Chapter 11

Andrea’s apartment, Stellenbosch.

“Bring Angie too. I’ll need help with Andrea. She’s devastated,” I said into the phone.

“I had planned to bring Angie or Mai-Loan. Maybe I should bring both...” Ash responded.

“Location inbound to you.”

“Roger! Just got it. Hang tight. We’re on our way,” and he hung up.

I turned to the girl in my arms. “Sjuu, sweetie. I’m here,” I soothed. If this crap keeps on happening, Andrea’s bound to have a nervous breakdown.

I led her to the kitchen, found a kitchen stool and sat her down. “Don’t worry, pumpkin, I’m here for you, we’ll put this place right and find who was responsible for it.”

“Dusty, what did I ever do to those people?”

“Are you thinking it may be Quad Five?

“Who else? They were looking for the share certificates...”

“Bloody pigs! The share certificates were never here. They’re with Erich!”

Andrea was right. This is no normal break-in and theft. I handed her a strip of kitchen paper towel. At least that was still in the holder next to the stove. She wiped her eyes and then blew her nose.

“Your kettle still seems okay ... You want some tea or coffee?

“Coffee. Black. The milk in the fridge can be off. The coffee mugs are in the cupboard to your right and the coffee and sugar is next to the kettle.”

“I saw it. Thanks. Now just sit still and don’t move.”

“I need to go see what is missing,” Andrea countered.

“No! Don’t disturb anything until Ash and TC are here. Let’s wait for them,” I replied.

“Okay...” She said, and she looked down at her hands in her lap, feeling useless.

“Sorry, Princess, but let’s stick to the rules on crime-scene preservation.” I and took the kettle to fill with fresh water from the tap.

While the kettle boiled I placed the coffee mugs on the work space next to the kettle and took the glass jar of coffee. Douwe Egberts, dark roasted freeze-dried pure coffee. On a scale of one to five, one being mild and five being strong and dark, this jar of coffee was a five. Hmm ... the little rascal keeps good coffee. I must keep this girl; at least she likes her coffee like me.

“How do you want your coffee?” I asked, trying to steer her thoughts away from the carnage around us.

“Two teaspoons of coffee, three sugar...”

“As dark as the devil, as strong as hell, and as sweet as a kiss ... I like it like that as well.”

Giggle... “You’re just saying so!”

“Nope! Try me,” I said as I prepared the coffee.

“Dusty, of what I saw, most of my stuff is broken or destroyed ... I can never replace it.”

“Insurance?”

“I had no insurance. I could not afford it.”

“Did your dad not include it with his insurance?”

“I don’t know ... Besides the policy is now void. They died three months ago...”

“Then let’s cross that bridge when we get there...” I said and stopped short. Something on the floor tiles that caught my eye. I stepped over and looked at it. A ground out cigarette butt.

“You don’t smoke, do you Andrea?”

“No! Why?”

“Do any of your friends smoke?”

“No ... I don’t have that many friends, and besides Tina that tried vaping and dagga, no one else smokes.”

“Well, someone smoked in here not long ago. There’s a cigarette butt on the floor next to the fridge.”

“Let’s see...”

“No! Leave it for now. We need to handle it like a specimen. We can get DNA samples from it. So, let us not contaminate it.”

“Yeah, good call. I would have just picked it up and thrown it out...”

“Here, drink your coffee,” I offered and handed her a mug.

“Thanks, Dusty.”

I drew out a kitchen stool and sat down next to her. She leaned over and placed her head on my shoulder, her blond hair falling over my arm and back.

“Where in the world did you get those ridiculous glasses you wore to the board meeting?” I asked.

“It was Nadia’s idea. She had them in her box of tricks.”

“Box of tricks?”

“That’s what she calls it. She’s a master of disguises, according to Darya and Leah.”

“You made friends with the Angels, I see.”

“I thought I was a wild child, but they beat me hands down any day! Did you know Darya’s a sniper?”

“No!”

“Well, she was born and raised in Tajikistan until her parents were killed when she was sixteen. She was taken in by the local resistance and trained as a sniper.”

“Blast! Not that nice innocent girl!”

“She may look innocent to you, but be aware! She’s deadly. Mai-Loan told me she has over a hundred kills to her credit. Long range targets...”

“The Angels trust you?”

“It seems so, else they would not tell me their secrets.”

“As long as they don’t contemplate recruiting you!”

“I can’t do what they do, Dusty ... Today totally wrecked my nerves! And then to come here, and find this, this broken stuff,” Andrea sighed and looked around. “Although, if I can lay my hands on my dad’s three fifty-seven, and I found the assholes that did this, I can’t be held responsible for my actions!”

