The Disappeared (28 page)

‘
Oraait
,’
Inspector Coetzee had said. ‘But make it snappy.’ Lindiwe could see that he was
not happy with her request. It took all of her charm. And a re-assurance that
it would help Duggan with his enquiries to gain his approval. And even then, he
granted it grudgingly. ‘Don’t let him trick you into anything,’ Coetzee had
added. ‘He’s not in jail for nothing.’

And so Lindi
and Duggan found themselves walking down the corridor that debouched into the
dark jail cells. Admittedly Lindiwe felt slightly fearful. Or was it
nervousness? Yes. She felt nervous. That was it. The last meeting had not gone
well and she was fearful of his violence. Or ... was she nervous for an
entirely different reason? Could it even be nervous ... excitement? Lindiwe
dismissed the thought. What possible reason could she have for feeling excited?
It was preposterous. The day’s events had messed with her mind, confusing her.
That was all. They rounded the corner. Her heart skipped a beat at the sight of
the prisoner seated against the wall. Preposterous?

‘Hey,’ Lindi
said stopping a good few metres from the iron bars. She was stone-faced.

Joshua stood
up and propped himself against the wall. He looked glad to see Lindiwe. ‘Hey.
You’re back.’

‘Don’t get too
excited,’ Lindi said curtly. She pointed at Duggan. ‘
He’s
here to see
you.’

Duggan stepped
forward. ‘Hey, what’s up, man?’ Lindiwe noted with amusement that Duggan’s
voice had dropped at least an octave. Was he also pushing his chest out or was
that her imagination? Duggan reached through the bars to greet Joshua. His
knuckles whitened visibly as he squeezed Joshua’s hand. Lindiwe guessed that
Duggan was at least four to six years older than the prisoner and yet, here in
this darkened room, it was
he
who looked like the boy.

‘How you
doing,’ Joshua said smiling politely at Duggan. He turned to Lindi. ‘So, you
wanna talk to me?’ Lindiwe turned away from him. It was
definitely
not
she who wanted to speak to him.

‘Uh, yeah,’
Duggan said awkwardly following the direction of Joshua’s stare. He looked at
Lindi in puzzlement then turned back to face the prisoner. ‘Lindi says you’re
uh ... from out of town?’

‘That’s right,’
Joshua said still looking pointedly at Lindiwe. His stare did not waver for one
moment.

‘Okay. And you
came from?’

‘Westville Reformatory,’
Joshua said without hesitation. Up to this point Lindiwe had been trying to
avoid eye contact. But now at Joshua’s words her head whipped up. Their eyes
met. There was a surge of pure naked chemistry. Lindiwe quickly averted her
eyes again, almost unable to break away from the intensity of his stare. Her
heart was beating in her throat. She swallowed hard with deliberate slowness.
She couldn’t dare to let him see the effect he had on her.

‘No,’ Duggan
said chuckling. He was carrying on blissfully unaware of what was happening
around him. ‘No, what I mean is, from which side did you enter town?’ Duggan
looked up, thinking. ‘Um, Westville ... lemme see, that would make it the
western bridge, right?’

‘I guess so.’
Joshua’s eyes were anchored on Lindiwe’s face. Duggan often joked with her.
Asking her if black chicks could blush. Right now it felt to Lindiwe like she
was blushing a deep Burgundy red.

‘Okay,’ Duggan
continued, ‘I need you to think carefully. Did you see anything strange on that
side of town? Anything at all?’

‘What do you
mean by strange?’ Joshua’s words were slow and deliberate. Out of the corner of
her eye, Lindiwe sensed him focusing on her. Finding all sorts of things to
look at on the dirty floor, Lindiwe tried her level best to appear as
nonchalant as possible. But damn! It was so difficult. Her breathing was
laboured and she was sure everyone in the room could hear her heartbeat.

‘Well, anything
out of the ordinary, I guess. You know, anything that just didn’t make sense,’
Duggan said. For the first time Joshua turned from Lindiwe and looked at
Duggan. Sensing that his eyes were off her, Lindiwe allowed herself to look up
and study his face. She couldn’t deny that he was
plenty
handsome. The
strong insistent line of his chin. The blonde stubble that shone and sparkled
in the sparse light whenever he moved his head. The striking green of his eyes.
Josh looked down frowning.

‘Like for
instance, did you see any cars? I mean, any cars at all?’ Joshua thought for a
moment then shook his head frowning. ‘I knew it.’ Duggan nodded to himself. ‘Tell
me something, when did you arrive? Was it last night?’ Joshua looked up
straight into Lindiwe’s eyes. Once again she quickly averted her eyes,
embarrassed that he had noticed her studying his features.

