My Sisters Keeper

87

MY SISTERS KEEPER

EIGHTY SEVEN

It's been a week since Maharaj planted that bug inside Lungelo's home office. He is beginning to wonder if this wasnt a waste of time from the get go. Maybe he should have listened to Theron. After all there is no evidence pointing at Lungelo as the Shadow Assassin. His finances are up to date, he has no offshore accounts under his name, so maybe that girl did lie to them.

He wants to bady believe that Lungelo is innocent, but his pride and his bruised ego just wouldnt allow him to. His gut feeling is telling him Lungelo might be involved in this. He doesnt know how but he knows, things just arent making sense to him. He has been listening to the tapes from his office, and all he got was Lungelo playing with his daughter, or working on his computer, or even having sex with his wife. That's been the only constant thing he has heard, Lungelo and Nomonde groaning and screaming in the office, he's beginning to think maybe Lungelo found the bug and is doing this on purpose.

He drove to the hotel where they have been staying while conducting their stakeout. He gets to the hotel and goes straight to his room. He takes a quick shower. He needs to go back to the stakeout before he misses some important stuff. When his shower is done he gets dressed. Even though he is tired he is not willing to rest just yet. He will rest when the big fish has been caught. That's what he keeps telling himself.

He was about to walk out when he heard a knock on the door. He opened and came face to face with Khanya Radebe. He's heard about him, his reputation is well known. And recently after taking the department of justice to the cleaners with that wrongful arrest lawsuit, he has amassed a whole new level of fear.

"Mr Radebe, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" He asks. Khanya pushes him out the way and walks in. He takes out a small plastic bag from his briefcase and holds it up in the air.
"I do believe this is yours Mr Maharaj." Maharaj looks at the bug inside the bag and clenches his teeth.
"I dont know what that is?" Khanya throws the bug on the bed.
"Mr Maharaj, I'm not going to play games with you. That thing was found in my brothers house, and not only that it was traced back to the Hawks. Now, I'm pretty sure, since you've been listening in for a while now, you know there hasn't been another Hawks officer who has come into that house. You planted that bug. And you invaded my brothers privacy. Consider this a warning, unless you have enough proof to substantiate your allegations against my brother, stay the fuck away from him or his family. I hope I've made myself clear. I'd hate to contact Mr Molefe and tell him how his officers are harassing innocent people. Have a good day sir." Khanya pushes past him again and walks out leaving Maharaj fuming.

He takes the bug and looks at it, it is the one he planted. He throws the tiny thing across the room. Another knock comes in. He opens the door angrily and finds his partner standing there.

"I take it you've spoken to Khanya Radebe?" Theron asks as he walks into the room.
"How did they find the bug?"
"Beats me. Khanya showed up to the house around noon, I heard he has a case here. I guess he decided to go see his brother and then boom, he found the bug."
"He didnt find the bug, Lungelo did. The man has been taunting us, those sex scenes in the study, no people, no matter how much they are in love would have sex that many times in one place."
"You really believe that?"
"I do. This man is more conniving than we thought."
"Since we cant catch him on the shadow thing, how about we go after him for the kidnapping and human trafficking?" Theron suggested. Lily had told them about what happened to her, and her baby going missing.

"That's going to be difficult. Its just one person's word."
"Yeah but it wouldnt hurt to look into it. Look at it this way, if he is in jail and Shadow strikes then we'll know he is innocent. But if he is in jail and nothing happens then......."
"We'll know there is some truth to the Shadow rumour."
"Exactly. It wont be as easy to find the evidence against him, you saw how squeaky clean he is. Except for a few speeding tickets, from the looks of it the man is clean."
"You're right. Let's look into the kidnapping thing and see where that leads us."

Maharaj was feeling hopeful again. His gut is telling him there is more to Lungelo than meets the eye. All he needs to do now is prove it.

