Chapter Forty-Eight

A few days later.

Sauer hammered on the door with his fist. Hobbs put his ear close to the door. No sound. Sauer hammered the door again. A door of the apartment opposite the one they were hammering on opened.

“Why you making so much noise?” asked the Asian woman. Neither Hobbs nor Sauer were in a mood to explain anything to anybody.

“She is sleeping,” the Asian woman continued. “She comes from the hospital only now. You keep making this noise you will wake her.”

That is the bloody idea, cretin!

Sauer hammered on the door again. A few moments later, a faint voice asked, “Who’s there?”

“Open the door madam. We are from the police. We need to ask you some questions.”

The Asian woman tightened her face in fright and slammed her door so loudly that the noise reverberated down the hallway.

Sauer could hear a key rattling on the inside of the door. It opened slightly. A door chain was keeping it from opening more than a few centimeters. “Can I see your identifications?” the voice asked.

Sauer and Hobbs showed their cards through the slight opening. The door closed again for a moment and Sauer and Hobbs could hear the door chain being released. The door opened fully.

Both their jaws dropped. Wrapped tightly in a light green dressing gown stood an angel. The long, blond hair fell way past her waist. The face was perfect—heavenly blue eyes and a rosebud mouth.

Sauer composed himself. “Heidi?”

“Yes,” said the angel.

He took a deep breath. “I am Inspector Sauer. We would like to ask you a few questions about Henry James Harper.”

“He is not here,” Heidi answered.

“Maybe your hearing is not so good. We want to talk to you about him. We don’t want to talk to him, not now anyway,” Sauer said.

“I know nothing…” she replied quickly.

“Nothing about what?” Sauer pushed.

Heidi turned and walked to the couch. She sat down in the middle. Sauer plonked himself down on the chair opposite her.

“May I use the bathroom?” Hobbs asked. Heidi nodded and pointed that he must go down the hall.

“We believe from our investigations that you are Harper’s live-in girlfriend,” Sauer said.

Heidi nodded.

“How long have you known him?” Sauer asked.

“A while…”

“A month, a week, a year…?”

“A long time,” Heidi said looking down.

“How long? A year, two…A decade?”

Heidi went silent.

“Look Heidi, we can chat here, or we can go down to the station and chat there,” Sauer said.

“We grew up together,” Heidi said silently. Sauer sat up when he heard this. Up to now, they had been unable to trace anything about Harper. It is as if the man has not been born. They could not trace a birth certificate that would help them find out more about his parents. Harper did have identification, and the address on it lead them to this apartment.

“Tell me everything you know about him,” Sauer said.

“Henry is not here right now,” Heidi repeated.

“And perhaps you misunderstood me,” Sauer said, “I want to talk to you about him. I don’t want to talk to him now…not yet anyway.”

Heidi looked down as she fumbled her hands in her lap.

“That was a long time ago,” she said. “My Henry would never do bad things.”

Sauer frowned at her. “Where did you grow up?”

“On a small holding outside Ravensdale.”

Sauer knew where that was. That was the dumping ground for all the social misfits, the poor, and the psychos. When you come from there, you were probably raped by your father and brothers, and wanked off by your mother if you were a boy. It was a bad area. The people living there have bad blood. He was starting to see Harper in a better light. People living there are notorious for not registering unwanted pregnancies. He looked at the angelic face again and shook his head. God does have a sense of humor.

“Have you been there all your life?” he asked.

“Yes.”
“And was Henry there all his life?”

“No, he came later. He must have been five or six.”

“Where did he live before that?”

“I don’t know—perhaps with his real parents.”

“So he did not stay there with his real parents?

“No.”

“Who did he stay with?”

“With Wills and his mom.”

“Are they family of his?”

“No.”

“So why did he stay with them?”

“Wills’ mom adopted him.”

Sauer took a deep breath. “How did you meet?”

“Our places were next to each other.”

“So, from childhood the two of you played together?”

“Yes. No…only later. From high school.”

“How was this family that adopted Henry?”

“Better off than most of us. His mother bred pigs. They always had food and clothes.”

“So they were the elite of Ravensdale? I mean, what were their personalities like?”

Heidi looked down.

“Did they hurt Henry? Abuse him?” Sauer continued.

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“Wills and his mother.”

“Who is Wills?”

“He is the mother’s own child.”

“Is he still in Ravensdale?”

“No.”

“Then where is he?” Sauer stressed his voice. He had to drag everything out of her.

“He is dead.”

“How did he die?”

“He died of acquired immune deficiency syndrome while he was in jail.”

“What was he in jail for?”

Heidi looked down. Sauer sat up in his chair and leaned his upper body towards her.

