Kiss and Die Page 21

  As they approached the dining area the noise of screeching grew louder. They rounded the corner and saw the Red Poles and the hostesses sat around a traditional Chinese table. But there were no dishes on top of the table; the centre was bare except for a monkey’s head held in place by a metal clamp. The monkey was screaming in panic.

  One of the Red Poles was smashing its skull.

  Chapter 65

  The next morning Mann opened his eyes but he could see nothing. He had no idea where he was. He lay on a strange surface. His head was banging. He opened his eyes wide but it was too dark in the room to see far, he could only make out the things nearest him. He looked across to see chains beside him on the bed, leather cuffs. He looked up to the ceiling above his head. A chain hung down from a hook. His heart hammered in his chest. From another room he heard the sound of a man in pain. He turned his head and watched a woman approach the bed. At first he could not make out who it was and then he recognized her.

  ‘Lola?’

  Lola walked towards Mann carrying a tray with a cup of tea, a biscuit and two Paracetamol. ‘Be with you in a minute, hon,’ she shouted out to the man in the other room.

  Mann collapsed back on the bed. ‘How did I get here?’

  Lola stood at the end of the bed, her hands on her PVC hips. ‘You came in a taxi. When I opened the door at four this morning you were standing in my doorway, my card in your hand and a friend on your arm.’

  Mann was already shaking his head, sitting up, swallowing the pills and groaning as the head rush hit him. ‘Sorry, Lola. I appreciate you letting me in.’

  Mann slugged at the tea. He looked at his phone; it was eight o’clock. ‘I’m in a bit of a hurry now, Lola.’ He stood, in his boxers. Lola looked south and smiled.

  ‘Do you want to stay a while, hon?’

  He laughed. ‘I really wish I could, Lola.’

  They heard a bedraggled plea for help from the next room.

  ‘Be quiet, slave!’ shouted Lola. ‘Your mistress will come when she’s ready. Unless you want me to punish you harder than I’ve ever done before. Do you?’

  ‘No please, mistress, no, don’t hurt me again.’

  Lola rolled her eyes. ‘Why do men always say “no” when they mean yes?’

  Mann checked his phone; he had a missed call and a message from Victoria Chan: Spend the day with me. I have something to share with you. Will pick you up from yours at ten.

  He stood and gave Lola a kiss on the cheek. ‘Got to go, Lola. Thanks for everything.’

  ‘You’re welcome, hon.’ She went back into the other room. She stuck her head back round the door as Mann was leaving. ‘Don’t forget your friend. She’s fast asleep in the corner. She was up most of the night drinking my sake.’

  Mann looked over in the corner and couldn’t make out the small sleeping figure until he reached it. It was the monkey from the Piccadilly Club. He picked it up. It dangled drunkenly off his arms. Mann’s eyes felt like someone had stuck hot pokers into them as he opened Lola’s front door and stood on her step waiting for his lift. He heard the roar of the car’s engine long before it cruised to a halt and purred noisily. Shrimp got out of the Maserati and looked momentarily lost for words as he saw Mann standing with a monkey outside Lola’s dungeons.

  ‘Don’t ask.’

  Mann handed Shrimp the monkey. ‘Take this for me. Ask Ng to keep it. I need to go home and get showered. I will be in in a couple of hours.’

  ‘You all right, Boss?’

  Mann didn’t know if he was or not. As Shrimp dropped him off near his flat, he phoned Mia.

  ‘Where are you now?’

  ‘On my way home. I need to change, I feel rough. I’m sorry, Mia. I don’t know what the fuck is going on any more. I don’t know if I can trust myself to make the right decisions. I don’t know if I can trust anyone else either. Victoria Chan has left me a message about spending the day with her.’

  ‘Do it, Mann.’

  Chapter 66

  ‘Get off!’ Shrimp lost the phone briefly.

  ‘What is it, Shrimp?’ Ng was eating and talking at the same time. ‘I’m just about to leave for work.’

  ‘Stay where you are. I need to see you.’

