Tandia (86 page)

Tandia held his stare. It was an impertinence she might not have been allowed had they been alone. Even now, the years of conditioning made her feel guilty. Guilty for what? She wasn't sure, for being born? Why was it she felt this life-or-death need to hold the fat white man's insolent stare? How could this animal intimidate her? Klopper ignored the flap of the envelope he- was holding and, without looking, nipped a corner with his thumb nail and began tearing about a quarter of an inch off the top, his fingers working deliberately as though he was in no hurry to open it. Tandia held his gaze, though the need to look away was becoming almost irresistible. She felt like a small bird mesmerized by a, snake and,. inwardly, she was screaming for the eye contact to come to an end. When Klopper had tom a thin sliver of paper off the top end of the envelope he finally dropped his gaze, inserting a fat thumb and forefinger pincer-like into the envelope to withdraw the court order. He unfolded the paper and appeared to look at it for a moment. 'Edward King George Juicey Fruit Mambo?' He read it slowly and aloud. Then without looking up he added,
'Here,
man, some kaffirs got blerrie funny names!'

'Inkosi Asebafa,
Lord of the Dead! That's not a funny name?' Peekay shot back.

Tandia grinned and Klopper looked at him coldly, his small dark eyes hostile. His voice was clipped as he spoke. 'You done your homework as usual, I see, advokaat. Most of the dead here, you know, they haven't got any papers.' He grinned, seeming to brighten up. 'They left their passes at home, that's what this whole kerfuffle is all about, man! Do you have papers for the kaffir who has become dead?'

'No, I don't, but we can identify him quite easily.'

'Identify him?' Klopper looked surprised. 'You can't identify a kaffir without papers, man!'

Peekay sighed. He could have kicked himself for making the crack about Klopper's African name. 'The deceased is quite distinctive looking, he has two gold-capped incisor teeth and a large zig-zag scar across his skull.'

'Gold teeth and a zig-zag skull? We got no one who become dead who looks like that!'

Klopper's response was clumsy. Peekay knew instantly that the Boer knew all along that they'd come for Juicey Fruit Mambo.

'I'm sure you have, Meneer Klopper, he's very large, six eight, six ten maybe? You couldn't miss him.'

Klopper's voice was casual, almost uninterested as he spoke. 'Oh, that one? Ja, I remember now! It was the zigzag head, when you said about the zig-zag head, that got me mixed up.' He paused just long enough for the effect, looking directly at Tandia. 'That part was blown away when he become dead.'

Tandia gasped and Peekay put his hand around her shoulder and squeezed her lightly. It was an involuntary action and a mistake and he saw the triumphant smirk on Klopper's face. 'We have an ambulance coming, Meneer Klopper.' Peekay withdrew his arm from around Tandia's shoulders and looked at his watch, 'any minute now. I'd like to sign for him please!'

Klopper shook his head as though he was genuinely regretful. 'I'm sorry, any other one you can have. Just say a name and you can have any other kaffir who has become dead yesterday, but not this one. The kaffir with the sharp gold teeth, I definitely got strict instructions from high up not to release him.' He handed the court order back to Peekay.

'This is ridiculous, Klopper!' Peekay said, dropping all pretence at politeness. 'I've got a court order, until it's rescinded it's valid. Who gave you the order to retain the deceased?'

Klopper seemed not in the least upset by Peekay's pointed manner. He' could quite easily have told Peekay to mind his own business, but instead he smiled, 'As a matter of fact a friend of yours, advokaat. A good friend of yours,' he grinned, enjoying the moment. 'Lieutenant Geldenhuis, it was him, he personally left the instructions.'

'Jannie Geldenhuis? Lieutenant Jannie Geldenhuis?' Peekay corrected.

'Ja, I think it will soon be Kaptein Geldenhuis. It was a brave thing that he done yesterday against all those drunk, dagga-smoking, murdering black bastards!'

'Brave thing!' Tandia could contain herself no longer, 'Jesus! Can you believe it?'

Klopper turned surprisingly quickly for a man his size and stabbed his finger at Tandia, 'Hey! You! Kaffir! You shut your mouth, you hear? You take God's name in vain again you in lots of trouble!'

