Karabo Pilane walked carefully as she made her way through the Cuttleson Police Station, but that would be expected – she’d just found out that her husband was dead.

Jade stood up and walked over to her, then led her to the rear interrogation room. Debra followed them.

“Can I get you some coffee?” Jade asked.

“Tea would be nice,” Mrs Pilane said.

Jade rushed off to get the tea organised and Debra stayed with their victim’s wife.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Mrs Pilane,” Debra said.

“Yes,” she replied mechanically. The entirety of the loss would set in later; now she was still in shock.

Jade returned and set the tea tray down in front of Mrs Pilane, who looked at it, wondering what it was all about.

“So you said your husband went missing about two weeks ago?” Jade started.

“Yes, that Friday. I was in the hospital still. Precious, my daughter, was home with him, and the maid, Lillian.”

“So where did your husband work?’ Debra asked.

“At the Vale Council. He was a buildings inspector, and lately he’d been assigned to oversee the new airport. He’s a civil engineer.”

“So on that Friday he didn’t go to work?” Jade asked.

“No, he was home on sick leave. Lillian and Precious went to the supermarket. They said they were gone at most an hour and half. There was traffic. That’s what delayed them. When they got back, he was gone. They didn’t think anything of it at first. He’d been anxious to go back to work; they thought he decided to go into the office for the afternoon. In any case, he was feeling a bit better.”

“When did they start to think something was wrong?”

“That night. Lillian was sleeping at the house since I was in hospital, and at dinner time, Roger hadn’t arrived yet. He worked long hours, but he had a thing about all of us sitting down for dinner each evening. Sometimes he went back to work afterwards, but dinner he was always there. Missing dinner was not an option. Everyone was meant to be there, every night.” She started to cry. “I guess not anymore.”

Jade pushed the box of tissues toward her. She poured the now lukewarm tea and set the cup in front of Mrs Pilane. The distraction of adding milk and sugar stemmed the tears and the interview continued.

“And then what happened?” Jade asked.

“Lillian phoned me. I phoned Miller, Miller Carling. That’s Roger’s boss at the Council. He told me as far as he knew Roger was still on sick leave. That’s when I told Lillian to phone the police.”

“And the Vale Police, did they come up with anything?” Debra asked.

“A neighbour saw Roger get in a car with another man. But then her story wavered and she wasn’t sure if it was even Roger. That’s all. I got the impression they thought Roger ran off with another woman. The police seemed uninterested. And now look!”

She started crying again. Debra rubbed her back. What could they say? The Vale Police messed up.

“So what do you think happened?” Debra asked.

“Well, I know he didn’t have another woman. He loved me! You tell me, does a man donate a kidney to his wife if he’s cheating on her with someone else?”

Jade looked at Debra. “What was that? You said he donated a kidney? To you?” Debra asked.

“Yes. That’s why I was in the hospital. They needed to keep me longer in case there was a rejection of the organ. He was released after four days. I had got sick and once Roger knew he was a match, there was no question for him that he would give me one of his kidneys. That was the sort of man he was.”

Jade sat back. This changed everything. Their entire theory was squashed and they were back to zero. There was no illegal organ smuggling ring operating in Cuttleson. That was good news for Cuttleson, but bad news for their case.

Mrs Pilane looked exhausted. She’d only found out the night before that her husband was dead and now she was here being questioned. On top of it, she was still recovering from her surgery.

Debra stood up. “Let me get someone to take you home, Mrs Pilane. If we have any more questions we’ll come by your house.”

***

Tell us: What are your feelings about organ donation? Roger Pilane donated one of his kidneys to his wife. Could you do that?