“Well you look good,” Detective Botha said when Jade arrived at the station. “What’s going on?”

“What do you mean?”

Jade was not about to tell her partner that she was seeing Sanders Selepe, the CEO of Excel Mobile, in the middle of a murder investigation regarding one of his employees. After maybe, but not now. First they needed to find Tasneem’s killer. She supposed her reluctance to mention it was a reflection on her feelings about the ethics of it all, but she tried not to pay attention to that.

“Okay, no problem. Be coy about it, but I think someone is in love.”

After leaving the interview the day before with Wilson, Detective Botha had not asked what else he said about her niece, and most of it Jade had kept to herself. There was no need to upset her more. Let her bring it up.

Jade didn’t have long to wait.

“So, what did he say?” Detective Botha asked.

“Who?”

“That kid, Wilson, about my niece.”

Jade hesitated but then thought: Molly could be playing a dangerous game. Maybe her aunt could intervene before something terrible happened.

“He said she likes nice things. And money. And, as you’d expect, the call centre doesn’t pay much. So … so she’s not immune to asking for gifts from … boyfriends.”

“Gifts from men? Like what? Money?”

“Yes, a bit like that.”

“A ‘bit like that’? What – like sleeping with men for money?”

Jade couldn’t say it, she just nodded her head.

“Oh God, my sister would die if she knew that! That girl has been a problem ever since she was born. It will kill my sister if she finds out. Come!” Detective Botha grabbed her handbag.

“Where are we going?”

“To teach my niece a few hard lessons.”

At Excel, Detective Botha told Jade to wait in the car. She got out, slamming the door, and stamped across the parking lot. Jade felt a bit sorry for what Molly’s immediate future held.

She sat and waited. Her cellphone beeped.

How R U? I’m thinking about U.

It was from Sanders. She wondered if she should tell him she was in the parking lot of his office block and decided against it.

Thinking about you too. See you later?

Definitely.

She put her cellphone in her handbag as Molly and Detective Botha got in the car. They were still cordial, so Jade guessed nothing had been discussed yet.

“Where are you taking me, Aunty Debra?” Molly asked.

“You’ll see,” Detective Botha said.

They drove out of town and caught the N1 heading to Joburg. After about ten minutes of Molly jabbering in the backseat about nearly every single person at Excel, including the people she was supposed to be helping on the phone, Detective Botha turned the car into the first main truck stop. It was after lunch already and a few trucks were stopping.

The working girls were waiting in the shade under a tree, in the big parking lot for the trucks. Detective Botha stopped the car nearby.

“What are we doing here?” Molly asked.

“You see that woman in the red miniskirt?” Detective Botha said.

“The old lady?”

“Yeah, okay … the old lady. What do you think she’d doing here?”

“She’s a whore,” Molly said. “A whore,” she repeated.

“Yeah, she’s a prostitute. She has sex with men for money. She’s not much older than you by the way.”

“It’s disgusting.” Molly said and looked in the other direction.

“Is it? At least she’s honest about it. She accepts what she’s doing. It’s her job. She doesn’t hide it and call it something else.”

“Yeah, whatever. Can we go back? I’m meeting someone after work,” Molly said.

“Who’s that? One of your boyfriends?”

“Yes, actually.”

Detective Botha turned around in her seat and looked at her niece. “How many boyfriends do you have, Molly?”

“I don’t know. A few.”

“A few? Two? Five? Ten? Twenty?”

“Twenty? No! What – do you think I am a whore or what?”

“A whore. I think you’re a whore. If a whore is a woman who sleeps with men for money, you’re a whore. You’re a prostitute.”

“You know my mother won’t like when I tell her that you’re talking to me like this!” Jade could see that Molly was a girl used to things going her own way.

“I wonder if your mother would like me telling her that her daughter sleeps with men for money and expensive gifts,” Detective Botha said.

“You don’t know that. Who told you that? It’s a lie!”

“Did Wilson give you R5 000 so that you would have sex with him?” Jade asked.

“That was a loan.”

“Have you paid him back?”

“I’m going to.”

“And what about the diamond bracelet you were wearing the other day. It probably cost over R20 000. Did you buy that for yourself?” Jade asked.

“No, my boyfriend bought it for me.”

“What boy would you be dating who would have that sort of money?” Detective Botha asked.

“He’s a man, not a boy.”

“Even so. Who? Who gave you that bracelet? Who’s this mysterious man who buys young girls R20 000 bracelets?” Detective Botha asked. “Who do you know who can afford such an expensive gift?”

“Sanders. Sanders Selepe.”

Jade sat still. She breathed in and then out. She shook her head as if to knock the words out of her brain where they already bounced around, hurting.

“You think Sanders Selepe is your boyfriend? Is that what you’re telling me?” Detective Botha asked.

“Yes, we’ve been dating for over five months,” Molly said. “I was just at his place this morning.”

“Yes, you might be sleeping with him, I wouldn’t doubt it. But he’s not your boyfriend, don’t be mistaken. You’re a fool, Molly. Men like that use women like you every day. You’re a fool, playing a very dangerous game. You’re lying to yourself about it too. I can’t believe you’d do this to your mother. You make me sick!”

Detective Botha faced the front and started the car. No-one spoke the entire way back to Excel.

***

Tell us: What do you think about what Molly is doing? And, do you think prostitution is a real job and should not be illegal?