by Chan Ho-Kei
‘Commander, whose life were you talking about saving?’ Sonny asked, when they were outside the ward.
‘The real Chau Cheung-kwong, of course,’ said Kwan.
‘Why’s he in danger? No, I mean, is that really Shek Boon-tim in there? Then who is Chau Cheung-kwong?’
‘Let’s find somewhere to sit down, then we can talk,’ said Kwan. He told the ward director they’d be waiting downstairs, and instructed him to keep a close watch on his prisoners. Sonny didn’t understand why they couldn’t stay on the eighth floor, but if the man with the explanation was going downstairs, so was he.
They took the elevator down, and Kwan walked out of the building to look at the darkening sky. The lobby, at the opposite end of the building from the Emergency Room, was comparatively so quiet it seemed a little unreal. Kwan sat on a stone bench by a planter and indicated that Sonny should join him.
‘Where to start...’ Kwan stroked his chin. ‘Ah, let’s talk about the photos of those two Big Circle men.’
‘What about them?’ Sonny hadn’t thought there was anything noteworthy.
‘After the noon briefing, I didn’t have a clue, to be honest. Inspector Choi thought Shek might have slipped away during the gunfight, or else changed cars during the five minutes between leaving the hospital and being spotted by the Emergency Unit. I thought the latter was more likely – Shek was exactly the sort of criminal who’d know everyone expected him to go north, so instead he’d escape in the other direction and hide at the southern end of Hong Kong Island, or else get on a boat to one of the smaller islands. But when I saw pictures of the scene, something caught my attention.’
‘Pictures of the gunfight?’
‘It was the bodies of the Big Circle guys.’ Kwan tapped his own forehead. ‘One of them had changed his hairstyle, and looked different from his photo of just a few days before.’
‘So what? Criminals disguise themselves all the time.’
‘No, be precise. Criminals often disguise themselves after a crime. But you don’t often see them do it beforehand,’ said Kwan with a smile. ‘It makes perfect sense that he’d do it afterwards. Say he was afraid of being identified by a witness, so he’d change his hair to make himself less recognizable. Before would be possible if it meant something like putting on a wig for the duration of the crime, then resuming his normal appearance afterwards. But here, I couldn’t find any reason at all why he’d go from parted hair to a crew cut.’
Sonny thought again of the two pictures on the noticeboard.
Kwan went on, ‘Those two had no way of knowing they’d already been spotted by Intelligence – though we didn’t know very much, in truth – so that person had no reason to cut his hair short. If he wanted to conceal his identity, he’d get a haircut after rescuing Shek – but there’s no way back once you’ve had a crew cut. When I first saw the photo, I even wondered if we’d mistaken him for someone with similar features, and the deceased wasn’t actually the Big Circle man at all – but the scar on his left cheek matched exactly. Twins with identical scars? Too far-fetched. So why the haircut, before rescuing Shek?’
‘Maybe because... the weather’s hot?’ Sonny felt this was a stretch, even as he said it.
‘That’s possible. But I thought of something else. The crew cut was a disguise.’
‘But Commander, you said changing his appearance before the crime wouldn’t help him evade capture.’
‘So he wasn’t trying to evade capture,’ chuckled Kwan. ‘Sonny, what sorts of people usually have crew cuts?’
‘Police recruits, soldiers... ah! Convicts!’ Sonny shouted, as he saw the answer.
‘Correct. When I noticed that, I wondered whether we’d been misled by appearances – what if the man who ran from the hospital to the getaway car wasn’t Shek Boon-tim, but one of the Big Circle gangsters? Because it all happened so quickly, as long as the running man had a crew cut, black-framed glasses and a brown prison uniform, every eyewitness would assume it must be the prisoner Shek Boon-tim escaping.’
Sonny recalled the photo of Shek during the briefing, in which his hair was closely cropped – just like the dead Big Circle man’s.
‘After the gunfight, O-Crime found a prison uniform in the getaway vehicle, with the number tags removed. I wondered about that. Of course an escaped convict would change into civilian clothes, but why rip off the numbers? If it was to destroy evidence or cover his tracks, he’d just burn the whole thing. Besides, only one person escaped from jail today, so we’d know the uniform was his in any case. Unless, of course, it wasn’t Prisoner 241138’s uniform at all, but a prop used by the false Shek.’
