With all my love,
‘Wow,’ said Calder, handing the letter back to Kim. ‘I can see why you want to talk to Benton.’
‘He obviously knows something.’
‘You said Todd tried to get in touch with him?’
‘Yes. Todd called him from America before we left for England, but he couldn’t get past Davis’s PA. When we got to England we went to Bloomfield Weiss’s offices in person, but once again we were told Mr Davis was unavailable. We tried to talk our way in, but the security guards were absolute pigs and wouldn’t listen. We didn’t know what he looked like, so we couldn’t just wait for him. Cornelius refused to help. That’s when I thought we could try you.’
‘After what Martha says about him here, it is strange he didn’t want to talk to you. But then this isn’t the Benton Davis I know.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. But I suppose people change. After twenty years at Bloomfield Weiss, even the most trustworthy people might lose some of their integrity. Which is why I got out.’
‘What’s he like?’
‘Well, for a start, he’s black. Which is something in his favour. I would guess he joined Bloomfield Weiss in the early eighties, which was quite an achievement for a black person back then. He must have been pretty smart; there weren’t that many black investment bankers on Wall Street.’
‘You don’t think he’s that smart now?’
‘No. I always thought he was a bit superficial. Talks a lot about opera, name-drops like crazy, that kind of thing. But he might just be burned out. Once you get to fifty there are all kinds of younger men and women snapping at your heels trying to force you out of the hierarchy. He has a lot of charisma, though. He’s a big guy, quite athletic, impressive voice, you listen to him.’
‘Somehow or other he became a friend of Martha’s.’
‘Did Todd ask his father about him?’
‘Yes. Apparently Cornelius still does business with him. He said that Benton Davis and Martha met when Bloomfield Weiss were working on the deal to buy the Herald, right before Martha died. But Cornelius wasn’t willing to talk to him about Martha’s letter.’
‘Why not?’
‘He’s adamant that he doesn’t want to reopen any discussion of Martha’s death. Which is all very well for him to say, but Todd has a right to know and Cornelius should recognize that.’
‘Does he have any idea what Martha had discovered?’
‘No. Or at least he wasn’t saying.’
‘And the diary?’
‘Never saw it. Didn’t even know she was writing one. He said he couldn’t remember the specific box she mentions, but he is pretty sure that it would have been thrown away unopened when they sold Hondehoek.’
‘What about this “Laagerbond”?’
‘Never heard of that either.’
‘Presumably it has nothing to do with beer?’
‘Two “a”s, you idiot. Actually, no one seems to know what it is. Laager is the Afrikaans word for a circle of wagons around a camp. It’s an image from the Boers’ great trek away from the Cape to the interior of the country and it symbolizes a kind of defensive mindset that the Afrikaners have in the face of change. Bond just means “band” or “group”. Todd has asked around and no one has heard of this particular group. He did find one reference to it on the internet. It was from testimony by a spy to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1997 who said that his handler in the security police was a member. But he only mentioned the word once, and the Commission didn’t follow up on it.’
‘And Operation Drommedaris?’
‘Drommedaris is Dutch for dromedary; you know, a camel. One hump not two. It’s also the name of the boat Jan van Riebeeck sailed in when he founded the Dutch colony at Cape Town. It must be a codename. But for what, who knows?’
‘What about the rest of the family? Has anyone any idea about any of this?’
‘No. Edwin was equally unhelpful. Todd called his sister Caroline in California, but she didn’t know anything — she was only twelve at the time. He also phoned Zan, his half-sister. She’s the only van Zyl who still lives in South Africa. She was staying at Martha and Cornelius’s house when it all happened. She couldn’t help much either, although she at least seemed more willing to try. She’s eight years older than Todd; they were quite close when he was little, although she seems to have disappeared from the scene as he got older. She’s fallen out with the rest of the family; she wasn’t asked to our wedding, for example. I met her once, when we went on a trip to South Africa soon after we were married. I thought she was quite nice, actually. A bit like the best of Cornelius but without the megalomania.’
‘Cornelius is a megalomaniac?’
‘Definitely. He loves power. And he likes to control the people around him.’
‘Like Todd?’
‘Todd has always been Cornelius’s blue-eyed boy. It drives Edwin mad. Cornelius wants Todd to take over Zyl News when he retires: he’s seventy-two, it’s got to happen some time. And much to Todd’s credit, he wants to determine his own life.’
‘Ah.’
‘What do you mean, “Ah”?’
Calder smiled. ‘I assume you encourage him in this independence of mind?’
She smiled sheepishly. ‘You’re right. A year after we were married, he decided... OK, with my encouragement... to quit working for Cornelius and to do what he really wanted to do. Which was teach. So he did an education degree and then we moved to New Hampshire. Cornelius is trying to force Todd to move back to Zyl News. Todd won’t do it, though.’
‘And you’re happy with that decision? To stay in New Hampshire?’
Kim hesitated. ‘In theory, definitely. In practice... well, that’s another conversation.’
Calder left it. He sipped his wine thoughtfully. ‘It sounds as if Martha was quite suspicious of her husband. And it sounds as if Cornelius doesn’t want anyone to find out why.’
‘Absolutely.’ Kim frowned. ‘Frankly, I’m worried about his role in all this. But Todd isn’t. He’s crossed swords with his father many times but he’s incapable of thinking of him as a murderer.’
‘And you’re not?’
‘Obviously, I don’t know. Todd and I have spent hours discussing this and I think it’s a possibility we should bear in mind.’
‘Are you suggesting Cornelius had something to do with the accident?’
Kim shrugged. ‘It might sound far-fetched but...’ She tailed off, not quite willing to put her thoughts into words.
‘But would he kill his own son? Especially one he’s so fond of?’
‘I’m not so sure he’s that fond of him now. He was seriously angry with Todd the other day when he refused to go back to work for him, he was quite scary. Cornelius is planning something at the moment...’ Kim hesitated ‘... a big deal, something that will transform Zyl News. But I think he’s asking himself what’s the point of building up an empire if he has to abandon it to Edwin in a few years — he has a very low opinion of Edwin, quite rightly as far as I’m concerned, the man is a worm. We’re talking about Cornelius’s life’s work here, and Todd walking away from it. No one likes being rejected, especially not someone as used to getting his own way as Cornelius. I’m not saying he sabotaged the plane himself, but he’s a powerful man, he can organize things. Which is why I was worried about the accident, whether it really was an accident.’