The Shudder Lingers Read online

  He interrupted her, “Inspector Jonas, what was he doing there?”

  Surprised by the reaction, she replied, “I don’t know. It dawned on me that it was strange, but I don’t have an answer. If you recall, we always thought that he was involved with Daniella and the smuggling…?”

  He paused, then said “Well given the threats she made, I think it is time Simon and I paid the inspector a visit. I’ll call you if anything comes up.”

  For the first time in several days, and knowing that Slade was close by, she managed to apply herself to the tasks at hand, and with no meetings scheduled, managed to get through most of the outstanding work.

  It was late afternoon before her mind again drifted to the fact that she had agreed to a wedding date in a little over a month. It was contrary to her nature, as she liked to be organised, but somehow it felt as if the timing was right. She remembered an old expression, Life is short, enjoy the journey and she allowed herself a smile and she saw images of herself walking down the aisle in a flowing white bridal gown.

  It took her a few seconds to realise that Emily was standing in front of her, “With that big smile, a penny for your thoughts. Never mind, no need to share. I’m off, see you tomorrow morning.”

  Stacey replied, “Enjoy the evening.”

  She attended to some further emails, and a few minutes later Daniella walked in, “Just to let you know, I care less for your little tirade of the other day. Just so that we are clear, you cannot fire me. If you try that little stunt again, I promise you it will be your last ever move, at WKJD or anywhere for that matter. In fact, try another stunt like that, and you will be fired as managing director. For your own good stay focused on the company and ensure that we have a viable business as far as the outside world is concerned.” Without waiting for a reply, she stormed out, and disappeared down the corridor. Staring after her, Stacey pondered on her comments, especially the part about a viable business as far as the outside world was concerned.

  Her thoughts were interrupted when Gerald called her, “Hi Stacey. Something very odd happened today. I mentioned to Simon that you were threatened by Daniella, and he acted rather peculiarly, to the point where he was fidgety. I then suggested that we go and see Inspector Jonas, and he then acted as if he was sick. I’m normally quite perceptive, but somehow I never picked anything up with him before. I just thought I would mention it to you, in case you may have been aware of anything strange with him.”

  She replied, “As you say, it is rather peculiar. I’ll think about it and call you if something comes to mind.”

  As she ended the call, Slade entered, “Ready when you are. I got Rosa to keep us a table at our favourite Italian restaurant.” She nodded approvingly and closed her laptop.

  As they strolled to the restaurant, he said, “Given that we are going to plan our wedding, and that it is so soon, I asked Kate and Lizzie to join us for dinner. I hope you don’t mind.”

  At first she was a little incensed, wanting to spend time with Slade, but then realised that his intentions were good, “That’s fine I suppose. With work absorbing my energy, I could do with a little help. I suppose I would also have wanted those two as my bridesmaids.”

  They soon arrived at the restaurant where Rosa greeted them warmly, “Where have you been? I thought you had given up on me.”

  Stacey gave her a warm hug, “Don’t worry Rosa, I will never give up on your fabulous food.”

  Rosa stepped back to stare at Stacey, “Good, I can see that you are serious, and not trying to pull my leg. Anyway, your friends are already seated. Slade, I hope you have been looking after her?”

  He smiled broadly, “Yes Mama Rosa, always.”

  She leaned up and cupped his face in her hands, “Good, let’s keep it that way.”

  They greeted Kate and Lizzie and sat down. Within minutes, the three ladies were engulfed in wedding plans, leaving Slade out of the conversation. He recalled some wisdom from one of his father’s friends, remember son, it is her wedding, you are just a guest. Keep it that way, and the wedding plans will be a lot simpler. He smiled, and dared interrupt only once, “Ladies, in addition to those glasses of wine, should I order us some dinner?”

  They paused only momentarily, and without flinching, Kate said, “Sure, whatever.” Slade called Rosa over and ordered a small variety of food that they could share between them.

