In the morning Karabo didn’t feel up to going to work. Both she and Marea spent the day at home taking an unofficial vacation. They cooked a big breakfast and slowly read the newspapers and tried to forget about the night before.
“I still can’t believe you slept with Mompati. You seriously want to get over DT, neh?”
Karabo thought about it. “Maybe. I don’t know. I don’t know why I did it. He can be quite persuasive.”
“Maybe that’s what caused his problem at his last job.” Marea reached for the jam and spread it on her toast.
“What do you mean?” Karabo asked.
“I mean that he got ‘let go’ in a very suspicious manner. My friend Lila works at Brink and Mabuto, the firm he was at, and she said something was maybe not right about him.”
Marea’s phone beeped and she bent her head, busy reading the text. “Like what?” Karabo asked.
Marea looked up, confused. “Ah … I don’t know really. Maybe you should talk to Lila. She doesn’t like the guy, so I thought maybe she had a thing for him and it wasn’t mutual or something.” She looked down at her phone again. “Karabo, I sort of need to go. Will you be OK here alone?”
“Of course. I’m staying in all day. I need to study; I’ve got an exam tonight in environmental law. It’s better you’re gone.”
“Maybe I should come back tonight. I can go with you to class, sleep over again.”
“Am I a child? I’ll be fine.”
Marea dashed to get ready. When she was about to leave Karabo said, “Send me Lila’s number OK? I want to see what I have got myself into.”
“OK,” Marea said, nearly running out of the door. “Call you later!”
Karabo decided it was better to just confront DT; she wanted to know the truth. She rang his number.
“Hey Karabo, I’m a bit busy.” She could hear the coldness in his voice.
“This won’t take long. Were you in my house last night?”
“In your house? Are you crazy? Why? Did someone leave their underwear behind? Maybe you should ask your ‘colleague’.”
“I mean it DT, I’m not joking around. Someone got into my house. They had our photo, stabbed a knife through it. Was it you? I don’t want all of this drama DT. I mean it.”
“What the hell? Did you call the police?”
“No! I was trying to protect you!”
“K, you need to call the police. This is serious now. The phone calls, and now this. I mean it.” He sounded legitimately concerned. Maybe she was wrong … or maybe he was just pretending. “Where are you? Let me come and see you.”
“I’m at home. But I don’t want to see you. I’m fine. Marea’s here.”
“OK, fine. You should stay there with Marea, phone the police. Tell them everything.”
“Should I tell them how angry you were yesterday?”
DT sighed. “Sure. I don’t care. Tell them. Why shouldn’t I be angry? I love you and you were kissing some other man. None of that matters. Call the police and stay at home.”
“OK boss. But I have an exam tonight at school. I’ll just drive there and back. No problem.”
“No. Call them. Tell them you’re sick. K, I don’t like this. Something is not right.”
Karabo wondered if it was to his advantage to have her scared and at home – away from Mompati. She could hear her ‘call waiting’ beeping. “I’ve got to go DT.”
“Promise me you’ll stay at home,” DT said.
“OK.” Karabo hung up and answered the waiting call. “Hello?”
“Hi Sexy,” Mompati said. “What’s up? They said you didn’t come in to work. Anything wrong?”
“No, I just took a day to study. Big exam tonight.” She wasn’t up to dragging him into her current drama.
“Do you want me to come over and help you study?”
“No! I have a feeling that when you say study you don’t mean study. I need to be serious today. Maybe we can see each other on the weekend.”
“I’d like that, Karabo. I had fun yesterday. I think I’m falling for you.”
Karabo felt nervous by how he was speaking; things were moving much faster than she was ready for. “OK, great. Call me on Saturday, we’ll make a plan,” she said light-heartedly, hoping he would pick up on her vibe.
She cleaned up the breakfast things and piled her law books and notes on the table in their place. Marea sent through Lila’s number, Karabo would call her later. Now she needed to get her head around the legal implications of oil spills.
When she looked up at the clock again it was already past four. Where had the time gone? She quickly tried to call Lila but it was engaged. She sent her a text:
Hi Lila, I’m a friend of Marea. We work
together with Mompati Rethabile.
I understand you had some problems
with him. Any chance you can give me a heads up?
She sent the text and ran to her room to get ready. She’d need to hurry to get to school in time.
***
Tell us: Are you in suspense, or do you think you know who the culprit is?