Zoo City

Zinzi calls Dave, Gio’s photographer friend who took the photos that appeared in Gio’s blog post. They make an agreement: If he helps her, she’ll help him get content for stories on Zoo City. Zinzi picks Dave up in her Capri; he’s brought clips of articles about the death of the homeless man, Patrick Serfontein. Zinzi notes no mention of Serfontein’s animal familiar. Dave says not everyone living on society’s edge is animalled, but Zinzi notes that Patrick’s death coincides with an email she received.

Next, they follow a thread, from a broken fingernail Zinzi retrieved from Kotze Street, to the dump, where they find the stab-wound-riddled body of a woman that Zinzi recognizes as having had a Sparrow—and the Sparrow is missing. When the cops arrive, Zinzi is questioned once again by Inspector Tshabhala, who finds Zinzi’s proximity to two murders suspicious.

Zinzi goes to another recovery meeting, where she learns that the rapper Slinger is not really mashavi. On page 6 of the newspaper, she finds a report by Mandlakazi Mabuso about the murdered person—not a woman but intersex—who had the Sparrow. Because Serfontein was homeless, and because Zinzi saw a shopping trolley filled with plastic forks in her vision, Zinzi looks for homeless shelters that accept donated food.