by Sue Rabie
David held up both hands as the gun was forced against the side of his head. ‘Michelle,’ he gasped. ‘Please … don’t do this.’ He had to try and calm her down, to get her to realise that it was over. ‘What Kyle did was wrong. He killed Malan and Du Plessis. He hurt Mark and Phiwe as well. He was going to kill the rest of us.’
‘Shut up!’ Michelle seethed, ‘Shut up … shut up … shut up!’
She was sobbing as she spoke, and then her sobbing suddenly stopped.
David tried to turn his face to see what was happening, but the barrel of the gun dug into his temple.
‘Take another step forward and I’ll shoot him in the face.’
She was talking to someone behind him, must have seen someone move closer. Phiwe? May? Inga? Whoever it was, they must have stopped, because Michelle waited a moment longer to make sure no one was interfering before she turned her focus back on David.
David blinked and tried to look at her. He wondered if the others could hear what she said, wondered if they also understood she was crazy, that she would stop at nothing.
‘It was the only way …’ she told him. ‘You gave us no other choice … just like my husband, just like Shaune … He also gave me no choice. He thought I was this innocent little girl, he treated me like a child.’
She shrugged her shoulders, the barrel rasping against David’s face with the movement.
‘I had had enough, and I told Kyle to end it.’ She laughed hysterically. ‘At first he wouldn’t pay, can you believe that? But Kyle threatened to tell the press that I was missing, and then he had to give us the money otherwise he would have looked like a monster.’
David struggled again to make sense of what she was talking about.
‘So, I sent Kyle to get the money, and I told him to get rid of Shaune. He was an idiot, and besides, there was a chance that the insurance would pay me out for his death.’
David started to understand, slowly started to grasp what she was telling him.
‘It had worked in the past … I didn’t see why it should be different this time. Until we ended up in this forsaken place.’ She sneered the words contemptuously. ‘Kyle was supposed to drive to Jo’burg. I was going to follow him until he got rid of Jake, but instead they choose to get on a bus that’s going the wrong way and breaks down in the middle of nowhere! Can you fucking believe that?’ The gun jerked against his temple as she threw the question at David. ‘How could things possibly get worse, I asked myself? What could possibly go wrong next? And you know what?’ She dug the gun in harder to get him to answer. ‘You know what?’
‘What?’ David asked.
‘You came along …’
❄
David couldn’t say anything. It was taking all his willpower to stop himself sagging back and just letting go.
He suddenly felt cold. He hadn’t noticed before, had been too busy trying to stay alive to feel the ache in his fingers, his wet clothes.
‘Are you listening to me, David?’ The gun was jerked viciously against his head.
‘I’m listening,’ he hissed.
‘You swoop down like some superhero to save the day. You went in and just took care of bloody everything. If you had just left us we would have been fine, we would have been out of here, we would be counting our money on the beach with bloody piña coladas in our hands.’
‘You would be dead,’ David cut in. ‘The others would be dead too.’
As soon as he said it, David regretted his words. He saw her look change, saw her pain change to resolve.
‘Well,’ she said, ‘that may be so, but who gave you the right to judge? Who gave you the right to decide my fate? What made you risk everything for a bunch of strangers on a bus?’
‘I owed it to my daughter,’ David told her.
He was surprised at his answer. He hadn’t meant to tell her, to be so honest.
Michelle blinked. ‘Your daughter?’ she asked. ‘What has your daughter got to do with this?’
David looked up at her. ‘I killed her.’
Michelle tilted her head. She was stumped for the moment.
And then her head went back.
She laughed loudly. ‘You owed it to her? To save someone because you took her life? Then you deserve to die, don’t you?’
David didn’t say anything. He could see the contempt in her eyes.
Very slowly Michelle took a step back. ‘Well today’s your lucky day,’ Michelle said. ‘Because today you can ask your daughter to forgive you personally. Today you get to see her face to face.’
David knew this was it.
She took a step back, her finger tightening on the trigger.
❄
The gunshot was strangely dampened.
It wasn’t the loud bang he was expecting. Nor was there any pain.
He had flinched somewhat at the shot, but as he knelt there in the snow, as he waited for it all to end, for the darkness to take him, he realised that the bullet hadn’t even touched him.
David opened his eyes.
Michelle was lying outstretched on her back in the snow in front of him.
The snow behind her was as red as the snow beneath Kyle’s body, and as he watched the stain spread wider beneath the back of her skull.
David didn’t understand it. He turned slowly to look over his shoulder.
He saw May first, then Inga and M’Kathle. They were just as surprised as he was, their faces wide with shock as they looked across at the man who had fired the shot.
He stood far off to the right, behind the burning club, his right arm up and the gun still smoking.
Constable Potgieter.
David stared at him in a daze.
Potgieter’s face was resolutely set, but there was shock there as well, as if he was surprised he had carried out his own decision.
David watched him lower his arm, and then ever so slowly the constable started walking towards him.
David sagged on his heels. He didn’t have enough energy to do anything else, didn’t even have enough energy to wonder what that strange throbbing was in the air, or how a screaming wind had suddenly come up from nowhere and was blasting down on him from above.
