‘There’s damage,’ Kim sighed. ‘They really won’t know how bad it is until he wakes up. Did you talk to the police and the accident investigators?’
Calder told her about his various interviews and the fact that no one had seen anything suspicious.
‘It still worries me,’ Kim said. ‘The more I think about it the more worried I become.’
‘It must have been an accident,’ Calder insisted.
Kim sipped her wine thoughtfully. A curl of dark hair fell over her face and she let it rest there for a few moments before pushing it out of her eyes. The gloom gathered around the kitchen as the evening light over the marshes outside slipped away. The rooks were settling themselves. ‘I suppose you’re right. But I would still be very grateful if you could talk to this man Benton Davis. Todd was sure there was something weird about Martha’s death, and he’s our best bet for finding out what.’
‘I’ll go down to London to see him as soon as I can get away. But first you must tell me some more about Todd’s mother. The police claimed she was killed by guerrillas?’
‘That’s right. They said it was a random attack by African National Congress guerrillas from over the border in Mozambique, and the family accepted that. Obviously it was a horrible time for Todd; you saw how it still eats him up. Todd says Cornelius was devastated. He moved the family from South Africa to Philadelphia soon afterwards, he closed the Cape Daily Mail, sold his other South African newspapers and bought the Herald. Four years later he got married again, to Jessica Montgomery. You might have seen her in the gossip columns.’ Kim examined Calder doubtfully. ‘Or then again you might not.’
‘I think I’ve seen a photo of the two of them somewhere,’ said Calder. ‘Was Todd suspicious at the time about his mother’s death?’
‘Not then. There was a lot of random violence in South Africa, much of it blamed on the ANC. In fact, random violence seems to define the place.’ Kim’s voice was bitter. ‘The only thing that bothered him was when his grandmother, Martha’s mother, came to South Africa shortly after the murder. She asked lots of questions that Cornelius wouldn’t answer. After the initial grief, the tension between the two of them increased. Todd hadn’t heard then what those questions were, but he did have a conversation with her in 1997 when he went to visit her in Minnesota. She lived on the shore of a lake just outside Minneapolis. I went there myself once, right after we were married. It’s an absolutely gorgeous place. Anyway, Todd’s grandmother said that she had been in touch with Cornelius to suggest he bring a complaint to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Have you heard of that?’
‘Vaguely.’
‘It was set up by the new constitution in South Africa to examine abuses during the apartheid regime. People could come to the Commission to tell them about torture or murder committed by whites or blacks, and the TRC would investigate. The perpetrators would be given amnesty if they promised to tell the truth. It looked at thousands of cases, some of them with high-profile victims, most of them just ordinary people. Todd’s grandmother thought this would be the perfect way to find out what had happened to Martha. But Cornelius refused.’
‘Did he say why?’
‘Todd asked him. Cornelius said it would just bring back all the distress surrounding Martha’s death and it was better to leave it. Todd and Cornelius had a major row about it, and Todd threatened to go down to South Africa himself to talk to the Commission, but in the end Cornelius persuaded him not to. Given Cornelius’s position, Todd’s testimony would cause a major stir in the press and Cornelius felt that would be unfair on those members of the family who wanted to keep their privacy. Besides which, Todd himself had very little to say without the support of Cornelius. So, reluctantly, he let it drop.
‘Then last Easter Todd’s grandmother died. His grandfather had died shortly after Martha. He had had cancer and her death hadn’t helped him fight it. Martha’s brother had been killed in a car accident when he was in his twenties, so Todd and his sister Caroline were the only heirs. Todd was sorting through his grandmother’s papers when he came across the letter we were telling you about, from Martha to her mother. And that’s when he started asking questions again.’
‘Can I see it?’
‘Hang on. I’ll go and fetch it.’ Kim left Calder to go out to the entrance hall and rummage in her suitcase. She was back a minute later clutching a small leather photo frame and an airmail envelope. She handed the frame to Calder.
‘Todd always takes this with him wherever we go. I thought you’d like to see what she looked like.’
The photograph was of a woman sitting on some steps in a garden, clutching an ancient yellow Labrador. She was slender with frank blue eyes and long blonde hair that rested on her collarbones. She was wearing faded jeans and a simple blue T-shirt, she wore no make-up and she was smiling at the photographer, a warm, relaxed smile.
‘She was gorgeous,’ Calder said.
‘That was taken a couple of years before she died. She must have been over forty.’
‘Huh.’
‘Her family were originally from Norway, I think. Her maiden name was Olson.’
‘You can tell.’ Calder studied the photograph more closely. ‘Can I see the letter?’
She handed over the envelope and Calder carefully removed a couple of sheets of well-thumbed air-mail paper, covered with small, closely spaced, spiky writing.
‘Todd said his mother’s writing wasn’t usually that bad. He thinks it’s a sign of how panicked she felt.’
Calder began to read:
Hondehoek
August 25, I988
Dear Mom,
I know this letter is going to freak you out, and I apologize for writing it. When you get it, read it and keep it somewhere safe. When we next talk on the phone, we shouldn’t discuss it. I’ll tell you more next time I come over to America, which I hope will be in September.
You know that things are not going well between Cornelius and me at the moment. I told you that he is planning to sell his South African papers and to close down the Cape Daily Mail, and how upset this has made me. Well, I have discovered some stuff about all that that worries me. It worries me a lot.
If anything should happen to me... I hate writing those words and I know how much they will worry you, and I’m sure nothing happen, but just in case it does, then there are some things I would like you to know. You should get in touch with a friend of mine, Benton Davis. He works for Bloomfield Weiss, which is the investment bank advising Zyl News, in their New York office. I trust him, and he will be able to tell you what I’ve found out.
There’s also some stuff in my diary, at the back, on pages marked “Laagerbond” and “Operation Drommedaris.” You can read the rest of the diary if you like, just don’t show any of it to Cornelius. I keep it hidden in my desk at Hondehoek. It’s a black moleskin notebook and it’s stuffed in a box marked “US tax records 1980–85” which is at the back of the bottom drawer. It seemed to me the kind of box no one would open. But if something does happen to me, please come down here as soon as you can and find it.
When you’ve found it and read it, and when you’ve spoken to Benton, talk to Dad and decide what to do. I trust you two, of all people, to do the right thing.
It is impossible to put into words how much I love you and Dad. You have taught me so much and given me so much love. If I can be half as good a parent to Todd and Caroline as you were to me, then I will be very happy. I know I have done some things that you thought were wrong, I know you forgave me when that was hard to do, and I thank you for that.