‘And that’s why you wanted to know exactly how he got out of the bathroom,’ said Sonny, thinking of the moment he’d arrived with the report for Inspector Choi.
‘That’s right. What I said was just one possibility, but the prison officers’ statements made me think my hypothesis was almost certainly right.’
‘And the long-haired man?’
‘An important clue, though there was even more obvious evidence. But I hadn’t sorted through all my ideas, and to avoid confusing Alex and his team, or accidentally alerting the criminals, I ordered him to go after the most certain, concrete lead – track down the long-haired man.’
‘More obvious evidence?’
‘Incredibly obvious!’ Kwan laughed. ‘You, Alex, whoever interviewed the prison officers, and everyone who saw those testimonies – all of you missed it. Should I be worried? Maybe you were all distracted by the gunfight, and the investigation would have had to hit a dead end before you examined the other evidence and saw it then. The handcuffs by the window – didn’t they strike you as odd?’
‘In what way?’
‘One of Shek Boon-tim’s hands was fastened to the cubicle handrail. In order to escape, he had to either release that hand, in which case the cuffs would have been left dangling from the rail, or else open the other side and run off with them round his wrist. What kind of criminal would be stupid enough to waste time opening both sides of his handcuffs, and then drop them before escaping?’
Sonny rapped his forehead. How had he not thought of this himself?
‘So... Shek Boon-tim didn’t escape then?’
‘Correct. He used the handcuffs to entice the guard over to the window, from where Shek’s stand-in could be seen running towards the car, thus creating the illusion that the convict had got out that way. I’m guessing Shek was actually hiding in the “Out of Order” cubicle. Ng Fong said he’d gone into the bathroom beforehand and pushed that cubicle door open, and he’d naturally have pulled it shut again afterwards, creating an excellent blind spot for Shek.’
‘Commander, you’re saying... Shek was hiding behind a half-closed wooden door, listening to two Correctional Officers going after him? Wasn’t that risky?’
‘Not really, if one of the officers was on his side.’
‘Huh?’
‘A turncoat in the prison itself,’ said Kwan, lowering his voice.
Sonny stared at the superintendent, uncertain whether to believe him.
‘You mean... Ng Fong, the older one?’ whispered Sonny. He understood now why they’d had to leave the eighth floor – nothing they were saying could be overheard by Correctional Services.
‘No, the young one, Sze Wing-hong.’
‘But he was only keeping watch outside.’
‘That’s the genius of it,’ said Kwan earnestly. ‘This inside man didn’t directly use his position to help Shek escape, he only created a series of conditions that would facilitate it. This made it unlikely the blame would ever be pinned on him. I’m betting it was Shek rather than Sze who came up with this plan. I hate the bastard, but I have to say I rather admire him too.’
‘What conditions?’
‘Let’s reconstruct the escape. This is all conjecture, but should be ninety per cent accurate. Sze Wing-hong knew of the plan all along, so when Shek asked to use the bathroom, he suggested the one upstairs
. Sze had just joined the service, so the more experienced Ng Fong would want to inspect the toilet himself. That left Sze alone with Shek, allowing him to pass over a hairpin, which Shek would have hidden in his trousers or on his collar – this is the hairpin our investigators found later.’
‘And Shek used this to pick the lock?’
‘I don’t think so. It was a red herring.’ Kwan shook his head. ‘Ng Fong came back out, then he and Sze took Shek into the bathroom. Sze released the left handcuff and fastened Shek’s right hand to the railing. At the same time, he slipped the key into Shek’s right palm, while pretending to return it to his own pocket. The hospital cubicles are a little larger than usual, but it’d still have been easy to block Ng from seeing this move. Besides, Ng would only have been concerned about making sure the cuffs were secure. You don’t need a key to close handcuffs, so Ng would never have suspected it was in Shek’s hand.’
Sonny listened dubiously. Was Kwan fabricating an explanation out of thin air?
