Kiss & Die (23 page)

‘According to the fishermen’s co-ordinates they were just west of here when they dragged up the head in their net.’ The six-man team of divers included Mann. Daniel Lu was along as part of the forensic recovery team. ‘Allowing for the movement from the storm, it could have come off the coast around Stanley. There are places along the wall where people fish, deep areas that you access quite easily. We’ve tried north and now we’ll try south. We’ll take the boat in south of the beach, where the sea defence is deepest.’

‘This has to be the last dive for today, Mann. I have to get back to the office. We’ve been out here since seven o’clock this morning. It’s four now.’

Mann was stood looking towards the beach. It was dotted with families. Either side of it were the tall sea walls, sloped with boulders in places to accommodate the storm swells.

‘If the perp doesn’t have a boat, this place would not be deep enough to throw in a body, even if you rolled it down the stone boulders and into the water.’

‘I understand that, Mann, but Hong Kong is completely
surrounded by water. We can’t check every part. People are allowed to fish off any wall, any beach. If someone wanted to weight a body and throw it in they could throw it off countless places.’

‘Sure. I know what you’re saying. It’s a difficult thing to work out but Ng and I looked at drift patterns, storm surge. It hit this defence pretty hard. It could have shifted anything that was underneath. We’ll drop one at a time, at five-metre intervals. We’ll sweep the defence. Further along…there.’ Mann pointed to a place where the wall met an overhang. He shielded his hand from the bright sun. ‘By those small buoys tucked in beneath the overhang.’

The boat came to a stop and bobbed in the water. The first diver dropped into the water at the start of the sea defence. Mann strapped his oxygen tank on. He pulled on his mask and slipped over the side. As he dropped into the murky water, he sucked in air through his mouthpiece and listened to the sound of his own lungs working. He felt the cold water close over his body and scalp. Hong Kong’s harbour wasn’t the cleanest. It was dark. It was full of debris, cloudy and thick. Discarded fishing nets were a major problem; lethal to fish and dive.

He felt the pressure around his ears as he dropped down into the cold darkness. His weight belt took him slowly down. He reached out his hand and touched the stone wall of the defence. He shone his torch towards the wall, to the lines leading down from the buoys, and he shone his torch downwards. The wall had been constructed more than thirty years ago. It looked neat from above the waterline but below it descended into jutting crevices. An eel stared at him, its massive head amplified by the water.
Mann hated snakes. This was enough like one to make him jump as it came out towards him and then made a dart into one of the cracks.

He held on to the wall as he worked his way downwards. His hands touched the top of a lobster pot. A creature disturbed the bottom and a flurry of silt clouded up into Mann’s face. Mann recoiled instinctively; he dropped his torch, fumbled and reached out to find for it in the dark waters. He shone it into the pot and a green face stared back at him, an eel had made its home in the mouth. Mann shone his torch to either side. It was not alone.

Ruby lay on the beach, shielding her eyes as she looked out to sea. The sand was warm beneath her and she ran her feet through it, feeling the sensation of the grit between her toes. She was watching the police boat bob in the water. She watched the divers like black seals as they plopped into the water and she played a game with them. ‘Getting warmer, getting warmer, no cold again, hot very hot.’ She watched Mann turn backwards and flip off the boat’s side and into the still water and she knew he would find what he had searched for all day.

Ruby lay back and closed her eyes in the warm sunshine. The night had been a long one for her. Peter Thorne had pleaded and cried like a baby in the end. He had cried for his wife. He had cried for his children. The more he cried, the longer she took to kill him.

She spread her hands out and clutched the sand in handfuls. She had a strange feeling inside her. She knew now it was all coming to an end. She knew that she must plan for it. She would not let them simply track her down. She would choose her moment. With her babies, in her room. With a man worthy of them, that would be
her moment. A strange sound escaped from her throat: anguish, despair. Ruby gripped the sand hard, her arms outstretched she stared up at the sky and watched the Earth turn. She knew it was time for her to leave this life. She must go home and plan. She had Peter Thorne’s body waiting for her. She had work to do. She picked up her bag and walked back along the beach to catch the bus home.

