Read When Time Fails (Silverman Saga Book 2) for Free Online Page A

found them, you know. I just got back from Pretoria... my wife and daughter, you know. I knew something was wrong as soon as I ...’
    She walked around him, up the stairs onto th e stoe p , thankful for Thys’ support. There was an overflowing ashtray and empty mugs on the old table, and what looked like a fresh coffee stain. Why hadn’t someone wiped it up? Th e lappi e was right there. A man came through the French doors, a detective, from the look of him with his short hair and brown shoes. Who had unlocked the security gate? Pa put in that gate only last year, after Viljoenspruit was burgled. The detective put his arms around her. Wynand. Did he still have a crush on her? He shook Thys’ hand. Murmured words, so sorry, doing all we can, we’ll get the bastards, huge search through the entire district, roadblocks, they can’t get away.
    ‘Where are they? Where’s Ma and Pa? And Christo? I want to see them.’ She didn’t recognise her own voice.
    Wynand blocked her way. ‘No. You can’t go inside. It’s a crime scene. The mortuary van is on its way.’
    She turned away and stared out at the wheat fields beyond the garden, past the poplars towards the Malutis. So beautiful always, but not anymore.Now the distant mountains seemed to be mocking her, providing refuge to her family’s murderers. She heard Wynand telling Thys that the fuckin g kaffir s had fucking slaughtered them, pumped bullets into them like it was target practice. That there was no way anyone could have survived an attack like that.
    Why? Why hadn’t Kaptein barked? And the other dogs. Warned them. Given Pa time to get the shotgun.
    Stefan handed her a mug of weak, milky coffee. Rosie knew she didn’t take milk. But Rosie hardly ever came in anymore. But Pretty also knew how she liked her coffee. Where was Pretty?
    ‘I’ve confined th e kaffir s to th e khay a ,’ Stefan said. ‘They’ve been questioned. They were probably involved. They say they didn’t hear anything. They’re lying.’
    ‘Rubbish. None of our people would do something like this,’ she said.
    Most of them had worked for her family for years and years. This was their home. Rosie. Petrus. They were family – almost.
    A young constable came running up th e stoe p stairs. He looked pale.
    ‘We found the dogs. They were down there, behind the tractor shed. Looks like they were poisoned. And they even fucking slit the little one’s throat!’
    For the first time since Thys had walked through the kitchen door at lunchtime, a lifetime ago, tears welled. Angrily, Annamari blinked them away.
     
     
     

Chapter 6
A year later: 1990
     
    It had been accidental, really – finding out that Beauty couldn’t read. Annamari had been shocked. After all, the girl was a year older than Arno and Arno was a voracious reader. She always put at least two or three new books in his suitcase before she and Thys drove him back to school in Bloemfontein on Sunday afternoons after his fortnightly weekend visit. She was very grateful to Thys ’ oum a for buying them for her at CNA and posting them down: the few books on the shelves at Silverman’s General Dealer were hardly appropriate reading material for an almost twelve-year-old. Or even for her, although she didn’t have time to read books nowadays. She was too busy being a farmer’s wife – except that Thys wasn’t a farmer, would never be a farmer and didn’t want to be a farmer. But he seemed to be content, living on Steynspruit and teaching at Driespruitfontein Hoërskool.
    ‘I know you want to live on Steynspruit,’ he’d said. ‘And if that’s what you want, then it’s what I want. I love you.’
    Dominee van Zyl had gone ballistic when Thys told him, but Thys had stood his ground. ‘Steynspruit is Annamari’s heritage, our children’s heritage. We belong there,’ he’d said and winked at her as his father huffed and puffed and snorted.
    Annamari kneaded the dough and smiled at the girl painstakingly practising