The Vanishings-Chapter 5 and 6 by Lauri Kubuitsile

The Vanishings

Chapter 5

The alarm went off and Dambuza jumped out of bed, his feet hitting the floor and kicking the empty tins from the six-pack he finished before falling asleep. He was immediately confused about where he was. After a few seconds it all came back into focus. He was in Maun. He was in the process of getting a divorce thanks to Bontle. And his head was pounding from finishing a second bottle of wine with Delly and her daughter, Nana, before coming home. Mixing wine and beer didn’t work in his 49 going on 50 body the same way it did when he was in his 30s. He was sure there was an angry little man with a metal club inside his head. He grabbed a packet of Grand-pa powder, dumped it on his tongue, and washed it down with the beer dregs from the tin on his bedside table.

As he showered, he thought about Delly and her daughter. Interesting duo. So for a crazy few moments he thought he had a chance with a woman like Nana? So what? Why not? We all have to dream, he tried to tell his embarrassed self. Dream he could do, but the reality was there and hard to ignore.

Nana was cool though, not like most of those incredibly beautiful women. Not snotty at all, not stuck on herself. Down to earth like her mum. She was a part-time actress when she was in London. Why she had to suddenly pack up and leave UK and come back to Botswana seemed to be a bit of secret. Dambuza asked her twice, and twice she dodged the question with, “You know, shit happens.”

Much like her mother she didn’t look her age. He was surprised she was 42; he put her in her early 30s at best. She guessed he was 55, and he didn’t correct her, he was embarrassed to. They’d sat at the table until almost everyone had cleared out and the catering staff started dismantling the tables.

“Well, it looks like they want us to go,” Delly said.

“No, wait a minute, I want you to meet Hamilton,” Nana said.  “You too Dambuza, you’ll love him.” He doubted that. She’d been enthusing about him for most of the time they were sitting there. Hamilton this, Hamilton that. Dambuza got the impression something was on between them and when she brought him around it was confirmed.

He held out his hand to Delly. “I’m delighted to finally meet the famous Delly Woods. You’re almost a legend here in Maun.” He smiled and Dambuza wondered how someone got to his age with such white teeth. Didn’t he eat?

Dambuza couldn’t help noticing Hamilton’s hand causally, though persistently, remaining around Nana’s waist. Is that even appropriate for the MD of a company to be holding the company’s marketing manager’s waist? Apparently things were lax at Brown University.

“And Detective Dambuza, I’m always happy to meet members of law enforcement. You have the most difficult job in the world, I really respect that.” Dambuza shook his hand and wondered how he moved from thinking Hamilton was a slightly too smooth potential sexual harassment perpetuator to a pretty good guy in such a short period of time. “We should go out for a beer one of these nights? I’m a big football fan and have really taken a liking to your Zebras.”

Likes beer, likes the Zebras even with their sorry performance. Two points for Dr. Hamilton. “Yeah, sure,” Dambuza was surprised to hear himself saying.

Hamilton looked toward the doorway where Ms Delany was waving. Up close she was a brittle looking woman with thick blonde hair she was overly proud of, if the constant flicking was anything to go by.  “Oh Portia’s calling me. I wish I could stay and talk a bit more, but I need to take a rain check. The Minister is touring the facility and I need to get back. Great to meet you both. Nana, I’ll see you tonight?”

Nana only smiled. As if that smile was not enough to say everything. For Dambuza it was. They were sleeping together- that was obvious. He wondered what the hard-faced Ms Delany thought of that.

While Delly and Dambuza were walking out to their cars, Dambuza thought about how the way people look shouldn’t taint your view of them. He liked Hamilton, even in spite of his jealousy at him getting the girl. Dambuza knew he never really had a chance, but still the sting was there.

“I don’t like him,” Delly said.

Dambuza was confused by who she could mean. They’d only met one him and that was Hamilton, and she certainly couldn’t mean him. He’d been so complimentary to both of them.

“That one. What’s he on about? And it looks like Nana is smitten with the snake.”

“But I thought he seemed alright,” Dambuza tried.

“Nope. I know those kinds. No good.”

“So are you going to talk to Nana then?”

“She’s stubborn that one. One word from me and she’ll be walking down the aisle with him just to piss me off. No this one we’ll have to move very carefully.” Suddenly with a word, Dambuza was in collusion with Delly to rid Nana of Hamilton. Though she presumed his cooperation, he didn’t mind. He’d seen Delly in action and he decided then he always wanted to be on her side- no matter the fight. And besides he’d be more than happy to see Nana parting ways with Hamilton.

Dambuza got out of the shower, threw his clothes on, downed his prerequisite creamy instant coffee with five sugars, and rushed to the station. No being late today.

He found a note waiting for him on his desk to see Tito as soon as he got in. He found his boss behind his desk already busy at his computer. Station commander involved a lot of paperwork. “Okay you’re here, close the door.”

Tito pulled five files from the tidy stack on his desk and handed them to Dambuza. “What’s this?” Dambuza asked.

“That is your first case or cases- I’m not sure. They’re five missing people. We’ve been dealing with them like they’re separate cases, but I’m starting to get the feeling that they’re related. Not based on anything except that for the last five years I’ve been here we’ve had three missing persons cases. Now in ten months we’ve had five. Five. Something is going on. I want you to find out.”

Dambuza paged through the files. “But they’re all over the place. Kids and older people; from Maun, Makalamabedi. So what are you thinking?”

“I don’t know what to think. We haven’t recovered anything, no bodies, nothing.  You know if it’s muti killing the body eventually shows up with the parts taken that they need. In one of those cases we found a hat with some blood. The police officer on the case was in a big hurry and told the family wild animals must have taken the woman. They bought it, but I didn’t. Even wild animals leave the body somewhere, at least pieces. Eventually it turns up, but in all of these- no bodies. It doesn’t make sense.”

“And any leads for it being murder?” Dambuza asked.

“They followed a few leads, but nothing panned out. You know we don’t have serial killers in Botswana, I can’t remember any at least. That’s something for America or for television. But these cases are making me think otherwise.”

“A serial killer?” Dambuza sat back in the chair. Here he thought he was going to be having things easy here in Maun, and now the boss was giving him five suspected murder cases to solve.