‘Yes,’ Joshua
said.

‘And you
noticed no cars on the R45 since you got here,’ Duggan asked referring to the
arterial road that intersected Bishop. Joshua looked down at the floor and
shook his head. ‘Okay, now tell me, did you see or notice anything else that
didn’t seem right? I know this is gonna sound strange but ... did you notice
anything strange about the wildlife. You know, birds ...’ Joshua’s head shot
up. ‘Aha! You saw something, right? Huh? Am I right?’

Joshua
appeared uncertain. ‘Uh, yeah, I think so. I don’t know, maybe ...’ He looked
at Duggan with suspicion. ‘What’s going on. What’s with all these questions?’

‘Just humour
me, dude.’ Duggan walked right up to the bars a look of excited expectation on
his face. ‘So? What did you see?’

‘Well,’ Josh
said casting a quick look at Lindiwe as if looking for encouragement. ‘When I
woke up this morning ...’

‘Yeah?’

‘I noticed
that ... erm ...’

‘No birds,
right?’

‘Duggan, give
him a chance to speak,’ Lindiwe said. Duggan shot her a quick look of annoyance.

‘Well, I’ve
been travelling on the road for a while. And ... you get used to certain
things. So when I woke up this morning, I noticed it like instantly.’

‘Yes?’

Joshua paused
taking a deep breath. ‘The insects were gone.’

‘Fuckit!’
Duggan nearly jumped. ‘Of course. I didn’t even think of that. Insects!’ He
looked triumphantly at Lindiwe. ‘That just confirms it.’

‘What the hell’s
going on,’ Joshua said looking from Duggan to Lindiwe and back again.

‘Tell me,’
Duggan said ignoring the question in his excitement. ‘Anything else? Did you
notice anything else that wasn’t quite right? Please dude, this is crucial.’

Joshua’s eyes
flittered across his memory as he cast his mind back to that morning. He nodded
slowly. ‘Yes.’ He looked into Duggan’s eyes. ‘The air. It just didn’t feel
right. It wasn’t really a smell. It just seemed ... dead.’

Lindiwe
stepped forward and grabbed the prison bars. ‘Yes. I noticed it too. Early this
morning. I noticed it too.’

‘Shit. That’s
awesome.’ Duggan was livid with excitement. ‘It’s starting to make sense.’
Duggan’s eyes rolled around in his head as he contemplated the implications. ‘Hell
yeah.’ He patted Joshua on the shoulder. ‘Thanks dude. Big time.’ Duggan turned
to Lindiwe. ‘Come, Lindi. Let’s go.’ He was halfway towards the exit when he
stopped. ‘One last thing, dude. You didn’t notice any military vehicles or
anything like that. You know, anything of a military nature.’

Joshua thought
for a moment then shook his head. ‘No.’

‘Cool.’ Lindiwe
could see Duggan’s mind ticking over at a furious pace. He looked at her with a
feverish glint in his eye. ‘Girlfriend, am I gonna blow your mind. Heehaa!’ He
waved at Joshua. ‘Okay, dude, see you around. Come Lindi. You gotta hear this.’
He turned to go but halted when he saw Lindiwe’s hesitation.

Seeing a gap,
Joshua spoke. ‘Please,’ he said gently placing a hand on Lindiwe’s arm. ‘Tell
me what’s going on.’ His voice softened. ‘I promise I’ll behave this time.’

Duggan looked
uncertainly at the two of them. ‘Lindi, come let’s go. There’s a lot we need to
discuss.’

‘Dug, just a
second.’ She shot Duggan a comforting smile. ‘I won’t be long. Wait for me
outside.’ When Duggan hesitated she continued. ‘I’m coming.’ Duggan lingered
for a few more seconds with obvious dismay on his face then whirled around in
hurt sulkiness and disappeared behind the corner.

 Josh
tightened his grip on her arm. ‘Listen. I’m really sorry about this morning.’
Lindiwe merely nodded while staring at a crack in the concrete floor. She wasn’t
going to let him get away with it
that
easily. ‘It was such a ... uh,
messed up thing to do,’ Josh continued sensing her intention. ‘I was an
arsehole. A complete idiot.’ Then softer. ‘I’m sorry.’

Lindiwe smiled
up at him. ‘It’s fine. You’re forgiven.’ She reached over and squeezed his arm.
‘Though next time it’s going to cost you a whole lot more than just an apology.’

Joshua beamed
relief. ‘There won’t be a next time. I promise.’ For a moment they smiled the
awkward friendliness of two strangers at each other. Then a darkness swept
Joshua’s features. ‘Tell me. What’re all these questions about? What’s going
on?’