“I asked what he was in jail for.”

“Rape.”

So it runs in the family. The fucker gets fucked. Poetic justice.

“Who did he rape?”

Silence.

“I said, who did he rape!” Sauer screamed.

Heidi shook with fright. She looked at Sauer and said, “He raped a small boy.”

Sauer let out a slow breath. He sat back into his chair.

“Where is Henry’s mom?”

“Still on the small holding.”

Sauer looked at Heidi a while. It never ceases to amaze him the amount of emotional baggage people cart around with them. Yet, to the world they show angelic faces and pretend that all is well.

“You’re a nurse, aren’t you,” he asked her.

“Yes.”

“Where do you nurse?”

“At the Soweto Psychiatric Institution.”

“So you are a psychiatric nurse?”

“In training.”

That would help.

“What shifts do you work?”

“Night shifts.”

“Always?”

“Yes.”
“Why?”

“It gives me more time to study.”

Silence. Sauer looked at her. She became shy and dropped her head.

“So you live her with Henry.”

“Yes.”

“As husband and wife?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know that he makes pornographic movies in his spare time?”

“Yes.” Her head was still down.

“Did he ever feature you in one of his movies?” Sauer asked as he sat up again.

Heidi fumbled with her dressing gown again. “Yes” she whispered.

“Did he make you do it? Or did you do it voluntarily?”

“He asked me to do it. It was the first few he made.”

The things we do for the people we love.

“And then after that? What happened then?”

“He had enough money to pay people.”

“Does he make a lot of these movies?”

“Yes.”

“How many movies has he made?”

“He makes about two a month,” Heidi said, finally looking up.

“So he makes a lot of money.”

“Yes.”

“He told us that he is a student. He said he is studying for one of the commerce degrees.”

“He is.”

“So when does he makes these movies?”

“At night.”

“So when does he sleep?”

“He doesn’t sleep a lot.”

“Why not?”

“He never has.”

“So where is he now? At class?”

Heidi looked at the wall next to her and then down at her fumbling hands on her lap.

Silence.

“So where is he?” Sauer asked sternly, not wanting to frighten her again.

Silence.

“Shall we take you to the police station and ask you these questions there?”

“Perhaps we should,” said Hobbs. He walked into the tiny living room. He had a brown envelope in his right hand. He walked over to where Heidi sat. Her eyes went dead, and then she glared at Hobbs. Slowly, he lowered himself next to her. He tapped the A4 envelope on the coffee table between them and Sauer. All the while he looked at Heidi. Hobbs stretched his hand across the table and handed the envelope to Sauer.

Sauer shoved his massive hand in the envelope, tearing the paper. He took out several folded sheets of paper. He unfolded them and slowly paged through them. He let out a long, slow whistle.

“Talk to me,” Sauer said.

Heidi’s cross face glared at him. “You cannot come into my house, ask to piss and then go scratching through my things!” she shouted at Hobbs.

Sauer looked at Hobbs. “Captain, shall we call the flying squad—and the press and make a very public arrest.”

Hobbs nodded his head.

Sauer shifted his weight to his right side. He fumbled in his pocket for his mobile phone. He dialed a number then put the phone to his ear.

“Wait,” said Heidi. “What is it that you want to know?”

Sauer almost laughed out loud at the absurdity. “We want to know what the hell you are doing with Henry James Harper’s forensic report. The report that ties his genetics to Jimmy Love and Charmaine Zeller.”

“I…um…”

“Um what?” Sauer spat at her.

“He asked me to get it for him.”

“Why did he ask you to do that?”

“He said that you two are crooked police and that you planted evidence to make him look guilty.”

“Did he say why we would do a thing like that?”

“He said that you wanted a kick-back from his movies and when he refused, you threatened to expose him as the Face Lifter.”

“And you believe that?”

“He would never lie to me.”

Yea right.

“So, how did you get hold of the report? For as far as I know, these reports are locked in a safe in the Forensic building.

Heidi fumbled with her dressing gown again.

“You better answer sweetie. My patience is running out.”

“He said I was to go to the building and meet with a policeman there.”

“When was that?”

“A few weeks ago. I can remember. It was late on Friday afternoon.”

“So, what happened?”

“I went there and the policeman gave me that envelope.”

“Just like that?”

Heidi did not answer.

“I said, just like that?” Sauer screamed.

She did not flinch. So she is playing us. She looks like an angel, but our sweet little Heidi is as hard as nails. Had to be, considering where she comes from.

“Yes,” she eventually answered.

“So, who was the policeman?” Sauer asked.

“I don’t know.”

“What does he look like?”

