understand police work. The inherent danger and violence in his job disturbed her. When he spoke about his day, she didn’t want to hear. Over the years, their communication had fizzled into uneasy silence. And then she had looked elsewhere for the companionship she lacked.

Jade had always been like a sister, a best friend, someone who instantly understood every thought in his head. And last night had felt so right. Amazingly, heart-stoppingly right. When he thought about it, he found it difficult not to let a silly grin take over his face. He couldn’t control the heart-pounding excite-ment that flooded his body, making almost everything seem trivial except the thought of seeing her again.

But he had Kevin to think about. The boy had lived without his father for too long already. David’s occasional weekend and evening visits always ended with tears, Kevin begging him to stay. When he married Naisha, David had promised himself he would make the relationship work, that they wouldn’t become one of the depressingly high police divorce statistics. He was resolute that if he had children they would grow up with both parents in a secure home environment.

David pushed the troubling thoughts aside. Despite his tiredness, he had a feeling it was going to be a good day.

He was wrong.

He walked over to his filing cabinet and took out the files he needed to work on most urgently. Before he could open them, he heard a tap at his door. He looked up.

Williams stood in the doorway with two senior investiga-tors from the Scorpions, the elite high-profile investigation unit that specialized in serious political and organized crime. He recognized one of them as a sniper. All three of them wore Kevlar. The sniper was in camouflage.

“What’s up?” David asked, walking round his desk to shake hands with the trio.

Williams didn’t offer his hand. His face was grim.

“Superintendent Patel, you’ve been working with Jade de Jong on the Botha case.”

David frowned, puzzled. “Yes, I have. I cleared it with you before I asked her. We’ve got a suspect in custody, and we’re making good progress. Why? Is there a problem?”

“Yes, there is.” One of the investigators stepped forward. “We’re about to arrest a second suspect related to your case.”

David felt a shiver of unease. Something was wrong here. “Who are you arresting?”

The thickset officer regarded him with a faint smile. “Jade de Jong,” he said, his voice neutral.

“What the hell are you talking about? She’s done nothing wrong.” David glared at the man, his hands bunching into fists.

“It’s not what she’s done. It’s what she’s about to do.”

“How do you mean?”

The man checked his watch, a waterproof Rolex copy. David had seen street hawkers selling them outside the station. “We’ve got confirmed intelligence that in approxi-mately an hour and a half she’s going to make an attempt on the life of a paroled prisoner, namely a Mr. Viljoen.”

“What?”

The man nodded. “Her father was instrumental in his con-viction. It was a high-profile case. Attracted a lot of publicity. Both brothers received death threats while they were on trial. One died in prison, and we’ve just been informed that she’s going to shoot the other one. Today.”

David stood stock still, feeling like the world had turned upside down.

“Jade wouldn’t do that. Who told you? They must have their facts screwed up.”

“An informer.”

“Well, your informer’s given you the wrong information.” David turned back to his desk and reached for the phone. He dialed a number.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m calling her. She’ll confirm it’s bullshit.”

The officer grabbed David’s shoulder and pulled him away from the phone. The receiver fell to the floor. The man placed his finger on the cradle of the instrument, disconnecting the line. “Superintendent, you don’t understand. Our informa-tion is accurate. Our facts are confirmed. If you try to make contact with this woman now, you’ll be perverting the course of justice and we’ll arrest you along with her.”

David stared at the man in frustration.

“I can’t believe this.”

The officer shrugged. “Please come with us.”

“Come with you? Why? I’ve got a week’s worth of paper-work to finish off this morning. I’ve got a suspect in the holding cells who’ll be released in twenty-four hours unless I can prove the case against him.”

“Scorpion cases take priority.”

“If you’re so good at your job, why do you need me?”

“Patel, if we leave you here the first thing you’re going to do is to warn the suspect. Come with us, please.”

David looked at the receiver swinging on the end of its line, scraping against the tiled floor. Then he looked back at the men. He saw Williams shaking his head, pale with fury. David clenched his hands again. How could they accuse Jade of planning such an unlikely crime? He wanted to punch the investigator, but his words had planted a tiny seed of doubt. The Scorpions only made arrests when they were sure of their facts. Did he really know Jade as well as he thought? Or was there a darker side to her, one that he’d never seen? His fingers were bruising the flesh of his palms. With an effort, he relaxed his hands. “OK,” he said. “Let’s get this over with.”

He walked with the men to an unmarked car outside the building and got inside.