PULL MY HEARTSTRINGS (COMPLETE)

31

                              

     

It was almost midnight and the place was still crawling with cops, they were everywhere dusting for fingerprints, taking photographs, searching every corner for ‘clues’ and asking endless questions. It all had to be a nightmare it was the only explanation on how the night took such a sinister turn, but people eventually woke up from nightmares and Kgomotso couldn’t see how she’d wake up from this.
     
The image of Nolitha’s body, laying on the floor with blood oozing from her head was sure to haunt Kgomotso for a long time. Nobody knew or saw what happened, which was unfortunate because she was the one who found Nolitha and that made her a suspect in Detective Zondi’s eyes. Shock had her tongue-tied and left her body numb as soon as the alcoholic buzz evaporated from her brain. She’d feel better if Anesu was here but he accompanied Lwazi to the hospital.
     
“Miss Modise?” He frowned, looking at her with an eye trained to spot a criminal from a mile away and that made her nervous.
     
Did that make her look guilty? 
     
Kgomotso slightly jumped from the force in his tone, blinking like she just snapped out of a trance. The bump on his forehead was disturbing to look at, but for some reason she found it hard to look away. 
     
“Huh?”
     
“Please, answer the question.”
     
What was the question? Her mind was spinning and all this talk went in one ear and came out the other, trying to keep up made her exhausted but sleep wasn’t an option not when the scent of Nolitha’s blood was still fresh in her head.
     
“This is nonsense, can’t you see she’s in shock?”
     
“I’m doing my job so I’d really appreciate it if you stopped wasting my time, Mrs Buthelezi,” replied Detective Zondi.
     
“It’s Doctor Buthelezi and as a doctor I’m telling you that my sister is not well to answer your questions.”
     
“I agree, can't this wait until tomorrow?” Hazel chimed in.
     
“Unfortunately it can’t, a woman was almost murdered here tonight and I need to gather as much information as possible to build my case. If Miss Modise can’t answer these questions here then I’ll have to take her to the station maybe she’ll be forthcoming there.”
     
“You can’t do that.” Kamo hissed in a dangerously low tone but the detective didn’t look shaken. He was used to dealing with hardened criminals and a spoilt housewife who didn’t look capable of swatting a fly was no match. He even doubted she was a real doctor.  
     
“I can and I will because what you’re doing is obstruction of justice.”
     
“It’s fine Kamo, I’ll answer the questions.” Kgomotso managed a weak smile but inside she was falling apart.
     
“Are you sure? Don’t you want to drink water first?” Hazel asked, standing up.
     
“Yes, I’m sure.” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to calm herself by thinking of a happy moment, she didn’t have to think hard because the day Anesu took her on the helicopter tour was front and centre in her mind. And she focussed on those feelings of bliss to keep from spiralling.
     
“Ask me what you need to know, Detective,” she said, facing him.
     
“Why were you in the house when you supposedly found Mrs Walaza?”
     
“I was on the phone and I came inside because the music was too loud.”
     
“I see.” He nodded. “Who were you on the phone with?”
     
“My step mother.”
     
He stared at her, tapping his finger on his knee. “I’ll need her number to verify your statement.”
     
“Okay.”
     
“Can you please describe your relationship with Mrs Walaza? Were you two friends perhaps?” he asked.
     
“I don’t have a relationship with her, we barely know each other.”
     
“Then help me understand why you were seen fighting with her, making you the last person she was seen with before her attack.” It was more of an accusation than a question.
     
Kgomotso sighed, as the heavy feeling pressed on her shoulders. “I wasn’t fighting with her in fact she was the aggressor, accusing me of having an affair with her husband.”
     
He abruptly stopped the tapping on his knee. “An affair? Was she right?”
     
“No I was not having an affair with Xola but we have a past, which he failed to tell his wife about.”
     
“Did her accusation make you upset?”
     
“Yes, because it wasn’t true.”
     
“Did it make you upset enough to bash her skull in?”
     
He really was an asshole.
     
“No. I had nothing to do with what happened to Nolitha and you’ll find that out soon enough depending on how good you are at doing your job. If I wanted her dead, I wouldn’t have called for help when I found her.”
     
He shrugged, masking his emotions with a stoic expression. “You could’ve called for help to move the suspicion from yourself.”
     
“You’re out of line, Detective, treating my sister like a suspect when you don’t even have any evidence to prove your distorted point.” Kamo warned.
     
“I have witness statements that forced me to move your sister up the suspect list and if the evidence proves otherwise then I’ll move to the next person. I’ve been a policeman for a long time and I’ve worked on cases like this before.”
     
“Then you should know that the spouse is always the #1 suspect. What if Nolitha confronted him and they fought, he could’ve hit her in the head and he’s strong enough to kill her with one blow.”
     
“Did you witness this so-called fight, Mrs Buthelezi, because I don’t consider unfounded theories as evidence?”
     
“Mxm.” Kamo rolled her eyes.
     
“Sir, you cannot come inside we’re still busy processing the scene.”
     
Kamo didn’t understand why it took them so long to process a crime scene, she wanted them finished and gone because Nolitha wasn’t even worth all this stress. She was more worried about the possibility of doing a cleansing ceremony if Nolitha didn’t survive, she didn’t want Nolitha’s ghost to linger around and turn her dream home into a spook huis. 
     
“I need to see my girlfriend,” said Anesu, forcing his way inside. Fuck protocol, he wasn’t going to let anyone stop him from seeing Kgomotso.
     
They didn’t put up much of a fight maybe because they knew he was a Luthuli or the menacing look on his face got them to back off. He came rushing in and made a bee-line in Kgomotso’s direction.
     
“Oh, baby.” His words were a heartfelt plea as he pulled her into a tight embrace, and his familiar scent enveloped them.
     
“Don’t cry, baby, I’m here now,” he whispered in her ear.
     
He stepped back and cupped her cheeks in his hands and his panicked eyes searched Kgomotso’s face, as he wiped the tears streaming down her face.
     
“I’m fine.” She croaked through her tears.
     
“Are you sure?”
     
“Yes, I’m just happy to see you Anesu.”
     
His shoulders sagged and relief shot across his face, and lurked in the depths of his captivating eyes.     
     
“Are you ready to go home?” he asked.
     
“Yes.”
     
She was tired and in need of a hot bath to relax, after the day she had it was a miracle she was still keeping it together.
     
“I’m not done questioning Miss Modise.” The detective interjected.
     
“Yes you are and should you need to ask more questions during the course of your investigation, call me and I’ll bring Miss Modise to the station to answer them with a lawyer present. We are done here.”
     
With that rude dismissal Detective Zondi got on his feet with a loud grunt, it was as if he used all his energy to lift his hefty body off the couch. He was an inch taller than Anesu with a bald patch and an upper body which was too big for his thin legs and yet again Kgomotso found her gaze glued on his bump.
     
“I’ll be on my way to the hospital,” he said, glancing at Anesu one more time before heading to the door.  
     
It was done just like that?
     
Even in her moment of distress Anesu still got her aroused without much effort. She leaned forward and pressed her lips on his, he seemed hesitant but she didn’t care that there were cops around or that Kamo and Hazel were watching them.
                                                              **********