He went to the kitchen and returned with a wooden spoon. “I need you to get the sack.”
He led her down the hallway to the bedroom and opened the door slowly. The mamba was still curled up in the corner. He moved toward the laundry basket on the soles of his feet, making no sound. He slowly pulled the basket away from the snake and set it aside. As the serpent began to move, he used the shaft of the spoon to draw its coiled body away from its head. The mamba displayed signs of alarm, but Joseph was prepared. With a flick of his wrist, he lifted the tail high off the ground and used the spoon to pin the snake’s head to the floor. The mamba writhed in his arms, and Zoe was afraid he would lose his grip. But Joseph held the serpent fast. Suddenly, he let go of the spoon and grasped the snake behind the head, lifting it off the ground.
“The bag,” he said. “Hold it open at my feet.”
Heart pounding, Zoe did as he asked.
Joseph maneuvered the mamba into the bag until only the head and tail were outside. The snake thrashed about, but it couldn’t escape the burlap. Joseph dropped the serpent’s tail into the opening and wrapped his free hand around the neck of the bag like a vise, sliding it up until he was gripping the snake’s neck and the bag together. He took the cinch cord with his other hand and in a single motion dropped the bag and cinched it closed, swinging it around and around and twisting the cord until the serpent had no chance of escape.
He regarded her with amusement. “All that and you could have charmed it with a dance.”
She laughed, remembering that she was in her underwear. “Are you going to kill it?”
“I don’t kill animals unless I have to. I’m going to take it on a drive.”
“I’m coming with you,” she said. “I can’t stay here alone.”
They drove north into the plains and deposited the snake on a rocky swale beneath a sky awash with stars. They returned to Zoe’s flat a few minutes before five in the morning. As they approached the gate, Joseph pointed out where the security fence had been breached. Along a four-foot section of wall glass shards had been cleared and the bottom strand of electrified wire had been severed.
“The bottom wire leads to ground,” Joseph said. “It’s the only wire that could be cut without triggering the alarm. They probably bundled the other wires with a towel so they could slip through. I would guess there were three of them. The guard told me he didn’t see anything, but I bet he took a bribe. They knew exactly what they were doing.”
“And where they were going,” she deduced. “The window they broke in the kitchen was repaired last week. That’s why the bars were gone.”
“Did you see the repairmen?” he asked, parking outside her flat.
“They looked like ordinary Zambians.”
“No doubt they were. They finished the job and took home a few hundred pin for leaving the window unbarred.” He took a breath. “The people who came tonight were professionals. Did you notice the way they broke the glass?”
She shook her head.
“They weakened it with a cutter of some kind. The hole they made was a neat circle and no larger than a hand. Just enough to reach inside and undo the latch.”
She remembered the sound of shattering glass that woke her from sleep. “It took time to plan this,” she said, thinking of Dunstan Sisilu parked outside her gate. “It wasn’t just about the DNA decision.”
She looked out the window and interrogated herself, wishing she weren’t so tired. How had she distinguished herself in the investigation? What had she done to make them afraid?
Then it came to her.
“I talked to the housekeeper,” she said. “They must have seen me. Or maybe they caught my Land Rover on camera when I was staking out the house. That was over three weeks ago.”
He nodded slowly. “That makes sense. She must have seen something on the night of the rape. Or they think she saw something. We have to find a way to reach her.”
“No,” Zoe disagreed. “Approaching her again would only endanger her. All we need to nail Darious is DNA.”
He studied her. “You should get some sleep.”
She looked at her building and felt the terror again. “Stay with me tonight. Please.”
“Of course,” he replied. He got out of the truck and led her up the stairs to the flat. “I’ll sleep here,” he said, pointing at the couch.
She shook her head and took his hand, drawing him toward the guest room because her bedroom was a haunted place. She climbed into bed with her clothes on and cast aside the covers. He put the gun on the floor and slid in beside her. She pressed her back against his chest and closed her eyes, trying hard to block out the memory of the intruder and the snake.
“I feel safe now,” she whispered, and realized that she meant it.
chapter 18