“We heard that he’s been inside at least two homes. One of them was empty, but he grabbed some stuff there. And at the other… a woman was at home. She was asleep when the guy suddenly materialized beside her bed. He then tried to rape her. When she screamed, he ran off. Wait a second.” Bezuidenhout studied a piece of paper. “I think the woman ran over to a friend’s house to calm down. The other house is probably the easiest to start with. Someone’s there now. An old man.”
“How long was he in there?”
“Long enough to find the valuables and pocket them.”
“Ah, that’ll be enough for us. Right, my boy?” Dlomo looked down at his dog.
“I have the address here. Want to follow me?” Bezuidenhout asked.
69
Flower was already on the other side of the street, and she gave the signal. Thumbs up.
Moses still looked around cautiously before sprinting across the street and crouching behind the next wall.
“This house is empty,” Flower said. Moses saw closed curtains and a weathered facade.
“The person here died,” Flower said. “And now no one wants to live here.”
“Simply died?”
“I think so. Old people do that.”
“Old people do do that. Sure. Are there many empty houses around here?”
“Yes. Mommy says some of them use automatic lights just to make other people think they’re at home. Are you coming?”
They walked around the empty house.
“Now we have to be careful,” Flower said.
“Why?”
“A witch lives there.”
“Why would you think that?”
“Mommy says so.”
“Why does she say that?”
“I don’t know, but she’s right. Whenever we’re around here, she sees us.”
“Does she live alone?”
They were now standing in front of the house. No curtains. Grimy windows. Withered grass.
“Yes. Otherwise she wouldn’t always be looking out the window.”
“Do you think she’s at home right now?”
“She’s always at home.”
“Why is she a witch?” Moses couldn’t see anyone at the windows. But perhaps the woman was looking out on the other side of the house.
“Because she always calls someone.”
“Who?”
“I don’t remember.”
“The police?”
“I don’t think so. I think she calls the other people who drive around in uniforms.”
“And then? Do they come?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because no one believes her anymore. That’s what Mommy says. Because they all know she’s a witch.”
Moses stopped listening. Mommy and the witch? It would take a little time to think through all this and figure it out. But he wasn’t going to be able to pull that off right now. He was too tired.
And Flower still had a lot to learn.
70
Jay-Jay Dlomo followed his white colleague. At his age, he thought, I was still seeing them set dogs on black people. Just for being black. Times had changed, he thought. Who knew that better than he did?
The warrant officer’s Nissan rounded a corner, then another one. It slowed down and stopped in front of a house. The door of a Central Alert car opened, and a young woman stepped out. She straightened her uniform and waited for something to happen. The security people always talked a blue streak, Dlomo thought. But when the real police showed up, they knew their place.
A haggard old man appeared at the front door. Shirt and pants dangling off him like XXL-sized clothes on a starving child. He was carrying a little dog and slowly approached the newcomers. The dog nervously bobbed its head.
“Do you have him?” he asked. “Do you have my things?”
Dlomo saw Bezuidenhout shake his head and opened the tailgate of his truck.
“Nkosi, come!”
The German shepherd jumped down, snuffled the wind and ground, and then sat down beside Dlomo. Raised his head, waiting on a signal. Bezuidenhout nodded in their direction.
“It’s been over thirty minutes since he was here. That shouldn’t be a problem, right?” The warrant officer didn’t wait for an answer. “This is Mr. Foster. Money and jewelry are missing. Can we go right inside? Mr. Foster, show us where the burglar was.”
“He was everywhere in the house,” the old man said. As he said this, the slack skin under his jaw quivered. “I’m sure he thought I wouldn’t notice anything. But something was wrong with the lock, and then I saw that the… What is it?”
He looked down at the little dog he was carrying, which was staring at his larger cousin, his fur standing up in tufts. Nkosi hadn’t even deigned to look at the little dog.
“And then?” Bezuidenhout urged. “May we come in?”
“There,” Foster said as he walked into the bedroom. “I immediately noticed that. The doily on the dresser. It wasn’t lined up with the edge.”
“What’s in the dresser?” Bezuidenhout.
“You should ask: What was in the dresser?” Foster.
“Fine. What was inside?”
“Money.”
“How much?”
Foster hesitated for a second. Dlomo could already smell the lie in advance.
“25,000 rand.”
“That’s a lot of money for a dresser.” Bezuidenhout.
“And here, you can see the doily. That’s where it was sitting. My sister brought it back for me from Australia.”
The thing looked like a little rug. Dlomo had no idea why anyone would bring that back as a present.
“So, the burglar was definitely in here?” Bezuidenhout.
“Absolutely.”
The warrant officer turned around. “What does the dog need now?”
“Something that the burglar held. Let’s try that thing on the dresser.” Dlomo picked up the rug and held it out for Nkosi to sniff. “Search,” he said.
The dog sniffed at it for a few seconds and took a step toward Foster.
“Good, Nkosi,” Dlomo said. “Not him.”
The dog snuffled the rug a little more and picked up another scent. He dropped his nose to the floor, found something, and followed the trail. Dlomo let him lead the way. Nkosi entered every room in the house, turned around, caught a secondary trail, hesitated for a moment, and finally stopped at the front door. He barked once.
Now we’re off, Dlomo thought.
71
“That’s our house,” Flower said. She pointed across the next street. Two stories, burgundy curtains, several windows open. A new compact car parked in front of the garage.
“That’s Mommy’s car?” Moses asked.
“Uh-huh… Come on, we’ll go over there.”
“Wait a minute.”
The two of them were hidden behind a wall over which Flower could just barely see. Moses looked up and down the street. Over toward the exit, he heard a garbage truck—or was it driving on the road that ran outside The Pines? The road leading down to the river was empty. Although… A security vehicle was just turning down the street. It was the bakkie that had tried to run him down. Or it might be a different one identical to the other one. Stay calm, Moses told himself. The most critical thing was to get to safety. And safety was only a few meters away on the other side of the street.
The bakkie slowly drew closer. Moses knelt down and let it drive by. As the sound of the motor died away, he stood up.
“Now!” he said to Flower.
A few seconds later, she rang the doorbell. At first, there was no reaction from inside the house. A window was then shut somewhere. Footsteps. Stairs. Now they were coming closer.
A woman opened the door. Slender face, red glasses, hair smooth to her shoulders. Black t-shirt and jeans. Not stupid. The smile on her lips morphed into a what-the-fuck look when she saw who was standing behind her daughter. For a long time, she didn’t say anything. But just as Moses was about to start his explanation, she rediscovered her voice.