“We’ve got to talk to Sbu,” said Airtime as they walked out of the police station.

“For what!?” said K8.

Airtime told her about the picture.

“Why didn’t you tell the police?” K8 said.

“No,” said Airtime firmly. “It’s Sbu’s family. I’m ain’t doing nothing til I’ve talked to Sbu.”

As they arrived at Sbu’s house they saw Song coming down the road, looking bleak.

“What gives?” asked K8.

“I’ve got something to tell Sbu,” said Song.

“Us too,” said Airtime. Song shot him an annoyed look. She was still angry at him for losing the camera.

K8 knocked, and Sbu answered the door.

“K8!” he said with a huge grin. He stepped forward, and then saw Song and Airtime. “Oh… hi guys.” he said. He looked at K8 like he was going to say something, then changed his mind and bumped fists with her.

“Good to see you!”

“We need to talk,” Song said seriously.

“Sure,” said Sbu. “My parents are out and my sister’s at a friend’s house.”

They went in, and all packed in to Sbu’s small bedroom. Airtime sat on the bed, and K8 and Song leaned against Sbu’s wall, which was covered in his own sketches and with pictures taken from football magazines.

“What’s the problem?” asked Sbu.

Airtime and Song both started speaking at the same time, and stopped.

“You go first,” said Airtime.

Song took a deep breath.

“Remember when I was fixing up that computer for your uncle? I got some files off it so I could reinstall them later. I took them home so I could check them for viruses, and I read some of them. Sbu… that computer was stolen.”

“Are you sure?” said Sbu.

“I checked the user registration. It belongs to a design company in Long Street. When I phoned them, they said their computers had been stolen in a burglary two days ago.”

“Did you tell them about my uncle?” Sbu was defensive.

“No, I wanted to talk to you about it first.”

“There must be some explanation,” Sbu said.

“It gets worse,” said K8. Airtime told Sbu about the mugshot he’d seen at the police station.

“No, guys,” said Sbu. “Come on. You can’t believe this. Song, just because the computer was stolen it doesn’t prove anything. Maybe it got stolen, but the owner got it back, then sold it because it was broken. Or maybe my uncle bought it without knowing it was stolen. And Airtime, there could be lots of reasons why my uncle was in that file. It doesn’t prove anything.”

Airtime looked down at his feet.

“Song! Airtime! You’ve met him,” said Sbu. “How can you be suspicious? He’s a good guy. And he’s family. If you can’t trust family, who can you trust? K8, you don’t believe this, do you?”

“Sorry Sbu,” said K8. “It looks bad.”

“Well, there’s an easy way to sort this out,” said Sbu. “Come to the braai. Come to my uncle’s house tonight, and you’ll see.”

Image: M Peinado / Vectorportal (photoshopped by Sam Wilson), CC-BY; CC-BY

WHAT DO YOU THINK? Do you think Sbu is right to trust his uncle?