Sannie smiled politely, but she was impatient. ‘I need to ask you some questions.’
The woman blew out the match and put it back in the box.
‘I can see you are troubled,’ the woman said again.
‘I’m sorry, I don’t know your name.’
‘I am Virtuous Mathebula.’
‘Captain Susan van Rensburg, from the Stock Theft and Endangered Species unit, based at Skukuza.’
‘You must be proud to have attained such a senior rank, though I know it has come at a cost to you.’
Sannie frowned. She was used to suspects trying to put her off a line of questioning, even immune to it, but she felt this woman was doing her best to annoy her. ‘If I may –’
‘Is it a loss?’
‘Is what a loss?’ Sannie asked.
‘Is that what you are suffering from, the death of a loved one, perhaps?’
Sannie closed her eyes for a moment,