  ‘What’s wrong and what’s that noise? You have a party going on in the car? Jesus. Who’s that? She’s drunk, whoever she is. You shouldn’t pick up drunk women, believe me, I have done it. It’s a big mistake.’

  ‘It’s a monkey, it needs drying out, Ng. Can it stay with you for a bit? Just for a few hours till it sobers up. You’ll like it, it’s cute. Please, Ng, it will be like a pet. I promise to get it tomorrow.’

  ‘Okay. Okay. I don’t know why but yes…bring it round.’

  Shrimp pushed the monkey back in the seat. ‘Now behave and don’t be sick.’

  Shrimp left the monkey at Ng’s. He would take it to the New Territories and release it in a day or so, when it got over its hangover.

  Mia was waiting for Shrimp when he arrived back at Headquarters. ‘You’re undercover from tomorrow. It’s all ready to go. Chief Inspector Sheng wants to see you in his office to go through the brief. Any final business you have, tie it up today. Mann’s not going to be around. He’s spending the day with Victoria Chan. Did you see Mann this morning?’

  ‘Yes, I saw him.’

  ‘How did he seem?’

  Shrimp hesitated. ‘He seemed okay.’

  Mia waited until his eyes had stopped darting around the room and come back to hers.

  ‘I’ll repeat it for you. How did he seem?’

  ‘He seemed tired, Boss. He seemed like he’d had enough. He seemed like he didn’t know who he was any more. He seemed so sad.’

  ‘Okay. I get the picture.’ Mia sat at her desk, and buried her face in her hands for a few seconds before looking up. Shrimp was standing waiting. ‘He’s not the easiest person in the world to give help to but we can do it anyway. He needs us now more than ever even if he doesn’t realize it. We can help him in lots of ways. Take the pressure off him. We catch this killer as fast as we can and that leaves him to sort out the rest of the mess.’

  ‘Should he be spending time with Victoria Chan, Boss? There’s so much talk around this building. It’s a lot for him to deal with at the moment.’

  Mia didn’t answer straight away. She held her head in her hands whilst she thought and then she looked up.

  ‘Yes, Shrimp. Don’t underestimate him. It’s when his back is against the wall he works the best. I suggest you make this the last day of being seen around the Mansions. Do what you have to today.’

  When Shrimp arrived at the Mansions, Nina was waiting for him on the landing. She was in the shadows of the stairwell. She was back in her sari today. She shimmered with sequins around her face.

  ‘You look very handsome.’ She smiled coyly, her eyes shone in the darkness. She came towards him. They sat together in the usual place on the stairwell, from far above them was the echo of a door, from below, the sound of music. ‘Did you see Mahmud for me? Is he all right?’

  ‘I won’t lie, Nina. He’s not doing too well. He has a broken arm. He said he can’t write to you, he’s sorry. He will phone when they let him.’

  Nina’s eyes fixed in a panic onto Shrimp’s.

  ‘He is still not telling us what happened. He will be put on trial and convicted if he doesn’t tell us soon. All the evidence points to him. I’m sorry, Nina. I will keep trying to help him but he’s not helping himself.’

  Nina bowed her head and started to cry. She buried her face in her hands and turned away from Shrimp so that he wouldn’t see. He couldn’t help reaching out for her. He put his arm around her shoulder and she shifted closer and rested her head on his shoulder. He felt the soft fabric of her sari fold in his hands. He felt the nearness of her body beneath. He kissed her forehead. He hadn’t meant to. He hadn’t even known he was going to do it. He drew back instantly.

  ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be disrespectful.’

&
nbsp; ‘Don’t be sorry, Shrimp. I have felt it since the first time I saw you. You and I have met before in some other life. We are soul mates. We are meant to be together.’

  Shrimp was startled for a moment and then he looked into her eyes, still wet from tears, and saw that she was right. In some wonderful weird way she was right. He kissed her softly on the lips for so long that he lost track of time. By the time he left her he knew he couldn’t live without her.

  Chapter 67

  David called a meeting with the other Africans. More than thirty of them crowded into the bar next to his shop. The place was in sombre mood. David sat at the back of the room and addressed the men.

