Chapter 5

The ride back was equally tense. And neither party spoke to each other. Sara loved to drive, but Grissom had grabbed his own keys when he left the lab.

Sighing Sara took out her cell and called Brass, filling him in on their progress. He said that he'd have a talk with the gang-unit to find out what he could about the man calling himself Big Rex. He promised to phone back but to Sara, the conversation didn't last nearly long enough as it plunged the car back into that tense silence that had stretched around them since they left. It stretched all the way to the lab where they entered the silence. Sara was glad that she could take a quick detour to the women's restroom. Entering a cubicle and closing the door, she dropped her face in her hands and indulged in a few moments of self-pity. She felt emotionally drained. She needed to get more sleep and she knew it. The chronic insomnia was seriously catching up with her.

Her beeper informed her that Trace had some results for her. Steeling herself to face Hodges, she walked over to his domain.

"Grissom says I should tell you that the foreign substance on the cigarette bud is chalk. The kind used on pool sticks." Hodges started in his usual condescending manner.

Not in the mood, Sara gave him a blank look. "I dropped the cigarette bud at DNA. How did you get it?"

Hodges hardly seemed to notice her tone. "DNA noticed some foreign substances. You probably missed it. So they kicked it to me."

Sara ground her teeth as to stop herself responding to that.

"You told Grissom first?"

"Well he is the boss around here."

"Anything else?" Sara asked tensely and hated the way he grinned self-righteously.

"Isn't that enough?" Not bothering to reply, she left the lab and was still fuming when she spotted Doc Robbins coming towards her. For him she spared a smile and greeted him politely.

"Hi Doc. What are you doing here?"

"I'm bringing those Bilharzia slides for Grissom to have a look. So I thought I might as well bring you this." Doc Robbins said as he held out a plastic bag containing some keys and a piece of paper to Sara.

Smiling at his thoughtfulness, Sara gratefully accepted the bag.

"Thanks Doc."

"Any time."

One of the keys on the bunch was clearly a house key, another may be a safe key and the other an even smaller one. Perhaps to a locker or a post-box.

Sara swabbed the keys for any trace evidence, hoping to find out where they had been. The flat edges she scanned for fingerprints, but found only partials and smudges. The partials she sent to Jacky at the finger-print department. No doubt they would match Agent Smith but there was no harm in checking.

She picked up her phone and dialed Agent Scott's number. It was answered after a few rings.

"Agent Scott." The voice on the side sounded tired and Sara felt a spark of kinship towards the woman, thinking that neither of them had the easiest of jobs.

"Agent Scott, this is Sara Sidle from the crime lab." She said quickly and waited for any kind of response. When there was none, she continued quickly. "We met earlier. Sorry to bother you, but do you know the address where Agent Smith stayed? We found some keys belonging to him."

There was a pause as Agent Scott processed the information. When she replied, her tones were more clipped but Sara was sure it was to hide her tiredness and emotional anguish over her dead agent.

"No unfortunately not." She didn't bother with a greeting. "But his car had a GPS tracking system in it. Maybe you could use that."

"His car? Can you please give me a description?" Sara asked as she drew a pen and a piece of paper towards her.

"Sure, it's a blue Ford Focus. Gimme a moment to get you the number plates, if I have it." Sara waited patiently as there was a rummage on the other line. "I think the plates are Nevada 018-NNB"

After ringing off, Sara called Brass. He said he would send a couple of uniforms to the hotel and the surrounding area to search for the missing vehicle.

"I also spoke to the people of the gang-unit," Brass continued. "Big Rex is well known to them. According to them, the Vipers derive a lot of their cash by dealing in illegal firearms. The gun used in the shooting was relatively non-descript, any-one could have bought it."

Sara tried hard to hide her frustration as she prepared to ring off. "Great. Thanks Brass"

"Anytime." The line went dead.

At least they had a suspect in custody, Sara thought to herself. But, that left another suspect out there.

She was about to start working again when her phone rang.

"Hi Sara." It was Nick. "I'm at the PD with a South African. You wanna come watch?"

If it got her out of the lab and away from the chance to run into Grissom again, Sara would take the opportunity gladly.

"Sure, I'm on my way."

"Kobus Gertenbach"

The giant of a man held out his hand for Sara to shake.

