Water Music (29 page)

Little Esther, you mean?

Yes, her, the one who lived but also the others, the girls that died.

How many were there?

Three, said Rosa. He didnt come when she gave birth. It was only little Esther who lived.

Her mother was suffocated. I saw the autopsy report,
said Clare. But why, after all this time, did Stern kill Esther?

It wasnt him.

Rosas face was close to Clares in the dark.

Esther was very sick. Shed been sick before, but this time she knew she was dying. Shed already tattooed her name onto her daughters skin, Rosas voice caught in her throat. She told me that the only time he let her out was to bury the babies that died, the ones that were
stillborn. Thats where we got the idea.

Rosa stopped, her fists clenching.

What idea? Clare prompted.

Rosas voice broke, but she pushed through. He said it was her fault they died, that she must clean up her own mess.

Clare stroked her hair, untangling the curls.

We talked about all that, here in the darkness. And then we decided. She wasnt strong enough, so it had to be me that held my hands
over her face until she stopped moving. Stopped breathing.

Rosa stopped speaking; her words faded into the silence.

Clare took Rosas hands, felt the bones, the strength that came from making music.

That took real courage, said Clare.

She endured so much, for so long, said Rosa.

I meant you, said Clare.

Rosa withdrew her hands.

Stern found Esther here, dead. He was so angry. He didnt say
anything. Just went upstairs to fetch a hammer. He brought it back and he spread out my fingers, here, on the table. I thought he was going to break all of them, but all he did was break the little finger of my left hand.

She held it up crooked and swollen.

This is the hand that holds the strings so that my other hand can draw the music from the cello.

After he broke it, he told me that I
would have to bury her. But first I had to bandage my finger so that I could dig her grave. He fetched a spade. The little girl clung to me, wouldnt let me go, and when he came back, he didnt care either way, and I was so frightened that my only chance would slip through my fingers that I tied her onto my back, even though I knew it would make the digging and the running harder.

Rosa was crying
now, raw animal sounds. Clare held her tightly against her own body until she could find a way to speak again.

The grave had to be deep, he said. I dug and dug, then I put Esthers body inside and dropped the stones on her chest like he said I must so that she didnt swell up and betray us, and I filled in the grave again. The wet soil hit her face looking up at me

I saw her face too, when we
found her, said Clare.

She must have been so beautiful once, said Rosa. But the horror of what happened to her was marked on her for ever.

As it will be on us unless we get out of here, Clare thought.

What happened then? she said instead.

Then the wind dropped, and there were mens voices, and he turned to listen, and thats when I ran. I ran until I fell. The child was too heavy, so I slid
her off and tied her to a fallen branch. I told her Id come back. Her eyes were closed, I think the starlight hurt her when the clouds parted. Shed never been outside, never seen stars. I covered her an old piece of plastic lying nearby and I ran, and ran. There was a fence. A hole under it, it looked like it was burrowed by some animals, maybe porcupines. I tried to slide through it in the mud,
it scratched my skin, all along my back. At the house I broke a window, it threw my face back at me. The alarm didnt go off. I wanted it to scream my throat was so tight but it didnt, I saw the phone and dialled the only number Ive ever known.

Rosa, I heard you, Clare said. Your oupa brought your message to me.

Thats why youre here.
My
message.
My
fault. Rosas voice seemed to stumble, fall.
But he found me there, in that nice house, and it was him who hit me on the head and dragged me back into the forest, my feet were bleeding. When I woke up I was here again, in this hole.

The light flickered and went out, plunging them into an abyss of darkness.

Riedwaan walked down the side of the harbour where rusty fishing boats listed at anchor. The last boat pitched and rolled as the swell muscled its way into the sheltered area. Chadley Wewers squatted over a tangle of nets, iPod earbuds disappearing into his hoodie. He worked at the net, fingers familiar with the knots since he was a boy. Riedwaan stepped over the gangplank and Wewers looked
up at him.

Entjie?

Riedwaan offered him his packet. Threw him a lighter.

You lost, Captain? Wewers stood up before lighting his cigarette.

