Love in the Shadows. Lauri Kubuitsile

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      Prologue

      The white full moon slipped behind the clouds and he stepped out of his car without a sound. He knew the layout; he’d been there many times. He held a card against the sensor at the gate and it slid open. He slipped through. The guard was out for the count, just as he knew he would be. He hurried up the drive, not a stone kicked, nor a stick broken.

      At the door he inserted the key. The alarm remained silent; he’d made sure it would be off. He walked down the marble-tiled hallway and climbed the winding staircase to the second floor. That was where she was. His heartbeat quickened. He smiled.

      As he neared her room, he caught a whiff of her perfume, always the same – Chanel No. 5. Her room was at the end. He knew the rest of the house was empty. He would be alone with her tonight. The door was ajar and he pushed it open, careful to avoid its usual creak.

      There she was. She lay like an angel in the middle of her four-poster bed, the sheets and blanket kicked off in the summertime heat. He moved closer to see her face. Her long lashes rested on her high cheekbones, her mouth perfectly shaped.

      She had the body of a dancer: long, delicate legs and arms; a long, elegant neck. She was on her back, her legs and arms spread to all corners, her hair a tangle of long, dark, natural curls.

      She’d left the window open and the thin curtains billowed in the night breeze. The moon, now free of the clouds, shone in onto her naked body. She was beautiful. He stood looking at her. For seconds, for minutes. Time was lost. She was his love, she always would be.

      She moaned and turned on her side, away from him. He couldn’t stay for long, though he wished he could. One day, he thought. One day they’d be together forever. He took the bag off his back and pulled out a perfect long-stemmed red rose. He walked to her dressing table, a clutter of make-up and hairbrushes. He laid the rose across the top, and next to it he left a card. It made him happy to think she would find it when she woke up. The first thing she’d see in the morning.

      He looked at her one last time, then slipped out of the room, out of the house, down the drive – and he was gone. Lost in the shadows of the night.

      * * *

      The alarm rang. Time to get up. She lay with her eyes closed for a few minutes, but she knew she couldn’t delay getting up too long. She had an early meeting with her producer, and then immediately after that she needed to get to the studio to meet her new songwriter. Being late is disrespectful to other people, and she always made sure she was on time. But the bed felt so lovely that she gave herself a few more minutes.

      Eventually, reluctantly, she got up, reached for her dressing gown and headed for the shower. But then she stopped. She saw it and knew straightaway what it was, who it was from. She stepped away; slowly she inched back to her bed and reached for her cellphone on the side table.

      Her hands were shaking, but she managed to press 1 and a groggy voice answered at the other end. “Hello? Kedi? Kedi, what’s wrong?”

      “Louise! My god, he was here again!”

      1

      The older woman, Louise, marched up to the guard. She pushed her face into his. “What the hell were you hired for?” she shouted. “It’s your job to protect this house. How did the creep get in?”

      “I don’t know what happened, madam. I fell asleep. But I never fall asleep on duty – I mean it, I don’t know what happened.”

      The guard tried his best, but Louise was furious and heard nothing. “For Christ’s sake – she could have been killed! He was right inside the house, in her room! You knew the maid was off last night. You knew she was alone in the house. He was free to do whatever the hell he wanted! You should have been more vigilant than ever. But instead you fall asleep?”

      Louise turned to the boss of the security company, who’d pitched up straightaway after hearing what had happened. Ebony Music was one of his biggest customers and he couldn’t afford to lose them. “I want this man fired. I don’t want to see him here again. Or at the office. Or at any of our events or at any gigs. Understand?”

      The security boss nodded and he and the guard left. Louise sat down opposite Kedi and her sister, Kenamile.

      Kedi’s long-time friend and fellow band member, Dintwe Badumele, sat down too. “Louise, you did the right thing,” he said. “How does a security guard fall asleep on duty?”

      “Such incompetence!” Kenamile exclaimed. “If he’d been awake, he could have caught the guy and we’d be done with this whole thing.”

      “Did you talk to your mother?” Louise asked.

      “Yes, she’s on her way. She’s catching the ten o’clock flight to Joburg. She’s still in Gaborone, opening the new salon,” Kenamile said.

      Kedi sat wrapped in a blanket, drinking tea, even though outside the temperature was in the mid-twenties and rising. Right then she needed the warm security. She was frightened to her core. It had gone all cold inside her at the thought of someone violating her privacy in such a way. He had been in her bedroom. Watching her as she slept. She couldn’t get past that bit. She felt as if she’d never be able to close her eyes again.

      This was the second time this person had got into the house. Kedi was now quite famous, not only in South Africa, but all over the continent. Her music was played on radio stations from Kenya to Senegal, from Egypt to South Africa. She knew fame and she knew it had its downside. She’d accepted all of the crazy letters; it was part of the package. People rushing up to her, grabbing at her, wanting to be her friend.

      She had wanted to be the queen of African pop. Now she was, and she had to accept that nothing was all good. But she had never signed up for this. As much as she loved singing, she would give it all up to make this go away. She felt paralysed by the weight of fear.

      She hated what it was doing to her. She was not the person this monster was making her be. Someone fearful. Someone who was dependent on others. Kedi had always been happy and carefree and independent. Yes, she knew there was crime in South Africa, but she’d never really been its victim. She’d once had a cellphone stolen, though it had been her own fault for leaving it unattended on a table.

      But now she knew what people meant when they spoke of crime and how it made you immobile. It changed you. This had changed Kedi, and she wasn’t sure she could take much more. The thought of him entering her room, standing over her while she slept, was terrifying. If she was not safe in her bedroom in her own house, where could she be safe?

      After the last time, Louise, the owner of Ebony Music, the record company Kedi was contracted to, had the security in the house completely redone. New security fence and gate. Alarm system, security cameras. But none of it had stopped this person. Somehow he’d immobilised both the alarm and the cameras just at the exact time the guard went to sleep.

      By the time Louise arrived, everything was back online. The stalker had created the perfect window of opportunity to get in and out unseen. Kedi had been told everything was state-of-the-art, impenetrable, but still he’d bypassed it. Now what was she supposed to do?

      At least last time he’d only got to the front door, where he’d left a dozen roses and a card. The card this time was similar. He went on about how СКАЧАТЬ