by Lee Weeks
‘What about you? Did you ever love anyone else?’
For a moment she turned back and looked fleetingly at him.
‘A friendship, nothing more.’
‘I am sorry, Mum. Really sorry. I can imagine how difficult it must have been. But the past is done with. We have all made decisions that we wish we’d reconsidered at the time, but Mum…Magda—’ Molly tutted with annoyance at the mention of her name. Mann persevered. ‘Magda didn’t want to ask for help, Mum. She did it because she had no choice. She has already lost a son last year in the tsunami.’
Molly turned sharply round to look at him and he could see she was shocked. She lowered her eyes as she listened to what he had to say. ‘She doesn’t want to lose another. And I don’t want to lose another brother.’
‘Half brother,’ she said, a wounded look in her eyes.
He smiled to himself. He could hear that she was relenting. Her voice had lost the panic, now only the sadness remained.
‘Yes, half brother,’ he said, kindly. ‘But unless there are any more likely to come out of the woodwork then this young boy is my only sibling and I want the chance to get to know him. Things are always better out in the open, Mum.’
She shot him a look that stung. ‘You’re mad if you think that, Johnny. Hong Kong is built on secret handshakes and unspoken deals. There are things you don’t ask about.’
‘Hong Kong may be based on secrecy, but we need to trust each other. I need to know things about my father that affect me. If they don’t, then by all means keep them secret, but something as important as him having other children, I need to know.’
‘I had no reason to tell you at the time. You were eighteen. You had suffered enough. My main concern was you. You had gone through a terrible ordeal.’ Her voice dropped off. She watched the bird pecking at the peanuts on the table. ‘That night when your father died I was out with Eleanor. I became a novelty to her in the end and this was one of those nights when she was showing me off. We played bridge. I lost. I got a call from the servants. The amah was crying down the phone. She only told me that some terrible accident had happened. I remember asking her: is Johnny all right? She didn’t answer me, she couldn’t. I didn’t wait for a taxi. I ran all the way from Eleanor’s, my heart thumping, my lungs burning. I dreaded finding you dead. When I saw you standing there I was so relieved. But, as I walked forward, I saw Deming lying in front of the house, his head split open. And I remember my legs gave way and I crawled towards him. I tried to scream but I couldn’t. I was frozen on my hands and knees, and then I was staring at his head, his skull was smashed, his brain bulging from a massive gap and his face gone. I remember looking at the blood seeping onto the driveway and I remember thinking: we’ll never get that out; it will stain.’
The bird flew away from the bird table.
Mann stood and went over to rest his hands on her bony shoulders.
The sun hadn’t reached that side of the building yet, soon it would come in so strong that she would need the blind down. Already the aircon was humming away. Mann knew she wasn’t looking at anything.
‘I’m sorry, Mum. It must have been terrible for you.’
She reached a hand back and covered Mann’s that rested on her shoulder.
‘I am sorry I did not tell you sooner. I am sorry that the other boy died in such terrible circumstances. I would not wish that on any mother. I never want to meet her—Magda—but…’ She turned back from the window. ‘Go and find your brother, Johnny.’
22
It was five by the time Mann alighted at Admiralty station. He bought himself a bun from the French bakery before emerging into the late afternoon sunshine. It was the perfect temperature: Hong Kong was enjoying its best season, low humidity and cloudless skies. But it didn’t matter what season it was, Hong Kong was his home; he was born there and he would die there—hopefully not any time soon.
Mann’s office in the OCTB was in Headquarters, Central Police Station, just a short walk from the station through Harcourt Gardens. Mann had worked in the department for the last year. He was trying not to blow it. It was the kind of job he had joined the police force for sixteen years before, straight out of school. After the death of his father he had had personal issues to resolve: he wanted to make a difference and he had a serious hatred of triads. They had long since lost sight of their lofty aims to serve the people—now they were drug runners and people traffickers like every other scumbag gangster the world over. But they were far from easy prey. They hid themselves within the business community like chameleons. They were more subtle than other mafia around the world. They had friends in high places and had nearly cost him his career and his life once or twice. But he had become an expert in their ways and now the police force needed him as much as he needed to work for it. His methods were unconventional and he trod on toes but Mann delivered. The OCTB needed him as much as he needed it—and it was what he lived for.
He turned into the entrance, through the electronic gates, and sprinted up the elevator and into a waiting empty lift. He stopped to show his warrant card before taking the elevator up to the twenty-third floor. There were four wings to each floor. The OCTB was spread over two floors. Mann’s office was in the West Wing, along the semi-circular corridor.
Mann passed interview rooms. They were having trouble with gangs in the Mong Kok area and they had hauled in twenty for questioning. Pam, the new female detective, was interrogating a suspect. Lucky bugger, thought Mann—it would be nice to be interrogated by a woman in a white, crisp cotton blouse and a tight pencil skirt. It was a pity she was busy—this would have been a perfect chance to introduce himself properly. He walked into his office and was met by the fantastic view of Hong Kong. Headquarters had been designed so that all the boring stuff took place in the central sections of the building—it was where suspects were held, identity parades carried out and the Incidents and Communications room was located—whilst all the offices had massive windows.
