Trackers (77 page)

Mat Joubert

Investigations

He shifted the framed certificate so
that it hung level, heard a knock on the door. Probably Telkom, coming to
connect the phone.

'Come in.'

A man opened the door, medium height,
almost colourless hair, cut short.

'Mat Joubert?' he asked.

'That's right.'

He closed the door behind him, came
closer, put out his hand. 'I am Lemmer.' The grip was strong.

Not Telkom's man, Joubert thought.
There was something about the sinewy, physical ease, the watchfulness of the
cool eyes that reminded him of a predator. He knew this sort. Mostly trouble.
He had worked with them, he had arrested some, usually with difficulty.

The man reached for his pocket, took
out a piece of paper and unfolded it - a newspaper clipping, which he held out.
Joubert took it and looked at it.

Mystery over tracker deepens,
the heading
read. He recognised it, his name was also in it, more than a week ago.

'I have information,' Lemmer said.

Joubert looked up. 'You'll have to
give that to the police.'

Lemmer shook his head. 'No.'

Joubert folded the clipping up again,
gave it back to the man, walked to his chair. 'Then you'd better sit down.'

On the other side of the desk he took
something else out of his pocket, put it down and pushed it closer to Joubert.
'Is that her?'

On semi-glossy paper, a photo of a
young girl, torn out of a black- and-white publication, maybe a school yearbook
because she was in uniform. The long black hair was held back with an Alice
band, pretty face. The small smile betrayed a rebelliousness, a challenge.

Joubert picked it up in his big
fingers, studied the features. Tried to compare it to the disfigured face he
had seen at the shooting range in Adantis. There was a strong resemblance.

'Maybe.'

'Did she have a small red birthmark,
just behind her left ear?'

'I don't know.'

'Can you find out?'

Joubert nodded. 'I can. Did you know
her?'

'No.'

Joubert looked up from the photo,
querying.

'Her name is Helena Delfosse. She has
the birthmark. She was last seen on the twenty-first of September in Nelspruit,
at the clothing boutique where she works. In the presence of her cousin,
Cornelia Johanna van Jaarsveld, also known as Flea. And I suspect Delfosse was
in Loxton in the Bo Karoo some time during the night of September twenty-sixth
to pick up Flea.'

Joubert studied the man again. 'How
are you involved?'

The grey-green eyes drifted to the
degree certificate on the wall. Then Lemmer got to his feet. 'You can keep the
photo. Her parents' address is on the back.' He turned and walked to the door.
With his hand on the knob he looked back. 'The newspaper didn't say what
firearm was involved ...'

Joubert did not react, just folded
his arms.

He saw the glimmer of a suppressed
smile on Lemmer's face, then the man came back slowly, put his hands on the
back of the mahogany chair. 'I was in a truck with Flea van Jaarsveld for
eighteen hours. Coincidence, chance circumstances. It was long enough for her
to lie, cheat and steal from me. I went looking for her, to get my stuff back.'

Joubert folded his arms. 'And did
you?'

'No.'

'What was her driver's licence doing
in Delfosse's bag?

Lemmer deliberated before he
answered. 'In Nelspruit they say Helena Delfosse was the tamer version of Flea
- a little wild, a little rebellious, but never overboard. Just enough to be
the favourite grandchild of her grandpa, big Frik Redelinghuys. The same
grandfather who refused to recognise Flea. The cousins had no contact with each
other the last ten years. Until August last year. When Flea walked into the
boutique.'

'What are you saying?'

'I'm saying the driver's licence was
no accident. With Flea nothing is accidental.'

Joubert digested that. Then he said:
'The firearm in the Atlantis case has been ballistically connected to the one
that was found under the body of Mr Danie Flint near Mitchells Plain. It was a
Beretta 92
Vertec.'

A shadow
crossed Lemmer's face, unfathomable.

'Thank you.'
And he walked back to the door.

Joubert began
to understand. 'You're going to stay on her trail.'

'If I can find
it.'

'You're
looking for trouble.'

Lemmer opened the door. 'I don't look for it.' And just
before he left: 'It finds me.'

BEST-SELLER'S
SUCCESS BUILT ON RUMOURS OF TRUTH

Did Osama Bin Laden
get medical treatment in South Africa?

'Nonsense,' says the publisher. 'It's
pure fiction.' But the author refuses to comment, and expert opinion maintains
that the success of the thriller,
A Theory of Chaos
, can be
ascribed to the persistent rumours that writer Milla Strachan based it on the
truth. The book recently became the number one best-seller in South Africa.

A photo of Strachan, a former
housewife from Durbanville, appeared in the Sunday papers in October 2009,
along with that of the missing former navy diver and anthropologist Lukas
Becker. Becker was wanted at the time by the SAPS in connection with
unspecified, serious crimes, and was described as 'armed and dangerous'. The
authorities published a statement shortly afterwards, admitting that Strachan's
supposed involvement was 'an administrative error', and offered her a public
apology.

