We waited in the bushes until the Gulligan’s car disappeared down the road.

“I can’t believe it! How did they steal that baby out of the pram? They must be wizards. I’ve heard about those kinds of people,” Bonang said.

“We need to get to the police station and tell Sergeant Seabe. Every minute Mabel is not with little Lesego must be torture,” I said.

We ran back to the car and sped (as fast as ‘sped’ could mean with Bonang behind the wheel) to the police station. Even though it was nearly 7:00 p.m., Sergeant Seabe was still at his desk.

“Lola, what’s up?” he said, when he saw us.

“I know who took Baby Lesego. It’s the Gulligans! We saw them just now, getting in their car and driving off, with a baby wrapped in a blanket.”

“Really? Where were they going?”

“I don’t know. They didn’t have any suitcases so I don’t think they’re trying to flee with the baby.”

I said that and then thought, why not? Why would they stick around? They had to know in a small town like Nokeng people were going to wonder about a white couple with a black baby, especially when they realised the Gulligans were there when a baby was stolen at the clinic. It seemed crazy to stick around. Maybe they thought that they’d keep the baby hidden in their house? But then why did they go out with it tonight?

I didn’t really care about their crazy thinking, I was just happy the baby was found and would soon be reunited with her mother. And I would no longer be a suspect for kidnapping. I couldn’t believe how relieved I felt.

“So, can I give you a lift home?” Bonang said when we got to the parking lot.

“No, I think I’ll walk. It’s a nice night.”

I watched Bonang bump and grind out of the parking lot and thought about how it was a nice night, but that wasn’t the real reason why I wanted to walk. I thought I might take the long way home and pass by Gideon’s house. I suspected I had an apology to make.

I turned at the four-way stop and headed up the road leading to Gideon’s mother’s house. As I got nearer, I saw Gideon’s old navy Corolla out front, so I knew he was there. I wanted to surprise him.

I was four houses down when I saw someone coming out of the house. It was Gideon. He was smiling and laughing. He held the door open to let someone else out; that someone being a very tall, very beautiful woman. She had abnormally long blonde hair, falling past the centre of her back and freakishly long legs made worse by the tall, high-heeled shoes she wore. Did such women know what those shoes were doing to their feet?

I slipped into the darkness of an empty lot and watched Gideon, my Gideon, open the car door for this abnormally long, overly-haired being. She somehow managed to get the entire length of her legs inside the car and he closed the door. Gideon must have sensed someone watching him because he looked my way, but I hid behind a tree so he couldn’t see me. When I stepped back, they were gone.

I couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t even two days since we had our fight and it wasn’t as if anyone said they were breaking up with anyone. But now Gideon was out on a date with someone else.

Oh well. I can’t let that bother me, I thought. I’m a serious person, not someone pushed around by wild emotions. I was a licensed private detective. It wasn’t as if Gideon was my husband or something. And didn’t Bonang point out how unsupportive he was in my time of crisis? It was better I discover his indecisive, non-supportive ways now instead of later. It was better. Really, it was.

But as I walked home, I did feel very heart sore and I wouldn’t be exactly truthful if I said I didn’t cry a bit.

*****

The next morning I was woken up by a text from Gideon:

I miss you. I wish we could meet and talk.

Meet and talk? About what? About how his date went last night? Maybe he wanted to give me details on how he managed to give her a kiss goodnight when those long legs and extremely unhealthy shoes had her towering at least a head above him. No, Mr Gideon, we will not be meeting to talk.

Despite circumstances that might have put a damper on my new day, I went to my office above the ice cream shop, ready to jump into my next case. But then I got two calls that squashed my enthusiasm like milk packed on top of over-ripe tomatoes in your shopping bag.

The first one was from Jomo.

“Lola? Hi.”

“Hi Jomo. What’s wrong?”

“I know you have a lot of work on your desk (he didn’t know that) and you don’t need me to add to it (he was right on that one) but this KidStop of Amo’s is proving to be a problem.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“Today alone I had an entire preschool class caught on the climbing frame at their school. It looked like some sort of bizarre Christmas tree decorated with crying toddlers.”

“I thought Amo gave you an antidote.”

“Yes, but now I’m running all over, un-trapping kids instead of trying to earn a living.”

“So what can I do?”

“I have the names of the 347 people who bought KidStop. I just need their telephone numbers. I want to call them to tell them not to use the product and that we want to give them their money back. I hoped that maybe, you being a detective and all, you could find out their phone numbers for me.”

I sighed. I knew there was no way I was not going to be involved in solving this mess they got themselves into. “OK, I’ll do it – on one condition.”

“Sure, what’s that?”

“No more products from my sister Amo. She’s a kid and she needs to concentrate on her studies now.”

“OK, but Amo is not going to be very pleased about that.”

“I can live with it,” I said.

As soon as I hung up from talking to Jomo, the phone rang again.

“Lola, it’s Sergeant Seabe. I’ve got bad news.”

Though I didn’t want to hear it, I said, “What happened?”

“That baby you saw wrapped in the blankets, with Mrs Gulligan?”

“Yeah?”

“It was a dog. A tiny, hairless dog. Apparently it gets cold.”

“Oh. So we’re back to square one.”

“It seems that way, Lola. Sorry.”

***

Tell us what you think: Has Lola jumped to the wrong conclusion regarding Gideon? Who might the woman be?