As though yet again reading Spokes’s thoughts, Silas Mthimkhulu said, ‘I know my wardrobe leaves a lot to be desired. My wife assures me she is working on changing my image. It is just that I have been a businessman for most of my life – the Idlazonke Stores, you know. Certain image to uphold, you see. Have to be seen to be ‘with it’. Some habits are just hard to break.’

Spokes was not sure if that explained even the half of it.

‘About yesterday,’ one of the detectives said tentatively.

‘Ah … yes … yesterday. Sad business, that,’ Silas Mthimkhulu said, shifting in his seat.

‘Did you notice anything out of the ordinary – anything unusual?’ the detective asked.

‘Well, we only moved here two … three months ago. Still getting to know the neighbours, you understand. Um, let me see. No, nothing out of the ordinary … She liked to sing in the morning. An early riser.’

‘Would you mind if I talked to some of the people here?’ the other detective asked. ‘I take it most are from the area … have known the Dlodlos longer.’

‘Ah, yes, of course,’ Silas Mthimkhulu said, attempting to stand and being hindered in his progress by the tightness of his trousers. ‘I can show you the ones who are neighbours.’

‘Thank you, but that will not be necessary,’ the detective said, halting him with his hand.

As Silas Mthimkhulu watched the detective leave, the other detective said, ‘You were saying about yesterday morning?’

‘Yesterday morning?’ Silas Mthimkhulu asked, his composure beginning to fray.

Spokes was very proud of the way the two detectives were handling the situation. Silas Mthimkhulu was a man not only accustomed to being in charge but to having his own way. He was too comfortable under the circumstances and needed to be shaken up a little bit. Well, he was definitely shaken up now, if only a little bit.

‘Yes. Yesterday morning,’ the detective said.

‘Let’s see … yesterday morning … no, nothing out of the ordinary,’ Silas Mthimkhulu said.

‘So she was singing as usual?’

‘Singing … yes. Singing as she prepared breakfast, but not as early as she normally did. She is … was a factory worker, early shift, according to my wife. Yesterday when she sang, it was later in the day.’

‘Later … how much later?’

‘Definitely after nine in the morning. My friend, Dr Gustav Mabuse, came to visit then. He also heard her singing because he commented on her voice, I remember. She has … had a very beautiful voice.’

‘What song was she singing?’ Spokes asked.

‘A Jim Reeves song. “This World Is Not My Home”, I believe.’

Spokes nodded and the detective took that detail down.

‘Houses are built much too close here,’ Silas Mthimkhulu was saying. ‘People expected me to settle in the white suburbs when we returned. But I am a man of the people. I have to be amongst them – be part of their heartbeat.’