The Wall

21

Thembinkosi opened the briefcase, adding the ring and pen to the cash and jewelry from the previous house with the little dog. He then shut it and picked it up. The clattering bothered him. He walked back into the larger of the two bedrooms and opened the wardrobe. Shirts you’d wear if you were a farmer. Cargo pants with outer pockets. He shook his head. Nozipho had been right. He took three of the shirts from their hangers. Opened the briefcase again and lay the shirts inside. Shut it again. Picked it up. The clattering was gone. Went back to the front of the house.

He cautiously approached the window. The guard was just standing up from the hood and was waving at someone some distance away. A few seconds later, a second Polo joined the first one. Two men and a woman were sitting inside. The driver rolled down the window to chat with his colleague who’d already been standing there for a while. Then the three new arrivals got out of their car. The driver was in his mid-forties, and he moved as if this wasn’t his first rodeo. The other man and the woman were young. Rookies. Glanced around. Had come along to learn something.

Rookies were always bad news. Sense of responsibility, minimal experience, no broader perspective. An unpleasant cocktail that could quickly lead to overzealousness.

“Thembi!” Nozipho called. She was much too loud. He kept his eyes on the four on the street, but none of them seemed to have heard anything. Nozipho only said “Thembi” when she was sexually aroused—or in danger. “Thembi!” she called again.

“Sssshhh!” he said much quieter. “I’m on my way.”

“Thembi, come here!” The garage door slammed again with a dull thud. Nozipho stood in front of him, her mouth open.

“What is it?”

Nozipho tried to talk. Failed. Her eyes… Thembinkosi had never seen her eyes like this. What was it? Panic? No… Horror.

“What is it?” he asked again.

Nozipho opened and shut her mouth, but couldn’t make a sound. She held out her hand, which was shaking. Thembinkosi took it and let himself be led away. Together they walked down the narrow hallway to a metal door. Nozipho opened it, and they entered the garage. Hardly any breathable air, so stuffy and hot. At the end of a cable, a lightbulb dangled from the ceiling, providing the empty space with a little light. Two or three sunbeams had managed to creep under the door that led outside. The space smelled of engine oil. A shelving unit stood against the wall. Tool boxes. Cooler. Rubber boots. A steel cabinet stood open, almost empty except for two yellow plastic containers. Thembinkosi caught sight of a very large freezer in the corner. That was it.

Nozipho pulled him toward it. She stopped in front of it and stared at the lid.

It took a few seconds for Thembinkosi to realize that he was supposed to raise it. He grabbed the handle and slowly opened the chest.

In the dim light, he could make out the outlines of a human body. He swiftly slammed the freezer shut.