“Yeah, maybe. Keep your mind open to anything, to everything. I suggest you start with the most recent. Baleka Phatshwane from Makalamabedi. She went missing a few days ago. Feel free to talk to any of the officers who have worked on the cases, I told them I’ve handed all of the cases over to you. You seem to have a way of getting to the bottom of things, I hope you manage this time.” 

***

Dambuza decided before going out to Makalamabedi, he’d take time to go through the files. He got out his notebook. They were five missing persons cases in total: two males, three females. They ranged in age from 65 to 15. Two from Makalamabedi, one from the cattleposts near Maun, two from Maun. Four Batswana, one Zimbabwean. The only thing in common, they seem to have all disappeared in the bush, but even that was not certain.

Could there be some rogue animal or group of animals taking them? Dambuza wrote in his notebook. Being a city boy he knew nothing about the Botswana bush and all of its wild animals. He had wanted to keep it that way.

Two of them may not be dead at all. Phatsimo Ditiragalo, the fifteen year old girl from Maun, went missing out collecting wood. Her family believes she may have run off with her boyfriend one Ray Selato, from Gaborone. The Gaborone police investigated but didn’t find her. Still the family sticks to their story.

The Zimbabwean, George Ndlovu, worked as a herd boy for Modisa Johane, a Maun resident. He was the one who reported Ndlovu missing. He suspects he may have gone back to Zimbabwe, but he left his belongings which caused Mr. Johane to report the case. Again Dambuza wondered- were these people really missing, or just somewhere else? There might not be much of a mystery to solve in the end.

The most recent case occurred on the 15 of January, four days previously. The woman, 26 year old Baleka Phatshwane, was out searching for goats and never returned. There’s a boyfriend who she fought with the night before her disappearance, and from what Dambuza knew from experience, in Botswana if there is foul play regarding a woman, you best start with the boyfriend or husband,  9 out of 10 time they’re the culprits.

Dambuza couldn’t see anything linking the cases, but it was odd to have so many missing people in one area over such a short time. He opened his notebook to brainstorm ideas. That was how he liked to approach cases, write out all of this thoughts first.

Any new, odd people arrive in the last ten months?

New church?

Is this a different kind of muti? Maybe a “muti factory”? Is there such a thing?

They could be independent, think of them alone too

Where are the bodies???

He closed the files and his notebook. He called a few of the officers involved in the cases to get more information. There wasn’t much though. No one seemed to know what happened to these people. They seemed to have vanished.

Chapter 6

It was a coincidence that the last disappeared person, Baleka Phatshwane, had a boyfriend that worked for Delly. By the time Dambuza spoke to the other police officers who had worked on the cases, it was already nearly three and driving out to Makalamabedi was out of the question, so he decided to start with the boyfriend.

He found Delta Tours along the road leaving town perched on the bank of the Thamalakane River. He followed the signs through the small forest between the road and the river. The office had a circular drive at the front with a few safari cars parked to the side. The office was toward the road side of the building and Delly’s home was on the river side. It was a basic building, nothing fancy. Cement walls with a thatch roof, the floors painted with red floor paint and polished to a shine. Much like its owner, the house was all function and no fluff.

Dambuza parked his car and got out. He still wasn’t sure where it was safe to walk. All the trees and tall grass spooked him. He expected a lion to fly out and grab him or a snake to appear at his feet. His preferred habitat was concrete and crowds of buildings.

As he made his way carefully toward the open door of the office, Delly appeared.

“It’s fine. Quit looking over your shoulder, nothing’s gonna eat you,” she said walking toward him laughing. “Nice to see you again, Dambuza. Come on in.”

She walked him through the empty one room office, the kitchen, and into a wide room that appeared to act as sitting and dining room as well as a bedroom for Delly. The whole length of it opened onto a wide veranda, a folding glass wall was pushed back to show the river only a few metres away. Bob lay sprawled out sound asleep, snoring slightly through loose lips, under which a pool of saliva was forming.

“Aren’t there animals down there?” Dambuza asked looking out at the bush behind the house and the river beyond it.

“We’ve got a resident hippo, Kgosi, he keeps to himself mostly. Occasionally a few crocs. But they don’t trouble me if I don’t trouble them.”

Dambuza shrugged his shoulders, to each his own he thought but he wasn’t sure he’d be visiting Delly in the night if he didn’t have to. And he didn’t think it was very wise to leave the glass doors wide open as if welcoming the wildlife in. He wouldn’t mention it though. After all of the time she’d been in Maun, Dambuza assumed Delly knew what she was up against.

 “I’m actually here on business.”

“About the fellow who tried to take my cellphone?” Delly asked as she opened a fridge in the corner and took out two beers, she handed one to Dambuza without asking. He took it. She ushered him toward the sitting room section of the massive room.

“No, something else. I understand a man named Les Molelekedi works for you.”

“Yep.” She sat down in a battered arm chair and motioned for Dambuza to take a seat in the one opposite which in terms of pattern or design had no relation to hers. “He’s a cook’s assistant, with me for about seven years or so. What’s he done?”

“Why is he often in problems with the law?”

“No, not really. He drinks and more often than not he’s an innocent bystander in the normal bar brawls that go on. No, he’s a good guy, likes fun.” Then Delly seemed to remember something. “Is it about Baleka?”

“Yes, you know her?”

“Sure, she and Les have two kids together. Not quite married, not quite not. Have they found her?”

“No.”

“Les is out there in Makalamabedi now. He’s asked for the week off. He’s taking care of the kids and trying to get people out looking for Baleka. I was surprised actually. He always acted like it wasn’t that serious, but this really shook him up. Me, I thought she just ran off for a while to get a breather. They were always at each other. Do you think something untoward has taken place?”

“Yes, actually. There have been quite a few people who have gone missing lately. Have you heard about it?” Dambuza suspected Delly was fairly connected in the community and could be a good source of information.

“Yeah, sure, people talk. But I didn’t think it was serious. Like the girl - ran off with the boyfriend I heard. The other one, the Zimbabwean. You know these illegal Zimbabweans are always forced to be on the move with you police out on your raids. The other one was crazy or something I heard. And then you have Bakang. He was always on the move; he might turn up any day now. I don’t think you should take it too seriously. Batswana move- home, cattlepost, masimo, it’s their life.”

“Maybe, still I need to investigate. It’s my first case; I want to show my new boss I’m up to it.”

Delly smiled. “Yeah, but don’t worry too much, Tito’s one of the good guys. He’s done a lot for Maun. I think he’s been here about ten years now. The place has changed. People know the police are on the job now. It’s good.”

