“The window was open.”
“Shit. What should I do?”
“I don’t know.”
“The police.”
“No police.”
“Well, sure, but what then? Where are you exactly?”
“Between Abbotsford and Dorchester Heights.”
“That’s the middle of nowhere.”
“That’s suburbia. It’s called The Pines. White people live here, lots of them.”
“That much I know. Should I come there?”
“And then what?” Moses asked.
“Where’s the house located?”
“No idea. I just ran.”
“I’ll bring along everyone we know!”
“That’s good. Don’t leave me here alone!”
“Absolutely not,” Sandi agreed. “No way!”
“I love you,” Moses said.
“I love you back. Come to the entrance.” With that, Sandi hung up.
Something had happened wherever the old man had come from. Moses wondered if he had trampled through his garden, too. Had he crunched his hedge? Tipped over a garden chair? The man rubbed his face, then did it again. The white guy with the club patted his arm and pulled a package of tissues out of his pocket. Handed the man one. He was clearly crying. Shaking her head, the woman who had seen him fall was saying something to the old man.
Because of the hedge? Not hardly. Maybe this was his chance, Moses thought. While the others were busy with whatever had happened to the old man, he could escape out back. He walked over to the terrace door and looked through the pane. Straight along the wall as fast as possible. At some point, he had to reach the gate and then freedom. He was about to turn the key in the glass door and open it, when it occurred to him that he might set off an alarm. Some doors and windows were part of the security system, and an alarm would go off if you opened them. That’s exactly what he didn’t need.
Moses returned to the child’s room and opened the window. That hadn’t caused any problems earlier and wouldn’t now either.
He cautiously stuck his head out, looking right and left. Nothing. He slowly lowered himself through the window until he was back on the terrace. He then kept running in the direction he’d been going. Less panicked. Calmer. He knew what he wanted. He had to somehow reach the exit. And Sandi had to come up with a plan.
28
Hlaudi gazed out of the car at the white guy. He was dressed in all black. Faded short-sleeved shirt with epaulettes. Obviously sewn on. His skinny legs stuck out of wide shorts with thick pockets. His face was haggard. He looked like someone who’d smoked way too much over the years.
“Almost caught him!” the white man said.
Almost caught means didn’t catch, Hlaudi thought.
“Doesn’t always work out!” he said. “Next time.” He barely managed to keep from grinning.
“The bastard was really fast!”
“Young. I saw him running.”
“Twenty or so.”
“Uh-huh.”
Hlaudi watched as the white guy shifted his rubber club from one hand to the other and then back again. He looked like someone who didn’t have a job and was doing this for fun. There was no way he could afford a home in here. How much did they cost in here anyway, he wondered. Regardless, more than he could afford. Much more.
“Hello!” a voice came from behind them. “Hello!”
In his rearview mirror, Hlaudi watched an old woman in blue pants and a white t-shirt slowly approach them. The white guy beside him propped his hands on his hips, and the woman finally reached the car. She looked back and forth between the two of them before turning to the white man.
“…can’t believe it… in front of my door… suddenly… and fell down… ran off…” The white guy kept nodding. The woman once again glanced at one man and then the other. She paused. “Which of you is…”
“He is!” The white guy pointed his club at Hlaudi.
“…responsible?” the woman finished. “Then…”
“The boy ran off?” Hlaudi asked.
“Yes, like I just said,” the woman said. Hlaudi could see that she was gradually calming down.
“How did he get in here in the first place?” she asked. “Aren’t you supposed to make sure nothing like this happens?” She shook her head so emphatically, Hlaudi was concerned she might sprain something.
“No, we’re not,” he answered. “But we’ll catch him.”
More movement in the rearview mirror. This time it was an old white man who was walking up to the car. Brown suit pants, white shirt. Earlier government employee, Hlaudi guessed. Much earlier from when the system had been completely different. Only, he didn’t look as relaxed as most whites did when out walking their dogs. He waved at them.
Or only at the white woman. Or at both whites. Or at him perhaps because he was sitting in a security vehicle. Hlaudi couldn’t tell.
“Break-in.” That was all the man said when he reached them. He had stubby white hair and was gasping for breath. “They were in my house.” He pulled a perfectly folded white handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbed his forehead with it.
“Oh no, my dear…” the woman said, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Nobbie was all alone in the house.” He pointed at the dog that Hlaudi could no longer see from where he was sitting in the car. “I noticed right away that something wasn’t right.” He hesitated, clearly expecting to be asked a question.
“Is anything broken?” Hlaudi asked.
“The lock was funny. I immediately noticed that something wasn’t okay with it.”
“And what’s missing?”
“My money’s gone,” he said. “And some jewelry.”
He started to cry. The white guy with the club handed him a tissue.
29
The screech of brakes outside. Thembinkosi and Nozipho walked across to the window in the small bedroom and looked out. Another Central Alert car, again a Polo. Again, two more people who initially stayed inside the car. The car with the guard who had first been there had disappeared. The two drivers of the two remaining cars were talking to each other. The two rookies who had shown up earlier were standing a few meters away, also chatting.
“They’ll blame us for it!” Nozipho declared.
“For what?”
“The murder. If that’s what it is.”
“Did I tell you that I saw a boy running away?” Thembinkosi asked.
Nozipho shook her head. “You think he…”
“No, but that’s why they’re here.”
“And… the woman…”
Thembinkosi glanced around the room again. “Did the two people in the car really come from here?” He left the room and returned a few minutes later with a photo from the lounge. “Was this one of them?” he asked.
Nozipho took the photo from him. “Well… I don’t know.”
“But it was two men, right?”
“Uh-huh. Think so. I didn’t pay enough attention. I didn’t want to stare.”
Thembinkosi retrieved the photo, and tried to imagine the bearded man without a beard and then just unshaven. But he couldn’t be sure. “I also didn’t look at them carefully. Didn’t seem important. We have to get out of here.”
“But how?”
“You’ll need to put on something else. Come on!”
30
Much better to stay calm, Moses thought. He was still sweating like a pig. He also looked like one. The dust from this morning on top of the sweat, falling down in the garden, climbing through the window. All of it had left a mark. And he smelled like a pig, too, he determined.
Over the next hedge and into the next yard. Suddenly, there was a wall jutting out from the outer wall that was too tall to leap over. He came to a stop and saw that the chest-high wall separated two properties. So, he headed toward the street and carefully looked both ways.