“Black…dressed in a blue uniform.”

“Oh, gee,” Sauer said to Hobbs, “that narrows the suspect in the South African Police Force down to about…let’s see, fifty thousand!”

Sauer sat on the edge of his chair. “You better start talking”

“Or what?” Heidi asked all cocky.

“Or I will take you to the bush and beat the truth out of you,” Sauer said.

“That is what you guys do…”

“Yes that is what we guys do. This is Africa, the continent of corruption and bribery. This is not the U S of A, or a television series. We do not deal with people who steal compact discs. We deal with cold-blooded bastards who enjoy killing. So yes, we beat the truth out of our customers—because our human right constitution means nothing. In this country, criminals have more rights than their victims.” Sauer took a deep breath. “Don’t think for a moment that we do not hit women. We do—as hard as we hit the men.”

“So, what else do you want to know?” Heidi asked sweetly.

“You better tell us everything.”

“Everything happened as I told you,” she said. Sauer lifted himself out of his chair and slapped her across the face. The slap threw her body off balance and she landed next to the chair on the floor. Sauer sat down again, his glare never leaving her.

“You were warned,” he said. “Now talk.”

Her face was red where he slapped her. Heidi took a deep breath and tears streamed down her face. She placed her left hand on the red spot. “Henry phoned me just after you arrested him. He said that I had to come and see him. He said that you had taken genetic samples from him. He said that I was to make contact with an Inspector Julius Hlongwane. Henry also said that I was to take money from the safe and buy the forensic report once it arrived back at the lab.”

“So where does Inspector Hlongwane work?

“At court, he is an orderly.”

One of them bright policemen that carry the case files to and from the court, the prosecutors and the forensic lab.

“How much did you pay him?”

“Five thousand rand.”

“Is that all? I don’t believe you. We know for a fact that the price of case files starts from minimum ten thousand rand. Don’t talk bullshit.”

“I am not. Henry said only to get the forensic report and all the back-ups.”

“I don’t believe you.”

Heidi dropped her face and Hobbs stroked her hair. Let’s play good cop, bad cop. He spoke softly to her, “We are just trying to help you. If you tell us the truth, we will forget about it all. You will carry on with your life and we will never bother you again. We won’t lay charges against you…nothing. We just need to know everything.”

Heidi’s wiped her face with her hands. She spoke softly: “I had to go and ask for Hlongwane at court. He appeared once in one of Henry’s movies and he was keen to do it again. Henry said that I must give him the money and tell him to come to the set that evening. I was to meet him there.”

“Don’t you work night shifts?”

“Yes, but we work one week on and then we get one week off.”

“So you are off every second week.”

“Yes.”
“So you carried on with Henry’s movie making business while he was in jail?”

“Yes,” she said. “It pays for our expenses.”

“So what happened next?”

“Hlongwane came to the set and we did a movie.”

“What do you mean we?”

Heidi did not answer. The expression on her face had hardened again. “We as in me, the cameraman, the girls…the policeman.”

“Did you have to fuck him to get the forensic report?”

Heidi did not answer. “Where is that movie?’ Sauer asked. Hobbs got up and walked down the hall again.

“You said you would do nothing,” she shouted after Hobbs. She jumped up and started running after Hobbs down the hallway.

Hobbs turned and waited for her. “Just give it to us. It is not you we are after.”

Heidi started sobbing again. She walked into the bedroom. Surprisingly, it was very feminine and dainty. Heidi walked towards the white built-in closet and opened the door. She shoved the clothes on the rail to one side, exposing a safe. She punched in a few numbers and the safe door jumped open. Hobbs could see several compact discs and a pile of money in the safe. Heidi looked through the discs and took one out. She placed the rest back in the safe and closed it. She moved the clothes in front of the safe again and closed the closet door.

“Here, it is the only copy. Henry said that we should keep it safe just in case.”

In case the person you bribed wanted more.

Hobbs walked back to the living room. Heidi followed him.

“You must go now,” she said. “I am working tonight.”

“At the hospital or at making movies?” Sauer asked.

Heidi did not answer.

“You still have not told us where he is,” Sauer said.

Heidi’s face fell. She looked old and tired now.

“Tell us and we will be out of your hair. If you lie to us, we will be back with a vengeance.”

“I think he is with his mom. I am not sure. I have not heard from him. I last saw him the afternoon after the case was provisionally withdrawn. Advocate O’Conner said that he should lie low for a while.”

The sneaky bastard, some people will do anything to get their clients off.

Sauer got up and walked out the door. Hobbs followed. Neither bothered to close the door behind them. Their shoes made squeaky noises on the floor as they walked. They could hear Heidi sobbing.