PERFECT SHADOWS

11

PERFECT SHADOWS 11

The request came in just after lunch. Another unusual meal. Grilled salmon. Greek salad. Sparkling water with lemon slices arranged neatly on the side. Detective Jaco van der Merwe stared at the form in disbelief.

“This isn’t a hotel,” one of the wardens muttered.

Yet the kitchen prepared it. Again. When Jaco walked into the visiting room, Selene Marlowe was already seated. She smiled when she saw him.

“Detective,” she said warmly. “How is your wife?”

The question caught him off guard.

“She’s fine.”

“And your son? Still playing rugby?”

He hesitated, then nodded. “Yes. Trials next month.”

She smiled gently. “That’s good. Boys need something to fight for.”

Her tone was light. Casual. As if they were old friends meeting for coffee. He answered her questions freely. It felt strangely normal. Almost dangerous. She took a sip of water and placed the glass down carefully.

“Right,” she said. “Today is about my brother-in-laws.”

Her voice changed slightly. Not dramatic. Just quieter.

“Four months before I murdered everyone,” she said plainly, “I walked into what you would call an orgy.”

Jaco did not move. She stared at the table as she continued.

“My husband, Adrian. His brothers Matthew and Daniel. My last born, Eli. And those children Lucas was pimping.”

Her jaw tightened.

“My twin girls were there too.”

The room felt suddenly too small.

“I stood there,” she said. “And I collapsed.”

Silence filled the space between them.

“Everything inside me snapped,” she continued. “Not slowly. Not gently. It snapped hard.”

Her eyes were distant now.

“When I woke up, I was wired differently. It was like someone had removed something soft from inside me.”

She looked at him.

“I realised there was no praying that could fix it.”

Her voice was steady, but her fingers trembled slightly.

“I had prayed before. Fasted. Paid tithes. Confessed my sins. I did everything right.”

She laughed softly, but there was no humour in it.

“Reporting to the police was useless. You know that.”

Jaco swallowed.

“I realised,” she said slowly, “that I had to stop them. Because I was the only one who could.”

Then she went silent. Jaco felt it the shift. This was the moment before planning. Before method. Before calculation. She was telling him the trigger. He leaned forward slightly, voice softer now.

“Tell me what you felt,” he said gently. “Exactly what was going on in your head.”

For the first time since he had known her, her composure cracked. Her lips trembled.

“I couldn’t understand why I was alone,” she whispered.

Her breathing became uneven.

“I did everything right. I went to church. I gave money. I fasted until I fainted sometimes. I apologised when I was wrong.”

Tears gathered in her eyes but did not fall.

“And still… I got rotten children.”

Her voice broke on the word.

“I married the devil. And his brothers. And his mother.”

She pressed her hands against her chest as if something hurt there.

“My own sister,” she continued, “didn’t even see that I needed help. She thought I was dramatic.”

She shook her head slowly.

“I was like a passenger. In my marriage. In my own house. In my own body.”

Her breathing quickened.

“I would walk into rooms and feel invisible. Decisions were made over me. Around me. About me.”

Her voice dropped lower.

“They took everything. My dignity. My safety. My children.”

She closed her eyes.

“And when I saw my daughters there… I knew.”

Her face went blank.

“There was only one option.”

The words hung in the air. Jaco felt a chill crawl up his spine. She gasped suddenly. Her hand gripped the table.

“I need air,” she said quickly, standing up.

Before he could react, her knees buckled. She collapsed.

“Selene!”

Jaco jumped from his chair and caught her before her head hit the floor. He lowered her carefully. Her skin was cold. He pressed his fingers against her neck. There. A faint pulse.

“Wardens!” he shouted.

Two officers rushed in.

One of them looked alarmed. “That’s bad.”

“What do you mean bad?” Jaco snapped.

“She collapsed yesterday too,” the warden said nervously. “Doctor said she’s under extreme pressure. Stress levels very high.”

Jaco stared at him.

“Why wasn’t I told?”

“We emailed the report to management, sir.”

He felt anger rise in his chest. Selene lay in his arms, unconscious. Her face looked smaller somehow. Fragile. Not the calm, controlled woman who ordered wine and spoke like she owned the building. The doctor had said stress. Pressure. Jaco looked down at her. The poised woman he had been speaking to for weeks… Had been pretending. She had felt everything. Every humiliation. Every betrayal. Every horror.

And she had carried it alone. He watched as the wardens lifted her onto a stretcher. For the first time, he saw not a mastermind. But a woman who had cracked long before she ever picked up a weapon.