"Sara Sidle" Sara shook his hand and was unsurprised by the firmness of his grip "Pleasure to meet you"

"Pleasure's all mine ma'am."

Kobus Gertenbach was big man, towering over Nick. It seemed his clothes could barely contain him, though they sat very well on him. He had straw blond hair with kind light blue eyes that danced with mischief. His face, neck and hands were deeply tanned, almost red, as if he spent most of his time outdoors. It served to accentuate his eyes even more. There were a few scars on his hands showing up white against the tanned skin. He carried himself with a lightness common to large men.

"I hear you have one of our guys in a spot of trouble." His English was good but with a heavy South African accent. It sounded almost Australian to Sara's ears.

"We want first dibs on prosecuting him," Brass said as he joined them.

"Hey, personally I feel you should do the time where you did the crime. But let's leave the lawyers to sort that out." Mr. Gertenbach answered putting his hands up defensively, but his face betrayed his humour. "Anything in particular you want me to ask our guy in there?"

Sara and Nick glanced at one another, weighing up how much they should tell this man. It was still an active investigation.

"A woman was shot and a man beaten to death in a hotel room," Brass supplied for them. "This bozo was trying to sell a gun not even a block from the scene. Ballistics confirmed that it was the gun used in the murder. Plus your boy was wearing a shirt covered in blood. I'll be doing the talking, we just want you translate. We gave the suspect a public defender, so you'll probably have to translate for him as well."

"Right, gotcha." Gertenbach grinned and Sara couldn't help but like him. "How do you know he's South African? No don't worry, I not trying to pry into your investigation. Just curious. I gather he pretends not to speak English? I can't speak all eleven languages but I can manage in a few of them." Gertenbach motioned to Brass. "After you then."

Brass led the way into the interrogation room followed by Nick and Gertenbach, who almost had to duck to enter. Sara watched from behind the one way glass, glad not to be in the crowded room. She had to admit, Gertenbach made an impressive figure. The stool was almost too small for him. And the room seemed very full with the suspect, the lawyer, the two investigators, the uniform standing guard and Gertenbach. The suspect seemed unimpressed by the new arrival and was still wearing a self-satisfied condescending grin.

"Good evening, I'm Jim Brass and this is Nick Stokes from the crime lab. The person next to you is John Hunt. He is the public defender assigned to your case. This, I have no doubt, you already know. Over here we have Mr. Kobus Gretenback" Brass stumbled over the pronunciation.

"Kobus Gertenbach." said and started speaking in Afrikaans, translating Brass's words. The man's yaw dropped. Clearly he had thought it would take longer to get a translator. Again he feigned ignorance. Gertenbach saw this and smoothly switched to another language. Zulu. The suspect's eyes grew even wider. Gertenbach smiled, and he reminded Sara of a cat toying with its prey. Again he switched languages and used Xhosa. The strange clicking noises filled the interrogation room and Gertenbach must have hit a nerve in what he said, for finally the suspect barked something at him that didn't seem polite at all.

"Right, what do you want to know?" Gertenbach asked, turning to Brass.

"Let's start with his name."

With Gertenbach translating for both sides, the interview could finally proceed, though haltingly, and sullenly. Gertenbach for one seemed to enjoy it immensely, till Brass started asking questions about the murder. Sara could see the anger rising in Gertenbach's face as the suspect confessed and nonchalantly described the crime with rough gestures from dark, cuffed hands. Gertenbach's face became steadily redder as the interview progressed and his English more heavily accented, but he kept his composure.

"What can you tell me about the black suitcase we found in the hotel room?" Brass asked.

The suspect, Sipho Nkosazana, visibly paled, even before Gertenbach translated the question. He put his face in his hands and mumbled something.

Brass and Nick looked at Gertenbach.

"He said 'it was there the whole time', he also said 'I'm dead', along with quite a few swear words. We have a lot of those. I can translate if you want but I'm afraid English won't do it justice".

Brass tried to pry to get some more information out of Mr. Nkosazana, but he had clammed up. His lawyer then said that his client had given them what they came for and that the interview was over.

Outside Gertenbach was more somber that he had previously been.

"What's in the case?" He asked when he saw Sara again. "Sipho looked like he'd seen a ghost when you mentioned it."