  Slade then sat back in fascination as the three of them chatted and started planning the wedding, moving from one topic to another, faster than you could switch a television channel. He also noted that he was not consulted on a single topic, until Lizzie asked Stacey, “Are you going to invite Daniella?” Suddenly, it seemed opportune for him to be drawn into the conversation, as they all stared at him for some wise answer.

  This caught him off guard, and he fumbled over a reply, “Let me think about it.” This seemed to satisfy them, and again, they dived into endless details. They only stopped talking when the food arrived. While they were eating, he did manage to get in a few words, “I have only one request, let’s keep it relatively small, say sixty or so people. I’m not a fan of big weddings.”

  The only response he got was from Lizzie, “Well, let Stacey decide.”

  He raised his hands in surrender, “Of course Lizzie.”

  Rosa never failed to surprise with the quality of food that came out of her kitchen, one dish of delectable calamari, another with lemon-infused veal fillets and another of glazed honey chicken salad. Stacey smiled after dinner, and said to Kate and Lizzie, “Well seems like we have a good plan for the wedding, thanks for your support and ideas.” Slade ordered some Irish coffees, which rounded off the meal.

  On the drive home, Stacey asked, “I hope you don’t think that we should invite Daniella.”

  He replied, “Of course not.”

  She sat in silence for a few seconds, “Good. I don’t want her anywhere near my special day.” As they neared home, she said, "Slade, are we making the right decision about rushing the wedding, just because Daniella threatened me?"

  Reassuringly he stated, "I have never been more certain of anything. If we plan to spend the rest of our lives together, we may as well start soon."

  Once inside Slade turned on the kettle, and smiled at her, "We discussed the wedding plans in detail, but what about the honeymoon? Or would you prefer a surprise?" Knowing full well that she preferred to control matters, he chirped, "On second thoughts, I think it should be a surprise."

  She half scowled at him, "That's nasty, but oh all right, I'll let you be in charge of the honeymoon."

  Chapter Thirty

  The next week or so seemed to flash past in an instant, as everyone frantically focused on the rhino project. Elon Smith had scheduled a video conference to get a project update and given his high expectations, everyone on the project including Stacey was eager to please. The project team had returned over the weekend from Kruger, and the adrenalin rush of a project deadline had gripped them.

  She stuck her head in and found the team in animated discussion regarding a data visualisation aspect. Her entry brought immediate silence to the room, “Please continue” she encouraged. Soon they were back to the intense discussion. As she sat there she realised that she longed for the project work and would happily trade her managing director role, and all its complexities for being back at the coal face on projects. She focused on the debate observing how the project team had reached gridlock on a key point, and interjected, “Have you considered it from an end user point of view? If you were the user of the anti-poaching app, what would you want to see?”

  Alice, one of the juniors, said, “I see why you are the boss. That is so insightful.” She smiled as the team rapidly moved past the point where they had become stuck.

  She was interrupted a while later by Emily who called her, “Mr Smith called, he said he will call back in five minutes.”

  Once back in her office, she waited for him to call back, “Afternoon Stacey, I hope you are well. I
am looking forward to the project feedback at the end of the week.”

  She replied, “Thanks Elon. It certainly seems as if the team is well on track.”

  He continued, “What's more concerning though is what is happening at WKJD. We had an understanding regarding your business's involvement in shady dealings. My information tells me that you have had henchmen hanging around your offices. It also seems as if the smuggling rumours persist with WKJD somehow involved. What is going on?”

  Stacey felt herself shaking with anger, not at Elon for raising the issue, but at Daniella and her accomplices. She took a deep breath, and started, “Elon, I am going to be open with you and share with you what has happened here over the last year.” She shared everything about Wilson, Wang and the smuggling. She shared how Gerald’s work had mostly broken the back of the perlemoen smuggling syndicate. “As you probably know they even tried to kill Lizzie, by knocking her off the road—”

  Elon interrupted, “What did you just say? Why did they try to kill Lizzie? She has told me nothing of that, other than she had a terrible car accident. I guess, I now understand a little better what you must have gone through. How can I help?”

