Facets of Death

by Michael Stanley

  As the detectives walked out of the conference room, Kubu asked Mabaku if he had time for a short meeting.

  Mabaku frowned but told Kubu to come to his office in fifteen minutes.

  Kubu decided there was time to catch up on the suitcase mystery with Neo. He stuck his head into Neo’s office and asked if he could chat for a few minutes. Neo waved him in.

  “I’ve only got a few minutes before I have to see the assistant superintendent. Have you found out anything about the suitcases?”

  Neo opened a file and pulled out a sheet of paper. “Both airlines said this was the first time they’d had an incident like this. A few suitcases here and there, yes, but nothing like this. I also asked about your second question. By the way, what were you doing up at three in the morning?”

  “I couldn’t sleep. My mind was going hell for leather.”

  “I didn’t understand what you wanted at first. It made no sense to be asking about suitcases that didn’t get on the planes, but I asked anyway. The two airlines said that the tag scans in Joburg indicated that a total of fifteen suitcases had missed their flights. But they didn’t do anything at the time because they were confident that the bags would show up sometime, either in Joburg or at their destinations. And that’s what happened. Nobody reported them missing.”

  “We’ve solved the puzzle, Mathew. All we need is one more piece of evidence.”

  Neo scratched his head, trying to understand what Kubu was alluding to. “I still don’t understand. Explain it to me.”

  “I will as soon as we’re certain. We need some more help from the two airlines though. They know you by now, so could you do that?”

  “I suppose so.”

  “Please ask them to contact the passengers whose bags the airlines thought had missed the flights in Joburg. Ask each passenger to check their baggage tags. If the tags are still on their suitcases, have them give the airline the baggage tag numbers.”

  Neo frowned. “I understand what you’re asking me to do, but I’ve no idea why.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll tell you later. Right now I have to go to my meeting with the assistant superintendent.”

  * * *

  Kubu knocked on Mabaku’s door and went in when he shouted for him to enter.

  “Sir …”

  “What is it, Bengu? I hope it’s important.”

  “Sir, I had two thoughts during the meeting, but I didn’t feel comfortable saying them in front of everyone.”

  “Why not?”

  “Sir, I’d like to tell you, but please don’t shout at me.”

  “Sit down!”

  “Sir, you raised the possibility that one of the other vans had the diamonds and that the security team in the van somehow managed to switch them.”

  Mabaku nodded, brow furrowed.

  “Sir, what if the diamonds never left the mine? What if they weren’t in the box when it left the packing plant? What if Tau and Tshane switched the diamonds for gravel before the boxes were taken outside to wait for the vans?”

  Mabaku thought for a few moments, then wrote something on a piece of paper. “True, but unlikely. They’d still have to get the diamonds through security. The second thought?”

  “Sir, when Director Gobey went through the list of people who knew of the backup plan, he left off one name.”

  Mabaku put down the paper he was holding but said nothing.

  “Sir, I don’t want to appear insubordinate, but Director Gobey also knew of the plan.”

  Mabaku stared at Kubu, who expected one of Mabaku’s famous explosions. But Mabaku didn’t say anything for what seemed to Kubu to be a very long time.

  He’s going to fire me, Kubu thought. Or shout at me. He’s just building up steam.

  Eventually Mabaku stood up. “For now, we have to keep this between ourselves, Detective Sergeant. Don’t you dare mention it to anyone else.” He waved at the door, and Kubu stood up and left.

  As he walked back to his office, Kubu realised he was shaking. He didn’t know whether Mabaku was pleased or furious.

  But I’m sure I’ll know in short order, he thought.

  Chapter 53

  At about the same time, the commissioner of police was having his day spoilt for the second time. The first time had been a disgruntled call from the chairman of Debswana, who’d made it clear that he was very dissatisfied by the outcome of what he referred to as “the so-called diamond recovery.” The second was a much more fractious call from Major Chamberlain.

  “Commissioner, this whole matter has been shockingly mishandled from beginning to end. I have no confidence whatsoever left in the Botswana CID. How come the South African police were in position to nab the robbers and your people didn’t even know it was happening? Then Director Gobey heads off to South Africa and returns to Debswana with great fanfare. And an empty box!”

  The commissioner parried. “It wasn’t empty. It’d been filled with gravel just like the other boxes.” Then he counter-attacked. “And that opens the possibility that the diamonds never even left your mine.”

  The major broke off his tirade for a moment. “I wasn’t told that. Is it the same type of gravel?” He didn’t wait for a reply. “I’ll ask one of our geologists in Gaborone to check it. Anyway, it changes nothing. Either the South African police stole the gems, or the robbers removed them from the box before they went over the border. The question is, what are you doing to find out?”

  “We’ve only just discovered the diamonds weren’t in the box,” the commissioner protested.

  “It was yesterday evening! Do you mean to say you’ve done nothing since then?”

  “I know Director Gobey’s on top of this. He’ll get to the bottom of it.”

  The major paused. “I wouldn’t put my money on Gobey, if I were you. Has it occurred to you that he had custody of the diamonds between Zeerust and Gaborone?”

  “Are you suggesting Director Gobey stole the diamonds? That’s outrageous!”

