As Kate pulled up to the police station, she saw two men leaving the office with Asst. Sup Matebele. The taller man was speaking animatedly to Mr. Matebele the other two were listening and none of them saw Kate pull up. Something about the look on the police officer’s face made Kate think again about the source of the lines on his wife’s face. He was angry, that could be seen. But there was an edge to his manner she hadn’t seen in him until then. The shorter man, who wore glasses, placed a hand on Mr. Matebele’s shoulder as if to calm him down. The taller man turned his head in Kate’s direction, dark, piercing eyes set in a calm face held a look of recognition. He knew her, but Kate definitely did not know him. He spoke and both Matebele and the one with glasses turned and looked at her and quickly turned away. The other two men got in the truck and Asst. Sup. Matebele turned and walked back to his office pretending as if he hadn’t seen Kate at all.

She locked up her car, wondering about the scene and what it could mean, and walked over to the patrol car where she found Constable Lecheng sleeping, just as she had expected. She pounded hard on the door and he jerked awake. Reaching over to unlock the passenger door, he let her inside. “Long lunch, is that how they do it in Gaborone?” Lecheng asked sleepily.

“Who were those men with the Station Commander?” Kate asked ignoring his question.

“I don’t know. I didn’t see anyone. What’d they look like?”

“One was shorter, about 40 or so, with glasses the other one was taller and older he drove a 4 x 4 Hilux.” Kate tried to remember every detail that she could.

“The shorter one, was he wearing fancy cowboy boots?”

“Yeah, yeah I think he was. You know them?”

Lecheng looked at her wondering what she was on about. “That’ll be Kgano, Kwenaetsile Kgano. That’s the tall one with the Hilux. He’s a traditional doctor here. The other one with the boots, he’s the new VDC chair, Kgotletsa Senatla.”

“So what would they want with the Station Commander?”

“Who knows? They’re all on the same committees and stuff. You know how it is in these villages. The way you’re asking it’s like you’re thinking something’s up.”

“No, I was just wondering. He seemed to know me, the traditional doctor, Kwenaetsile Kgano. He looked at me like he knew me,” Kate said troubled, remembering those piercing eyes.

“Of course he knows you. This isn’t Gaborone. This is the village – every body knows everything. You can’t blow your nose without everybody knowing.”

Of course, Kate thought. It was nothing; she wondered why it was troubling her? Or was it the uncharacteristic look on Mr. Matebele’s face. It had almost made him look like a different person. She should just forget it; it was nothing she told herself.

Kate turned to Lecheng, “So what about this Monnonyana, Ronny was talking about?” she asked.

“Just village gossip. I don’t think it’s much more than that. He’s a businessman here in Mogobane. He’s young – he got rich quick, he’s uneducated and people are jealous. They say he kills kids for muti. Ever since people found out about this they’ve been talking about it, blaming it on him. I just think it’s talk, that’s all.” Lecheng took a match stick from the ash tray and started picking his teeth.

“Maybe just gossip. But we need to keep our ears open. Let’s go out to the lands and talk to that family, the ones who helped Mmagosego. What’s their name again?”

“The Molales,” Constable Lecheng said starting up the car and pulling out of the parking lot.

Kate sat quietly looking out the window, and she was surprised when her mind drifted to John Mogami. Dinner the other night had been so nice, a smile came to her lips just thinking about it. But she was troubled, too. She wondered when she’d ever be able to let go of the memory of her husband and move on. It was something that she was so used to – the aching feeling of loss. It was a habit now. She wasn’t sure she could change. She wasn’t sure she wanted to change. But at the same time, she knew she had feelings for the handsome John Mogami. Could he find room in her tattered heart? She wasn’t yet ready to answer that question.

The maize fields were dried up. Just before a dip in the road, Kate saw three men and a woman in the field harvesting the burnt amber heads of sorghum that filled the field. Lecheng drove the car up a hill and turned the opposite direction from the abandoned murder site.

As he pulled the patrol car into the compound, they thought it was deserted. “Looks like they’re out in the field.” But just then a boy came out of one of the mud huts and walked towards the car.

“Dumelang.” The boy waited to hear what they had to say. They got out of the car and Kate walked towards the boy. “We were looking for Mr. Molale. I’m Detective Gomolemo and I think you know Constable Lecheng. We wanted to ask some questions about the murders.”

“They’re all in the fields. I’m the only one here. I’m his son, Neo.” The boy looked at the police officers with wide eyes. “Are you from Gaborone?” he asked Kate.

