Zoo City

'If you're here.' I toss the box into the communal dustbin. 'Working it, and all that.'

It's strange to phone Songweza's number and actually get through, although it takes her twelve rings before she answers. I feel a stab of guilt for neglecting her.

'Lo?' Her voice floats up like she's answering from Atlantis – a dreamily drowning voice that is so far removed from the smart-arse diva persona, I'm convinced I've dialled wrong. Which is impossible. I put her on speed-dial two.

'Song?'

'Yes?'

'It's Zinzi. The woman with the Sloth.'

'Oh. Oh yes. You weren't very nice to me.' A hint of petulance spikes through the depths.

'Is everything okay? With you, I mean.'

'I'm fine. Arno is cross that I came back. Yes, you, doos. But I had a talk with Odi, and he says as soon as this album drops and after the tour, we can talk about splitting up and going solo. He said it's like a good launch platform? For both of us.'

'Well, that's good, right? Are you going to play indie music?'

'Odi said celebrities are little gods. You have to feed the people what they want so they can worship you properly.'

'What about Jabu, Song?'

'Jabulani, Jabulani, he can kiss my breyani. I just made that up. Odi says he was cheating on me. Tried to hit on Carmen. Can you believe the nerve? He says he had a little word with him and that's why he took off. He says he didn't do it to hurt me. Odi, I mean. He has my best interests at fart.' She giggles.

'Are you back on your medication?'

'I wasn't on these pills before.'

'Do you know the name?'

'Misty-pisty-something-something.'

'Do you have a pen?'

'What for?'

'I want you to take down my number. I want you to call me if you're worried about anything, or if you run into any trouble.'

'So you can pull my hair out by the fucking roots again?'

'So I can try to help you.'

'It's cool, your number came up on my phone.'

'I'd like you to write it down.'

'I'd like you to kiss my breyani,' she screeches and lapses into manic giggles. 'Shut the fuck up, Arno.'

'Can I talk to your brother? Or Des?'

'Des is gone. Des was the bomb, but now he's gone. Here, talk to doos face.'

'Arno?' There is the scramble of the phone being handed over.

'I told you. Didn't I tell you?' Arno whines.

'She's on some pretty heavy medication. Where is Des? Is Mrs Luthuli there?'

'No, they went away for a coupla days. Back to the Valley of a Thousand Hills. For a funeral. Des's cousin hung himself,' he says matter of factly. 'He was twenty-two. It was probably Aids.'

'And S'bu?'

'He's writing songs in his room.'

'Can you do me a favour, Arno? Can you give me the name of the medication Song is taking?'

'Uh, sure, hang on, I'll just have to go upstairs.'

Song shouts in the background. 'Hey! Hey, prick for balls! That's my phone.'

'She's lost it completely,' Arno whispers into the phone. 'She's actually worse than before. And S'bu's just spacey. He's on meds too, now.'

'Get a pen. Take down my new number. I want you to phone me if anything weird happens.'

'Weird like how?'

'Like any kind of weird. Phone me first, okay? Not Odi. And then phone the cops.'

'You're freaking me out here.'

'I'm just worried about you guys with Mrs Luthuli not being there. Tell you what, I'll call in every day to check up on you. And I'm going to speak to a social worker, okay?'

'Okay.'

'You got the name of that medication for me?'

'Uh, hang on. Mi-da-zol-am. What is that?'

'Hang on, let me check.' I do a quick search on my laptop. 'Okay, it's cool, just a sleeping pill,' I say. With one hell of a kick. 'See if you can get her to lie down and actually sleep. And let me know if you run into any kind of weird. Anything at all.'

'Does Song being a freak count?'

'Not unless she's being especially freaky.'

The house has actually deteriorated since my last visit. It seems darker, dingier, and that smell of old people and vase-water has gotten worse. Carmen looks skinny and pale in a lime-green sixties-style handkerchief bikini. When she serves a tray of that disgusting tea, I notice that her fingernails are dirty, like she's been digging in the carrot patch all morning. Her Rabbit lies sprawled listlessly under her deckchair.

But the real shock is Huron. He is looking particularly odious in a faded Oppikoppi '99 t-shirt that rides up to reveal his hairy belly. There is an old scar that hugs the curve of where his hip would be if his stomach wasn't in the way. Or rather a series of scars, slightly curved like surgical staples. Or teeth marks. His cheeks have sunken to flaccid jowls and, most telling of all, there is a drip on a wheelie-stand hooked up next to his ironwork chair. Above his head, the black tumour of sawn-off tentacles is thicker and squirmier than ever.

'I don't know why you felt you needed to see me,' he says, antagonistic behind his oversized sunglasses.

'I actually wanted to see Songweza. Check that she's okay.'

'After you cocked up the job, you mean. Check that you're still getting your full payout. So nice of you to care.'

'Nice of you to pay me so well to do a job you were perfectly capable of doing on your own.'

'What can I tell you? I hire good people. They got there first. Don't worry, you'll still get your fee.'

'That's very generous. I take it it's more of a shut-yourface pay-off than anything I really earned.'

'Take it however you want,' he says and slurps his tea noisily.

I lean forward across the table. 'I'd ask if we could talk privately, but I think Carmen might want to hear this.'

'Carmen's a big girl,' he says.

'This is what I think. You've been sleeping with Song. And Carmen and anyone else within reach. Song ran away, maybe planning to blackmail you, maybe spill the story to the press, which would have been extra juicy considering you're also moving drugs through your club. It's a guess, but I figure the Marabou and the Maltese facilitate that. It's a kind of procurement, right? And you've got them doing a lot of international travel. Does that include drug smuggling? 'Cos I've sampled some of the wares coming through Counter Rev, and it was good shit, let me tell you. Wasn't that what got you into trouble with Bass Station?'

Huron opens his mouth to retaliate and I hold up a finger to silence him. 'I'm not finished. Song's rehab boyfriend Jabu was probably helping her, maybe even instigated the whole thing, but you scared him off, so she turned to Ronaldo, the bouncer, in desperation. You had him beaten up already. I reckon the Maltese and the Marabou went back for round two and this time they got Song's whereabouts out of him. Might have even killed him. But hey, what's a missing Moroccan bouncer in the grand scheme of things? And I reckon you'll do the same to anyone else who gets in the way.'

There is a long pause. Then Carmen says, 'Excuse me,' in a strangled voice. Her cheeks are bright pink. She picks up her Bunny and clip-clops into the house.