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NOMONDE

This little charade game Lungelo is playing with the hawks is getting boring to be quite honest. I know that if they had concrete proof he would be in jail by now. But I cant help being afraid. What if all they are doing is bidding their time until they have gathered all they need to put him away. Right now I'm not sure what's more scary, him going to jail or me having to do this on my own. I know mum will always be there to help me, if God forbid anything happens to him. And the Radebe's will also be there but still, it's scary.

I got off work and decided to pass by the mall. Lungelo got me a driver since he said he cant pick me up. I got to Pick n Pay and got the trolley, my phone rang as I was walking in.
"Mr Radebe."
"Mrs Radebe. Where are you?"
"I'm at the mall, doing some shopping."
"Okay. Dont stay out too late. I miss you."
"You should have picked me up. Where are you anyways?"
"At home. We miss you."
"I'll be home soon."
"Okay, I love you."
"I love you too."

"Love. Such a beautiful thing." I heard someone speak behind me. I looked back and it was Maharaj.
"Can I help you?" He came around and stood in front of the trolley.
"Do you know the kind of trouble your husband is in?" He asks looking straight at me. I dont like police, I dont have a great history with them and I'm not about to pretend like I'm not annoyed at this ones presence.

"I guess this is the part where you tell me all the trouble he is in, then you tell me that I should help you help him, blah blah blah. Did I miss something?"
"It might sound like a joke now but you dont know the kind of things that man has done. I'm pretty sure there are plenty of people in the world who would like to know his identity. And God alone knows what they will do when they find out who he is."
"So you are planning on putting my husbands name out there as some ghost Assassin just because you've actually failed to prove your little theories about him, so your figure whoever wants to know the ghost Assassin will do the job for you? Is that your plan? Go ahead, Detective, put my husbands life in danger because of your own shortcomings and failures, but if anything happens to him, if anything at all happens to him, you will regret it." He chuckles.
"Is that supposed to be a threat?"
"I dont do threats Detective. If your theory is true, find the evidence and let the law take its course, but if you put my husbands life on the line for your own incompetence, trust me, you wont know what hit you when I'm done with you." I pushed the trolley almost hitting him and went to the other aisle.

When I was sure he wasnt following me I switched off the voice recording and saved it. I did my shopping and went back to the car. The driver loaded my groceries in the boot then drove me home. When I got home it was a bit quiet. Too quiet. I went to the study and as I got closer I heard voices. It was Lungelo and Khanya and they were arguing.

"Lungelo you still havent answered my question, is there any truth to Maharaj's allegations?"
"And I've said this ten times now. No, there is no truth to it. I dont know why Maharaj is even harassing me."
"So explain to me how you got to be so friendly with Philani and his crew to such a point you went on a vacation with them?"
"You introduced me to them remember." Lungelo yells. I decide to go in.

"What's going on?"
"Ask your husband. He is the one who seems to be hiding something."
"I'm not hiding anything. Maharaj is grasping at straws. He wont find anything."
"Dont be too sure about that." I take out my phone and play the recording for them.

"That son of a bitch."
"This is more serious than we thought. Send me the recording. It's time I paid Molefe a visit." Khanya says. I send him the recording and he leaves.
"What made you think to record all that?" Lungelo asks.
"I don't know. I had the phone in my hand and I just recorded the conversation. Lungelo I'm scared. What if Maharaj does leak your name and people believe you are the Shadow Assassin?" He comes around the desk and holds my waist.

"Nothing will happen to me. Maharaj will not win. And if he does put my name out there, I have put majors in place to make sure no one comes after me."
"What majors?"
"Trust me, we will be fine. Besides that, Busani is also working on something to get the man off my back."
"You trust him?"
"Busani? I trust him with my life. So worry not Sthandwa sam, Maharaj will not be a problem for long. You and I will get our lives back, and we can plan our wedding, and we'll have the time of our lives. Maharaj and his little minions will not be a problem."
"You promise?"
"I promise."