As Mann walked into the incident room that evening Mia’s expression told him she had something she wanted to say. He’d missed two calls from her but he’d had a rush to get back from the morgue after the autopsies. Mann raised his eyebrows and nodded towards the door. She shook her head. Whatever it was would have to wait.

‘We have identified four so far. All of the heads are less than a year in the water. The two newest, less than a week. We haven’t identified those two. It’s likely that they haven’t been reported missing yet.’ Ng turned to the white board and the photos of the dead men. ‘The four we know about are: Max Kosmos, a man named Louis le Poul, went missing five months ago on a stopover from Singapore, worked for an oil refinery, selling parts to rigs. A man from the UK, a Welshman called Colin Humphreys, bit of a playboy, worked for a luxury cruise company out here to take on staff. He’d been in the water about eight months. The other is a Korean engineer called Sam Lee, doing a tour of Asia, overseeing projects for Hyundai, his wife reported him missing three weeks ago.’

‘Do these men have any connection to each other?’ Mann asked.

‘No. All frequent visitors to Hong Kong, all travelling married businessmen.’

‘Where were they staying?’

‘All in hotels around the Mansions. All off Nathan Road, big hotels with twenty-four-hour cocktail bars. They were all married, all well known for playing away. Their disappearance was never traced directly to Hong Kong because they moved all over Asia. Some airline records were accurate about who bought tickets but some weren’t.’

‘This is her serial killer ID: she kills foreign businessmen who play away,’ Sheng said, fiddling with his watch strap, a sports Rolex. He looked as rough as ever. His face was blotchy, sweaty. His shirt button strained across his stomach.

‘They have to be married,’ added Mia, ‘but they don’t have to be Caucasian. We have a Korean amongst the dead. Saheed estimated the other heads had been in the water anything from two days to a year. The head that the fisher – men found seems to be the longest in the water of the seven. Saheed said it was in the water about a year. It’s hard to tell because the lobsters do a pretty good job of stripping the flesh and eating the bone as it breaks down. We only have a partial skull left. But Saheed said he is pretty sure it’s not Caucasian. He thinks it’s African.’

‘Have them check the rubbish dumps, building sites, alert all fishermen. She must be disposing of the bodies somehow,’ said Sheng. ‘Post surveillance in Stanley.’

‘Perp won’t use that site again,’ said Mann, sipping his coffee. ‘They’ll have seen us, I’m sure.’

Sheng flashed him an irritated look. He looked like he was about to add a comment but decided not to. Mann was beginning to feel like he’d been the subject of some conversation and it wasn’t friendly.

‘We have thirty million visitors a year; most of them come here for business,’ said Ng. ‘The average stay is three days. We are a major stop-off point for other countries. Every few seconds men pass through on business trips and every few weeks some men go missing in Asia.’

‘It’s easy to see why: burnout. They’ve had enough of being mortgage slaves and opt out,’ said Sheng. ‘They get so used to being on the road. Their wives don’t even care whether they come home or not in the end as long as the bills get paid. You go and set up home in the Philippines or Thailand, it costs pence to live there. Find a few girls to double as bed mates and cleaners, no one need ever be found again.’

‘Seems like you’ve thought this through…’ smiled Mann.

‘I’ve been working, if that’s what you mean. Doing my job. We can’t all be lying on a fucking beach getting a sun tan.’ Sheng was tapping his foot, fiddling with his coffee cup.

Mann was beginning to get the gist of what must have been said between Sheng and Mia. He knew he would be hearing all of it by the end of the meeting. Sheng had a lot of pent-up aggression that wouldn’t stay behind bars.

