The Shudder Lingers Read online

  Surprisingly nobody came to see what the commotion was all about. She realised then that it was getting dark, and everyone else had left the office. She pushed herself off the floor, when Slade walked in, “Are you all right? I tried calling.” She nodded weakly and gave an unconvincing smile. As he helped her up, he said firmly, “Let me drive you home. We are meeting at your apartment with Gerald and Gavin to strategize around the court appearance tomorrow.”

  Before they left for home, she called Uncle William and updated him on the events of the last few days and the pending court hearing the following day. He replied, “I know about tomorrow. When I saw the media headlines I called Clyde and between us we have mobilised the best lawyer we could find. We will be flying down tomorrow morning and we will be in court to support you. Enough is enough!”

  All she could muster was, “Thank you.” She momentarily felt some guilt, as she realised that, given her almost non-existent relationship with her dad, she had called uncle William. She and her dad had drifted apart after her mother had died.

  They arrived at the apartment at the same time as Gavin, who was carrying a couple of pizzas and a bottle of wine. Gerald arrived shortly thereafter with Simon, his investigator partner. As they made themselves comfortable around the dining room table, Gerald started, “Tomorrow’s court appearance will be unusual, but interesting. Let’s run over everything we know so far, and painful as it may be, we need to go over all the details of what happened in the Karoo.” The anguish on Stacey’s face was visible to them all.

  They mulled over the details for some thirty minutes, when Gavin asked, “What about the video? Why don’t we tell the court we had a video that was wiped clean by Inspector Jonas?”

  Gerald replied briskly, “That could just cast doubt on your case early on. Timing would be important here.”

  Stacey jumped up, and slapped her leg in excitement, “I have an idea on how we can use the video!” She paced the apartment for a minute, with everyone waiting in anticipation, before returning to the table to outline her idea. At first they were all silent, and then they all looked at each other, and burst into smiles, slapping each other on the back.

  Slade was the first to respond, “My genius fiancée, I absolutely love it.”

  Gerald had topped up all their glasses, and raised his, “A toast to kicking some butt in court tomorrow!” The morbid discussion from earlier made way for a torrent of excited chatter, and for the first time in days, Stacey was able to relax and laugh.

  After everyone had left, Slade and Stacey stretched out on the sofa, hugging and enjoying the quietness. Slade interrupted the silence, “Well Miss Saranga, we need to start thinking about setting a wedding date for next year. Any thoughts?” All he got was the gentle sound of her sleeping. He hugged her again and kissed her softly on the forehead.

  Chapter Five

  Nervous anticipation had Stacey up early, as she had tossed and turned for most of the night. She went out early for a run, and although running at normal pace, everything seemed to pass in slow motion, almost as if life itself was giving her more time. Her world was brought to a crashing halt when she saw a street vendor replacing the poster for the local newspaper. An old school photograph of herself stared back, with the caption, “D-Day in local murder case.” She ran up and tore out the poster, crumpling it and throwing it into a trash can. The street vendor stared in disbelief, and in a strong Cape Coloured accent, said, “Nay my lady, what is your problem? I’m just doing my job.” She took no notice and sprinted home, feeling the adrenalin rushing through her body. Any possible self-doubt dissipated in that moment and she said aloud as she entered her apartment, “Daniella, you picked the wrong person for a fight. I am as ready as ever to take you on!”

  As the hot water poured over her in the shower, she prepared herself for the plan which they had devised the night before.

  Slade collected her, and they headed for the local regional magistrates’ court, where a number of journalists had already gathered. As she got out of the car, the journalists swamped her and shoved microphones into her face, all shouting questions at the same time. She felt a steady hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Uncle William standing next to her. He took a threatening step towards the rowdy mob in front of them and waved them away. Slade took up the other side and they entered the court, where they were soon joined by Clyde, who came over and gave her a hug. Stacey’s focus was drawn to the back of the room where she saw Daniella sitting quietly behind rather big sunglasses, doing an awful job of trying not to be noticed.

