Dark Traces
Page 36
“Mr. Rheeder, you are going to be locked up in prison for a very, very long time. Maybe, if you tell us where Sarisha Uys’s body is, the judge will accept it as mitigating circumstances when passing sentence.”
“The best part is if you can watch her face as you shove it all the way in.”
The Jack Russell started barking while Magson was still walking up the path to the front door. He pressed the doorbell. The dog’s nails were scratching against the wood. The lock clicked and the front door opened. The dog hurled itself against the security gate.
“Lady!”
“Evening, Mrs. Uys.”
“Have you found anything, Warrant?”
“May I come in, please?”
“Yes.” She began unlocking the gate. Her hands were shaking.
The dog kept on barking.
“Lady!” Lizl Uys scolded again. “Please excuse her, Warrant. This dog has been acting so strangely since Sarisha ... she sits in front of the door all day long and ...” She finally managed to open the gate. “I’m sorry—I can’t—I have to know, is she ...?” Her eyes were pleading.
“We haven’t found Sarisha yet, Mrs. Uys, but we are convinced that the man we have arrested is the man who abducted her.”
“But what about Sarisha? Where is she?”
“We don’t know.”
Lizl Uys’s eyes closed and her hands found her mouth. She leaned against the wall.
“I am sorry, Mrs. Uys. We searched the suspect’s house and found these items.” He opened the box. Inside were evidence bags containing a pair of panties, a necklace, two earrings and a watch.
She looked at it, her hands covering her face as she cried. That raw sound of a mother who knew her child was never coming home.
There was movement deeper inside the house. He was sure it was Sarisha’s brother who’d disappeared behind the door frame. Simon, Magson recalled.
Lizl Uys looked at him. Her cheeks shimmered in the light at the front door. “Where’s the rest of her clothes?”
He recognized the hope in her eyes and looked away.
“If they weren’t there,” she said, “then she could still be alive. She could still be somewhere out there.”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Uys. The person who came forward—”
“I don’t care! She could still be alive!”
He just stood there, the box with Sarisha’s things in his hands.
“You don’t know ...”
“We also found the other girls’ underwear and jewelry. Girls that we know ...”
She made another sound. “Who is it? Who did this to my child?”
“I’m sorry, but I can’t give out details at this stage. We have a lot of evidence against him. He won’t get away.”
“Why?” The tears and emotion had made her voice raw. “Why did he do it?”
“I don’t know, Mrs. Uys.” His voice was just a whisper.
She looked up, red, wet eyes. “Didn’t he say anything?”
“He doesn’t want to talk to us.”
Her face distorted again. “But where is she, Warrant? Is she lying out there?”
He couldn’t look at her. “I am very sorry.” His voice was gone.
She took his hand. “Thank you, Warrant.”
June 20, 2014. Friday.
Magson was sitting on the sofa, Rommel lying with his head against his thigh. Magson stroked the lush fur above the dog’s shoulder.
He looked at Karlien’s drawing. Since it had been framed, it was even more striking. Before, he had never understood how much you could see in art if you only spent time looking.
Beside him, Rommel gave a contented sigh.
His time as a murder detective was over. It wasn’t a decision. It was a realization.
He would not leave the SAPS like so many other ex-detectives. The police was all he knew. But his final years in the Service had to be in a different role. Perhaps the Police Academy in Paarl.
In Karlien’s drawing, the sun poked its phantom fingers through the trees, caressing the yellow flowers, the bruised leaves where someone had passed through.
Sometimes he saw it as Emma’s trail, the one she’d left behind when she’d gone. Sometimes he saw signs Doctor Hurter had left for him to follow.
He picked up the phone next to him and pressed the numbers to reach Hannes. Perhaps later he would simply select his son’s name from the list, but he still had to earn that convenience. For now, he had to treat each phone call with the gentlest of care, the way Hannes had treated his hamster. Kasper. Magson smiled, as his son’s phone started ringing in England. The hamster’s name had been Kasper.
Perhaps it was neither Emma nor Doctor Hurter who had walked through the flowers.
“Hello?”
