Spokes knew that he was looking at something more intriguing and elaborate than a simple cover-up or whatever it was the Secret Intelligence Unit was up to, which is why he decided not to share with them the fact that he was aware of what had happened to Tom Fortenoy. Clement Rutherford and Joseth Maraire had called him to come and investigate a crime, and he would investigate a crime.

‘Was the body moved?’ Spokes asked.

‘No. We found him as you see him,’ Clement Rutherford said. ‘We decided to call you since you had already started investigating Emil Coetzee’s disappearance.’

‘Very interesting that he was shot three times and did not bleed out,’ Spokes said, leaning over the body but making sure not to touch it. ‘Blood on his clothes but no blood stain on the carpet. No blood anywhere else as a matter of fact. Usually with gunshot wounds there is blood … blood spatter … a pool of blood. In all my years in this job, I don’t think I have ever seen anything quite like this. Most interesting indeed.’

Clement Rutherford and Joseth Maraire shared a look that became increasingly accusatory. What a detail to overlook, Spokes thought. They had probably been too intent on overturning the living-room furniture and writing Golide Gumede’s name – G O L I D E G U M – on the den wall to pay attention to the most important detail of all. Spokes privately concluded that this was what happened when incompetence was continuously rewarded.

‘We can see that you are not fooled,’ Clement Rutherford said.

‘You are a very clever man … smart,’ Joseth Maraire said, convincingly if begrudgingly.

They were trying to flatter him. To get him to go along with whatever it was they were planning.

‘We had to make the crime scene media-friendly. After the war, readers and viewers don’t want a lot of gore,’ Clement Rutherford explained.

Spokes nodded, understanding more than what had been said.

‘The death of a powerful man is inherently a political act,’ Clement Rutherford said.

‘And the death of a man like Emil Coetzee – well, that death has to be the most political of all,’ Joseth Maraire said, used to elaborating on someone else’s point.

‘So Emil Coetzee cannot just commit suicide, say; someone has to kill him. And it is even better if that someone who kills him is someone whom the country has come to fear and loathe,’ Clement Rutherford said.

Spokes looked at the red letters spelling out G O L I D E G U M.

‘Did he?’

‘Did who what?’ Clement Rutherford asked.

‘Did Emil Coetzee commit suicide?’

‘A man does not just walk into the bush and then not walk out of it,’ Joseth Maraire said.

‘And besides, two lions and a leopard were spotted in the area,’ Clement Rutherford said.

‘Two leopards and a lion,’ Joseth Maraire corrected.

The two men shared another look, this one more difficult to read.