  ‘We have to act for ourselves. The Mansions has its own rules, its own government. Each race has its own country in here. Africa is a big country. We should have a say in here. We should have respect. We are allowing these stairwells to run with African blood. We are allowing a bunch of kids to hunt us down. We can’t allow it any more. We know who some of them are in here. We take out a few of the ringleaders and the rest will back off.’

  ‘What if they don’t?’

  ‘We have nothing to lose. They will pick us off one by one.’

  David stood. ‘I know where to start.’

  Three of the men followed him down to wait at the ground-floor entrance. They sat on the steps as they always did, but not just to pass the time, they were looking for one boy, Hafiz.

  Hafiz looked across at David as he passed them and moved through the ground-floor money changers and guesthouse touts. He had a smile on his face and a swagger in his walk. He had money in his pocket, a gold necklace and an expensive watch. Since Victoria Chan had befriended him he earned more money from servicing the needs of her wealthy friends than he ever did with Michelle. He looked disdainfully at the Africans. He would have liked to have bent over for David. He wouldn’t charge. But he knew that it wasn’t allowed. The Africans were out of bounds. Hafiz had a new respect amongst the Outcasts. He had stamped on the African’s head. He had shown that even though he might be gay he could be as nasty as the rest of them, nastier even. Hafiz only had to whistle and the whole of the Mansions came alive. He was someone now, in his own right. He didn’t need to work in the restaurant if he didn’t feel like it. He didn’t need to go to school. He had all he needed. Rich men showered him with gifts; he was going to be somebody.

  He stood for a second and stared back at David. Hafiz felt triumphant. David could look all he wanted. Hafiz just had to get his whistle out and that would be another African dead down the maintenance shaft. But today was different. Today David stared back at Hafiz with a look that frightened Hafiz. It seemed to look right inside him. It seemed to know all his secrets. Had David seen Hafiz stamp on the African’s head when he was lying on the ground? Had the African lived long enough to tell him? Hafiz doubted it, anyway what did he care? He was the prince of the Mansions.

  Hafiz walked on and glanced back over his shoulder. David had stood and was walking his way. He walked quickly through the crammed corridor, on his way to the stairs. He turned to see not only David but three others following. Hafiz broke into a fast walk and then a run. He had a choice now, as the Mansions thinned out he could run to the back, along the back wall and try and escape that way, but there were fewer stalls that way and more Africans. Instead he chose the stairs and took them two at a time. His hand was shaking as he tried to squeeze it into his jeans pocket and bring out the whistle. There wasn’t time to stop; he could hear them coming. Their deep voices boomed up the stairwell. Hafiz was making small whimpering noises, talking to himself, trying to reassure himself. He was running scared. He dodged along and onto the inside landing of the seventh floor and he ducked down into a doorway and took out his whistle. He was shaking so much, so breathless he fumbled, got it to his mouth, tried to blow and screamed as David’s big foot stamped on his chest, trapping his arm where it was. David took the whistle from him and threw it over the balcony. He dragged Hafiz up by his arm.

  ‘Please…’ Hafiz was crying like a baby. ‘I’ll do anything. Don’t hurt me please.’

  ‘I know you’ll do anything. You killed a decent man. My brothers here are going to teach you a lesson. You like cock, Hafiz? You like black cock? You like expensive things, watches, jewellery? We have a necklace that will fit you.’ David grinned at him as he threw him towards the others. ‘This is your lucky day.’

  Chapter 68

  Peter Thorne had had enough of the cocktail bar in Vacation Villas. He was in the Western instead. He had had a long day. The jet lag was getting to him, it was early evening. He was sat at one of the tables for two on the lower level of the bar, which was long and straight and had more than its share of dead animals and antique spurs on the wall. It was a sawdust and spit sort of place that played country music with a touch of hard rock.