Tell me about it, said Riedwaan, his back to the open sea. He had a clear view of the harbour, the marina, the parking lot, the Sentinel grim behind Hangberg.

That girl who went missing, said Riedwaan. Rosa Wagner. The one who was in that house other side
of the valley. Whered she go?

You still scheme I know something about her? You fucken mad?

You tell me, said Riedwaan.

Me and DesRay, weve got a laaitie coming, said Wewers. I got a second chance. Im fucken taking it with two hands.

Changes things, a woman and a child, said Riedwaan.

You got kids?

I fucked up, said Riedwaan. Dont make that mistake.

Thats what Im trying not to do, said Wewers.
I keep telling you the same fucken stuff and you dont hear me. My life, Im turning it around. Why do you think Im working here?

This girl, said Riedwaan. He held out the photograph of Rosa Wagner: gleaming skin, red dress, cello. You saw her.

Wewers studied the photograph.

Fuck you. He lit the cigarette.

You nervous?

Wewers was silent.

If you tell me, I can help you. You and DesRay. The
baby too, said Riedwaan. You tell me whats happening. Where this girl is. Youre safe.

Ive got work to do, said Wewers.

You know whats been going on up at the castle? asked Riedwaan.

Why would I know anything about people in castles? said Wewers. Do I look like a fucking fairytale?

Rosa played music there, said Riedwaan. Maybe you saw her.

I like Tupac, not Beethoven.

Just wondering why you
were walking up there, said Riedwaan. You see anything?

Trees, rain, owls, mud, said Wewers, his face shutting down. Thats it.

Whats with the walks?

Part of rehab. Fresh air, community, exercise.

You think about it, said Riedwaan. A new start. You and the baby.

Why you trying to help me?

I was like you once, said Riedwaan. Someone helped me.

Cheap shoes, Mr Price jeans, old leather jacket,
thats what it did for you. What did it do for him?

Hes dead, said Riedwaan. Gangster like you shot him.

Wheres the gangster?

Hes dead too. Riedwaan flicked his cigarette overboard.

What you trading? said Wewers.

The docket, said Riedwaan. The assault charge youre paroled for now.

Thats fuck-all. Chadley Wewers stood up. It cost me fifty bucks the day I was paroled. A little fish told me
that the only witness is feeding the crayfish. Its gone long time, that case.

Wewers pushed past, but Riedwaan grabbed him, twisting him into an iron embrace.

Dont fuck with me, said Riedwaan, his lips almost touching the metal piercing of the boys ear, his pistol against his head.

OK, chill, man. I heard some weird sounds. A girls voice, maybe others.

What others?

Maybe a man.

Thats it?
Riedwaan dug the barrel of his pistol into his temple.

Defeat in Wewerss eyes, the look of a dying man.

The girl.

Rosa?

I dunno. She was naked. Running.

Where?

Downhill.

To the estate?

Im telling you, he said. I dont know where, who the fuck she is.

Riedwaan twisted the barrel, the metal drew blood.

OK, OK, he said, angling his head away from the gun. She was running for her life. Like
an animal. She made sounds like an animal makes.

She ran out of the estate?

No, man. She was running towards it. She went in. She ran down the hill. Thats why we saw her. Like a ghost with her shiny skin. Id been smoking a lolly, I thought I was seeing things.

What are you not telling me? said Riedwaan. He moved the trigger back, a loud click.

A man was after her, he said.

Who, you motherfucker?

I dont know, Captain, I dont fucking know, man. He was sommer there, like hed come out of the ground.

Where did he go? asked Riedwaan.

Into the estate, after her.

Who was it? Savić? Mikey? Jonny Diamond?

I dont fucking know, Wewers whined.

The barrel bored into his temple, and it bled.

Im going to put in a complaint, he gasped. Ive got rights. Colonel Cwele, Ill tell him.

Tell him what
you fucking like. Riedwaan had his face on the ground. Ive finished as a cop and Ill kill you if you dont give me more. Tell me who he is, otherwise I take you with me. Easy place to escape, up there. Easy place to take a bullet in your back when you run away.

They were just fucking gone, man. Like ghosts, like the mountain swallowed them.

