Blood Rose Read Online Free

Dripping wet, she was as easy with herself naked as she was clothed.
    ‘Well, I am. My father taught us. He would slam on the brakes in the middle of the highway, do a U-turn and hurtle back to identify some tiny ball of brown feathers. I decided that if I was going to die, at least I should know what I was dying for.’
    ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Riedwaan asked.
    Clare caught the look on his face and laughed. ‘You never asked.’ She put on cream, smoothing out her arched brows. She reached for her red kimono and tied the cord tight, emphasising the curve of her hips.
    ‘I’ll come find you in Namaqualand. You can show a city boy what there is to like about all those flowers and birds.’
    The thought of him at her sister’s farm bobbed bright as a lure, hiding the hook that lay beneath.
    ‘I’d love that.’ The need in her voice caught them both by surprise.
    Riedwaan opened the door, letting in a blast of cold air. He reached for the words to tell her that things were more complicated than this morning routine. That Shazia was coming back. His wife. Instead, he pulled Clare towards him.
    ‘Not now,’ she said. ‘It’s freezing with the door open and I want my breakfast.’ She kissed him on the mouth and slipped out of his arms. ‘I’m going to get dressed.’

four
    On the desolate southwest coast of Africa, Mara Thomson turned between the houses to take the short cut to school. A year ago, she had arrived as a volunteer teacher in Namibia with hope and two suitcases. The summer heat had buckled her knees as she stepped off the plane in the capital, Windhoek. The light had seared her eyes, but her heart had soared and she had walked across the blazing tarmac as if she was coming home. She had expected acacia trees etched against an orange sky. Instead, she was assigned to Walvis Bay. She cried herself to sleep for a week; then she’d decided to make a life for herself amongst the grime and the fog. A life that she was going to miss, now that she was leaving.
    Mara jumped off her bike and wheeled it up the narrow alley, wondering why the dogs were barking. Elias Karamata was standing guard at a breech in the fence that was looped with chevronned tape. Black and yellow, nature’s danger signal.
    ‘Morning, Mara,’ Elias Karamata greeted the girl. Skinny and brown, in her hoodie and jeans, she looked like one of the boys she coached rather than a volunteer teacher.
    ‘What’s wrong, then?’ asked Mara, the clipped vowels marking her as foreign. English.
    ‘Kaiser Apollis,’ said Karamata, a gentle hand covering her arm. ‘He was found dead in the playground.’ He felt Mara tremble. At nineteen, she was still a wide-eyed child herself. ‘Go around the other way.’
    Mara walked around to the main entrance of the school, glad that she had her bike to lean on. Her legs were shaking.
    ‘Where are you going, Miss Thomson?’
    Mara had not seen Sergeant van Wyk until he had peeled himself off the wall and blocked her path.
    ‘I volunteer here,’ she said.
    ‘I’m sure you do. ID.’
    Mara handed it to him, even though he knew full well who she was.
    Van Wyk looked her passport over. ‘Only two weeks left on your visa.’
    ‘Since when did you do immigration?’ she shot back.
    ‘The dead boy.’ Van Wyk’s eyes were cold. ‘He’s wearing one of your soccer shirts.’ Mara paled. ‘Interesting coincidence.’
    ‘I know what you did to him. To Kaiser,’ said Mara. ‘I reported you.’
    ‘Oh, I know you did.’ Van Wyk was dismissive. ‘Didn’t get you or your little friend very far either, did it?’
    Mara made for the entrance. That’s when Van Wyk moved, trapping her body against the frame of the door. His breath was hot with intimate menace. ‘I hear that you’ve been picking boys up in the clubs.’ His fist, hard and hidden from view, came to rest on the soft mound between her legs. ‘A step up from a rubbish dump, but sailors are a dangerous game, don’t you