I wanted to stop. Every instinct in my body told me not to go near this huge guy in the back area of a shady shop in Chinatown. Nothing about this was a good idea, and my brain knew that. But Violet, completely relaxed, walked straight up to the man and stopped in front of him.
“Guǎng jiāo yǒu, wú shēn jiāo,” she said to the man in what sounded to me like impeccably fluent Mandarin. Of course Violet would be fluent. Immediately, he stepped aside and opened the door. This was totally not how I expected my day to go when I woke up this morning. Gathering my courage, I walked past the man and followed Violet into the room.
My nostrils were immediately met with the smell of cigarette smoke, both stale and fresh. Fresh smoke rose up to the ceiling, making a haze not unlike the morning fog at the top of the room. I struggled not to cough. The doctor in me knew just how dangerous smoking was for your health; the ten or so men in the room were all going to have major health problems later in life, I just knew it.
The light in the room was dim, and as my eyes adjusted I had a look around. The ten men were all seated around a green velvet table covered in mah-jong tiles. The game looked to be about half over, and there were stacks of bills—I could see English bills, Euros and a currency I didn’t recognize that was probably Chinese Yuan—scattered across the table. All ten pairs of eyes were on Violet and I as we entered, and I couldn’t help but notice one man reaching for his hip, where I wondered if he didn’t have a hidden pistol.
This suddenly felt like a very, very bad idea. Maybe I could just turn around and leave. I could wait outside on the street for Violet to finish whatever it was she was trying to do here. Just then, I heard the door close behind me with a loud bang, heard the door lock click, and I winced. Violet and I were trapped in here now.
I looked around the room once more for a friendly face and found none. Every single one of these men were hostile, and I was sure at least one of them was armed. Then, a man at the far side of the table stood up. He was about medium height, maybe five foot ten inches tall. His black hair was cropped short, and he looked to be in his late thirties, but with a very hard face.
“Excuse me,” he said in slightly broken English, “but you are lost, I think,” he said.
Suddenly, Violet reached into her purse. She pulled out a handgun and pointed it directly at the man. Oh my God. This was not good.
There were cries of surprise and bustling from the men around the table. All of a sudden, seven of the ten men had pulled out guns themselves.
“Oh, you do not want to do that,” Violet told them as I tried to subtly walk back toward the far wall. I didn’t know what I expected to do there, it wasn’t as though being a few feet further from the bullets was going to do anything to save my life, but I just didn’t know what else to do. “You all put your guns down,” she ordered. “Fàngxià qiāng.”
The men looked at the man who had stood up, and Violet pointed the gun at him, and then spoke. “You know who I am. You know I work with the police. They know I am here. What do you think happens when I disappear from a Triad illegal gambling game? What do you think happens to you? Get rid of the men. We need to talk.”
For a minute no one moved. The man was obviously considering Violet’s words. She held her gun steady, her head high, aiming right at his forehead. I had a feeling that if Violet shot, she wouldn’t miss.
“Gǔn kāi!” the man suddenly cried out. “Nǐ gěi wǒ gŭn!”
This was it. This was the end of my life. I was going to die in the middle of a firefight in an illegal Chinese casino in London. So much for moving to London because it was the safe option. I felt myself trying to find something to grab against the wall I was leaning on. I wanted something to hold onto when the bullets ripped through my body. I just hoped it wouldn’t hurt.
But then, instead of firing on us, the men all began to move. They muttered to each other as they put their guns away. Violet and the other man were both staring each other down, as though the other men weren’t even here. Violet kept her gun pointed at the head Chinese guy while the others all filed out of the room, the door magically unlocking and opening for them as they went to leave. I didn’t dare look at any of them as they walked past me; I was all too aware of the fact that seven of the nine men had just pointed guns at me.
I’d grown up in America, and yet I could honestly say no one had ever pointed a loaded gun at me until today. The door lock clicked behind them, and Violet did the last thing I expected of her. She put her gun down, and laughed.
“Violet, Violet,” the man said, breaking into a smile and coming around the table with his arms open wide. “It is always lovely to see you.”
“And of course you, Lin Wei,” Violet replied. “How is the family? Li Min has just started school, has she not?”
“Ah, but alas. She is wanting to be called by her English name now, Eva. It breaks her mother’s heart.”
“They are like that, children. But do not worry. In time, she will come to appreciate her heritage. For now, she simply wants to be like all the other children. But come, let me introduce my friend. Cassie, this is Lin Wei, the head of the Bamboo Revolution Triads,” Violet told me, and she couldn’t hide her smile when she saw me, still pressed against the wall. I was sure the color in my face was absolutely non-existent. “Ah, Cassie, do not worry. Lin Wei is a friend of mine, we simply had to put on a show until we could be in here alone.”
“That show looked pretty real to me,” I finally managed to mutter as I peeled myself off the wall and shook Lin Wei’s hand.
“Oh, the guns, they were real. But do not worry, they would not have shot me without Lin Wei’s approval.”
“Which I would never give, of course. How could I deny the world the gifts of Violet Despuis? It is nice to meet you, Cassie. Any friend of Violet is a friend of mine.”