Delly stood up, and got them two more beers from the fridge though Dambuza’s was only half done. “What can you tell me about Baleka and Les?”

“I met Baleka a handful of times. Mostly she was here trying to get some money from Les. But I liked her. She seemed focused and serious. She’s quite well known as a goat farmer. Good mother.”

“And Les?”

“He’s a hard enough worker, plays hard too. One of those who lives in the moment types. Lots of friends. I always hoped Baleka and Les might marry. It’s time he grows up a bit if you ask me. ”

“Could he be a killer?”

“Les?” Delly laughed. “Nope. Not Les, no need to go down that road.”

Dambuza finished the last of his first beer. “In any case, I’ll speak with him tomorrow.”

“I could take you out there if you want. I’ve got nothing going. Two safari groups out until the weekend and no new ones until Monday. I’d like to see how the search is going. Maybe I could help.” 

“Yeah, fine. That’ll be a big help, I don’t know my way around this side of the country.”

“So born and bred in Francistown then?”  Delly stretched her long legs, clad in knee length khaki shorts, out across the sturdy coffee table.

“Ee, that’s me. So where are you from originally?”

“South Africa. But nothing there anymore. I’m a Motswana now.”

A loud roar came in through the open glass wall. Dambuza jumped, his head whipping toward the river. Delly laughed. “It’s nothing. They’re fighting. A young male is trying to take over Kgosi’s place. They’ve been at it off and on for about two weeks now.”

Bob came walking toward them, still half asleep, woke up by the fight. He looked around, saw Dambuza and laid his big block head on his lap for a moment for the prerequisite pats and then lumbered back. He climbed into a dog basket in the corner of the room by a large double bed, and immediately fell asleep.

“So is this common?” Dambuza asked concerned looking back out over the river.

“Has been. They’ll sort it out one way or another. One will move off or be stubborn and get itself killed. Come let’s watch. A good hippo fight is nice.” She headed for the veranda with her beer and sat down on a low kgotla chair.

Dambuza followed carefully. He sat down next to Delly in a matching low wooden chair. Now that he was nearer he could see there was a fence between the river and the house, but it seemed fragile when compared with the two monsters going at it in the river. Water splashed as they pushed and knocked against each other, their mouths wide open showing massive, thick incisors, as thick as Dambuza’s upper arm. The smaller hippo was bleeding from the side of its mouth and the bigger one seemed to lack energy for a fight.

“Ma? Ma you around?”

Dambuza heard the call and turned to see Nana walking through the door from the office. She grabbed a plastic chair from the corner and a beer from the fridge and joined them on the veranda.

“Hey Dambuza, nice to see you again.”  She bent down and kissed Delly on the forehead. “So Willy and Kgosi are at it again.”

“When did the intruder become Willy?” Delly asked indignantly.

“Oh, are you taking Kgosi’s side then? What about the unobtrusive observer you say all of us who enter the bush need to be?” Nana teased.

“This is not exactly the bush, Kgosi is a friend, we live together basically. And besides us old guys need to stick together.” Delly laughed her always ready hearty laugh that brought Bob to her side. He rested his head on her lap and she ran her hand over it. “So how’s work?”

“Work is crazy. Politics got to me, so I told them I needed to see a client and bunked off for the afternoon. I hoped you’d be here.”

“What kind of politics?” Delly asked.

“My mother has entered detective mode,” Nana said to Dambuza. “You ought to hire this one. She’d solve all of your cold cases. Can’t leave anything alone until she has the answer.”

“I have a feeling it has to do with Mr. Smooth Pants,” Delly said.

“Ma, that’s not fair. Hamilton is lovely. Don’t you think so Dambuza?”

“Please don’t get me involved,” Dambuza begged holding his hands in the air. 

“Fine, be that way. Just when I thought you were a good guy,” Nana said. Dambuza hoped she was only joking. “Yes, Mommy Dearest, it does have to do with Hamilton. I think he’s lovely, and we’re…. you know, having a bit of fun, nothing serious. God knows I cannot do serious right now, but then we have Portia-the-Pain.”

“And who is Portia-the-Pain?” Delly turned to Dambuza. “One thing you must know about my daughter Dambuza, is her whole life takes place on the stage. If it is not physically there she moves it there, and we all become characters in the play called Her Life.”

“Mother! That’s unfair….” She considered it for awhile. “Well sort of unfair I guess.”

“Go on, we want to know all about Portia-the-Pain,” Delly said.

“You saw her at the thingy. The one who called Hamilton when we were having fun. You remember her?”

“The blonde, tough-ish, mouth like a bullet?” Delly asked.

“Yeah that’s her. Portia Delaney. Apparently she is some very important person in HIV/AIDS circles. Very serious. Brainy. She like runs 10 kms every morning, like some exercise Nazi. She’s Hamilton’s partner in the lab. He’s assured me they are only business partners, but she obviously didn’t get the memo. She has been in my face since Hamilton and I started seeing each other. So today she finds Hamilton in my office, well… you know… in a slightly awkward moment…”

“Were you having sex with your boss at work?” Delly asked.

“No! Mother! We were kissing. Actually he was kissing me goodbye. He’s off to America for a few days. Any way PP enters without knocking and blammo! She goes all rule-book.”

“And what did your boss say?”

“He tried to calm her down. He walked with her out of the office and they were still talking when I made my getaway. He’ll sort it out, but I was just tired of the crap. Human beings! So complicated!” Nana turned to Dambuza and despite all rational thoughts to the contrary his stomach jumped. “It’s all crap isn’t it Dambuza? I mean we’re human beings we have attractions. Let’s just get over the drama.”

She put her hand on his knee and he feared for a moment that things may reinforce her point in a very visual way. He moved his beer strategically and pointed to the river. “Look they’re at it again.”

Everybody turned to the hippos fight and for a moment Nana’s hand on his leg was not the focus for every nerve in his body.

“You know, Dambuza, I like you. We should go out for a beer sometime. I usually hang out at Chuck’s on the mall. Let’s meet up. How’s about tomorrow?” Nana asked.

Dambuza found looking at the scary wild animals in the river far more comforting than looking at Nana who appeared to be asking him out on a date. His mouth spoke without instruction from his head. “Okay… yeah sure.”

All three continued watching the hippos fighting it out down below them. Dambuza let the silence calm his insides, which were jumping up and down in celebration.

