Her first thought, which was a resolution really, was not to panic. She had been a private detective for some years now, and she had never considered herself to be in any real danger. Only once had she felt that she was in the presence of real evil, and that was when she had encountered Charlie Gotso BA. She had realised then that she was face-to-face with one who could deliberately dispose of somebody without a second thought. The realisation had appalled her, but she had not felt threatened herself. Now, though, she was being followed, and she felt fear. It was a taste in her mouth, a sound in her ears, a feeling on her skin.

She thought quickly. She was now not far from her driveway, and her first inclination was to steer straight in and shut the gate firmly behind her. Her house was her sanctuary and there were people about—neighbours who were always watching what was going on and would answer any call for help. But then it occurred to her that if she did this, she would be showing whoever it was who was following her that this was where she lived. That would not do, and indeed Clovis Andersen said something about this in The Principles of Private Detection; his words came back to her, as they often did in a crisis. If you find you are being followed, never take the tail to your original destination; that is exactly what he wants! Go somewhere public. Stop. Get out of the car.

It was good advice and she did not even slow down as she passed her house. The car behind her was keeping its distance, she noticed, and it kept that distance while she tried to decide what to do when she reached the end of Zebra Drive. If she turned left, she would end up driving past the hospital and the cathedral, and could eventually head back to the Tlokweng Road; if she opted to go right, she would come out on the road that led to the flyover and the Francistown Road. There was always a great deal of traffic on that road and there was a chance that she could throw the other car off there, but she would have to stop sometime, and she felt more at home on this side of town. She could even stop outside Mma Makutsi’s house, if need be, and invoke the help of her assistant and Phuti Radiphuti, if he was there. Not that Phuti would be much good, she thought; he was a kind man, and a gentle one, but she doubted whether he would be able to deal with the situation if it turned nasty.