Kiss & Die (21 page)

On the roof red papers twirled in the air and were sucked up and spun in the wind. The sound of whistles filled the air – three beeps and one long tone. The roof of the Mansions was bathed in the black of late night. A storm was coming. The belly of the cloud was lit with neon from the city below. Gusts of wind whipped up the waves in the harbour.

Hafiz caught Lilly by the arm and turned her sharply round. ‘My brother is in prison because of you.’

‘Let go.’ She wrenched her arm free. ‘That’s bullshit. You know it is. I never asked him to be there. He messed it all up. It was all under control. She wasn’t supposed to get killed. She was only supposed to be taught a lesson. ‘Just rough her up a bit, I was told. You want someone to blame, you look to your own family. Mahmud should have kept well away.’ Lilly shook her head sadly. ‘Look I’m sorry about Mahmud, believe me. But think about it, Hafiz. They can’t charge him if he didn’t do it. They will have to let him go in the end.’

They turned to see the roof around them filling with members of the Outcasts, skinny kids with light jeans, big
shoes and gelled hair. They were just like millions of others – nondescript, except that in their hands they carried weapons and the red invitations that had summoned them to a meeting. ‘If you see him tell him I’m sorry.’

More members of the Outcasts began to appear. They came from all over the city to the Mansions. Nathan Road down below was crawling with teenage feet answering the call of their mistress. Thirty minutes passed and the assembled children cheered as the announcement went up that ‘she’ had arrived. They waited nervously for her to address them. She moved amongst them as she made her way across the rooftop. The wind was blowing. The distant sound of a storm charged the air with an eerie light.

Victoria stood in front of the gathered crowd. Her hair was loose, it whipped around her face. Her leather cat suit was sleek, moulded to her figure.

Hafiz and Lilly gathered round her with the others. The roof was moving with black figures, small shadows.

From the distance a rumble of thunder grew louder.

Victoria lifted up her arms as if to embrace them all. She stood on the top of an air conditioning vent. ‘You are all my children, my Outcasts, and I love you just like a mother would. I promise each one of you that I will change your life. I promise you money, power. You can be whoever you want to. You stick with me and I can take you right up to the sky.’

Above her the lightning lit up the belly of the cloud. The children gasped.

Victoria tossed her head on the air triumphant. ‘All I need from you is everything. I want everything now. Go
into those Mansions and cause trouble. Run wild. Run free. You can be whatever you want. As long as you’re prepared to fight for it. Are you?’

The children held their knives in the air as the night sky was filled with their howling.

The Piccadilly Club was a private members’ club. It was British gentry style: polished brass, cracked leather chairs, Dunhill fixtures. It only accepted the wealthiest of clients but that didn’t stop there being a waiting list to join.

Mann was frisked at the entrance by two of CK’s bodyguards, then he was escorted up to the top floor. Eighty floors in the speed elevator later he was met by a portly English butler dressed in a plaid waistcoat and black trousers.

‘Follow me please, sir. You are expected.’

He led the way to the Red Salon. It was a lounge and private dining area. Its theme was deep, rich, cherry-red wood and brilliant gold. Around its walls was a library of classics shelved on a mahogany bookcase and there was a mahogany writing desk.

CK was sitting in the centre of a rectangular seating area. He was surrounded by his lieutenants
, Red Poles
. On their laps were Eastern Bloc hostesses: tall and sharp featured. They were young, beautiful; or they had been, once, when they had first been trafficked over. Long-sleeved dresses barely hid the needle marks in their arms.

CK watched him approach and so did the
Red Poles
.

‘Good evening, Inspector. Join us. Let me introduce you to my officers.’

Sitting next to CK was the pretty waitress from the restaurant at the race course, dressed in a straight-backed cheongsam. She sat bolt upright. She had a black collar around her neck and a chain attached. CK held the end. She had been transformed from an elfin-faced young beauty into a rouged doll. Her face was as white as a sheet and her eyes were as dead as a fish lying on ice in the fishmongers. Mann could see that she had sold her soul to the devil sat next to her. Two monkeys were being handed around and being fed rice wine. They were trying to perform acrobatic tricks but they kept losing their balance and crash landing onto the floor and the table. The fruit bowl turned and flew off the side of the table. The monkeys rolled on their backs, screeching.

Mann looked around at the assembled officers. ‘Don’t bother. I know as much as I need to know about them. I haven’t met the monkeys before, I take it these are the brains behind this outfit?’

CK lifted his hand to prevent any thoughts of retaliation and then he waved his lieutenants away.

One by one they got up and filed past Mann, the hostesses, half carried, half dragged as they tottered on their heels. Each
Red Pole
stopped to eyeball Mann as they passed him. Mann was used to the game. They didn’t go far. The dining area was around the corner to the right. Mann could still hear them talking, low, the girls were giggling, screeching.

The waiter arrived with Mann’s drink. He took it and
felt the strong liquor burn his lips, the ice cool his throat and stomach. The Chinese girl did not leave. She stared ahead of her as if she saw her dreams. She was caught in the world of heroin. She existed only in her own mind. One of the monkeys had run off with the Russian hostesses. The other now stared at the Chinese girl, watching her face. It mimicked her expression. It jumped onto her lap and reached its baby-like hand up to touch her cheek. It grinned, worried, frightened. Her eyes turned slowly towards it. It screeched and jumped down onto the floor where it gobbled the spilled fruit and chattered away to itself.

‘What do you know about the death of my officer?’

CK smiled. He looked across at the Chinese girl as he addressed Mann. ‘Beautiful, isn’t she? She is my new pet. She is not permitted to talk. She is not permitted to move unless I tell her she may. If she pleases me she gets her reward. It is important to understand one another’s weaknesses as well as their strengths, isn’t it, Inspector?’

‘Was her weakness always for heroin?’

A waiter appeared, bowed low and took the monkey away.

‘No, her weakness was for wealth. I merely pushed her to see what she would do for it. It was her own flawed character that let her down, not my cunning. Before you let people in close to you, you must know their Achilles heel. Everyone has one. Your officer died because someone you know well has such a weakness. You have an enemy within. It is someone you have known many years. But, I have known him for even longer. I have something he wants.’ CK looked across at the girl. She
looked as if she were crying. ‘Come, we will eat. Then we will talk more.’

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.

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.’

‘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.’

‘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.