  He closed his phone and left it by the beer mat. His wife had hung up on him. He had been curt, cruel maybe and he hadn’t said the words he should have. He hadn’t said he loved her, he missed her. Instead he had berated her about the fact he was working and she was at home. Her life went on as always: the kids got taken to karate, to ballet, she went to the gym, and she met her friends for lunch. Her life was encapsulated into a tiny box world whilst he was working on the other side of the world. Tonight she had tried to talk to him about money. They needed this, that, the other. She saw him as a cash cow. She saw him as someone who was happy to be on his own for six months of the year. It was true, he had been once. He had thought he was someone then. He had been the bright boy in the company. He had been promoted over those who had served many more years than him but it had meant more travelling. Now, seven years later. His family enjoyed the house with the pool. His kids went to private school. His wife didn’t need to work. But he had lost himself. His pleasures came down to anything money could buy.

  He had started having the affairs to bring back some excitement into his life. Buying a woman for the night was like buying dinner. In the beginning he thought it enriched his marriage. He went home feeling like it wasn’t all work, work, work. He could have a few secrets; a life of his own. He could hang on to the single status whilst still enjoying the married one. He thought his wife would never find out. Why should she? He was on the other side of the world paying for sex with a stranger in a hotel room. But now, he looked into his wife’s eyes and he recognized that he had ruined something precious. He realized that they were slipping irrevocably apart.

  So here he was listening to ‘The Gambler’ by Kenny Rogers and staring into his glass.

  Ruby passed the window and stopped to glance in. She saw Peter Thorne. She’d seen him before at the bar in the Vacation Villas. Tonight he wasn’t looking so happy. It was early evening. He sat at a table, rather than the bar. Ruby watched Annie saunter up, her holsters squeezed over her ample hips. Her laugh good and loud as she threw her head back and tried too hard. Even Annie didn’t stop long. Ruby got that gut feeling she always got when she knew he was perfect.

  Chapter 69

  ‘So nice to see you again, Inspector.’ Victoria Chan was waiting outside Mann’s block of flats when he came out. ‘I would love to think that it was my charm that you could not resist.’

  Mann climbed into the back of Victoria’s Bentley. ‘I decided to accept your explanation of my officer’s death, although I don’t like it. I have to take some of the blame on my own shoulders. I have also realized that my father’s estate will not wait forever. It needs me to deal with it.’

  Victoria looked more stunning every time he saw her. It was as if she wanted to show him that she could be every woman rolled into one. Today she wore jeans and a boxy white denim vintage jacket. Her hair was in a pony tail. She looked young and fresh faced.

  ‘I wanted to show you it doesn’t have to be all about money. It can be about holding on to something precious. We all have regrets, Mann. I have them like everyone else. But I don’t want any more. I want to look forwards from now on.’


  They drove out to the New Territories then exchanged the Bentley for a helicopter. They flew over the reservoirs and nature reserves, hugging the coastline.

  ‘I wanted to bring you here to this coast. Do you know it?’

  ‘Of course I know it, every keen surfer knows it. It’s the only beach you can surf in Hong Kong. It’s beautiful.’ They looked down on the fine white gold sand and rolling coastline where the forest came right up to the beach. ‘I’ve been coming here since I was young. It’s a trek but worth it. I’ve never come by helicopter before, of course.’

  They set the helicopter down on a stretch of level beach and Mann and Victoria alighted. The pilot switched off the engines. Victoria stripped off, tugging at her jeans and giggling as she nearly fell over. She had on a simple black bikini that drew all the attention to her perfectly toned body. She laughed at him.

  He stripped down to his Calvins. The thought of getting into the water was all that mattered to him right now. He longed to feel the sand beneath his feet, the cool water creep over his body. He ran after her as she tried to beat him to the water. He floated on his back, felt the cold water creep over his scalp; he closed his eyes and listened to the dull sound of water filling his ears. He thought of Helen. This would be her idea of heaven. They had come to the beach together many times. Mann dived beneath the water and tried to forget everything just for a while, he wanted to feel his body tired, his mind empty. They stayed in the water for an hour. Victoria talked anything but business. She talked about the scenery, the fish, the shells. She asked him about the things he loved.

  ‘This is my idea of heaven. In the sea, sun on my face.’

  ‘Is that what you’d like to be, a Robinson Crusoe? On a desert island, a beach hut?’