'But the process is neither logical nor fair. If you are a person who by nature struggles to conform, you're called a rebel when you're young. Later you're called other things. I was a so-called rebel. At school I was ... disobedient. I wanted to do everything my way. I was inquisitive. About everything. I had a craving for excitement, for the things a good little Afrikaans girl was not supposed to do. For many years I picked men who represented a certain amount of risk. It was instinctive, not conscious. Sometimes I wonder if it would have turned out differently if that had been my only weakness. But it isn't. From an early age I had a need for recognition. An affirmation that I am not ordinary. I wanted to stand out from the crowd. It's not necessarily a search for fame, just a need for attention, I think. In the end it is this combination that makes me who I am.'
She was not stupid, he thought. She was a woman who could easily deceive people. 'I was never terribly pretty. Not that I'm ugly, I'm grateful for that. If I use what I have I can attract attention, but I don't take men's breath away. I knew I was smart enough to study, but there is no degree in what I wanted to do. All I had left to me was my voice. And a stage personality, but that I only discovered later. Then I crossed paths with Danny Vlok. He can play anything from a violin to a trumpet. He had a music shop in the city, in Bloemfontein, and a four-piece band for weddings and parties. I saw his ad for a singer in the Volksblad's Classifieds. Danny dreamed of being a rock star. He tried to look like one. I thought it was cool then, and he was ten years older than me. Worldly wise. He tried to live like a rocker too. Drink and dagga. The problem was that Danny could only sing other people's music. His own was ... not good. I went for an audition with his band and afterwards we went to his flat in Park Road and had a zol and then sex. Two months later we got married in the magistrate's court. Four years later we were divorced.'
She was using the story to punish herself, thought Dekker. It was her penance, this exposure. But she stopped and looked around. 'There's usually some water here. It's hot...'
'I'll ask Natasha,' he said and got to his feet. When he went out of the door he saw Josh down the passage, looking restless and worried.
'Are you finished?'
'Not yet, Mr Geyser.'
The big man nodded and went back into the conference room.
Rachel Anderson heard the voices further off, but not the words. They went on for so long that she grew increasingly convinced that there were no tracks leading to her. The tension dissipated slowly from her body; her heartbeat steadied.
Until she heard the click-clack of a woman's shoes, right up close to her, just two or three steps away.
'OK. Thank you,' said the same black woman as earlier.
'I hope you find her,' said the man's voice.
'She can't be far. We will go and search the park.'
'Good luck.'
'OK.' She heard the woman walk away. Moments later the door closed and then she knew she would be safe.
Melinda Geyser gulped down half a glass of water and kept it in the hand that was resting on the arm of the couch.
'We went to play for a wedding in Bethlehem in the Eastern Free State. After the reception we stayed over in the chalets at Lake Athlone. The place was empty. We made a fire outside and sat in the dark, drinking and chatting. Danny said he was going to sleep, he was tired and drunk and doped. By then we had been married for three years and things weren't going so well. But we stayed outside, the other three and myself. They were young, in their twenties, like me. The bass guitarist had a video camera, he'd got it the previous week. He was filming us. At first it was innocent fun, we were playing the fool, pretending we were famous and were being interviewed by the SABC. We kept on drinking. Too much. I think it happened because of the dynamics of our group - Danny was the leader, we were the four employees, the underlings. We started saying things to the video camera about Danny. We mimicked and mocked him. We knew if he got to see the video it would make him furious - he had a terrible temper, especially the morning after a night of drinking. But it was precisely that risk that made it such fun; he was right there, asleep, while we were taunting him on video, there was .. . proof of what we were doing, kind of forever, on video.'
'The guitarist kissed me first. He said he knew what would make Danny totally crazy. He came over and kissed me on the mouth. It wasn't a big leap from there. Not in the state we were in. I don't have to give you the detail. The video shows how they undressed me, with my help, how they each licked a nipple. It shows how two of them had sex with me, one from the front and the other behind. It shows how I enjoyed it. There is a close-up of my face and you can clearly see ... You can hear me too ...' She looked at Dekker, there was an energy in her. She said: 'I will always wonder how much the presence of the camera contributed to the experience.' She was quiet for a while and then her eyes dropped. 'I never regretted it. Until yesterday. Until I realised my sins could catch up with Josh. It would hurt him so much to know all that. He needs another kind of me.'
When she fell silent, Dekker asked: 'Was that on the DVD?'
She nodded.
'Barnard wanted to blackmail you.' He spoke with certainty.
'No. He was the one being blackmailed. When I passed the DVD back to him and said I knew what it was, he said he had to pay sixty thousand for it. He said it arrived a week ago by registered post, with a note saying: Watch this when you are alone. Or Melinda's career is over. The call came three days later, from a man wanting fifty thousand or he would put it on the Internet. I asked Adam why he had paid sixty then. He told me the other ten thousand was to make sure it was the only copy.'
'How did he manage that?'
'I asked him that too. He said this wasn't the first time he had had to protect one of his artist's interests. He had people who help with that, an agency. They followed the trail of the money transfers, until they found the man.'
'Was it the bass guitarist?'
'No. Danny Vlok.'
'Your ex?'
'You have to admit there is some kind of justice in it.'
'How did they make sure it was the only copy?'
'I don't know. I tried to phone Danny when I left here. Someone at his shop said he was in hospital. He was assaulted in his flat on Sunday night.'
Dekker digested this information. This thing was getting big. And complex. 'But why did Barnard tell you this, if it was sorted out?'
'I think the video aroused Adam.'
'So he blackmailed you?'
'No, he simply spotted an opportunity.'
'Oh?'
'He told me there was nothing to worry about. I was grateful. Then he smiled and put the DVD in the player. I could have walked out. But I wanted to see it again. One last time. We watched it together. When it was over he asked if he could kiss me. I said yes.'
She saw Dekker's expression and she said: 'I was very grateful to Adam. He was discreet. He went to a lot of trouble and expense. Seeing that video again ... yourself. Young ... so ... randy ...'
Dekker continued to frown.
'You must be wondering how a born-again woman could do something like that. You see, Mr Dekker, I don't believe in a condemning God. I think it was Bishop Tutu who said "God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low." He's not sitting up there with clenched fists ready to punish us. I believe he's a God of love. He knows we are what we are, just as he made us, with our weaknesses and all. He understands. He knows it brings us ultimately closer to him, knowing how weak we are. He just wants us to confess.'