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she sucked her teeth amiably. “It’s that fancy new glass and chrome clinic, and they’re adding a physio recovery unit, this mega swimming pool, gym and spa, etcetera. The works. Everybody goes there, or is trying to get in, and it ain’t cheap.”

      “Since when are you everybody?” He gave her a look as he speared a carrot strip and bit it in half. “And why in tarnation does a hospital need a pool and spa?”

      “Apparently that’s why it’s the ‘institute’ and not just a clinic or hospital. Apparently nobody wants to be confronted so openly with the fact that they’re diseased and mortal, which is what most hospitals are good at. They say,” she stressed, to show she wasn’t taken in despite being a patient herself, “they’re promoting a healthy lifestyle and mindset package, which is all the rage now. Getting away from the old-school practice of just patching people up and cutting them loose.

      “Anyway, the Fouries are far from starving, from what I’ve heard. Both parents are on the senior staff of the institute. They offered Adele Paulsen money for her ‘cooperation’ before, when it involved saving their son’s life, but ever since her daughter went missing she’s felt a distinct lack of support on their part.”

      She opened the envelope containing the documents on Jacqui’s case: copies of the official police report; statements from all the people questioned; newspaper clippings covering the event; hotline numbers to call for missing children sightings. She slid the second photograph in the pile towards him.

      “That’s the basket she put all her eggs in,” she said, tapping the image of a man in the snapshot. “Ashwin Venter, the boyfriend. Six years older, garage mechanic, bit of a bad boy with a record. Obviously Mommy didn’t approve. She told Jacqui to end the relationship; they fought, and Jacqui ended up sneaking around behind her back. When Adele found out her precious was still running around with a guy that much older, and that she’d started having sex with him, well you can imagine how it went down. Typical mother-daughter stuff.

      “But she swears, Adele now, that this guy had the perfect motive for murder. She suspects Jacqui was pregnant, from the way she was acting before she went missing, and that Ashwin found out and flipped. She heard them fighting a couple of times but couldn’t really pick out what it was about. One day Jacqui even came home with bruises, and wouldn’t talk about how she got them. She just told her mom that she hoped she was happy now, because she’d broken up with him. He obviously didn’t take it well. Came by their house a few times threatening things and causing a ruckus. They once had to call the neighbours to get him off their property.”

      Joshua eyed the photograph sceptically. Venter had a protective arm draped around his girl, the look on his face one of overplayed bravado. He was pale, freckled, moderately well built but not especially so, and not much taller than average. “I guess bad boys come in all flavours,” he muttered. “So he killed her because he found out she was having his baby? Doesn’t sound like your everyday male reaction.”

      “My thoughts exactly. But according to Adele this guy’s typical coloured trash – her words, not mine. In his teens he was part of a gang. Then his father died and he inherited the business, which he couldn’t manage, and it started losing money. On top of that he’s got two kids with other women. He’d been hauled into court for child maintenance and was seriously struggling to make ends meet. Basically he wouldn’t have been over the moon about baby number three. He probably saw Jacqui as a soft option. Naive young girl star-struck with a big-time player. The way Adele tells it, he begged her to get rid of the baby, she refused and then it went downhill fast.”

      “And she knows this how?”

      “She doesn’t know anything for certain. But he confessed that they’d argued and even fought physically before, and they had a huge bust-up on the day she disappeared. The cops had him down as the primary suspect, especially when it turned out he was the last person to see her alive and he didn’t have an alibi other than his sister. They brought him in for questioning a number of times, even held him in custody for two days without a formal charge, but with no evidence they eventually had to let him off the hook. No body, no crime.”

      Joshua looked puzzled. “So what, the cops hound one guy without much to go on, then suddenly the case goes cold? They didn’t have a body, but surely they had some evidence to build a case. People disappear all the time, but rarely without a trace. Girl leaves home –”

      “Girl leaves home on a Saturday morning, just after ten,” Vee took up the opener, rifling through her memory to recount the report. If there was one thing her brain was good at, it was spooling facts, although the flipside was blanking out when presented with overwhelming amounts of colourful display in malls and supermarket aisles.

      “She cleans her room and takes off for tennis practice at Newlands Sports Club with her friends, or so she tells her mom. That part of the story holds up.

      “From there the holes start appearing. Just before midday Adele called to find out where she was, got told they were on their way to lunch in Rondebosch. Like most teenagers, Jacqui was good at white lies, so her mother took to checking on her quite a lot, particularly on weekends. Didn’t do much good, because Jacqui could still give her the slip. She ditched her girlfriends and went to Ashwin’s garage in Athlone. According to him, it was just to talk about their relationship, but it blew up into a big argument. He wanted her back, and she wasn’t having it. He swore up and down that the subject of pregnancy never came up. The prospect of having another child, this time with his beloved, wouldn’t have scared him but made him the happiest man alive.

      “That’s when the trail goes cold,” Vee threw up her hands. “By around four in the afternoon Ashwin gave up the bended-knee act and Jacqui left. He swore he never laid a hand on her that day. Nobody admitted to seeing her again. Everybody who tried to call her, once they started to get really worried, said her cell was switched off. Wherever she ended up, I’m guessing that phone ended up there with her.”

      “Not necessarily,” Joshua countered. “She could’ve lost it, or it could’ve been stolen.”

      “True, possible. Anything’s possible at this stage,” Vee murmured absently, trailing off. “Sorry I forgot your birthday,” she added when she spoke again. She bridged the gap by covering his hand with hers. “Meant to send you a male stripper this year.”

      “Shucks, guess I missed out.” He squeezed her fingers. “Don’t worry about it. I wasn’t here anyway. New York.”

      “I’ll make it up to you.” Finally, she taxied onto the runway she’d been circling over since they ran into one another, turning on him eyes that were clear and untroubled, with the question: “So how’s your friend doing?”

      There was always a tightening of his jaw when she laid her hopes on the table. Much as she loathed to admit it, her ex-fiancé still had a hold over her.

      “Haven’t heard from him,” he replied, holding her gaze steady. “You know I wouldn’t hide it from you if I had. He hasn’t been much of a friend lately, has he?”

      Vee nodded, looking away. She sometimes forgot, when the anger and selfishness overwhelmed her, that she wasn’t the only person Titus had abandoned. Joshua had never openly threatened or railed against him, but she’d seen the hardening jaw and diamond glint of anger in his eyes and known. There was a Code Among Men, and only God knew how many of its rules Titus had broken.

      The notion that her ex was a treacherous disappointment had to remain uppermost in mind if she intended getting her priorities back in order. She couldn’t speculate on the when, but if a fully operational, centred state mattered, then a complete emotional exorcism was needed. Admittedly, for the past few months, excepting a sprinkle of bad days, Titus hadn’t crossed her mind as often and the anxiety symptoms seemed to be fading with his memory.

      For a brief moment she considered telling Joshua about the attacks, and then thought better of it. He had given more than enough, in ways she could never repay, not that he’d ever accept anything of the sort. All he’d ever asked was that she be honest with herself and aware that putting on a brave front would

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