Trackers (67 page)

'Last night... Mr Joubert called just
as I was locking up, about my husband's cellphone. I... Maybe I forgot...'

The inspector sighed. 'And you are
sure nothing was stolen?'

'Not as far as I can see. They just
broke all the PC monitors. And threw the files around.'

Butshingi pointed at the big red
letters on the wall. 'And you know what this is about, Sup?' he said, because
he knew who Joubert was.

Joubert had been in two minds about
how he would answer this question when it came. Putting his cards on the table
held many implications. Long hours of making statements, the Porsche, Audi,
cellphone, financial records that might be seized, the momentum of his
investigation broken. Tanya's 30,000 seeping away as the hours ticked by. But
he didn't want to lie either.

'Well, Mrs Flint employed us to try
and find her missing husband. There's a docket at the Table View Station ...'

'Table View,' sighed Butshingi, who
operated from the Milnerton station.

'It's Inspector Jamie Keyter's case.
He would know more than me.'

'Ay, ay,' said Butshingi. 'I know
him. But those words ...' He pointed at the wall. 'Someone wants you to stop.
You must have found something, Sup.'

'I've gone through his cars, his
financial statements, his office ...' Joubert shrugged.

'And nothing?'

'I still can't find him.'

'Who knew? About your investigation?'

That was a question he also wanted
answered. 'Obviously, Mrs Flint, her mother-in-law, his colleagues, and Jamie
Keyter.'

Butshingi looked at Tanya. 'And your
employees, here?'

'No, they knew nothing.'

The inspector stared at the graffiti.
'Sup,' he said slowly and carefully, 'are you sure there's nothing you're not
telling me?'

'Inspector, if you want to, we can
give you access to everything. Maybe you will see something I missed.'

The detective shook his head. 'Let me
talk to Keyter first.'

When they were alone, Tanya Flint
asked him what he thought. 'You talked to nobody else about the investigation?'
'Our friends know. And you, and his work.'

Joubert thought about it, shook his
head. 'There are too many variables. Someone could have been watching Self
Storage. Or asked the caretaker to call if someone went in there. I'll try to
find out.'

'It's the people who harmed Danie.
Now they are trying to stop us.' But without the sense of conviction she had
shown earlier.

He told her the money was key. They
would have to talk to Absa, as soon as possible. They needed more detail about
the transactions, about the account itself. Anything. Everything. If she took
the SAPS case number, their marriage certificate and identity book along, the
bank should help.

'Let me just sort out this chaos,'
waving her hand around the trashed office. 'Get the insurance guys in, see if I
can get new computers.'

'I'll be back at the office.' He made
a move to go, turned back. 'I don't think you should be alone. We must make a
plan.'

At the office he found a telephone directory,
opened it at 'H', ran his finger down the columns, until he found it.

Helderberg
Upholstery.

He called the number, asked the woman
who answered if they could replace the leatherwork of his Porsche.

'That is our speciality, sir,' she
said.

'I'll bring it in for a quote,' he
lied.

Another
riddle solved. Despite the break-in at Tanya Flint's business and the warning
on the wall, he felt a certain satisfaction. He had made progress. Despite the
rusty gears. He had climbed on the detective bicycle and ridden again. And now
it seemed he could solve this thing after all, before the money ran out.

He found Mark Marshall's home number in the telephone
directory and phoned him. A woman's voice answered cheerfully. 'This is Helen.'

He asked if he could talk to Mr Marshall.

'Hold on. He's outside having a clandestine smoke. I'm not
supposed to know ...'

He heard the woman calling, then footsteps before a man
picked up and said: 'Mark Marshall.'

Joubert asked him if he had sold a 1984 Porsche Carrera nine-
double-one to a Danie Flint in October.

'Yes. That's me. Why? Is he selling again?'

'No. He has been reported as missing, and I'm working the
case. We're just trying to get a profile of his spending this last year.'

'The car has gone missing?'

'No, sir, Mr Flint was reported missing by his wife.'

'Good grief. Is he all right?'

'We don't know, sir.'

'Good grief. Such a fine young fellow. It was a real pleasure
to .. .When did he disappear?'

'Last year in November. According to our records, he bought
the car from you.'

'He did. Cash, on the nose.'

Joubert asked him how Flint had heard about the Porsche.

'I advertised it. In
Auto Trader
,
last year September.'

'And when did he contact you?'

'I'll have
to ...
It
happened pretty quickly, just a couple of days before he bought it, must have
been ...
That's the problem with getting old,
you can't remember the details any more, I'll have to go check.'

'He made the payment to you on
October twenty-seventh ...'

'That's about right. Then it must
have been around the twenty-fifth when he called. In the morning, asked some
questions. And no haggling, which was a nice change, all the other chancers
were making these ridiculous offers. Anyway, then he came around at lunchtime
to take a look. Knew his stuff, too. Said he was also interested in a 1981
Ferrari 308 GTSi, and he would let me know ...'

