Excel Mobile headquarters were located in a tall glass needle-like building at the edge of town. It was the leading cellphone company in the country and this was their head office. They had purposefully located here, outside of the major urban centres, to help bring down small town unemployment. Most of the young people in town worked for them in one way or another, so it wasn’t surprising to hear that Tasneem Pillay was employed there.

After introducing themselves, Jade and Detective Botha were ushered into the CEO’s office. It was huge, at the top of the needle, with windows all around. Mr Selepe, the CEO, looked completely at home in the posh setting.

Jade could not ignore that Mr Selepe was a handsome man, but she was here on business she reminded herself. And hadn’t she made a vow to stay away from men after the last failed date? That guy was a part-time ventriloquist, a passion he had a lot to talk about. Too much. Way too much. Twice Jade had to stop imagining herself going for her gun. The problem was she was not sure if she was going to shoot him to shut him up, or herself, so she could stop hearing him!

“It was a shock when we heard about one of our employees being murdered. I thought we left all of that behind in Joburg,” Mr Selepe said. He was younger than Jade had expected. And smart, in his expensive three-piece suit.

“Did you know Tasneem Pillay well then?” Jade asked.

“I’ll be honest, we have more than two thousand employees. You can imagine it’s difficult for me to know all of them on a personal level. I knew Tasneem slightly, she worked in our call centre. I pulled out her file after I found out about her murder.” He handed it to Jade. “You can have a look at it if you’d like.”

Jade paged through the file. Tasneem had been working for the company for just over three years. It looked like she had got the job shortly after writing her matric. She had good reviews from her manager. Seemed to get along fine. There was only one negative report, regarding a boyfriend coming into the call centre and causing a scene.

“What can you tell me about this incident with the boyfriend last month?”

Mr Selepe smiled. “You know these young people. He was upset. I think they were breaking up or something like that. Came into the call centre shouting, didn’t want to go until she agreed to see him. The security personnel got involved so the unit manager felt it wise to write up the report. Tasneem was quite beautiful, much like yourself. Men don’t easily let such women get away.”

Jade tried not to be affected by his dropped-in compliment, but he was a very handsome and successful man so…

Detective Botha stepped in. “Do you have the boyfriend’s contact details by any chance?”

“No, but I’m sure her co-workers will have more information. She was a friendly young woman.”

“Perhaps we can go and speak to them now,” Detective Botha said.

“Certainly. Let me call security to take you over to the call centre.”

The security officer arrived and Detective Botha got up to follow her. At the door, Mr Selepe tapped Jade’s shoulder.

“My card. In case you need anything else from me, anything at all,” he said.

Jade took the card. “Thanks for all of your help, Mr Selepe.”

“Sanders, please call me Sanders.” He smiled at her. “Remember, Jade, give me a call if you want anything from me.”

Jade turned and headed down the hall, following the security officer, smiling as she walked.

***

Tell us: Do you think it’s okay for Jade to be checking out men when she’s on duty?