The phone rang promptly at 6 am. Groggily, Kate answered it. After a night of tossing and turning worrying about her son and the case, she’d only fallen asleep at dawn. “Hello?”

“Hello, is that Detective Gomolemo?”

“Yes it is, Rre Matebele.” Kate recognised his voice but she wondered what he could be calling about so early. “What can I do for you?”

“I just wanted to let you know that the post mortem report will be finished today.”

“That was fast,” Kate said sitting up in bed, now fully awake. “I’ll come out after lunch.”

Her head pounded from lack of sleep as she made her way to Mogobane. She was hoping that the report would show that it was just an accident as Constable Lecheng had decided. She didn’t relish having to spend any more time with that lazy, young police officer. She knew she wouldn’t be able to keep her opinions to herself for much longer. Police officers like Constable Lecheng were not needed in the police force, their sloppy work was not only dangerous, but they were easily corrupted because of their weak morals. No, the further that she got from Constable Lecheng the better. She’d leave him to Rre Matebele to sort out.

She parked the car in the parking lot, not troubling to look for the shade of a tree as the clouds had moved in and she could feel the decidedly cold bite of winter in the air. A car heated up by the sun would be something she might very well want as she made her way back to Gaborone.

Inside the office, she found Constable Lecheng behind the desk, feet up on top of it, playing a game on his cellphone. When Kate entered, he put the cellphone down, but the feet remained firmly planted where they were. Without greeting or any attention given to her superior rank, he said, “He’s waiting for you.” As Kate opened the office door, she could hear the mechanical music of the cellphone game behind her.

Kate sat down on the straight-backed wooden chair the station commander offered her. He handed her the coroner’s report saying, “I don’t think you’ll like this.”

Kate read through it and began to feel sick. What kind of people could do this to another human being, children even? Parts were cut out, it seemed they had all been strangled to death. Kate closed the report disgusted and angry. Angry because these monsters just nearly got away with it.

Closing the report she looked up at the station commander who still stood next to her, “It looks like murder. I guess we’ll be seeing a lot of each other for some time,” he said.

“I guess so,” Kate said.

Back in Gaborone, Kate wrote out a report for her boss. Even as she wrote it she felt a chill when she thought about the violence that went on in that hut the night of the murder. She thought of the children and the old woman, their last thoughts, the terror that they felt when they knew that they were drawing their last breath. All because of some belief, some superstitious belief that said that human body parts could bring wealth, create luck, make a person more powerful. Still in this day and age, Kate knew the beliefs were strong all over Africa, not just in Botswana. Tears began to fill her eyes as she thought about the number of people, children, who had died for such greed and superstition. She felt bone tired and sick and decided it was time to make her way home; it was already past 7:00.

Just as she packed up her bag the phone rang. Picking up the phone she said, “Detective Gomolemo.”

“Well, hello Detective Gomolemo. Why are you still at work? Trying to impress your boss?”

Kate laughed, something she realised she hadn’t done once the whole of this long, terrible day. “No, Mr. Mogami I am not trying to impress the boss. I have work to do. Actually, I was just about to get out of here and head home. You almost missed me.”

“Well I’m glad I didn’t. How about dinner?”

“I doubt I’d be much company. I’ve had a terrible day.”

“Then that’s perfect. I had a wonderful day and I’d like to get some insight into how the other half of the world lives.”

His enthusiasm was infectious and Kate decided that maybe what she needed was a bit of company instead of going home to an empty house to dwell on the case. “Okay give me time to go home and change. I’ll meet you somewhere. Name the place.”

An hour later and Kate was sitting across from John in a crowded Italian restaurant out at the new mall. She could smell the rich aroma of basil and oregano and her stomach growled reminding her she hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast. John picked up his glass and took a sip of the wine they had ordered.

“Wonderful. So tell me about this terrible day of yours?” he said thinking again what extraordinary eyes she had. He wondered how any criminal could stand up to them, he hadn’t. They demanded honesty and gave the same in return. There was no space for games or anything less than the truth in those deep, dark eyes.

Kate rubbed her forehead trying to smooth out the wrinkles attempting to find a permanent place there. “No, let’s start with your wonderful day,” she smiled at him.

Kate remembered that first day she met John Mogami, the day after Kgakgamatso had been murdered. From the moment she saw him, she knew that he was a good man, a good man with a problem, but a good man nevertheless. His handsome face and tall muscular frame were not a deterrent to her attraction but it also didn’t prejudice her view towards him. The more that she got to know him the more she began to feel for him. There was something base and fundamental about the attraction, like it had been there for eternity just waiting to be woken up.

She’d been sad and disappointed to discover that he’d been guilty of taking a bribe. At first she thought it was enough to write him off, to forget completely about him. Her husband had taught her the simplicity of black and white; things were either right or wrong there was no compromising on that. But Kate was beginning to believe that sometimes there might be grey areas where people get lost. She was surprised when she found that despite what John Mogami had done, Kate was able to still respect him, to still see him as a good man a man worthy of her time and attention.

“Okay let’s start with me,” John said reaching forward and covering her small hand, which laid outstretched on the red checked table cloth, with his large one. Kate’s heart quivered slightly in her chest.

John told her about his day in an excited, infectious voice. Finally after weeks of trying, he’d got the permit to begin his agriculture project. He went with the builder and they bought the fencing material and they had planted the corner poles. He could see the beginnings of his project and finally knew that it was going to happen. “It just feels right. It seems strange after wanting to be an engineer for so long. I loved my job, I know I did. But now it all seems so distant, like a dream of a past life. I’m going to be a farmer, just like my father was. I never thought I’d say this, but I think it’s all going to come right. I really do.”

He picked Kate’s hand from the table and brought it to his lips and kissed her gently on the inside of her palm. She looked up at him and for a moment their eyes met, and then she quickly pulled her hand away.

“I’m sorry John,” she said, picking the fork from the table and replacing it again next to the knife. “It’s not that I don’t have any feelings for you. It’s just fast and so soon. I know my husband’s been dead for some time now, but he seems so near, still such a part of my life, my mind. I’m sorry. I’m not sure I’m ready.”

“Kate, never apologise for honesty. What I need most from everybody right now is pure, unadulterated honesty. If I learned nothing else from prison, I learned that time shouldn’t be wasted on pretence, on games. I want truth. That’s why I need you in my life. We can take it slow, I don’t care. It’s all up to you. I just want to see you, spend time with you. I just want you in my life.”

Kate smiled. It was uncommon for a man to make himself so vulnerable. “For now friends. Okay? We’ll see about later when we get there.”

“Friends is more than I could have hope for,” John said smiling.

***

Tell us what you think: Why do you think it is uncommon for a man to make himself vulnerable?