Philasande frantically looks around. She finds the man’s belongings. Towel, bottled water, juice, backpack. She digs into the back pack. Wallet, headphones, phone. She takes the phone, prays it does not have pin code to unlock the screen. It beeps ‘Low battery’ as she touches it. Only one percent battery life left. She swipes across the screen. It does not unlock. Her hand is wet. She dries it on the towel.
“Mary! Get back here!” Mam shouts. Her voice is getting closer.
“Run! Run Phila!” the girls shout.
Philasande swipes the screen again. It unlocks. Her fingers dial her mother’s number. It goes straight to voicemail. “Ma, it is Phila. All the girls are here with me at the beach. They are alive. We are here at the–” The phone dies.
Mam is within touching distance. She is about to grab her. Philasande drops the phone and runs. As soon as she takes off, Mam knows she can’t catch Philasande. There is a natural grace to Philasande’s running posture that makes her eat up distance. Mam turns back. She sees the other girls scatter, running away in all directions. She grabs her things and drives off with her assistant.
*****
Philasande’s mom is on a call to relatives when she hears that another call is incoming. She retrieves the voice message. She hears Philasande’s voice and sprints five and a half kilometres to the police station.
“She called me! Phila called me! It is her voice. She said all the girls are alive, they are on a beach somewhere!” she screams at Zandile, when she gets to the police station.
This sets off warning bells of recognition in Zandile’s mind. “A beach? Mrs Kweyama was taking her grandchildren to the beach. Do you think…”
But Zandile falls silent.
“What is it Zandile? What is wrong?” Gloria asks. Zandile turns to Philasande’s mom: “You said Philasande finished getting braided in the afternoon and then slept?”
“Yes.”
“Then how does Principal Kweyama know about her colourful braids?”
“I don’t know,” says a confused Dudu, shaking her head.
They turn to Station Commander Ncube, who has Philasande’s mom’s phone. He has called back the number but it goes to voice message. The phone is off.
“Let’s trace it! Trace it now!” barks Commander Ncube. “And order a helicopter to fly along the coast. We need to find that beach. It can’t be far.”
There is a buzz at the police station. Fifteen minutes later a helicopter lands in the parking area.
“When you trace the call tell us the location. We will be going in the helicopter,” says Commander Ncube. “Gloria, go back to Mrs Kweyama’s house. Find everything you can there. And take a forensic team with you,” says Commander Ncube as he runs across the tarmac. Zandile runs after him.
*****
Dr Dladla floats far out to sea; he does not see the drama unfolding behind him on the beach. He stays for a long time in the water and returns to the beach to see his ruffled belongings. He grabs his stuff, gets in his car and heads to a bed-and-breakfast fifty kilometres away.
***
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