Glittering Gallows

Chapter 64

363 C Chapter 64 ydney was a magical destination, Katherine, perched on a stool and looking out through parted curtains, observed as she peered at the city through a telescope mounted by a seaward window of her grandiose Swissôtel suite. The mesmerising skyscrapers were as marvellous as the cerulean-blue Tasmania Sea in the distance. Air sighing into her suite had a seaweed aroma. She wished she was still in love with her husband and had brought him along. The city was clean, orderly and romantic. Through the telescope, she zoomed on shoppers and strollers in distant streets. The Australians struck her as a happy, conservative people quick to apologise when they bumped into others, which reminded her of the man she saw in the boutique in the Strand Arcade. Indeed he looked like the man her husband had spoken to at the Sheraton in Pretoria. If it were the man, what was an economic consultant doing with a cased guitar slung across his back in a ladies’ boutique? Perhaps it wasn’t the man she thought he was. Presently, as she scanned the buildings and the sea and spied on unsuspecting mid-day shoppers and strollers, she thought she was foolish. Moagi had bamboozled her into going shopping so that he would’ve the children to himself. But when she thought deeper, she saw that whether she was home or not, he abused the children. The shopping spree gave Bushido’s cameras time to gather more evidence. But what evidence was more incriminating than what had already been captured? From the screening room of Bushido Security Company she should’ve proceeded with the flash stick and her lawyer to Police Headquarters and made a report to the Police Commissioner General. Moagi was too rich and senior to be ordinarily arrested. However, had she turned down his shopping proposal, it would’ve been her first time to do so, and she might’ve made him S 364 suspicious. And rushing to the police with her lawyer could’ve been futile. The premier was well-connected in Pretoria and beyond. She was going to sit down with Advocate Everson Gcingca and task him to investigate if there weren’t personal links between the Commissioner General and her husband. The investigations required time. She would initiate them as soon as she returned. Ground views were beginning to tire her when she decided to view eagles gliding in the Sydney sky. Swinging the telescope up, she caught sight of a shirtless man in window of a nearby building. The man was roughly on the same level as she and aimed a gun with a telescopic sight at her. He looked like the Antonio Dominguez Banderas lookalike she had seen in the Strand Arcade. She withdrew from the eyepiece and held her bosom. Had she imagined it? She peered again. The curtain was closed. No one was by the window. She scanned neighbouring windows and, through some, spied on intimate couples. Had she been imagining the Spaniard in the back of her mind? Had she conjured the unsettling image? Nevertheless, she rose and closed the curtain. No one can be completely sure of their safety in this cruel world, she thought, and prepared to leave for the Royal Botanic Gardens. Her full-image in a wall mirror said there was nothing to change on her person. In a frilled bottle-green miniskirt, a sleeveless top and flowery iPANEMA sandals she bought in boutiques at the Strand, she was as suave and carefree as the Australian women she saw in the streets. But now that she had an appreciation of the city’s layout, she would hire a car and drive herself while pondering life after Moagi’s incarceration or death. Yesterday’s ride in a taxi made her detest them. Though the cabman was courteous, he was detractively talkative and threw lustful glances at her. She didn’t entirely blame him; the bulbous hips of African women threw most non-African men off-balance. ...