He lowered his head against the wind and pressed his hand against his side.
He just wanted it to be over, just wanted to sleep.
The shriek of the wind got louder, the buffeting of its wake fiercer.
David tried to lift his arm to shield his face, tried to turn away from the snow that was being whipped up around him. A bright light came from nowhere, somehow seeming to shine right through him.
The Emergency Medical Services helicopter had finally arrived, and with it came the darkness.
It was almost a relief, pure bliss, and David let the blackness take him completely.
Thirty-Two
❄
The room was grey. Blue-grey.
He lay there for a while, trying to adjust. The first time he had woken there had been a drip in his arm and leads on his chest monitoring his heart. There had been a pretty nurse, asking him how he felt – if he was thirsty, if he wanted something for the pain.
This time the drip was gone, the leads had been removed and the pretty nurse had been replaced by someone more familiar.
Anri Werner.
She was sitting next to his bed, her hand resting lightly on his arm as she gazed out of the window.
She had been crying; he could see the tracks of tears down her cheeks.
‘Anri?’ he asked. His voice was rough.
‘David,’ she gasped. She wiped at her face hurriedly, smiling shakily. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘Anri … what’s wrong?’ he husked.
The smile broke. She started crying, then laughing, David wasn’t sure which. ‘He’s going to be all right,’ Anri eventually managed to get out. ‘Mark’s going to be just fine. They took the bullet out, and the doctors say he’ll make a full recovery.’ She wiped her eyes again. ‘They won’t let me stay with hi
m, he’s still in intensive care, so I thought I’d come and wait here, with you …’
David tried to smile.
‘Everyone’s been asking about you,’ she continued. ‘They keep phoning to find out how Mark is, and how you are, and the boy …’
‘The boy?’ he managed to whisper.
‘Siyabonga,’ she explained. ‘He’s in paediatrics. They’ve been treating him for pneumonia and dehydration. Poor Miriam is in a state. There’s a social worker arriving tomorrow to take him back to the orphanage. Miriam doesn’t want to let him go, but she can’t stop it.’
David lay there listening to her talk. He closed his eyes, letting her words wash over him.
‘She’s trying to get them to give her temporary custody, at least until Siyabonga is better again. Well, that’s what she says, but I know if she takes him home he’ll stay there forever. She wants to adopt him, she’s even spoken to her family about it …’
He thought about the boy. He was the same age as his daughter would have been.
Janey.
‘David?’
He opened his eyes.
‘You’ve gone awfully pale.’
He dropped his hand to his side. ‘I’m fine,’ he told her. ‘I’ll be fine.’
‘You should rest,’ she said. ‘I’ve been talking too much.’
❄
When next he woke, there were two men standing at the foot of his bed.
‘Mr Theron?’ the older of the two enquired.
They had plain clothes on, dark suits.
‘I’m Inspector Vermaak, this is Sergeant Groenewald.’
Policemen.
‘Your doctors said you would be able to speak to us today …’
David sat up straighter in the bed, wary. ‘Yes,’ he began, then had to clear his throat and try again. ‘Yes, I’ll speak to you.’
‘Mr Theron,’ Inspector Vermaak began, pulling up a chair as the younger officer took out a notebook and poised a pencil over a new page expectantly. ‘I wanted to talk to you about Mrs Roberts? Mrs Michelle Roberts?’
‘She told us her name was MacFarlane,’ David said.
‘MacFarlane?’ the older officer echoed. ‘MacFarlane was her first husband. Four years ago, and three other husbands …’ He left the statement hanging. ‘Shaune Roberts was her fourth husband,’ he began again. ‘The first two are dead.’
‘Dead?’ David asked.
‘Probably murdered,’ Vermaak said. ‘Although her involvement was never proven …’
‘And the third?’ David asked carefully.
‘He’s been missing for a year now.’
‘Missing?’ David queried. ‘He’s not dead then?’
‘We’re still looking for him.’ The policeman shrugged. ‘It’s one of the reasons we couldn’t prosecute Mrs Roberts in the first place.’
‘Why not? Surely if you suspected her of murder …’
The policeman shook his head. ‘If there’s no body, then there’s no crime. We couldn’t prove anything.’
David lay his head back. Had Michelle really murdered four men? Seduced them, stolen their money, then killed them?
‘What about Kyle and Jake?’ he asked, looking at Vermaak. ‘Couldn’t you link the murders to them?’
Vermaak shifted his position and crossed his legs. ‘This is the first time we’ve encountered the accomplices. We always thought she worked alone … Do you realise how lucky you were?’ Vermaak asked with meaning.
David looked at him dubiously. He didn’t feel particularly lucky.
‘It was pure chance those two ended up in Boston,’ Vermaak explained. ‘Jake Oberholzer was a small time crook: breaking and entering, vehicle theft, assault. He based himself in Jo’burg, but he disappeared about a month ago, just as we were closing in on him. Alex Kyle was a more serious sort of criminal. More subtle. He and Mrs Roberts must have been acting together for quite some time. They may even have been together from the start.’
David closed his eyes. He was remembering Michelle’s rage when she realised David had killed Kyle.
