Thirteen Hours (25 page)

Until she heard the click-clack of a woman's shoes, right up
close to her, just two or three steps away.

'OK. Thank you,' said the same black woman as earlier.

'I hope you find her,' said the man's voice.

'She can't be far. We will go and search the park.'

'Good luck.'

'OK.' She heard the woman walk away. Moments later the door
closed and then she knew she would be safe.

Melinda Geyser gulped down half a glass of water and kept it
in the hand that was resting on the arm of the couch.

'We went to play for a wedding in Bethlehem in the Eastern
Free State. After the reception we stayed over in the chalets at Lake Athlone.
The place was empty. We made a fire outside and sat in the dark, drinking and
chatting. Danny said he was going to sleep, he was tired and drunk and doped.
By then we had been married for three years and things weren't going so well.
But we stayed outside, the other three and myself. They were young, in their
twenties, like me. The bass guitarist had a video camera, he'd got it the
previous week. He was filming us. At first it was innocent fun, we were playing
the fool, pretending we were famous and were being interviewed by the SABC. We
kept on drinking. Too much. I think it happened because of the dynamics of our
group - Danny was the leader, we were the four employees, the underlings. We
started saying things to the video camera about Danny. We mimicked and mocked
him. We knew if he got to see the video it would make him furious - he had a terrible
temper, especially the morning after a night of drinking. But it was precisely
that risk that made it such fun; he was right there, asleep, while we were
taunting him on video, there
was .. .
proof of
what we were doing, kind of forever, on video.'

'The guitarist kissed me first. He said he knew what would
make Danny totally crazy. He came over and kissed me on the mouth. It wasn't a
big leap from there. Not in the state we were in. I don't have to give you the
detail. The video shows how they undressed me, with my help, how they each
licked a nipple. It shows how two of them had sex with me, one from the front
and the other behind. It shows how I enjoyed it. There is a close-up of my face
and you can clearly
see ...
You can hear me
too ...'
She looked at Dekker, there was an energy in
her. She said: 'I will always wonder how much the presence of the camera
contributed to the experience.' She was quiet for a while and then her eyes
dropped. 'I never regretted it. Until yesterday. Until I realised my sins could
catch up with Josh. It would hurt him so much to know all that. He needs
another kind of me.'

When she fell silent, Dekker asked: 'Was that on the DVD?'

She nodded.

'Barnard wanted to blackmail you.' He spoke with certainty.

'No. He was the one being blackmailed. When I passed the DVD
back to him and said I knew what it was, he said he had to pay sixty thousand
for it. He said it arrived a week ago by registered post, with a note saying:
Watch this when you are alone. Or Melinda's career is
over.
The call came three days later, from a man wanting fifty thousand
or he would put it on the Internet. I asked Adam why he had paid sixty then. He
told me the other ten thousand was to make sure it was the only copy.'

'How did he manage that?'

'I asked him that too. He said this wasn't the first time he
had had to protect one of his artist's interests. He had people who help with
that, an agency. They followed the trail of the money transfers, until they
found the man.'

'Was it the bass guitarist?'

'No. Danny Vlok.'

'Your ex?'

'You have to admit there is some kind of justice in it.'

'How did they make sure it was the only copy?'

'I don't know. I tried to phone Danny when I left here.
Someone at his shop said he was in hospital. He was assaulted in his flat on
Sunday night.'

Dekker digested this information. This thing was getting big.
And complex. 'But why did Barnard tell you this, if it was sorted out?'

'I think the video aroused Adam.'

'So he blackmailed you?'

'No, he simply spotted an opportunity.'

'Oh?'

'He told me there was nothing to worry about. I was grateful.
Then he smiled and put the DVD in the player. I could have walked out. But I
wanted to see it again. One last time. We watched it together. When it was over
he asked if he could kiss me. I said yes.'

She saw Dekker's expression and she said: 'I was very
grateful to Adam. He was discreet. He went to a lot of trouble and expense.
Seeing that video
again ...
yourself. Young ...
so ...
randy ...'

Dekker continued to frown.

'You must be wondering how a born-again woman could do
something like that. You see, Mr Dekker, I don't believe in a condemning God. I
think it was Bishop Tutu who said "God has a soft spot for sinners. His
standards are quite low." He's not sitting up there with clenched fists
ready to punish us. I believe he's a God of love. He knows we are what we are,
just as he made us, with our weaknesses and all. He understands. He knows it
brings us ultimately closer to him, knowing how weak we are. He just wants us
to confess.'

Dekker was speechless. They sat there in silence, listening
to the hiss of the gas lamp. For the first time she clasped her hands on her
lap. 'You want to know why I told Josh. That's the thing I can't really
explain. I walked out of here with the DVD in my handbag. I knew they knew,
Willie, Wouter ...'

'Wouter?'

'The financial director. Wouter Steenkamp. His office is next
to Adam's. I knew they would have heard me because I'm loud when it comes to
sex. Adam had
his ...
talents. The sound
of Natasha's voice when I passed
her ...
Maybe she was in the corridor when it was going on. She suspected something.
But I was out of there and went and sat in my car. I had the DVD and I wanted
to break it. I never knew how hard that is. It bends, but it doesn't easily
break, just like the human spirit. I took a pair of tweezers out of my handbag
and scratched it with that. That was the best I could do. I scratched it until
I was sure it would never work again. I phoned Danny at his shop then drove
home and threw the DVD in the rubbish bin. When I went into the house there on
the couch was dear, sweet Josh who loves me so unconditionally. He put his arms
around me like he always does, but all I could think of was that he would smell
the sex on me. Josh must have felt the tension, he's a sensitive man, always
wondering if he's good enough for me. It was his caring that caught me, that
absolute, honest caring. At that moment I was faced with the difference between
his image of me and who I really was. It was devastating, if you will excuse
the theatrical language. I believed he had the right to know the truth, but the
words wouldn't come out. Old habits, we protect ourselves to the bitter end. I
would prefer to believe that I wanted to protect him, because as hard as it is
to live with myself, Josh would find it impossible to recover from the whole
truth.'