  She had not expected the response, “I'm not sure. I really don't want to drag you into this. After all you are a client and you are seeing Lizzie.”

  He replied, “If it means protecting Lizzie, and fighting corruption, I will support you. Thank you for sharing this with me. I will give it some thought and see how I can throw some weight behind you. I have a few favours to call in. Now might be the time.”

  She breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank you Elon.”

  He replied, “Pleasure Stacey. Keep well.”

  Stacey sat back in her chair and said softly, “Just when I thought everything was stacked against me. Good to know I might have some back-up. What concerns me, is who gave him the information about the henchmen hanging around our offices?”

  Her thoughts turned to Gerald and his comments about Simon, and she felt a hunch that somehow Simon's behaviour was linked to Daniella, but she had no idea how or why. Her thoughts turned to Elon, and she pondered how he might be able to support, without getting tangled into a minefield of complexity. She thought to herself, if only he can get Gerald more support.

  She was interrupted when a phone call came through from her father, “Congratulations Stacey, I hear you have set a date for the wedding. I just want to let you know that I won't miss it for the world.”

  She suddenly felt emotionally overwhelmed, “Thanks Dad. I hope you can come down a few days early, so that we can spend some quality time together before the big day.”

  He replied, “Sounds great. I will make a plan to do just that.”

  “Thanks Dad, I love you.”

  Feeling encouraged by the calls from Elon and her dad, she headed back to the project room. Emily had cleared most of her diary for the week, allowing her the luxury of spending dedicated time with the project team. She was soon allocated some tasks by Slade, and all else was forgotten for a few hours.

  Friday arrived, and the team was feeling apprehensive, ahead of the call with Elon. It was early morning in the United States and mid-afternoon in Cape Town. The video conference screen soon crackled to life, and Elon appeared, looking slightly sleepy. He held up a cup of coffee, “It's early, but I have some coffee and I'm ready to see how we have progressed.”

  Slade started, “Morning Elon. On behalf of the team, thank you again for the opportunity to work on this awesome project. I'm going to hand over to the project team to share our progress." Lucy was up first and provided a detailed review of how they were going to use drones to support the anti-poaching effort. Another team member showed the initial data visualisation efforts and how this might assist the game rangers situated in remote areas of the Kruger Park, before ending, "We think the big hurdle will be getting this information linked to either a satellite or GPS system, thereby giving the rangers access to information on the ground, even if there is no mobile signal.”

  When the presentation was over, Elon applauded, “Wow, I'm really impressed by your progress. Well done. It certainly looks like I have selected the best possible team.”

  Slade responded, “Thank you Elon, we appreciate the positive feedback.”

  Elon ended, “Well done again team, I look forward to our next catch-up in two weeks. I’ll be in Cape Town in person, so we can then schedule a more detailed feedback session. Enjoy the weekend everyone.”

  When the call ended, Stacey stood up and said, “Well done team, you made us proud. Late lunch is on me. I have a small bus waiting downstairs, ready to take us to Bloubergstrand.”

  One of them shouted “We’re in!” and within seconds they all jumped up and packed up laptops. It was a thirty-minute drive which was enough time for much cajoling and chatter. The team was in a great mood.

  Bloubergstrand lies a few kilometres north of Cape Town and has spectacular views across the bay of Table Mountain and Cape Town city centre. A view one can never get tired of, as it draws one to the allure of the city. Robben Island is also clearly visible a bit further out to sea. A table had been reserved at a small restaurant right on the water’s edge. They sat outside and enjoyed the view, while some drinks were served. Slade toasted, “Thanks team. To our progress and ultimate success. Well done.”