You know him, Wewers, said Riedwaan. And he saw you
there, didnt he?

A wet stain spread across Wewerss crotch.

Give me a name.

The farm up there. He shoots anyone who comes near his land, said Wewers. I dont know his fucking name. But he saw me. He knows where to find me. And he knows where to find DesRay.

Riedwaan eased the trigger back.

Why do you go up there?

Your roadblocks fucked up business, said Wewers. So now we just walk the shit
through. We use the tunnel, the old dry one to Camps Bay. It was that fucking simple till this girl shit happened.

Riedwaan let him go, holstered his gun. Wewers knew better than to move fast, but Riedwaan didnt turn his back on him until he was out of range.

He phoned Mandla Njobe as he ran to his bike.

Meet me up on the mountain, said Riedwaan, ready to accelerate. Paradys.

The trapdoor opened.

Noah Stern stood there, his eyes slits.

Clares heart leapt when she saw her jacket. The familiarity of it, its warmth as she put it on over her naked body was an unbearable comfort. For Rosa he had brought a cloak.

There was a red smear on his white shirt.

What have you done to Nancy? asked Clare.

He glanced down, his hand flew up.

Where is she?

Stern had Clare by
the throat.

You corrupted her. You turned her. She paid the price. Each sentence punctuated by a blow to her face.

Leave her, please, begged Rosa. Clare didnt know anything. How could she?

Your words were the poison. Stern pulled Clare closer. I caught her when she was leaving.

Where was she going? Clare asked through the red fog of pain in her head.

She was wearing your boots, walking down
the mountain. Walking away. From me, from my family, from what Ive built here. She was about to destroy it all. The vision we had. I would never let that happen.

Wheres the boy? whispered Rosa.

He is nothing, said Stern, turning on her in fury. Now move.

He moved the shelves again, and a door was revealed.

A cold exhalation as the door swung open onto to the coffin-shaped room where Rosa had
lain in the dark.

Inside, he ordered.

Clare could not do it.

Stern took Rosas damaged hand and squeezed. The scream compelled Clare, and Rosa stumbled in after her.

He pulled their restraints tighter. Torchlight flickered on the far wall.

Remove that rubble, he ordered, thrusting a spade at Clare.

The sound of the water was louder here.

Where are you taking us, Stern? Clare turned on him.
The claustrophobic space, the smell, her rage closing up her throat.

You try anything with that, he warned, the hammer swinging lightly in his grip. He pulled Rosa against his body. This little hand is finished, he smiled, splaying out her fingers.

Clare had no choice. Not yet. She looked at the loose bricks near a wooden doorframe, gripped the spade and began to dig at the rubble. At last some
loosely packed bricks tumbled to the floor.

The breath of the tunnel was foetid.

The darkness inside was absolute.

Clear the way, ordered Stern.

Clare dug, chipped away at the wall.

When the opening was big enough he yoked them together again: Rosa in front, Clare behind, shackled like slaves with a looped chain around their necks. Hands tied behind them, the two women lurched into the thick
black air of the tunnel.

Stern closed the door behind them and prodded them into the darkness. Unable to feel their way, the women stumbled along the rock-strewn floor and up a steep incline. Up ahead in the distance the roar of water. A sound at once ominous and welcome, drawing them on.

He walked them fast, their feet bare and bleeding.

Sterns foul breath was hot on Clares skin.

She tripped
and the chain tightened, a hurtful saviour.

He had them. Clare matched her rhythm with his, and she was able to walk without falling.

Rosa kept stumbling trying to shield her swollen hand.

She fell hard. Did not get up.

Stern kicked her, but she lay there, inert.

She cannot go any further. Clares voice a whip in the darkness.

Then she can die here.

No, whimpered Rosa. Take me to the water,
please, to its music.

Stern was moving from one foot to another, agitated, lost in his own scheme.

Let me help her, Stern. His name hard as a stone on her tongue, it seemed to draw him back. Noah. She tried that. Conciliation in her voice. Please, we cant just leave her here. Ill help her, stay with her.

Still he hesitated.

Noah. Clares voice submissive. Tell me where you want to take her.