Tandia looked at him defiantly then turned and walked back to the car, too distraught and angry to remain with Peekay. Johnny Tambourine opened the door from inside and she sat beside him. Inside the car she gave vent to her feelings. She was snorting with indignation, her nostrils flared as she fought to keep down her anger, 'I'll kill him, I'll kill the fat white pig!' she hissed.

Johnny Tambourine put his hand on Tandia's shoulder and chuckled pleasantly, 'That's why you got us, Tandy,' he said quietly. 'Hey man! I told you, we got a contract.' From the seam running down the side of his shaped tsotsi trousers Johnny Tambourine withdrew a sharpened bicycle spoke. 'Me, really I'm a knife man. Flyspeck Mendoza, he's the professional, he can use a spoke, cut spine with it better than a surgeon. When the time comes, Flyspeck will do it for you.'

Tandia shuddered, 'Johnny, you mustn't do it! Klopper's just an ignorant Boer, there are thousands like him.'

'He's dog shit in the sun, Tandia!'

'Johnny you're here to protect me; that doesn't mean you've got to kill everyone who insults me!
Here,
I'm a coloured person, a black like you; if we did that, in one month all the white people in South Africa would be dead!' Peekay knew better than to follow after Tandia. He'd already compromised himself earlier by physically touching her in the presence of Klopper. The fat mortician would have seen it as a weakness, even worse, a perversion, and would have totally lost respect and become wholly recalcitrant.

'Can I get Geldenhuis on the phone? Do you have a number?'

Klopper indicated the mortuary building directly behind him with a jerk of his head. 'He's in there; wait here, I'll go and ask him if he'll see you.'

A few minutes later Geldenhuis came out of the building, adjusting his cap as he walked into the sunlight. 'Howzit, Peekay?'

'Goed,
Jannie,' Peekay answered, equally casually, in Afrikaans.

'What you want?' Geldenhuis asked bluntly, reverting to that language.

Peekay produced the court order and held it out to Jannie Geldenhuis. 'It's a court order giving me authority…'

Geldenhuis cut across him impatiently. 'Ja, Klopper here told me. But why do you want this kaffir, what's he to you?'

'He was a friend, he's also a Zulu, I want to give him a proper burial.'

Geldenhuis looked directly at Peekay. 'Don't play games with me, you hear? You know he was a terrorist!'

Peekay laughed, surprised. 'What? Juicey Fruit Mambo? Don't be bloody ridiculous!'

'I know this kaffir, he works for a coloured woman called Mama Tequila. Do you know her??'

'Ja, I know her. The deceased was her chauffeur, that's not a crime.'

'No, man, before that, in 1947 he was in a gang that tried to blow up a pylon for the main power line from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. We keeping him for fingerprints, also we got a photographer coming down from Pretoria to take his picture.'

Peekay laughed. 'Jesus, Jannie, your people never give up, do you? Tandia's told me about the case. The police were made a laughing stock! It turned out to be a group of white guys. Juicey Fruit Mambo happened to be nearby on his way to a hospital where he worked!' He paused, 'But it didn't stop your lot from smashing in his skull when they threw him down a stairway and knocking out his front teeth in an attempt to get him to confess!'

Jannie Geldenhuis looked up at Peekay, 'I wouldn't believe everything that coloured bitch told you or, for that matter, hasn't told you! The police case was badly prepared, he, whatzisname, Juicey Fruit Mambo, was guilty all right; today that wouldn't have happened, I'm telling you, man!' Peekay brought his forefinger to the tip of his nose. 'Hey, wait a minute, Jannie, what are you saying…hasn't told me yet?'

Geldenhuis laughed. 'You think you know everything, don't you? You always so fucking smart! Well you don't, you hear? You know nothing!'

'Miss Patel is a colleague, a partner and a lawyer with an impeccable reputation, that's all I need to know about her.'

'Miss Patel? Who are you calling miss? Miss, like she's a somebody, like she's a white person! The black bitch is a whore and I can prove it.' Geldenhuis spat.

Peekay was suddenly terribly angry. 'Who are you calling a whore, Geldenhuis?' A tiny voice in the back of his head told him to stop; danger lay ahead. But he couldn't leave it there and just back down. He suddenly knew he was in love with Tandia, that he wanted to smash Geldenhuis's face in, defend her against his vile accusations. He gritted his teeth, fighting for control, his entire body shaking with the effort.

