Beautiful Death

by Fiona McIntosh

  ‘So you watched Lily grow up.’

  Chan’s grave countenance did not change. ‘I took photographs of the Wu family on Lily’s first day at school.’

  Jack felt himself grinding his jaws. Kate must have seen his reaction and took over. ‘So you were like an uncle to her? A big brother?’

  Chan looked momentarily perplexed. ‘Neither. I was simply a guest of her parents — a close friend of the family. I didn’t stay with the Wus but I did visit often, especially in the holidays.’

  Jack nodded. ‘So how did the romance between yourself and Lily emerge?’

  ‘If you’d seen Lily Wu, DCI Hawksworth, before her death, you’d know she was an extraordinarily beautiful, graceful, intelligent woman. I would defy you not to have fallen in love with her.’

  Jack cleared his throat and shifted uncomfortably in the hard office chair. He wished he could slam it straight back at Chan that he not only knew what she looked like but he’d been enjoying her beauty, her body, for weeks. Instead he told part of the truth. ‘I bought flowers from her shop. I know how attractive and graceful she was just from those few visits.’

  Chan didn’t twitch so much as an eyebrow in reaction, much to Jack’s annoyance. ‘Then I have nothing to explain to you. She was any man’s dream. I didn’t see Lily for many years once I’d finished university. I was working in hospitals and spent several years in the United States. The how of it I can’t explain to you, but if you’re asking me when Lily and I began seeing one another, then I would say to you approximately eight months ago.’

  A knock at the door interrupted them.

  ‘Come,’ Chan called and a woman entered, not the receptionist they’d seen previously.

  ‘Sorry for the delay, Prof,’ she said brightly.

  Chan gestured to Kate. ‘Can we offer you tea or coffee?’

  ‘Coffee would be great, thank you. White, no sugar.’

  The woman looked at Jack.

  ‘Nothing for me, thank you,’ he said. Turning back he copped a warning glare from Kate, obviously doing her best to defuse the tension that was building between the two men.

  ‘I’ll have green tea, Susan,’ the professor said, unsmiling. She all but curtsied when she withdrew.

  Kate took up the thread of conversation. ‘When were you and Ms Wu to be married, Professor Chan?’

  ‘No date had been set. In fact no agreement had been reached.’

  ‘Agreement?’

  ‘Lily was still making up her mind. My proposal was given. It was up to her to accept. She told me just days ago that I would have my answer by the end of this month.’

  ‘It all sounds rather clinical, doesn’t it?’ Jack commented.

  ‘Not really,’ Chan replied, seemingly untroubled by the pointedness of Jack’s remark. ‘I wanted Lily to arrive at her decision free of all pressure from her parents and myself. I could think of no one else I’d rather have as a wife. And her parents approved. It was an ideal union. But I wanted Lily to decide that for herself.’

  Jack felt ill listening to Chan speak about vivacious, passionate Lily in such a remote, distant manner. He could have been speaking about commodities on the stock market for all the warmth in his expression and tone. He didn’t appear at all upset to be talking about Lily.

  Jack was shocked when Chan responded, realising only as the professor spoke that he must have aired his thought aloud.

  ‘I keep private feelings to myself, DCI Hawksworth. I am not a man known for emotional outbursts and composure is a critical aspect of my role in this unit.’

  ‘Of course,’ Kate said soothingly. ‘How often did you see Ms Wu, say in the last few weeks?’

  ‘Not that often to tell the truth. She was a very busy person and you can appreciate that my life is unusual in the hours I keep with patients, for surgery, consultations, not to mention conventions and attending our clinic too.’

  ‘Can you tell us some more about the clinic?’ Jack asked.

  ‘Yes, I am a director at Elysium. It’s a clinic, about twenty miles outside London, mainly for cosmetic surgery, but also a spa and wellbeing centre.’

  ‘How often are you there?’ Jack asked.

  ‘Once a week, maybe twice. It depends on the workload here, of course.’

  The door opened once again as Susan returned with a tray. They watched in silence as she laid out cups and saucers.

  Jack waited for her to leave and close the door before continuing.

  ‘Professor Chan, did Ms Wu seem worried, distracted perhaps, on the occasions you saw her in the days leading up to her disappearance?’ It was such a ridiculous question, he could have answered it himself.

  ‘I had not seen Lily for several weeks just prior to her death, but we had talked and she seemed perfectly normal to me.’