  Despite a cool breeze off the cold Atlantic Ocean, the warm sun and the ambience of the setting kept everyone in high spirits. Lunch was a combination of prawns, cape salmon and fresh salads. Stacey stepped back to take a photo of them enjoying lunch, with Table Mountain as backdrop. She paused and reflected on Daniella’s comment about focusing on the real business. She silently said, this is the real business, these are the real people. I vow to keep this going despite Daniella.

  Slade came and stood next to her, and slipped his arm around her waist, “If I can read your mind, then it would probably be thinking about what a great guy I am,” before laughing gently. “Only kidding. We are probably both thinking about what a great team this is.”

  She smiled, “Probably the latter, although a small element of the former.” She leant up and kissed him, “Thank you for being so special, and always being there for me.”

  He held her gaze, “I would not want it any other way.”

  They spent the rest of the afternoon soaking up the sunshine, entranced by the view and living the moment. Although they had planned to leave after lunch, there was unilateral agreement to stay and watch the sunset. Mother Nature did not disappoint, as soon the sky was lit up in multiple hues of pastel colours, which cast a warm and loving glow over Table Mountain and the surroundings. Definitely an afternoon to safely store in the memory banks of life.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  It was a little after six in the morning when there was a loud knock at the door of Stacey’s apartment. Slade was in the kitchen preparing coffee, and opened the door, finding Gerald standing there with a rather distraught look on his face, “Sorry to wake you so early, is Stacey here?”

  He did not have to answer, as she had come through to the lounge, wrapped in a thick gown. She said, “What is it Gerald?” He sat down on the sofa and started rubbing his temples without responding. Slade brought them each a cup of coffee and placed one in Gerald’s hands.

  They sat in silence for a few seconds, while Gerald gathered himself, “Apologies for coming here at this time of the morning. I didn’t know who else I could talk to. Stacey, after you mentioned the threats and Inspector Jonas appearing at your office, I mentioned it to Simon. I told you about how strangely he reacted. Well yesterday I tried again to get him to go with me to visit the inspector to see if we could rattle him a little. Strangely Simon started shaking and refused point blank to come along. In almost twenty years of working with him, I had never seen him so scared. I coerced him into joining me, but there was a deep-rooted reluctance. He then seemed to point at the walls in our offices and I realised that they were probably bugged. Playing along, I calle
d off the visit and suggested going for coffee. As we got into the car, Simon received a phone call, and all I heard on the call was a gunshot. Someone then gave Simon a message, and he started shaking violently. When the call ended he opened my car window and started vomiting.” Gerald then paused and started shaking himself, steadying himself on the sofa arm and trying to sip the rest of his coffee.

  She gently probed, “What happened? What is the meaning of the gunshot?”

  Gerald looked at them bleakly and said, “The bastards shot Simon’s son. He is dead!”

  Stacey had gone pale, “Why would they do that and what does this all mean?”

  With a trembling voice, he continued, “All that I could get out of Simon is that his son was hooked on drugs. It seems as if they could not get payment out of his son, so they killed him and are now expecting Simon to settle the debt. Although Simon did not say so, I suspect that the drug lords who killed his son are possibly related to the drug deliveries, and some deep hunch tells me Daniella is somehow involved.”

  Although Stacey was devastated by the news of the death, it had seemed to be a remote event, but suddenly it felt up close and personal. She felt a shudder run down her back and felt goose bumps all over her body. This was a lot closer to home than she would have liked. Slade had been sitting close to her and held her tightly. With a scratchy croak in her voice, she said, “I agree with your hunch. More than that, I have a deep conviction that Daniella is behind the murder.”

  Slade looked at Gerald and noticed the absolute helplessness in his demeanour. He asked, “What can we do to help Simon? Do you know the extent of the debt that his son had with these criminals?”

  Gerald shook his head and lifted his shoulders in surrender, “I don’t.”

  Stacey had been quietly mulling over the devastating news, “I don’t have any wise ideas, but perhaps this is something to run past Elon.”