Blood Rose Read Online Free Page A

think?’
    ‘Why won’t you leave me alone?’ whispered Mara.
    Van Wyk’s thin lips twisted into a smile. ‘It was you who started—’
    ‘Sergeant,’ Karamata interrupted. He was standing at the wall, his arms crossed. ‘The staff are waiting to be interviewed.’
    Van Wyk dropped his hand, and Mara pushed past him, tears in her eyes.
    ‘I was just checking on Miss Thomson’s movements,’ Van Wyk said to Karamata as they walked back to the playground.
    Tamar was sealing the last evidence bag, noting the time and date on each one. Karamata handed her the list of people who had been at school before they had arrived. ‘Who’ve you got here, Elias?’ she asked.
    ‘Calvin Goagab, of course, and his sons,’ said Karamata.
    ‘Really made my day, seeing him so early in the morning.’ Tamar grimaced. ‘Who else?’
    ‘Erasmus, the headmaster. Herman Shipanga you met, the caretaker who found the body. Darlene Ruyters, the Grade 1 teacher. She was in at six-thirty, but says she saw nothing. The only other person here was George Meyer. He drops his stepson Oscar early. Darlene Ruyters is his teacher and she keeps an eye on him until school starts.’
    ‘Oscar’s mother?’ asked Tamar. ‘Wasn’t she killed in that car accident six months ago?’
    ‘That’s her,’ said Karamata. He held the door open for Tamar. The school staff fell silent as she stepped into the stuffy staff-room. The preliminaries were soon over: statements, times for interviews, arrangements to close the school, the staff dismissed for the day.
    Tamar drove back to the station, glad that she could lock her office door behind her. She let her head drop into her hands, allowing the first tears to splash onto the desk. It didn’t help to dam them all. When she decided it was enough, she made tea while she waited for her photographs to download. She wrapped her hands around the hot mug and stared at the images of the dead child on her screen. Again, she thought of Clare Hart.
    She found Riedwaan Faizal’s number and dialled. ‘Captain Faizal? Tamar Damases here, Walvis Bay police.’
    ‘Tamar, it’s been a while,’ said Riedwaan. ‘You’ve got a body if you’re calling me.’
    ‘A dead boy in a school playground. Looks like the third in a series,’ said Tamar. ‘I’m going to need your profiler friend Dr Hart.’
    ‘We’ll need to pass it via the official channels,’ said Riedwaan. ‘But if you can get it past Supe Phiri I’ll persuade Clare.’
    ‘You’re on first-name terms now?’
    ‘You could put it like that,’ said Riedwaan, with a smile.
    Clare closed her suitcase and went into the kitchen. Jeans and a white T-shirt. No make-up yet, her damp hair in a twist on top of her head. Riedwaan was leaning against the counter, the paper spread out in front of him. Her stomach grumbled as she kissed him.
    ‘I’m hungry,’ she said.
    ‘You look nice.’ Riedwaan drew her against him.
    Clare dampened down the lick of desire that flared between his hands. She would lose the rhythm of her day if she let her body distract her.
    ‘We’ll be late,’ she said, prising herself loose. She sat down and helped herself to breakfast. ‘Who were you talking to?’
    ‘Phiri.’
    ‘So where’s the body?’
    Riedwaan felt in his pocket for cigarettes.
    ‘Don’t smoke. It’s too early,’ said Clare.
    Riedwaan shrugged and started stacking the dishwasher. She watched the muscles on his back flex under his shirt as she finished eating.
    ‘Very domestic,’ she said. ‘Maybe I should just stay here with you. Play housey-housey.’ She handed him her empty plate and slipped her arms around him.
    Riedwaan laughed. ‘Ja, right.’
    ‘The other call?’ She had him, trapped between her and the dishwasher. ‘When I was in the shower?’
    ‘Captain Tamar Damases. From Namibia,’ said Riedwaan. Clare didn’t miss a thing. Why did he always forget that about her? ‘She came to your lectures last year on serial