  ‘Why had you been apart?’ Jack knew why, but he enjoyed asking the question all the same.

  ‘I’ve been in Europe, giving a series of talks.’

  Jack sat back. ‘And you can support that with evidence?’

  Chan stared at him steadily now, his lips thinning. Jack refused to follow up with anything more, or look away.

  ‘DCI Hawksworth, am I to understand that I am a suspect in Lily’s murder?’

  ‘Everyone connected to Lily is a suspect,’ he replied, evenly.

  ‘Her sister?’

  ‘No, that —’

  ‘Her mother?’

  Jack did not answer.

  ‘Father?’

  ‘We will be interviewing everyone, Professor,’ Kate confirmed, a harder edge to her tone, Jack noticed.

  ‘But you began with me,’ he said, taking them both in with one glance. ‘Why is that? Perhaps because Lily’s face was removed?’

  Jack regarded him steadily. ‘Professor Chan, my people are currently talking to store owners in Brick Lane, doing doorknocks around the Bethnal Green area; they’re about to start interviewing canal boat owners; we’re talking with shoppers at Sainsbury’s.’

  ‘Our search will likely widen to Ms Wu’s customers, friends, acquaintances,’ Kate added.

  ‘But we tend to begin with those closest to the victim. You were her fiancé and being a celebrated cranio-facial surgeon does make interviewing you an obvious leap,’ Jack explained, working hard to keep sarcasm from his tone.

  Chan nodded, seemingly impervious. ‘Too obvious, though, wouldn’t you agree? I am a subtle man, DCI Hawksworth, and I suspect you may be too. You’re a very senior officer so your intelligence would presumably suggest to you that if a surgeon of my particular skills were planning to murder someone, he might not leave such an obvious calling card.’

  ‘You’d be surprised,’ Jack replied, trying to suppress a growl. He changed tack. ‘Professor Chan, did everyone in the unit know you were hoping to marry Ms Wu?’

  ‘Absolutely not.’

  ‘Why not?’ When Chan looked puzzled, Jack added, ‘I ask only because it seems natural that people who work together know a little about each other’s private life.’

  Chan’s glance slid to Kate. ‘DI Carter, are you seeing someone at the moment?’

  ‘No, er, why?’ She stole a glance at Jack.

  ‘Because I saw you last night outside our offices.’

  Jack watched Kate sweep back her hair, taking a moment or two to consider the man’s pointed remark. He was good — but he knew Kate cornered was his equal. ‘Professor Chan — not that this is relevant — but I wasn’t sure where the unit was housed. I thought I’d take some time to be sure so we wouldn’t be late for our appointment this morning.’ She gave a small shrug. ‘It’s not out of my way. I don’t live that far from here.’

  The doctor did not seem impressed. ‘Very professional,’ he replied coldly. ‘But you haven’t answered my question.’

  ‘I’m not sure I’m obliged to, Professor. I was being courteous.’

  ‘I’m answering all of yours.’

  She took a breath. ‘No, I am not seeing anyone.’

  ‘Even th
ough I saw you with a man last night.’

  Jack stepped in. ‘What has this —’ he began.

  ‘Sorry to be oblique, DCI Hawksworth,’ Chan interjected. ‘It’s not my intention to embarrass your colleague. My point is, do you know whether DI Carter is seeing someone?’

  Jack bit the inside of his lip. ‘No.’

  ‘And do you have someone in your life?’

  It was Jack’s turn to hesitate.

  ‘Forgive me again, I don’t mean to pry. That is, of course, your business, which is how I see it in any workplace. I don’t share personal pleasures, relationships, or private events with my staff, DCI Hawksworth. And neither do you two, though you are close colleagues, no doubt. No one here knew about Lily other than Dr Maartens because no one else needed to know. She was part of my private life. If we were married and seen out and about together at functions on behalf of the hospital or the clinic, then Lily would have become part of my public life and everyone here would have known her as Mrs James Chan.’

  Jack hated the sound of that name. ‘What about the directors at the clinic? Did anyone from Elysium know about your relationship with Lily?’

  ‘Yes, as I said, Dr Maartens did. As for the others, if they did it is not because I told them. To be frank, I don’t think any of them concern themselves with my personal life, nor I with theirs.’

  ‘I understand. Do you know of anyone who might have had a grudge against Lily?’