‘Okay, we get two hundred plain clothes officers out there sitting in bars, listening to talk,’ said Sheng. ‘I want every sex worker who is seen working the plush hotels pulled over and discreetly interviewed. At the risk of pissing
the guests off we have to step up security. Anyone not seen by hotel staff when they are expected? Anyone not answering their door for cleaning for more than twelve hours, security in that hotel go in. Shrimp, we have your ID ready. Your team is ready to go. You are the Manhattan VD in a book distribution company. You will be staying at Vacation Villas. We need to move this along now. You ready?’

Shrimp nodded but he thought of Nina. He would not be able to see her. For the first time he felt a conflict in his heart. He had never believed in love at first sight until now. Now he couldn’t imagine loving anyone else.

‘I don’t see that working. She’s smart and cocky. She’s not going to get caught in a bar by us. I think we should wait to go in heavy.’ Mia stood, arms crossed. ‘She’s on a roll now. She’s speeding up. The first head was a year ago, the rest have all been in the last six months. Three of the heads are within the last month. She’s bound to trip up sooner or later. If she gets freaked now and goes underground she might just emerge worse in six months’ time.’

‘I agree,’ said Mann. ‘Get Shrimp in Vacation Villas undercover. Let’s try and coax her out of her web.’

Sheng stopped fidgeting and eyeballed Mann.‘Your role in this investigation is being reconsidered, Mann. Until that time you won’t be required to attend meetings. If we want to find you we’ll contact the Leung Corporation. You concentrate on what you’re good at, sucking up to Triad bosses.’

There was a stunned silence around the room.

Mann looked across at Sheng and smiled as he shook his head. ‘It’ll take a lot more than you to get rid of me,
Sheng. You’ve tried so many times over the years and yet I’m still here.’

‘Yeah, well I’ve suspected there’s been a mole in the OCTB for some time. Busts that don’t come off, tip-offs that look set up. Now Tammy’s dead. My money’s on you, banana boy.’

Mann shook his head and almost smiled ruefully. It had been a long time since anyone called him that to his face. The room went silent. They waited for Mann’s retaliation. Sheng’s racist views were well known. It amused Mann more than made him mad. He kept his cool.

‘I have access to CK’s world and I intend to use it. But I’m not the only one. CK has prior knowledge about a lot of things. Things that only someone in this department could know. You were undercover, Sheng, you reaped the rewards. Maybe you kept in contact with your old buddies? Tammy died because someone countermanded my order. It had to be someone high ranking: that’s you or Mia. You know what I think?’ Mann’s eyes turned black as he glared at Sheng. ‘I think it’s you who can’t be fucking trusted.’

‘That’s not the way it looks on paper, son of a Triad. Who are people going to trust – you or me?’ Sheng rocked on his feet as he grinned at Mann. His eyes lit with triumph. ‘Fuck off, Mann. You don’t belong here any more.’

Shrimp came to find Mann on the roof. ‘What would we do if we couldn’t stand on top of the world like this?’ he said, looking out over the evening sky. The eight o’clock night-time display was starting.

The bowlights of giant tankers were blinking on the horizon.

‘Thought you might like to let off steam.’ He handed Mann the urumi. ‘I caught the boss practising with it.’

Mann smiled. ‘Knowing how competitive she is she’s bound to have mastered it by now.’ Mann took it from Shrimp. It was light. Its handle was the same as a sword. ‘Yeah, it’s a beautiful weapon, hard to defend against.’ Its three blades uncurled, shimmering in the laser lights that lit the sky around them, vibrating like a metal snake as it clacked against the roof tiles. Mann lifted it, felt its weight and balance in his hand. He whirled it overhead and brought it down, wrapped around the dummy. Bits of Hawaiian shirt and stuffing flew out.

‘It’s a hell of a weapon.’ Shrimp looked at him. He waited. Mann knew he had come to the roof to say something. He was rubbish at hiding anything. ‘What is it, Shrimp?’

‘You all right, Boss?’