When Vusi Ndabeni parked opposite Carlucci's the police
helicopter was overhead, the wap-wap of its rotor blades deafening. He spotted
Mbali Kaleni standing next to a patrol vehicle with a radio microphone in her
hand, the wire looping through the open window. She had a map book of Cape Town
open on the car's bonnet and her other hand keeping the pages open.

Vusi crossed the street to her and heard her saying loudly:
'This is the centre point, where I am standing. You must search from here.
First, look at all the houses on this block. She wants to stay away from the
street, so she must be in a back yard somewhere. Then you look at the parks, De
Waal Park just down the road, there is also Leeuwenhof ... two, three, four
blocks away, east. No, wait... west, can you see it?'

Vusi stopped beside her. She glanced at him, trying to hear
what the helicopter pilot was saying.

'I can't hear you,' she said into the microphone.

'Where do you want us to go after we check the parks?'

'Search the area between this point and the city.'

'Roger.' The helicopter swung north towards De Waal Park.
Kaleni stretched through the window to replace the microphone. She couldn't
quite reach, she was too short and too wide. Vusi opened the door for her. She
handed him the microphone, as though he was to blame. He replaced it, closed
the door, the helicopter's racket fading.

'We will find her,' said Kaleni.

Forensics' white bus pulled up. Thick and Thin got out and
walked over, carrying their cases.

'Where have you been?' Kaleni scolded them.

He was two hundred metres away from the corner of Riebeeck
Street when Benny Griessel realised he would have to leave the car somewhere here
in Bree Street and walk to Alfred Street. To get across Buitengracht in this
traffic chaos would take at least forty minutes.

He found a parking space opposite a cycle shop, which made
him wonder whether he ought to put his bike in the car every morning. The power
cuts were as regular as the cannon on Signal Hill nowadays. A parking attendant
approached with an air of official purpose, her card machine in hand.

'Police,' said Griessel and showed her his ID card, in a
hurry to get away, John Afrika's urgent voice ringing in his mind.

'Makes no difference,' the woman said. 'How long do you want
to stop?'

Perhaps he should just go. 'How much for two hours?'

'Fourteen rand.'

'Jissis
,' said Griessel. He dug out his wallet, searched for change,
passed it over, locked his car and jogged through the motionless traffic. It
was only four blocks on foot; he could take Prestwich and get there faster.
Meanwhile he could find out what was going on. On the way he took out his cell
phone and phoned Vusi.

'Hello, Benny.' There was the sound of a helicopter in the
background.

'Vusi, I'm on my way to the Commissioner; I just want to know
what's happening. Where are you?'

'At Carlucci's.'

'Any news?'

'She's missing, Benny, but the helicopter is searching and we
have nine vehicles now, another on the way, but the traffic jam ...'

'I know. Have you talked to Metro?'

'I haven't had time.'

'Leave it to me. We'll have to draw up a timetable, or we'll
just be duplicating each other, but I'll call you as soon as I am finished with
the Commissioner. Let me know if anything happens.'

'Benny, Organised Crime has photos of Demidov's people. I
want the guy at the restaurant here to have a look at them.'

Griessel hesitated. Six months ago he had uncovered a nest of
corruption at Organised Crime. They were not on good terms with him, even
though there was a whole new team of people and they shared a building in
Bellville South. But Vusi's plan did make sense.

'If you can manage it, Vusi. It can't do any harm.'

John Afrika's office, on the fourth floor of 24 Alfred Street
in Green Point, was hot without the air conditioning. He was opening a window,
when he heard the Provincial Commissioner's urgent steps approaching.

Afrika sighed. More trouble. He remained standing and waited
for his boss to arrive. This time the little Xhosa did not knock; he was in too
much of a hurry and too worried. 'They say she's afraid of the police,' he
said, barely through the door. He walked up to the desk and pressed his hands
on its edge like a man suddenly in need of support.

'Commissioner?' Afrika enquired, because he had no idea what
he was talking about.

'The Consul General says Rachel Anderson told her father that
she could not go to the police.'

'Not go to the police?'

'Her father said it sounded as though she didn't trust the
police.'      i

'Bliksem
,' said John Afrika and sat down behind his desk.

'My sentiments exactly,' said the Provincial Commissioner.

Buitengracht was a nightmare. The traffic was gridlocked in
all five lanes. Griessel darted between the cars, grateful to be on foot. His
phone rang. Probably the Commissioner wanting to know where the hell he was.
But the screen showed Dekker.

'Fransman?'

'Benny, this is a soap opera,' said Dekker and outlined
Melinda's story for Griessel all the way to the corner of Prestwich and Alfred.

'Fuck,' said Griessel eventually. 'What did she say about
where they were last night?'

'At the church until eleven. The Tabernacle in Parklands.

Then they went home. Melinda slept on the couch, Josh in the
bedroom, but they were at home until this morning. Nor do they own a gun.'

'That's what he said too ...' Geyser might be lying about the
firearm but he had had since last night to get rid of one. 'Fransman, tell Josh
you want to search his house ...'