“Cross it off, Willie,” Kramer sighed, pushing the crime sheet over to him. “There’s one little theory down the drain.”
“But what shall I tell him, boss?”
“Moosa, is it? Hell. I hope you know what you’re doing, kaffir.”
Zondi grinned.
“He’s a new man, so he tells me. Don’t worry.”
“Then have him wait in his place. You can go and see him later with a picture.”
“Who of?”
“The brother, Lenny-now he worries me, and no mistake.”
12
The Colonel was flattered.
“Put it this way, Lieutenant, I never allow a wog to touch my delphiniums,” he said.
“Quite right, too, sir.”
In another minute Frikkie Muller, the Colonel’s clerk, was going to have to leave the room in a hurry. He was already putting a bend in his plastic teeth by biting on them so hard. If only Kramer would not look so solemn.
“Take these along to the Brigadier, Frikkie,” the Colonel ordered, handing over the bunch of blooms. “Say it’s a thank-you to his wife for that wonderful party the other night.”
Frikkie departed thankfully.
“Sorry to interrupt you like that, Lieutenant, just thought I’d get them out of the way as they looked so damn silly in this office.”
Not half as silly as the Brigadier would look carrying them out to his car.
“That’s fine, sir. There isn’t much more to tell.”
“So you think this case is maybe not such a serious one after all?”
“That’s right, sir. The brother has a record, not a big one but a record.”
“The important thing is that it’s a criminal record. This gives us the bridge between the girl and the sort of trash who might associate with a spoke man.”
“I agree, sir. And I’m pretty sure that he and his sister were mixed up in something together. She hasn’t much in her Post Office book but then we know she wasn’t shy to change her name when it suited her.”
“Ah, those contact lenses-a funny business that. I don’t quite see it myself.”
“We’ve only got theories so far. Sergeant Van Niekerk did some research on the notes of the case and came up with something based on what the eye specialist said about contacts.”
“Oh, yes?”
“Well, she had had these lenses for three weeks but nobody saw her wearing them until after she was killed. Why wear them at all and at night? Because the specialist said that anyone using these things for the first time had to do it in easy stages, get used to them. We think she was practising after dark.”
“When was she going to wear them then?”
“She had made her move to Trekkersburg. Why not another somewhere else? Another new life?”
“I like that. If she and her brother were in trouble, they might try to run for it. The others just got to her first.”
“Yes, sir, along those lines.”
Kramer had to admit his admiration for the way Colonel Du Plessis had grasped the problem. He was a strange one.
“If the contacts were her big secret, Trompie, do you think she would have answered the door in them? Stop! I know what you’re going to say-yes, she would, if she was expecting someone.”
“Her brother.”
“But it wasn’t. It was the killer.”
“Van Niekerk had an answer to that one, too. Trudeau said that this kind with painted irises worked best in bright daylight on account of the pupil being made small. Farthing swears that there was only one light burning in the flat and it was in her room.
“Now supposing she was in bed waiting for whoever it was-her brother. She hears a knock. She gets up just in her nightie, goes through to the other room and opens the door a little way. The light is shining from behind her and with those pupils she wouldn’t be able to see a thing out there. She hears a voice she thinks she knows. She leaves the door and goes back to get into bed because it’s cold-and it was cold on Sunday night.”
“I’ve got the picture,” the Colonel interrupted. “Your eyes or my eyes would open wide but hers couldn’t. The opposite of the dazzle. Yes, but all this wouldn’t work if she wasn’t expecting a caller. If it was her brother, why didn’t he pitch up?”
“He could have been afraid to. He could have known things had gone wrong.”
“Another presumption-how would they know about his call in the first place?”
“They could have arranged it and told both of them beforehand. Or only the one.”
“The girl?”
“Yes.”
“Much simpler-that could be the way things happened. They tell her the brother’s coming at, say, eleven. She hears the knock, opens the door and goes back to bed. They get her. Fine.”
“They could have done it the hard way, too, once that door was open.”
“True, too. But we keep saying ‘they’. Who are we talking about?”
“I don’t know, sir. A gang.”
“There are not many left who go to this sort of trouble, Trompie man. They could have got her much easier with a car.”
“She didn’t go out much.”
“ Ach, man, you know what I mean.”
“Yes, sir. What about a gang playing for high stakes?”
“Like the one Shoe Shoe dreamed up? I think that’s a lot of bloody rubbish.”
“According to Mkize’s statement it was not rubbish that made him kill Shoe Shoe.”
“That will be the day Shoe Shoe knows something about his VIPs that gets him the chop. I can’t accept that. The Steam Pig… Huh! If you ask me, it’s a lot of steam pudding.”
After an obligatory laugh, Kramer said: “But we are agreed then, sir, that this fellow Lenny could probably give us answers to a lot of questions-including that one?”
“Agreed.”
“Then I have your permission to go down to Durban with Zondi and see if we can find him?”
All along the Colonel had displayed a slight anxiety despite Kramer’s unusual affability-or perhaps because of it. He was like a man expecting to have to pay for his fun. Now he knew the price.
“I’m surprised you bothered to ask me, Lieutenant,” he replied heavily.
“Port Natal Division doesn’t welcome intervention from our side, sir. It could lead to trouble.”
“Like last time? You think I don’t know that? Captain Potgeiter said he never wanted you there again. Those are big-city Press boys they’ve got down there-they’re not so easy to tame.”
“I was thinking of administrative troubles, actually. You know how the Brigadier is about protocol.”
“I’m sure you were.”
“It’s the truth, sir. No need for any rough stuff on this trip-we’ll just pick him up and bring him back.”
“And if Captain Potgeiter sees you? What then?”
“I’ll tell him you’ve fixed it up at the top. He can’t argue with your rank.”
“If it’s all so simple, why not let Potgeiter do it for you?”
“I thought it would look better in your report if it all came from this division, sir.”
The Colonel blinked balefully at him from the ropes. One day he would win.
“I’ll see about it, Lieutenant. In the meantime, is there anything you can give me to show the Brigadier?”
“I don’t think so. It might not be wise-so much is still up in the air. But you’ve helped me a lot with it. Thanks.”
“Don’t be too cocky. What if you can’t find this Lenny?”
“Then I’ll pick up a photo of him and start looking elsewhere. Here, for example.”
“And if you still don’t find him?”
“We’ll know that there’s a pretty good chance he’s gone the way of his sister. Better than nothing.”
“Hmmm, tell you what,” the Colonel said, holding his paper-knife by the tip, “you wrap this case up by tomorrow night or I’m going to put the whole squad on it. You seem to have overlooked the fact that my Press statement, which you made so much fuss about, has been the biggest help to you so far. Without it there would have been no old woman and no brother.”
It was a draw.
Van Niekerk was waiting for Kramer with a sheet of Telex in his hand. He was surprised when it was ignored, and perturbed by the expression that went with the snub.