44
The garage door rolled down.
“Didn’t I tell you?” A high masculine voice. No answer to the question.
“You almost lost it.” The same voice. Pissing in the toilet. Followed by flushing.
“You know what?” Again the high voice. “It’s funny how long you can smell perfume. I mean… Gwen’s been gone… How long is her training? Five days. And yet that perfume is still in the air. I can smell it so clearly. Really weird.”
The sound of boots in the house. “I gave her that for her birthday, remember? The salesgirl had just looked at me when I’d asked her about it. Well… you know already. And then I gave her a super sexy slip as well. Hot. Really hot. You know.”
Thembinkosi grew warm. Hopefully, High Voice wouldn’t want to show the other man the slip. Was that what he had? In his jacket pocket? And had Nozipho really tidied up the bedroom?
“What should we do now?” Again, High Voice.
“Can you shut up for just a second?” Notably deeper, different. Someone who didn’t say much.
“Of course!” High Voice. “You know I can keep my trap shut. But that was awesome with the security guys out there. I mean…”
“Just be quiet!”
“Okay. Okay.”
Footsteps. The boots and other shoes. Was High Voice wearing soft soles? Quiet squeaking on the floor. What kind of floor was that anyway? Didn’t matter. Tiles, Thembinkosi thought, of course. It was hotter in the wardrobe than it was outside of it. He wanted to wipe the sweat from his face, but it was too tight for that.
He very cautiously scratched the wardrobe partition that separated him from Nozipho. A responding scratch came instantly from the other side.
“What should we do now?” High Voice. “We can’t just take her out of here now.”
“No, we can’t!”
45
Moses cowered behind the wall. Half on the trash bag, half off. A dead bird was lying next to his head. Dark with a streak of red. Ants had already begun blazing a trail to start the evisceration process. Just lie here for a bit, he thought. Had the nanny warned him? Black solidarity?
Maybe that’s what it was. A few black families had to be living in here. Somewhere he was bound to be able to get help. He recalled the Kaizer Chiefs banner in the window. That had been ages ago. He looked at his watch. 2:06.
“Is he over here?” Moses heard a voice. That was the white guy with the club.
“No, boss!” The nanny.
“If you see him… let me know!”
“Yes, boss!” She was actually helping him. Good woman. A motor. Brakes.
“He isn’t here.” The white guy. On the street right in front of him.
“He tried to rape a woman!” What?
A black voice. Masculine. “Hurt a whole bunch of people. He’s dangerous! And broke into an old man’s house.”
Moses listened as the white man struck his hand with his club. “I’m ready for him!” The car drove off.
Were they really talking about me? Moses wondered.
Nothing happened for a few seconds. Then a shadow over him. The white guy was sitting on the wall, his ass directly above him. Not even ten centimeters away.
Moses heard the click of a lighter. The white man was smoking. He also wanted to smoke.
“Oh,” said the nanny in a strangely artificial tone. “The ball’s gone now.” Short pause. “Who’s going to get the ball for us?”
The shadow above him evaporated. A ball was kicked.
“Look,” she said. “Isn’t that a nice man?”
What a smart woman, Moses thought, taking a deep breath.
46
Thud. That was the door to the garage again. No steps or voices could be heard.
Thembinkosi opened the wardrobe door and breathed more freely.
He tugged open the other door and gazed into Nozipho’s eyes.
“I want out of here,” she said.
“Me, too. But we can’t now.”
“But how long will we have to wait?”
“Until it’s safe.”
“Maybe we should consider a career change.”
“Maybe. If they can’t get rid of the body right now, they might leave again.”
“Too many maybes!”
“Possibly.”
“Sorry about the perfume. That was too risky.”
“It turned out okay.”
“Uh-huh, just barely,” Nozipho said. “We’re doubly stuck now. Because of the security people, and now because of the two guys in the house.”
“We just need a little patience, okay? They’ll disappear soon.”
The door to the garage opened again.
“Are you sure,” asked Deep Voice, “she had her ID on her?”
Thembinkosi rolled his eyes. Pointed at his pants pocket. That was where Celeste Rubin’s ID was. He climbed back into the wardrobe.
“Yes.” High Voice. “Where’s her suitcase?”
“I need to pee,” he heard Nozipho whisper.
Then, there were footsteps in the room.
47
Willie hit his club into his left hand. He knew he did that too often. A habit that had already caused a thin callus to build up. However, whenever he stood spread-legged in front of a young black man, he made an impression doing it. That much was obvious.
The rich have it good, he thought, as he sat down on the little wall. These large houses with their neat lawns. Compared to his tiny place in Stoney Drift… it wasn’t fair. It had been years since he’d had enough left over to stick into the house. Then again, who in that shabby neighborhood did? Except for a few coloreds who’d been moving into the settlement in increasing numbers in recent years.
I’ve had to cut corners on cigarettes, too, Willie thought as he lit a Chesterfield.
The nanny was playing ball with the little boy. Looked ridiculous. She walked up to the ball and kicked it hard. Much too far for the little boy. The rich did indeed have it good. Someone was always there for their kids. Although… He never would have trusted his children to a black woman. They were all with Janice now anyway, the cow.
“Oh! The ball’s gone now,” the dumb nanny said. “Who’s going to get the ball for us?” she asked annoyingly.
Considering how fat she was, it would probably take years if she did it herself. The little boy stared into the sky. Willie inhaled deeply one more time before getting to his feet. It was time to find that bastard anyway. He held the smoke in his lungs until he reached the ball and then exhaled it slowly. He very carefully kicked the ball to the boy who was laughing at him.
“Look!” the nanny said as she raised her hands. “What a nice man!”
The guy was nowhere in sight. Willie turned around a couple of times before walking up the street. They would catch him, of course. He wouldn’t get away from here all that easily.
A couple of Central Alert people were waiting for him at the exit. And there was no way he was going to make it over the wall.
48
Somebody was walking through the room. Thembinkosi heard a zipper being opened. The sound of rummaging. Re-packing.
“Well?” Deep Voice had to be standing at the door.
“Nothing.” High Voice.
“When did you see the ID?”
“When you hit her in the face. Well… not the first time. Later on sometime. When she fell down out in the hallway. When you kicked her in the side and spat on her. That was when I saw the ID in her jeans pocket. The back one. It was sticking out a little.”