“It’ll be sad if Kgosi loses and has to move off. He’s been here for almost twenty years now. But nature doesn’t tolerate weakness,” Delly said.

They watched the fight go on for a quarter of an hour longer until finally the younger hippo gave up, at least for the day. Dambuza had a feeling he would be coming back. The changing of the guard seemed an almost certainty.

The Vanishings-Chapter 3 and 4 by Lauri Kubuitsile

The Vanishings

Chapter 3

Dambuza got in his Corolla and shut the door. The unhealthy metallic clang shook the entire car. Like most things in Dambuza’s life, his car was hanging on by a very thin, precarious thread. He pulled some tissue from the roll of toilet paper on the passenger sheet and wiped the ubiquitous white dust off the dashboard. Already he and Maun were not friends and this dust was not helping the situation. He’d only been in the place for four days, but he’d come with a bad attitude to start with which the town had done nothing to change.

He grew up in Francistown, he knew the place, he liked the place. He was made for the city, not the edge of the bush where wild animals waited to pounce. He liked concrete not sand- and more sand- under his feet. The transfer to Maun was a not so hidden demotion. His life had gone a bit haywire and it had spilled over to work, giving the impression that he was incompetent. His boss agreed with what he saw and thought a change of scenery might help Dambuza get sorted. Now Dambuza would spend his days searching for pick-pocketers having fun at the tourists’ expense, ticketing speeders, and looking for people with bits of illegal elephant tusk. That was no job for an investigator, and this was no place for a city boy.

He’d left his wife and kids in Francistown which was a mixed blessing. He missed his kids already, but his wife Bontle was another story. Their relationship was problematic and neither one of them was willing to make the move to fix it or put it out of its endless misery.  The transfer gave him an out. He was free of her, at least in distance. No more complaining about his drinking and late nights out. No more lists of how he had let her down. No more shouting matches that had the kids up and crying in the middle of the night. No more tantrums thrown at the police station. No, Maun did have its upside.

Dambuza pulled onto what served in Maun as its main road and suddenly the air pulsed with the wail of a hooter being seriously overused and he quickly pulled back onto the gravel. A flash of white combi zipped around him and sped off. Dambuza watched the combi-driver-with-an-attitude disappear down the road. Across its back window in solid black writing was written: DEAD END. Dambuza considered this. Dead-end. That was about where he felt he was. Career wise, relationship wise, life wise: Maun was his dead-end.

He checked his watch-7:15, he’d soon be late for his first day on the job. He looked behind him, and carefully inched onto the road. Just as he switched into fourth gear, he saw something up ahead. There were two people shouting at each other. It looked like a fight, he slowed down when he was nearer, pulled over, and jumped out for the car.

When he was closer, he could see it was a middle-aged white woman and a twenty something black man. They were indeed fighting. In the mix was a huge dog, the biggest Dambuza had ever seen. The dog was barking and licking at both the woman and the young man.

“You better stop it right now, Bob!” the woman said.

Dambuza got up to the two and shouted, “I’m a police officer. Move away from the woman, Bob.”

The woman looked up and smiled while she flipped the young man around and, before Dambuza knew what was happening, the man was sitting on the ground, his legs kicked out from under him, with his arms tied behind his back with a piece of rusty wire.

“There! Now sit still!” The woman turned to Dambuza. “So officer, this young man seemed to think while I was out on my morning walk that I’d like to hand over my cellphone to him. I thought otherwise.”

“So you know him then?” Dambuza asked.

“Nope. Never saw him a day in my life.”

“So why’d you call him Bob?” Dambuza asked.

The woman threw her head back, her long blond hair braided into two long plaits flew back and she laughed a loud, raucous laugh, her weathered face folded along well used lines in response. “Bob’s the dog!” she squeezed out.

As soon as the dog heard his name he was on his feet wagging his tail. Friendly, he was, but winning any dog beauty pageants was not going to be part of Bob’s future. Besides being the biggest dog Dambuza had ever seen, Bob also might be the ugliest. His head showed he had boerbull, it was as big as a roasted ham, but he was obviously a Tswana mix. His body was long and lanky and covered in dark brown stripes. Where he got his long haired white tail was anyone’s guess.  He moved as if his head was too heavy and his legs too long. Bob’s redeeming factor was his personality. As they spoke, he lay down next to the thief and put his big ham head on the thief’s lap.

“So you want me to take this guy in?” Dambuza asked.

“That would help. I’d like to finish my walk undisturbed if possible.” The tall, muscular woman looked Dambuza over. “Are you new? I know a lot of the police here in Maun, most actually.”

“Yeah, I’m new, first day on the job. I’m transferred from Francistown. Detective Dambuza Chakalisa” He held out his hand and the woman took it up in a firm hold, firmer than he expected.

“I’m Delly, Delly Woods. I own Delta Tours about 3 kms down the road from here. Listen, if you let me finish what I started, I’ll come by the police station in about an hour and fill in the paperwork.”

“Sure no problem.”  Dambuza bent down and pulled the young man, who was not more than a boy really, to his feet with little effort. “Come on. I think you chose the wrong woman to mess with this morning.”

“Go nntse jalo,” he said shaking his head while he climbed in the passenger seat of the Corolla.

***

Dambuza took the last puff of his cigarette and crushed it out in the gravel of the parking lot. He helped his passenger out of the car. “Here we are. You should be happy, your morning mischief has made me late for work on my first day.”

Dambuza pushed the thief through the door. Inside there was a long wooden bench. “Sit there,” he ordered him, and then he went to the counter where a tall, very dark constable waited to be of assistance.

“Dumela Rre, can I help you?” he asked. The new customer service initiatives had been taken to heart by this young man. Dambuza smiled.

“Yes, I’m Detective Dambuza on transfer from Francistown.”

The constable looked at Dambuza’s charge sitting on the bench. “Oh yes I was told to keep an eye out for you. They call me Blue. So did you come with your own criminals from Francistown then?”

“No, I picked this one up on the way to the station. He was trying to get a cellphone from a local woman, Delly Woods.”

The constable laughed into his hand. He called to the back room.  “Zero! Hey Zero-we tlaa kwano!”

A short, round, baby-faced constable came around the corner. “Our new detective brought you a customer. Take this fool to lockup. The idiot tried to rob Delly.”