Again Sara looked at Nick before answering carefully. "A Rhino-horn."

Gertenbach shot of a string of what clearly had to be swear words that started with the word 'Bliksemse'. He did the funky phone dance as he patted his pockets for his cell and finally found it in his breast pocket. "There is someone you should talk to," he told the watching investigators as he searched for a number then brought it to his ear and waited for the ring tone.

On hearing the voice on the other side of the line answering, his face lit up.

"Wollie, howzit, hoe gaan dinge daar?. It's Koos" Gertenbach spoke in Afrikaans and although Sara could hear the words on the other side quite clearly, she didn't know what to make of them.

"Koos! Good grief how are you man? How's the States?"

"Lekker man lekker. The beer takes like piss and the steaks suck. Budweiser is aptly named for bathwater."

Sara could hear the booming laugh on the coming over the line.

"How did the Blue Bulls do against the Cheetahs?" Gertenbach enquired

"Beat them 23-25. Played well for it too. Cleared the break-off nicely, took a few of their line-outs. I think we have a real shot at the Currie-Cup this year."

"That good to hear. Listen Wollie, I'm in Vegas."

"You lucky devil."

Smiling Gertenbach continued. "Local police are investigating a murder, and came across some Rhino-horn."

"Fokket ne?"

"My sentiments exactly. Do you want to talk to investigators over here?" Gertenbach asked

"Yes if I can please"

"Hold on. I'll put her on." Gertenbach held out his phone to Sara. "This is Willem Wolmerans; he heads up an anti-poaching unit of the South Africa Police Department. Maybe he can help you if you want."

Sara took the phone, which looked puny in Gertenbach's hand.

"This is Sara Sidle. Am I speaking to Mr. Wolmerans?" she stumbled a bit over the pronunciation.

"Please call me Wollie," came the answer of a deep male voice. "How can the SAPD help you?"

"We have a suspect in custody at the moment, a man called…" Sara looked at Gertenbach

"Sipho Nkosazana."

"…. Called Sipho Nkosazana. Do you know him?"

Sara heard Wollie Wolmerans whistle through his teeth. "That is one of our main suspects in a pouching syndicate we are investigating. He's a foot soldier. What do you have him in for?"

"Murder."

"A-HA. Lekker man, lekker!"

Sara was nearly deafened by the jubilant cry over the line before the man got himself under control and got back some semblance of professionalism.

"Miss. Sidle, Sipho Nkosazana is an extremely dangerous individual, and if you have the means to take him off the streets permanently, then make sure you do. You will be doing the world a huge favor. He usually works with his half-brother John Nkosazana. John is the mastermind behind the schemes and Sipho is usually the muscle. Sipho isn't the sharpest pencil in the case. I doubt he can find his own arse without a map. Begging your pardon ma'am."

Sara smiled to herself. Usually she hated the fact that men treated her differently than they would a male colleague, but she almost liked the painful politeness of the two South Africans.

"We haven't found John, we had no idea he existed. But we are looking for a second suspect."

"Bets are John is your man. Listen, give me your email address and I'll send you all I have on the Brothers Grimm." Wollie Wolmerans offered.

Sara gratefully accepted and gave him her email address. Wolmerans gave her his cell-phone number, telling her to call him anytime she needed help.

"Remember to replace the 0 at the start of the number with +27, that's the code for South Africa."

Again thanking Wolmerans for his help, Sara passed the phone back to Gertenbach. Nick took Gertenbach back to the airport; he had also given his contact information to Sara and said in a manner that bordered on flirting that she could call him any time as well.

"What do you think?" Brass asked Sara as they walked back to the lab.

"Well Sipho looks good for it, but we still need find his brother." She answered

"I meant about the big guy," Brass asked. "Think we can trust him? Seems convenient that he knew exactly who to call."

"I think so; he did help us lot, and put us in contact with the South African Police."

"For whatever that's worth, they don't have a good reputation you know. I'll just make a few calls. Check the validity of this Wolmerans character."

Brass's phone rang then with some good news. The uniforms had found Agents Smith's car and was towing it back to the lab.

Sara went to get something to eat while she waited for the car. Then, when the call came to tell her that it had arrived, she went to put on some overalls and headed to the garage. This she was really looking forward to.