After Faku and Dealer left, I was left with two boys, Zelo and Dollar. Something about those boys didn’t feel right. I had never heard either one of them talk, or even seen them look in my direction. The shack was too quiet. I thought making conversation would lighten the mood.

“So… finally you guys can afford some cigarettes, ne?”

Dollar didn’t look as if he took too well to what I said.

“Entlek sefebe se, se nyaka go reng? EH Zelo nna ake Keane le dichila…” said Dollar.

I started feeling uneasy. I didn’t mean any harm but I could see he was looking for a fight, so I decided to keep quiet.

Zelo said: “Eish Dollar le wena chilanyana Ntoana, le wena okare o rata drama mfana kganthe why?”

“Ska mpotsa ka drama wena, Since wen re tlo botsa ke sefebe ka cigarrete. This bitch must stop acting as if she did us a favour, one ale kae yena rena re spana? Entlek vaya wena, voetsek go!”

Aowa, was this boy on some weed or something? I was not going anywhere. I was the mastermind behind the whole operation. What the hell was wrong with him?

“Bona Dollar ne, I was just trying to make conversation. I don’t se…”

“Hey kere vaya wena man, voetsek!” he said, taking out a gun… Something told me to up and go, but I was not going to leave everything behind just like that. If he wanted to shoot, let him shoot.

“Dollar mfanaka, relax ntoana there is no need for all this otlore biletsa mahlo ntoana relaxer no Faku ba boya nou re….”

“Hey voetsek le wena man. Shut up! This bitch must go. She thinks she can come here and look down on us, ware tseba wena? Vaya man, your work here is done. Arego hloke wena.”

I was really starting to get irritated with this boy. He was nothing but a stupid teenager I picked in front of the hardware store. What was his problem?

“Bona mo wena, I’m not going anywhere. I’m here for my cut and I’m not leaving without it. I found you at the hardware complaining about cigarettes and I gave you a job, nou wa bona dilo di grand, you think you can point at me with that toy GU…”

I didn’t get to finish my sentence. Everything happened so fast after that. I heard a gunshot and something ripping off my flesh, and there was blood everywhere. While I was on the floor, the last thing I remember seeing was Zelo and Dollar picking up the plasma TV and running away, then everything went blank.

I woke up in hospital. My head was feeling very heavy, and at first I couldn’t even understand where I was and what I was doing there, until the doctor saw that I was awake.

“Oh, hello dear, how are we feeling today?” she asked with a smile.

“I… I’m feeling much better. When can I go home?”

“Not so fast my dear. Your shoulder has been badly injured, even after we managed to extract the bullet. There is still a lot of healing to be done before you can go home.”

“What the doctor means is before you can go to prison,” interrupted a man in a suit, followed by two uniformed police officers.

“Mantoa Maleka, you are under arrest for the murders of Thateho Mangena and Palesa Chiloane, and also for taking part in the robbery that took place at the Mangena residence on the sixth of June 2016. You have the right to remain silent, and everything you say or do will be held against you in a Court of Law. Officers, cuff her!”

“You can’t do that! This patient just had an operation. You can’t just come in here and do as you please, detective,” shouted the doctor.

“Doctor Smith, you do your job and let us do ours. This woman is a cold-blooded murderer who almost got away with murder twice. I don’t care if she just escaped a hurricane, we are cuffing her!”

“Cuff her, it’s fine, but she is going nowhere until I give the go-ahead,” spat the doctor.

“The fact is she is going to jail, and we are cuffing her now. Operation or not, now please excuse us doctor?”

The two police officers started cuffing me, and it was the most shocking moment of my life. I had covered all my tracks. How could they have linked me to those deaths?

“Don’t look so shocked Miss Maleka, your crocodile tears won’t get you out of this one. Hey Magoro, why are you so soft with this criminal. Cuff her to this bed right now!”

“Please detective, I don’t know what is going on. This is all a set-up, please it’s…”

“Shut up, try explain that to the Magistrate. Banana ba gesho, officer Phokwane will be here to guard outside, you two stay in here and make sure this murderer doesn’t shift an inch.

***

Tell us: She’s in the same predicament now that Lulu was in earlier. Do you think she sees the irony of her situation?