  ‘No, not at all, but Lily kept her personal life intensely private. It’s how she wanted it, and I respected that. We both understood that until she put my ring on her finger, our private lives were our own.’

  Kate stunned Jack by asking Chan if he thought Lily could have been involved with someone romantically. ‘I mean no disrespect, Professor Chan,’ she added, ‘but our job is to find her killer and that means asking hard questions of everyone connected with her. If you knew nothing about her life beyond the time she spent with you, then is it feasible that she could have been having a relationship with another man — or men?’

  Jack was even more astonished when the surgeon showed not the slightest sign of having taken offence.

  ‘I think that’s a perfectly reasonable question.’ He sat back, arched his fingers and considered it. Jack felt Kate throw him a look of sympathy. Finally Chan replied. ‘I’d have to say I don’t know the answer. If Lily was involved with another man, or other men, I would have no way of knowing. I kept no tabs on her, if that’s what you mean. She stayed in touch and I was always very pleased to hear from her and to see her when I could.’

  ‘Again, forgive me,’ Kate continued, her tone sympathetic, her body language spot on, Jack realised. ‘But your carefully worded answer suggests something else.’

  The professor regarded her, frostily. ‘What do you mean?’ he asked.

  ‘Well, Professor, let me rephrase my question by asking you whether you ever suspected Ms Wu of seeing other men during the time you were romantically involved with her.’

  He didn’t hesitate. ‘Yes, I did. In fact I’d go so far as to say I believed she was seeing someone else, but I had no proof and in truth no desire to find that proof, no interest in pursuing my suspicions.’

  Cool as a cucumber, Jack thought.

  He watched as Kate gave a lovely performance; at first frowning, she began to say something, then seemed to think better of it. She cocked her head to one side and then, as if puzzled, to the other. ‘May I ask why, Professor?’

  ‘Why what? Why I wasn’t angry? Why I put my head in the sand? Or why I killed her?’

  Both Jack and Kate froze.

  ‘Of course I didn’t kill her,’ Chan continued, his tone and gaze both wintry. ‘I didn’t pursue it because I probably didn’t want to know the truth. I was an older man hoping a beautiful young woman would be my wife. I could not react to every suspicion. And frankly I’m too busy to be worried by something I had no control over. Lily was not formally engaged to me and was free to do as she pleased.’

  ‘You’re certainly very generous in how you view a relationship, Professor,’ Kate said.

  ‘I’m simply objective. I don’t allow myself to be ruled by my heart. Had we been formally engaged or married, I might have acted upon my suspicions.’

  ‘You realise, Professor, that this admission gives you motive?’ she remarked carefully.

  ‘I don’t see why my vague, unsubstantiated suspicions should interest you.’

  Jack didn’t want Kate to go on. He answered for her. ‘Because Ms Wu was pregnant at the time of her death,’ he said as baldly as he could, hoping to penetrate Chan’s icy composure, watching the man for any sign that he had punished Lily in the most dramatic and deadly of ways.

  Chan blinked, but said nothing as he reached for his glasses and again took them off. He repeated the process of polishing them and, just as Jack felt he might explode with fury, Chan spoke. His voice was low and tight. ‘You astonish me, DCI Hawksworth. I suppose I would have found out soon enough.’

  ‘I’m sorry it’s me giving you this unpleasant news, Professor,’ he lied. ‘But as you say, you would have found out once the post-mortem results were made available. As Ms Wu’s fiancé, you have the right to be told in advance.’

  Chan looked up, his green tea ignored, his glasses still in his hand. ‘It’s a shame I had that right. The child was not mine. Lily and I have not slept together.’

  Kate must have felt sorry for the man. ‘This must be a terrible shock for you, Professor,’ she began, ignoring Jack’s glare. ‘If you’d prefer we can continue —’

  ‘It is a shock, yes. But I’d rather we completed this interview now. I have a busy few days ahead.’

  Jack sat back in disbelief. Chan replaced his glasses. ‘Is something wrong, DCI Hawksworth?’

  ‘How can you be unmoved by this information, Professor Chan?’

  ‘Easily. I can assure you the child was not mine and now that I have this information I realise that Lily was not mine either. It will make dealing with her death much easier. I’m sorry if that offends you.’

  ‘Are you?’ Jack asked, his eyes glittering with threat.