I chuckled. In one soliloquy she made two conflicting statements. She can never be like the Angels, yet she’ll kill the bastards responsible for trashing her apartment. Hearing her voice her thoughts, I again saw in my mind’s eye the flash of the hatred in her eyes when she looked at Ludwig Aldermann during the meeting. I better watch this girl, before she goes out and does something irresponsible.

“Maybe I should just borrow Nadia’s Desert Eagle for my next board meeting. It’s a forty-four calibre, you know?”

“Nadia’s got a forty-four Desert Eagle?! That small frame girl?!”

“A gold-plated one.”

“She showed it to you?”

“Yeah, even let me hold it ... and said that with the suppressor screwed on, there’s hardly any recoil.”

“Jeez!”

Giggle...

About fifty minutes later, as Andrea was slowly getting out of her depression about the trashing of her home, Ash knocked on the door. I opened it to find him accompanied by Angie, TC, Lorie, and Mai-Loan. Lorie, Mai-Loan, and Angie wrapped Andrea up in a group hug and started the soothing girl-talk as they worked their magic to calm her down.

They were hardly inside the apartment when Joe Franks arrived with six of his men. “I think you should all leave and wait outside. I need just Miss Louw in here,” Joe instructed. Andrea resisted, but he was firm, so the rest of us dragged ourselves away from her and went out to the red polished walkway. By now the hallway lights were on.

As I left last, I gave Andrea a hug and a kiss, and whispered, “Let Brigadier Franks check for clues. If you need me, I’ll be just a shout away.”

“Thanks, Dusty,” She murmured, and I pushed her to go with Joe, and stepped out.

Outside, Ash looked over at me from where he was leaning against the walkway wall, arms folded and eyes in his “I’m thinking” mode. Then he broke the silence. “Julies and Plaatjies went directly to their lair. They could have organised this house breaking,” He said.

“There was time enough for a few of their guys to hit Andrea’s place. They are pros when it comes to house break-ins. Besides shooting rival gangs, this is their trade,” I answered, taking up a similar stance next to him.

“Was the front door locked when you came here?”

“As far as I know it was locked. Andrea unlocked it with her keys.”

“The bathroom window, and the kitchen window are intact. No entry through there.”

“Then how did they enter?” I asked.

“We’ll have to wait for Joe to finish up inside,” Ash reasoned. “He will see the picture, but I have a hunch that they either had a skeleton key or lock-picks. Look around you. What do you see?”

“A walkway with six apartments.” I answered.

“Look at the windows facing the walkway. What strikes you as funny?”

“The apartment next to Andrea’s has no curtains in the windows. It’s empty!” I said, and I looked from an angle through the kitchen window. The cupboards that were visible were open as if someone did not close them after taking the stuff out.

“Come...” Ash instructed, and I followed him to the apartment of concern. We came to the front door and Ash placed his hand on the door, pushing it. It swung open.

“Now this is interesting! Look at the lock. It was forced open...”

“Now why in the world would someone break into this empty apartment...?” I asked, but Ash just walked into the apartment. As we suspected, it was empty, and the stale smell of unused apartment hit us.

Through the lounge area I saw that the balcony door was closed but not latched. Ash went ahead and opened the door, stepping out onto the balcony. I followed, and it struck me that there was only a low wall between Andrea’s apartment balcony, and this apartment’s balcony. Someone could just jump across without much effort!

“Hello, Ash, whatchya doing over there?” Joe asked from Andrea’s balcony.

“Well, it seems like this one is empty, and someone broke the front door lock.” Ash responded.

“Well, that solves the problem of entry into Miss Louw’s apartment. Her balcony door was broken open.”

“Now why go through all that trouble to break two doors?” I asked.

“To cover their presence. Okay now get out of there. It just became part of this crime scene!” Joe instructed.

We obeyed orders and left.

Brigadier Franks, and his team, were busy for over two hours inside Andrea’s apartment and the apartment next to hers. My legs were getting tired, so I sat down on the walkway floor. Lorie led Angie, Mai-Loan, and TC off in search of an open café.

Ash clucked his tongue and pulled out his cell phone. He dialled a number.

“Joe, what the hell are you doing inside there? It’s been two freaking hours, and I’m getting hungry!”

Mumble, mumble, mumble...” From the cell phone.

“Okay, but stop treating us like mushrooms. Dusty is Miss Louw’s attorney and needs to be kept informed!”

Mumble, mumble, mumble...” From the cell phone.

“Then just come tell us!”

Mumble, mumble, mumble...” From the cell phone.

“Fine!” And Ash disconnected. “Asshole!”

“I heard you!” Joe said as he came out the door of Andrea’s apartment, followed closely by Andrea.

I got up just in time as Andrea reached at me with both arms and grabbed hold of me, burying her face in my chest. I just encircled her with my arms and drew her close to me. She was not crying anymore. I think she had no more tears left, but her body trembled against me.

“My laptop’s gone...” She whispered.

“Sjuu ... buttercup. We’ll get you another one,” I soothed the girl.