‘Are you all right, Mr Theron?’
David opened his eyes. ‘I’m fine,’ he told the policeman. ‘Just trying to understand it all.’
Inspector Vermaak nodded sombrely. ‘They planned it quite well,’ he said. ‘They staged her kidnapping to get the husband to withdraw the money, but I think Mr Roberts must have suspected something. He might even have thought she was having an affair, or suspected that she was in on it. That’s when they killed him.’
David watched him speak, Vermaak gazing out the window as he speculated.
‘I also think that’s why Alex Kyle brought Jake Oberholzer in.’
David frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
Vermaak pursed his lips. ‘They needed someone to blame the husband’s death on. Who better than a small time crook with a thick police file. When the time was right they would have left him holding the bag, so to speak.’
David finally understood. Right from the start, Alex Kyle and Jake hadn’t fitted each other. Kyle had just been waiting for the right moment, for Michelle to tell him it was time to dump Jake.
Dead or alive, it wouldn’t have mattered to either of them.
He stared sightlessly out of the hospital window, the grey, dreary day reflecting his thoughts.
‘Speaking of the bag,’ Vermaak said, tilting his head at David. ‘We can’t seem to find the money. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?’
David shook his head. ‘I remember the bag,’ he said. ‘Michelle MacFar … sorry, Roberts, was holding it when I pulled her out of the club. She took it from me just before the building blew. After that I was too busy trying to stay alive …’ David smiled apologetically.
Vermaak waited a moment, then stretched and slowly got up from the chair. ‘Well, I think we’ve kept you up long enough,’ he said. ‘Thank you for your time.’
David watched as Sergeant Groenewald also stood to leave.
‘Actually, I don’t think I expressed myself very well earlier, when I said that I thought you were lucky,’ Inspector Vermaak said as he straightened his wrinkled suit. ‘I think what I meant to say was that it’s Boston that was lucky … lucky that you were there.’ He smiled, just briefly. ‘Goodbye, Mr Theron,’ he said, turning to leave, Sergeant Groenewald following silently behind him.
❄
David stayed in hospital for another night before he was discharged. On the last day he went in search of Mark. Mark was to stay in hospital for several more days, his condition stable but the doctors cautious.
David found Mark half reclining on his bed, propped up by the back rest and several pillows. His face was still drawn, with three days of stubble making his already pale appearance more noticeable, but the greeting he gave David was enthusiastic.
‘David!’ Mark said, smiling brightly. ‘No more hospital gown for you I see.’
David smiled and glanced in Anri’s direction by way of thanks. It was she who had gone to his small cottage and chosen something for him to wear on his return home.
Anri stood up and came over. ‘You look better,’ she told him.
David nodded.
There was a moment of awkward silence.
‘Well,’ Anri said cautiously. ‘I think I’ll go and get the bakkie. I’ll leave you two to compare scars.’
She kissed Mark, straightened his bedclothes, then left with a meaningful glance at Mark that was not lost on David.
David went to the window first, and tried to find something to say about the bleak weather outside.
Nothing inspired him.
He turned away from the window and sat down instead, easing himself carefully into an uncomfortable chair.
He waited for the question Anri had obviously been prompting Mark to ask.
‘So,’ Mark started as nonchalantly as possible. ‘Are you going to stay?’
David sighed.
They wanted to know if he was going to stay in B
oston, was going to stay for good.
How to reply when he didn’t know himself?
He had asked himself the question a dozen times as he lay in the hospital bed, had come up with a dozen reasons to go.
And only one to stay.
May.
He wanted to see her, even if it was just one more time. He wanted to explain to her, to tell her the truth about what he did.
Would she understand?
Would she even care?
She hadn’t visited him in hospital. Hadn’t phoned or left a message.
He had to know what she felt about him, had to find out if she understood. It was his last chance.
‘Yes,’ David replied after a while. ‘I’ll stay.’
‘I’m glad,’ Mark said with obvious relief. ‘It wouldn’t be the same without you.’
David shifted uncomfortably in the chair. He still found it tiring to stand, but sitting was just as awkward with the stitches in his side.
Or was it the warmth of Mark’s statement that made him uncomfortable? It was one of the many reasons he wanted to leave Boston. He knew he would find the sympathy for what he had done difficult to accept.
The dream returned in a vivid flash.
‘Don’t, Daddy … Please, don’t …’
He pushed himself out of the chair, the sharp pain from the sudden movement distracting him from the memories. ‘I should go,’ he told Mark. ‘Anri will be waiting.’
‘Right,’ Mark said, watching worriedly as David held his side. ‘Of course.’
‘So, I’ll see you in a couple of days,’ David said as he turned to leave.
‘David?’
David held his breath, half turned away as he waited for Mark to speak.
‘Everything’s going to be all right.’
He wasn’t expecting reassurance.
‘Whatever it is,’ Mark said gently. ‘It will be all right.’
Thirty-Three
❄
Ready to go?’ Anri asked as he eased himself into the bakkie.
David nodded. He was eager to get going. He wanted to go home, wanted to get back to the routine of his garage.
He stared out the window as Anri drove, aware of her sideways glances as she studied him.