  Uncle William ushered Stacey over to a slender man, probably in his mid-fifties, elegantly dressed in a black suit with a bright red tie, “This is Max Snell, your lawyer.”

  Stacey shook his hand and smiled politely, “Morning Mr Snell.” He greeted her politely, but she was frantically looking around, seeking out Gavin. He was staring at her with a huge grin on his face, tightly hugging a laptop. She felt some relief.

  She turned again to face Max Snell and beckoned him to follow her. She found a quiet corner, and said, “We have a plan, Sir. Once the state has laid the charges, and before you respond, we want to screen a video.”

  Max looked surprised, and immediately responded, “That is a most unusual request, and I don’t think we can do that.”

  She smiled politely, “We have no choice.”

  Max studied her and saw the tenacious look that he had seldom come across in a client being charged for murder. He nodded in agreement, “OK, let’s try it.”

  At this juncture, Inspector Jonas came rushing in, with at least five other police officers and what appeared to be two state lawyers. He looked straight at Stacey and started laughing at her. She stared back, pretending to be intimidated, which seemed to bring an even broader smile from him. She gloated, a fire of determination burning inside of her.

  The magistrate walked in and everyone sat down. Silence descended onto the courtroom. He glanced around the room, and looked at the lawyers sitting next to Inspector Jonas, “Is the prosecution ready?”

  The slightly overweight lawyer nodded, and slowly rose to his feet, “Yes, your honour, we represent the state, and hereby file for the immediate arrest of Stacey Saranga and Gavin Spectre in the double murder of Wilson Spectre and Wang Lee. We also demand that no bail be granted.”

  The magistrate nodded, while making a note. He turned to Max Snell, and said, “Is the defence ready to respond?”

  Max Snell shuffled a few papers in front of him, and rose slowly, “Yes, your honour, we are ready to respond. However, we have a rather unusual request first, in that we seek permission to show the court a video.”

  Before the magistrate or the prosecution could react, Inspector Jonas jumped up shouting, “Objection!”

  The magistrate looked down over the glasses on the end of his nose and said sternly to the state lawyer, “Please control those on your team.” With that he turned to Max, and replied, “A most unusual request, but for some reason, I feel that I should grant it.” He motioned for them to go ahead.

  Gavin wasted no time in opening the laptop and connecting it to a small projector. He asked to have the lights dimmed. At this point Stacey stood up, lifting her head, and confidently stated, in a loud voice, “Sir, I will keep this short. We are not guilty. We had provided the police and inspector Jonas here with a video that was evidence of what actually happened in the Karoo. When we were taken in for questioning, the video suddenly disappeared off the memory stick.” At that moment, Gavin had started the video and it was playing against a large whitewashed wall.

  The edited recording was approximately fifteen minutes long and showed in detail the confession by Wang to the killing of James, and the open confession to some of the inner workings of the perlemoen smuggling. It showed clearly how Stacey was tied up, how Wilson was lying limp after being shot and the snake bite from the cape cobra that killed Wang. By the time it ended, the opposing lawyer had packed up his bag and Inspector Jonas had long s
ince left the courtroom. Stacey turned to look at Daniella and caught her as she dabbed a tear away from under her large sunglasses.

  She turned back to the magistrate as he banged his gavel, “The application is hereby thrown out. Case dismissed.”

  What should have been a moment of jubilation for Stacey was suddenly punctuated by a shudder running down her back. She swivelled around, only to see a young Chinese guy disappearing out of the room and knew instantly that it was the same young man she had seen several times before, the same one who she had suspected was stalking her when they had been out in public. Her attention was immediately drawn back to everyone surrounding her, as they were cheering and celebrating the quick, decisive victory. On a sudden whim, she slipped away and charged out of the courtroom, hoping to find the Chinese man. The lobby outside was crowded but she pushed her way through. However, he was nowhere to be seen in the building. Adrenalin was pumping through her veins as she rushed into the daylight and stopped dead in her tracks. The young man was getting into a vehicle that she seemed to recognise. She suspected that it might have been Wang’s vehicle, but quickly discarded the random idea. The vehicle sped off, leaving Stacey staring after it.

