‘Okay, so the first thing is to put some distance between us and the murder,’ said Two-Boy. ‘What you’ve written so far is not enough. We’ve got to find a way to make it absolutely clear we had nothing to do with Lesedi’s killing.’

‘Unless of course we did have something to do with Lesedi’s death,’ Kagiso said, staring at each of the others in turn.

There was silence. It wasn’t just the absence of sound but a moment of utter quiet that filled the room, like a poisonous gas leak. Each of the others absorbed what had been said and what had been implied.

‘We’re not going there.’ François broke the silence.

‘No, let’s go there. Go on, point your fucking finger.’ Sharmi was now just a metre away from Kagiso. ‘Tell us who you think is behind this. Which one of us do you think is so low and dirty? Come on, say it.’

‘Jissis, man. Stop this fokken nonsense now,’ François said, walking over to where Kagiso was standing. ‘You of all people should know better. It was your idea, remember? What we do with our own teams is our own business. Ask no questions, get told no lies. Isn’t that what you used to say?’

‘This is different,’ Kagiso stressed. ‘We’re talking about a murder here.’

‘Oh, no! Not a murder. Oh, let’s just leave that sort of thing to the land-owners, shall we?’ Sharmi was finding her stride again. ‘Let them drag people off their own land to die in some godforsaken place. We’ll just keep our hands clean.’

‘This was a brutal killing. No ifs or buts, just a gruesome and senseless murder. Full stop!’

‘Give me a fucking break.’ Sharmi was looking straight at Kagiso. ‘It may come as a surprise to you but this is what the struggle looks like, and if you’re finding it so difficult to swallow why don’t you just leave the rest of us to get on with it? Just for the record, I for one think he was fair game.’

‘Cut it out, both of you.’ Now it was François’s turn to shout.

‘No, no. Sharmi wants me to spell it out so here it is. Who knew where Lesedi was going to be last Thursday? The folk in Malelane: they hero-worship the Motlantshes so I think it’s safe to count them out. Probably his family: they may be corrupt bastards but I don’t think even they would stoop to killing their own children. And then there’s the four people in this—’

‘If you two don’t stop this, I’m out of here.’ François turned to Kagiso. He put his hands on the other man’s shoulders. ‘Come on, man,’ he said. ‘It’s too late to be coming up with this kak. What’s done is done. Now we got to ride this thing.’