They both laughed. Constable Zero was still shaking his head when he pulled the thief to his feet. “You new around here?” he asked the young man. The thief nodded.

“Thought as much. Lucky for you the detective was around. Delly usually deals with people like you in her own way. You’ll prefer the beating you’re going to get at the kgotla to the punishment Delly would have handed down.”

Dambuza watched Zero lead the thief away. Blue said, “So Detective Dambuza, the boss was looking around for you this morning. You better go through and let him know what you’ve been up to.”

Dambuza walked down the dark hallway to the end. He knocked softly on the door. “Tsena!”

The man behind the desk didn’t look up. He wore a uniform with pleats so straight and sharp Dambuza wondered if they would cut a finger drawn along them. His desk was tidy and he clicked away on a laptop finishing what he was doing while indicating Dambuza should take a seat at one of the wooden chairs in front of his desk. A few minutes passed while he finished then he looked up. “Yes, what can I do for you?”

“I’m Detective Dambuza from Francistown.”

He saw the boss’ eyes pass over the clock on the wall. “Trouble finding us this morning?”

“No, I ran into something on the way. A man trying to rob a woman of her cellphone. I brought the culprit in.”

The boss stood up and held out his hand. “Sorry… we get all kinds as I’m sure you know. I’m Assistant Superintendent Tito Barulaganye. Most around here just call me Tito.” He reached for a file on top of his in tray. “Looks like you’ve been having some problems in Francistown.”

Dambuza wondered how much was in that file. “Yes, sir. But I think I’ve sorted most of the problems out now.”

“Is it?” Tito asked sceptically. “I’ll be honest. I don’t like chasing after my staff. They should do what the government has hired them to do. You don’t trouble me, I won’t trouble you. From your file I can see you get the job done, impressively in fact. You seem to do it in an unconventional way, but I don’t care about that. What I want is a clean, quiet town. My officers make sure I get what I want. Do we understand each other?”

“I think we do, sir.” Dambuza already liked this man.

“Okay. As for your personal life, well that’s it-it’s yours- and it’s personal. I don’t care unless it keeps you from doing the job up to my specifications.”

“I understand, sir.” Dambuza was beginning to see that the file contained everything and he thought as much. His past boss was a crazy, born-again Christian with a pathological hatred for alcohol. He’d do raids on bars that were operating legally just to give the customers a fright and send them to their homes. He hated Dambuza the moment they met. He was happy his current boss seemed not to be weighed down by so much baggage.

“Okay, so this thief you collected this morning, is the victim with you too?” Tito asked.

“No, she said she’d come in later. She says she knows you, her name’s Delly Woods.”

Tito smiled and shook his head. Dambuza was beginning to wonder about this woman all the police knew. “Okay, no problem. Tell Blue at the desk to show you your office. Ah…I’m a bit short staffed today. I wonder if you could do me a favour.”

“Sure, what is it?”

“Let Blue and Zero take care of Delly’s case. I’m supposed to go to some official opening thing today and I have a monthly stats report due in Gaborone. They expect us to attend all of these community meetings, if I’m not at the kgotla I’m at the airport greeting some actor from America. How they think I can do my job I don’t know. So maybe you could attend this official opening thing. I’m supposed to be there at eleven.”

“No problem, what is it?”

“We have a new AIDS laboratory opened here in Maun. Quite important actually.  They’re employing about 200 people down there. They’ve been open for about a year now but the official opening is today.” He dug around in his drawer. “Go with this. Say you’re standing in for me. The President is coming up and the Minister of Health. It’s a big deal. And like most big deals, it will take the whole day. You’ll be doing me a huge favour.”

Dambuza took the invite and went looking for Blue who led him to an office opposite the hallway leading to the jail cells. It was small and painted army green, but it had a big window looking out on the main street. Furniture included a scratched wooden desk that looked like it weighed at least 200 kg, a rickety secretary’s chair with one wheel missing and two metal chairs that when moved made a noise much bigger than they should. “This looks great, thanks.”

Dambuza collected a box of office things from the Corolla. He was at his desk putting pens in holders and files in draws when he looked up to see Blue again. “You have a visitor Detective Chakalisa.”

“Call me Dambuza.”  Blue smiled and moved aside to let the visitor in.

Dambuza looked at the man with Blue and knew without a second glance he was a lawyer. It was a combination of the pin-striped suit and the arrogant sneer. For some reason lawyers saw themselves at the top of the food chain and were oblivious to the fact that everyone else saw them significantly lower down.

“How can I help you?” Dambuza asked.

Dambuza’s mind trawled through all the possible people that might be sending a lawyer after him in Maun. A few unpaid debts, the owner of the ancient BMW he knocked one night when trying to make his way home from the bar, he remembered one guy threatening to sue him for libel after a verbal fight they’d had at the Marang. The list was long, but still he was surprised when he opened the summons. It was from Bontle, his wife, and she was filing for divorce.

“Sign here.” The lawyer’s face was skewed up as if he didn’t like the smell of Dambuza’s new office. He disappeared as soon as he had the papers back in their envelope.

Dambuza signed mechanically and fell back in his chair which jerked onto its three wheels making him reach out for the desk before he toppled over. Divorce? He knew their marriage was in problems. It had been for a long time. He was never quite good enough for Bontle. They fought. He drank. She shouted. He left. She followed him. Francistown knew about the fights they had in public and likely some they had in private too. They were legendary. But even with all of that, she was his wife. For eighteen years she was his wife, he was her husband. The fighting was their way. But divorce? He couldn’t believe she had the nerve to do it.

He thought the transfer would help them. He’d get home when he could, and they’d be together for short period of times where they might find a way to talk and get through some of their problems. He thought being apart would give them both a bit of air. He thought it was the beginning of a new chapter. Apparently, Bontle saw it in a different way, a chance to finally be free of him.

If that’s how she wanted it fine. He reached in his box and pulled out a thermos. Found his “Greatest Dad in the World” mug and filled it a quarter with the gin from the thermos. Downed it in one gulp. Fine divorce it will be. Cheers!

He popped a mint in his mouth, and just as he was putting the lid on the thermos bottle, Blue’s face appeared in the doorframe. “Dambuza, the driver’s here to take you to Hope Institute.”

Chapter 4

Dambuza was shown his seat in the one step down from the VIP section. He sat with heads of departments and some of the local business leaders.  They were waiting for the President and the Health Minister to arrive. Dambuza looked around.

