Epilogue
Six months later
Isobel was feeling surprisingly nervous. It was the official opening of the new headquarters of Private Johannesburg, in a penthouse office suite in the Sandton CBD. She and Joey had gone into partnership together after the arrest of the illegal mining kingpins, including her ex-husband Dave and the government minister Mr. Mashabela.
Steyn was arrested, but committed suicide in prison soon afterward. One of the warders told her that he’d written “GET ME OUT OF THIS TRAP” in his own blood on the wall before he had died.
Somehow, she thought that was poetic justice.
Isobel wasn’t nervous about the firm, although she’d initially had misgivings about venturing into a partnership with her new boyfriend, who’d since become her fiancé. But as it turned out, they were as happy together during working hours as they were outside of them, and in fact, they made a damned good team. The business had taken off and they were now extremely busy.
So Isobel wasn’t worried about that.
But she was very nervous about meeting the new intern, just turned sixteen years old, who had volunteered to help out during her school holidays.
Isobel glanced in the mirror as she passed the reception desk. Her blond hair was in place, her white top and blue jeans neat, no embarrassing coffee stains or lipstick smudges or anything a teenager would pick up on. Well, then. No reason to delay this moment any longer.
“Hi, Hayley,” she said, approaching the cubicle where the young woman was already hard at work. Isobel saw that her desk was spotless, and a poster of Metallica had already been put up on the wall.
The teenager turned. She was an attractive girl and Isobel could instantly see the resemblance to her father. But when she stood up, grinning from ear to ear, and gave Isobel a big, warm hug — only then did Isobel really believe that everything would be OK.