JOHANNESBURG Police confirm that they have questioned and released Brits resident, Jack Lucite, who was wanted for questioning in connection with the death of Jim Grey.

Grey, 16, was a Standard Eight pupil at Brentwood College in the leafy suburb of Inanda.
A manhunt was launched for Mr Lucite five days ago when it was reported that he had been heard uttering threats against the person of Jim Grey prior to his death. He told acquaintances of his intention to “restore his sister’s honour”.

Grey was subsequently found dead in the common room of Jan Smuts boarding house at Brentwood College.

Police uttered a terse “No comment” when asked by our reporter why Mr Lucite was released so soon after questioning. Sources say that Mr Lucite was able to prove that he was in the company of a female at a Hillbrow nightclub during the time of Jim Grey’s death. This has not been confirmed by the police.

Captain ‘Blikkies’ Bezuidenhout of the Brixton Murder and Robbery Squad told the Tribune that Jack Lucite is no longer regarded as a person of interest in this matter. Other avenues of investigation are being diligently pursued.

I finish reading the article out loud to Lael. Then she takes my place at the microfiche machine to read it again herself.

“So that was a dead end?” She looks up when she’s done.

“The deadest. What do you think they mean by ‘other avenues of investigation’?”

“Not a clue.”

We stare at each other in frustration. How can we have come this far only to hit a wall now?

“Let’s see if there are any other articles about Jim’s death. This can’t be the end of it. What should I search for?”

Lael ticks off the search terms on her fingers. “Jim Grey. Brentwood College. Amelia Lucite. Jan Smuts House. Um … murder, death? No, that will get too many hits.” I search for everything she suggests and get just one more hit apart from the articles we’ve already read, both here and at the school library. This time I go and fetch it because I don’t trust her not to pull another prank on me.

JOHANNESBURG As deceased schoolboy Jim Grey was laid to rest today, police have officially declared his death to have been due to natural causes.

The funeral took place at St Martin’s in the Veld Anglican Church in Dunkeld, and was attended by family, friends, and local dignitaries.

Jim Grey, who passed away at the age of sixteen, was the son of James and Annamarie Grey, whose family has farmed maize in the Brits area for generations. The young lad was found by cleaning staff in the common room of Jan Smuts boarding-house at his school – Brentwood College.
Police pursued numerous avenues of investigation before declaring the apparently mysterious death to be due to natural causes. An anonymous source inside the Brixton Murder and Robbery Squad told the Johannesburg Tribune, “His heart just stopped beating. They can’t find a reason for it, so it must have been a natural death.”

Jim Grey is survived by his parents. “He was our only child,” James Grey said in his eulogy. “He was our hope to continue the honourable line of Grey farmers, but now that hope has been extinguished.”

I frown. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – sixteen-year-old boys don’t drop dead for no reason.”

“No, they don’t. Not just sitting in a chair like that. Not unless they have a serious medical condition, which the newspapers don’t mention.”

“And what was he doing there in the first place?” I say. “It was during the school holidays. Everyone else had gone home, even the teachers. Only the cleaning staff were still there.”

“Exactly. He must have been there for a reason.” “Wait,” I say.

“What if there’s someone alive today who still remembers what happened? There must be someone we can talk to about it.”

Lael nods eagerly. “We should make a note of all the names we’ve come across so far. And maybe the diary will tell us more.”

***

To: Trinity Luhabe trinityluhabe@gmail.com
From: President of the Paranormal Association of South Africa admin@paranormalSA.com
Re: Ghost of Sisulu House

Dear Ms Luhabe,

I’m sorry to hear that your ghost-hunting has been unsuccessful so far. I must admit that I am very surprised because you are already in possession of our latest state-of-the-art equipment.

If there were any paranormal activity to detect, the full-spectrum camcorder, chromatograph and EMF-meter would have detected it.

Perhaps your ghost is just shy! We get that sometimes. Beings of the spirit world are not always as willing to come forward as we would like them to be. I agree that the blip you detected some weeks ago sounds very promising, but unfortunately there is no way we can compel your spirit to repeat the performance.

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It is highly sensitive to manipulation by the spirit realm, so if your ghost wishes to communicate with you, he will cause it to spell out words that have significance to him. Best of all, the Paranormal Automatic Writing Machine™ is completely tamper-proof and cannot be influenced by humans in any way. Please don’t hesitate to tap on the 1-click link above should you wish to order this superior product.

As always, we wish you all success in your ghost-hunting endeavours.

Kind regards

Eufemia Batton
Paranormal Association of South Africa

***

WHAT TO EXPECT AT 14 WEEKS(from www.whattoexpect.com)

BABY IS STANDING UP STRAIGHT

Growing by leaps and bounds, your baby is leaping and bounding. Now the size of your clenched fist, he’s on the move almost constantly — and those movements are a far cry from those jerky twitches of last trimester (though you won’t feel any of them for weeks to come). They are now ballet-like, smooth and fluid. Speaking of ballet, it’ll be years before you’ll start nagging your offspring to stand up straight — but unbelievably, he is doing it right now, without any prodding! No slouch anymore, your baby’s neck is getting longer, helping his head stand more erect. This gives your foetus a more straightened-out appearance.

BABY IS SPROUTING HAIR AND LANUGO

By week 14 of pregnancy, your baby could be sprouting some hair and the eyebrows are filling in, too. Hair growth isn’t limited to the baby’s head, though. He is also covered with a downy coating of hair called lanugo, largely there for warmth. Not to worry — he won’t be like that at full-term: as fat accumulates later on in your pregnancy (the baby’s fat, not yours, though that will accumulate too), it will take over the function of keeping your little bean toasty, so most of the lanugo sheds. Some babies, though — especially those born early — still have a fuzzy coating at delivery (it disappears soon afterwards).

Other developments this week include a roof of his own (inside your baby’s mouth, that is) as well as some digestive system activity: his intestines are producing meconium, which is the waste that will make up his first bowel movement after birth.

“Hairy?” Nosipho squeaks. “My baby is hairy?”

I pull a face. How do you convince your friend that something is not gross when you all know that it is gross, and there’s no point even pretending it isn’t?

“Look!” I say, pointing at the screen. “It says downy. A downy coating of hair. That sounds like a little baby chick or something, doesn’t it? It’s cute.”

“Yeah. Really cute.”
Nosipho glares at us. “It’s not cute. It’s gruesome.” “It’s normal,” I say. “Your baby’s fine.”

“But what if it’s not fine?” Nosipho nibbles on her thumbnail. “All this app does is tell me what my baby should be doing, not what it is doing. I want to know what is actually going on inside me.”

Lael and I were talking about this just yesterday. Lael pulls out a chair so Nosipho can sit down.

“We think you need to go and see a doctor for a proper check-up.”

Nosipho jerks back as if she’s been slapped. “I’m not going back to the Raheeda Pelser!”

“Not the Raheeda Pelser,” I say. “Never again. That was horrible. No, we think you should go to a private doctor.”

“But I’m not ready to tell my mom yet. And if I see a doctor on the medical aid, she’ll get a notification on her phone. I mean, I know I have to tell her eventually, but I’d rather wait until she gets back from America and I can speak to her face to face. That’s why I didn’t give the school her contact details in Washington DC.”

We already thought of that.

“We think you should use some of that money we collected,” Lael says. “We’ll even go with you for your first check-up, if that’s what you want.”

Nosipho leans forward and grabs one of our hands in each of hers. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

***