CHAPTER SIXTY

‘I didn’t realise, I didn’t realise who they were,’ said Georgie. ‘The tall man was so nice. So clever. Interesting. And good looking. And interested. In me.’

Jessie and I stayed quite still, like she was a wild animal that we didn’t want to frighten away from a waterhole.

‘In all the fifteen years I was married to Joel he never showed such interest in me.’ She ran a hand down the side of her hip. ‘In my ideas and thoughts.’

She sighed. ‘It wasn’t like I was alone with a strange man. There were three of them. He said he was a priest and the woman was a priestess. The third man was a member of the church.’

She picked up her cup but didn’t drink. ‘They knew the Bible so well. And the priest, the one I . . . the one who approached me in the Spar, he was a vegetarian. Their church doesn’t forbid eating meat, but they don’t believe in harming animals.’

I looked at my tea and cake but didn’t touch them.

‘I confess,’ said Georgie, ‘I’ve been lonely since Joel left me. It was nice to . . . talk. And what with the end of the world coming, I really have been thinking about life. The life we are living here and now. The people in my church prefer to discuss the afterlife.’

She picked up her tea and had a sip. Jessie and I took the chance to drink our tea too.

‘The priestess brought some little vegan cookies; they didn’t taste great, but it was kind of her. We drank tea and ate cookies, and after a short while I just felt so happy and relaxed with them. Especially the priest. He had a smart little beard and sat beside me on the couch in the living room. They were saying that in their church, the body is not a sinful thing. It’s a wonderful thing – to be enjoyed. And my body was agreeing with them.’

She picked up the cake and had a tiny bite. Jessie and I did the same.

‘And then what happened afterwards feels like a strange dream. The handsome priest held my hand; he stroked my palm gently. Very gently.’ She licked some icing from the corner of her mouth. ‘And then . . . we walked together to the bedroom. The other two brought chairs and sat down, eating popcorn like they were watching a movie. But it was us, they were watching us, waiting to see what we would do.’

I remembered the chairs at the bottom of her bed and looked at Jessie.

‘And then . . . And then . . .’ She closed her eyes. ‘It happened.’

‘What happened?’ asked Jessie.

‘He kissed me.’

‘Oh, jinne,’ said Jessie. ‘Then what?’

‘Nothing,’ she said. ‘They finished the popcorn and went home. But it was quite a kiss.’

She picked up her big slice of cake, and we picked up ours, and we all ate our honey-hazelnut-pear-cake-with-ginger-icing as if there was no tomorrow.

When she had finished her cake, she looked at her empty plate and then at Jessie and me. Her eyes went wide as if she’d just seen us. For a moment I though she might run away, but she said, ‘I can’t understand it. I’ve been so hungry since last night.’

‘Mmm,’ said Jessie, wiping crumbs from her mouth, ‘you might have the munchies.’

Georgie and I both looked at her, confused.

‘I think they put dagga in those cookies they gave you,’ said Jessie. ‘Marijuana can make you hungry. It’s called the munchies.’

‘Oooh wooo,’ said Georgie. ‘Satanists, adultery and drugs. I will be defrocked. Oooh wooo. I should never have used that hair dye.’

‘Georgie,’ said Jessie, ‘a kiss isn’t adultery.’

‘But I . . . They didn’t force me. I went to sleep happy . . . When I woke up this morning, of course I realised how terribly I’d sinned.’

‘You were drugged.’

‘I’ll be the laughing stock of the whole town.’

‘But who will know?’ said Jessie.

‘The police. They know.’

‘Did you tell them?’ I asked.

‘No, I . . . couldn’t. But the satanists have told them. I know they have, that’s why the police came here. It’s all so . . . humiliating.’ She put her hand over her eyes.

‘Georgina,’ said Jessie. ‘Those people told the police they came here for a Bible discussion.’

Georgie peeped between her fingers. ‘They didn’t say . . . what we . . . did?’

‘No.’

Georgie’s hand came down. A bit of white icing was stuck to her forehead.

‘But you could tell the police,’ said Jessie. ‘Lay charges of sexual harassment against those scumbags.’

‘Oh, no,’ said Georgie. ‘Then everyone would know. Oh, I wish the end of the world would come sooner.’

‘I was at a meeting last night,’ I said. ‘A man was killed. Shot.’

‘Oooh woo.’

‘The three people who visited you are suspects in the murder.’

‘Oooh woo. The Bible says, “When lust has conceived it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished it brings forth death.”’

‘They say they were here with you at the time when it happened. Eight-thirty p.m.’

‘Well, yes. They came before eight. They only left after ten.’

‘But you didn’t want to tell the police this?’

‘I . . . no . . . I didn’t admit to anything. It’s all too embarrassing.’

‘Would you be willing to say they were visiting here, if you don’t discuss what happened?’ I said.

Georgie picked up a cloth and started to wipe the cake crumbs off the counter.

‘A good man was killed,’ I said. ‘We want the murderer caught. I don’t want the police barking up the wrong tree. They need to know if those people were here with you at the time of the murder.’

‘Oh, I feel so dreadful about what happened. And then to tell the police . . .’ She wiped a spot that was already clean.

Jessie said, ‘It’s not your fault. And you did have a Bible discussion. That is the truth.’

‘Oh, the truth, oh my goodness. And you are a reporter. Ooh wooo. I am finished.’

‘Georgina,’ said Jessie, ‘this is all off the record, I promise.’

‘You won’t tell anyone?’

Jessie shook her head.

‘I can ask the police to keep it quiet,’ I said. ‘You can give a statement that the three of them were here. You don’t have to tell them what happened.’

‘I don’t know. I don’t know. If my church finds out I let satanists into my house . . . They will think even worse things than what happened. Though what could be worse I can’t imagine . . . but they probably can. The Adventists have good imaginations.’

‘They need never know,’ said Jessie.

‘The worst of it is . . .’ she looked down at her lap, ‘I enjoyed myself.’

‘It’s okay to have some fun, Georgie,’ Jessie said. ‘If religions weren’t so repressive—’

‘Psalm 37 says: “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart,”’ said Georgie.

I interrupted the Bible group discussion. ‘We should go,’ I said. ‘There is a murderer to catch.’