wasn’t my first choice of suspect.”
“Why not?”
She struggled to find the words to describe the weathered little man. “Not because of motive. He benefits from her death. More because he’s so unworldly. I feel sorry for him. He can’t control Annette’s dogs. I can’t imagine him being able to deal with a Pekingese. He couldn’t manage to light a cigarette while I was talking to him. He got distracted and then just gave up on the job. If he’d arranged a successful hit, which would surprise me, there’s no way he could do it without leaving evidence behind. That’s my first impression of him, anyway.”
“Let’s find out what he’s up to, then. But if the evidence points any further towards him, I’m going to have to bring him in and ask him some tough questions. Maybe handcuffs and a night in a cell will get the truth out of him.”
“I’ll talk to the private detective tomorrow. See if Annette contacted him, and why.” Jade stood up. She bent the empty pizza boxes in half and pushed them into the dustbin.
David took his feet off the table and rocked forward on the chair. “Yell if you need anything. Thanks for supper, and all that.” He got up and walked towards the door. She followed him, but he stopped suddenly and turned back to her. They were so close they were almost touching. He gazed down at her.
“You know, Jade, it’s bloody cold in here.”
“Yes. I know.”
He turned and left, closing the door quietly behind him.
8
“Always check your facts, Jade,” her father used to say. After she’d told him she wanted to become an investigator, he spent many hours talking to her about the profession. Usually they’d sat at the kitchen table and drank coffee. Often she took notes, and sometimes he wrote them out for her. During these informal training sessions, she’d felt closer to her father than she ever had before.
“Check and double check. People lie. If you’re a cop they might lie to you just because of the uniform you wear. Some-times they’ll lie for other reasons, especially to a pretty girl like you. Maybe they’re trying to impress you by making out they’re more than they actually are. Or maybe they’re jealous.”
“And what if they lie because they’re guilty?” she asked.
“That happens. Those are the biggest lies of all. And the hardest to catch out, because the people who tell them have the most to lose. So you have to keep digging away to uncover the truth. And remember that the minute you try to find something out, there will be people who’ll try and stop you. So never make yourself vulnerable. Trust your gut feeling. And always watch your back, or have somebody watch it for you.”
Her father’s words echoed in Jade’s head as she drove into the center where Dean Grobbelaar had his office. The shopping center was small. The entrance was in a quiet minor road and it didn’t look like it was doing too well. The parking lot was deserted, the gutters littered with cans and crisp packets. The tarmac was cracked in places where grass, now withered, had pushed through.
Jade wound down her window and checked it out. She saw a row of three shops. Two of them looked closed. The windows were dusty and dull, the spaces beyond were bare except for empty shelves and discarded cardboard boxes. One, at some past date, had been a hairdresser, if the peeling poster hanging from the door could be believed. Another had been a hard-ware store. The glass in the shop front was cracked, as if some-body had thrown a stone at it.
Only one shop was operational, the little general store on the corner. The aproned shopkeeper stood outside leaning against the doorframe, his face turned to the sun. She saw two black domestic workers approaching the store, chatting and shrieking with laughter, their voices loud in the stillness. Roused from his reverie, he hurried inside to serve them.
Jade parked next to the general store just as the two women walked out with bulging
“Why not?”
She struggled to find the words to describe the weathered little man. “Not because of motive. He benefits from her death. More because he’s so unworldly. I feel sorry for him. He can’t control Annette’s dogs. I can’t imagine him being able to deal with a Pekingese. He couldn’t manage to light a cigarette while I was talking to him. He got distracted and then just gave up on the job. If he’d arranged a successful hit, which would surprise me, there’s no way he could do it without leaving evidence behind. That’s my first impression of him, anyway.”
“Let’s find out what he’s up to, then. But if the evidence points any further towards him, I’m going to have to bring him in and ask him some tough questions. Maybe handcuffs and a night in a cell will get the truth out of him.”
“I’ll talk to the private detective tomorrow. See if Annette contacted him, and why.” Jade stood up. She bent the empty pizza boxes in half and pushed them into the dustbin.
David took his feet off the table and rocked forward on the chair. “Yell if you need anything. Thanks for supper, and all that.” He got up and walked towards the door. She followed him, but he stopped suddenly and turned back to her. They were so close they were almost touching. He gazed down at her.
“You know, Jade, it’s bloody cold in here.”
“Yes. I know.”
He turned and left, closing the door quietly behind him.
8
“Always check your facts, Jade,” her father used to say. After she’d told him she wanted to become an investigator, he spent many hours talking to her about the profession. Usually they’d sat at the kitchen table and drank coffee. Often she took notes, and sometimes he wrote them out for her. During these informal training sessions, she’d felt closer to her father than she ever had before.
“Check and double check. People lie. If you’re a cop they might lie to you just because of the uniform you wear. Some-times they’ll lie for other reasons, especially to a pretty girl like you. Maybe they’re trying to impress you by making out they’re more than they actually are. Or maybe they’re jealous.”
“And what if they lie because they’re guilty?” she asked.
“That happens. Those are the biggest lies of all. And the hardest to catch out, because the people who tell them have the most to lose. So you have to keep digging away to uncover the truth. And remember that the minute you try to find something out, there will be people who’ll try and stop you. So never make yourself vulnerable. Trust your gut feeling. And always watch your back, or have somebody watch it for you.”
Her father’s words echoed in Jade’s head as she drove into the center where Dean Grobbelaar had his office. The shopping center was small. The entrance was in a quiet minor road and it didn’t look like it was doing too well. The parking lot was deserted, the gutters littered with cans and crisp packets. The tarmac was cracked in places where grass, now withered, had pushed through.
Jade wound down her window and checked it out. She saw a row of three shops. Two of them looked closed. The windows were dusty and dull, the spaces beyond were bare except for empty shelves and discarded cardboard boxes. One, at some past date, had been a hairdresser, if the peeling poster hanging from the door could be believed. Another had been a hard-ware store. The glass in the shop front was cracked, as if some-body had thrown a stone at it.
Only one shop was operational, the little general store on the corner. The aproned shopkeeper stood outside leaning against the doorframe, his face turned to the sun. She saw two black domestic workers approaching the store, chatting and shrieking with laughter, their voices loud in the stillness. Roused from his reverie, he hurried inside to serve them.
Jade parked next to the general store just as the two women walked out with bulging
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