  Kate shifted. ‘Er, sir, I wonder if —’

  Professor Chan stood up. He looked at his watch casually. ‘My apologies, I have a consultation quite soon and I must prepare. If you have nothing further …?’

  Jack and Kate stood also. ‘We may need to talk to you again, Professor.’

  The man shrugged. ‘Of course. My secretary, Susan, will confirm when I’m available, although I should warn you I’m travelling to America the week after next.’

  I’ll nail you before then, you bastard, Jack thought. Outwardly he attempted a smile, although he was sure it looked more like a sneer. ‘DI Carter will likely want to talk to your staff and we may want to visit your clinic too.’

  ‘Fine on both counts. It’s best to contact the senior surgeons here via the admin secretary. She knows what’s going on in our diaries.’

  ‘Is Dr Maartens around today?’ Kate asked.

  Chan shook his head. ‘He was called out to the clinic this morning.’

  ‘Okay, I’ll call him there,’ Kate said.

  ‘As for the clinic itself, your officers are welcome any time, but please set up an appointment first. Tell whomever you speak to that I have authorised this and I will also alert our staff there. You must understand, DCI Hawksworth, our guests are mostly international and very private.’

  ‘Don’t worry, Professor, we won’t alert the media to any celebrity facelift.’

  Chan seemed to choke back whatever he was going to say, giving a brief, awkward and unhappy smile instead. ‘DI Carter,’ he said and shook Kate’s hand. ‘DCI Hawksworth.’ Jack almost didn’t allow his hand to be taken. Chan moved to the door and opened it, turning back to address them. ‘Feel free to finish your drinks.’ He looked directly at Jack. ‘The green tea is untouched — you may like to try it, it’s very good for calming anger.’ He left, closing the
door quietly.

  If he was anywhere else, Jack would have kicked something. Instead he leaned against the table, his knuckles whitening as he pushed against his fists.

  ‘Jack?’ Kate tentatively began, all formality forgotten, a touch of apprehension in her voice.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to fling his fucking tea across the room, although I want to.’ He took a long, deep breath. ‘Let’s go. I want this arrogant sod’s hide.’

  In the taxi back to Westminster there was frigid silence. Kate felt it needed to be broken before they returned to the ops room.

  ‘For what it’s worth I don’t think he sounded nearly as guilty as you seem to believe.’

  ‘Really.’ His tone was razor sharp.

  ‘You went for the jugular.’

  Jack did not look her way; he stared out the window as Whitechapel gave way to the Embankment. ‘As you saw for yourself, he doesn’t bleed.’

  ‘Sir!’ Jack finally glanced at her, but looked away again. ‘Until we have some evidence I think we must stop talking to him as though he’s been charged with something or arrested as a suspect.’

  ‘Thank you for reminding me of the rules, DI Carter.’

  ‘I just don’t want this to go wrong. We all want to catch this killer, but if we fuck it up by not doing it by the book, then Lily’s murderer could walk free.’

  Now he turned his full attention on her. She was terrified his expression would hold that dark wrathfulness Jack was so capable of. Instead the fury had left his eyes. Perhaps something she had said had defused the anger for the time being. ‘So who was the guy you were with last night?’

  17.

  Denny Johnston was pissed off. A wrong-number phone call had dragged him from a rare and delicious dream in which he was a famous actor, surrounded by beautiful women. Just as the phone had rung, Denny had been handed a flute of champagne, and it had occurred to him that the bubbles in the glass matched the fizzing water of the hot spring he lolled in with three voluptuous beauties. They were predictably blonde, brunette and flame-haired, so he knew it was a dream, but it didn’t matter. It was the dream he waited for. It was his favourite, the one that visited him only infrequently, and he loved to hang on to it for as long as possible. The moment when he was ravished by the three gorgeous girls had never actually arrived, but even that didn’t matter; it was all about the anticipation, the longing for the moment when they slipped off their bikinis and urged him to take full advantage of their presence. Why he had been so focused at that moment on the bubbles he didn’t know, and he’d had no idea where the natural spa they were all enjoying was located — it seemed to be on a clifftop that looked out to a sparkling azure ocean, reminding him of the holiday brochures he glanced through in the travel agency he made regular deliveries to in his part-time courier job. Again, it didn’t matter where or why. It only mattered that the dream had surprised and spoiled him with its arrival and he had intended to enjoy every last second of it … if only someone would answer that phone.