Even though the paint on Headquarters was barely dry, there was already an air of scruffiness to it. The offices were crammed with files and the corridor had become a dumping ground for unwanted items of furniture.
Most of the senior inspectors had their own office. The rest shared with three or four others. Mann shared his with Sergeant Ng and Detective Li. Detective Li, a young detective otherwise known as Shrimp, was waiting for him.
Mann had worked with Shrimp for almost two years. During that time he had seen him evolve from boy to man but he still hadn’t lost that freshly scrubbed look to his face. He was an experimental dresser who normally favoured the vintage look. He swivelled his chair around as Mann entered.
‘Hello, boss. Ng’s on his way up, he had to go, but he filled me on the situation. Been busy looking at stuff for you. Discreetly, of course.’
Shrimp turned back round to his PC in the middle of his messy workstation, more tubes of hair gel than anything else, and he tapped on the keyboard, clicking various links until he found what he was looking for.
‘Thanks, Shrimp. I’ve put in a request for leave but it’s been refused. The Super wants to see me. I’ll catch up with you when I’m done.’
Mann walked down the corridor and knocked on the Superintendent’s door.
‘You wanted to see me, ma’am?’
The slender figure of Mia Tan seemed lost behind the massive desk. She hadn’t been in the post for long and she hadn’t had time to change things. The walls still bore the outlines of the last occupant’s photos. There was a stunning view down towards the harbour. As Mann came in, an eagle flew alongside her window.
‘Sit down, Johnny.’
She might have looked small in stature but Mia was anything but diminutive. She was tough and clever and very ambitious. With her short hair and her oversized eyes, she had a quirky but striking look. She had a dancer’s physique, slim but strong. She trained hard at the gym. She wasn’t one of those women who wore full makeup to the gym and hated sweating. Whatev
er she did, she did well and with enthusiasm.
They had known each other since cadet school and had helped one another with some extracurricular nighttime revision now and again, but Mia was too ambitious to put up with Mann’s wild streak for long. Now she had been promoted over him and she was his boss.
‘Can’t let you take off to Thailand. There’ll be questions asked about why a Hong Kong policeman is going into a politically unstable area. If you get caught in any trouble it could start a major standoff between us and the rest of Asia. You know the top brass is looking for any chance they can to discipline you. I can’t stick my neck too far out for you, Johnny.’
‘You don’t have to, Mia.’
‘Yes, I do.’ She gave a small smile and lowered her eyes. ‘We go back a long way. If you had toed the line a bit more you would have been sat behind this desk. We trained together. You’ve had more experience of high profile cases than me. You deserved the promotion. But you are never going to get it unless you play ball.’
‘Mia. I need to do this. There are personal reasons why I have no choice. I have to go.’
She sighed. Outside the window the eagle lifted on the air currents and dipped its six-foot wings as it turned away from the window and flew off to find its mate.
‘I hope it’s worth it, Johnny. Whatever it is. If you get caught out there, none of us will be able to help you.’ She turned back from the window. ‘Just understand one thing, Johnny. You don’t have many lives left. There are so many people in this building who hate you. You’re really good at pissing people off.’
‘Well, I have to be good at something.’ He grinned.
‘You’re good at a lot of things, Johnny, that’s what pisses them off. If they didn’t need you, you’d be gone. You’re a loner, I know, but don’t spend too long out on a limb, Johnny. You may never be able to come back.’
23
Alfie kissed Magda goodbye and left for work. On the way out he looked up the street and saw the surveillance car. He thought it best not to tell Magda that she was being followed. She was bound to look around out of curiosity and Mann was right, neither Magda nor Jake had the luxury of time. They had to throw everything they had at it and chase any leads no matter how remote.
After Alfie had left Magda sat in her kitchen and dialled NAP’s number. She had plenty to do now, which was good. She had to try and get all the information she could out of Dorothy and ask for her help.
‘Can I speak to Dorothy, please?’
‘Who’s calling?’
‘Her niece; it’s urgent,’ Magda lied.
‘Hello?’ A nervous voice came on the phone.
‘Hi, Dorothy, I’m sorry. It’s Magda Cremer here. I didn’t want anyone to know who it was calling. Can you meet me for a coffee? There’s a Brazilian place at the end of your street.’
‘I know it. It’s my break in twenty minutes. I can come then.’
‘Thanks—I’m on my way.’
Magda was dressed and out the door in two minutes. She texted Alfie to tell him where she was. He texted his man outside to tell him she was on the move.
Magda sat in the small terracotta-tiled café and waited by the window. She waved as Dorothy appeared. Dorothy was always smart, today wearing a purple pashmina over a mauve jumper and a tweed skirt that ended mid-calf.