This was some place. Three blocks of two story face brick buildings made up the Institute. The grounds were immaculate with lawns of green grass and flower beds sprinkled with all of the colours of the rainbow. So unlike the rest of Maun that operated on shades of grey and brown most of the year. The employees had uniforms in various styles, all in the turquoise corporate colours of the Institute.  They sat in a big group under the wide tent opposite to where Dambuza was sitting.

Dambuza paged through the booklet he’d been given by the usher. Hope Institute was started by an American named Dr. Hamilton Ride. He’d worked at Brown University and was part of setting up the Lifespan/Tuft Brown Center for AIDS Research, “one of the leaders in HIV/AIDS research” according to the promotional material. From there he came to Botswana, a country hard hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and set up the Hope Institute. Their goal was to produce products that stopped the spread of the disease and helped those already infected lead a normal healthy life. Their first product they came up with was a viricide called Total Protection. According to the book, there is a spray form for men and a suppository of women. It could be applied 48 hours before sex and kills all human immunodeficiency viruses on contact. It allows people to go back to having sex without condoms according to the booklet. Dambuza was impressed. Could change the whole scenario, he thought. These people were doing some important things.

He looked up and everyone was standing. The President was arriving. Straight away Dambuza recognised the boss of the place, Dr Hamilton Ride. He looked just like his photo in the brochure. He was walking with the President. Behind them was the Minister of Health, Dr Lesang Morapedi, who was walking with a woman Dambuza could not stop looking at. She wore a suit trimmed in the turquoise of Hope Institute, so obviously worked for them. She said something to the Minister and they both laughed and for a moment Dambuza was sure the world shook. He’d never in his life seen such a beautiful woman, he was sure of it.

As the VIP guests moved to their seats at the front, Dambuza could not pull his eyes away from the woman. She had curly brown, shoulder length hair, tossed as if without effort but looking fabulous.  She was tall and strong looking, taller than the Minister who was a tall Kalanga woman, even taller than the President. Her skin was a glowing caramel colour. Dambuza couldn’t decide if she was Indian, or coloured, or Arabic. He could pay attention to nothing else.  He was so fascinated with the woman that he didn’t notice someone sitting down next to him.

“So we meet again.”

Dambuza turned, finally cut from his hypnotic state. He turned to see the woman from the morning, the victim of the cellphone robbery, Delly Woods. “Well Mrs. Woods, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Ms. – I’ve been divorced, much, much longer than I was married. Doesn’t seem right hanging on to the Mrs.” 

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. Sometimes divorce is the best thing for a couple. He’s still a good friend, just a complete mess of a husband.”

Dambuza certainly understood that. He looked back to the front where Dr. Hamilton Ride was at the podium speaking about the assistance the Hope Institute had received from the government. Besides generous tax breaks, the government was a 40% shareholder in the project.

Hamilton Ride spoke with a practiced voice, deep and full. He had everyone’s attention. “We’re very thankful that the government has been able to partner with us to produce Total Protection. We are already exporting to the entire world. So it is a product that is creating jobs in Botswana where unemployment is so high as well as helping curb the escalating HIV infection rate that your country and so many others has been struggling with for years.”

The crowd applauded. “I’d like to introduce my other partner in the project -Portia Delany.” A thin, blonde woman sitting at the end of the front row stood up. She waved at the crowd, smiling with a face that was not used to such movements. She was not an ugly woman, but she was unattractive because of her hard face. She looked at the audience with her forced smiled, but it changed when she looked back at her partner, Hamilton Ride. It softened, Dambuza expected there was something more than business between to the two.

“Ms Delany is a world renowned expert on viruses and bacteria. She’s actually the owner of the patent for Total Protection, she did the research on it. She’s quite a hero if you ask me.”

The crowd applauded. “Again,” Dr. Ride continued, “Thank you for coming and please enjoy the day. Feel free to move around and take a look at our lovely facility. You are indeed welcome!”

A traditional dance troupe moved to the stage and Dr. Ride took his seat back next to the President.

“Slick one that guy,” Delly whispered.

“Who?  That guy?” Dambuza said. “You mean Hamilton Ride?”

“Sure, look at him. I don’t trust a guy who looks like that. Too polished, must be hiding something.” 

Dr. Hamilton Ride was indeed a handsome man. His suit, if Dambuza knew anything about makes and costs of suits, would have likely impressed him. Dr Ride had thick, dark hair with just enough strands of grey to give him an air of respect, but not enough to tone down his sexiness factor which was through the roof. While Dambuza and likely most of the men in the crowd were captivated by the woman with the Health Minster, the women were likely equally drawn to Dr Ride. All the women except Delly Woods, but already having known Delly Woods for less than a handful of hours, Dambuza had come to the conclusion that she was not like any other woman.

Dambuza’s eyes drifted back to the woman at the front he couldn’t stop watching. She had beautiful hands. Long fingers, manicured nails. He searched everywhere for something that was not perfect on her. She had to have something. Maybe her feet smelled. Or she had a terrible, high-pitched voice. He hoped so. As soon as he thought that he looked at Delly Woods, hadn’t she said almost the same thing about Hamilton Ride?

He was looking at the woman he now thought of in his mind, no matter how crazy the thought might be, as “his woman”, and for a moment he thought she smiled at him. He looked around. Did anyone else see that? Dambuza was realistic. At 49, he knew enough about himself to know that this woman was miles out of his league. Her league was so far away he’d need another lifetime just to walk to the edge of it. But she did smile at him? Right? That was something. Or was he delusional?

Despite the fact that he’d been sent to the edge of the world, to a town where police are called out to chase elephants out of maize fields, where white dust covered everything, a place where his career was going to come to a grinding halt, and he’d been served with divorce papers only hours before, the most beautiful woman in the entire world just smiled at him and he was feeling pretty fantastic.

***

Long, white-clothed tables had been set out for the VIPs and the not so VIPs in the dining hall of Hope Institute. Dambuza sat down next to Delly with his plate of the prerequisite diet for such affairs: seswaa, Tastic rice, butternut, beet roots, and the one piece of leather-hard, overcooked chicken. The one saving grace was wine on the tables. Dambuza was not normally a wine drinker, but when push came to shove alcohol was alcohol.

Delly reached her long arm out for the bottle of red in the middle before he could get a chance. “Thank God for this.”