“Well, you may change your mind about that when you learn about what it is I have come to discuss,” Violet told him. Lin Wei motioned to the chairs the men had been sitting at.
“Sit, sit. May I offer you a cigarette?” he asked us both. I thanked him and declined, but Violet accepted. He handed her a cigarette and Violet cupped the flame of the lighter as Lin Wei lit it for her.
“Now,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “I suspect I know why you are here, but all the same, you are much better at guessing than I am. You will tell me why you are here, and I will confirm.”
“Jenny and Kevin Lin,” Violet said, taking a deep drag of the cigarette and blowing the smoke back out slowly. It was obviously not her first cigarette, but I had never seen her smoke before, or smelled stale tobacco on her.
Lin Wei nodded slowly. “Yes. Yes, it is as I suspected. You have figured out more than MI5,” he said with a smile, showing his tobacco-stained teeth. He didn’t look unlike a shark ready to pounce on his prey, and despite the fact that Violet and he were obviously friends, I didn’t trust him completely. Probably because of the whole having guns aimed at my head thing.
“Well that much is obvious,” Violet said. “So they have not been poking around yet?”
“No. One of my men told me they took the case off the Metropolitan Police, but that is all.”
Violet nodded. “Your information is good. MI5 is in charge of this case. This was not a good thing to happen if they make the connection.”
Lin Wei nodded. “I agree with you. I can tell you with total honesty that we were surprised and dismayed to learn of Jenny and Kevin’s untimely deaths.”
“So you were not responsible for it, but they were smuggling paintings for you into Taiwan? And they were already in possession of The Milkmaid?”
Lin Wei smiled. “Every time you come to see me, I am always amazed at just how much information you know. It is no use denying it. Yes, the two children were smuggling paintings. It was generally Jenny, as officials are even less likely to suspect and check a woman’s belongings, but Kevin was important as well. He acted as her protector and bodyguard, if anyone tried to question Jenny he
would stop them, as a brother is supposed to do. As a tandem, they worked perfectly. And yes, they were already in possession of The Milkmaid. They had taken possession of it that same day. Do you know where the painting is?”
Violet shrugged. “I was hoping you would know. I only learned of its theft a few hours ago.”
Lin Wei frowned. “No. We do not have it. When I saw you come in, I hoped that you would have a lead, and that you would be able to take the painting. I fear that it may be lost forever in the explosion.”
Violet shook her head. “No, I do not think that. I was at the scene of the bombing. Jenny was murdered before the explosion, and it was set up in such a manner that I am certain Kevin was an intended victim as well. I believe whoever killed them possibly took your painting.”
“Well, that complicates things.”
“Who else knew about the theft? Besides the Bamboo Revolution, and you had no reason to want them dead. There are the other people in the industry who knew of the heist, but who else? Were you working with anyone on the outside?”
“That is the thing, we were not. Nearly every part of the heist was Triad-organized, except for the thief himself. He was not Triad, but if he wanted the painting, if he wanted to rip us off, he could have simply taken off with it. We would have hunted him down and killed him, of course, but if it turns out that he has killed the Lin children we will kill him anyway. We had another contact who is not Triad, but I have worked with him for twenty years. He is beyond reproach.”
“So you’re telling me you have no idea who had any reason to kill the kids, apart from the other people in the art world who knew of the theft.”
“Exactly.”
“And you had a buyer for the painting back in China?”
Lin Wei looked shrewdly at Violet. “You know I should not be telling you. But yes, we had a buyer organized. The painting was to stay in London for three weeks, to allow for time for the painting to get in and out of the news.”
“And how long had you been planning to steal The Milkmaid?”
“It was a very quick decision. We had been planning for only two months, and the Lin children were told about it four weeks ago.”
That was just before Kevin Lin began acting strangely, according to his friend Ken.
“All right. Thank you, Lin Wei. As always, it is a pleasure.”
“Ah, but not at all. It is my pleasure. Your visits are always enlightening. And before you go, I would like to make you an offer.”
“Yes?” Violet asked, not looking surprised at all.
“If you would be able to return the painting, if as you say it has not been destroyed, we would be willing to pay a large sum. Larger if you bring us the thief and murderer, as well.”
“You will have to be more specific,” Violet told him. “Are you talking seven figures? Eight?”
“Ten million pounds for the painting, five more if you also give us the thief.”
“I will consider your offer,” Violet told him. “Either way, I will be in touch.”
Lin Wei nodded, and Violet turned to go back toward the door. I didn’t really know what to do so I shot Lin Wei a smile, and followed Violet. As soon as she came close to the door the lock unclicked, and opened once more. I had a quick look around before we left but didn’t see any cameras. They must have been very well hidden; there was no other way for the man on the other side of the door to know we were coming out.
We walked past the Chinese version of Arnold Schwarzenegger, then made our way back into the shop. Violet got ready to leave, but her way was blocked by the old lady manning the counter. She handed her a plastic bag filled with goods from the store. Violet thanked her and looked outside the shop worriedly. Great, that was what we needed - more trouble.