'You fucking her!' Geldenhuis grinned, pulling his head back slightly, delighted. 'Jesus! Peekay's fucking a black whore!'

Geldenhuis was fast enough to see the left coming, but it was only a feint. Peekay's right hand smashed into his jaw, almost lifting him from the ground, and he sat down hard and then rolled in the dirt. There was a cry of astonishment from the Africans waiting under the bluegum trees and a solitary black constable came running up. The people, alerted by Tandia's return to the car, had been watching; someone in the crowd had recognized her and the
Onoshobishobi Ingelosi
when they'd arrived. Now they saw the Tadpole Angel knock the hated Lieutenant Geldenhuis down and they were too astonished to do anything but gasp. Had it been anyone else they would have scattered, running from the trouble to come, but they now saw Peekay's presence as a sign and they held their ground.

Geldenhuis lay still as Klopper ran over to him but before the big man could lift him up he sat up and shook his head.
'Is jy okay?'
Klopper asked anxiously.

Geldenhuis pushed him arm aside and waved the black policeman back; then he rose a little unsteadily to his feet.

The policeman ran over and retrieved Geldenhuis's cap and, dusting it first with the back of his hand, handed it to his superior who placed it back on his head. A bright trickle of blood ran from the corner of Geldenhuis's mouth. He wiped at it with the back of his hand and then looked up, grinning triumphantly. 'I've got you, Peekay!' He turned to Klopper, 'You witnessed it, an unprovoked attack on a police officer!'

'Ja, I'm your witness, I saw the whole thing, Lieutenant.' Klopper's voice was unctuous, anxious to collaborate.

'You know what is the stupid part, Peekay? You hit me for nothing, I can prove it. I can prove she's a whore.'

Klopper's arm went around Peekay as he stepped towards Geldenhuis. 'No more, you hear!' The fat man's strength was enormous as he held Peekay. Some of the Africans had moved closer and the men among them were starting to look angry.

Geldenhuis hadn't slept the previous night. He still couldn't quite believe that he'd been responsible for the first shot, the fatal shot which had killed Juicey Fruit Mambo. The whole thing had a dreamlike quality. He'd realized later that in the subsequent chaos nobody seemed to know he'd started the massacre. What had kept him sleepless was the certainty that his career was finished. He'd been the Special Branch man on the spot, responsible for maintaining order during the protest and he'd failed. Coming after everything else, he was certain that this time he was doomed.

But he showed none of this anger outwardly as he fixed his pale blue eyes on Peekay who was being held in a bear hug by Klopper. At the very least he should smash his fist into Peekay's face. In his imagination he could hear the crunch of bone and cartilage as he flattened his nose.

But this moment too passed and he was back in control. He was too good a police officer to waste the opportunity with a piece of gratuitous revenge when Peekay had so much more ultimately coming to him.

'You'd better come inside,. man.' Geldenhuis paused, 'Into the office…or I can place you under arrest here, you can suit yourself.' He was still panting a little from the shock of the punch though the blood had ceased to run from his mouth. Tandia and Johnny Tambourine came running up. Klopper still held Peekay, who'd made no attempt to struggle. 'Let him go, man.' Geldenhuis said to Klopper, 'I can defend myself.' He turned to Tandia, 'Get back to the car and wait, you hear? Take the kaffir boy with you!'

Tandia looked questioningly at Peekay. 'It's okay, Tandia, we're just going to the office for a chat; wait for me, I shan't belong.'

Geldenhuis grinned, his voice over-familiar, 'Do as you told now, Tandy.'

Tandia, pale and frightened, stood her ground. 'What's going on, Peekay?'

'Lieutenant Geldenhuis said something to me and I took exception to it. What I did was stupid; it's okay, just wait for me in the car.'

Tandia knew immediately that Peekay had come to her defence, that he'd hit Geldenhuis because of something he'd said about her. 'Lieutenant, do you intend to press charges?' She was surprised at the firmness of her voice.

Geldenhuis gave a short, dismissive laugh. 'I'm a boxer, I should have known better, man. I thought he was going to hit me with a left hook!' His voice was almost friendly as he added, 'I just want to talk with Peekay, in the office, do you mind?'