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Chapter 9
Willem Beukes and Henry Khumalo were painstakingly combing Brenda’s apartment for clues. After Beukes regained consciousness Captain Smalls gave him and Khumalo primary shadow duty on Dixie. They were now officially in charge of the Twin Killer case and Beukes did not want to screw this up. This was his chance to make something of himself. His dad would be so proud.
Henry shot a concerned look to Beukes: “How does your nose feel?”
Beukes knew he looked like a nightmare. His nose has been broken in two places and it was bandaged up something fierce. Both of his eyes were bruised and he was missing one of his front teeth. Nonetheless he felt great.
“The nose is doing better than the pride. Nothing like getting your ass kicked to make you feel alive again though. That bastard is a great boxer.”
Khumalo could see a distinct change in Beukes’ attitude towards Bannerman. There was a certain amount of reverence when he spoke about him and he shadowed his every step like a puppy. “The power of a beating” Henry thought as he rolled his eyes and turned around to get back to his search.
Henry was still ill at ease with the whole situation. He didn’t like depending on this freak with his special skills. Henry is a great detective and he never needed a crutch to solve any of his cases. He was fit, strong and had a great analytical mind that earned him top honours in his detective class. Even now, when most people in his position would be content with how far they have come in life, he was still not satisfied. He decided on furthering his studies to become a state prosecutor. After a couple of years putting criminals behind bars he would switch over to private practice. Then politics; if he found that he could stomach the fake smiles and brown nosing. Becoming Mayor seemed like a nice place to start.
There was a reason he hasn’t had sex for over a year, dammit! He was driven and didn’t have time for sex, preparing proper breakfasts or to pick up ointment for that rash under his butt. Henry stopped and calmed himself as it was clear Dixie’s comments back at the diner was still grating at him.
But even more than that he realized this Twin Killer case was really getting under his skin and making him more irritable than normal. The fact that this guy has killed seven people already without leaving as much as one clue behind was an immense source of irritation. Another sticky point was that the murders were happening all over the country – meaning half of them were not even in his jurisdiction. This added to his already compounding troubles as interdepartmental politics in South Africa was as clear as muddy water. To wade into that murk you needed nerves of steel.
Henry poked through Brenda’s kitchen drawers. The Twin Killer’s M.O was like nothing he had ever encountered. Seven people murdered with no discernable characteristics other than the fact that they were the younger twin. Each victim was bruised and beaten. Thereafter necks were broken or they were stabbed or they were drowned. No method of murder was preferred above another, except that after all was said and done the Twin Killer would slit their throats and let their blood flow freely as if this act was the main purpose, not the actual murder. There were always lots and lots of blood.
And the things he said to the sister Bernice, our first live witness, as she was losing consciousness?
“I have given you the power back.”
What is all that about? As if he was doing her a favour? This guy was crazy.
Henry was lost in his thoughts, but a hard tap on the shoulder from Beukes quickly brought him back to reality. Beukes was pointing to Bannerman who was crawling around on the floor on hands and knees. He had a look of intense concentration tattooed on his face.
“What the hell is he doing?” Beukes whispered to Khumalo, obviously fearing to invoke the ire and another beating from Bannerman. Henry looked on in wonder at the scene before him as Bannerman crawled right into the living room corner where Brenda’s body lay before it was removed by the coroner. The same corner the blood splatter revealed the Twin Killer made first and last contact with her.
“He picked up a scent.”
Bannerman stood up abruptly and cocked his head lightly to one side. He had a blank look in his eyes that made Henry very uneasy. Dixie was somewhere else entirely.
Without warning he shot out like a bullet past his two Detective chaperones, running out of the apartment and towards the flight of stairs which led to the busy Cape Town streets below.
Rushing after him Henry saw that Dixie was going at full speed, taking two stairs at a time. For a half second he paused to smell the hand railing and then he was off again like a flash. Captain Smalls would have their tails if they lost him.
“C’mon Beukes, after him!!”
Beukes and Khumalo were a couple of paces behind Dixie as he made it out of the building’s front door and into the street. He turned left and ran down the road. Khumalo, the faster of the two policemen was barely keeping pace, but Beukes was steadily falling behind.
Almost fourteen minutes and five kilometres have passed and Dixie was finally slowing down a bit as he went up a steep incline. Khumalo, who has fallen a few steps behind since the start of this gruelling run, counted his blessings that Dixie at least stayed on the sidewalk. Henry shot a quick glance over his shoulder and saw that Beukes was trailing almost a kilometre behind them. He was out of breath and only progressing at the pace of a slow jog now. Henry chuckled as Beukes would not be happy that he was humbled twice in one day. When he turned his gaze towards Dixie again Henry saw that he was blindly crossing a busy intersection and most of the cars except one could stop in time. Both Khumalo and Beukes called out warnings in vain.
Henry watched in amazement as the car’s bumper slammed into Dixie’s side, he got lifted up and skidded over the bonnet. As soon as he fell to the ground, he was up again and continued running, blood pouring from his side and leg.
One minute after the incident though, Dixie slowed down a bit and then finally came to a complete stop. Henry caught up with him a couple of seconds later and was finally joined by an out of puff Willem Beukes who was bent over and looked like he was about to vomit.
They both composed themselves and looked at Bannerman with concern plastered over their faces. He was bleeding profusely but still just stared ahead of him, breathing steadily through his nose- calm as can be. Beukes finally caught his breath again: “What the hell?! He is still in La-La Land. After all that!”
As he said that, Bannerman seemed to come out of his trance. He looked Henry straight in the eye and a shiver went through Khumalo as he saw a deep sadness within. Dixie proceeded to mumble a few words and then promptly fainted on the spot as the two policemen rushed to his side.
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