The book's main male character,
Markus Blom, is an ex-soldier and archaeologist. The story is told from the
perspective of a housewife from the Northern suburbs (Irma Prinsloo) who
accepts a position at the now-disbanded Presidential Intelligence Agency - and
is involved in an international terrorist plot where Osama Bin Laden is
smuggled into South Africa for emergency medical treatment.

A spokesperson for the new, united SA
State Security Agency declined to comment, and said, 'SASSA does not react to
fiction'. According to the CIA's website, Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the
9/11 attack on the World Trade Centre, is still thought to be in hiding in
Afghanistan or Pakistan. The United States Consulate in Cape Town did not
respond to further questions.

The author, Milla Strachan, who is rumoured to be living on a
farm between Philippolis and Springfontein now, has granted no interviews since
the publication of
A Theory of Chaos.

Die Burger,
6 December
2010

My sincere thanks and appreciation to:

•
                 
My
wife, Anita, for her support, patience, comments and advice.

•
                 
My
agent, Isobel Dixon, and editor, Nick Sayers, for their invaluable wisdom,
insight, feedback and encouragement.

•
                 
My
brilliant (and very patient) translator, Laura Seegers.

The very long list of people who shared their expertise in
the research

process:

•
                 
Louis
Liebenberg (tracking - and the permission to quote his wonderful
The Art
of Tracking
so widely).

•
                 
Clifford
Lotter (flying and what it means to be a pilot, the RV-7, the radio language of
the air, and the flight over the Karoo).

•
                 
Dr
Douw Grobler for insight into rhinos, their diseases, and especially the
treatment of rhinos in transit.

•
                 
Nicola
van der Westhuizen (for making the Mercedes 1528 available, and information on
the documentation for movement of game).

•
                 
Oom
Joe van Wyk and Oom Ben Bruwer for all the Karoo stories.

•
                 
Ex-policeman
Boet Claassen and Johan Visagie of George Fivaz and Associates, who conduct
their private investigations in a way that Mat Joubert would have approved of.

•
                 
My
brother Francois Meyer and the Golden Arrow Bus Company (for everything about
the industry, but especially DRMP technology).

•
                 
Deon
duToit, senior manager of Corporate and Product Security at De Beers, Marlene
le Roux, Christo van der Rheede, Arthur Murray in Durbanville, Elna van der
Merwe, Peet van Biljon, Carike Pepler, Captain Elmarie Engelbrecht and Irma
Prinsloo.

I also acknowledge the following sources:

•
                 
Africa
Geographic Magazine

•
                 
'Organised
crime: A study from the Cape Flats', Andre Standing, Institute for Security
Studies, 2006

•
                 
'Is
South Africa really the world's crime capital?', Antony Altbeker, Institute for
Security Studies, 2006

•
                 
Crime
and Policing in Post-apartheid South Africa
, Mark Shaw, c. Hurst & Co, London, 2002

•
                 
'Organised
Crime in South Africa',
Stratfor Global Intelligence,
www.stratfor.com
, 17
July 2008

•
                 
'Organised
crime in the SADC region: Police Perceptions', Peter Gastrow, Institute for
Security Studies, 2006

•
                 
'The
social contradictions of organised crime on the Cape Flats', Andre Standing,
Institute for Security Studies, 2003

•
                 
'Organised
Crime and Terrorism: Observations from Southern Africa', Charles Goredema,
Institute for Security Studies, 2005

•
                 
'A
Review of the Health Issues of Captive Black Rhinoceroses
(Diceros
Bicornis)', Journal of Zoo and Wildlife Medicine
, Patricia M.
Dennis, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACZM, Julie A. Funk, DVM, PhD, Paivi J. Rajala-Shultz,
DVM, PhD, Evan S. Blumer, DVM, R. Eric Miller, DVM, Dipl. ACZM, Thomas E.
Wittum, PhD, and William J. A. Saville, DVM, PhD, Dipl. ACVIM, 38(4): 509-517,
2007

•
                 
'The
Religion of the Market', David R. Loy
, Journal of the American Academy of
Religion
65/2

•
                 
South
African Special Forces,
Robert Pitta, Osprey Publishing,
1993

•
                 
'Tracking:
Combining an ancient art with modern policing', Kotie Geldenhuys,
Servamus,
2005

•
                 
'Personality
characteristics of South African navy divers', C. Van Wijk, A. H. Waters,
Department of Psychology, Institute for Maritime Medicine, Simon's Town, South
Africa, 2001

•
                 
'Zimbabwe:
Soldiers Are the New Illegal Diamond Miners', 20 January 2009,
http://allafrica.com/stories/200901200817.html

•
                 
'Diamonds
Are a Tyrant's Best Friend',
Business Report,
8 December
2002,
http://globalpolicy.Org/security/issues/diamond/2002/l211
dia. htm