The meeting at the CID the next morning was not pretty. Mabaku was in a foul mood because there had been little progress, and Zanele had found nothing at Amantle’s house that she could use.
“There were no signs of a forced entry,” she said. “I think the murderer must’ve taken the front-door key from Kubu’s father.” She glanced nervously at Mabaku. “We have nothing to go on,” she continued, exasperated. “We’ve picked up a lot of hairs and will start going through them today. But I doubt they’ll be any help. There’ve been dozens of people there over the past few days. And the same goes for fingerprints—lots of them, but we’ll have to eliminate them one by one by checking on everyone who’s been at the house. Even then, it’s unlikely we’ll get a match. Whoever broke in was pretty careful.”
She looked at her notebook. “We’ve also been trying to identify the maker of the boot that left the partial print near the crime scene. The tread is very unusual and doesn’t match any of our records. We sent a print to Interpol so see if they could help. They responded very quickly for a change. It’s a common boot made in China. I have one of my people going to all the Chinese general stores in Gabs to see if they carry them.”
Then it was Samantha’s turn. She reported that she had just received information from Mascom about the calls on Wilmon’s phone.
“The three calls not from Kubu came from pay phones in Mahalapye. Two from the same phone and the third from a different one.”
“Mahalapye?” Mabaku interjected. “Kubu’s father’s half brother lives there. They didn’t get on apparently. Go on.”
“I also made a list of Rra Bengu’s closest friends,” Samantha continued. “I’m going back to Mochudi later today to talk to them.”
She closed her notebook and leaned forward.
“There is one other thing, though,” she said. All heads turned toward her. “It’s just an idea that I had. When the director, Zanele, and I were going through the house, everything had been searched—cupboards, drawers, pillows and mattresses, you name it. Including books. That got me thinking. If the intruder was looking inside books, he had to be looking for something flat, like a photograph or piece of paper. It couldn’t be something with bulk.”
There was silence in the room.
“That’s a very good idea,” Zanele said.
“I agree,” Mabaku chimed in. “I’m not sure how it helps at the moment, but let’s keep it in mind and see if it leads anywhere. Check with Kubu’s mother if anything like that is missing.”
He stood up to leave, but Edison put up his hand.
“Director, I have an update on what I reported yesterday.”
“Yes, Edison. What is it?”
“I told you about the unrest in Shoshong. My friend now thinks that there could be real trouble at a kgotla they’re going to have at the end of the week. Apparently, the chief is going to make some people move to another part of town, and they don’t want to.”
Mabaku grunted. “Well, what the chief decides has nothing to do with us. But give the station in Shoshong a call, Edison, and make sure they’re on top of it. They may want to have some constables at the kgotla. Now, let’s go and find who killed Kubu’s father.”