Lindiwe sighed
dolefully. ‘We’re not sure yet. All we know is some people just ...
disappeared. Overnight. They’re just gone. Without a single trace. Just gone.
No bodies. No corpses.’ Lindiwe felt the heaviness of their situation sink into
her. She closed her eyes. ‘Just gone.’

‘Holy shit!’
Joshua stepped away from the prison bars. ‘You’re shitting me.’ He swept a hand
through his hair. ‘Holy shit. That is beyond insane.’ He looked at her with
sudden regret. ‘Oh shit. Sorry about the language. It’s just –’

‘Don’t worry
about it,’ Lindiwe said smiling gently. She felt oddly flattered that he would
be concerned about her reaction at a time like this. ‘If it weren’t for my
Catholic school upbringing, I would have been cursing like a sailor. Believe
me.’

Joshua smiled
with boyish sheepishness. Then he reached for the bars again with both hands. ‘Oh
hell! They don’t think I had something to do with this, do they?’

Lindiwe
struggled to contain her laughter. All mirth disappeared however when she saw
the hurt concern in his eyes. ‘No, of course not. Nobody does. That would be
crazy.’

They grinned
at each other. Moments passed. Then Lindiwe spoke. ‘I gotta go.’

Joshua nodded
in understanding dismayed nonetheless. He reached for her hand. ‘Tell me, are
you okay?’

‘Okay?’ Lindi
was confused.

Joshua spoke
carefully. ‘This morning. In front of the bottle store?’

Lindiwe felt
hot shame wash over her as she recalled the bright black moment when she had
first met the youth now behind bars. Normally she would have been irked at a
reminder like this. But the concern in his voice was genuine and touching. ‘I’m
fine, really. Thank you.’ She smiled through pursed lips. ‘I gotta go.’ She
turned and walked away.

‘Please take
care of yourself.’

The words made
her pause. And touched her. It wasn’t the casual greeting that so many people
used. The emphasis had been on the word
please
. She sensed that the
young stranger actually meant it. That somehow it was important to him that she
do
take care of herself. The sentiment pierced the deepest reaches of
her heart. She turned. ‘Are you hungry?’ she asked with a gentleness that even
surprised her.

‘A bit, yeah,
I guess. I don’t know.’ Lindiwe guessed that even if he hadn’t been hungry he
would have said so anyway. Just to ensure another meeting with her. She of
course didn’t  mind at all. Lindiwe nodded. ‘I’ll bring you something to eat. A
bit later.’

‘Excellent!’
Joshua’s open smile made her heart skip a beat. Yes. She wouldn’t mind at all. ‘That’ll
be great.’ He stuck his hand through the iron bars in greeting. ‘Oh, by the
way, my name is Joshua.’

‘Yes,’ she
said turning around and walking away without bothering to shake his hand. ‘I
know.’

There was the
slightest hint of a smile on her face.

Mr Jones had a
plan.

He looked
across the cubicle at Max Theron who was sitting morose and dark, staring into
his lap. He had his feet up on the leather-covered bench of their booth. He was
sitting with his back to the window. When Max noticed Mr Jones staring at him
he looked up. Jones smiled at Max. Oh yes he had a plan alright. But his plan
only had room for one person.

Mr Jones
surveyed the interior of the restaurant. Katya Vladislavic was whispering
something to the little brat girl. Behind the counter, Moira was engaged in a
conversation with that little mousey assistant to Friedrich Theron. The rest of
them were quiet. Cocooned in their little pathetic worlds of self-pity and
defeat. Jones smirked with distaste. They’re a bunch of hopeless losers, he thought
to himself. Of course the same assessment was not relevant to himself.
He
was not sitting here right now – alive and well – due to some glitch of fate.
Oh no. He was here because he was the fittest.
And
the strongest. He was
here because he was a born survivor. You didn’t get to be Peter Gibson Jones
simply because you were lucky. Or because you were the recipient of some idiot’s
charity. Oh no. It took guts and balls to be Gibson Jones.

There was a
story Gibson Jones liked to tell. Especially after a few Johnny Walkers. When
he told it, he would always make sure there were no women around. For this was
not a story for the faint-hearted. Oh no. It was a story of brutal courage and
an unbreakable will to survive.

Angola. 1975.
The year before a
coup d’etat
had toppled 400 years of Portuguese rule.
It was to have far-reaching consequences for the region, and especially South
Africa. The situation rapidly deteriorated. At the behest of several African
governments as well as the United States, the South African Defence Force (as
it was called back then) was asked to intervene. (Well, that was the official
story wasn’t it?)