  Slade appeared, and asked worriedly, “Is everything OK?” She simply nodded.

  Daniella approached them, walking briskly, her large sunglasses still covering her face, and deliberately brushed close enough to force Stacey to take a step back. No words were exchanged, but the intention spoke volumes.

  Uncle William walked up and declared, “I think a celebration lunch is called for. I’m paying.”

  Stacey replied smartly, “Offer accepted.”

  They all headed off to a small bistro, situated the leafy Cape Town suburb of Claremont. Lunch was a protracted affair, with Uncle William in top form, keeping up the mirth, which created a much-needed break from the murder enquiry, and all that had preceded it.

  Chapter Six

  Stacey arrived back at her apartment, feeling slightly light headed from a glass or two of wine at lunch. She glanced around her apartment which was in a state of disarray. She hadn’t yet unpacked her bag from the trip to the Karoo. She opened it and threw the dirty washing into the laundry. As the clothes landed in the basket, she heard a slight metallic sound. She rummaged through the clothing and pulled out a mobile phone. She stared at it, then realised that it was Wang’s phone, which she had picked up in the Karoo after his death. As the battery was dead, she plugged it in. While it was recharging, she switched it on and confidently punched in the number she had seen Wang enter on the trip out to the Karoo, only to receive an error message. Wiping away a bead of perspiration, she attempted the code again, which thankfully was accepted.

  She sat down and worked her way through the details on the phone. There were only a handful of contacts, including her own, that of Daniella and also Wilson. She scrolled downwards, and excitedly noticed Larney’s name, the perlemoen smuggler who they had seen on the West Coast. She was then drawn to the name Cheung Lee, and a flicker of excitement gnawed at her, as she realised that it was the same surname as Wang Lee. She contemplated dialling but stopped when she saw that it was a foreign number.

  She opened the gallery and browsed through handful of photos, most of which were of Wang himself. She found one which was taken at the Spectre home during one of the lunches there. Scrolling slightly down, she came across several photos of Daniella, clearly taken without her knowledge and then one of Lizzie and herself. As she scrolled to the last photo, she closed the folder, but suddenly her heart raced again. Fingers rushed to go back to the photo album; the last photo was older and grainier. She enlarged it and realised that it was Wang and what appeared to be the same young Chinese man she had seen in the courtroom and on several fleeting occasions before that. She instantly knew that there was a connection and said aloud, “Oh my word, this is probably Wang’s son, but why has he been so secretive all along? Why has he been following me?” Her mind could not land on any obvious answers. She again tussled with the idea of calling Cheung Lee but decided against it.

  While her thoughts remained on the young man, she scrolled through the emails. Several were in Chinese and those in English were mostly rather cryptic. Her mind was still digesting the photo of the young man, and she soon lost interest in the rest of the emails. She made a mental note to contact Gerald in the morning and give him the phone.

  She left the mobile phone on charge and completed the tidying up of her apartment. With a sense of accomplishment, she looked around and was satisfied that normality had been restored. She wished the same was true of all the events surrounding her life. She headed to bed and dozed off within minutes.

  Stacey was jolted out of her deep sleep to feel the eerie shudder running down her back. She listened for any sound, but everything was quiet. She switched on the bedside light and looked around. Everything seemed normal. Glancing at her mobile phone, she suddenly froze again. The time stared back at her, it was 3.23 a.m., the same time that she’d been woken on several prior occasions. She quickly recalled that the last attempted phone call from Kirsten Spectre had been at the same time. As she grappled with her thoughts, she made her way to the kitchen to make a cup of coffee.