He turned to look at Shrimp and smiled. ‘Sure. I will be okay. Just do your job and do it well, Shrimp, I’m counting on you. We’re still the same team we always were. Isn’t that right, Mia?’

Mann knew she was standing watching. She came towards them,

‘Yes. It’s true. We’ve always been a unit.’ Shrimp left. ‘You can take a lot worse than that, hey, banana boy?’ When he looked up Mia was smiling and frowning at the same time. ‘I used to call you that – for slightly different reasons. Do you remember?’

Mann smiled. ‘I remember. Shall I tell Sheng or will you?’

‘Yeah. I’ll save it for the right moment, I think.’ They stood in silence for a moment.

‘You’re my boss, Mia. What do you want me to do?’

‘I want you to do what you’re good at. Use your instincts and keep pushing, Mann. Nothing else matters at the moment but getting to this killer. I can’t force Sheng to do anything. He’s the SIO in this. But we have our own investigations and I need you on that. But…’ She smiled, concerned. ‘Do one thing for me first; go home, get some rest for a few hours. Take a day looking over your father’s affairs, make a start on it. This might be the calm between the storm.’

‘Before.’

‘Before what?’

Mann smiled across at Mia. ‘If you’re going to talk to me in your perfect schoolgirl English get the idiom right – it’s
before
the storm.’

‘All right, smart arse.’ She smiled back but her eyes still penetrated, searched for the answer inside him. ‘You afraid to go home, Johnny? I’ve seen you sleeping in the office a few times recently.’

He screwed up his face, shook his head, but hesitated too long.

‘Bullshit. Yes you are. You prefer to sleep here. You prefer to sleep sat up in your chair, don’t you? What is it? Ready to run at a second’s notice?’

He shrugged.

‘Where you going to run to, Johnny?’

‘Shit…’ Mann smiled ruefully as he shook his head exasperated. ‘I hate it when that happens. Why are women always right?’

‘It’s just a con.’ She smiled back at him. ‘Fortunately for us women it usually works.’ She held his gaze and her eyes were full of sympathy.

‘Okay, you’re right, Mia. I feel like shit. I haven’t slept properly for weeks and I don’t want to go home. I really am thinking of taking some time off. In fact I might take the rest of my life off. I’m thinking of handing in my badge. Sheng is only saying what others are thinking.’

‘That’s crap. I trust you more than any officer in this department. You will always be the best man for the job, Johnny.’

‘Why? Because it takes one to know one? Haven’t you heard all the shit going round this building? The whole station is talking about it.’

‘Since when did you care what people say? I have known you all my police career. I have never wanted anyone else on my team. You’re the best the OCTB has to offer, Mann.
Don’t fall apart over this; you’ve weathered bigger storms. You know what you have to do, don’t you? You have to prove them wrong.’ Mia shook her head as she gave an exasperated sigh. ‘Anyway, this is your life.’ Her eyes searched his; they were full of sympathy. ‘What else would you do?’

‘I don’t know, lie on a beach somewhere, be a professional surfing bum, find myself one of the six thousand islands in the Philippines and disappear for a few years?’ He shrugged. ‘Try and feel human. Maybe try and start again. I seem to have made a mess of the last thirty-seven years and now it’s catching up with me. I can’t close my eyes without seeing people that I haven’t managed to save. I am afraid to go home because I wait at the apartment door for Helen to shout hello. I wait for her to come out of the bathroom with a towel round her, I wait to hold her in my arms and smell her hair, feel her soft skin. Instead when I close my eyes I see her being tortured.’

Mann knew what she was going to do, she was going to say she knew how he felt and that time would heal as it always did. But time didn’t heal; it just papered over the cracks. Now Mann felt that there were only cracks left. And he felt his life was falling between them, seeping away. Mann shook his head and closed his eyes for a few seconds.

‘Maybe it’s all for a reason, Mann. Maybe this is your time to put all your ghosts to rest.’