Since going through the file was of not much help, they drove to the boy who found Gina dead on her floor. Samuel allowed her to knock on the door when it was answered a woman appeared, her hair was up in a messy bun and he eyes were red a hint that she was crying.
Slindile looked at Samuels who nodded for her to take the the lead on this one. “I’m detective Nxumalo and this is my partner detective Samuels.” She said as she flashed her badge and it was as dramatic as she thought it will be she thought as she forced the corners of her mouth not to break into a smile.
“We are here to talk to Benjamin.”
Benjamin’s mother looked behind her and back at them. “My boy is traumatised please go easy on him okay?”
They both nodded as they followed her in. Benjamin was wrapped in a blanket drinking coffee with eyes looking far away as if he was lost in his own mind.
“Ben?” His mother said softly “The detectives are here to talk to you is that okay?”
Benjamin nodded, but Slindile was not even sure that he had heard a single word.
“Hey Benjamin.” Slindile took the lead speaking as soft as she can as to not spook him. “Do you do gardening for Gina a lot?” It was best to start with the easy questions so as to not make him tense up and making him close up in the process.
“Yes.” His voice cracked a little as he spoke. “I take it you guys were close?”
“Yeah.” He said as if he was thinking far back “We would sometimes eat Christmas at her house, we had easter together. She was like my second grandma.” His eyes were now beginning to be teary and she knew that she had to get straight to the point before he broke down.
“Did you see something strange at her place?”
He shook his head and stopped a little and looked up. “The fan, she said something about the fan that it was broken. I found that weird since it was working perfectly fine the other day.”
Slindile looked at Samuels to see if he wanted to add something, he shook his head.
“Thank you very much Benjamin.”
Once they were out Samuels took put his phone “I don’t know what this is with a fan, but I’ll call an officer to bag it as evidence.” He said as he dialed the phone.