  “I’m suggesting it’s something I would check if I was commissioner of police. But you haven’t. And while we’re talking about Gobey, there’s something else you should know. He was on the committee that approved the backup plan, but he changed what we proposed. Our directors wanted a police escort as well as the security company transport. Gobey vetoed it. Said it was too expensive and that as a private company, we had no right to call on the police for our own security needs. At the time, I thought he was just hostile to us, but now it occurs to me that if we had had a police escort, the heist would never have succeeded. He opened the way for this whole mess! Maybe he had his own reasons for doing that.”

  “Major, you’re completely out of line here! You’re impugning a senior, respected officer with an impeccable record. Let us do our job, and you stick to yours.”

  “So you’ll ignore what I’ve told you? I’ll certainly raise this with our chairman.”

  “I didn’t say I’d ignore it. Now, I have a police force to run. Good day.”

  The commissioner hung up and sat fuming. Chamberlain was an officious pain in the neck, and the commissioner would like nothing better than to kick him out of Botswana. But the major’s wife was related in some way to the chairman of Debswana, and Debswana was too powerful to be treated that way.

  As he cooled down, he realised that the major did have a couple of valid points, even if he’d distorted them. He picked up the phone and asked his PA to reach the deputy commissioner.

  Chapter 54

  Kubu had hardly made himself comfortable back in his small office when Mabaku strode in. Kubu braced himself.

  Mabaku glanced around. “You settled in?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Come on, I want you with me when I interview Mma Kenosi. You can take notes. Keep your ears open.” He turned and headed out towards the parking lot. Kubu hastily grabbed his notebook and followed.
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br />   As they drove to the woman’s house, Mabaku looked worried. “This isn’t going to be easy. We have to explore with her whether her husband was in on the robbery. Obviously, she’s going to deny it.”

  Kubu nodded. “He had the transponder thing. And he was the one who called in the false coordinates. He used the code word alert the second time, but not the first.”

  Mabaku nodded. “Maybe the wife was in on it too, or maybe she noticed something suspicious. At least she may be able to throw some light on his state of mind.”

  Kubu felt very uncomfortable. The woman had only been told about her husband’s death a couple of days before, and now they were going to grill her about his activities. It seemed tasteless, even nasty.

  “He’s gone, but she has to go on living,” Kubu said, suddenly realising what that might be like.

  Mabaku glanced at him. He didn’t comment, but his slow nod told Kubu that this was something his boss had known for a long time.

  They pulled up outside a small house in a good but not expensive area of Gaborone. He sat in the car for a few moments examining the surroundings before he climbed out and motioned Kubu to join him.

  “Let me do the talking,” he said tersely and headed up the paved walkway to the house with Kubu tagging along behind him. Kubu thought how much he’d love to own a house like this one day, maybe with a small family. He looked at the sand that surrounded it and decided he’d have to plant a succulent garden. Nothing else would grow. But judging by how much of his salary his secondhand car was absorbing, he doubted whether home ownership was in his future.

  An elderly lady answered the door and introduced herself as Mma Kenosi’s mother. Mabaku explained the purpose of their visit. The woman was not impressed.

  “My daughter is not well. Can’t this wait at least another day?”

  Mabaku made it clear that it could not, and after a moment she shrugged and led them into the lounge.

  A woman dressed in black was sitting on a sofa with a half-full cup of tea next to her. Her eyes were red from crying, and she looked as though tears were still very close. Her mother explained who the men were, and the woman nodded and waved them to the armchairs opposite her.

  The mother glanced at her cup and picked it up. “I’ll make you fresh tea.” Turning to the detectives, she asked if they would like anything, her Motswana instinct for hospitality overcoming her annoyance at the intrusion. Mabaku thanked her but declined. Kubu would have liked a cup of tea, with perhaps a biscuit on the side, but didn’t say so.

  “Mma,” Mabaku began, “first we must tell you how sorry we are about your husband’s death. It must be very hard for you. I apologise that we must worry you now so soon, but we won’t rest until we bring his killers to justice. And for that we need your help.”

  Mma Kenosi nodded. “I’ll help you if I can.” Her voice sounded hoarse. From crying, Kubu thought.

  “Thank you. When was the last time you saw your husband?”

  “The day before yesterday. In the morning. We had breakfast, and he left early. He likes the early shifts. But he told me he might be later than usual because they were expecting a busy day.”

  “Did he say why it was particularly busy?”

  “No, just that they were expecting a full day.”

  Kubu made a note that they must check with the manager if there was any reason for Kenosi to think he would work late before the Jwaneng issue came up.

  “Did he tell you he might be very late?”

  She shook her head. “I got a message in the afternoon from his work. They were short of men and needed him to go out of Gaborone. They said he wouldn’t be home until around seven that evening, but I mustn’t worry.” She bit her lip. “I heard about the heist on the radio about six, I think, and right after that Rra Henkel phoned. He told me that my husband was on that mission to Jwaneng, but that he wasn’t one of the guards who died. He hoped he would be found alive very soon. That’s what he said. He hoped. But in my heart, I knew…”

  She didn’t sob, but tears squeezed out of her eyes and wet her cheeks. She brushed them away with irritation.