Joubert made some notes on his
notebook. 'The Ferrari. Did he mention the price?'

'No. But it was also advertised in
the
Auto Trader
, and I went and had a look. Can't
remember exactly, but it was more than 400,000. Anyway, two days later, he
called, said he was taking the Porsche, and he asked for my banking details. He
made an Internet transfer. And then he came with a taxi to fetch the car the following
day. Really nice guy, good manners ...'

'That would be the twenty-eighth?'

'It was one day after he made the
payment.'

'Did he say anything about how he got
the money?' A shot in the dark.

'Well... Not really. I asked him what
he does, and he said he was in business for himself. So I asked what kind of
business, because I used to be an entrepreneur myself. He said something about
being a dealmaker.'

'A dealmaker.'

'He was sort of vague, but, you know,
nowadays you get all kinds of brokers and businesses, I don't understand half
of it. And it wasn't my place to be nosy.'

'Mr Marshall, was there anything else
you can remember. Anything he said?'

'Well... not really. I mean, when two
petrolheads get together, they talk about cars. And he knew his stuff, knew the
history of the nine- eleven, how the French objected in the early sixties to
the original name, the nine-oh-one, so Porsche had to change it, that sort of
thing. I remember he said the 1967 S coupe model was the most beautiful, but I
like the Carrera better, so we had this little argument going, all in good
spirits. He had a great sense of humour, very likeable guy. So do you have any
idea what happened to him?'

'Not yet.'

'And the car?'

'We found the car last night.'

'Well, then he won't be far away ...'

He tore out his notes, put them
beside the writing pad and began building up a timeline:

17
October: Deposit of R250,000.

25
October: Phoned about Porsche. Went to look at it.

27
        
October:
Paid R248,995 for the Porsche. (Internet bank)

28
        
October:
Collected the Porsche.

29
        
October:
Deposit of R147,000.

3
November: Cash withdrawal of R1,000.

9
November: Cash withdrawal of Rl,500.

12 November:
Paid Helderberg Upholstery Rl 1,000 (Internet bank)

25
November: Disappeared.

He sat staring at it, read his notes
again. Eight days between the first deposit and Danie Flint's enquiry about the
Porsche. He'd had a look at what was on the market first. And why would he have
been interested in a Ferrari of more than R400,000 if he only had R250,000 in
the bank? Or was it merely to give Mark Marshall the opportunity to drop his
price? But Marshall had said
no haggling ...

Joubert wrote at the bottom of his
timeline.
Ferrari? Over R400,000??? Try to trace seller. Get
September's Auto Trader.
There had been a magazine in Danie
Flint's drawer. Maybe that was the one.

Then he wrote:
Date bank account opened? What kind
of deposits?

And:
Self
Storage - date of lease? Costs?
There had only been two cash
withdrawals, made five days after he had collected the Porsche. Where had the
car been in the interim?

He thought again before writing down
the word
dealmaker
, with three question marks behind
it. And finally, in large capital letters: WHERE DID THE MONEY COME FROM?

Tanya Flint phoned him when he
stopped at the Self Storage depot in Salt River. She said she had an
appointment at the bank for half past two, the Heerengracht branch, since that
was where the account had
been opened.

He arranged to meet her five minutes
before the appointment at Absa. Then he took his writing pad, climbed out and
walked to the office of the depot, which had been locked and empty last night.

A coloured woman in her thirties sat
behind the counter paging through
You
magazine.
When she saw him she pushed it aside and asked if she could help. He put his
business card on the counter and told his story.

When he mentioned Danie Flint's name,
she asked, 'Ninety-seven B?' as though a light had switched on.

'That's right,' and he took the keys
out of his pocket.

'Mary,' the woman called over her
shoulder. 'The mystery of ninety- seven B has been solved.'

Mary appeared from behind a
partition. She was coloured, older, plump and indignant.

'Where have you been, sir?' She
looked him up and down.

'It's not his contract, it's Flint's,
and he's gone,' said the magazine reader.

'Gone?' asked Mary.

'Missing person,' the other one said.

'So who will pay what's owing?'

Joubert said he was sure the overdue
amount would be paid.

'We would have had to sell that fancy
car at the end of next month, because the third warning is due.'

'Did you send notices out?'

'We tried to phone him, since
December already, when he went into arrears. But he'd given us the wrong
number, the woman said she had never heard of him. And the contract says, three
months, then we auction.'

'What address did you send the
notices to?'

'The one on his contract.'

'May I see it?'

'That's private information,' said
Mary, but without great conviction.

'That's the only way the outstanding
money will be paid,' he said persuasively. 'If you help me.'