Setup

G had traveled with Black widow to meet Buz, the autistic man who was a computer genius. G was loosing his patience as Buz would only answer when questioned by Black widow because he did not like to talk to strangers and had a lot of things he was particular about. It took two days for G and Black widow to get the information from Buz. He only wrote the emails and made sure that they were untraceable but never collected the money. On one of his visits to the institution that supports children with autism, he was touched by a story by one of the children’s mother he met outside. She told him about how the father abandoned them when he found out that their child was autistic and refused to support them. He helped write the emails for the mother to get money to support her child. According to Buz, the father still did not pay even with the blackmailing emails, that’s why he sent more threatening ones after that.

When they went to the institution where he met the mother, the institution had no record of such a person and child. Buz was shocked to realised that he was scammed and made an accessory to a crime. He told G all he could remember about the woman and the name she used. G took the details down and informed both Mr J and S’bu about what he found.

Cindy was busy finalising her designs for the new bridge when G walked to her office and asked her to come with him voluntarily or by force. She recognised G from the time he use to drive Thandi to and from school in high school but wondered what the matter was. Not wanting to cause a scene at her office, she agreed to go with G voluntarily and sent Thandi a message on the way asking her if she knew what is was about. G took Cindy to a secluded location with no network connection and left her there with basic necessities.

Back in JC, Mr J, S’bu and G were going through Cindy’s bank accounts, social media and emails. “I have looked through everything, the only motivation for her to do this that I can find is you” G said.

“Me, what do I have to do with this?” S’bu asked surprised.

“She gets paid well as a civil engineer. She is not short of anything, money was not the motivation. She’s Thandi and Mandy’s friend but use to fancy you a lot when she was in high school and you turned her down a multiple times” G said. “That’s the only connection I can find.”

“I turned her down few years ago, she blackmails my father five years later? it does not make sense”S’bu said.

“I had doubts too, but her secret bank account has half of the money we paid and that was deposited on the days we made the drop offs” G said.

“I need to see this girl and interrogate her myself” Mr J said.

“I will go with you” S’bu suggested.

Cindy was terrified and imagining the worst. If she was murdered, no one will ever find her here. Why did she not make a fuss at the office where there were at least potential witnesses around? Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening. She was relieved to see S’bu but he sent chills down her spine when he gave her a cold stare. It took hours of interrogation by Mr J and S’bu but Cindy denied everything. She denied having knowledge of a secret bank account and assured them that she didn’t need money and that she was long over the crush she had on S’bu. You can ask Thandi, she will tell you that I will never do anything like this, she said tears rolling down her cheeks.

“If I remember properly, you stopped talking to Thandi when you found out that she was my girlfriend” S’bu said.

“That was before I saw how much in love you two were. When I saw you sharing the ice cream during our tour, I realised how childish I was and apologised to her. We’ve become very close since then, you know that” Cindy said sincerely hoping that S’bu believes her.

S’bu had indeed witnessed the friendship between Thandi and Cindy grow but he had seen a lot of backstabbing on his life to just believe what’s on the surface. “Stay here until we come back. I hope you not holding anything from us because if you are, I will make sure that you regret it” he warned her before leaving.

Cindy was locked up again and started imagining the worst. Why would anyone do this to her, she has never offended anyone but she was being setup. The bank account was under her name and she had no way of proving her innocence.

“What do you think?” Mr J asked his son on their way back to the city.

“It’s either she’s being setup or she’s a very good liar” S’bu responded. “Either way, we will get to the bottom of this” he added.

“S’busiso, where have you been and why haven’t you answered my calls?” Thandi asked the moment he got into the house.

“MaDlamini, what’s with all the questions before I even sit down?” he asked lovingly.

“Answer my questions” Thandi said impatiently raising her voice.

“I had a meeting and left my phone behind, happy?” he said getting annoyed.

“Don’t lie to me, your PI had no idea where you were” she said getting angry.

“You asked my PI? Are you monitoring me now?” S’bu asked also getting angry.

“You know what, I’m tired of this. We are over, I can’t do it anymore” Thandi said heading to the door.

Thandi hardly went to his office, let alone speak to his PI unless there was something urgent she needed attended to. Instead of finding out why she was so agitated, he snapped at her. “Thandi wait, he said grabbing her arm. I’m sorry that I snapped at you. It’s just been a long day, forgive me please” he said lovingly.

“You got G to pick up Cindy and both of you were off the grid for hours. You promised to stay away from my friends, why are you even with me? Do you ever consider my feelings at all” Thandi said getting emotional, tears already rolling down her cheeks.

“Babe, I’m not sleeping with Cindy, I promise. I know how hurt you were with Pretty and that almost destroyed us. I’d be a fool to ever do that again” he said sincerely, looking at her eyes and gently wiping her tears. “G picked Cindy up because she’s the blackmailer we’ve been looking for” he explained.

“What?” she asked puzzled.

S’bu told Thandi about Buz and the information they have about Cindy.

“It’s not her S’bu, you have to let her go” Thandi said pleading with him.

“Less than a minute ago, you were sure that I was sleeping with her, now you are defending her?” S’bu asked amazed at the sudden change in Thandi’s attitude.

“You know your charisma and the effect you have on women. I can not guarantee that Cindy would never fall for you again but I can bet my life on that she can never blackmail anyone” she said. “Let’s go, she said pulling him to the garage.”

“Where are we going?” he asked.

“We going to get Cindy” she said.

“But we are not sure yet that she’s innocent” he said.

“I am and that’s enough” Thandi said pushing S’bu out the door.

“You can be a bully sometimes, you know that?” he said giving in and driving Thandi to Cindy’s location.

Cindy was very relieved to find out that Thandi believed her and wanted to help find the person who set her up.