The next morning, Lola took a walk around the village checking out the four homes where dogs had disappeared. “Look for similarities and obvious differences,” Ronnie Ron had advised. That’s what Lola would try to pick out.

There was the Joubert’s house and Butchy Lesedi’s place. They were on the same street, Acacia Avenue, but about a kilometre from each other. Mr Washington lost his dog Sprinkles from his house three doors down from the stop sign next to Butchy’s place. That put most of the houses fairly near to each other. But then Rre Kagiso’s dog Bob was taken from his garden on the complete other side of town.

How were these houses connected? She couldn’t see any pattern at all.

“Hello Lola!”

Lola turned to find Mma Galebone with her dog Kitty. “Good morning Mma Galebone. You’re certainly far from home.”

“Oh Kitty and I do like our walks. Fresh air is the key to good health, Lola.”

But Mma Galebone had to be at least seventy. Lola wondered if it was healthy for her to walk so far. This was at least five kilometres from her house and she’d have to walk back still. “Will you manage getting home all right?”

“Oh don’t worry about us, Lola.” She tottered off down the road.

Just then a truck passed. It caught Lola’s eye because it had a sign on the side: ‘Research and Testing Lab, Henniesdorp’. It passed right in front of the Joubert’s house! What was that truck doing here? And driving slowly in the very neighbourhood where the bulk of the dogs had been taken. Was it true? Had she guessed right? Were these poor dogs being taken for testing human make-up and pharmaceuticals? She’d hate to have to tell their sad owners that.

Lola checked her watch. She SMSed Bonang to meet her at the office, so that she could hand over the dress and tell her the good news. She better rush or she’d be late.

When she climbed to the top of the stairs, Lola found Blossom Mmope waiting for her.

“I was just about to leave,” Blossom said. “You should really get a receptionist for when you’re gone.”

“Yes, that’s a good idea,” Lola said opening the office and offering Blossom a chair. All the while she was wondering what she was going to say to her.

“So? Have you found out anything?”

“Yes, but nothing conclusive. If you give me a day or two I ought to have all the answers you need.”

“Oh no! I knew it was bad news! That deadbeat!” The tears started and Lola opened the desk drawer for the tissues.

“No, please, don’t jump to any conclusions. I’ll let you know everything as soon as I have all of the information. I’m still investigating. Nothing has been confirmed,” Lola said.

“You know this coming Saturday is our tenth wedding anniversary. How can he do this to me on our tenth wedding anniversary? Only last night he came home grinning and I asked him what he was so happy about and he said he had a big secret and he would let me know on Saturday. What kind of a man tells his wife that he’s cheating on their tenth wedding anniversary? My father was right; I shouldn’t have married a pharmacist. They’re dodgy somehow. My father saw it. Oh why didn’t I listen to my dear father?”

Lola waited while Blossom finished crying. She could see Bonang hovering in the corridor. When the tears had mostly dried, Lola helped Blossom to the door. “As soon as I know something concrete I will call you.”

“You promise?” Blossom said.

“I promise.”

Bonang and Lola watched Blossom go down the stairs and out of the door at street level.

“Geez, I couldn’t stand dealing with all of that drama,” Bonang said.

Lola didn’t mention the recent wedding dress tears Bonang had brought to that very office.

“So, I spoke to Jomo.”

“And? What did he say?”

“He said that if we can find a tailor who can cut the dress to what you want but then after the wedding, put it back to exactly how it was, then he can agree.”

“But who could do that? At least half of it must go.”

“You’ve done fashion shows for most of the tailors in Nokeng, so you must know the very talented ones. I’m sure you’ll find someone.”

Bonang thought for a moment. “Yes, yes. OK. Let me ask around. I will find someone! I know I can. Thanks, Lola!”

Lola watched Bonang wheel the big suitcase out of her office and mentally ticked off that problem. Case concluded.

That evening Lola and Amo went straight to the nurse’s house and waited. They hid in the hedge near the side window.

“You know, what is amazing about black holes is that the gravity force is so huge that there could be whole universes inside of a single black hole. Even another black hole with another universe inside of there. It could go on and on like that forever. It boggles the mind,” Amo said.

“Yes, it does indeed.” Lola looked down the road to see if the car was coming.

“So it’s good that the wedding dress problem is solved. I’m sure Bonang will find a tailor,” Amo said.

“Yes…” Lola said, not really listening because she saw the car coming. “Quick! Down.”

They both ducked into the prickly hedge and waited. Lola could only see the bottom of the car door from where she crouched. White shoes and then brown shoes. The click of the lock. White shoes going in, then brown shoes and the sound of the door closing.

“They’re in!” Lola whispered.

Although the curtains for the sitting room were closed, Lola found a gap at the far side where she could get a good view of the entire room. She saw the nurse putting a CD in a player. Then she turned and smiled at Mr Mmope who was still wearing his lab coat. The nurse went to him and he took her in his arms and they started dancing. Lola was not up on ballroom dancing, but they seemed to be doing a quite good tango.

Lola turned to Amo, her face fallen. “I think it’s true. I think Mr Mmope is cheating on his wife.”

Amo looked through the space in the curtains. “They’re dancing.”

“I think dancing with another woman falls under the category of cheating. I’m really not looking forward to telling his wife.”

***

Tell us what you think: Is dancing with someone else cheating?