Water Music Read Free Page B

voltage lethal, said the warning signs.
    You looking for something? The mans eyes were as cold and grudging as the sky. His righthand rested on his holstered gun with the familiarity of a husbands hand on his wifes thigh. The Jeep parked on the other side of the fence was camouflaged, though Clare should have seen it.
    Yes, I am, in fact. A child that was found down the valley this morning. Clare fished out her ID and handed it to him. Clare Hart. This road is public access.
    Im sorry. Joburg accent. But Mr Savic has securityissues.
    Did you see anyone last night?
    No, said the guard, not too quick, not too slow. Just the helicopter this morning. The cars. The dogs and you, Miss Hope, he said, handing back her ID.
    Hart, said Clare.
    Miss Hart, he said. Can I open for you? Drive you through?
    Thanks. Thatll save me time.
    And effort. The terrain is rough here. The guard unlocked the gate. There was a spiders webof scars at the back of his neck, the skin puckered and pink in places. He turned his collar up. After you.
    The track looped up towards the back of the castle. Two women were walking through the trees. With the forbidding turrets against the heavy sky, they looked medieval. Perhaps it was the long coats, the capes pulled up against the rain.
    A gate appeared, opening at the touch of a button.They drove along a road that had been freshly graded, alongside the electric fence.
    Theres your colleague, said the guard.
    Thanks, said Clare.
    Clare scrambled down the hill to where Mandla Njobe and Gypsy were waiting. She could feel the mans eyes on her, between her shoulder blades. It was a relief to hear the Jeeps engine start up.
    There was somebody here. Njobe squatted down. A chocolatewrapper glinted in a nearby bush. You got some gloves?
    Clare handed him a pair, her size, but he got them on. He picked up the cigarette butts and examined them Someone who sat here for a while. Two people, maybe. And not too long ago.
    Could be anyone, said Clare. Hikers, walkers.
    The view down to the bridle path was clear. They could see Ina Britz and the others moving purposefully round thecrime scene. Mandla Njobe stood up and flicked mud from his trousers.
    Hikers dont smoke ten Stuyvesants, Doc.

6
    The beggar weaving in front of Clare at the red light was wearing a cap. He held his handmade sign aloft No work. No Fingers. Plees help his stumps pointing to a rough drawing of a fishing net shearing off all eight fingers.
    Next time, said Clare, holding up her palms to show that she had no change. Sharp eyes in a ravaged face. Memorising her features, her meagre promise. Ill be watchingfor you, lady.
    Her phone beeped. Riedwaan. Her stomach knotted around her indecision and unexpected delight at the thought of cells splitting, folding themselves into life.
    She opened the message. Sorry 4 silence. Delayed. Will explain. My mother is bad. Back tonight. Will find U. xx R
    What would she say? Once shed told Riedwaan, the decision about this baby or not-baby would no longer behers alone.
    The lights turned green. The taxi behind her hooted and she lurched across the intersection.
    She turned into the parking lot outside the 28s offices, three converted shipping containers. In front of her, three expensive government cars. The bureaucrats wanting her report profiling crimes against children, against the women who cared for them. Wanting her to make her data tell a differentstory. One of success, rather than social failure. To her left, a couple of old cars: the few remaining journalists jalopies. The Community Consultation Forum. She should gather her wits, gather the sparse facts she had, and be there already.
    Yet Clare didnt move. Instead, she sat in the car and stared unseeing at the clouds writhing above Chapmans Peak, her phone in her hand.
    She had to talkto him. She had to tell him. She had to set the future in motion, but she was unable to do so.
    She knew what Riedwaan would want; shed seen him cradling Yasmin, his only daughter,