Later, after everyone was gone and she and John lay in bed, her head resting on his shoulder, Jade tried to talk about the earlier topic.
“It’s tough with kids,” she said.
John knew immediately what she was referring to. “Yes. The thing was … she just went with those boys. They’d bullied her to go, said she was just a scared girl. So she went, to show them she wasn’t. They lit the fire.” He paused for while.
“She was sweet, Jade. I know in the news they were making it out like she was some juvenile delinquent, but she wasn’t. Honestly, you can’t understand these things. She was supposed to make it. She was fine. I got such a shock when I came in the next day and they told me she’d died in the night. They said she must have gone into shock and had a cardiac arrest. Sometimes as a doctor you get deluded into thinking you can fix everything, so it’s quite devastating when you realise you can’t, even when you so wanted to.”
“Sorry, John.”
He looked down at her. “Thanks.” But then the distant tone returned to his voice: “It’s part of the job.”
* * * * *
“Hey Jade, how’s things?” Sonny Owen said, passing by her desk.
“Good. How’s the corruption case at Water Utilities going?” she asked.
“If you can believe it, they can’t find the tender documents. No hard copy, no soft copy. We’re going through to the Tender Board now. It’s going to be my life for a long time I think. Piles and piles of papers that side.”
Jade shook her head. She was glad they hadn’t got that case.
Debra waited until Owen was down the passage. “I can’t help but like that guy. Zoya’s got his eyes. Even the way he moves his mouth when he talks; it’s exactly like her.”
“Don’t.”
Jade knew that Debra didn’t like the decision she’d made, to not tell Owen he was Zoya’s father. But she thought they’d made peace with it. She didn’t know it would be up for discussion forever.
“He’s grown up a lot since that one-night stand so long ago. And so have you,” Debra said. “Amazing what nearly two years can do to a person.”
“Debra, let me live my life. You live yours. I don’t give you a lot of grief about the shit you do,” Jade said.
“Because I don’t do stupid shit.”
Jade was just about to lay into her, when she saw a man heading their way. He looked upset.
“I’m looking for …” he began, then looked down at a paper in his hand. “… a Detective Debra Botha and Detective Jade Khan?”
“That’s us,” Debra said. She pulled a chair out from a nearby desk. “Have a seat. What can we do for you?”
“My name’s Simon Mulwa. The man at the front desk said maybe you can help me. I don’t know … I think it’s nothing. It’s my wife who pushed me to come here.”
“Why don’t you tell us, Mr Mulwa, and then we can make a decision?” Jade said.
“Okay … yes. So our daughter, Anne, she was the girl in that fire, where the two boys died. And now … and now our … well, I think you know our Anne died four days ago. In the hospital.”
“Yes, we heard. So sorry for your loss, Mr Mulwa,” Debra said. “It was a tragic accident.”
“But … yes, but … maybe it wasn’t. Someone, an informant type person, told us that maybe the hospital was somehow negligent. That maybe more than that, someone killed our Annie.”
It was too much to say out loud, and the man leaned over began to cry into his lap. Jade pushed a box of tissues in his direction but didn’t want to get further involved. She didn’t care much for these allegations. John worked at that hospital and she didn’t like people talking in this way about it.
“Who suggested that?” Debra asked.
“I’d rather not say if that’s possible. I just thought maybe you could ask around. My wife thought someone could just investigate a bit,” Mr Mulwa said.
“Sure, of course. We need to look into such things,” Debra said. “Just give me your contact details then.”
She pushed some paper towards him, while looking at Jade. They both knew this was a waste of time, but if it could help these grieving parents get over the loss of their daughter, they could certainly poke around a bit at the hospital.
***
Tell us what you think: Is it okay for Jade not to have told Owen he was Zoya’s father?