“Hello, Hannes.”
“Hello, Dad.”
Perhaps he was really looking back at his own path as he was walking out of the forest.
Author’s Note
I strive for realism, as much as is possible, but there always has to be an exception. In this case, it is SVC. The Western Cape Serious Violent Crimes Unit in Bishop Lavis no longer exists. The SVC Units were disbanded some years ago, the detectives transferred to police stations. Some later joined the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, also known as the Hawks. The name explains why I decided to have SVC live on in my books: my interest lies in serious violent crimes and their investigation. SVC mainly investigated murder, bank and transit robberies, kidnappings and attacks on police officers. I like this focus, in contrast to the Hawks, a unit that is tasked also with the investigation of organized crime and corruption. And I like the old hostel they used for their office in Bishop Lavis.
Thank you
I only began reading in earnest when I was in high school. It wasn’t long after I discovered Stephen King that I started writing. Since then my vision of my future self was always in front of a word processor flickering on a computer screen. It was a long and winding road. At times it was barely discernable. At times it was barred. And then, finally, I found the place I’ve been looking for for so long. The following helped me to stay the course:
God, who decided to give me a love of words and stories;
My parents, Pieter and Marietjie, who laid a solid foundation and always supported my dream;
Stephen King, because The Dark Half was where it all started;
Tania, my first “fan,” who made me believe this was possible;
Wilna Adriaanse, who molded my writing at the South African Writers’ College, offered advice and never stopped believing in Mags and his story;
Cecilia Britz, who made my dream a reality by saying yes and who makes it so easy to feel at home at LAPA;
Chanette Paul, who identified troubling areas in the manuscript and gave me a cherished compliment;
Karin Schimke, who took my words and sentences, made some repairs and added some polish;
Sean Fraser, who cast a sharp eye during proof-reading;
Charlene Hougaard and Esmé Smith, who made sure everything came together in book form;
Flame Design, who created a deliciously sinister cover; and
Shantelle Visser, who not only knows how to capture a moment on film, but also how to let it unfold.
In my quest for realism I rely on the assistance of people who actually do the jobs I write about. I was constantly surprised by the generosity with which they shared their time, knowledge and experience with me.
Lieutenant Colonel Michael Barkhuizen, erstwhile unit commander of the Serious Violent Crimes Unit in Bishop Lavis;
Lieutenant Colonel Johan Kock of the Biology Section, Forensic Science Laboratory, Western Cape;
Professor Lorna Martin, Doctor Gavin Kirk and Doctor Linda Liebenberg of the University of Cape Town and the Salt River Forensic Patholog
y Services;
Mark Myburgh of the Salt River Forensic Pathology Services;
Lieutenant Colonel Neville de Beer of the Somerset West Detective Branch; and
Lieutenant Colonel Kokkie de Kock and Warrant Officer Lilian Davids of the Local Criminal Record Center, Somerset West.
There are too many books to mention, but the following authors had a definite influence on the story: John Douglas, Robert Ressler, Roy Hazelwood, Gregg McCrary, Robert Hare and Vernon Geberth.
And, finally, to you, who picked this book and began reading it, because without readers a story is merely words on paper.
m.s.
www.martinsteyn.com
Dark traces © 2017 by Martin Steyn
Martin Steyn, Donker spoor © 2014 by LAPA Publishers, Pretoria, South Africa
© All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except in cases of brief quotations for reviews. For information, please write to Catalyst Press at info@catalystbookpress.com.
Published by LAPA Publishers (Pretoria, South Africa) and Catalyst Press (Livermore, California).
To order additional copies of the book, contact Catalyst Press at 2941 Kelly Street, Livermore CA 94551 or info@catalystbookpress.com.
Publisher’s note: The body of a teenage girl sends Inspector Jan Magson on the trail of a serial killer.
Translation: Martin Steyn
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Steyn, Martin, author and translator.
eBook created by Full Circle
www.fullcircle.co.za
ISBN 978-1-946395-01-6 (paperback)
ISBN 978-1-946395-05-4 (ebook)
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016961581 September 2017