‘Thank you so much for coming, Dorothy.’
‘Please…’ Dorothy took off her pashmina and hung her coat on the back of the chair as she ordered a coffee. ‘I am so glad you called.’
She sat down, and looked hard at Magda before smiling kindly.
‘I know you have been ill and what with losing Daniel last year and now this…I thought it best to keep out of your way. But I have wanted to get in touch to tell you how sorry I am and, of course, whatever I can do to help, I will. Sorry…’ Dorothy reached over and put her hand onto Magda’s. ‘…I didn’t mean to upset you.’
Magda shook her head, trying to shake off her tears. She hated the fact that she could no longer get through five minutes without crying. She couldn’t bear people to mention her sons. She had almost lost hope of ever seeing Jake again and she missed Daniel more than ever.
‘Deming would have been so proud of you and the boys. You did a great job raising them.’
Magda looked shocked. ‘You knew Deming?’
Dorothy nodded. ‘Yes, in my youth. I was working as a bookkeeper and I was asked if I would like to do some secretarial work for a Chinese businessman. And the businessman turned out to be Deming. Those days we didn’t have emails and laptops, we did it all on a typewriter. The secretary was a vital part of the busi-nessman’s life. I liked Deming. He was very generous. He made several large donations to charities.’
‘Did you know about me?’
Dorothy nodded. ‘Not from Deming, of course, I was his secretary, not his close friend. But I saw you together many times. I thought you made a lovely couple. You both seemed happy. Of course, I knew he had a family back in Hong Kong. I knew there was another son: I was responsible for typing letters to lawyers, making arrangements that concerned the will. Johnny Mann, he is called, isn’t he? I recognised him when he came to the office the other day. It was lovely looking at him—he’s such a big tall man, isn’t he? I think he looks most like Daniel.’
Magda smiled and nodded but her eyes filled up straightaway and she bent her head to dig for a tissue in her fleece pocket.
‘Sorry…sorry. I’ve upset you again.’ Dorothy laid her hand over Magda’s. ‘Tell me, what do you want me to do?’ she said in a business-like tone, and Magda knew if Dorothy agreed to do something she would do it well.
But Magda hesitated. It suddenly struck her that, as she was asking Dorothy, a woman she hardly knew, to supply personal information about her boss, she had better choose her words carefully. She didn’t want to blow it. Not only was Dorothy kind, she was also lonely, and Magda knew Dorothy could be a goldmine of information if handled the right way. But she needn’t have worried; it was as if Dorothy had kept it bottled for so long that once she started to talk, she couldn’t get it out fast enough.
‘I am leaving my job next month,’ she started. ‘Retiring. Although I could stay on, I’m not going to. This last eighteen months have been so terrible—I don’t want to work for a company like NAP. It’s changed so much since that awful woman Katrien took over two years ago.’
Magda leaned forward and whispered: ‘Alfie calls her the Bitch.’
Dorothy put her cup down and whispered back, ‘I know exactly what he means.’ She nodded, her eyes wide. ‘It’s a good name for her. She has got well above her station. I don’t know how she’s ended up with so much authority. She shouldn’t be allowed in charge of any of it.’
‘What do you know about her?’
‘She takes drugs. I caught her once when I went in to her office; she was snorting cocaine. She seems to have plenty of money coming in—she wears designer everything and that’s not cheap, although why she bothers, I don’t know; she always wears black, it could be any make. And she’s always taking time off to go away.’
‘Where does she get her money from, do you think?’ Magda sipped her coffee and listened hard.
Dorothy raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes.
‘Men. That’s where from. She plays her little games with all of them. I’ve seen her out in town. She’s always with a different one. Ugly, dishonest—but always wealthy looking. She’s passed me in the street before now, in some top of the range flash car. She knows all the wrong people if you ask me. But I don’t think she’s planning to stay here much longer. She’s been going to Thailand at least three or four times a year the last two years. I think she’ll go and live there. And good riddance to her…I tell you something, though.’ Dorothy beamed. ‘She was riled the other day when Johnny Mann came in.’ She chuckled. ‘You should have seen her face!’
‘Did she know who he was?’ Magda asked, surprised.
‘I don’t know that but I do know
that she cancelled the rest of the day’s appointments and left the office. Oh…look at the time!’ She panicked as she looked at her watch. ‘I have to go. She’s probably back in the office by now and that nasty little receptionist will be quick to tell her that I had a longer break than I should. But…’ Dorothy stood and put on her coat and scarf. ‘…I will start doing some serious digging for you and I will call you.’
She hugged Magda.
‘You can rely on me,’ she said as she disappeared.
Magda watched her go and was left with the feeling that she could trust and rely on her. She was happy with the way the meeting had gone. Alfie would be pleased when she told him everything she’d learned. It confirmed his suspicions about Katrien—that she was a nasty piece of work, capable of anything.