As soon as the police convoy is safely away from V Section, Zandile brings the car to a halt at a bus stop. She calls the constable driving the van with Anele in the back to tell him to head to the police station and keep the girl in the holding cells. Then she calls Station Commander Ncube.
“Detective Cele,” Commander Ncube answers.
“Hi Commander. We’re following up on a few leads. We’ll be at the station as soon as we’re finished,” says Zandile.
“Good,” says Commander Ncube. “We’ll book the girl on our side. Do your part on your side.”
“Yes, Commander. She might need to be taken to the hospital, so the drugs can be flushed out of her system. She’s useless to us in this state, she can’t put one proper sentence together. We’re off to see our informant, Primo. We need to get these drugs off the streets as soon as possible.”
“Alright, Detective. Keep me posted,” says Commander Ncube.
Zandile drops the call and turns to Gloria.
“We have to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible. If these drugs can make Anele show no remorse at killing her friend, I fear for Umlazi.”
“So she felt no remorse at all?”
“It’s worse than that. She simply had no recollection of what she’d done. We both saw the video. We both saw what she did to that girl, Ayanda.”
“How could she have forgotten killing someone? Zee, I’m telling you, it won’t just be Umlazi that suffers if the use of this drug spreads.”
“I’m calling Primo. He has to know about this pill. If he’s the one selling it, he needs to stop. I want him to give me his supplier, so we nip this in the bud right now,” says Zandile.
Zandile puts her cellphone on loudspeaker mode and calls Primo. He picks up the call after his cellphone rings twice. “Hello, Detective Cele. It’s been a while. How are you?”
“We need to see you right now, Primo.”
“I’m tied up at the moment.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m having a business meeting at my house,” says Primo.
“We’re coming over there right now,” says Gloria.
“No! Let’s meet up later around four p.m. at our usual spot,” says Primo.
“Listen to me Primo, you work for us. I vouched for you to be made our informant. You get paid but haven’t informed on any of your crook friends. Now it’s time to earn your keep,” says Gloria.
“Fine, but I can’t leave this meeting. See you in two hours,” says Primo.
“This is serious, Primo! One girl just killed another while they were both high on your drugs. So it’s Amanzimtoti in fifteen minutes, otherwise we rock up at your house, expose you for the informant you are and see what you crook friends think of you being visited by cops,” says Zandile.
“Fine. I’ll see you in fifteen minutes,” Primo agrees, sighing.
***
Primo’s car parks next to the unmarked police car at a parking lot behind a run-down building in the old part of Amanzimtoti. This building used to be centre of town fifteen years ago, before the Galleria Mall opened and took all business away from the town.
Primo gets into the back of the Polo and his expensive cologne fills the police car. He is dressed in designer clothes and smiling his gold-toothed smile.
Zandile gets straight to the point. She unlocks her cellphone, searches for the video and presses play. Then she shoves the phone in Primo’s face.
Tell us: How do you think Anele will feel when she realises what’s happened?