The Wolf Hunt

Chapter 2 - Is Mike Who He Says He Is?

"Although I know it's unfair I reveal myself one mask at a time"
Stephen Dunn

My eyebrows crease as I try to make sense of this piece of jewelry that I’m holding. Mike is my husband John William’s younger brother. John and I were married four years ago, on the 15th of August 2015. We met a year before that and were so infatuated with each other; we decided we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together.

John is very successful; he works in the mining industry and is listed amongst South Africa’s richest men. Everybody was perplexed when he decided to marry a black woman, they think he made a big mistake but one thing I love most about John is that he never looks at me as a mistake. He
loves me and he spends every waking moment of every day proving this to me.

Our wedding was the wedding of the century; my dress was flown in from Paris. Top Billing dedicated an entire episode to it. Our honey moon was a midsummer night’s dream. For two weeks we went on a world tour. I, for the first time, got to experience the white sandy beaches of the Bahamas, Brazil, Australia then finally, Milan.

We spent every minute together and of one thing I am absolutely certain; I am entirely, unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him. I still am. I don’t believe in fairy tales but I do believe he is my Prince Charming.
After our amazing honeymoon, we moved to a huge glass mansion in Sandton. I picked it out for its
breathtakingly beautiful view.

Mike moved in with us. He has been living with John his whole life, they
are inseparable. I allowed this to happen for John’s sake, if he is happy then I am happy. Mike has been
living with us for four years, he is really great. He always seems to know when to leave us alone and when to raid us with his company. In the five years he has been living with us, I have grown to genuinely like him.

I consider him as a younger brother even though he is only one year younger than I am. He doesn’t have a lot of friends. At first I thought it is just because he is anti-social but with experience and observation I have noticed that it is much deeper than that; there is a darkness inside of him that raises the hair on my neck every time I think about it. I had always thought it was just because of his lonely childhood, but now given the circumstance…I may have another think coming.

I take the medallion, put it in an evidence bag, chuck it in my pocket then head for my car. I explain to
Detective Scott that there is a family emergency I need to attend to, she doesn’t seem too impressed but she does not ask any questions. The drive to the police station seems to last a lifetime, I drive as fast as I can without passing the speed limit.

As soon as I park my car I rush to Eric, our forensic analyst. Eric and I have been close ever since we discovered that we share the same birthday and age; we consider ourselves ‘twins’. I ask him to analyse the blood on the medallion and figure out whose blood it is, he takes the medallion and looks at me questioningly.

“I found this at the crime scene,” I say blankly, trying to kill the conversation before he goes into interrogation mode.
“Well if you found it at the crime scene why isn’t it with the rest of the evidence from the crime scene?”
he curiously asks.

Sigh. I take a deep breath, my first instinct is to lie to him but that will not work out; Eric knows me like he knows himself, he can tell when I’m lying to him.

“Because this medallion belongs to my brother-in-law Mike,” I reply.
He looks at the medallion, and then he looks at me.

“So let me get this straight, you want to break the law to protect your brother-in-law from the law so
you can what-? Gain favour from the parents-in-law who never gave you the light of day?”

His tone sounds judgemental and sarcastic, but I can tell he is just trying to understand where I am coming from. I look down, he doesn’t understand. I don’t really care what my parents-in-law think of me anymore, I realised that relationship was beyond repair a long time ago.

When they discovered John was marrying me, a black woman, they did everything in their power to try persuading him into thinking that he is making a mistake. When he refused to stop the wedding, they disowned him right away and moved to
Canada.

John has tried keeping in touch with them but every time he does they always have some sort of deal to strike with him if he divorces me, he eventually gave up on them. I definitely am not doing this for my parents-in-law; but for John. He gave up on his parents for me, he loves me that much; I owe him everything.

“I am not doing this for my parents-in-law Eric; I’m doing it for John. Mike is the only family he has left and that is because of me,” tears threaten to break from my eyes; I wildly flap my eyelids fighting to
keep them back. “John will not lose Mike, not if I can help it.”

Eric nods subtly to show that he understands; I can trust that he will not tell anyone about this. I turn
around; open the door and half run to my computer, I need to do a background check on Mike. I need to
find out if Mike has been keeping some secrets from me and John.

My legs seem too slow for my
desperate attempt to prove that I am mistaken, that there has been some sort of misunderstanding, that it isn’t his medallion that I found or that there is a logical explanation for why it was in my crime scene, an explanation that excluded the assumption that Mike was somehow involved in the murder. I have to find the truth first, is Mike who he says he is?