Daddy's Girl by Margie Orford Read Free Book Online Page A

unorthodoxapproach to discipline has been noted.’
    ‘You’ve brought this to my attention before,’ said Phiri. ‘But in these matters my loyalty is with my men and with my unit. The Party does not employ me. Nor, I should point out, does it employ you.’
    ‘It will be your head on a plate if Faizal is out of line.’
    ‘Moscow was a long time ago, Special Director,’ said Phiri. ‘Is that what you are stillafter, Salome?’
    ‘Don’t make this personal, Phiri. My concern is for the well-being of the child. Yours is too, I trust.’
    ‘That you can be sure of,’ Phiri replied, but Salome Ndlovu was already halfway down the passage, her entourage at her heels.
    ‘I’m going to speak to Rita and Van Rensburg to organise a proper search,’ said Riedwaan, his face ashen, ‘to find out what the fuck is happening.’

    ‘The end of our meeting,’ observed Delport.
    ‘For now,’ said Phiri. ‘Did you have anything to report?’
    ‘It can wait,’ said Delport. ‘What happened in Moscow?’
    ‘Old history,’ said Phiri. ‘Should have been buried years ago.’
    ‘You trained with Salome?’ asked Delport.
    ‘We knew each other. We all did back then,’ said Phiri. ‘But on her return from exile she slipped back into whatshe knew best. The Soviet Union was home to her. It might be called Russia now, but with so many of the faces the same, solidarity has transformed smoothly into business.’
    ‘So, what’s with her and Faizal?’ asked Delport.
    ‘Captain Faizal thinks for himself, acts alone, doesn’t take to authority, doesn’t take to being told what to do by her. A bit like I was,’ said Phiri, gathering up hispapers. ‘We’ll meet tomorrow, Delport, with Van Rensburg. Eight sharp. I must see to this business with Faizal.’
    ‘Needle in a haystack,’ Delport muttered to Phiri’s secretary as he left, papers under his arm, ‘finding a little girl out there.’

8
    ‘What’ve you been doing, Faizal?’ Superintendent Clinton van Rensburg had the broad body of a rugby lock. He’d played for the police team for years, and sat on the bench during a Springbok Test, once. He hadn’t been called to play, but the South Africans had won anyway.
    ‘Trying to speak to Shazia,’ said Riedwaan. ‘She took one call, said I must bring Yasmin back. Now she won’t takemy calls.’
    ‘Where have you been this afternoon?’
    ‘Where do you think I’ve been?’ demanded Riedwaan. ‘I was at the crime scene in Maitland. Two little girls not much bigger than my daughter shot to shit.’
    ‘Don’t give me shit.’ Van Rensburg stood up. He wasn’t as big since being shot in the spine during a routine drug bust. Two operations later, he was out of his wheelchair – but onthe streets he was no use, except as target practice. ‘Where are you hiding her, Faizal?’
    ‘I don’t have her.’ Riedwaan leaned on Van Rensburg’s desk, knocking over a framed photograph. ‘You’ve known me for fifteen years. We founded this fucking unit together.’
    ‘Put your wife out of her misery.’ Van Rensburg may have lost the full use of his legs, but he had not lost his contacts, or hisknowledge of the men he worked with. And the man whose service file he had on his desk, he’d made it his job to know better than most. ‘She’s taking your child to Canada,’ said Van Rensburg. ‘Last time she tried, you did take Yasmin.’
    ‘I know,’ said Riedwaan. ‘I know. It was a mistake. I was desperate, but I would never harm either of them.’
    ‘The stress has got to you, Faizal. Look atyou. You’re fucked up. Can’t think. Can’t sleep, can’t eat. Can’t face what happened to your dream,’ said Van Rensburg, righting the portrait of him and his family. It had been taken when they were whole and happy, before he’d had to use a crutch. ‘You tell me where she is. I fetch her. This whole thing goes away, and you get work in private security. No trouble.’
    ‘You’ve got a