  Reaching up to fetch a cup from the shelf, she felt a strange tingling sensation all over her body, even the small hairs on her arm stood upright. She turned slowly and looked around, and then froze as she saw that one of the dining-room chairs had been placed on top of the dining-room table. It had most certainly not been there before she went to sleep, and was not something she would do. She instinctively reached for the drawers and pulled out a large knife. She slowly tiptoed to the light switches and flipped all the lights on. There was nobody in the apartment. She checked all the doors, but they were securely locked.

  She gingerly put down the knife, only then seeing that she was shaking. She held onto the edge of the kitchen counter. The eeriness of the chair on the table had completely rattled her and she had never felt so scared in all her life. She cautiously approached the table and replaced the chair beside it. She made a double strength cup of coffee, and headed back to her room, locking the bedroom door behind her. She thought of calling Slade, but it felt silly calling him at this hour. She lay on her bed, too scared to fall asleep, and thankful when eventually the first city sounds filtered up and first light crept through the curtains.

  She had made up her mind during the night that she would ask Slade to move in. She now needed protection and any bravado she had shown in the face of Daniella had all but melted away. Yes, she was brave, but realised that she desperately needed strong support and physical protection.

  After a lengthy shower she had some breakfast and decided to leave early for work to catch up some of the significant backlog she now had. Before leaving she messaged Gerald to come and collect Wang’s mobile phone. As she was leaving her apartment, she glanced at the dining-room table again, unable to comprehend how the chair had got on top of the table the night before. She immediately felt the goose bumps start to creep over her body, and rapidly shut the door.

  Chapter Seven

  Stacey arrived at work, and found Gerald waiting outside her office building. He greeted her warmly, “Morning Stacey. I trust you are well after the court hearing yesterday?”

  She smiled, “Yes, somewhat relieved, thanks Gerald.” She handed him Wang’s phone and gave him the password, “Hopefully you can find something useful on this.”

  He nodded, pocketing the phone as he walked off, “Keep well. We’ll chat soon.” She half waved after him.

  As she made her way to her desk, she heard a text message come through on her mobile phone. She opened a message from Clyde, “We have planned a WKJD shareholders meeting for next Saturday morning, to resolve the shareholding and related matters, following the death of Wilson and Wang.” She apprehensively contemplated the meeting and reflected on how she had obtained the shares in WKJD as settlement for the sale of her drone App to them. WKJD had been f
ormed by Wilson and Kirsten Spectre, in partnership with James and Daniella Arundel. Given all the events of late, and with three of the original founders of WKJD now dead, it made sense to distance herself from the business. Without mulling it over any more, she decided that she wanted no further part of WKJD Tech Consulting and would offer her shares for sale at the upcoming shareholders’ meeting.

  She attempted to start working, trying desperately to block out all the issues that were troubling her mind. She scanned her emails and was drawn to a meeting request with her boss for a performance review, scheduled for the next day. She had a sense of foreboding regarding the meeting since she knew that her performance had been rather dismal as a consequence of all the recent distractions. As if that was not enough, the receptionist walked in and announced that some police officers were here to see her. She felt her shoulders drop and rubbed her aching neck. Today was not going to be a good day.

  Reluctantly she went to the reception lobby and felt her anxiety levels rise as she saw Inspector Jonas. At least he did not have that intimidatingly smug look on his face from before. He greeted her neutrally, “Good morning Stacey. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?” Stacey nodded, surveyed the reception and guided him to a visitor’s chair, as she wanted to ensure that any discussion took place where she was visible to others. They sat down, and he started, “Thank you. That was a smart move you pulled the other day, but it does not fully close the murder investigation. I am still investigating the murders and the motives. Can I ask why you were out with Wilson and Wang in the Karoo on the weekend they were murdered?”

  She stared at him taking her time to fully contemplate her response. She replied, “Firstly, as you saw in the video, Wang was killed by a snake in a freak accident. Therefore, Inspector, that is not a murder is it?” He nodded, reluctantly. “And, I was in the Karoo with them as we were planning to meet foreign visitors there to demonstrate our drone applications. I was simply invited along by Wilson Spectre.”