It was dark outside and she could hear the chirps of the earliest birds above the insistent buzzing of her phone. She squinted at the screen, impossibly bright to her sleepy eyes, and recognized the number. It was David calling.“Got a murder victim here, Jadey,” he said.Jade turned on the bedside light, blinking as her vision adjusted to its glare. The events of the previous night seemed a lifetime away. Relieved she could focus on the case again, she ran through the list of possibilities.“Dean Grobbelaar?”“Well, we’ve still got to ID the body. But it matches his description. No shoes. A friend of Grobbelaar’s called in a missing person report yesterday. That poor bugger is standing by, waiting to take a look for us. It’s not a pretty sight, I’m told.”“What happened? Where is he?”“Out of town. In a wildlife sanctuary a couple of hours’ drive north of Jo’burg. I’m on my way to the scene now. Apparently he was tied to a tree and chopped up. With a panga or an axe, I’m guessing.”Jade’s skin contracted into gooseflesh that had nothing to do with the temperature of the room.