“Okay,” Joe said. “They were not after any goods, as all her jewellery is still inside, strewn over the floor, but nothing taken. All the stuff like her TV is still there; only her laptop was taken.”

“Then they were looking for something else...” I said.

“Like what?” Joe responded.

“Like share certificates!”

“Blast! You are right. They were after the share certificates, thinking that the new CEO would keep them in her apartment!”

“News flash! Share certificates are issued electronically these days,” I clarified.

“That’s why they took the laptop!” Ash interjected.

“Okay, I’m done here,” Joe announced.

“Anything to point to the culprits?” I asked.

“No fingerprints, only Miss Louw’s. But two cigarette butts that could contain DNA.” Joe said.

I asked Andrea, “Miss Louw, would you do me two things, please?”

Looking up into my eyes she asked: “What, Dusty?”

“Schedule the interviews with Plaatjies and Julies for as soon as possible and appoint me as Director Human Resource Management. I think I have a few questions for them!”

Ash and Joe stared at me, stunned. Then Joe broke the reverie and exclaimed, “I would like to sit in on that interview, Mister Advocate De Lange SC!”

“You are welcome, as my Assistant Director HRM,” I chuckled. “But I think you are too well known to them.”

Mai-Loan, Angie, TC, and Lorie came up the stairs, each with a can of Coke in their hands and TC carrying a plastic shopping bag. Joe turned to Mai-Loan. “Yeah, you are right, Dusty, but I have just the girl for the job!”

“What job?” Mai-Loan asked, seeing Joe looking at her, then returned to drawing on the straw of her Coke.

“I have, or rather Dusty has, a job for you as his Assistant Director HRM with Quad Five Investments. You can do it as Chao-Xing, the Chinese girl, or as Amirah Rahal, the Iraqi girl, or just as Mai-Loan, the Vietnamese girl,” Joe chuckled, referring to her previous noms de guerre she engaged in while working for different law enforcement agencies, worldwide.

“What’s the pay like?” Mai-Loan countered, keeping a straight face and sucking on the straw of her Coke, but I could see little light flashes in her dark eyes.

“An astronomical zero...” Andrea remarked. “I don’t even get paid as CEO!”

“That’s your side of the story, girlfriend! You own the shares that’s paying you some dividends! What about me?” Mai-Loan shot back.

“Well ... I ... I don’t know the financial state of the company ... yet,” Andrea stammered.

“No, problem. Just give me half of Aldermann’s shares!”

“Okay, deal!”

“Oh, sweetie, I’m just pulling your leg! I’ll do it!” Mai-Loan chuckled. “I’ll even wear my black abaya, shoulder-to-toe dress, and cover my hair and face with my hijab scarf. And as Amirah Rahal, I’ll greet Plaatjies and Julies in Arabic and call their bluff! I don’t think they are really Muslim, like they pretend to be.”

“Oh, brother!” Joe exclaimed. “Save a nation with such a girl!”

“Well, you have to admit, Mai-Loan has some negotiating skills!” Ash commented. Just look at how she cornered Andrea in getting shares in the company!”

“Makes her a good assistant for me,” I chuckled.

“You really have three names?” Andrea asked Mai-Loan.

“And citizenship of all three of those nations ... Passports and all. I still need to dream up a name for my application for my South African citizenship...”

“How about Gertruida Johanna Magrietha Botha, a typical South African, Afrikaner name?” I asked. “We can call you, Grietjie, or Truija, or even Trudy.”

“Now don’t go and spoil out friendship!” she admonished.

We burst out laughing, including Andrea. The tension of the evening was broken.

Lorie and TC started to hand out cool drinks and pre-packed cheese and tomato sandwiches. Everyone gathered around the two.

Joe Franks left the scrum and sidled up to me, munching on a sandwich.

“I am about ninety percent sure this was a Funky Boys hit,” He said. “If you are going to force the gang’s hand, there will be hell to pay. Just look at your garage and that heap of melted scrap metal you called a truck.”

“I’m going to play it by the book; interview them as if we consider them to retain their directorships, but drop a question or two about their security arrangements.”

“How is knowing their security arrangements going to help?”

“Easy. Remember I am skilled in cross-examination of witnesses.”

“Yeah, leave it to a lawyer to talk them into a corner.”

“What will you be doing if they suddenly start to threaten you? Putting the squeeze on you?”

“I’ll be squeezing back. Just harder!”

“Dusty, these Funky Boys ain’t to mess with. They all carry and are not afraid to use it.”

“Neither am I...”

“What do you mean, Dusty?”

“You’re the cop. I’ll not incriminate myself by telling you what I plan.”

“Fair enough. Just keep it legit.”

“Act 51 of 1977. South African Criminal Procedure Act, as amended, Section 42, read together with the list of First schedule Offences...”