‘This is all guesswork, but if I were Shek Boon-tim, that’s how I’d have done it.’ Kwan seemed to read Sonny’s mind. ‘If Ng Fong hadn’t pulled that cubicle door half shut, Sze would have found some excuse to re-examine it, maybe pretending to have seen something dangerous in there, and then closed the door himself. And then, while Ng was watching Shek inside the room, Sze’s co-conspirator appeared, and they went through their scripted quarrel until Ng Fong was lured out. Right away, Shek undid the handcuffs and flung the window wide open, dropping the cuffs on the floor just inside. Then he threw the key outside and darted into the “Out of Order” cubicle. I’m saying he used the key, because with so little time available, he’d have gone for the most efficient method. The long-haired man hurried away and gave some kind of signal, and the Big Circle guy disguised as Shek, waiting beneath the window, started running towards the car.’
Sonny thought of the window he’d seen in the stairwell. It’d be easy to reach between the bars and signal to someone outside. The long-haired man must have gone down the stairs and waved to the car; Little Willy, behind the wheel, waved to Big Circle under the window – and the stand-in, pulling off the coat that had kept his uniform hidden and stuffing it down his shirt, would have started running towards the car.
‘This was the boldest part of the plan.’ Kwan glanced at Sonny. ‘Shek was just hiding behind a door, and if Ng Fong had stayed calm, he’d have been trapped. But what Sze did next upset his older colleague’s judgement – he climbed out of the window. Naturally Ng had to assist his partner, rather than letting him chase a felon on his own – that’s part of the discipline of any uniformed organization, or you could even say it was instinct. Ng’s conditioned reflex to help a fellow officer overrode his observation and focus, and just like that, Shek slipped away from under his gaze.’
‘Just now you said Shek threw the handcuff key out of the window. Sze would have picked it up?’
‘Yes, though that’s just an educated guess,’ Kwan nodded. ‘Sze could also have made a duplicate key, but using the same one was simpler, and eliminated the risk of being caught making a copy. As long as he got the key back and ran for a while after a car he knew he’d never catch, he’d have amply fulfilled his duties.’
Sonny recalled Kwan’s instruction to Inspector Choi, only to ask Ng Fong to help with the identikit picture. That made sense now – talking to Sze would have alerted him that the police were on the trail of the long-haired man.
‘Commander, wouldn’t a person have to be pretty foolish to put himself in this position? Letting a convict escape on his watch – he’d be sure to get into trouble. Besides, how are you so sure it’s Sze Wing-hong? Even if everything took place exactly as you said, Ng Fong could still be the inside man.’
‘That why I said Shek’s plan was masterful. He made sure Sze’s role was smaller than Ng’s. And would Sze care if he got into trouble? Both officers would have to take responsibility, but anyone looking at the matter would conclude Ng was more culpable, because he was the one who left the convict unguarded. Sze followed protocol every step of the way, and even selflessly chased after the escapee,’ Kwan said sardonically. ‘As to why I’m certain Sze was the turncoat, just look at how his testimony was different from Ng’s.’
‘I didn’t think they contradicted each other?’
‘They didn’t, but their attitudes had an obvious disparity.’
‘You mean how Sze kept asking if he was being investigated?’
‘No, it’s the way they referred to Shek. Ng Fong kept saying “the convict”, but Sze used his name. Ng Fong saw Shek as just another prisoner, same as he encountered all day long, but to Sze he was an individual with a name. This detail, plus all the circumstantial evidence, is enough to convince me Sze Wing-hong is the inside man.’
Sonny thought back through the two videos, and realized Kwan was right.
‘Then Shek Boon-tim ran off as soon as Ng Fong went down the stairs?’ he asked.
‘Instead of “ran off”, you might as well say he walked casually away.’ Kwan smiled bitterly. ‘He dropped the hairclip to explain how he’d opened the handcuffs, then went off with the people who’d come to meet him.’
‘What people? The long-haired man?’
‘The long-haired man, Moe and Chau Cheung-kwong.’
Sonny stared dubiously at Kwan, waiting for him to explain.