  At that point the mother bustled in and gave her daughter the new tea. She glared at the detectives. “Go outside for a few minutes and let her recover.” She headed to the front door and waited until Mabaku and Kubu had left.

  “Shouldn’t we come back some other time?” Kubu asked.

  Mabaku kicked the dirt. “She’ll be fine. Waste of time coming back.”

  Chapter 55

  It was nearly ten minutes before Mma Kenosi’s mother summoned them back.

  She glared at Mabaku. “Be quick!”

  The two policemen returned to the lounge and sat down.

  Mabaku cleared his throat. “Mma Kenosi, was there anything unusual about the way your husband behaved at breakfast the day of the heist? Did he seem worried or distracted?”

  She took a long time about her answer, looking at her hands rather than Mabaku. When she eventually responded, she didn’t look up. “You think he knew what was going to happen.”

  Mabaku said nothing and waited.

  “You think he was involved with the robbers!”

  “No, mma. We’re trying to establish what happened. We don’t think one thing or another. But we need to explore every possibility.”

  She cleared her throat and looked him in the eye. “No! You think he was involved, don’t you?”

  “Do you think he was involved, mma?”

  Kubu expected her to react strongly and vehemently deny it, but he was surprised. She took her time in answering, “No, I don’t.” Again Mabaku waited, and after a few moments, she added so quietly that they could hardly hear her, “But maybe he knew something. I don’t know…”

  “Why do you think that? Did he say anything?”

  She didn’t reply.

  “Mma Kenosi, these people murdered your husband,” Mabaku said sharply. “They shot him in cold blood in the chest three times. Are these the people you want to protect?”

  Kubu flinched.

  She started to cry and blew her nose a couple of times, but after a few moments she recovered enough to say, “I think it was something to do with that witch doctor. Why don’t you ask him?”

  “Witch doctor!” Kubu burst out. “What witch doctor?”

  Mabaku frowned but let the question stand.

  Mma Kenosi’s anger faded. “Someone he knew. I think he was a witch doctor.”

  Kubu was amazed. Another witch doctor? Or could it be the same one?

  The woman looked at the expression on Kubu’s face. “You didn’t know my husband. He was so ambitious, so keen to get ahead. He wanted to be successful, to be someone people looked up to.” She shook her head sadly. “He didn’t seem to realise that he already was. He had a family. We looked up to him. The kids adored him, and he was so good with them. That’s why he liked the early shifts, so he could be home early enough to kick a soccer ball around with them. I truly loved him.” For a few moments she choked up and couldn’t continue.

  “But it wasn’t enough for him. He wanted a bigger house, to become a manager and be paid more money, to be respected at work. Recently, he spent extra time there helping with scheduling. He even worked with the maintenance people the last two weeks. He said he needed to understand every aspect of the business. He worked so hard, but…” Again, her voice broke, and she sipped her tea.

  Kubu made a note. If Kenosi had been helping the maintenance staff and had access to the schedule, he could have arranged to disable the vehicle’s security system as well as make sure that particular vehicle was on standby when they called for additional vehicles for Jwaneng.

  “But he wasn’t a patient man,” Mma Kenosi continued. “A few months ago, he said he’d seen a man who could help him succeed. Make things go his way. He didn’t say it was a witch doctor, b
ut who else can do that? I said he must tell the priest, that things like that are nonsense and wrong. He said if it was nonsense I didn’t need to worry myself about it. I was angry, but he didn’t listen to me. And I know he saw that man again, although he didn’t tell me.

  “The night before the robbery, he said he needed to see someone urgently. I was sure it was the witch doctor again and said he shouldn’t go. But he ignored me. He said he wouldn’t be late. And he wasn’t. But when he came home, he looked shocked, like he’d seen a ghost. And he wouldn’t talk about it at all.” She paused for another sip of tea. “But the next morning he seemed to be okay. Just very quiet over breakfast as we got the kids ready for school.”

  “You never met this man you think was a witch doctor?”

  “Never.”

  “Do you know anything about him that might help us to trace him?”

  “Nothing. I have nothing to do with people like that.”

  Mabaku climbed to his feet. “Thank you, mma. You’ve been very helpful. I know it’s been hard for you to tell us these things, but it will help us.”

  “Find the ones who killed my husband, Assistant Superintendent. Just find them and hang them until they’re dead.” Then she closed her eyes, as if trying to shut them out of her mind.

  Chapter 56

  As they drove back to CID headquarters, Kubu and Mabaku discussed Kenosi’s mysterious contact.

  “Another witch doctor!” Kubu was incredulous. “Or could it be the same one who was at Jwaneng? How can anyone take these people seriously?”

  Mabaku glanced at him. “Be careful, Bengu. You’re letting your prejudice cloud your judgement. It’s not important what you or I think about witch doctors. What’s important is what Kenosi thought. Don’t forget the issue of your bomb at the airport.” He gave a wry smile. “The bomb squad was probably much more concerned with the fetish than they would have been about a bomb!”

  A car cut in front of him and he hooted, commenting that no one seemed able to drive properly in Gabs anymore.