She filled Dambuza’s glass to the top and then hers then set the bottle near to them in a proprietorial way. They’d finish the bottle the two of them before they’d leave the place. It was decided without speaking a word. Dambuza liked this woman.

“So you, are you married?” Delly asked taking a bit of seswaa with her hands and popping it in her mouth, Setswana style.

“Yeah.” Technically that was still true.

“Kids?”

“Three, one girl, two boys.”

“So where are they?”

“With their mother. She’s a nurse at Nyangabwe, supervisor.”

“You and your husband ever have any kids?” Dambuza asked.

“No, I wasn’t interested in kids by then, I was already 34 and I had my business to take care of. No time for babies when you need to be carting foreigners around to look at giraffes and lions.”

An old man in a frayed suit jacket and a hat he’d likely bought in the 1950s came up to their table. “Dumela, MmeDelly. O tsogile jang, ngwanaka?”

Delly stood up and shook the old man’s hand, holding her right arm with her left in the traditional Setswana way of showing respect. “Kgosi Mpho ke tsogile sentle, Ntate.” 

Then they were off on a long discussion about the rain, all in perfect Setswana. Delly introduced Dambuza and the old man was on his way.  Delly sat back down and took a drink of her wine.

“So how long have you been here?” Dambuza asked seeing yet another aspect of this odd, unexpected woman. 

“Long time. I arrived here as a young girl of twenty in 1968.”

Dambuza did the math in his head. That made her sixty-two. He couldn’t believe that. He thought they were about the same age. She was weathered looking, but she was so active and strong. Looked like life in the bush was good for the aging process, maybe Maun deserved another notch in his book.

“What brought you here?” Dambuza asked.

“Hmmm…now that’s a long story. One day when we’ve drank a lot more than one bottle of wine I’ll tell you.”  Delly smiled thoughtfully then nodded her head as if answering a question in her head.

Dambuza was checking his watch. It was already four, he thought he better pass by the station before Tito knocked off to give him a report. “I better get going.”

Delly held out her hand to stop him. “No, wait, I want you to meet my daughter.”

“Your daughter? I thought you said you didn’t have any kids.”

“No, you asked me if I had kids with my husband. We didn’t have any kids together, but I do have a daughter.”

Just then Dambuza saw “his woman” heading their way. He sat back down. He had the excuse of waiting around to meet Delly’s daughter so he didn’t feel awkward waiting for the woman to get closer, which she seemed to be doing. If he was lucky he might get a few minutes with “his woman”, maybe talk to her a bit. He was regretting not looking for one of his ties in the back seat of the Corolla before coming. 

He tried not to watch her as she walked their way. “So does your daughter work here?” Dambuza asked, not very interested.

“Yeah, just temporarily. She usually lives in UK, but needed to come home for awhile and is working doing marketing for these folks.”

Dambuza tried his hardest to pay attention to what Delly was saying, but “his woman” was coming closer and closer and his nerves were getting the better of him. He looked her direction and she smiled at him – again. Damn. Was this really happening? He couldn’t believe it. He practiced what he would say to her in his head.

“Marketing eh?” he asked Delly, trying to appear engaged.

“Yeah, it’s not really her passion but she does a lot of it for the theatres she works for in London. Oh here she is.”

Delly stood and Dambuza looked up from his plate where he’d been pushing a chicken bone around with his fork trying his best not to stare at the “his woman”. Delly was standing with her arms around someone. When she pulled back Dambuza couldn’t believe his eyes- “his woman” was Delly’s daughter.

The Vanishing- Chap 1 and 2

I will be sharing chapters from Lauri Kubuitsile's book The Vanishing,on this blog every Thursday.Do enjoy! 
Lauri Kubuitsile is a full time writer living in Mahalapye, Botswana. She has numerous published books (in South Africa, Botswana and overseas) and many short stories published around the world.  Seven of her books for children are prescribed reading in schools in Botswana and South Africa. She has won or been shortlisted for numerous prizes among them she was shortlisted for the 2011 Caine Prize, and twice won The Golden Baobab Prize for children’s stories. Her most recent books are a collection of short stories, In the Spirit of McPhineas Lata and Other Stories (Hands-On Books/ HopeRoad London) and the sequel to her YA book, Signed, Hopelessly in Love (Tafelberg), titled  Signed, The Secret Keeper published by Diamond Educational Publishers in Botswana. 
For more information Lauri Kubuitsile can be reached at lakubuitsile@gmail.com or 267-71327525

The Vanishing- Chap 1 and 2

Chapter 1
Baleka didn’t like leaving her kids at home alone and today for some reason she was more nervous about it than usual. “Penny, you remember what I told you, stay in the compound,” she said to her five-year-old daughter, the oldest.

“Ee mma,” the little girl said while pulling a dress over the head of the orange haired plastic doll she held. 

“Nkuku will be here just now. If it gets dark before I get back go to Tebogo’s, she’ll be home from school by then.” 

“Ee mma.” 

Baleka looked at Moarabi lining his herd of mud cattle up in a row behind the stick wall of his tiny kraal. She didn’t want to go but she couldn’t wait for her mother any longer. Her prize winning goat had not returned with the others, she needed to go out and find it somewhere in the bush. It was common for the goat to go missing, she was absent minded. But today was just the wrong day with her mother away to Maun and no one to watch the kids. If Baleka hadn’t chased her children’s father back to Maun the night before he would have been around to watch them, but once again her quick anger came back at her just as her mother always reminded her it would.

“Okay I’m going then. I won’t be long.” 

“Go siame, Mama.” Penny stood up taking her young brother’s hand and they both waved as Baleka hurried out the gate. Her babies. Why did she feel as if tears were building up in her throat? She would only be gone a few minutes, an hour at most. She’d get the goat and rush back. It was nothing. She did it all the time, why did today feel so different? 

“Bye-bye my babies, be good.” 
***


Baleka knew her nanny goat, Pulane, liked the soft new grass nearer to the river and made her way there. She jogged trying to get there faster. The children would be fine, she told herself but she knew too that Penny often lost concentration when she was playing; at five she couldn’t be blamed. Though Moarabi was not naughty, he was only three and needed someone to keep an eye on him. Baleka warned them not to leave the compound, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t.  She could have brought them with her, she wished she had, but they would have slowed her down and she thought if she was fast it would only be a few minutes. They were only babies, she shouldn’t have left them, especially now with all of the people disappearing. This was not the time to leave anyone alone. 