Again Kate was reminded of the smallness of the village. “Yes I am. Did you know the children who were killed?”

The boy hesitated, he was frightened. He didn’t like discussing it. He didn’t want to think about them all being dead, his friends. They wouldn’t ever get the chance to grow up, to get jobs, and be parents. Then he thought of Gosego and tears filled his eyes. She was so clever, always teasing him when she beat him on exams. He looked away from Kate; he didn’t want to let her see that a big boy like him could cry.

Wiping his eyes with the corner of his dirty shirt he said, “Yeah, I knew all of them. Gosego was in my class. We sang a song at her funeral.” His voice cracked at the end and he turned away. Everyday he missed Gosego. Everyday he wondered why God had let such a terrible thing happen to her.

“Were you here the night of the murder, Neo?” Kate said gently, seeing that the boy was upset.

Neo looked first at Kate then at Constable Lecheng, with frightened eyes he turned away. He didn’t want to die, too. He didn’t want to be cut up and burnt. “Why? No, I wasn’t here. Who said I was? I went to the kgotla. Ask my father, he’ll tell you.”

“No one said anything, just calm down there, Boy,” Constable Lecheng said.

“Should I go and call my parents?” he asked them. All he wanted was to be away from these two.

“No, we don’t want to trouble them. We’ll try them on Sunday.” The police officers got in the car and drove back towards the village. “That boy’s got something to hide. I think he saw something.”

“Do you think so?” Constable Lecheng asked. “I just thought he was upset about his friends being dead.”

Kate looked at Lecheng. How could he have not noticed that that kid was acting guilty, frightened? Maybe he noticed and didn’t want to mention it, why? Could he be so blind to such obvious clues? Kate shook her head. “I need to head back to Gaborone. In the morning try to see the kgosi and get some feeling for this rumour about the businessman. What was his name again?”

“Monnonyana Dikgang.”

“Yeah, Monnonyana Dikgang, I want to check a few things in the morning in Gaborone. I’ll get here after lunch.”

Kate had a peculiar feeling about this case. Everyone seemed to be a suspect but nobody stood out. Like this kid? What was he hiding? Could the father be involved? Now there’s this businessman? And, no matter what Lecheng said, that traditional doctor gave Kate a bad feeling. The way he had looked at her didn’t sit well.

In the morning Kate met with her boss, Mr. Modise. She needed someone with more experience in this type of case; her boss was just the man. He had been involved in a big case in Maun involving the ritual murder of a sixteen-year-old girl. It was later discovered that she was killed by her own uncle. The man hung himself in his jail cell. Any answers to the questions about what had motivated him followed him to his grave. Nevertheless, her boss had been involved in the case for more than a year and could definitely be of help to her.

“Rre Modise, do you have a moment?” Kate poked her head around the door.

“Sure, come in. I thought you’d be in Mogobane this morning,” he said, standing up to move a stack of papers off the seat of the only available chair in the office. Kate often wondered how he kept track of things in the mess all around him, but she knew he did. He knew exactly where every paper was and could locate a file faster than his secretary and her conventionally organised filing cabinet.

“I wanted to speak with you first then I’ll be leaving,” Kate said taking a seat.

“You have any leads yet? Any suspects?”

Kate shook her head. “Not really. It’s early still and suspects seem to popping up all over.”

“Kate, you’re going to have tough going in this case, I can tell you that now. People would prefer that it just disappear. Even if they saw the murders with their own two eyes it would take a brave person to come forward and admit it. There is a lot of secrecy and fear involved in these cases. I’m even surprised, now that I think about it, that that kid sent us a letter. That was one courageous kid who wrote it, I can tell you that. The fear is overwhelming in this kind of case.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right. Rre Modise, I’m not that familiar with the point of it all. What exactly do they do with the human body parts that they take?”

“It depends. In most cases, people are looking for great wealth. It is believed to also give people power and strength against their adversaries. It will depend on the traditional doctor, also. What he tells the patient it can do for them. But like I said it is all very secretive. I struggled to get any information in that case up north. You must really just keep your ears and eyes open. Look for ambition, greed. That’s where you’ll find your killer.”

“Well, thanks for your time, Rre Modise. I better be getting to Mogobane, they’ll be waiting for me.” Kate got up and started heading towards the door.

“And Kate … remember these people are cold blooded killers and they will do anything to make sure that they are not discovered. Watch yourself out there,” he warned her.