One Hundred Degrees

Chapter 4: The Loss of a Child

A/N: I feel like I'm on such a roll today- though it's probably because I'm procrastinating and avoiding sorting out my cupboard🙈 anyway let's forge ahead readers !

"At the temple there is a poem called "Loss" carved into stone. It has three words, but the author has scratched them out. You cannot read loss, only feel it."

Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha

Mr Popolous entered the interrogation room. His eyes were red, other than this nothing betrayed his previously grief-stricken state outside the room. He grey hair was neatly combed back and the suit neatly pressed.
He pulled out the chair and looked Del straight in the eye. "Detective I feel like I need to clear the air between us. I apologise for my behaviour back at the restaurant , it was totally uncalled for and I may have offended you. I hope you can accept my apology ."
Del looked at the elderly man meekly , " No, no don't stress about that- I mean you were probably really shocked by the news, you weren't thinking. I'm fine but thanks for the apology you really did have to sir."
The old mans face relaxed, but then furrowed again in worry as he shook his head. "I can't believe someone could do this to my Bell, she was an angel, officers. Ag, but with all the crime in this country someone probably killed her for something stupid like money or something. Just recently my cousin got held up at a robot and they took his car. I hope you guys can catch that murderer soon and they must get locked up for good!"
"We'll do our best Mr Popolous don't worry. Ok so as we told you earlier, we going to be recording whatever we talk about in this room, few questions and you can be on your way home once we done sir." Dev reiterated before switching on the recorder
"Sharp my boy, you can fire away."
"Where were you during the early hours of the morning Mr Popolous?"
"Eish in this cold weather I was snuggled up next to my wife, I'm not crazy one to be out in the cold,"
"Good so your wife can vouch for you."
"Yes, as well as the security in the lobby of my flat."
"How was the relationship between you and the victim, Miss Smith?"
"Officers, she was like the daughter my wife and I never had. She started working for me 5 years back after my old chef and business partner, Kongo retired. One of my staff suggested her- she was their friend from culinary school and when I saw her skill and talent, she definitely won me and old Kongos hearts - you can't play games if you want you want to survive in this business.
My wife took a liking to her -she used to manage the books before my wife that's how she met Bell- so she used to come for dinner every now and again on her weekends off."
" Mr Schultz told us that Miss Smith was leaving the restaurant soon- how did you feel about this."
"It was bound to happen-for most young people it's a stepping stone-all this experience just adds up for them. She would've went a long way our child."
At this point, the mans body started shaking , tears streamed down his face uncontrollably. "She was so excited, she was over by our place on Sunday-she was planning on starting her adventures in Greece, and my wife and I were even contacting old family members from back home- to get a feel about where she should go. Bell was this ray of sunshine in our lives, our children have all left South Africa, so you see we always had something to look forward to with her visits."
Del grabbed a wad of tissues and handed it to Pops, awkwardly patting his arm which was on the table.
Pops sniffled and wiped away the tears, "I don't know when last these waterworks got turned on, but sorry just give me a moment young ones."
After a minute , he continued, "I'm fine now , sorry for that , you can continue with the questions."
"How was Del with her colleagues Mr Popolous?"
"Well I'm not in the kitchen, so not sure about how they all get along honestly . But I know that whenever we had new staff members, she always welcomed them with a dinner after work and she was pretty much in charge of the orientation, the shopping for ingredients and the daily specials.
If you are implying one of my staff had it in for her, you talking rubbish- I'm certain this was an outsider."
Delia and Dev exchanged a glance,before Del splurted it out without thinking , "What makes you so sure it was not one of your staff."
Pops looked astonished at this outburst, and then sighed, "I guess it difficult to explain, but if you knew her, it would be impossible for you to kill her!"
Del felt like she needed to slap herself, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way, you need to understand we have to examine it from every angle and exclude all possibilities, that's why we have to ask these questions, even the hard ones."
Pops nodded absent-minded lay, "You are just doing your job, I guess I shouldn't take it any other way- it's just they are all good kids, so I guess I can get over protective at times."
Dev looked at the watch- "We need to hustle now- I can't sit here letting Del steer us into apology lane with this man every five minutes", he thought to himself.
"Mr Pops I understand that you were close to the victim, just a random question- do you know if she had a , ahem, special someone in her life."
"Well currently there was no one as far as I knew, mind you my old lady was suspecting something, a twinkle in her eyes or something-women are much better at picking up these things then us menfolk you know."
Did she generally share these sort of things with you and your wife."
"In the five years I've known her there was a boy she was serious about- even had dinner with the young man- she was actually engaged to him, they broke it off parents were unhappy about it or something like that - what was his name now ... ah yes Daniel Goldman- nice boy."
"How long ago was that?"
"Eish , must be well over a year now."
"I see, just one more question from my side- how was her relationship with your sous chef-Mr Schultz?"
"They didn't really see eye to eye, never have, though in the past few weeks they seemed to have reconciled- maybe it was because she was leaving soon or Tristan was finally getting the chef title", Pops shrugged.
"When did you last see Miss Smith, sir?"
"Saturday evening, she had been over for dinner with my wife and I."
" I see, thank you for your time sir and we are truly sorry for your loss."
"Thanks officers, please help us find who did this and make them pay."
And on that note Pops shuffled out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Dev turned to Del- "Woman I'm already exhausted and we not even half way through these interrogations!"
"Ugh I know, and I clearly suck at handling geriatrics", groaned Del covering her face with her hands.
"Ok so we have four more people to interview- the two kitchen hands and the two waiters. Gosh this is missioning- I hope these other people aren't as emotional- because that is what's draining me I swear!"
" How about we take a fifteen minute breather-grab some coffee in that time and then come back ?"
"Sounds good to me- let's go."

After their super quick coffee break Del and Dev headed back to the waiting area to collect the next person. An elderly couple had joined the restaurants staff members , the woman was crying whilst the man tried to comfort her in Afrikaans.
They rose the moment they spotted Dev and Del.
"Police, police, help us please! We got a phone call saying our daughter was killed...... I... what do we do... where's her body , when can we bury her?"
Dev stepped up, " I'm assuming you are Mr and Mrs Smith. I offer my sincere apologies to the two of you and I promise you we are here if you ever need support.
Her body is currently at the mortuary, you will require copies of your and her ID once the autopsy is done- you can ask reception for the address and contact details for the morgue, they will be able to assist you from there."
The couple looked at him gratefully, "Dankie officer, God Bless you. You the first person to help us since we landed in Durban- we are both so scared- you hear these things in the news and never think you will be affected. But look how our daughter got taken away- it's all over the news- we heard when we were with the Uber driver.", the man rambled. He looked calmer than his wife,but his attitude clearly indicated that his world had been pushed off balance.
"No problem sir", Dev spotted Thandeka walking pass the doorway, "Officer Sithole, could you please assist these lovely people to reception. Sorry sir, I wish we could sit down and talk properly, but as you can see I have to speak to these other people regarding your daughters case", Dev waved his arm towards the four exhausted restaurant workers waiting there.
"No, no , don't worry we understand", the old man nodded and followed Thandeka towards reception.

Dev sighed and turned around, "That part, is the part I dread the most of this job, the families who've lost that which they will never get back."
Del nodded her head in agreement, "That's why we have the duty to do the next best thing for them- seek justice."