'Good luck.'
'OK.' She heard the woman walk away. Moments later the door closed and then she knew she would be safe.
Melinda Geyser gulped down half a glass of water and kept it in the hand that was resting on the arm of the couch.
'We went to play for a wedding in Bethlehem in the Eastern Free State. After the reception we stayed over in the chalets at Lake Athlone. The place was empty. We made a fire outside and sat in the dark, drinking and chatting. Danny said he was going to sleep, he was tired and drunk and doped. By then we had been married for three years and things weren't going so well. But we stayed outside, the other three and myself. They were young, in their twenties, like me. The bass guitarist had a video camera, he'd got it the previous week. He was filming us. At first it was innocent fun, we were playing the fool, pretending we were famous and were being interviewed by the SABC. We kept on drinking. Too much. I think it happened because of the dynamics of our group - Danny was the leader, we were the four employees, the underlings. We started saying things to the video camera about Danny. We mimicked and mocked him. We knew if he got to see the video it would make him furious - he had a terrible temper, especially the morning after a night of drinking. But it was precisely that risk that made it such fun; he was right there, asleep, while we were taunting him on video, there was .. . proof of what we were doing, kind of forever, on video.'
'The guitarist kissed me first. He said he knew what would make Danny totally crazy. He came over and kissed me on the mouth. It wasn't a big leap from there. Not in the state we were in. I don't have to give you the detail. The video shows how they undressed me, with my help, how they each licked a nipple. It shows how two of them had sex with me, one from the front and the other behind. It shows how I enjoyed it. There is a close-up of my face and you can clearly see ... You can hear me too ...' She looked at Dekker, there was an energy in her. She said: 'I will always wonder how much the presence of the camera contributed to the experience.' She was quiet for a while and then her eyes dropped. 'I never regretted it. Until yesterday. Until I realised my sins could catch up with Josh. It would hurt him so much to know all that. He needs another kind of me.'
When she fell silent, Dekker asked: 'Was that on the DVD?'
She nodded.
'Barnard wanted to blackmail you.' He spoke with certainty.
'No. He was the one being blackmailed. When I passed the DVD back to him and said I knew what it was, he said he had to pay sixty thousand for it. He said it arrived a week ago by registered post, with a note saying:
'How did he manage that?'
'I asked him that too. He said this wasn't the first time he had had to protect one of his artist's interests. He had people who help with that, an agency. They followed the trail of the money transfers, until they found the man.'
'Was it the bass guitarist?'
'No. Danny Vlok.'
'Your ex?'
'You have to admit there is some kind of justice in it.'
'How did they make sure it was the only copy?'
'I don't know. I tried to phone Danny when I left here. Someone at his shop said he was in hospital. He was assaulted in his flat on Sunday night.'
Dekker digested this information. This thing was getting big. And complex. 'But why did Barnard tell you this, if it was sorted out?'
'I think the video aroused Adam.'
'So he blackmailed you?'
'No, he simply spotted an opportunity.'
'Oh?'
'He told me there was nothing to worry about. I was grateful. Then he smiled and put the DVD in the player. I could have walked out. But I wanted to see it again. One last time. We watched it together. When it was over he asked if he could kiss me. I said yes.'
She saw Dekker's expression and she said: 'I was very grateful to Adam. He was discreet. He went to a lot of trouble and expense. Seeing that video again ... yourself. Young ... so ... randy ...'
Dekker continued to frown.
'You must be wondering how a born-again woman could do something like that. You see, Mr Dekker, I don't believe in a condemning God. I think it was Bishop Tutu who said 'God has a soft spot for sinners. His standards are quite low.' He's not sitting up there with clenched fists ready to punish us. I believe he's a God of love. He knows we are what we are, just as he made us, with our weaknesses and all. He understands. He knows it brings us ultimately closer to him, knowing how weak we are. He just wants us to confess.'
Dekker was speechless. They sat there in silence, listening to the hiss of the gas lamp. For the first time she clasped her hands on her lap. 'You want to know why I told Josh. That's the thing I can't really explain. I walked out of here with the DVD in my handbag. I knew they knew, Willie, Wouter ...'
'Wouter?'
'The financial director. Wouter Steenkamp. His office is next to Adam's. I knew they would have heard me because I'm loud when it comes to sex. Adam had his ... talents. The sound of Natasha's voice when I passed her ... Maybe she was in the corridor when it was going on. She suspected something. But I was out of there and went and sat in my car. I had the DVD and I wanted to break it. I never knew how hard that is. It bends, but it doesn't easily break, just like the human spirit. I took a pair of tweezers out of my handbag and scratched it with that. That was the best I could do. I scratched it until I was sure it would never work again. I phoned Danny at his shop then drove home and threw the DVD in the rubbish bin. When I went into the house there on the couch was dear, sweet Josh who loves me so unconditionally. He put his arms around me like he always does, but all I could think of was that he would smell the sex on me. Josh must have felt the tension, he's a sensitive man, always wondering if he's good enough for me. It was his caring that caught me, that absolute, honest caring. At that moment I was faced with the difference between his image of me and who I really was. It was devastating, if you will excuse the theatrical language. I believed he had the right to know the truth, but the words wouldn't come out. Old habits, we protect ourselves to the bitter end. I would prefer to believe that I wanted to protect him, because as hard as it is to live with myself, Josh would find it impossible to recover from the whole truth.'
Chapter 22
When Vusi Ndabeni parked opposite Carlucci's the police helicopter was overhead, the wap-wap of its rotor blades deafening. He spotted Mbali Kaleni standing next to a patrol vehicle with a radio microphone in her hand, the wire looping through the open window. She had a map book of Cape Town open on the car's bonnet and her other hand keeping the pages open.
Vusi crossed the street to her and heard her saying loudly: 'This is the centre point, where I am standing. You must search from here. First, look at all the houses on this block. She wants to stay away from the street, so she must be in a back yard somewhere. Then you look at the parks, De Waal Park just down the road, there is also Leeuwenhof ... two, three, four blocks away, east. No, wait... west, can you see it?'
Vusi stopped beside her. She glanced at him, trying to hear what the helicopter pilot was saying.
'I can't hear you,' she said into the microphone.
'Where do you want us to go after we check the parks?'
'Search the area between this point and the city.'
'Roger.' The helicopter swung north towards De Waal Park. Kaleni stretched through the window to replace the microphone. She couldn't quite reach, she was too short and too wide. Vusi opened the door for her. She