She walked quickly telling herself they would be fine, her mother had likely already returned, maybe just a few minutes after she’d left. They were fine. Besides, though Penny was only five, she was clever and responsible. She loved her little brother and mothered him sometimes more than Baleka did. Even though people had been going missing, so far they’d never stolen children, Baleka told herself. No the vanishings had never happened to children. 

She rested for a moment under a squat camelthorn tree. She looked out over the flat bush but could see nothing. The rains had been good before Christmas and the grass was high. A great place for goats to hide- and snakes, Baleka reminded herself. The sun was moving fast in the western sky. She set off at a trot; she was not far from the river now. 

Baleka stopped running to listen. She heard something. There were lions out here, leopards too. She needed to keep alert. But that wasn’t what she thought she’d heard. She thought she heard a bell in the distance toward the river, a goat bell. She could see nothing through the tall grass. Pulane was big but not taller than the grass. People laughed at her for naming her goats; Baleka didn’t care. She respected her goats, they provided for her and her kids. One day she would be the most successful goat farmer in the district maybe in the whole of the country. Already Pulane won first prize at last year’s District Agriculture Show in Maun. Now the nanny was pregnant and there was no way Baleka was going to lose her to a hungry predator. That’s why she’d taken the chance and left her children alone in the village; she needed to find this goat. She suspected she was pregnant with twins. Baleka mated her with a purebred boer goat, also a prize
winner, from a farmer in Maun. The offspring would be purebred from two prize-winning parents. Twins would bring her a lot of money. 

Baleka stopped again and listened. She was sure she heard a bell and headed in the direction the sound came from. She walked fast. The sun already sat red and low in the western sky she had an hour at most before it would be dark. She didn’t want Penny and Moarabi home alone when the sun set and she didn’t want to be out in the bush with no gun once darkness descended. 

Baleka climbed over the embankment of the river and there was Pulane, big and fat, her white coat pristine, her brown markings classic boer goat patterns. Baleka couldn’t help but be proud. Pulane drank water, completely oblivious to the problems she’d caused by not coming home with the other goats. 

Baleka stood watching her for a moment. She didn’t hear the twig that broke when a foot stepped on it or the rock kicked lose that rolled down the embankment settling at the edge of the river quickly disappeared by the water that engulfed it. Baleka didn’t notice anything until it was too late. When the hands went round her throat and the cloth was placed over her nose and mouth, a cloth smelling of something organic like petrol. 

Before everything went dark, she remembered her children waving good bye as if they’d never see her again. But at least now she knew they were safe- for they would not be among the vanishings for that night. She knew this for certain because she was the one chosen to disappear- not them. And before her mind shut off and betrayed her completely the last thought she had was one of relief. 

Chapter 2
Urine and the stench of human waste filled her nose and pushed her awake.  Baleka opened her eyes but could see little in the shadowy room. The only light came through a tiny brick sized hole at the top of the wall next to the ceiling. It led straight outside and though it was night the moonlight shone in through the space. The room had unplastered, cinder block walls. She could only see outlines of what looked like beds in a line along one wall. Her head ached at the back and she reached behind to check for blood. She felt nothing. 

She slowly sat up. A noise behind her made her jump. She could just barely make out the outlines of two people huddled in the corner from where the sound came.

“You alive then?” a man’s voice asked. 

Baleka remembered her kids alone at home and Pulane calmly drinking water. She remembered being choked. Where was she? What happened? 

“Where’d they grab you?” a girl’s voice asked. 

“Who are they?” Baleka said, not sure who to trust. 

“We don’t know them. They keep covered,” the man said. 

“What do they want with us?” Baleka asked. 

“We think maybe it’s muti. They take blood and other things, sometimes hair, sometimes pieces of skin. They take it when we sleep we think. Eventually they take everything,” the male voice said from the dark corner. 

“Everything?” Baleka asked. 

“They kill us,” the man said and Baleka heard the girl take a breath in. “At least that’s what we think. Maybe they let us go, we don’t know.” 

Baleka could see the outline of the man holding the girl closer. He whispered to her. The man sounded Zimbabwean, but the girl was a Motswana. 

“Where are you from?” she asked. 

“Makalamabedi.”

The girl was suddenly animated. “Tiny was from Makalamabedi! Did she go home?”

“Tiny? Tiny Thebeetsile? Was she here?” Baleka knew of Tiny. She lived with her mother though she was old enough for her own place. People said she was crazy. She’d been walking home from the lands and had gone missing. The police said a lion ate her. No one included her in the vanishings. 

“Yes, Tiny was here. They took her away. Did they take her home?” the girl asked. 

Her voice was so hopeful Baleka didn’t want to disappoint her. “Maybe, I don’t know. They live on the other side of the village. Maybe they took her home.” 

“See I told you, George, I told you they would let us go just like they let Tiny go.” 

“Sure, Phatsimo, sure that’s what they’re going to do. Don’t worry.” 

If Tiny couldn’t hear the resignation in George’s voice Baleka could. Her eyes were adjusting to the darkness. The room was large, it was very long, going back a distance to where she couldn’t see the other wall. There were lines of beds on each side, about five beds each. “So were there others, besides Tiny?” Baleka asked. 

“Since I’ve been here there was only one other, Bakang. She was from Maun,” George said. 

“I never thought they took muti like this. I thought they kill the person straight away and take what they want.”

“Maybe this is the modern way,” George said. “I’ve been here for a long time. I’ve lost track now, maybe months. What’s the date?”

“The 15th January,” Baleka said. 

“Really? It means I’ve been here for almost six months. I wonder what my family thinks.” 

Baleka thought she heard him crying. What kind of place was this? She’d never heard of anything like this before. But she knew one thing, they were not going to get out of this place alive. Baleka was pretty sure Tiny hadn’t. What would the captors gain by letting them go, certainly they would talk. The only answer was to kill them, she was sure of it. She was not going to die here. They would have to be saved or they would have to escape. Baleka would not consider anything else. Her goats waited for her. Her mother. Les. Penny and Moarabi needed her to take care of them. They were too small to be without a mother. 

Baleka decided right then she would not be dying anytime soon, she had too much to live for. She looked up at the tiny window. She could see a small square of night-time sky with a single star framed in the hole. She closed her eyes and saw Penny and Moarabi looking at the same star and in that moment they were together.  And in that moment she knew they would be together again.