‘When I learned from Ng Fong’s testimony that the handcuffs had been left in front of the window, I realized my earlier hypothesis was wrong,’ said Kwan. ‘I’d initially guessed he’d used his henchmen to create a distraction while he escaped to the south. But the handcuffs told me that he didn’t actually jump from the window, because then he wouldn’t have wasted time unlocking both sides. So that created an interesting problem. If he just wanted to confuse his pursuers, it’d have been far easier to switch cars after escaping, and head south. Instead, he went to a lot of trouble to have a body double act as a decoy. Choosing a difficult path over an easy one suggests other motivations. As you asked an hour ago, Sonny, why not just massacre anyone in his way? Have his men show up with enough firepower and bust Shek out that way? But think about it: if he wanted to deceive people into thinking he’d fled, then he must still have been in the hospital. Why would an escaped convict not get as far away as he could at the first opportunity, but stay at the scene?’
‘Because... he wanted to impersonate Chau Cheung-kwong?’ Sonny jumped straight to the conclusion, although he had no idea how to get there.
‘Exactly.’ Kwan nodded sagely. ‘But I didn’t think of this right after watching the videos. It wasn’t until O-Crime found the second getaway vehicle at Babington Path that I had the next idea.’
‘What was suspicious about that?’
‘O-Crime found a convenience store receipt in the first vehicle, used that to narrow their search area, and so found the second car at West Mid-levels.’
‘Right?’
‘And you raised a good point then.’ Kwan looked approvingly at Sonny. ‘You said parking the car there would make things needlessly difficult for them, and wouldn’t it have been easier to escape from Sai Ying Pun?’
‘Yes, that’s right, but didn’t we find an answer? Traffic in Central was chaotic after a rush-hour accident, so West Mid-levels became the more sensible route to their destination, Chai Wan.’
‘The time on the receipt was six in the morning – the accident hadn’t happened yet.’
‘Oh...’ Sonny saw the problem.
‘That was strange. Did Little Willy and the others have a premonition about the traffic jam and change the location of their second getaway vehicle? Or it could have been happenstance; but Shek Boon-tim is such a meticulous planner, if he deliberately selected a narrow road where he could easily be trapped or ambushed, there must be some reason behind it. And then I thought, what if the accident in Central was actually part of Shek’s scheme, the very first step in this whole plan?’
‘But what’s the use
of creating a jam in Des Voeux Road? To delay the police and help Little Willy get away?’
‘No; if that was his goal, an accident on a main road in Central wouldn’t help much. We’d just send officers from the Western District station instead. If Shek really wanted to slow us down, the accident should have been at Sai Ying Pun, and later on – as it is, the one at Central was two hours before his escape.’
‘That’s right, so what happened in Central was useless to him.’
‘You’re wrong. The accident in Central wasn’t useful in his escape. Because the second car was found at Mid-levels, we knew the criminals intended to travel via Central, and we tried to connect the “accident” with the “escape”. But that was a mistake. Another word floated up in my mind, and it wasn’t “escape”.’
‘What was it, then?’
‘“Hospital”.’
‘Hospital?’
‘You forget, I’d already noticed there was something fishy about those handcuffs and deduced that Shek was still at the hospital. Once I’d linked “hospital” and “slow traffic in Central”, the picture became clearer. There are three public hospitals on Hong Kong Island with twenty-four-hour Emergency Rooms: Queen Mary in the Western District, Tang Shiu Kin in Wan Chai, and Pamela Youde Nethersole in the east. When there’s an accident in the Central or Western District, the casualties are sent to Queen Mary – though when the Queen Mary ER approaches capacity, ambulances are diverted to Tang Shiu Kin instead. But if there was some chemical spillage in Central and the roads needed to be sealed off and cleaned, traffic in those parts, already slow at the best of times, would become completely paralysed. The ambulances would have no choice but to keep going to Queen Mary.’
Sonny recalled Dr Fung complaining how bad traffic had meant the acid-attack victims couldn’t be transferred to Tang Shiu Kin that morning. And then, like electricity shooting through him, he suddenly understood why Kwan Chun-dok had got involved in this investigation.
‘Commander, do you think Shek Boon-tim was also behind this morning’s fire at West Point?’
‘Yes.’ Kwan’s lip curled a little, as if satisfied that Sonny had finally caught up. ‘If he crashed a chemical truck at Des Voeux to overwhelm Queen Mary’s ER, then the increased number of patients probably wasn’t a coincidence either. Shek Boon-tim was the mastermind behind the fire, the overturned truck and the Graham Street acid attack.’