Chapter 10
“What’s going on?” I asked, peering outside to see what had been noticed.
“It appears that we have been followed,” Violet said. “Just follow my lead. Whatever you do, do not mention meeting Lin Wei in there.”
Well, at least that didn’t sound super ominous about what was about to come. Violet and I left the shop and she broke into a smile as Agent Tompkins immediately came over, the vein in his neck already beginning to pulse dangerously. Two other men walked behind him, obviously there to intimidate us.
“I told you to stay out of this,” he said, but Violet simply looked at him, surprised.
“Stay out of what? The murder case? We’re just doing some shopping in Chinatown,” she said, holding up the bag.
“Let me see that,” Tompkins ordered, snatching the bag from Violet’s hands and combing through the contents. There were a few packs of tea and a small piece of ginger root in the bag. Frowning, Tompkins had no choice but to hand the bag back to Violet.
“This shop is owned by the UK leader of the second biggest group of Triads in Taiwan,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Is it?” Violet asked, looking at me. I tried to look appropriately shocked. “I had no idea! After all, as you were so quick to point out yesterday, I am not a member of law enforcement, I am simply an ordinary member of the public. People like me do not know things like that. I simply came to refill my tea supply. After all, this is England, you do drink tea here.”
I knew Violet was antagonizing Tompkins on purpose. They both knew that she had been there to visit Lin Wei, but he had no way to prove it.
“Besides,” Violet continued. “You are welcome to go into the shop. It is manned by a little old lady. She must be barely four feet tall and eighty years old. I do not know what the leader of this Triad gang you mentioned looks like, but I honestly cannot see such a frail old woman being in charge of a major gang.”
Tompkins nodded almost imperceptibly and one of the two men behind him went into the shop, while Violet watched Tompkins with a small smile on her face. The man came back out a minute later, shook his head quickly, and went back to stand next to the other man in black.
“So you see? I could not have been here to see whoever this man was.”
“You were at the Museum of Natural History this morning as well,” Tompkins said.
“I was.”
“I want to know why.”
“You would like to know why I went to visit one of the most impressive museums in the world?”
“That’s what I said, don’t play dumb.”
“Oh believe me, I am not the one looking dumb in this conversation. Try to learn everything about something, and something about everything.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It is a quote by Thomas Huxley. There you are, now you have learned something about an English biologist. That is your ‘something’ for the day. I was at the museum to look at the exhibits with my friend, who is new to England. She had never been to the museum, so we decided to spend the morning there. Besides, what could I possibly have learned about the murder in a museum filled with dinosaur bones and images of constellations?”
Tompkins’ face was fast approaching a shade that could only be described as fire truck red.
“I know you’re lying. I’m watching you,” Tompkins spat out at last. “I know you’re working this case. If I find proof, I will have you arrested. You’ve been warned.”
“You may want to spend your time finding the murderer,” Violet told him. “I may not be investigating, but I have my sources, and I have heard that you have yet to discover the motive for the crime. Let that be a hint to you,” she added in a sing-song voice as she began walking back down the street.
“So now MI5 is watching you,” I said. “Because this wasn’t weird enough a day already.”
“Yes, they are watching me. I should have suspected. I thought Tompkins would have been too busy actually trying to solve this case rather than following me, but it seems that much like a child who has not the knowledge to get good marks on his own, he has decided to cheat on the exam.”
“He’s following you to find out what you know?”
“Even
Tompkins would not be so foolish as to follow me simply because he hates me,” Violet replied. “In fact, I would not be surprised if his boss recommended this course of action. His boss was once made very familiar with the success rate of my methods.”
“So what do you do now?”
“Now I simply have to be more careful. Especially as I would like to speak with the Ambassador himself. He has returned to the UK, obviously. We can no longer attend the funeral, but that is all right. We will gain audience with him all the same.”
“And what if Tompkins sees us?”
“Then he will threaten to arrest us once more.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
Violet shrugged. “It would not be the first time.”
“I swear, one day you have to write a memoir,” I muttered as we made our way down the street with the tea and ginger given to us by the lady running the shop fronting for the Triads.
* * *
Violet hailed us a cab, but during the twenty minute ride back to our apartment, she began to brood.
“What’s wrong?” I asked her. “I thought you got a bunch of information from Lin Wei.”
“I did,” Violet said, “but some of it was wrong. And I don’t think he was lying to me, so it means I am missing something.”
“What’s wrong about it?”
“The sum he offered me as a reward if I were to find the painting.”
“Ten million pounds? What, were you expecting more?” I joked. Ten million pounds was about twelve million dollars. Not a bad commission for a detective. Violet shook her head though, completely serious.
“No. No, that is the problem. He has offered me too much.”
“Wait, you’re not going to take it, are you?”
“Of course not. If I find the painting I will give it back to the authorities. I may not be the most appreciative of the arts, but even I understand that a painting of that provenance belongs in a museum for all to see, not hidden on the wall of a corrupt businessman.”
“So what’s the problem?”
Bombing in Belgravia (A Cozy Mystery) (Cassie Coburn Mysteries Book 2) Page 6